I have this gift for finding it. Of course the regular places, but… around Houston it’s just always there if you look.

I look. I’ve been known to drive editors a little nuts…. “I sent you to the ASIAN festival and you brought back Guadalajara dancers and Jarabe Tapatio!” (And mariachis, too… he didn’t mention the mariachis. Man’s got no taste…)

But it’s fun and challenging to shoot and even when you get CLOSE to right (see below) it looks good.

Someday I’ll get this shot just exactly right. This one is closer to what I want than anything I’ve done in the last few months, so getting somewhere.

Tomorrow is “Help-Portrait” day… will be over at El Dorado working with some other folks. Not sure about this, but it seems like at least a respectable cause. Will see how this goes.

Late Night Downtown Wandering…

Out for a wander yesterday…

It’s DRY here.

This is actually a normal phase for an agave plant, but hey, it’s SYMBOLISM, people! (And they DO look wilted…)

The Harris County Courthouse, originally built in 1910, was renovated sometime during the late 50s. According to historians and conservators, the renovation was if not botched at least not particularly desirable from a conservation standpoint. Consequently, over the last several years it has been restored to original appearance, at considerable expense. There was a grand opening and ribbon cutting on August 23d, and I’ve been trying to get the pix sorted and edited since.

Here’s one: One of my favorite bands, Celtaire, provided appropriate music for the occasion….

More behind this one… clikenzee pik.

Something I grabbed a few months back at a church bazaar/festival. They set up a few booths in the gym so members of the congregation with skills could help members who were a little down and out… and the light here just wanted to be shot.

More pix waiting tomorrow.

Got the scanner cranking again, pulling some critter shots from the files…

As days go, this is one OF them.

Hell with it, I’mma go shoot something.

* Yes, I know birds don’t growl. Deal.

I try to get to events like Audrey’s just a little early – when there are hoops to be jumped through it helps to have time for a running start.

When there aren’t loops, sometimes there are other attractions to snap instead.

Like this Rice Paper Butterfly (kin, I’m told, to the Monarch) who dropped by with a few hundred lookalike friends.

Or these two, who put on a few aerobatic displays to amuse and entertain the wandering itinerant photographers…

(thanks, guys, you were great!)

Okay, load up, time to get back to work….

If you were in Houston about this time last year, you’ll have run across mention of the Amazing HMNS Corpse Flower, Lois. She bloomed, which is apparently quite rare, and the moment (several months of the moment, actually) was covered well past a fare-thee-well by the local corpse press. (sorry.)

And a bit later, thanks to the gent who became the Twitter Voice of Lois, (@CorpzFlowrLois) she got a sibling.

And this morning, the sibling got a name. And a little exposure.

With Audrey, of course, is proud “papa” Zac Stayton, HMNS’s resident Horticulturist To The Stars, and “mama” Julianne Maddox, who submitted the winning name to the Museum’s Name That Plant contest. (Maddox said it seemed like a plant that smelled like dead people should be named for a plant that chowed down on them. Makes sense to me.)

Now if you’re one of those folks who just can’t get enough of giant strange flowers that smell REALLY bad, HMNS is now offering patrons and supporters the chance to “adopt” Audrey (she’s a growing girl, y’know, and those critters COST) beginning at $20 a parent, which seems a reasonable way to get credit and a few goodies. Details on HMNS website here.

Celebration at PlazAmericas down the street… music, dancing, food, more music…

I was tied down most of the day so the food was gone when I got there, but there was, of course, still music. There is ALWAYS music.

And where there is music there are photographs.

And tomorrow is Monday. There will be pix somewhere, because, hey, day ends in “y.”