My Periwinkle is Crying!

My Periwinkle is Crying!
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

This sad little beauty was found bordering the pond fronting the condo units here in Sun Village. We call the pond Apache Lake during the late fall and winter months because this is when our "Snowbirds" from Minnesota come back to roost temporarily.

This is the same variety of flower, by the way, sometimes called Vinca and sometimes called Periwinkle, which managed to get me banned from a pro-Obama Flickr group last November, therefore,  I probably need to be careful what I say here. So, I'll just ask a single question. Why is this Periwinkle crying?

Communiversity @ Surprise AZ-Cartoon (gimpified)

Communiversity @ Surprise AZ-Cartoon (gimpified)
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

This shot is of the newly completed Communiversity campus, which is located in the Surprise Civic Center complex, just south of Sun Village. For info see:

http://www.riosalado.edu/communiversity/Pages/default.aspx

The post production on this uses the cartoon filter contained in my newly installed G'MIC toolkit. I've probably said this before, but I'll say it again (with apologies to Rush)--I'm having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have with this new tool bag.

Hope you like it!

Veteran's Day (2)-2009 (gimpified)

Veteran's Day (2)-2009 (gimpified)
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

A jaunt down to the local branch of the Maricopa County Library to return a few books last Friday, turned into a bit of a photo jaunt.

This particular shot is a detail from a memorial plaque dedicated to the members of the US Army Corps who served in World War II.

It is of course heavily gimped.

Quoth the Grackle, "The Stimulus is Coming, The Stimulus is Coming"

Quoth the Grackle, "The Stimulus is Coming, The Stimulus is Coming"
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

This would have turned out to be a pretty good illustration for a book of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry if the bird had only been a raven, but so far I haven't found any poet who has written a good line coming from a quotable grackle.

My second thought was that since this lamp is part of the City of Surprise's  recent upsurge in construction of public facilities the bird could be serving as one of those "Your tax dollars at work" signs.  However, evidently Mr. Obama is hard at work getting signs printed up which say, "My Stimulus Money at Work" in order to claim the credit for all such new lighting fixtures.  This being the case, the poor grackle will be out of a job before he's actually been employed. And, since it will probably take a half dozen people to paint the lamp green and add lettering, Mr. Obama will probably count  this as five jobs saved?

Veterans Day 2009

Veterans Day 2009
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

Another rose, selected from Sun Village's Memorial Garden.

I'm a little ahead of the actual holiday, but in view of the recent tragedy in Texas--we could probably use an extra Memorial day this year.

The Six Stooges

The Six Stooges
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

The mere mention of Rosa DeLauro in my Halloween blog, suggested to me that I might try my hand at a real cartoon using The Gimp.

And, I've had a sneaking hunch that Ms DeLauro, was some kind of reincarnation of Moe ever since the first time I saw her on C-SPAN. But, that Curley had invented that Maxine Waters glare many years ago I have only discovered fairly recently.

The classic studio shot of the original Stooges suggests that Larry may have undergone years of ear abuse. Although, I'm not suggesting that Ms Pelosi has suffered similar abuse--it might go a long way towards explaining some of her bizarre behavior.

Auto Art 11-Red Ford (gimpified)

Auto Art 11-Red Ford (gimpified)
Originally uploaded by h_dwight_beers

Probably the last of the series.

I've not much to say about it.

However, on a completely, unrelated subject, having nothing whatsoever to do with classic cars, photography, or Glendale Arizona, I'll send out the following thought for the day:

I can now add the name of Shalrie Joseph to the list of Black People who I could have voted for to be President of the United States, last November. Although, Shalrie would be the only one on the list not legally qualified (he was actually born in Grenada), when it comes to leadership qualities--he'd be at or near the top of the list. Whereas, the Incumbent in the office can't even lead his pooch to the pooping station.