Omaha Lens

Winter Sky

2012-01-20T21:49:00.002-06:00

Morning reflection on the Missouri.

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Sky Watch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Day of the Raptor

2012-01-10T23:49:00.004-06:00

This is an image from a post I made several years ago when living in Washington state. It was an incredible encounter I had one day with wildlife in action while walking the beach in Port Townsend. I couldn't believe my luck when a bald eagle suddenly swooped down out the blue and attacked a river otter very close to where I was standing. I had only a pocket point and shoot which I fumbled out of my shirt, but got a few shots off as the eagle pounced from the top of the rock toward the otter, which had a fish in its jaws, at the bottom of the rock. The otter darted into the sea and out of sight just in time. It all happened so quickly I felt lucky to get even this, but it was an exciting few minutes, to be sure.

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World Bird Wednesday

Serpentine Connection

2012-01-08T07:49:00.002-06:00

A mild January with above freezing temps, made for a nice walk yesterday along the river at dawn. This is a view of the new pedestrian suspension bridge across the Missouri River. The graceful lines of the bridge were designed to reflect the winding flow of the river itself as it traverses some 2300 miles across the great plains of the US.

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Sunday Bridges

Weekend Reflections

2012-01-05T15:49:00.002-06:00

Reflection image pulled from the files of a trip to Rome.

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Weekend Reflections

Sky Watch Friday

Theme Day - Photo of the Year 2011

2011-12-31T22:49:00.010-06:00

A favorite image because it comes close to what I had hoped to capture that day. It was taken in the corn fields around the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska where migrating Sandhill Cranes make a stopover every spring on their way north to Canada and Alaska. As all of us who enjoy photography know, lots of patience and a little luck are everything for getting decent shots in nature. So the challenge of getting close enough to the cranes while working the moon into the frame finally came together for a good picture or, at least, one that I liked.

View the best photos of the year 2011 from City Daily Photo bloggers around the world.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Best wishes to everyone for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

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World Bird Wednesday

Happy Trails?

2011-12-28T09:49:00.011-06:00

A walk in the neighborhood with contrails across a pretty blue autumn sky.

For different views on the letter X today, visit Mrs. Nesbitt's

delightful weekly meme, ABC Wednesday.

View wondrous skies from around the world at
Sky Watch Friday

A Christmas Reading...

2011-12-23T23:58:00.002-06:00

...from our family to yours.

On Christmas eve or Christmas night, during the quieter moments in all the activity, our family traditionally gathers in the living room for a reading of this classic little story that captures the essence of a Christmas Day as remembered by Dylan Thomas. His memories are of a small town in Wales many years ago, but it has that universal thread that touches the very heart of childhood memories everywhere, whether real or imagined.

We wish you all peace and happiness now and in the coming year.

A Child's Christmas in Wales

by Dylan Thomas

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.

All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find. In goes my hand into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of holidays resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea, and out come Mrs. Prothero and the firemen.

It was on the afternoon of the Christmas Eve, and I was in Mrs. Prothero's garden, waiting for cats, with her son Jim. It was snowing. It was always snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes.

The wise cats never appeared. We were so still, Eskimo-footed arctic marksmen in the muffling silence of the eternal snows - eternal, ever since Wednesday - that we never heard Mrs. Prothero's first cry from her igloo at the bottom of the garden. Or, if we heard it at all, it was, to us, like the far-off challenge of our enemy and prey, the neighbor's polar cat. But soon the voice grew louder. "Fire!" cried Mrs. Prothero, and she beat the dinner-gong.

And we ran down the garden, with the snowballs in our arms, toward the house; and smoke, indeed, was pouring out of the dining-room, and the gong was bombilating, and Mrs. Prothero was announcing ruin like a town crier in Pompeii. This was better than all the cats in Wales standing on the wall in a row. We bounded into the house, laden with snowballs, and stopped at the open door of the smoke-filled room.

Something was burning all right; perhaps it was Mr. Prothero, who always slept there after midday dinner with a newspaper over his face. But he was standing in the middle of the room, saying, "A fine Christmas!" and smacking at the smoke with a slipper. "Call the fire brigade," cried Mrs. Prothero as she beat the gong. "There won't be there," said Mr. Prothero, "it's Christmas." There was no fire to be seen, only clouds of smoke and Mr. Prothero standing in the middle of them, waving his slipper as though he were conducting. "Do something," he said. And we threw all our snowballs into the smoke - I think we missed Mr. Prothero - and ran out of the house to the telephone box. "Let's call the police as well," Jim said. "And the ambulance." "And Ernie Jenkins, he likes fires."

But we only called the fire brigade, and soon the fire engine came and three tall men in helmets brought a hose into the house and Mr. Prothero got out just in time before they turned it on. Nobody could have had a noisier Christmas Eve. And when the firemen turned off the hose and were standing in the wet, smoky room, Jim's Aunt, Miss. Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, very quietly, to hear what she would say to them. She said the right thing, always. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said, "Would you like anything to read?"

Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse, when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and it snowed. But here a small boy says: "It snowed last year, too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.""But that was not the same snow," I say. "Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees; snow grew overnight on the roofs of the houses like a pure and grandfather moss, minutely -ivied the walls and settled on the postman, opening the gate, like a dumb, numb thunder-storm of white, torn Christmas cards."

