June 12

There was a rainbow over Boston today, and one of my residents called me so I could snap a photo of it. Rainbows, being ephemeral things, often don't last long, and this one faded before I could get a good picture of it.

Since I was 19 floors over Boston, though, I took advantage of the opportunity to get a panoramic shot of the South End. After the clouds parted, it was a lovely day -- perfect for outdoor photography.

They say life is what you make of it, and I'm beginning to see their point. You can't ignore beauty while chasing rainbows.

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June 11

Having gone into the subjects of curious juxtapositions in Boston yesterday, it figures that the perfect illustration would present itself today. Oy ...

I have my doubts about whether the smart car is as intelligent a choice as it's being made out to be. I just think it might be more hype than substance. My friend Sean says that all early adopters are showy, but he's willing to believe the car may have something going for it other than its novelty.

It was amusing, though, to see this über-modern little car -- one of the visual punchlines to the new Pink Panther movie -- parking in the Back Bay, among the ever-present Saabs and Volvos.

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I'm experimenting with a new "frame" for my Photos of the Day. Opinions on it are welcomed.

June 10

I was walking back to work after parking my car when I happened to look up and catch sight of these two very traditional-looking pipes sticking out of a very postmodern wall of the very postmodern building where I work.

As I'm mechanically disinclined, I have no idea what these pipes do. It did make me think, though, about how Boston manages to meld old architecture and new architecture into a seamless whole. When the Apple Store opened on Boylston Street, the minimalist glass cube set among a row of traditional storefronts should have looked ludicrously out of place. Yet in Boston, it works -- and it won a design award to boot.

If that can work, and win awards, I guess it's not surprising to find two "vintage" pipes in a postmodern ediface. Truth be told, it's nice to live in a place where the two extremes, and everything in-between, can coexist.

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June 09

In general -- and in most cases, specifically -- I'm against littering. It's bad for the environment, it's not tidy, and it's uncouth.

Today, though, I was given a glimpse of nature's resiliency. I'm not sure how healthy it is for house sparrows to eat out of plastic containers, and suspect it's just as bad for them as it is for us. At least some living creature was getting sustenance from the litter, though, which I suppose is somewhat better than having it be a completely bad thing.

Still, I wish people would pick up after themselves instead of being lazy jackasses. Litterers suck.

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June 08

I spent my first three hours or so on shift tonight folding floorplans. Believe it or not, tedious as it sounds, it wasn't an unpleasant way to start my workday.

Folding floorplans is busywork, pure and simple. It doesn't require a brain surgeon, takes little in the way of skills, and it can be pretty boring, yet it must be done. And honestly, I enjoy busywork on occasion. There are just some days when I have to be at work, but the old brain is a little soft in the middle. Busywork is perfect. Occasionally I even seek it out, and end up taking care of back filing, sorting items, arranging menus and the like.

At the risk of sounding like a nerdy Klingon and a geek (for making this reference), "Today is a good day to file."

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June 07

Today's weekend photo walk was one of the more interesting trips I've taken -- specifically because of the company.

Anna and Brandon busied themselves doing environmental work before the photo walk began. They hauled a shopping cart out of the Muddy River near Fenway. I was invited to participate but declined. I picked them up and off we headed, meandering around until we decided to head over to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument.

Marion had to work until 4 pm -- and then an hour later -- so we picked her up en route to Castle Island. She was sporting two black eyes and a bruise over her left eye from a softball accident, so any portraiture plans with my most willing subject went out the proverbial window. Since she gamely let me take photos, though, I cleaned up the bruising just a teensy little bit in Photoshop. After all, we must look our best. ;-)

In the future, I hope we can get some more folks involved in our walks. The people I've met through National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy are really some of the most interesting and unique individuals I know -- and I have high standards. It's just a lot of fun spending time with them.

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June 06

Anna, my friend and the Young Adult Librarian at the West Roxbury Branch Library, procured an easel to advertise my Photo Workshop on June 24th. Of course, finding something to fill the easel was another issue entirely.

