Jeff Rambles

Jeff's Photos and Occasional Commentary

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Oxford Canal


The beautiful weather lent itself to walking along bits of the Oxford Canal. The narrow boats and life on the canal is fascinating to me. Maybe some day I'll walk the entire 78 or so miles it covers from Oxford to Coventry, or take a canal cruise. There is heaps of information out there about the canal, currently it seems to be in a period of renaissance.
Are but a few.

Below is a small sampling of the photos I took. Eventually my entire set of photos from England will make it to a slide show linked on the right side of the blog.


Bridge 183, Oxford Canal - North of Aynho, England






The Tow Path, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England






New Laid Eggs, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England






Dog Guides His Boat, Castle Quay Drawbridge 164, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England

Friday, March 09, 2012

Avebury - Wiltshire, England


Spent a little vacation time with Elesa in the English country side. The weather was beautiful except for the 3 or 4 hours we were in Avebury where we had driving snow and rain. My camera and I were soaking wet by the time I was finished wandering among the stones.

Avebury is part of the "Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites" World Heritage Site. The Avebury prehistoric stone circle is the largest in the world. The stone patterns there encircle and pass through the village. The accompanying circular ditch/mound is over 1 kilometer in circumference. A large number of the stones were destroyed in the middle ages and into the 17th century even as some of the early researchers did their work. Now, markers are placed where they know stones used to be. Unlike Stonehenge, visitors can wander pretty freely among the stones and mounds, although most of the mounds were roped off when I was there due to erosion concerns. As a bonus, just a mile or so away is Silbury Hill, at about 130 ft high, it is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe.

The weather didn't make for great photographs, everything was dull and grey, but here are a few none the less.

Stones Through Avebury - Wiltshire, England




Stones of Avebury - Wiltshire, England




A Marker Marks a Missing Stone - Avebury, Wiltshire, England




Silbury Hill - Wiltshire, England

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Random Photo


A combination of very busy and sick has kept me from the photography lately. Shelby and I didn't even go out one time with our cameras together during her recent visit.

Path of the Pigeon - Sarajevo, 2009

Friday, January 20, 2012

More Dubai


I'm still plugging away on the Dubai photos. I'm really hoping to finish them up this weekend. Here's one of Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building) that I couldn't help but mess around a little bit with the saturation and color. The refection of the sun on the building makes it look a bit like a city of the future to me.

Burj Khalifa - Dubai, U.A.E.

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Update: Death Race 2011

As I'm sure many are anxious to know how Death Race 2011 ended...
Unsurprisingly, 2011 continued its domination in the 2nd half:
  • 2010  - 374
  • 2011  - 492
source: Kuwait Times another item of note from the same article:
  • "around 70,000 traffic accidents that occurred in Kuwait"
...HOLY COW! I couldn't produce Car"cass" photos that fast if my life depended on it.
I'd tag this as "humor" but in reality, it's sad.

Monday, January 02, 2012

Out and About Kuwait - III

We went out to the camel races on New Year's Eve (daytime) with Carl and some friends. It is interesting and as they drive alongside the racing camels, the whole thing is far more orderly and logical than I would have thought after experiencing the driving and traffic on normal roads here. I put the complete set of photos on Photobucket. Here are a few preview photos.

Readying the "Jockeys", Kuwait


Camels Before the Race, Kuwait


About 3 Km into a 6 Km Race, Kuwait

Friday, December 30, 2011

Car"cass" VIII - Headfirst

Smart Car is now a dumb car after landing on its head....now I see why these cars have roll bars, maybe smart after all....and at least now it is right side up.
Carcass VIII - Dumb Car