May 17

Driving through central Illinois, the views of distant farms and fields of corn is pretty common. It can look pretty desolate in spring, but this fertile land will be bountiful by the end of the summer.

This photo, hastily snapped from the shoulder of Interstate 155, is one of the few photos I've taken this weekend that aren't of my close friends and family. This vacation has proven to be busier than I could have expected, and while I'm not complaining -- it's been a remarkable experience -- it did make me think about this project.

In Boston, I'm very familiar with the city and especially the areas I frequent. The challenge of doing the POTD is in finding new and interesting things among the utterly familiar surroundings. One would think that traveling to a new place would present ample opportunities for this kind of project, and in the past it certainly has. This trip, though, where I've been kept quite busy, I just haven't had the time to really concentrate on the experience. Even the opportunities I've had to get good POTD photos have been less than satisfying; I'm going to try to get a better photo of the building with the insurance agent, realtor, and gun shop owned by the same family, right next to the hearing aid store immediately adjacent.

I certainly don't mean to make it sound as though I'm not happy about this; I am very intensely pleased that my friends have made so much time for me, and that it's been such an enjoyable experience, and I wouldn't change a second of it.

Tomorrow is likely to be another dicey photography day, as I'll be driving and flying and sitting around airports for the greater part of my waking hours.

My challenge in planning future trips is going to be setting aside time for sitting by myself, for doing both the touristy things and the off-the-beaten track things, and to make photos of what catches my interest whenever I can.

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May 16

It's been a day of academic accomplishment in Lincoln, Illinois today. Ruth's family had a big celebration today because of all the graduates. From left to right:

Shannon (Ruth's daughter) completed eighth grade, an accomplishment Ruth takes particular pride in because Shannon is homeschooled.

Jimmy (Ruth's father) received his college degree today, almost 30 years after he began working on it. He didn't have the benefit of a high school education when he started, so this accomplishment is doubly impressive.

Whitney (Ruth's niece) graduated from high school and will start college on Monday. She's camera shy and, judging from the speed with which she plans to get started on her own higher education, a glutton for punishment.

Ruth received her degree in the same ceremony as her father. She hasn't been working on it for as long as Jimmy has, but she's justifiably proud of the accomplishment of getting her degree while homeschooling children and working full-time. I suspect her biggest desires are to get lots of sleep and rest.

Between the graduation, the cake, the party, the photo ops, and hanging out with friends, it was a busy day. I'm glad I made it here.

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May 15

My travel plans left me with a day of ... well, nothing to do. With my friend Ruth working and the kids still in school, I literally had nobody to entertain and no place to really do it. So I went for a photo walk.

Taking the photo walk was a dicey proposition. A line of storms came through yesterday and more were coming today, so I had to get out while it wasn't raining and the light was okay. I drove out to the airport and the Heritage in Flight Museum, which was closed. Their website is still under development, and their answering machine doesn't state the operating hours. It's a completely volunteer-run operation, but getting real information is tough. The planes parked outside are totally accessible, though, so I snapped some photos.

Then I drove over to the architecturally-significant Logan County Courthouse (seen here). It's a little more than a century old, and according to wikipedia, it is, "considered the second most architecturally spectacular surviving historic courthouse in Illinois' 102 Counties." It's a pretty building.

And I went down a remaining abandoned portion of historic Route 66, to the site of a former bridge over Salt Creek. The concrete piers of the bridge are still in place, and it's a nice walk down.

The sky began darkening around then, so I put my camera away and hied back to the hotel to relax a bit. I'd promised to take Ruth's kids swimming tonight, so a nap was in order to brace myself for herding three loud teenagers. That was an adventure in itself, albeit one that yielded no photographic evidence.

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May 14

It has been a long day of travel.

Fortunately, after all of the kerfuffle that accompanied my planning this trip, the actual travel part went smoothly enough. I got up early, and Boyfriend got me to the airport with time to spare. The flight was on time, and landed early in Chicago (even though we had to wait for our gate to open). The rental car is fine, the drive was long but uneventful, and the hotel is clean and comfortable.