I frankly don't have the money to go have an enlargement of my letter-sized flier made, so I was left with the issue of filling all that space. I considered posting interesting photos around the flier, but that was ... well, boring.

Then I remembered I know how to rasterbate.

The idea of the big poster is to get people's attention, so I looked through my selection of photos for something eye-catching. This photo of Belynda was perfect, and it served as a perfect surround for the flier. Additionally, it's a cheap solution.

I love it when I'm able to come up with a good solution to an unusual problem.

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June 05

There's a perfectly rational explanation for this photo. Really.

Late last night, my friend Anna stopped by my workplace after going to the nearby Barnes and Noble. As she had today off, and I hadn't had dinner yet, she proposed that we go out and dine after I got off work. Easier said than done, considering I get off work at 11:30 pm.

Not to be deterred, we decided to go to IHOP, the old reliable 24-hour standby. When we pulled into the parking lot, we spotted this poor Boston Globe box -- sad, neglected, upended. I briefly opined about metaphors and the toppling of the print newspaper industry before telling Anna to go stand there and pretend she killed it. Hey, at 12:01 am, after a long day's work and no dinner, that's funny.

OK, so not perfectly rational, but still funny enough.

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June 04

Posting parking meters two days in a row still isn't as bad as all those flower pictures, is it?

What can I say, except that today offered pretty slim pickings photography-wise. I've been kept fairly busy with life and the assorted crap that comes along with it, so getting the camera out and actually finding something noteworthy is problematic.

Today's pic comes from my many circuits of Back Bay city blocks looking for non-resident parking this evening. I do this pretty much every day, so it's applicable to my everyday life. Some days it's easier than others to find that final spot of the day; other days, I have to bite the bullet and pay to park in the garage next door. And there's the ever-present risk of out-of-order meters, with their one-hour limit, and Boston's "move to another block" rule after your meter expires.

It may not be interesting, but it's my life. (Hey, I think I just coined my new blog catchphrase!)

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June 03

Summer is remodeling season in Boston's Back Bay, as evidenced by this casually-placed hard hat in a tree.

Remodeling means construction, which means construction trucks taking parking places and other spaces being cordoned off for deliveries and pickups -- even the occasional double-parked enormous construction vehicle taking up more than its alloted half of the already-narrow Back Bay streets. Boston doesn't have that much on-street parking in the first place, so losing five or ten spaces on adjacent blocks has a knock-on effect for the entire neighborhood.

Fortunately, construction workers arrive early and knock off early, so if I can find a space initially, it holds me over for two hours when more spaces are free.

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June 02

I'm notoriously bad at growing things. When I see flowers like the ones my neighbor Nicolene grows in her front garden, I'm left green -- pun intended -- with envy.

A couple of summers ago, the boyfriend and I grew tomatoes in pots on our front porch. Boyfriend even put some mint and spices in the soil around the base of the plants. Our reasoning in growing tomatoes was sound enough -- they thrive under "benign neglect," which is pretty much the best a plant will get under my watch. The tomatoes grew tall on their stakes, because I didn't know that you're supposed to prune from the top, and while we harvested perhaps two dozen small tomatoes from the plants, it took two or three of these miniature tomatoes to equal one supermarket specimen.

Nonetheless, it was nice to walk out the door to a little forest of green that summer, if only because it was green and living and vibrant. I may have to try my hand at gardening again soon. Practice makes perfect?

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June 01

There is a no-tipping policy in place at the high-end luxury apartment building where I work. "It's all part of the service," is what we're supposed to say when refusing gratuities from grateful residents.

Many of our residents, however, will not be deterred so easily. Ennio and I are often the recipients of gifts of food -- everything from dinner to snacks to sweets -- that our residents bring us to show us their appreciation for our hard work. Today, over the course of about ten minutes, one resident brought us fudge and macaroons from Ocean City, NJ, while another brought us an Edible Arrangements selection of chocolate-covered strawberries (pictured, with an appreciative Ennio).

