black & white photography – Serendipity – Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth

ROCKS, BOULDERS AND STONES IN BLACK & WHITE – Marilyn Armstrong

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Rocks, Boulders, Stones

We live on rocks. Rocks, roots, and shale — that’s what the area is made of. The reason our house is all the way over on the northeast edge of the property is there’s a rock the size of New Jersey in the middle of the property.

The rocky shores of Cape Ann were (are) famous for shipwrecks

The guy who built this house (and a lot of others along this road) was not a great planner. Rather than moving the construction further forward on the lot (it’s 2.5 acres so land isn’t the problem) or further back — both of which areas are flatter and has fewer boulders — he pushed the house all the way to the northeast edge of the property line.

Superstition mountains are nothing but rocks

The rocky edge of the Blackstone River. With Great Blue Heron.

Over the property line.

On the neighbor’s property.

With faded green by the stone bridge over the Blackstone River

Which later required a property exchange, a dozen years after the original building was erected.

Our garden wall composed of giant, lichen-covered stones from deep in our woods

The funny part was because our buildings are so far apart, it took a decade for anyone to notice this house was actually half on the neighbor’s land. Ah, life in the country!

COLD OUT THERE BUT HOT IN HERE – Marilyn Armstrong

Cee’s B & W Photo Challenge: Anything Hot or Cold

It was cold outside, but warm in the teepee.

It was delicious being in the teepee with the snow falling outside with a hot fire burning inside, smoke flying through the hole at the top of the teepee.

The lovely combination of cold out and warm within is one of the basic delights of humankind.

It was cold outside through the front window

But the yellow gold of the teepee firepit was hot!

FIELDS – CEE’S BLACK & WHITE CHALLENGE – Garry Armstrong

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Field

Really, we live in a field, except it doesn’t look like a field because it’s full of trees. It’s hard to take pictures of a field with so many huge trees on it. They tend to block one’s view.

So I have settled for more open spaces, except for just one of the walls of Fenway Park. Because you can’t come from this area and not include Fenway!

If I think about it, this area is nothing BUT fields!

Field by the river – Photo: Garry Armstrong

Mountainous fields in Arizona – Photo: Marilyn Armstrong

Fenway Park – the oldest baseball field in the U.S. – Photo Marilyn Armstrong

Cornfield at harvest time – Photo: Marilyn Armstrong

Photo: Garry Armstrong – The landing field at the Tuskegee site

Photo: Garry Armstrong – Field of green by the river in June

WHITE HAIRS, BLACK SHIRTS – Marilyn Armstrong

FOWC with Fandango — Shed

I was torn between writing about the shed which is falling down or the dog, who is shedding long white hair on my nice, clean black shirt.

Let’s go with the dog.

We didn’t have a problem with the two Scotties. Not only do they mostly match my clothing, but they don’t really shed. They get dirty and disgusting, but they don’t shed.

Mostly, terriers don’t shed. They have to be clipped or they look like a pile of dirty rags.

Now the Duke? HE sheds all the time. This year, probably his first full coat, he has been shedding more than usual. I do not believe that either Garry or I ever go anywhere without a light to heavy coating of dog hair on everything.

He gets especially cuddly when we are dressed to go out something. I feel like we need a plastic bag over us as we race for the door!

Hey, you know the difference between a pure-bred dog and a mutt? You ready?

A breed dog “blows his coat.”

Mutts shed.

FLOWING WATER – CEE’S BLACK & WHITE CHALLENGE – Marilyn Armstrong

The Stream in Ellin and Tom’s Backyard

We are in Connecticut and it is snowing. We knew it was going to snow, but it was only a maybe. Meanwhile, the white stuff is falling, but before the snow began, I saw the title for this and said “Oh, hey, I’ll take a few pictures of the stream.”

Then I bumped into WordPress’s new — and incredibly buggy — format. It is currently not usable and I’ve been trying to get back to the old format since this morning. It’s seriously full of bugs and you should wait before you even consider trying it out. I’m not kidding. It may eventually be okay, but right now, it is what I call “unfinished software.” There are actually good ideas in it, but it has clearly NOT been beta tested and there are so many missing elements, it should never have been released until they made it suitable for customers to use. Shame on their software department for putting out a product that is so full of bugs it is functionally useless.

Don’t go there. It’s really not ready to use. They are going to need months to get it to work properly, so stay with whatever already works for you.

And finally, here I am again.