Almodovar at his best. A must see.

Part of the week's chores: mowing the lawn. It's fun at the start of the season...

All these hearts, waiting to be broken.

Sorry for disturbing you while weeding, friends.

Be the bull.

This was too perfect not to blog! It's apropos on so many levels: I am a tennis nut and am from the fine city of Buffalo, NY. I would also like to claim I've felt akin to a raging bull around my birthday, but that was not really the case. I guarantee this tidbit will be in one of my story's one day.

Original caption: Two of nine American bison that escaped from Buzz Berg's Stevenson, Md. farm run from police and volunteers Tuesday, April 26, 2005 on a tennis court at Greene Tree gated community in Pikesville, Md. Police herded the buffalo into the courts before herding them into a trailer and returning them to their farm. (AP Photo/ Steve Ruark)

I was playing around with the delayed exposure the other night. The ghostly images that occur are great. This photo wasn't edited.

Double image.

I don't know how much of this will be visible. I was hoping to get some lightning during the exposure.

Thanks to S&T for the nifty bday present....

I bought this, then felt guilty. I'm trying not to buy things that were shipped from thousands of miles away. All those fossil fuels wasted and polluted...

Making tea.

30, can you believe it?

At home for my and my dad's birthday. Cutting the cake. I'm not sure why there's a santa hat. Who would have thought you'd go to Buffalo for a spring tan?

I showed my friend Kevin around some of the mansions, parks, and Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Buffalo (like this one).

Niagara Falls in the spring. In the foreground is a huge mound of ice created by the perpetual mist. The ice survives well into spring due to the cooled air surrounding the cold water.

Dad and the birthday hat.

The American Falls.

The Horseshoe Falls in the distance.

My best friend Kevin flew home with me for the birthday celebrations and to visit Buffalo.

The wing.

Wasting no time in getting the party started.

wtf??

Why do people still use paper checks at the supermarket? That's so 1991. What's more annoying than waiting for some bouffant-decked lady to fill out her check because she didn't do it before she stood in line?

Get with it, people--it's called a debit card.

It's me (lightened with Picasa). So I was talking to a friend yesterday who said that in the last few days of my twenties I should not be sitting around the house. So tonight I took a drive out to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. Impossible to blog from up there, but here are some pics.

Stony Man Mountain--Shenandoah's version of NH's the old man in the mountain.

Sunset with clouds. The mountains in the distance are actually in WV.

Bleeding hearts getting ready to do their thing.

Bluebells in the backyard.

Ah, it's time to hang clothes on the line again. It gives one a few minutes of zen-like work.

porch + beer + new pimp daddy shoes = working it in Culpeper

Free your bloomers

These suckers have really popped. There are two more buds at the end of the stem. Next I'd like to get a white orchid.

Netflix is where it's at

A fun movie! I recommend this one...Portman really can act when she's not dressed up as Queen Amadala! It's about searching for what's important in life and how we can easily get sidetracked from that. Apropos to the impending 30th.

At the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC.

Cherry blossoms around the tidal pool, but from last year. They have four different types of trees. Sadly, they say the trees are dying quicker than usual due to soil erosion and compaction around their roots.

Jefferson Memorial: my favorite. There were many people out because it was 85 degrees!

Also a picture from last year, when the windchill was in the 30's! It can barely be seen, but the White House is to the lower left of the Washington monument.

Behind the Smithsonian Castle. Not cherry trees, but magnolia. Very redolent.

Magnolia blooms

At the new WWII memorial. The photo would have been nearly perfect if that stupid family wasn't in it.

The fountains are the best part.

Firefox is a catch.

Have you noticed this slick tool in the corner of your Firefox browser? It's like a search tool, but the pulldown allows you to instantly search specific sites such as amazon, wikipedia, and ebay. Shown is the dictionary.com tool, which I use several times during the day. It's swell.

Another reason to love Firefox browser.

Here's a cool extension in Firefox called Flashblock. It replaces flash video (usually advertisements) with a button that you can choose to play or not. So, goodbye to half those annoying ads you see all day long! And yes...this is a screen shot from the weather we're having today!

Slinky action.

A picture of my sister and her family who visited me Easter weekend.

Another shot of Luray Caverns. Some rooms in the cavern were 10 stories tall.

This picture shows the ceiling reflected in an underground lake.

Despite all the rain we had, we did manage to take a hike out to White Oak Canyon Falls.

The Falls.

On the hike.

By popular request: The Easter butter lamb!

When I was younger, my grandmother made much larger and much more impressive butter lambs.