As I've said before and likely will say again, the residents may offer us the occasional tip out of a feeling of obligation. When they feed you, though, you know they like you.

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May 31

If I were a superstitious person -- or any more superstitious than I already am, I should say -- today would have been very auspicious indeed!

My friend Keith and I went roaming today, half in search of photo ops and half just getting out and enjoying a pretty Sunday afternoon. Near the JFK Library, after walking by the bay, we came onto a secluded little garden area. I looked down, because I will look for four-leaf clovers in any patch of clover I happen to see, and spotted this pretty little specimen.

Afterward, between rain showers, we caught sight of a rainbow from Castle Island and then another one over Boston from Memorial Drive in Cambridge.

With all these good luck omens today, I should have bought a lottery ticket!

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May 30

My photo walk today was less of a walk and more of a car-based meander.

It was a great day here in Boston, with temperatures in the high 70s but low humidity. Puffy white clouds floated in the clear blue sky while I drove around this afternoon. Nobody was available to hang out, so I went it alone and ended up having a really good time.

From Memorial Drive in Cambridge, I went over to Bunker Hill Park in Charlestown, then to the Charlestown Navy Yard, before driving over to Castle Island and capturing some shots of airliners taking off.

It was there, on the fishing pier, that I looked over my shoulder and caught sight of the stunning sunset behind the Boston skyline. No question -- this was going to be my Photo of the Day.

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May 29

Next month, I'm going to be teaching a photography workshop for teens at the West Roxbury Branch Library.

My friend Anna is the Young Adult Librarian there, and in response to a request from one of her students, she asked if I could present this workshop. Originally, it was going to be in the fall, but for budgetary reasons (their fiscal year ends June 30th), they were able to bring me in much earlier.

Above is the flier I've been working on to advertise the event. The library -- read, Anna -- offered to do one for me, but I'm so particular about these kind of things, I thought it best to take care of the design myself. And I'm nearly happy with this one (as you might be able to tell from the scribbled notes in Sharpie all over it). I have a little less than a month to get the workshop materials together, so it should make for an interesting experience.

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May 28

The Global Positioning System, a constellation of satellites circling the planet, is often my saving grace on car trips. This is my second GPS unit, and it is a Godsend.

I don't get lost easily. That's not a tribute to any navigational skills you might imagine I have, but more of a result of the fact that I don't often leave known routes. Pre-GPS, when I drove any distance, I usually had a road atlas or Google Map directions. These were fine until you got turned around, missed a turn, or were in a town the atlas/directions didn't cover.

Fortunately, with portable GPS receivers programmed intelligently with directions, waypoints, and attractions, it's almost impossible for me to ever get truly lost. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

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May 27

You have to admire the lawless insouciance that inspires a driver who's earned a parking ticket to casually crumple it up and toss it in the gutter with his other litter.

Having earned many parking tickets in my life -- and suffered the consequences of untimely payment of same -- Careless Charlie's casual tossing aside of the ticket suggests to me that he's not from Boston. Back Bay does get a few tourists now and again, so it's quite easy for them to run afoul of the labyrinth of parking regulations and overlapping jurisdictions that hold sway over Boston's precious few on-street parking spaces.

As for the littering ... well, that's just inexcusable.

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May 26

I'm feeling better, and since I arrived at work early this afternoon (which is almost unheard of), I took my camera out and took a walk around the block.

This flowerpot on West Newton Street caught my eye because it only has two flowers in a pot obviously designed to hold many more. It has to be deliberate, though, as it stands alone in a small brick forecourt, and the flowers are healthy and well-tended.

Some places definitely need a little bit of greenery in them to make them feel alive and vibrant. The two flowers, standing proudly, certainly have a dignity about them. Better to show restraint than to get attention for overdoing it.

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May 25

This is not an actual photo of the day, but one of my alternates taken on May 23rd. I thought it was an appropriate reminder that Memorial Day is not just a long weekend, the unofficial start of summer, and the time to begin backyard barbecues, but a time to remember lost loved ones -- particularly former military personnel.