If the rest of the weekend is as pleasant, this trip will prove to be well worth it.

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May 13

I'm getting ready to go on my vacation and I've been so busy, I was scrambling to get a photo of the day today. I was snapping photos of my GPS unit (out of desperation) when Jake and his human, Diane, came home. I had my camera in my hand while Diane petted Jake, and caught this remarkable moment of contentment between them. Jake is one very happy and very loved puppy dog. He really is a sweetheart.

Occasionally, a photographer has an "aha moment," where everything comes together perfectly for the shot. This is the perfect example of the phenomenon.

Please note: I will be traveling over the next five days, so blog updates may be delayed by a day or so. I promise, though, that I'll be out there shooting. --Travis

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May 12

As I drove home last night from work, I noticed that the moon, low on the horizon and peeking from between clouds, was strikingly beautiful. This was in Jamaica Plain, and there was no good vantage point to pull over, pull out my camera, and get a photo.

There's also the problem of getting a good photograph of the moon. It's tough when it's almost full, because it's so bright and the sky is so dark.

I turned right onto South Street near Forest Hills Station and found a gap in the trees through which I could shoot the moon. This was half manic inspiration and half pragmatic photographer; since the moon was low on the horizon, it would work to silhouette the trees if I positioned myself right, and since I wasn't likely to get a crisply clear, perfectly-exposed photo of the moon (especially with the clouds lit up all around it), those silhouettes were what was going to make this shot.

This shot was taken at 12:28:10 am, the last of a series of shots. As soon as I saw it on the camera screen, I knew I had the Photo of the Day for today -- with 23½ hours to spare!

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May 11

I've been planning to go out to Illinois to celebrate my friend Ruth graduating college for several months now, perhaps even as long as a year. Unfortunately, every time I got my plans somewhat set, something happened to put them in peril.

The first big obstacle was in March, when my old computer bit the dust. Buying a replacement, which was pretty important to me, put a big dent in my savings. I was on the cusp of canceling my trip then, but I was able to change my plans sufficiently (cutting two days off my trip) to make it financially feasible. I still wasn't certain I could afford it, but I kept working on my savings plan, and finally, on April 21st, I bought my plane tickets. No going back -- or so I thought.

Then the Commonwealth of Massachusetts stepped in. I missed paying my excise taxes in 2008 (don't ask me how, I don't know), so I had to pay them -- pronto! -- to renew my car registration. The computer was a financial boo-boo compared to the surgery I had to perform on my budget to make this trip work. For 10 days I thought I wasn't going to be able to make the trip, because I simply didn't have the money when I needed it -- a classic cash-flow problem. I get paid during this trip, but I needed money before payday.

I planned. I schemed. I plotted. I considered driving out to Illinois -- an 18-hour trip each way. Perversely, driving my own car is more expensive than flying and renting a car out there, but from a cash-flow perspective, I could almost afford it. I looked at flying -- the airline tickets were already paid for -- and staying in an inexpensive airport hotel for a night, picking up my rental car on Friday, after my paycheck was direct-deposited. I downgraded my hotel in Lincoln to save about $100 over four days. It was all borderline at best.

A friend asked me about my plans, so I mentioned to her all of the hoops I was jumping through because of cash flow. Out of the blue, she offered to lend me the money I needed. Wow. I considered it over the weekend, and yesterday, accepted her offer. So the trip, which had been tenuous at best, is back on.

Honestly, this trip has come back to life more often than Shirley MacLaine. I'm just glad it's back on.

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May 10

Boyfriend and I had a date this afternoon.

We're both Star Trek fans, so the release of the new movie is good news to us. Boston wasn't fortunate enough to be one of the early release cities for this film, so this weekend was the first chance we had to see it. And even though it's the third day since its release, the theater was still packed. For what it's worth, we both enjoyed it immensely.

