Rain Drops

I'm still in CT taking care of my daughter, so I'm limited--or should I say I have the opportunity to photograph only what I can find in her yard, since I can't really leave the house.

While watching the tornado warnings on TV on the 30th, I was waiting to see if we were going to get hit. Both tornadoes were heading this way, but I took the opportunity to get in some shooting anyway. It was pretty scary, but as long as the thunder wasn't getting too near, I continued to photograph what I could find to keep my mind off the imminent danger.

We got very lucky here at the house, but my son-in-law was driving home in the thick of it. He started out on I-91, only to find cars and trucks getting flipped, so he re-routed to I-90 and the tornadic activity was even worse there. He jumped onto I-84 and managed to stay right behind the devastation, all the while hearing the ping, ping sounds of hail hitting my daughter's brand new car. Luckily, he made it home safe and sound. Thank God!!

So, during all that, I took my mind off it by photographing rain drops in between the showers. These drops were on one of her many fir trees, this one pretty young in the front of her house in one of her gardens.

Click on the photo to enlarge it, and study the drops. You'll see secondary images in many of them. Photo made with my Tamron 90mm Macro lens.

Sun Rays and the American Flag

Just as I was leaving the Safety Harbor Marina last Monday, I spotted this as I was getting into my car.

Sun rays have always fascinated me. This one is no exception. Right after shooting this scene, it started to pour.

Florida's rains are really strange. It was pouring at the Marina, which is only 11 blocks from the Safety Harbor Grille where my friends and I go for dinner every Monday after our Meetup. It wasn't raining a drop at the restaurant, but people were calling to let me know it was pouring rain on the Bayside Bridge which is the opposite direction from the Safety Harbor Marina.

Sometimes it'll be raining across the street while it's not raining a drop on the other side and the sun is shining. Last week, I was driving home near 38th Ave in St Petersburg. The traffic in the opposite direction were slowed down to 15mph because the rain made it impossible to see, while on my side of the street, the sun was shining and it was dry as a bone. It's crazy.

Windsurfer

We had our regular Monday Night Meetup in Safety Harbor tonight and it would've been a good meetup if it hadn't rained off and on all evening.

The highlight of the night was this guy trying to windsurf in the pouring rain. He didn't get caught in the rain; he went out after it started to rain hard. He wasn't very good at it. It took quite a few tries before he made it out of the channel into the open water. First of all, he has sneakers on and I don't know how he'd have swam in them. There was no wind to speak of, and it was raining. He fell a few times as we watched and of course, we kept right on shooting.

If you look at his face closely, he doesn't look very happy. I'm not sure if it was because we were taking his picture while he was looking stupid, or if he was feeling stupid, or just inadequate. Either way, his face says it all.

After we shot enough of him, we all headed to Crispers for a bite to eat, since the Whistle Stop is all outside and we didn't want to get rained on while we ate. It cleared up after we got done eating and there still was some light, so we headed right back to the Marina to shoot Kathy's disabled squirrel and Biz.

Even with the rain, it was a pretty good meetup.