Under the Table

Composed while Waiting.

Yesterday I went to another new doctor, an orthopedic specialist in Harrisonburg. I’m switching much of my medical care to the Sentara system because I’m getting frustrated with Valley Health. I realize that all medical conglomerates have similar problems: long delays in getting an appointment, busy offices that may not respond to questions, and short appointments due to insurance requirements. I hope to at least find practitioners who respond to questions.

This doctor seems willing to listen, and at least did not push surgery as a solution. But no one seems to comprehend that pain is not the biggest part of my problem. I just want to walk without losing my balance. Well, I have an appointment in the future with a neurologist, and I am continuing with physical therapy. It’s hard to get motivated to do the practice exercises because I get tired so easily, and then I can’t do  things I want to do. 

Don’t get old; it’s hard! I tried to put it off as long as possible, but time caught up with me.

Fishing at Inskeep Landing

Page County, VA

These people are going to fish in the South Fork of the Shenandoah. I took this from the boat landing at Bixler’s Ferry Road. I just learned that this point is called Inskeep Landing. 

Vibrance vs. Saturation

A June Sky, 8:50 P.M.

Some years ago, I took a Photoshop class and asked the teacher, “What is the difference between the Saturation Adjustment and the Vibrance Adjustment?” I forget her response, but I interpreted it as Vibrance increasing the contrast between colors. 

Most sources say that Vibrance enhances muted colors without overly saturating the colors that are already bright. If you increase Saturation instead, it deepens all colors, giving your picture an unnatural look if you’re not careful. 

Let’s experiment with my sky shot in the Photos app that came with my iPad. (I stopped using Photoshop when they started requiring a subscription because I don’t like recurring fees.) If I increase the Vibrance slider all the way to 100, the sky deepens and we see a pretty sunset.
 

If instead, I increase Saturation all the way to 100, the colors are brilliant, but the sky looks unnatural, especially the blue.

That looks awesome, but it’s not at all what I saw. I pulled the sliders back and then set Vibrance at 20 and Saturation at 10. The result is the first image, which is not as impressive, but it’s true to what I saw. After all, I was just walking the dog in the evening, and I wasn’t interested in waiting for the colors to possibly deepen to a stunning intensity.

Most of my pictures are fairly realistic. I’m not a big fan of overly manipulated images unless they are clearly art rather than journalistic. When I use AI or artistic filters, I’ll usually mention it. 

Most of my blog posts are journalistic in style, with the exception of the Saturday posts that I pretend are written by my dog. I like to think that everyone is “in” on that little joke. 

Bird Post #1316

This pretty goldfinch perched in my front yard. I was able to take its picture with my cell phone through the glass storm door.

The bird on the fence was in the county park where I was walking Charlie. It looked like a barn swallow to me, but the app on my phone identified this picture as a kingbird. There was a less sharp photo that it said is a swallow. AI is not very discerning.

The picture of swans is from 2005, the first year that I was blogging. Internet connections were slow then, so the picture is not high resolution, but I had used an artistic effect so I don't think it matters.

Quite a Day!

I'm tired — even more than usual. For one thing, I had physical therapy and it was exhausting. Lynn and her friend Jessica spent the afternoon here helping me with a list of chores, and they entertained the dog while I was gone. Charlie still has separation anxiety and does not do well by himself.

They got a lot of things done! Lynn is good at technical things like setting up a camera by my front door and making the app work, and Jessica is willing to work hard, and cleaned both the microwave and the living room floor. She got up on a ladder to change a lightbulb in a ceiling fixture. I don’t like climbing ladders because my balance is not great, and falling can be disastrous when you’re past a certain age. I don’t have osteoporosis yet, but I do have osteopenia, which means my bones are starting to thin. 

This evening my deck got painted. Mr. Dodson worked at another job all day and then came over with his helper and painted. It seems like other people have a lot more energy than I do!

I definitely need to get to bed on time tonight. I guess I need more sleep than I needed when I was younger. Getting old is hard. 

Artwork in Mervin Jackson Park, Leesburg

This is outside the parking garage that I showed on Friday. I stopped to take a picture of this pretty mural on what I assumed was a utility box. It looked like a Picasso-inspired painting, and I think it was drawn with one continuous line.

I noticed that the side of the box was painted, so I stepped around to take another picture and was surprised to see a piano. 

It was painted by Danielle Ferrin.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

It’s Flag Day

When I realized it was flag day, I decided to display my new garden flag that I got for Independence Day. The flags on it are symbolic, and not remotely accurate in the number of stars or stripes. Ha, it’s made in China, so how patriotic is that? Oh well, the colors are great!

June 14 was the day our original flag was adopted in 1777. When I was in grade school, we would have a lesson about the American flag on Flag Day. I recall talks on flag etiquette given by someone who was not our teacher. Perhaps it was a volunteer from the American Legion or a similar organization.

The rules for flag etiquette used to be stricter than they are now, saying not to wear flag clothing except for a small emblem. I still find it offensive when someone sweats on a representation of the flag because they wore it as a T-shirt or shorts. Tacky!

We also said the Pledge of Allegiance in school every day. That was a way to learn it, but I don’t think it taught anybody patriotism. It was my generation who became protesters and even flag burners. Reciting something by rote is not effective, except in learning elocution and vocabulary. 

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 😉 

It’s a Double Blog Anniversary!

Blog Post #9500

Yes, this is actually the 9,500th post on this blog! And my first post was on this day 21 years ago!

Are you impressed? That’s a long time to keep doing something that isn’t necessary! But I like photography and writing, and I truly enjoy interacting with other bloggers. At first I did not post every day, but I’ve been doing that for a long time, And it helps me keep my photosorganized, and motivates me to take better pictures.

I appreciate all those who follow this blog, especially those who take time to comment. 

With love and gratitude,

Linda

Charlie’s Mid-June Adventures

Hi, I had a busy week. Here I am at Seven Bends State Park. It’s a good place to go on a hot day because there’s shade and a river.

 Look who I saw on my neighbor’s deck! Why can cats just go wherever they want?

Here we are waiting in the car for our grocery order to be brought out. It is too hot for me to stay in the car while Mom goes in the store. Sometimes she has stuff delivered to our house from Walmart, but Martin’s will not bring it that far so we had to pick it up. 

Since we were in Front Royal, we went to the mountains there. I like smelling the air in Shenandoah National Park.

We took a short hike on the Appalachian Trail. It was rocky and we did not walk very far. Mom said I might make her trip on the rocks. 

While we were in the car, we saw a deer. We also saw a bear, but she did not get a picture.

I visited Sadie a few times this week. She has nice toys.

Miss Deborah bought Sadie a dog stroller. I did not like it at all. Dogs do not belong in a contraption like that.

Now it’s time for me to go to bed. Mom wants to use the computer.

Red Canoe and Ducks

Weekend Reflections

Our weather has been very hot and muggy, occasionally interrupted by a thunderstorm. A mountain lake looks like a good place to cool off.

Garage Corridor

Large parking garages can be disorienting. You drive around in circles, watching for a parking spot. When you finally find one, you're in a dark area with no particular clues as to which direction is which.

This one in Leesburg had a map posted, but there was no “You are here” indicator. I asked a passerby, but they did not understand the map either. So I walked toward the light until I came out near the street. Fortunately, I saw that I was near the place where I wanted to be.

Patch of Blue

This is my contribution to Skywatch, which has remained popular even as blogging in general is declining. This blog hop has been around since 2008 (under different management). 

The challenge of finding an interesting sky photo each week has helped me to pay more attention to the skies.