I won't go into a movie review here, nor will I give away any spoilers. If you're a Star Trek fan, though, go see the film for yourself -- and hopefully, you'll enjoy it as much as we did.

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May 09

It's been a long week. I embraced the arrival of the weekend and the lack of anything urgent to do, and spent the day doing nothing.

Then I remembered this blog.

I grabbed my camera and went off on a "photo walk." That's where I go and take my camera and photograph whatever catches my fancy. I meandered by the commuter rail station and decided to work with leading lines, since railroad tracks are the obvious and most-cited examples. Looking at the picture, you'd never realize you were within the Boston city limits.

It was an easy decision to take this photo. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

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May 08

I was walking -- rushing, actually -- out my door today when I caught sight of this unusual-looking plant in the front yard. It's a Bleeding Heart, a kind of plant I had never seen before. It's quite pretty.

I've had two predominant reactions to flower photos on this blog. Some people say, "Oh, another flower photo," in a disdainful tone, and others go, "Oh, another flower photo," but in a much more enthusiastic tone. I've been fortunate this year that my landladies have done such a great job landscaping the yard. It seems like there's another color of tulip coming up every week. On pretty days it makes me feel good to see all the beautiful flowers, and on bad days, I feel a little better for having been around such beauty.

I promise, late next week will bring some new and different photos to the Photo of the Day blog. I'm leaving for vacation in Illinois, so something other than commute photos and flowers will be featured.

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May 07

So yesterday, water main work near my house prematurely cut off my attempts to finish washing my clothes. Today, police activity near the laundromat where I dry the washed clothes (our dryer is dead) nearly prevented me from finishing the job.

I'm not sure what the story was, but I did see the police escorting these two folks out of the parking lot and into two separate cruisers. They moved the cruisers blocking entry to the laundromat parking lot a few moments later, so I made the block (it's on a one-way street), pulled in, and dried my laundry (albeit 45 minutes later than I planned).

Honestly, I'm almost ready to conclude these are signs from God, and that He doesn't want me doing laundry anymore. Unfortunately, nobody else (including the Almighty) is likely to buy that one.

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May 06

The City of Boston decided to clean the water mains in several locations around Roslindale today. Coincidentally, today was my laundry day.

I have no idea what is involved with cleaning water mains, to be honest. Nor am I certain why they have to be cleaned in groups (there were further crews on Cummins Highway -- two of them). I guess you don't want your nice clean water main gunked up by dirty ones nearby? Whatever the process, it used water from a nearby hydrant and a big vacuum hose thingie.

Actually, I don't know that this has anything to do with water mains, except for the name on the side of the truck and possibly the use of the hydrant. Still, with stuff being stirred up in the vicinity of utility lines to my home, I don't think it was worth the risk.

Now, Thursday will be laundry day!

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May 05

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Compare and contrast this photo to the Photo of the Day from April 27. Same street, same approximate shooting location, but visually different results. It's chilly and rainy in Boston today, and with winds in the teens many of the blooms have blown off the trees. Everything is refreshingly green, of course, which is still nice to look at.

I thought it was most pronounced looking at St. Botolph Street this afternoon after parking my car for work. Along the sidewalks and around parked cars there's a carpet of white flower petals. Traffic, winds and rain have washed clean the streets.

I also snapped this picture in a brief respite from the rain, when I felt it safe to take my camera out. Rainy days depress me a bit, so I took the opportunity to get a photo when I could.

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May 04

Please allow me to present another pretty flower picture. With all the new planting in the yard, it seems like every time something begins to die off, a new bloom comes out to replace it. Since tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cold, this was my last chance for a couple of days.

That, and I couldn't think of anything else worth photographing.

Today's photo brings me a little past one-third of the way to my year's worth of photos. It's been both easier and more difficult than I'd thought it would be. Whatever else can be said about the experience, though, it has been a rewarding one.

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May 03

My ass hurts.