"Were there postmen then, too?" "With sprinkling eyes and wind-cherried noses, on spread, frozen feet they crunched up to the doors and mittened on them manfully. But all that the children could hear was a ringing of bells.""You mean that the postman went rat-a-tat-tat and the doors rang?""I mean that the bells the children could hear were inside them." "I only hear thunder sometimes, never bells." "There were church bells, too." "Inside them?" "No, no, no, in the bat-black, snow-white belfries, tugged by bishops and storks. And they rang their tidings over the bandaged town, over the frozen foam of the powder and ice-cream hills, over the crackling sea. It seemed that all the churches boomed for joy under my window; and the weathercocks crew for Christmas, on our fence.""Get back to the postmen""They were just ordinary postmen, found of walking and dogs and Christmas and the snow. They knocked on the doors with blue knuckles ...." "Ours has got a black knocker...." "And then they stood on the white Welcome mat in the little, drifted porches and huffed and puffed, making ghosts with their breath, and jogged from foot to foot like small boys wanting to go out." "And then the presents?"

"And then the Presents, after the Christmas box. And the cold postman, with a rose on his button-nose, tingled down the tea-tray-slithered run of the chilly glinting hill. He went in his ice-bound boots like a man on fishmonger's slabs. "He wagged his bag like a frozen camel's hump, dizzily turned the corner on one foot, and, by God, he was gone." "Get back to the Presents." "There were the Useful Presents: engulfing mufflers of the old coach days, and mittens made for giant sloths; zebra scarfs of a substance like silky gum that could be tug-o'-warred down to the galoshes; blinding tam-o'-shanters like patchwork tea cozies and bunny-suited busbies and balaclavas for victims of head-shrinking tribes; from aunts who always wore wool next to the skin there were mustached and rasping vests that made you wonder why the aunts had any skin left at all; and once I had a little crocheted nose bag from an aunt now, alas, no longer whinnying with us. And pictureless books in which small boys, though warned with quotations not to, would skate on Farmer Giles' pond and did and drowned; and books that told me everything about the wasp, except why."

"Go on the Useless Presents." "Bags of moist and many-colored jelly babies and a folded flag and a false nose and a tram-conductor's cap and a machine that punched tickets and rang a bell; never a catapult; once, by mistake that no one could explain, a little hatchet; and a celluloid duck that made, when you pressed it, a most unducklike sound, a mewing moo that an ambitious cat might make who wished to be a cow; and a painting book in which I could make the grass, the trees, the sea and the animals any colour I pleased, and still the dazzling sky-blue sheep are grazing in the red field under the rainbow-billed and pea-green birds. Hardboileds, toffee, fudge and allsorts, crunches, cracknels, humbugs, glaciers, marzipan, and butterwelsh for the Welsh. And troops of bright tin soldiers who, if they could not fight, could always run. And Snakes-and-Families and Happy Ladders. And Easy Hobbi-Games for Little Engineers, complete with instructions. Oh, easy for Leonardo! And a whistle to make the dogs bark to wake up the old man next door to make him beat on the wall with his stick to shake our picture off the wall. And a packet of cigarettes: you put one in your mouth and you stood at the corner of the street and you waited for hours, in vain, for an old lady to scold you for smoking a cigarette, and then with a smirk you ate it. And then it was breakfast under the balloons."

"Were there Uncles like in our house?" "There are always Uncles at Christmas. The same Uncles. And on Christmas morning, with dog-disturbing whistle and sugar fags, I would scour the swatched town for the news of the little world, and find always a dead bird by the Post Office or by the white deserted swings; perhaps a robin, all but one of his fires out. Men and women wading or scooping back from chapel, with taproom noses and wind-bussed cheeks, all albinos, huddles their stiff black jarring feathers against the irreligious snow. Mistletoe hung from the gas brackets in all the front parlors; there was sherry and walnuts and bottled beer and crackers by the dessertspoons; and cats in their fur-abouts watched the fires; and the high-heaped fire spat, all ready for the chestnuts and the mulling pokers. Some few large men sat in the front parlors, without their collars, Uncles almost certainly, trying their new cigars, holding them out judiciously at arms' length, returning them to their mouths, coughing, then holding them out again as though waiting for the explosion; and some few small aunts, not wanted in the kitchen, nor anywhere else for that matter, sat on the very edge of their chairs, poised and brittle, afraid to break, like faded cups and saucers."

Not many those mornings trod the piling streets: an old man always, fawn-bowlered, yellow-gloved and, at this time of year, with spats of snow, would take his constitutional to the white bowling green and back, as he would take it wet or fire on Christmas Day or Doomsday; sometimes two hale young men, with big pipes blazing, no overcoats and wind blown scarfs, would trudge, unspeaking, down to the forlorn sea, to work up an appetite, to blow away the fumes, who knows, to walk into the waves until nothing of them was left but the two furling smoke clouds of their inextinguishable briars.

