Photography ⁽²⁰⁾

Brian Bilbrey August 2, 2015

A Princess and her Pea

Lexi, protected from peas There's better be a pea under there... * * * Last night, when all was quiet, I finally got a around to putting together the Metal Earth Dragonfly model that I picked up from Amazon weeks ago on a whim, inspired by Jenny's 1000 Ferris Wheels post. It's good to have a focused distraction from time to time. The work took me away from myself for a double handful of minutes, and reminded me that I can focus when I make the effort. There's been so much going on that I'm spending more time putting out…

Brian Bilbrey March 17, 2014

Dreaming of a White St. Paddy's Day

Echoes of Bing Crosby chasing around my head as I look outside: A downside is that there's a couple more inches of the stuff headed our way, so I'll be waiting to clear the driveway and sidewalks until mid-afternoon. And I'll just have to assume that the snow peas are happy as clams in a snow-covered planting bed. * * * Here's the laptop pedestal I built and finished over the weekend. It's designed to sit on top of a regular desk, to be a stylish standing desktop for laptop and mouse. It can also move down to floor level,…

Brian Bilbrey October 26, 2013

Pi tricks

But first, 0630 EDT on Saturday the 26th day of October, 2013, was brought to you by the word "Fahrenheit" and the number '28'. Brrrrrr! * * * I got home from work yesterday evening, and found Marcia watching something that probably first appeared on an obtangular Philco Predicta television in the late 1940's. I threw an ENOTINTERESTED exception, then I came upstairs and started mucking about with the Raspberry Pi. The little credit-card sized computer, named Dortmunder (for REASONS), has languished in a corner for quite a while. I first discovered that my phone life-extension battery (acquired at VMworld,…

Brian Bilbrey March 8, 2012

That's MY spot!

I worked until about 2330 last night, remotely to the office. When I came to bed, there was Lexi, in my spot. You might say that she was keeping it warm, but frankly, she was resentful about having to move. Nice picture for the circumstances, too: A 6-watt night-light provided enough ambient light for the sensor in the D5100. I'm rather impressed.

Brian Bilbrey December 10, 2011

Orchid in bloom

A few years back ... three, I think, I got Marcia an orchid as part of my anniversary gift to her. It was in bloom at the time, and stayed that way for quite a while. Wonder of wonders, although the flowers eventually faded and the stalks withered away, the plant itself has been pretty hardy. I keep up with the watering, and it sits by a window in the library, so it gets some afternoon light. But it hasn't bloomed since there. Late this summer, I read someplace that orchids need some cooler overnights in order to stimulate flower…