Monday, March 28, 2016

Spider hatch, garden

While looking at my trees, I found a large web in the crotch of a branch. I thought it was tent caterpillars and was about to destroy the nest. But it turned out to be a hatch of truly tiny spiders. So back in the house for a macro lens and here they are.

Photography while lame, shameless theft of a Lee Friedlander idea.

 A couple of weeks ago I had a severe and sudden attack of sciatica. A lot of pain going down the back of both legs and a case of foot drop in my right foot. My primary care doctor sent me for x-rays and an MRI. I have spondilolithesis (or a slipped disk) and spinal stenosis in my lower back (arthritis in the L3-L4 vertebrae). I could only walk slowly and my foot flopped. It basically means that there is quite a bit of wear and tear on my lower back, combined with arthritis. The extreme treatment is to remove the disk and inject bone tissue to fill the gap, fusing the lower spine and leading to a long, painful recovery. Short of that, one tries to get the back more in line and work on the surrounding muscles (back and abdomen) to hold the disks apart. While deciding what to do, I spent a lot of time in the garden, just sitting, next to my Datura bush (also called Angel's Trumpets). As ever, I had a camera with me and started to photograph these stems every day. Lee Friedlander created a whole book of pictures of flower stems in a vase, taken while he was housebound, recovering from an ailment. As they say, steal from the best.
 To add to the spinal story, I was a little better, but still weak down my right leg and still with foot drop, when I went for a massage that my wife gave me for Christmas. It was a great massage and I was left to dress. Getting off the table, I wrenched my back, creating pain and stiffness on my left side. I limped out to my car and drove home. By the time I got home the pain had started to go down on both sides. The next morning, most of the sciatica was gone, and, a week later, the foot drop was gone. Now, three weeks later there is just residual pain in my lower back, no sciatica or foot drop and a pretty pain free life. I have initiated a series of stretches and exercises that aim to strengthen my lower back and core muscles and these are helping already. Tomorrow I go to a physical therapist who will assess me and, I am sure, give me a more comprehensive set of exercises. A brief scare but I got these pictures out of it.





Shadow, PVIC


Thursday, March 24, 2016

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Two discards, Jax Beach

 These were very close in a parking lot. I cannot figure out what the bottom list refers to. I guess mushrooms is the closest.

DOVE, MSD

This little guy was in the middle of the sidewalk when I turned a corner. He flew up into a bush and posed for me.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Hibiscus, garden, Roscoe

Like most of the continental U.S., we have had an easy winter. I have many hibiscus (hibiscus?) around my garden and they usually get knocked back almost to the ground if we even hint at a frost. This year we have only had minor leaf damage and they are blooming a full 6 weeks earlier than they normally do. Thank you El Nino, curse you global warming, or climate change, or, for the ignorami, a normal cycle of temperature that has nothing to do with man's carbon footprint and means we can still burn coal and buy big 'ol damn trucks.

Town Center

I never realized how small Justin Bieber's chin was.

Jax Beach

This is the third picture I have taken with my new camera, a Sony RX10. It is a 1" sensor zoom camera. The lens is a lovely Zeiss 24-200mm equivalent f/2.8 gem. I think I'm going to like this, especially for travel.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Plant Ranch, Jax Beach

This is where I get all of my plants and herbs. My Meyer lemon trees from here are overwhelming me this year.

On the dock, Roscoe

Spring is here, the rosemary is blooming!

Hydrants, Jax Beach

The one above believes in razed earth, the one below is a gardener.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Sand face, PVIC


Chicken, Maggie's Herbs, St. Augustine.......for Martina

I have found chickens to photograph!

Door, Jax Beach, for Rei

Rei, here is how a similar door looked a few weeks ago. As you can see, Florida truck drivers back up by feel. See three posts below to see how these doors look now.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

I could only see using a Holga lens for this. I love the soft smearing.

Jacksonville Beach


Yellow and blue, Jax Beach

Two weeks ago all of these doors were a very faded green. I go by every week so, to me, it was a jarring change.

Front dooryard