Pic-of-the-Day, 10/14/11

This shot of a Cyclamen is rather unconventional, proving that you can't always follow "rules" told to you by experts (or me!).

The lighting, for example, is very subdued for a flower pic. Part of the reason for that is the second unconventional aspect--it was shot in a nursery. Nurseries feature a delightful, evenly distributed light. And it's also still in a pot rather than in the ground.

I saw it just sitting on a rack there, looking very much like a painting rather than a live plant.

The Cyclamen is a popular plant as a gift, such as for hospital patients or a house warming.

In the garden, it's commonly used in rock gardens and at the fronts of beds where its unusual late-summer blooming stands out. But be advised that it can be difficult to grow well because it's very finicky about its environment.

Pic-of-the-Day, 10/9/11

This is a classic landscape shot of Rocky Gap Park... Big Sky with clouds, water, some trees, etc. The small strip of land in the foreground acts as part of a frame. And it's slightly off-center.

It's also an example, for me, of the advantages of film (especially slides) over digital. I don't think even a very good digital camera could've handled this because of the huge "dynamic range" (the range from the darkest dark color to the lightest light color). I think a digital camera would turn the forested hills into great swaths of dull, dark green.

Another advantage of film is that it has much more information in it than a digital capture. A very good digicam shot has 10 MB or so of data. When I scan a slide, I start with *50* MB of data. In this shot, that extra data allowed me to better expose the mountains during my editing.

"My Regrets List"

(Written 10/8/11 by ChristopherK2 for the Nice MDers Over 35 blog)

I've seen a lot of recent buzz about "bucket lists" (plans to do stuff before you die). Most lists I've seen relate to ideas that take lots of money and not much preparation time, like traveling to the Pyramids. I'm not much of a traveler, so most of those don't appeal to me.

Although I could probably think up a list of similar items, it mainly got me to thinking about regrets for other things I never did earlier in my life and for which it is now realistically too late. Like say, having children or setting a world record in any sport. I'm not sure that regrets is the right word either. It's more like I wonder that ages old question... what if?

What if I had decided to concentrate on one sport instead of being pretty good at a dozen? Would I have become a pro golfer or bowler (my two best)? How would my life then have been different? You can beat yourself silly with questions like that, so I moved on to easier questions, especially things that I could still possibly do.

I've long regretted that I never took a basic course in music. If I had, I probably would've been a much better dancer and enjoyed it a lot more. Is it too late now? Should I take a piano course? I already, for strange reasons, have a piano that just collects dust.

Art and music appreciation are two other areas I wish I had explored. I can barely draw a stick figure, but do I have a hidden talent at, say, landscapes? And maybe I'm an unknown lover of opera?

Foreign languages are something I think I *should* have done, so I probably won't now. But I still feel that any truly educated person should know at least one foreign language.

Another area I've been thinking about is my lengthy To Do lists (I have several). I've always followed the old axiom to start at #1 and work my way down. But that has meant that I never ever get below maybe #15. So #50 has ZERO chance of EVER getting done. Maybe once a year or so, I should stand convention on its head and start at the BOTTOM of a list.

Or maybe--and this is the most likely choice--I'll continue to be guided by Robert Frost's wonderful words:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Yeah, I like that...

Pic-of-the-Day, 10/3/11

The Bird of Paradise spathe and flower shown above is fascinating, but you're very unlikely to see one in this area. That's because it's native to South Africa. It needs lots of heat and can't tolerate cold, and thus would be extremely difficult to grow around here. In the U.S., you'll see them in abundance in southern Florida and southern California, and a few other parts of the deep south.

So, how did I manage to get a nice pic of one? That's easy, Longwood Gardens grows them in their conservatory! Longwood Gardens has been one of my favorite places on earth since college. It's in Kennett Square, PA and its web site is http://www.longwoodgardens.org/.

Its conservatory alone has 4.5 acres of display space. Overall, Longwood Gardens covers more than 1,000 acres, displays 11,000 different types of plants, and includes 40 separate gardens. Last I knew, it's handled by 160 gardeners.

So, it's a wonderful place for a day trip. I try to get there once a year, usually for a 2-day visit.

"It's My 15th (Chat Room) Anniversay!"

(Written 9/27/11 by ChristopherK2 for the Nice MDers Over 35 blog)

Although I can't be certain of the exact date, it was this time of the year in 1996 that I first entered the Marylanders (its name back then) chat room. So, I'm counting today as my official 15th anniversary with this chat room group. Yeah me!!!

I had joined AOL in the summer of 1996 mainly to read various magazines and newspapers online. A few months later I read about the chat rooms and thought they sounded interesting. I was living alone in Scottsdale, AZ, far from my Maryland home. So I thought it might be interesting to try chatting with folks from my old stomping grounds.

That small decision has led to 15 years of ups and downs, but mostly some great memories and outcomes. A few of them follow...

Great Women: Not only did I meet my wonderful fiancée thru AOL, but a lot of others who were "just friends." Ladyhawg (Nancy), for example, was not just gorgeous, but also intelligent, educated, tall, funny, and she lived life large. There were many others, like Lady Exec, ZimaGal, VickiSue, and (pre-Zombie) HamOnWry. Some I've remained in touch with, much to my delight.

Social Functions: These were very popular back then for several years. The second one I attended, for example, was a semi-formal Valentine's Day dinner dance with about 200 people. I went to many of the nightclub events, but that wasn't really my thing. I mostly enjoyed the family picnic atmosphere at Clark's Restaurant... good food, sports, swimming, music, etc.

I Rediscovered Photography: That interest had been dormant since my marriage ended eight years earlier. But self-pics were rare on AOL at the time. So I bought a flatbed scanner after I returned to Maryland, and began taking pics at social functions. I photographed hundreds of AOLers, and my interest in photography in general took off.

I Rediscovered my Interest in Creative Writing: I hadn't written anything creative for many years. But in the early years of AOL, message boards were quite popular. So, I joined several and began again to write poetry, fiction, editorials, and much else. And I obviously still do a lot of writing.

The Chat Rooms: They've always reflected the overall group, so they've gone from several large rooms to two small ones, from nice adult chat to predominantly ugliness, and from crowded and dynamic to near-empty and often moribund. I don't hold out much hope for the future of our chat rooms; they are both below critical mass at this point and I see no hope of the factions combining. I see them fading away, sooner rather than later.

But no matter what happens in the near future, I'll still have left from my AOL experiences a few friends, and all those wonderful memories... oh... and a LOT of pics!