Overloaded patterns.

I just thought this fire escape along side the patterned bricks on this Downtown Houston building made a strange photo.
Too many designers these days are afraid to use broad swaths of pattern.
--steve buser

Houston, TX

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Sunset through the gun line

This is the traffic coming over the Calcasieu River bridge in Lake Charles,La as we head into the sunset and toward, Beaumont, TX.  You can seen them in this picture, because it is too dark, but the railings of the steep bridge are lined with crossed pistols (by one count there are 10,572 dueling pistols on the 6,600-foot bridge).
--steve buser

Lake Charles, Louisiana, Bridge

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Great Egret spends time in self reflection

A Great Egret, Ardea Albus, finds that fishing is a great time for self-reflection.  The shot is at Shangri La Botanical Gardens in Orange, TX

--steve buser

Great Egret, Ardea Albus, Texas, nature

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Circus Sabers

Linda and I were at the Shriners Circus today in Beaumont, TX, with our grandkids, Sullivan and Sophie. Here Sullivan holds his light saber and his sisters. It was a fun time, even for us old kids.

--steve buser

Circus, Texas, Beaumont

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Bird Brothers

Two birds not of-a-feather share an old stand out in the swamp of the Louisiana coast, near Texas.  I suppose both are envious of each other, the large egret is jealous of the gull's maneuvering ability and ability to get into tight spaces.  The gull would be jealous of the egrets sharp beak that allows it to stab larger prey in the water and its long legs which allow the egret to wade in good fishing grounds.

--steve buser

The splash has dashed

Summer where did you go?  Now the only wet is a miserable rain. 
This is the splash park in Groves, TX.  A well used park -- that in the laughing, running, splashing days of summer.

--steve buser

summer, kids

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Happy is the hovering heron

This is the "survey the waterfront" pose for a juvenile Tri-colored Heron poached on a cypress stump at the heronry off the I-10 at the Trinity River Bridge  -- east of Houston.
The  seems to be just sitting there thinking, but when a fish or other tasty treat swims by, he slowly crouches into an attack mode -- edging closer to the water and leaning closer.
--steve buser

heron, tri-colored, bird

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Spinning his wheels

I didn't get a chance to post this photo a couple weeks back.  In the center is our son, Charlie (Chuck), racing a Ironman event (I think it was a quarter Ironman) in a race in Baytown, TX. That's the I-10 behind them as they race into the transition zone to dismount and go into the foot race part of the event.   The service road turned out to be a pretty descent route, despite the roar of the I-10 in the background.
Oh, by the way, he placed second in his division.
--steve buser

Ironman, Texas

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Heron homework

This juvenile Tri-colored Heron (at the heronry on the I-10 by the Trinity River) was off on his/her own this day practicing his stealth techniques.  When there is no shoreline, the fish swim right up to the trunk of the tree. 

The secret for the hunter is to keep his feet out of the water so as not to tip off the prey.  Then she must stand perfectly still and become the tree.   Lastly, use those sharp eyes to follow anything that moves.  Lastly, you have a sharp beak to quickly penetrate the water without giving your prey and alert.   This young one was rewarded with several tasty catches. 
--steve buser

Heron, bird, Tri-colored Heron

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Leg up on the competition

When you live in a marsh, you look for any vantage point you can get for a lookout stand.   Being the first mover, often makes the difference between eating and being hungry.   This egret, down in the coastal plain of Louisiana, just across the causeway bridge from Texas, stands in front of the new Sabine Pass Liquified Natural Gas facility.
--steve buser

Egrets, Sabine Pass, Sabine Pass LNG

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Gliding the metaphor

Hey, the change in seasons is making me feel a little light and airy. Whistling wind outside tonight. Thought a gliding gull might be the perfect metaphor.
--steve buser

