Day 31 - Major renovation?

The local Walmart donated 3 gallon packages of water to residents of our town affected by the recent contamination. (See Marianne's blog for January 29). I stopped by the town hall to pick up the water and noticed this building next to the parking lot. I don't know any of its history, but it looks like a top-down renovation of a very old building. The sky lights just look out of place.

Day 30 - Carroll Creek and spires

Another view of the Frederick skyline and church spires from along Carroll Creek. I am making this scenic creek through Frederick a frequent subject this year.

Day 29 - Rear window view - rain

Light rain all day. The birds and squirrels were not around much and I stayed inside sorting (and pitching) papers. Not nearly the impact as on the 17th and 18th.

Day 28 - Our resident yard critters

These are our resident tree critters. They live in the maple next to this oak and love the acorns. They also bury acorns (and walnuts from down the street) in our flowerbeds - then forget where they put them. So we end up with sprouting trees amongst our azaleas and impatiens.

Day 27 - Near and far

This glass ball usually adorns our coffee table. As I was trying to get a close-up photo with sunlight filtering through the curtains, Buster came to invesitgate. This is not the first time he has magically appeared in my view finder while composing a shot. With the low afternoon sun angle, some light clouds and airplanes on approach to Washington Dulles, I could not resist taking a few pictures.

Day 26 bonus - Mementoes of Dad

When Marianne posted her Saturday photo hunt picture, I was reminded of Dad's wind-it-yourself pocket watch. The watch seemed to fit the "old fashioned" theme well. In the box with the watch were a handful of coins and tokens. The coins shown here date from 1901 to 1943. The watch was given to him by his Dad as a graduation present. This was his time piece for many years. I don't remember him wearing a wrist watch until after he retired. I wound it today and it still runs. I miss you, Dad!.

Day 26 - Fire started!

Just a photo to follow up on Marianne's post!

Day 25 - Is Spring coming early?

This little guy missed his flight south. There were three robins on the bird bath getting a drink from the melting snow, but the shy ones flew up in the tree as I took the first photo.

Day 24 - Gulls on ice

In my travels this morning, I passed by the lake where Marianne took her night photo. There were several sea gulls standing on the still frozen lake, waiting for a morning meal.

Day 23 - Remembering those who sacrificed

Gettysburg and Arlington Cemeteries have always been places of awe and reverence to me. On this clear, crisp, cold (Marianne had different words for the weather) day we drove to Gettysburg so that she could get a photograph for her Martin Luther King related post. A sense of awe swept over me as we drove into the park and is stronger when we walked into the cemetery. I have been here many times, but this was my first winter visit.

Day 22 - Ceresville Mansion

This stately mansion was built in 1888 and was a private residence until the present owners improved it and opened it for social and business events. A "few" years ago, we had a surprise 50^th birthday dinner party for Marianne at the mansion. It is an elegant place and the food was outstanding. This picture was taken from about one-half mile away with my 200mm zoom lens.

Day 21 - Bonus photo

This shot of the almost full moon was taken with my new Nikon D40X, 200mm zoom lens set for automatic focus, programmed exposure and spot metering. It took me several several tries to get the settings right, but this camera does a great job with exposure control. This was also taken without a tripod.

Day 21 - Winter morning colors

As I was running some errands, I was struck by the juxtaposition of the old Frederick train station and the new buildings, as well as the colors on this crisp, clear, cold morning. This scene is about one block from the Day 19 picture.

Day 20 - Carroll Creek

Carroll Creek runs from west to east through the city of Frederick on its way to the Monacacy River just east of town. The creek floods from time to time and in 1976 was several feet deep in the business district. The city built a flood control system which carries the flood water under ground to the east side of the city, while leaving the creek above ground. The above picture looks west from the beginning of the project. The city also redeveloped along the creek with a new court house, expanded library, new businesses and housing. The picture below is of the creek through the central business district, with offices, restaurants and shops on the right and housing on the left. I plan to take a photograph stroll down the creek here on Lew's Pics during 2008. (More when it's warmer - today is 21 and windy!)

Day 19 - Dreary winter day

I have passed this corner many times in the 25 years I have lived nearby. In the shadow of a water tank and so narrow, the house and the person on the corner looked forlorn this winter day.

Day 18 - Snow and sun in the morning!

Three morning-after views of the snow from yesterday. As I post this, most has fallen off the trees and is melting fast.

