Rome!

 I went to Rome!   So I could have a picture of me taken in front of the basement of the Colosseum, where they kept the gladiators, prisoners and wild animals that would fight to the death for the audience's amusement..

A shot of the Colosseum from the outside.

A shot of the Colosseum from the mildly expensive seats.

A view of Constantine's Arch built to celebrate Constantine's victory of Maxentius in 312 CE.

Everyone steals from everyone;  this is an Egyptian obelisk outside the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, near where we were staying.

 

There's an Archeology Museum that's built right next door to archeological digs.

This is the fountain at the end of the Via Nazionale (where I was staying).

A Lone Goose

 You've seen my pictures from the East River.  Recently one of the geese has been trying to make friends on land.

This goose has an agent and was not happy I was sneaking around taking pictures of him.

 

What is he doing out of the water?   Waiting for someone to bring him lunch?

Is he looking for protein, perhaps?

Theatening storms in a calm winter sky

 Monday lunch with the 59th Street Bridge.

Making a friend interrupted

I was on my way to work yesterday morning when I saw this tree.  I thought the twisted root looked interesting, and stopped to take a picture.  A woman and her dog were walking in front of me, but the woman had to stop to clean up the purpose of their walk.

While the woman was bending over with a plastic bag, the dog attempted to introduce himself, to tell me he likes that tree trunk too, and he never uses that spot because he doesn't want to offend the tree.

I thought about asking the owner if I could take a picture of her dog, but it was barely a quarter past 8 in the morning on a Saturday.  I figured the woman might be looking forward to going back to sleep after having taken her dog out for a walk.  Or the dog owner might want to talk, not knowing that I was on my way to work and barely had enough time to be distracted to take a picture of this tree, never mind make friends with people who are only neighbors of my employer.

A week in Virginia

 A deer by the side of the road.

A more shy deer.

 

How much ground does a groundhog hog?  We saw this little guy crawl under the dock and he hid there for a while before venturing out.

 

 

I don't think groundhogs hog the ground at all.  They give each other space.

Here are more wallpaper options..

Goth wallpaper

I don't know if this is also goth wallpaper, or if this is where the giant took a few steps.

A Rorschach test under the influence.

But did anyone HEAR it?

Greek ruins seen from the roof

Here’s a view of the Parthenon, as seen from the bar on the roof of the Brown Acropolis Hotel.

A Fall Sunday in the Garden

 I don't know what happened to this tree's limb.  It looks like it was trying to leave quietly, but what is with that ripped bark above?

Fields of lilles, fading fast

A single rose is meant to last

Blue petals strewn most everywhere

The butterfly says "no, not there!"