Gull, birds, Texas

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A mazed

Our granddauther Sophie looks a little bewildered inside the maze that is the play fort at the Port Neches' park. The wood banisters provided plenty of cover for me to get the shot unnoticed. She got her bearings together pretty quickly and was zipping around adeptly in just minutes.
--steve buser

kids, playground

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Summer sprays away

She wandered alone through the show at the Play and Spray in Port Neches. I think it is a fitting photo for the finish of summer (the autumnal equinox having slipped passed) - the days of baking suns gives way to milder days. Gone is the carefree-ness of summer, the days of seeking out cool anywhere you can find it. Gone are the playdays, splashdays, the excitement-seeking pursuits, the fun with friends frolicking freely awaiting backyard barbeques.

Fall grips the weather. Winter lurks.
There is the time of clock and the time of seasons. Do you know what time it is?
--steve buser

Kids, splash, Port Neches

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Stormy struggle

It was hot, humid and sweaty, this time last year after Hurricane Ike huff and puffed through. This was the aid tent in Bridge City, TX. One day you are living in comfort and the next you are struggling to make it a day at a time.
C'est la vie.
--steve buser

Hurricane, Ike, Texas, Bridge City

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Bird doing dooty

I didn't get the focus very good, but I thought this picture had it's own merits.

Checkout the bird on the left, she is not only helping stand lookout, but taking care of other basic callings, too.
--steve buser

Birds, Louisiana, Cameron Parish

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Get your shine on

This fellow is doing his very best to get attention. He didn't have a lot of say in where he grew up. Nor, does he have much say in how much light he gets, or doesn't get. All he can do is try to be as radiant as he can to attract bees and other critters.
--steve buser

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Kids' camp captures cuddles

On the left, our granddaughter is eager and apprehensive at the same time about holding the racoon that Nanny is handing to her at the CampJunction Beaumont a few days back. But she quickly got the hang (right) of it and refused to give the cuddly thing back -- not that the racoon was all that happy with the arrangement.

Before we left home, the grandkids were in the "I don't want to go to some stupid petting zoo" mode. But we had a hard time getting them to leave. I sure they will be more eager the next time.
-- steve buser

petty zoo, Beaumont, Texas

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You want this branch? You and what flock?

On the right is where the action is in this fighting scene. Egret A is calling out Egret B --you will notice the crowd is looking on kind of stupified. After all, an good Egret worth his feathers wouldn't be hanging out on the outside branches as night falls. Then to fight over those miserly spots, on top of it. Makes a bird wonder where the world's coming to.

The scene is from the heronry I discovered yesterday near Kirbyville. It was an amazing gathering spot. This one tree was the focus. Apparently it is the address of choice for social climbing herons. Last one in at night has to fight his way into plush addresses.

I would still be shooting there, but I filled up my memory card, and I forgot to reformat the other that is on the blink.
--steve buser

Herons, Texas

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Egret unrest

It was crowded in the trees of this heronry near Woodville. This picture was before another wave of cattle egrets came swooping in for the night. I am sure there were more than 150 birds, most of the cattle egret, but there was what appeared to be a glossy iris, and another heron that I have not yet identified.

Did I talk about how noisy it was? Every bird to his branch. Except, none of them could decide whose branch belonged to whom, when the tree started getting crowded. There was the sound of flapping winds, and a low whooping sound. On top of that was the squawking over branches.

--steve buser

Woodville, Texas, Egrets, herons

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Camel Kiss coup conked

We were at CampJunction in Beaumont yesterday with the grandkids. Little Sullivan didn't want to go because he had just picked up a MouseTrap game and wanted to go home and play it. But about 20 minutes into the petting zoo visit, he has completely changed his mind-- "I didn't know it was going to be this much fun."