I wasn't able to get a photo yesterday because of illness. I think I gave myself food poisoning, and in the course of all that, I pulled some muscles in my back, stomach, and pelvis. I didn't get any sleep on Sunday night, either. Yesterday, there was just no chance of me bringing out my heavy camera bag and looking for something to photograph.

All in all, 144 days in a row of having something to show (142 photos, two screencaps) is a pretty good record. Now I have to see if I can finish the year with no more failures to perform.

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May 24

We've had a stormy day here today. It's funny; a stormy day in New England is an entirely different experience than a stormy day in the midwest.

Getting a photo of a stormy day is something of a challenge. Lightning comes so quickly that it takes a lot of effort, dedication, and no small amount of luck to get a photo of it. Rain is just difficult to capture clearly. However, the raindrops falling earlier this afternoon were big, splashy drops, so I was able to get some interesting shots of the rain hitting my front steps (shot from the relative dryness of a covered front porch). I particularly love the splashes created by some of the drops as they hit.

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May 23

The City of Boston is holding a small Memorial Day observance tomorrow at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan. Boston purchased this cemetery 140 years ago, and offers veterans and dependents free plots here. It is also the site of a memorial dedicated to all veterans.

I drove by this afternoon and was struck at the sight of all the freshly-planted flags. Each flag marks the gravesite of a veteran. It is a moving sight.

Getting this photo of the day was very difficult. I couldn't -- and wouldn't -- cheapen such a moving sight by merely viewing at it as camera fodder. I tried many angles, including close-ups of individual stones and shooting the memorial without the gravesites, before deciding on this shot of some of the graves, with the memorial standing guard in the back.

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May 22

For most of the six or so years that Pogo (my dog) and Pretty Boy (my cat) have lived together, they've pretty much ignored each other. Occasionally, the cat would hit the dog, and the dog would snarl at the cat, but once done, they went right back to the status quo: pretending the other animal just doesn't exist.

Boyfriend and I have caught them not ignoring each other more and more lately, as Pogo becomes more infirm. Today was the best; I got out of the shower to find them not only sharing our perpetually-unmade bed, but touching each other.

Once Pretty Boy realized I'd seen him, he took off for another room in the house. Pogo, going blind and nearly deaf, simply slept on.

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May 21

As I was driving to work today, I was behind this cyclist for a couple of blocks on South Huntington Ave. It got me to thinking about commuting to and from work on a bicycle again. While today's photo doesn't have the whimsy of April 13th's, seeing this guy did bring to mind the same ideas.

I was hit by a car while riding my bike in late May 2007. That put an end to my cycling commute for a while. I ditched the damaged bike and haven't replaced it yet, though I've been giving it some real thought. Boyfriend offered to let me ride his bike, but it's a racing bike and probably a little too small for me to ride comfortably for any length of time.

I'll work on getting a bike sometime this summer, and hopefully will dodge cars more successfully than in the past.

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May 20

Spring has finally brought warmer weather to Boston, and a noticeable decrease in the number of blooming flowers I see. My allergies rejoice at less pollen in the air, and I love the warmer weather (I much prefer heat to cold).

As I walked to work from my parking space today, I glanced up at a window box on Garrison Street and noticed this strikingly bright little geranium dressing up the foliage on display. It's either the first or the last of the season's flowers there -- either way, the little red flower stands out in a sea of green leafy beauty.

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May 19

Vacation is over. It's time to get back to the routine, which includes walking the dog and going to work. Good thing the building where I work is photogenic.

After having what was one of the busiest, workingist vacations I've taken in a while, I'm back to the usual routine at home. Realistically, this means getting up late, having a very unhealthy breakfast before nearly being late to work, then bickering almost good-naturedly with my doorman, Ennio, before settling in and doing my job, which is best described as keeping a building full of wealthy people happy.

Oh yes, it's good to be back.

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