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.

• The Canal Guide
  
• The Canal Line
  
• The Oxford Canal
  

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Dubai Mall Part I - The Waterfall

More photos of Dubai, with even more sure to follow, many from the Dubai Mall and the surrounding attractions. We ate breakfast one morning at Granny's Waffles next to the waterfall.
The Waterfall - Dubai Mall, UAE

The Waterfall Divers - Dubai Mall, UAE

Diver

Dubai, UAE

Visited Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for a few days with Carl before Christmas. Both of us really enjoyed the Dubai Mall and the associated sights, which is sort of surprising if you know us. I'll post more photos at some point. We got home in time on Christmas Eve to put up and decorate the tree, make a nice dinner etc.
The Flight "Home" In Time For Christmas

Sana'a, Yemen

Sana'a, is unlike the cities in the Gulf region on so many levels. First, it is old...real old, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world (Old Town Sana'a earns a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List), a world away from Kuwait City, Dubai etc. It is also much poorer. And most of all, the people are easily the friendliest in the region, if not the friendliest people in the world. I recently finished...well mostly finished, going through photos I've taken there and added them to the SLIDESHOW menu on the right side of the page. None of the photos are captioned yet, and I still have a few that I'll eventually add, but that may be a while. Below is a small sampling, the complete slideshow can be seen HERE.

Boys in the Hood - Sana'a, Yemen

Neighborhood Dealers (Khat) - Sana'a, Yemen

Sana'a, Yemen

Garlic in the Market - Sana'a, Yemen

Old Wall - Sana'a, Yemen

Car"cass" VII - Death Race 2011

I can't afford the expensive actors so people are poaching my brand. I'm trying to defend it as much as possible, Arabic sub-titles, and the best actor I can afford, a Corvette. I even had a stunt man sans seat-belt go up and over the airbag...
Carcass VII - Death Race 2011

Carcass VII - With Arabic Subtitles

Carcass VII - Starring "Corvette"

Carcass VII - Featuring "Toyota" In a Supporting Role

Carcass VII - Incredible Death Stunts

You Know You're Old...

When whole countries are younger than you are...
Happy 40th Birthday United Arab Emirates

Tangle

Taken with my 70-200 2.8L lens and a 25mm extension tube this morning when the sunlight was pouring into the apartment. In retrospect, I should have messed around a bit with the lensbaby too.

Yarn

Afternoon Walk

Took my walk today during the day. I usually go at night, but it was such a nice day and I have a lot of yesterday's turkey and trimmings to walk off. As is normal on nice weekend days this time of year, there were thousands of families chilling and grilling out along the waterfront. Here are a couple of the photos I took.
Kuwait Towers - Kuwait

A little "wayside" mosque I frequently pass by along the water. Crescent Moon - Kuwait

"Car"cass VI - Funeral Procession

Filmed on location in Abu Dhabi...Six vehicles were hurt in the filming of this award winning feature

Carcass VI - Abu Dhabi

That'll be $8.25...

What a deal! with the exchange rate that is only...$8.25 16 oz Sour Cream

Forgetting Stuff

I'm not sure I actually ever knew though...
On a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan 5 years or so ago, I took a number of photos of sculptures and things that caught my eye around town. For the most part all these years later I have no idea who or what they are. I learned my lesson on some later trips. In Sofia and Zagreb, for instance, I wrote things down at night in the hotel room. I'm not sure I had a good enough guide book or other information handy in Baku. It was still the early days of my digital camera too.

One of Many Looking Down Upon Those Passing By - Baku, Azerbaijan





Some Guy & A Sculpture of Struggle - Baku, Azerbaijan





Another Guy, Probably Important - Baku, Azerbaijan






He was Important Too - Baku, Azerbaijan




Hah! I know one, Haydar Aliyev, according to wikipedia, the 3rd President of Azerbaijan

Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev - Baku, Azerbaijan

Chicago Reflections

From exactly four years ago, when we spent a couple days in Chicago with Ryan after his graduation from Navy Boot Camp.

Downtown Chicago Reflections - 2007



Downtown Chicago Reflections - 2007



Downtown Chicago Reflections - 2007

Frog Blog II

The first photo is just another view of the frog in my first frog blog post. It is a good illustration of the ton of difference in the look of water & reflections that can be made by changing the angle just a little bit. The second photo is another frog I saw along our walk.

Frog - Cincinnati Nature Center, Milford



Frog - Cincinnati Nature Center, Milford

Cincinnati Geometry

Took these on the way and at the Red's game a couple weeks back. I like clear, dark blue skies.

Great American Tower - Cincinnati




Great American Ball Park - Cincinnati

"Car"cass V - Remnants On The Cutting Room Floor

Yes, it was a banner weekend for the "Car"cass brand...

This first remnant may be the remains of something that happened while we were out of town. It was less than 100 yds up the street from Carcass IV, at the intersection with Gulf Rd. Which coincidentally was the same location as Carcass I and the same location as "It Came from the Deep" on 2:48AM's blog. Which goes to show that they probably drive/sail boats and watercraft as bad as they do cars here.

Carcass Va - Kuwait




Bus stops may not be the best place to hang around. It was seeing a truck wipe out a bus stop on the 30 here a couple months ago that was an impetus for my "Car"cass series. Then again, Gulf Rd probably isn't the best place to hang around, as this was just 200 yds or so down toward Marina Mall from the three others.

Carcass Vb - Kuwait

"Car"cass IV - P is for Perpetrator

I can't believe I didn't see or hear this one at the time. I can literally spit on the "victim" out our living room window. A friend pointed it out to me sitting in a parking lot near our apartment Saturday morning and the carcass was still there for the mug shot in the evening. From the intersection where he took the turn, the perp had less than 100 yds to build up to the speed to do this.

Carcass IV, The Perp - Kuwait




The Victim - Kuwait

"Car"cass III - Dawn of the Dead

I saw this wreck on Gulf Rd right after it happened Wednesday night during my evening walk. A black sedan took out this palm tree. The car must have been totally airborne when it hit, none of the little bushes hedging the median were damaged and there are no tire marks on the grass. So I woke up early the next morning and scurried down there right after sunrise...and the car was gone! Only some broken bits remained.

Carcass III - Kuwait

Frog Blog

During my visit back to Cincinnati, Shelby and I took a few hours one morning and visited the Cincinnati Nature Center (Rowe Woods) right down the road from us. Here is one of many good photos I got of a frog we saw on the Edge Trail (warning PDF). I got down on my belly on the boardwalk over a section of pond to get a lot of the shots.

Frog - Cincinnati Nature Center, Milford