I tried doing this a couple of times when I was young but just barely managed to kneel. I used to like body surfing and belly boarding though and remained mystified that human beings actually have enough balance to stand up on these boards and ride the waves. This young man was surfing before sunset on a Gulf of Mexico Beach near Treasure Island Florida.
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Surfs Up!
My father introduced me to science fiction at an early age. He used to subscribe to Fantasy and Sci-Fi Magazines.I loved the covers and waited for him to finish reading so I could get the issue. I probably read some when I was too young and one was a story about a planet with Giant Caterpillars. It scared me to death. I can still remember the cover with giant caterpillars and one had a young damsel in it’s pincers while he was being shot at by solders with machine guns. I had nightmares and never liked caterpillars after that.
I remember when we moved to Pittsburgh from Cleveland and it was the summer of the gypsy moth. The caterplillars would crawl on my window screen and you could hear them eating the trees. The screen pulsated with insect life The roads had to be sanded because they were thick with caterpliiar guts. I guess around that time I learned about cocoons and how they turned into butterflies. I have been conflicted ever since
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The Good side of a Caterpillar
It’s time for a break. Like this turtle below, time to doze in the sun. We are off to visit our Chicago family and when we return we are busy with ballgames and barbecues. So I won’t be posting for a while. Hope everyone is having a great summer and I will be back with new images and non-political thoughts in a couple of weeks. Take care of each other!
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Dozing Turtle
This is another sunset view from our condo on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island Florida. It was great fun spending a whole month on the beach. It was something we had always wanted to do and we are blessed to have the time, money and health in retirement to do some of the things on our wish list. The nightly sunset views from our balcony were stupendous.
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Long Boards at Sunset
I am currently writing Worlds Apart which is book two of our DreamMap series. If you read the first book, DreamMap you know that the story involves parallel worlds. I just wrote a series of scenes that take place in The Kings Box in the Chichén Itzá on a parallel earth. This is an image from the real one on planet earth.
If you haven’t read DreamMap, you can currently buy the Kindle edition for just $.99 just follow this link click here!
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The King’s Box
Recently I posted an image of a Flamingo Squabble at the Highland Park Zoo in Pittsburgh. All the flamingos, maybe a dozen in all, were engaged with one another but off to the side was one flamingo all by himself. There were also a few blue herons together but one was also estranged and hung out near the solitary flamingo. Were these two pals ostracized from society for some unknown avian crime? Guess I will never know.
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Strange Birdfellow
A few years a go I published skippy the Pelican. So named by me since he seemed to skip across the water. This was taken at a small harbor on Isla Mujeres a small island near Cancún in the Mexican province of Quintana Roo. I decided to edit the image using the HDR tool from the NIK Collection by Google. The new image is on top, so you be the judge. Comments appreciated.
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Skippy Redux
© Richard Burke 2016 All Rights Reserved
Today at breakfast we were talking about the ancient buildings of Europe. Some cathedrals took hundreds of years to build. Families had generations of commitment to creating a single structure. These are the roots of a Bonsai plant at Pittsburgh’s Phipps conservatory. The plant began training in 1956 so the plant is now 60 years old. Some of these bonsai are over one thousand years old. Think of that commitment. Then think of your own commitment to your art or craft. We can all do better.
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Roots
These long legged animals are amazing and unique. No other animal comes close to being this tall or having such a log neck. You might confuse a panther with a cougar, a wolf with a coyote but Giraffes are unique among all the mammals. This one was taken in the habitat at the Highland Park Zoo in Pittsburgh PA.
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Pittsburgh Giraffe
Last year we visited The United States Military Academy at West Point NY. I posted some images of the Chapel and other points of interest but for some reason didn’t include these three images. I felt then and do now that these images are not strong enough to stand on their own but together the provide some familiar views of this famous place. This is a great time of year to visit West Point and the tour is well worth it.
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Million Dollar View
The United States Military Academy
World War 1 Monument
Imagery Photography 