Then I would be slap-dashing home, the gravy smell of the dinners of others, the bird smell, the brandy, the pudding and mince, coiling up to my nostrils, when out of a snow-clogged side lane would come a boy the spit of myself, with a pink-tipped cigarette and the violet past of a black eye, cocky as a bullfinch, leering all to himself.
I hated him on sight and sound, and would be about to put my dog whistle to my lips and blow him off the face of Christmas when suddenly he, with a violet wink, put his whistle to his lips and blew so stridently, so high, so exquisitely loud, that gobbling faces, their cheeks bulged with goose, would press against their tinsled windows, the whole length of the white echoing street.

For dinner we had turkey and blazing pudding, and after dinner the Uncles sat in front of the fire, loosened all buttons, put their large moist hands over their watch chains, groaned a little and slept. Mothers, aunts and sisters scuttled to and fro, bearing tureens. Auntie Bessie, who had already been frightened, twice, by a clock-work mouse, whimpered at the sideboard and had some elderberry wine. The dog was sick. Auntie Dosie had to have three aspirins, but Auntie Hannah, who liked port, stood in the middle of the snowbound back yard, singing like a big-bosomed thrush. I would blow up balloons to see how big they would blow up to; and, when they burst, which they all did, the Uncles jumped and rumbled. In the rich and heavy afternoon, the Uncles breathing like dolphins and the snow descending, I would sit among festoons and Chinese lanterns and nibble dates and try to make a model man-o'-war, following the Instructions for Little Engineers, and produce what might be mistaken for a sea-going tramcar.

Or I would go out, my bright new boots squeaking, into the white world, on to the seaward hill, to call on Jim and Dan and Jack and to pad through the still streets, leaving huge footprints on the hidden pavements. "I bet people will think there's been hippos." "What would you do if you saw a hippo coming down our street?" "I'd go like this, bang! I'd throw him over the railings and roll him down the hill and then I'd tickle him under the ear and he'd wag his tail." "What would you do if you saw two hippos?" Iron-flanked and bellowing he-hippos clanked and battered through the scudding snow toward us as we passed Mr. Daniel's house. "Let's post Mr. Daniel a snow-ball through his letter box." "Let's write things in the snow." "Let's write, 'Mr. Daniel looks like a spaniel' all over his lawn."

Or we walked on the white shore. "Can the fishes see it's snowing?" The silent one-clouded heavens drifted on to the sea. Now we were snow-blind travelers lost on the north hills, and vast dewlapped dogs, with flasks round their necks, ambled and shambled up to us, baying "Excelsior." We returned home through the poor streets where only a few children fumbled with bare red fingers in the wheel-rutted snow and cat-called after us, their voices fading away, as we trudged uphill, into the cries of the dock birds and the hooting of ships out in the whirling bay.

And then, at tea the recovered Uncles would be jolly; and the ice cake loomed in the center of the table like a marble grave. Auntie Hannah laced her tea with rum, because it was only once a year. Bring out the tall tales now that we told by the fire as the gaslight bubbled like a diver. Ghosts whooed like owls in the long nights when I dared not look over my shoulder; animals lurked in the cubbyhole under the stairs and the gas meter ticked.

And I remember that we went singing carols once, when there wasn't the shaving of a moon to light the flying streets. At the end of a long road was a drive that led to a large house, and we stumbled up the darkness of the drive that night, each one of us afraid, each one holding a stone in his hand in case, and all of us too brave to say a word. The wind through the trees made noises as of old and unpleasant and maybe webfooted men wheezing in caves. We reached the black bulk of the house.

"What shall we give them? Hark the Herald?" "No," Jack said, "Good King Wencelas. I'll count three." One, two three, and we began to sing, our voices high and seemingly distant in the snow-felted darkness round the house that was occupied by nobody we knew. We stood close together, near the dark door. Good King Wencelas looked out On the Feast of Stephen ... And then a small, dry voice, like the voice of someone who has not spoken for a long time, joined our singing: a small, dry, eggshell voice from the other side of the door: a small dry voice through the keyhole. And when we stopped running we were outside our house; the front room was lovely; balloons floated under the hot-water-bottle-gulping gas; everything was good again and shone over the town. "Perhaps it was a ghost," Jim said. "Perhaps it was trolls," Dan said, who was always reading. "Let's go in and see if there's any jelly left," Jack said. And we did that.

Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang "Cherry Ripe," and another uncle sang "Drake's Drum." It was very warm in the little house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird's Nest; and then everybody laughed again; and then I went to bed.

Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept.

What the Dickens?

2011-12-20T16:49:00.005-06:00

Every year in December the Old Market Arts and Entertainment district gives Omahans a treat before Christmas. It's called Dickens in the Market, which is a day filled with Victorian era characters and performers strolling the streets and shops of the Old Market. One might see Ebenezer and Marley or English country dancers or joyful carolers and festive horse drawn carriages about the streets. For more images of people enjoying Dickens in the Market this year, click here.

ABC Wednesday

Underway

2011-12-06T20:51:00.004-06:00

Migrating Sandhill Cranes

Sky Watch Friday
ABC Wednesday

Sunday Bridges

2011-12-03T19:49:00.011-06:00

Multnomah Falls on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge,
a spectacular river canyon in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

The falls drops in two major steps, an upper falls of 542 feet and a lower falls of 69 feet, with a gradual drop in elevation between the two, so the total height of the waterfall is conventionally given as 620 feet.
A foot trail leads to the Benson Footbridge, shown above, that allows visitors to cross the falls
and continue on a trail up to the summit that overlooks the Columbia River.

