You’re a Grand Old Flag
Song by George M. Cohan
There’s a feeling comes a-stealing
And it sets my brain a-reeling
When I’m list’ning to the music of a military band
Any tune like “Yankee Doodle”
Simply sets me off my noodle
It’s that patriotic something
That no one can understand
“Way down South in the land of cotton”
Melody untiring
Ain’t that inspiring!
Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll join the jubilee
And that’s going some
For the Yankees, by gum!
Red, white and blue
I am for you
Honest, you’re a grand old flag
You’re a grand old flag
You’re a high-flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave
You’re the emblem of
The land I love
The home of the free and the brave
Ev’ry heart beats true
Under red, white and blue
Where there’s never a boast or brag
But should old acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag
I’m a cranky hanky panky
I’m a dead square honest Yankee
And I’m mighty proud of that old flag
That flies for Uncle Sam
Though I don’t believe in raving
Ev’ry time I see it waving
There’s a chill runs up my back
That makes me glad I’m what I am
Here’s a land with a million soldiers
That’s if we should need ’em
We’ll fight for freedom!
Hurrah! Hurrah! For ev’ry Yankee tar
And old G.A.R.
Ev’ry stripe, ev’ry star
Red, white and blue
Hats off to you
Honest, you’re a grand old flag
You’re a grand old flag
You’re a high-flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave
You’re the emblem of
The land I love
The home of the free and the brave
Ev’ry heart beats true
Under red, white and blue
Where there’s never a boast or brag
But should old acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag
Songwriters: George Cohan / KENNETH ELKINSONYou’re a Grand Old Flag lyrics © Word Music LLC, S.I.A.E. Direzione Generale, Edward B Marks Music Company, George M. Cohan Music Co., George M Cohan Music Publishing Company, Hal Leonard Corporation D/B/a Rubank Inc., Megatrax Music, WORD MUSIC, LLC, GEORGE COHAN M MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY, GEORGE M. COHAN MUSIC PUB CO
Posted in Holidays by Jason with 1 comment.
Gecko
Most everyone that knows me knows that I love taking photos of animals, mostly dogs, but I do take photos of other animals, too. Since I don’t travel far these days I try to capture what I find around my apartment. This little guy was scampering around one afternoon and I got a few decent images of him but this is the one I like the best. I hope you do, too!
Posted in Nature by Jason with 2 comments.
Tulip Time – Again – Finally
Anyone that knows me knows how much I really enjoy taking photos. I’m not much of a “people” photographer, but I love taking nature photos. I’m not always good at it, but I do enjoy taking those kinds of photos. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to take many photos in the last couple of years because of health issues, most notably with my knees because of arthritis; because of pain in my knees just walking has been a chore and a challenge. In the last 15 months I have had one arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus followed by having total knee replacement for both knees, one in November 2018 and the other as emergency surgery at the beginning of February 2019. I went from one kind of pain to another, but at least the “other” is in healing and getting me back up on my feet again. It’s a long process, but I am looking forward to being able to taking more photos and enjoy doing so.
Tulips are my favorite flower and has been since I was a toddler. I love them in all of their plain and fancy glory. Two weeks ago those beautiful flowers bloomed and I wanted so badly to get out and take a few pictures, but I’ve also been hit hard with allergies this year and had little desire to subject myself to flying pollen, but I so wanted to get out and take some before they they disappeared for another year. So, last Sunday I gathered my trusty Nikon D3000 and drove down the road a bit and sought out some tulips and other things to take pictures of. I have to say, it definitely felt good to get out and view nature from behind that digital lens.
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.
Sometimes, It Just Happens
Just let it roll and don’t question it.
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.
How to Photograph the November 2016 Supermoon
The moon. It hovers above us, hanging out there in space, and mostly goes unnoticed by us until something spectacular happens and we just happen to be in the right place at the right time and then we’re pretty amazed at the object that helps control our tides and keeps the earth in alignment. And there it is. Grab your smartphone and take a photo, or two or three.
In the past I have taken photos of the moon, but not of a Supermoon. Just plain old full moons on the rise. Like most people, I don’t think about the moon that much. So, this month, I thought I would make an attempt. I finally bought a tripod because hand holding a camera while photographing the moon does not always produce a good photo; but I just needed one, anyway. Since I have never done this before, I can’t guarantee my results will be great, but unless I try, I will never know.
One of the first things I need to do is to find out from which direction the moon will be rising. For most people this seems simple, but since moving to Dallas 20 years ago I seem to have become directionally challenged. Oh, I can tell if I’m driving North, South, East, and West – somewhat – but a lot of the time I rely on GPS on my phone. And I do know about how to tell my direction depending on which side of me the sun is, but standing right outside my door if you tell me to face North, that becomes a problem. Hence, figuring out where moon rise will be located. Looking this up online I see that it will be rising in the East-NorthEast at 5:13 PM 11/13/2016 and East-NorthEast at 6:02 PM 11/14/2016. That shouldn’t be too hard to find.
And then, I need to scout out the best place to take photos. I need a place that is fairly open, somewhat dark, but with some kind of a landmark, be it buildings, trees, people….some identifiable object besides a blank horizon. This gives perspective to the size of the moon, as well as making the photo visually appealing. So, I’ll see what I can come up with. Of course, the more buildings with lights, the nicer looking the photo, but I prefer open spaces.
I found a good article on photographing the Supermoon at Space.com; Bill Ingalls, a NASA photographer shares some of his tips for taking good photos of this moon.