Here, Sophie attempts to lay one on a dromedary, while her Nanny Linda holds her. I am happy to report that the camel shied away at the last second and refused her advances.
--steve buser

camel, zoo, kids, beaumont Texas

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The Golden Second

As we went into Logan's the other night, I noticed a bank of white clouds building in the sky. "It would bea great shot," I thought, but was too lazy to go back to the car for my camera. However, on the way out, my laziness was rewarded (the universe is perverse) when we saw the tops of the clouds, catching that last few seconds of orangish-pink rays -- the sun had already set, sicentists tell us, but old Helios had figured away to curve his arrows and sent them streaming through the highest layers of the sky, ignoring the horizon.

I new I had only a few seconds, so I ran to my car and grabbed my glass eye and started shooting. As pretty as this picture is, it only captures a fragment of the beauty - the rays had already climbed halfway up the bank of clouds -- a blow off from a massive thunderstorm that had formed to the east.

You have heard of the "golden hour" right? This would have to be called the "golden second" -- I only got 5 shots off before the gold was gone and night washed in like a tide covering a beach.

Every once in a while God plays with the scenery to remind us that every second is precious. Most of the time we are too busy to watch and let the meaning sink in.
--steve buser

Clounds, sunset, Beaumont, TexasPowered by ScribeFire.

Part wagon, part future.

If you remember the wheels on this car, you've enjoyed a long life. I bet you have some real stories to tell.

Notice the wood spokes in the wheels. I guess I had seen that before but never paid much attention.

Things have come a long way, haven't they?

I guess the bullet hole decals are someone's idea of authenticity. I would have preferred a 1924 newspaper sitting on the running board or something. Maybe a gramophone in the back seat.

None the less, it is two works of art: the original machine and the hundreds of hours I am sure it took to restore it. The car was at the classic show at Crockett Street in Beaumont this weekend.

--steve buser

Crockett Street, Beaumont, Texas, antique, classic, car

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Surf's up!

Everyone that grew up in the 60's is a surfer, even if they've never touched a board or splashed in the ocean. It was part of what we would now call the "meme" -- the idea of wild and free in the salty spray and the hair-bleaching sun.

This truck at the car show at Crockett Street in Beaumont this past weekend caught the feeling and made it come real again. Notice the old metal Budweiser ice cooler in the back.

Ready for a surfin' safari?
--steve buser

60's., Surfing, classics, Beaumont, Texas

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Lost in the Sixties today

Hey, if this doesn't send you back to the 60's you must not have been born yet. If it does send you back to the60's maybe it will help you remember some of the fun you had but forgot. Did you do the A&W scene? Frosttop? Hoppers?

The 1955 Ford Fairlane witha 472 cu in Cadillac engine was one of the dozens of cars at the show at Crockett Street today (Saturday).

Now how does that go? "Close your eyes baby, ....."
--steve buser

Hot rods, classic cars, Beaumont, Texas

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What kind of garbage is this?

When I went into the store, the big Grackle on the right was wandering around in this pudde on the parking lot. When I came out, he was still there. So, I figured, he wasn't going to go anywhere while I puled my camera out and adjusted it. I was right, of course, he hung around and just periodically checked me out to make sure I was no threat.

Every few minutes the bird on the left would com flying back to the puddle, with treasures in her mouth. She would hand it to her puddle king. He would wash it, chew for a while and give it back to her. This could happen two or three times before each piece was gone.

But this time, she shoved it into the big guy's mouth and he chewed a few times and let it fly. Apparently he likes his garbage well done.

--steve buser

Bird, Grackle, Beaumont, Texas
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Naturally vain

He was quite vain really. He didn't move around much. Not even when I came up to shoot this picture. He let me shoot about a half dozen before flickering off. He wasn't doing any mocking either. Strange for a Mocking Bird.
--steve buser

Mocking Bird, Beaumont, Texas
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Sun stone

Just another sunset photo for today's pix. I am practicing some new techniques.
--steve buser

Sunset, Beaumont, Texas

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Night life

The night is alive as it breathes the last breath of the day. Beaumont settles into a sweaty summer sleep.
--steve buser

Sunset, Beaumont, Texas

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