From Wiki, an updated footnote about the nearly one hundred year old bridge:
In 1995, a 400 ton boulder fell 225 feet (69 m) from the face of the waterfall into the pool above Benson Bridge. It caused a 70-foot (21 m) splash of water and gravel to wash over the footbridge, which in turn caused minor injuries to a wedding party that happened to be on it for photos at the time.
Sooo, heads up!

View more bridges around the world today

at Louis' Sunday Bridges

December Dawn

2011-12-01T16:49:00.003-06:00

Sky Watch Friday

'Tis The Time...

2011-11-28T18:49:00.027-06:00

... each year when Snoopy and Woodstock join me

in wishing you, blogger friends around the world,

all the very best in the holiday season!

ABC Wednesday
Macro Monday

Mellow Yellow Monday

Sunday Bridges

2011-11-19T23:49:00.016-06:00

A jogger catches the warming rays of a summer sunrise on the the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri River. The bridge connects downtown Omaha, Nebraska and the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa with miles of paved trails on both sides of the river.The painting in the distance is mural artist, Meg Saligman's rendering of Omaha history called, Fertile Ground.

See more bridges today at Louis' Sunday Bridges

Happiness is...

2011-11-18T07:49:00.002-06:00

A quick snap of our golden, Dutch, in his favorite seat for traveling.

Seen here arriving at Memorial Park for fun and games. Indeed, a happy hound!

Sky Watch Friday

Q for Quill, Question, Quotation

2011-11-09T15:49:00.000-06:00

A lone feather found along the trail may make us wonder about what we know not.

"For the first time in four billion years a living creature had contemplated himself
and heard with a sudden, unaccountable loneliness, the whisper of the wind in the night reeds.”
― Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey

Contributor to

ABC Wednesday

Autumn in the Park

2011-11-04T12:49:00.002-05:00

Reflection in the lagoon downtown.

Contributor to
Weekend Reflections

Panorama - Atop the Volcano

2011-11-01T12:50:00.002-05:00

A magnificent spring morning provided this panoramic view on the trail up to the crater rim of Mt. Vesuvius.
Fences is the theme for CDP bloggers today. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Contributor to
Sky Watch Friday

ABC Wednesday

2011-10-31T22:50:00.001-05:00

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe."

Lewis Carroll

Salud!

2011-10-28T13:49:00.000-05:00

A day at the flea market in Brownville, Nebraska.

Weekend Reflections

" ...for spacious skies"

2011-10-27T13:49:00.003-05:00

Sunrise walk along the river downtown.

Sky Watch Friday

Sky Watch

2011-10-13T13:49:00.001-05:00

A look up toward a blazing-hot summer sky from inside a cool, dark kiva built into the earth. This image was taken on a visit to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado where ruins of the ancient Pueblo Indian culture are found, which included the kiva or ceremonial rooms still used by some Indian cultures today. More about the evolution of the kiva can found here on Wiki.

The Weekend in Black and White

Sky Watch Friday

Reflections on a Pond

2011-10-07T23:49:00.011-05:00

We are all travelers in the wilderness of the world, and the best that we can find
in our travels is an honest friend. Robert Louis Stevenson

Weekend Reflections

Autumn Evening

2011-10-06T15:50:00.004-05:00

An early October sunset in Memorial Park

Sky Watch Friday

Full Moon

2011-09-30T12:50:00.003-05:00

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

Contributor to
Sunday Bridges
The Weekend in Black and White
Sky Watch Friday

K for Kaneko

2011-09-27T13:49:00.001-05:00

Jun Kaneko is a Japanese ceramic artist who resides and primarily works in Omaha. This summer over 50 of his massive works have been exhibted in Omaha's Lauritzen Botanical Gardens. His prolific roster of diverse work appears in numerous international solo and group exhibitions annually. His work is included in more than forty museum collections and has been honored with national, state and organization fellowships and an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London. Learn more about Kaneko here.

Contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday

Sunset Silhouettes

2011-09-15T18:48:00.012-05:00

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri provides walkers a great platform for viewing a glowing sunset on a warm summer evening.

Contributor to Sky Watch Friday

Bougainvillea

2011-09-12T17:49:00.005-05:00

Contributor to Macro Monday

In Memory

2011-09-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

In the Park

2011-09-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

A little serenity on a summer's day downtown.

Weekend Reflections

H for Hats

2011-09-07T17:49:00.047-05:00

Recent visits to the Old Market district in downtown Omaha.

Seems to me people are wearing hats more than usual. A fashion trend, I wonder?

Contributor to ABC Wednesday

Rainy Market Morning

2011-08-20T08:49:00.002-05:00

Contributor to

Weekend Reflections

and

The Weekend in Black and White

Elevation

2011-08-17T15:49:00.027-05:00

Nebraska Balloon and Wine Festival

Contributor to

Sky Watch Friday

ABC Wednesday

A sad farewell to Klaus Peter, 1960-2011

Reflection at the Car Show

2011-08-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

A shiny 1939 Lincoln Zephur Coupe reflects the grounds and cars around the Joslyn Castle estate during its annual classic car show.

Weekend Reflections

Sky Watch

2011-08-11T16:48:00.012-05:00

Farmlands near Barada, Nebraska full with corn and sky.

