Brendan Loy's Blogs

Denver Tea Party photos

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:54 GMT

More of my photos are here, in my "Denver Tea Party" Flickr set.

Holiday's last hurrah

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:24 GMT

It always makes me a little sad to take down Christmas decorations. But alas, time marches on, so over the weekend I started doing so, leaving only the outdoor lights still illuminated. Those, too, will come down soon. But for now, they can still create pretty scenes like this:

Those would be these lights, seen through the window shades. I should also note that the wooden dining-room table and chairs are a new addition to our condo -- gifts from V, who just moved to a smaller apartment and so has no room for them. Thanks, V!

Anyway, here are the other outdoor lights, during yesterday morning's unexpected snowfall:

Also, in uploading these pics, I realized that I never got around to posting pictures last month of the indoor portion of Christmas-lights display. So here you go, from back in December:

That's a live tree, albeit a miniature one, which I bought at Whole Foods. (I was originally looking for a small artificial tree, but when I saw the mini real tree, I knew it was perfect.) We had to go with a small tree, on top of our entertainment center, to keep Loyette from getting into it. With another baby on the way, I suspect we may be going with small Christmas trees for the next few years. :)

Anyway, there were also some yellow and green Christmas lights to the left of the tree, but I didn't photograph those. (D'oh!) Finally, here's a shot of Toby resting in front of the fireplace:

Our cats definitely know how to live the good life. :)

Evening vistas

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:23 GMT

Venus over downtown Denver:

Crepuscular rays over suburban Denver:

Rocky Mountain high

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:20 GMT

Looking out the window on an evening flight from Phoenix to Denver:

See also here and here.

Message-mobile

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:16 GMT

Just when I think my Election 2008 photo set is complete, I see something like this:

Heh. Clearly a Democrat. ;)

P.S. At least the driver isn't as outwardly bitter as this guy.

Happy New Year!

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:23 GMT

Two champagne glasses of milk, for Becky's and my traditional New Year's milk toast, sit on the Zaks' living room table in Arizona, while Times Square begins its countdown to 2009 on the TV in the background.

Star light, car bright

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:54 GMT

A car drives by as I take a picture of Orion above the Superstition Mountains:

More Superstitions

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:51 GMT

The Superstition Mountains, shortly before sunset tonight:

And, fifteen minutes later:

Panoramas created with Calico. (Same goes for yesterday's rainbow photo.)

Christmas Day rainbow

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:51 GMT

Superstition Mountain, Arizona.

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 03:38 GMT

Above: The Zaks' Christmas tree (elevated for baby-proofing purposes).

Light and high beauty, indeed

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:35 GMT

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter, shining bright over Denver earlier this evening:

It was a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in 2005 that first gave me the idea for what would become the title of this blog, "Light and High Beauty." Tonight's stunning three-way conjunction of those same planets, plus the Moon -- the three brightest objects in the night sky -- was even worthier of that name. Absolutely beautiful.

The above photo, incidentally, was taken from the 33rd-floor sun deck of the Barclay building downtown. It's a 0.6 second exposure, with a 3.5 f-stop and a 200 ISO.

More photos here.

Panorama

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:02 GMT

The view from our seats in Section 25, Row 90 at the Los Angeles Coliseum for Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game:

Here's a larger version of the same picture (which I stitched together using a nifty piece of software called Calico). And here's an even wider view, and the full-size version thereof.

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:48 GMT

The three brightest objects in the night sky, together for a close encounter Sunday, as seen from Gold Canyon, Arizona:

Venus is the brighter one, closer to the Moon. In the first photo, you can also see some airplanes taking off from Sky Harbor Airport.

Here's another shot of the heavenly trio -- you may need to squint in order to spot Jupiter, directly above Venus -- roughly 24 hours earlier, as seen from inside the Los Angeles Coliseum during Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game:

You can more easily see Jupiter in the larger version of that same picture. You can't quite make it out in this wider view, which also shows the Irish and Trojans lining up for a play. But trust me, it's there!

Yet another 24 hours earlier, here's a shot of just Venus and Jupiter (no Moon), as seen from Palm Desert, California, during our drive from Phoenix to L.A.:

The three heavenly bodies will make their closest approach to one another after sunset Monday. Definitely worth a look.

UPDATE: The climax!

No silent prayer for the faith-departed

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:01 GMT

The Band of the Fighting Irish, making its first-ever visit to the Los Angeles Coliseum, spells out "BON JOVI" while playing "It's My Life" during halftime of Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game:

The lyrics of "It's My Life" declare that it "ain't a song for the broken-hearted" -- but with the Irish putting forward an utterly inept offensive effort that put an exclamation point on two consecutive horrible seasons, that's debatable at best.

Smog, glorious smog

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:51 GMT

Anyone who's driven to California from Arizona will, I think, recognize this view: it's the moment when the smog cloud of Indio announces that you've left behind the near-emptiness of the desert, and re-entered civilization.

Speaking of the desert, here's a shot from about an hour earlier, showing one of the Mordor-ish mountains that lines I-10 in southeastern California as it passes through the Mojave Desert:

They're seriously a bit spooky. As Eomer says in the Return of the King, "Those mountains are evil."

Who?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:40 GMT

The owl statue on Ted and Ginny's back porch:

Another fiery Denver sunset

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:37 GMT

I took this photo out my car window while driving home from work on Tuesday:

The Superstitions

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:08 GMT

Clouds and sunlight interact this evening in Superstition Mountain, Arizona:

And a bit earlier, when it was raining over the mountain:

The view from our window

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:56 GMT

Sunday, November 16, at 6:43 AM:

Later that day, at 4:53 PM:

(See also here.) And, ten minutes later, at 5:03 PM:

The mirror of Galadriel

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:08 GMT

Actually, it's just a pool of water at the UT Gardens in Knoxville, back in September. (I'm finally starting to sort through some of my photos from the busy last two months.)

Post-election pics

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:41 GMT

I saw this car in a mall parking garage on Thursday:

Heh. A bit bitter, are we?

Meanwhile, even the cut-rate liquor stores were urging people to get out the vote:

Again, here's my full Election 2008 photoset on Flickr.

Election 2008

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:19 GMT

I've been posting a bunch of election-related photos -- from both Tennessee and Colorado -- in my Election 2008 Flickr gallery. The gallery goes all the way back to January, and continues through today's Obama rally in Pueblo (where I took the picture above).

Needless to say, I'll be taking and uploading more election-related photos over the next few days.

Ah, the South

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:02 GMT

On the list of things I'll miss about Tennessee: funny messages on the church sign down the street.

"Seven days without Jesus makes one weak." Heh.

You say Tomato...

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:52 GMT

One of our favorite spots in Knoxville: the Tomato Head patio on Market Square.

Farewell

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:34 GMT

Leaving my office in Knoxville for the last time, Friday, October 24.