Day 17 - Looks like winter

Snow started gently falling mid morning and slowly turned my rear window view white. This was taken around 2:30 in the afternoon and by dark it had mostly stopped. It was a wet snow with very little wind, so all the trees were beautifully coated.

Day 16 - Interstate 70 construction

Maryland is widening I70 through Frederick. Above is the new interchange with MD 355 and 85, as well as a new road into the eastern side of the city. Below is the Market Street bridge. The north-bound side, which will span an already widen section of I70, is under construction. The south-bound side is shown and carries two-way traffic now. Market Street it self is only two lanes shortly after this bridge, so don't expect a quick trip through the city.

Day 15 - Snow and leaves

We got a sprinkling of snow today which melted fast.

Day 14 - Farm and clouds

We get some spectacular views of the sky from our back yard. we are lucky in that this farm grows corn, soy beans and grains now instead of houses!

Day 13 - Rear window view

When we finished part of our basement 2 years ago, I got a home office with a southern view over our ground level deck. I have taken a bunch of pictures through this window as the seasons changed and plan to document my rear window view here during 2008. This is an early morning photo.

Day 12 - Legore Bridge

In search of a winter scene for Marianne's Project 365+1, we headed north on the backroads of Frederick County. Did not find much of a winter picture, but found this circa 1900 stone arch bridge over the Monacacy River. It is a two lane, 250 foot long bridge 50 feet above the river. The bridge has 5 arches, though only 4 are seen in this photo. It is one of several historic bridges in frederick County. For more info see http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=2846 or http://www.pbase.com/macpurity/bridges or http://thishauntedplace.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=11.

Day 11 - Annie Leibovitz exhibit

The Annie Leibovitz was at the Corcoran Gallery for the past few months and January 11 I went. She photographed both her life and clients, famous and not so famous. This exhibit included pictures taken from 1990 to 2005. The exhibit included many of her family pictures. I have admired her work, but had not seen many of these photographs in publications. I have seen Ansel Adams photographs since I was a kid, but wandered through the exhibit of his photos too. Most were very familiar, as I have had calendars of his work hanging over my desk at work for over 20 years.

The columns of the building across 17-th Street from the Old Executive Office Building made a nice frame for the rain and fog shrouded Washington Monument. Both these pictures were taken with my Kodak camera.

Day 10 - Marianne at work on project 365+1

Marianne used the empty playground to set a winter scene. I was experimenting with the Nikon control of depth of field.

Day 9 - No snow

Marianne was working a winter theme this week, so she staged some things showing what I was NOT doing. Different camera, same view as on her blog.

Day 8 - Marianne

She is the love of my life. One of my goals this year is to improve my ability to take pictues of people. This one is a pretty good start. I took it during a lunch break while we were hunting for subjects for her project 365+1. She took the picture in my profile at the same time.

Day 7 - Reflection

While Marianne was photographing the carillion, I was looking the other direction. Carroll Creek runs along side the park and the flood control system at the end of the park created a pool with this nice view.

Day 6 - State Police in the air

While taking down our outside Christmas decorations, I heard the familiar sound of the MD State Police helicopter returning to base or maybe to Frederick hospital. I ran inside, grabbed the Nikon and got this shot as it went by.

Day 5 - Interesting pattern

This is a close up of the roman shades in our family room backlit by the sun. This picture was an experiment wth the new Nikon D40X.

Day 4 - Another sunset

A little more color than on day 2. Our street runs east-west, so other houses and yards block the view from our yard.

Day 3 - Warm fire

This was the first time we used our fireplace this winter. The tile around the fire place is new and so is the screen and glass door.

Day 2 - Sunset

I love sunrises and sunsets and take a lot of pictures with low sun angle. I don't see as many sunrises since I retired, but will still get an occassional picture of one.

Day 1 - Marianne and the bels

Marianne did the project 365 photo blog in 2007 and decided to continue in 2008 http://lilbits365.blogspot.com/. I am taking a shot at joining her this year.

I have from time to time photographed her taking her photos. The weekly topic was "bells' and with a little photogenic license, these cheese "bels" became her subject. (See http://lilbits365.blogspot.com/2008/01/okay-i-lied.html for how they were used.) I plan to particpate in the project 365+1 project this year. I have taken photos each day this year and will catch up with posting over the next few days. On many occassions, you will see the same subjects on her blog, though not necessarily the same view.