Sky Watch Friday

Castle Classics

2011-08-04T14:49:00.003-05:00

Joslyn Castle Classic Car Show

Caught this spring sky reflected in the headlamp of a classic 1933 DeSoto Coupe on the lawn of Joslyn Castle, a beautiful estate in Omaha.

Contributor to ABC Wednesday and Sky Watch Friday

Theme Day - Postcard Worthy

2011-08-01T09:49:00.004-05:00

Once again it's the first day of the month and time for a CDP theme, which this time is "postcard worthy."
Today's image is of a Scarlet Macaw in the Lied Jungle of Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. The zoo is cited as one of the best in the country and is Omaha's top attraction for visitors.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

River Watch

2011-07-29T09:49:00.005-05:00

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri River

from Omaha, Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

An early morning walk along the river in Omaha reveals a swollen, turbulent Missouri which has been overrunning its floodplains this summer with disasterous effects to farmlands and communities.

Contributor to

Sunday Bridges

Weekend Reflections

Sky Watch Friday

Adios, Tejas

2011-07-21T21:49:00.018-05:00

Sunrise on Corpus Christi Bay

Had a wonderful month of fun and sun on the gulf coast of Texas,

but now it's time to head the buggy back home.

Sky Watch Friday

A is for Abandoned

2011-07-20T19:50:00.005-05:00

Found this large sandcastle on Mustang Island beach in Texas on the morning after the July 4th festivities. It was large enough for several small children to play in and probably provided great fun during the whole weekend, but now it seemed so sad and deserted.

Contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday community

and

Nancy's Your Sunday Best

Beach Watch

2011-07-16T10:48:00.011-05:00

More fun and sun this week on the Texas gulf coast. With a brace of hounds at her side, this beach walker steps into the bright reflection of the morning sun over Padre Island..

Contributor to James' Weekend Reflections and
Dragonstar's The Weekend in Black and White

Sunrise on the Bay

2011-07-15T08:49:00.002-05:00

A shrimp trawler working the edge of Corpus Christi Bay draws a crowd of gulls and pelicans looking for breakfast. Buying the morning catch off the boats when they come in, is one of our regular delights while visiting here on the Texas coast.

Sky Watch Friday

Z is for zzzzzz

2011-07-12T10:50:00.009-05:00

Catching some zzzzzzs and sun by the seaside.

Continuing our stay on the Texas coast.

Contributor to ABC Wednesday

Life at the Beach

2011-07-09T10:50:00.005-05:00

Black skimmers working the shore of Mustang Island on the Texas coast.
As noted in Wikipedia, "Skimmers have a light graceful flight, with steady beats of their long wings. They feed usually in large flocks, flying low over the water surface with the lower mandible skimming the water (in order of importance) for small fish, insects, crustaceans and molluscs^[2] caught by touch by day or especially at night. They spend much time loafing gregariously on sandbars in the rivers, coasts and lagoons they frequent."

Weekend Reflections and Your Sunday Best

Beach Time

2011-07-07T10:49:00.007-05:00

Enjoying a summer retreat to the Gulf of Mexico on the Texas coast. Sunrise image taken from the South Jetty of Port Aransas on Mustang Island.

Sky Watch Friday

Sky Watch

2011-06-10T00:27:00.007-05:00

Spring is here, full with life, and summer is nigh upon us.

A contributor to Sky Watch Friday and Nancy's Your Sunday Best community

Memorial Day - In Remembrance

2011-05-30T23:50:00.002-05:00

A national holiday for remembering all our fallen warriors that have made the ultimate sacrifice. This photo was taken today at Omaha's Memorial Park where a traveling half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC is being exhibited this week.

Contributor to Nancy's Your Sunday Best

Flamma

2011-05-26T21:50:00.003-05:00

These two thirty foot-high chromed steel flames provide many perspectives for reflections of the sky and surrounding cityscape. Flamma by sculptor Saunders Shultz, was commisioned by The Northern Natural Gas company and stands in front of its Omaha headquarters building.

Sky Watch Friday

R is for Riders To Market, To Market...

2011-05-18T09:50:00.002-05:00

Hurrah! 'Tis the merry month of May, which brings the return of farmers markets to the heartland. This relaxed foursome arriving at the Omaha Farmers Market on a beautiful spring morning was among the hundreds that turned out for the new season. Contributor to ABC Wednesday.

Linked to Nancy's Your Sunday Best community

Chihuly

2011-04-14T13:50:00.003-05:00

As if the new spring season has given rise to Dale Chihuly's art installation, Chihuly: Inside and Out, spirals of colorful glass forms reach for the heavens in the atrium of the Joslyn Art Museum.

Sky Watch Friday

Ponte Sisto

2011-04-10T13:50:00.008-05:00

This time last year, we enjoyed a few weeks in Rome, a city with many beautiful bridges. Ponte Sisto, a footbridge across the Tiber, became our favorite though, perhaps because it was so close to where we stayed on the Campo de' Fiore. We used it almost daily on our explorations around central Rome and enjoyed its friendliness and unique beauty each time we passed over.

A contributor to Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges community

Nance's Magic

2011-04-08T14:50:00.006-05:00

Paintings by artist/wife, Nancy, hang in a gallery window in the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha. I like how the painted flowers seem to be magically growing from the reflected yard across the street.