What that statement lacks in eloquence it makes up for in brevity. Anna convinced Brandon and me that going to a skating rink would be a fun and entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I was dreadful in not replying to her e-mail right away, but with all the crap going on at the end of last week, combined with planning my possibly to-be-cancelled trip to Illinois, I really didn't know if I was going to be up for it.

Obviously, I thought I was. And I was ... sort of. My greatest accomplishment of the evening was playing skee-ball while on rollerblades. And I really have to commend the builders of Roller World in Saugus for their excellent roller rink floor, which survived many impacts. I'm going to omit the litany of aches and pains my poor abused body feels, and go back to those magical three words that say it all: "My ass hurts."

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May 02

I complain a lot about the City of Boston -- the city government, traffic woes, etc. -- but occasionally, the city does something right.

There's a small traffic island on Washington Street as you approach Roslindale Square from the south. To be honest, I haven't noticed any exceptional landscaping there before, but this spring, the city planted hundreds of tulips. And now they're all in bloom.

It's really very pretty, and I've been lurking, waiting for the best time to get a photo of the colorful display. It's a very bright, very welcoming entrance to the heart of our neighborhood

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May 01

You know it's been a busy day when the Photo of the Day is an accident.

Today was spent getting the rest of the paperwork together to renew my auto registration, which expired last night. I had to get up early -- I find that to be odious -- and take the T into Boston to do a lot of walking around, sorting out, and paying things. In the end, it was a straightforward process, but time-consuming, and I ended up rushing to get to work on time for the second day in a row.

This shot was accidental. I was hurrying into work at the employee entrance when my camera, slung over my shoulder, began to slip. I grabbed it to keep it from falling and got this skewed shot of the service corridor. As I sat down tonight to review my photos, I came across the image and realized I liked it. It has a certain frenetic energy that really encapsulates my mood today.

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Yesterday's Photo of the Day has been posted, too.

April 30

I caught sight of this lady sitting in her lawn chair by Jamaica Pond on the way to work today. To say that I envied her this relaxation as I hurried to work (where I arrived late) would be an understatement.

Today was spent doing damage control. I realized last night that my car's registration was going to expire at the end of April. I had to drive up to Everett today to pay an outstanding parking ticket. I've never been to Everett in my life, and the ticket is obviously a mistake, but because of the registration issue it was more expedient to pay the ticket than to contest it. Getting to Everett was a pain in the ass, and driving through the town was depressing. Suffice it to say, Everett lacks the cachet of Lynn and the charm of Worcester.

The trip, according to Google Maps, should have been a 30-minute drive each way. It took an hour. The parking clerk, while nice enough, was very busy, so I had to wait. And I ended up getting to work late.

On the plus side, it was a nice day for a drive.

120/365

April 29

My doorman Ennio could have been an interior decorator.

In the lobby of the building where I work, we have a low fireplace with a large mirrored mantle over it. The space spans about 7 by 7 feet, so it's difficult to fill effectively. My manager wanted something to go there, though, so Ennio took on the challenge. He hacked off some pear tree branches with buds, selected a tall vase, worked his magic and voilà! A pretty -- and free -- lobby decoration that effective fills the 49 square foot space.

With all the straight lines and modern decor, it's nice to have something organic to break up the severity of the lobby. And, of course, it's great to have somebody like Ennio around who can work this kind of magic.

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April 28

My downstairs neighbors and landladies have an impressive collection of tulips in the backyard. Today's heat -- it was 90+ degrees -- had some of the flowers looking a little peaked, but the backyard tulips seem to be tolerating the heat just fine.

For my part, I kind of liked the heat. It's a welcome change from the frigid winter we lived through this year. I feel bad for Pogo, though. I have to talk to Boyfriend about getting him groomed and thinning out his coat a bit for the summer. His half-husky heritage definitely works against him when the temperature goes up. Fortunately, we're getting more seasonal temperatures overnight, and the rest of the week won't be quite so miserable for the little guy.

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