So, good luck with your moon shots!
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.
National Dog Day
Yesterday [August 26th] was National Dog Day. Of course, I didn’t take any photos of my dogs yesterday; I usually take quite a lot of photos of them and post them to Facebook, but I haven’t lately and what I have taken have been on my phone. But today I grabbed my camera and took a few photos of Bentley. Unlike Lily who likes to go outside and sit in the sun long enough for me to get good photos of her, Bentley usually decides that if I am talking to him with camera in hand, he thinks he should get up and come up to me. Sometimes I can get him back into position, but most times not. So, Bentley is my challenge dog.
Here are two photos of him, one taken in 2011 and one taken today; one after a haircut and taken outdoors, and one where he needs a haircut and taken indoors.
No matter how he looks, though, I love taking photos of him because of his expressions: quizzical, serious, comically goofy and everything between. I just wish I had a camera with me all the time to capture those.
Pets make great photographic subjects, when they hold still. Starting when they’re young, get them used to seeing a camera in front of your face, and don’t get discouraged when that cute “pose” is lost – there will be another along in the near future. Understand, however, not every puppy/dog or kitten/cat likes to have their photo taken, especially with flash. I had one dog that hated having her photo taken and let me know it. It took years before she decided to ham it up for the camera, but it took a lot of patience and encouragement on my part to get her to decide that a camera wasn’t so bad after all. With pets of all kinds, be patient and be quick, and don’t expect them to hold still.
Don’t wait until a “National” day to celebrate your pet. They celebrated you every day.
Posted in Pets by Jason with no comments yet.
The Long Hot Summer
I don’t “do” Summer, most especially a hot Summer, and in Texas all Summers are hot. And dry. For me, mostly miserable. As I have gotten older, I now tend to take less photos during the Summer, which is somewhat sad because there are a lot of Summertime things to photograph. So, this Summer being no different from past ones with the heat has been no different; I didn’t even take photos of my Yorkie because I wouldn’t let her “sunbathe”, which is the time I usually take photos of her.
But, recently I had the opportunity to get a few nice photos of one of the feral cats that hang around the complex. One of my neighbors feeds about four of them and I have been keeping a dish of water out for them and the squirrels. This Siamese hasn’t had a good Summer, either, after having lost some weight, either from the heat or from old age, but he’s a pretty cat, and why he’s feral I have no clue. He’s skittish, though, so taking photos of him isn’t easy, however, the other day he took advantage of some shade behind some bushes and stayed long enough for me to get some photos of him. Like with most Siamese cats, he has beautiful eyes, and that’s what I focused on the most.
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.
Who Are Those People?
After my parents died, I was left with a number of photo albums. Some of the people and places I recognized, but most I didn’t. We’re not talking photo albums from the last 40 years. We’re talking [now] about photo albums – and miscellaneous loose photos – from the last 100 years or so. You know, those black covered books with the flimsy black paper pages and the black – or white – corners that held the photos to the pages. The kind of albums you might see in museums, or that your great-grandparents had. Well, three out of four of my grandparents were born in the 1880-1890 range so a good deal of these photos were taken between 1900-1940, 1950 or so. Yeah, we’re talking OLD photo albums.
So, every now and then I sit down with these old photos and stare at them like I am just seeing them for the first time and wishing that the people in them could magically tell me their name and their age at the time the photo was taken. I have gently removed a few of them to see if there was anything printed on the back in pencil, but no, nothing there. Why oh why? I do have a photo of a woman I assume is my great-grandmother with a pencil written caption of “Suk, guess who?”. WHO??? Caption-writer, who are YOU?
And then, there are those photos with only first names on them. Okay, some of these people I kind of know from my genealogy research, but most I don’t. Were they friends? Relatives? When were these mysterious black and white photos of people and places taken? It is frustrating to know that I have hundreds of these photos to pass along to family and can only wish them luck. Other than what could have been valuable family history to pass along, they now have become something that will probably just be tossed away at some point, ending their history.
So, here we are in 2016, a century in the future from when most of these photos were taken. We are in the age of digital cameras and digital media. We go crazy posting photos online in places like Facebook, Instagram, and send them through email to family with cute little captions. Pictures of the new baby, cat, dog, house, boat, vacation, friends, co-workers, sunsets and sunrises, fun at the beach, at the fair, restaurants, etc. We think they’ll be cached for future and posterity, but how long is that? Digital doesn’t mean permanent. Any more, nothing is permanent. Especially photography; digital photography to be exact.
I print photos, those that I like a lot. Mostly of places, not of people. I am guilty of not captioning or labeling them. So, MY questions to myself sometimes are, where was this taken, and when?
So, in fifty years or so, when you might be dead and gone and digital media are left – and maybe even not playable/viewable – will your memories be lost to those who find and see them, or forever? Or will they ask, “Who ARE those people? When and where were these taken?” Or even, “Can anything on this be recovered?” While we might not want to admit it, a printed photo with a label can be invaluable to those generations after us.
[FWIW, and just as an aside, I own one tintype of some unknown man, and a glass plate with an image of my sister.]
Posted in Perspectives by Jason with no comments yet.
Two Ducks
Sometimes, when you least expect it, opportunity knocks, and if you’re lucky, you have your camera handy.
Two ducks. Swimming pool. Late afternoon.
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.
Surprising places
Sometimes, when you least expect it, and in the most surprising places, you find….
(Found in an open stairwell inside a quadruplex in my apartment complex.)
Posted in Nature by Jason with no comments yet.