My "monorail" cat now likes the chair

My cat is cool. Mine has this look, this "kick-back" look that I enjoy photographing. Here are a few images of Clifford hanging out on a chair - chillin'. He also likes what one of my friends tabbed as the "monorail," but not today.

From Highland Looking West

In January the moon was fantastic. The day before this photo, I saw the moon at an even better spot. I tried for that the next morning and it never materialized. Instead I got this shot. I guess I'm on the lookout for the shot I really wanted.

Highland hit hard by weather, floods

This past Wednesday I was on my way out to the doctors office but could not get passed my main street of Baseline Road on Dec. 22, 2010. The road was flowing with water, mud and debris - looking like a fast moving dirty river you see in movies. By chance I grabbed my camera before leaving and got all muddied-up taking pictures. The community pool and path were severely covered in mud. The pool, tot pool and playground were completely buried. See some images in a gallery from day one here. In this blog post, I have some follow-up photos from Friday Dec. 24, 2010 of a neighborhood south of where of live, which is considered an original part of east Highland. Residents, neighbors and close friends helped clear out some of the Old Greenspot Road area. Residents also looked for lost pets, one finding a cat, and tried to recover items from shelves and walls. Unfortunately, much was lost, including Christmas gifts. Many homes were caked in a sea of mud up to 3 to 4 feet high. Prison hand crews from San Diego also were on hand clearing cars and roads and preparing for the next session of rain, which weather specialists say is coming Wednesday. The crews were still working on these roads Monday, Dec. 22. Here are some photos and a gallery gallery link to more photos.

Inspired by Strobist

I had the aspiration to take some more photos of my cat Clifford this weekend. He can be a pretty good model, often looking at me on queue or looking off-camera with that perfect glare. Plus, I like to practice what I read from one of my favorite blogs -- Strobist. I took out my speedlight flashes and my Nikon D300s. There are two SB-900's (Both at 1/2 power) and one older SB600 (used a bungee ball to hold white paper to bounce the flash). I used the SB-600 to trigger the other two flashes, but do have an inexpensive wireless trigger that I just didn't bring out . I moved them around a bit to get the right photo. That's what's great about digital cameras - you can chimp.

On Halloween I was also inspired by Strobist, but only had two flashes. I put one on a stand and hand-held the other. They were both pointed toward my daughter as the sun was setting. By the way, I use manual mode. I would say the one on the stand was at 1/2 power and the one in my hand was at 1/8 power. As you can see my daughter was modeling her costume, in true scary roaring fashion - as a leopard. She looks great, huh!

We came across a brown praying mantis

After hitting the ball around on the local tennis courts today, my daughter asked if we could stop at the playground for a bit. My thought was this sounds like a good idea. After all she hit tennis balls with me, I could hang with her at the playground. First thing we notice when we get there was this large brown insect on the metal railing along the pathway. It got our attention! I'm sure it saw us coming too. Gabby told me it was a brown praying mantis and that she had seen one on Friday. I thought, that's so cool she knows what this insect is. We looked at it and Gabby took a twig and lightly touched it. I had to get my cell phones camera out - of course. I have had my misses with this camera phone, often getting weird bands and wavy looking light trails in it and of course it's not very sharp, so I often get misses. I took several pictures of just the praying mantis, and then Gabby came around and looked at it. There was already a nice light on it from this direction, so I capitalized on her being a background and took a few pictures. I think I got a pretty good one too.

A little Americana

Last week my neighbors had a yard sale. In my neighborhood "they" let us have one a couple times a year. This year, my neighbors got cute and Americana with some signs. A shirt, vest, cut-out head and hands with a finger pointing the way. They placed ones similar to this one down the street in a couple different spots. As I looked up and down the street, it was obvious these were the best and catchiest signs. They also were very busy. Cars were parked blocking driveways, parked nonchalantly and haphazardly along the curb, making for a busy morning of haggling. Way to go neighbors!

Beautiful Day

After five days of heavy rain, Saturday gave way for some beautiful scenery near my house in Highland. Snow-capped mountains, clouds, blue sky and left over water contrasted with rocks and a desert terrain make a nice view. I found this spot near the Santa Ana Wash on my way home from working an assignment in Pomona. About 60 students from where I work gave free health care to underprivileged local residents, so I saw some great things today.

Health Education Center Opens

The new 180,000-square-foot Health Education Center opened to classes Monday. Here is a link to the story and a slideshow gallery of images.

Canada geese migrate south, stop in San Bernardino

I came across Canada geese making a stop in San Bernardino Wednesday, Dec. 30, on Hospitality Lane near Costco. Click here to see a gallery of images.

Remembering Leo Greene at the Claremont Museum of Art

In August 2006, Leo Greene was diagnosed with ALS. It is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease and often kills the person diagnosed with the disease within five years. In late 2007, Leo and I went to he Packing House and specifically the Claremont Museum of Art as part of a video for one his many monthly columns about his journey with ALS.
Click here for link to the video.
Today, I fondly remember Leo and particularly our day at the museum. I remember the friendly folks who were at the museum that day, both accommodating us and watching us. And of course I remember the many 'takes' we did in the narrow hallway that was part of the museum. I bring all this up because the Claremont Museum of Art closed its doors today. Leo was a big fan of the museum.
See the story here in the Daily Bulletin.