Weekend Reflections

L for Lepidoptera

2011-04-05T22:52:00.001-05:00

Lotsa lovely sorts in the order of butterflies and moths. This is a photo of a blue morpho butterfly taken on a recent visit to the butterfly and insect exhibit in the Omaha Zoo. It was my hope to get a shot of its wings' topside which are a brilliant iridescent blue, but when it lands its wings normally fold to display the underside camouflage design and coloration seen here. It is one of the largest of butterflies with a wing span of four or five inches.

Contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday community

Sunrise in the Old Market

2011-04-03T08:51:00.005-05:00

Weekend Reflection

Theme Day - Edges

2011-04-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

Moving about their nest and flexing their wings, these fledgling robins are ready, but wary, for that first big jump over the edge and into the unknown. Several springs ago, I had the good fortune to watch and record these chicks from the moment I discovered their nest of eggs to their eventual flying the coup. Click here to see the sequence of their development.

See many takes from around the world on the CDPB theme this month of edges. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Kaleidoscopic Kumquats...

2011-03-29T16:31:00.003-05:00

...kaptured on the kitchen kounter :)

A contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday community

Sky Watch Friday

2011-03-25T14:33:00.001-05:00

A Wagon Master leads a train of pioneers in the downtown Pioneer Courage Sculpture Park.
Artist Blair Buswell installed his magnificently crafted Wagon Master sculpture on December 5th, 2006.
This important component of the Pioneer Courage Park sculptures is located on 14th street just North of Capitol Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska.
"The Wagon Master is a very exciting installation because it helps build the story found at Pioneer Courage Sculpture Park," said Bruce Lauritzen, Chairman of First National Bank. "In the age of the pioneer, the wagon master was a crucial element to the wagon train. Wagon masters served as the captains and looked after the supplies and families as they headed West to pursue the American dream."

A contributor to the Sky Watch Friday community

Ah, The Joys of Spring!

2011-03-22T13:31:00.004-05:00

J is for Joy, Joy, Joy! Spring is here at last! And the robins are making themselves right at home around the neighborhood, wasting no time foraging and nesting. In the garden beds, green shoots of daffodils, tulips, lillies, daisies, coral bells are popping through and today's weather forecast calls for temps possibly reaching eighty degrees. Yikes! Oh, but then, possible snow flurries in a few days. Ah, well, its all part of the joys of spring.

A contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wedneday community

Wings across the Plains

2011-03-17T14:34:00.002-05:00

As noted in yesterday's post on the annual Sandhill Crane migration, about 500,000 of these large birds pause here in Nebraska for several weeks before their final push northward. After taking yesterday's photo in a cornfield along the Platte River, we moved on to the Fort Kearney hiking/biking bridge across the Platte. And there we waited, on a very cold day, to watch the many waves of crane flocks sailing in overhead as they set down for their evening roost along the sandbars. If you enlarge the picture, you may notice several threads or ribbons of crane formations as they were coming in by the thousands from a day of feeding in nearby cornfields. The calls, whoops and chatter coming from such large numbers for so long, so close overhead, was a memorable "chilling" experience

A contributor to the Sky Watch Friday community

I is for Incoming Sandhill Cranes

2011-03-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

Every year about this time, a small segment of the Platte River flood plain in Nebraska plays host to half a million Sandhill Cranes and other migratory birds as they gather for several weeks of feeding before heading north to Canada and Alaska for spring and summer. This wondrous spectacle attracts avid birders from far and wide, as well as drawing thousands of families from here in the heartland states to enjoy the up-close viewing of their social behavior.

A contributor to the ABC Wednesday community

The High Road

2011-03-11T12:31:00.008-06:00

Twilight flight of Canadian Geese over the Missouri River.

A contributor to the Sky Watch Friday community

2011-03-08T23:31:00.005-06:00

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Reflections

2011-02-26T16:31:00.002-06:00

On a walk through the Old Market district I took a quick peek in the door of a popular restaurant and snapped this image of glassware reflections while the staff was setting up for dinner. V Mertz has long been known as one of Omaha's premier fine-dining experiences. Check their website here.

A contributor to James' Weekend Reflections community

Big Red

2011-02-25T00:31:00.003-06:00

Riding out an icy winter day.

Contributor to Sky Watch Friday

Room with a View

2011-02-11T17:31:00.004-06:00

On recent family visits around Texas, we enjoyed this beautiful sunrise over Corpus Christi Bay from the living room of a niece's eleventh floor downtown condo...where sky watching is a breathtaking expierence 24/7.

Contributor to Sky Watch Friday

Girl at the Museum

2011-01-01T10:31:00.000-06:00

The first day of the month is theme day for City Daily Photo Bloggers. The theme this month is Photo of the year 2010 - Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Also a contributor to James' Weekend Reflections

Best wishes to all for a very happy new year!

Winter's Morn

2010-12-22T14:31:00.002-06:00

Early light and full moon over downtown Omaha.

A contributor to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday community

Winter Shadows

2010-12-19T18:31:00.000-06:00

Sunset stroll in the Old Market District

Contributor to Dragonstar's The Black and White Weekend

Weekend Reflection

2010-12-18T23:58:00.000-06:00

The first sunlight of a new day strikes the cabin windows of the River City Queen, which shoots a reflective fireball across the Missouri River

Contributor to James' Weekend Reflections community

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-15T13:31:00.006-06:00

Contributor to the Wordless Wednesday community

Bridges of Madison County

2010-11-14T21:31:00.006-06:00

The Roseman Bridge is one of several covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa. A few hours drive from Omaha, these covered bridges were popularized in the '90s by the best selling book, The Bridges of Madison County and eventually the movie of the same name starring Clint Eastwood and Meryll Streep.
The image shown here is an oil painting by artist/wife, Nancy, from a photo taken on our visit there.

See more bridges around the world today at Louis' Sunday Bridge Series

Veterans Day

2010-11-11T12:31:00.003-06:00

A day of national recognition in the United States to honor the proud men and women who have served our country.

Contributor to Sky Watch Friday

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T04:31:00.009-06:00

Contributor to Wordless Wednesday

Full Moon

2010-11-07T21:31:00.004-06:00

Staying with a series of posts on the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge, this view was taken under a full moon on a late summer evening at the fountain plaza.

Contributor to Louis la Vache's serie du pont de demanche

Threading the Needle

2010-11-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of walking the pedestrian bridge this time of year is watching the migratory birds overhead as they head down the Missouri River for warmer, southern climes. This low-flying duo of Canadian Geese appear to be testing their skills.

More skies from around the world today at Sky Watch Friday

Weekend Reflection from The Bob

2010-10-30T22:09:00.009-05:00

The office windows seen here reflecting the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge also provide a fine perch for a little flycatcher waiting for his next breakfast item to fly by.
The new pedestrian suspension bridge immediately won the hearts of local joggers, cyclists, walkers, etc. and have already tabbed it as The Bob, for short.

A contributor to James' Weekend Reflections and Louis' Serie du pont de demanche blogging communities

Omaha Bombed - Strange, but True

2010-10-29T17:31:00.004-05:00

The peaceful sky seen above this quiet neighborhood intersection today was a very different scene one April night during WWII, as explained on the plaque below.

A member of the Sky Watch Friday blogging community

O! is for...

2010-10-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

...Omaha, Nebraska, USA
A view from the city park lagoon of the downtown skyline.

Located on the Missouri River near the heart of the country's geographic center, Omaha is the hub of a fast-growing metro area that includes over a million people.

Today, Omaha is the home to five Fortune 500 companies: ConAgra Foods, Union Pacific Corporation, Mutual of Omaha, Peter Kiewit and Sons, Inc., and Berkshire Hathaway.[5] Berkshire Hathaway is headed by local investor Warren Buffett, who was the richest person in the world, in 2008, according to Forbes in 2008.[6] Omaha is also the home to four Fortune 1000 headquarters, TD Ameritrade, West Corporation, Valmont Industries, and Werner Enterprises. First National Bank of Omaha is the largest privately held bank in the United States. Headquarters for the Leo A. Daly Co., HDR, Inc. and DLR Group, three of the US's top 30 architectural and engineering firms, are located in Omaha. The modern economy of Omaha is diverse and built on skilled knowledge jobs. In 2009, Forbes identified Omaha as the nation's number one "Best Bang-For-The Buck City" and number one on "America's Fastest-Recovering Cities" list.

Contributor to the ABC Wednesday blogging community

N is for Nuthatch

2010-10-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

Of all our little feathered friends that visit our backyard bird feeders, the lively, clownish, White-breasted Nuthatch is probably the most interesting to observe. It bounces, rocks and flits about the tree trunks like a drunken sailor and in fact, its little body shape reminds me of a boat hull out of water. Funny little low, hank-yank-hank call it makes too. Would guess their name may be derived from their mastery of wedging nuts and seeds into tree bark to quickly crack them open. And finally, their undulating flight pattern also adds to their acrobatic showmanship. A joy to behold.

Contributor to the ABC Wednesday community

Dawn by the Riverside

2010-10-15T23:29:00.006-05:00

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

Contributor to the Sky Watch Friday community

M is for marketplace...

2010-10-13T23:59:00.007-05:00

... musicians and merchants.
Sadly, frosty fields are nigh upon us once again. Last weekend finished the season for the 2010 Omaha Farmers Market.

Contributor to the ABC Wednesday community

Autumn Hues

2010-09-25T05:31:00.017-05:00

A view across the mid-town skyline and St Cecilia Cathedral

Contributor to Sky Watch Friday

Weekend Reflection

2010-09-19T01:20:00.006-05:00

It's said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if so, the Alpaca on the left is definitely the object of the others affection. [Click on the image for a larger photo] These fascinating little creatures were being exhibited at the Florence Mill Farmers Market a few weekends ago.

Contributor to James' Weekend Reflections community.

Sky watching...

2010-09-17T05:31:00.000-05:00

...across the wide Missouri River at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska.

Contributor to the Sky Watch Friday community.

I is for Invitation...

2010-09-16T01:31:00.006-05:00

...to splash, indulge and keep cool in the summer heat. This water fountain at Stinson Park in Omaha is made even more popular by a farmers market and musical events during summer.

A contributor to the ABC Wednesday community

Dundee Color

2010-08-01T23:34:00.002-05:00

Dundee is a charming older residential neighborhood in Omaha. One day each summer neighbors and visitors enjoy a lively street party with all the fixin's of any good festival including parades, vendors, food, beer garden and live music all day and well into the night.

Bright Colors is the theme for the CDPB community this month.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

"He Ain't Heavy, Father...

2010-07-27T19:31:00.003-05:00

...He's M' Brother"

The quotation inscribed on this statue in Boys Town is the motto adopted by founder, Father Flanagan for his mission of providing a positive environment for troubled youth.

B is the letter this week for ABC Wednesday and in the city of Omaha, nothing is more appropiate for B than Boys Town. It has been an Omaha institution since its beginnings in 1917. Father Flanagan and his followers established and developed a very successful child-care model for helping wayward youth (girls and boys) find their way in life. More about its fascinating history and programs here.

Contributor to ABC Wednesday

Over the Edge

2010-07-24T20:31:00.010-05:00

At first glance, it might appear that a stream of water in this garden fountain is gushing up toward the sky, but it is actually water spilling over the edge of an eighty-foot long wall erected in the Joslyn Sculpture Garden. The fountain wall on the right half of the image also provides a good reflective surface for a different perspective.

Contributor to Sky Watch and Weekend Reflections

Summertime

2010-07-15T14:31:00.001-05:00

Life along the river on a cool summer morning.

Member of Sky Watch Friday

The Bob

2010-07-10T13:31:00.005-05:00

An early morning cyclist on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is reflected in the office windows of the National Park Service Visitors Center in Omaha. The 3000 ft pedestrian suspension bridge spans the Missouri River connecting the states of Nebraska and Iowa.

A member of James' Weekend Reflections

Sky Riders

2010-07-08T13:31:00.000-05:00

Thrill seekers aboard an amusement ride during the annual food and entertainment festival, A Taste of Omaha.

Member of Sky Watch Friday

Stars and Stripes

2010-07-04T15:30:00.008-05:00

There are celebrations all across the U.S. this July 4th weekend and many will feature a barrage of fireworks to commemorate our birth as a country in 1776. This shot was taken in Memorial Park on Friday night. About 80,000 folks enjoyed an afternoon and evening of picnicking, concerts and fireworks.

Happy Independence Day, America!

Theme Day - Reflections

2010-07-01T07:31:00.002-05:00

Girl at the Museum

Today is Theme Day for CDP bloggers
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Wondering, Wishing

2010-06-22T12:33:00.003-05:00

This fellow was sitting apart from the crowd of vendors, shoppers and street performers at the Saturday morning farmers market downtown. He was quietly playing, singing, not looking about and apparently happy to be sitting there performing. I stopped for a few moments and liked what I heard, took this shot from across the street and moved on to the market. Later, while sorting my pictures, I began to wonder why he chose his spot so removed from the source of contributing passersby, but mostly I found myself wishing I had taken the time to cross the street and leave a few bucks in the pot. Hope his day was a good one.

W is the letter this week for ABC Wednesday

Veni, Vidi, Veggies

2010-06-16T01:31:00.012-05:00

V is the letter this week for ABC Wednesday and for me, vegetables fill the bill.

A bonanza of fresh veggies this time of year spills across tables at farmers' markets near and far. A place to feast the eyes, soothe the soul, pick up delicious and nutritious provisions and snap a few pictures too. What a joy!

Water Works

2010-06-13T15:30:00.005-05:00

Kids beating the heat at the new Omaha Plaza water jet fountain.

A member of James' Weekend Reflections

Tranquility Base

2010-06-06T22:31:00.004-05:00

Amid the hustle and bustle of the Omaha business district lies this beautiful park built around a lagoon. Great place in the city for a stroll or lunch or capturing a few images for Weekend Reflections.

Sunrise Serenade

2010-06-04T08:31:00.002-05:00

Enjoyed watching and listening to this red-winged blackbird making his early morning calls along the Missouri River.

A member of the Sky Watch Friday community

Urban Flight

2010-05-22T19:31:00.008-05:00

A flight of geese brings the outdoors through the glass walls of the atrium in a downtown Omaha high-rise.

A contributor to James' Weekend Reflections

Twilight...

2010-05-20T17:31:00.006-05:00

...in the Eternal City.

We are finally home in the heartland after six weeks of travel, which included a two week trip to Italy. Today's Sky Watch Friday contribution was taken on a beautiful spring evening overlooking the ruins of the Roman Forum.

Ciao, Roma

2010-04-30T22:31:00.000-05:00

Today is Theme Day for the CDP blogging community with statues as the theme for May.

Just returned to the states from our travels in Italy, but we're still on the road visiting family in the South before returning home to Nebraska. Certainly, there is no shortage of statues in Rome and we have many favorites, but this bronze sculpture from late Hellenistic Greece, and found in Rome in 1885, impressed me with its life-like quality. Felt like I could almost hear the life-sized figure crying out while I stood there hearing Simon and Garfunkel's tune running through my mind..."I am leaving, I am leaving...
"The Boxer" is one of the many classic antiquities found in the Palazzo Massimo Museum in Rome.

There are many takes on the statue theme today from City Daily Photo bloggers around the world: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants