Bells of Doom

Like Ma Bell, I've got the ill communication. A manhole cover with a bell on it, babies.  For an extra benefit, here's a great song from MF Doom! 

almost there

More Pio Pio goodness.  So, El Pollo Rico seems to be the favorite in the area, but I want to make a plug for my Guatemalan friends at PP, who are nice and whose chicken is delicious.

pio pio!

One of my favorite places to eat in Clarendon, Pio Pio.  I don't have a car, but walking through their drive-through is a treat of weird dilapidated signs.

b-day!

A midnight surprise from someone special!

sad grass

Some sad, sad grass.  I think this is paint from when the gas company marks underground lines OR a new regulation on energy use.  Hard to tell.

viole{n}t

Actually, nothing violent about this violet flower.  Notice how deep the white center is--it's nearly on the same focal plane (nerd) as the green leaf to the left, which is at the base where flower and stem meet.  His younger brother is below.  I like the soft focus contrasted with the spike of the leaves.

up, up, and away

Yep, same flower.  Super fuzzy, but I like how the crest of the flower pedals kinda burst towards the top of the shot.

up, up

Same flower as earlier.  Actually, when I took these shots, I didn't look through the lens--I just held the camera down low and hoped for good stuff to come out of it.

up

The stem of a flower; the wind was blowing, and it created a nice blurred effect that I really like.

Where Is This? #13 greenie blue

OK Claredites, another quiz for another Friday.  Where is this green, blue and black thing in c-don?  Anonymous-Super-Former-Coworker got last week's quiz, and after two weeks of dizzying anticipation Kinney finally and correctly guessed the previous week's close-up conundrum.  Good luck.

answer

question

terminator blood

I'm generally not an alarmist, but I feel--and can not stress the importance of this message enough--that we have entered a time when robots from the future have come back to hunt our brightest minds in an effort to win a yet-unexperienced world war.  This photo--obviously--indicates that a robot-on-human fight took place, and said robot received some sort of wound, but did not have time to let this spot of humanoid-like-metal-blood re-generate with the rest of his killing self.  Just in case, more here on how to kill these evil robots.

devil's in the details. and metros.

Don't know who does this, but every time they put up a new advertisement someone writes "666" on all of the faces.  Oh Clarendon....  So evil.

do you smell what the Bub is cooking

adsf My roomie's dog, Bubba, takes in the sights and smells of C-don.

bust a

This is a good example of why I like macro photography.  I saw this Styrofoam nut and walked past it but then thought, "You know, that might look kinda cool, I'll take a shot," and then when I zoomed in, I saw that there were these little bugs climbing all over it.  So easy to miss the little things.  That's what she said.

a perfect day

Pretty much had the perfect weekend ever, including some time spent solo on the porch with a fine cigar, a beer, and a good book.  

extra! extra! party hat abandoned!

This was one of the first pictures I ever took with my camera and lens.  It was a cold, cold day, and I couldn't figure out why in the world a child's party hat ended up on a Washington Post newspaper dispenser in the middle of Clarendon....

bamboo x 2 x 2 x 2

A bamboo fence on at the Barton Community garden at 10th and Barton streets.  You can tell this is an old photo, because you can see the snow in the background if you squint just right.  I enjoy how they have a large padlock on the three-foot high fence--in all fairness, I did have a nearly irrepressible desire to break in and dig up bulbs, etc., but the lock stopped me.

you name it

What does this look like, or what could explain such a pattern to exist?  You tell me....

mearls

Metal pearls.  This is actually a short chain on a fire-hydrant type thing above the metro station, connecting the cap to the hydrant spout.  Why I thought anyone would find that interesting, I'm not sure, but here we are my friend.

Where is This? #12 orangeyello

OK Clarenlanders, time for another Friday quiz!  Where is this vibrant R E L in CLarEndon?  No one has figured out last week's quiz--the pressure mounts!

parched hydrant

Why are there so many different colored fire hydrants in Arlington--seriously!  Orange, yellow, combos of the two....  OK, that's really about the extent of it, but I'm used to a red-hydrant town where 'mericans are true 'merica.

antici...

...PATION!  Little dude about to jump--got lucky and caught him as he hesitated, looking--surely--before he leapt. 

luck-o-the...

Close-up Cloverdon.  Apparently, for every 10,000 boring three-leaf clovers, there is one four-leaf good-luck charm.  The record for freak-leaved clovers is 21 leave set by a man with no life.  Just think of how many hours he could've spent alone taking close-up photographs!  What a lame-o....

...irish

A flag on St. Patty's day a few months ago. I remember that this day was particularly warm and sunny, but still had a chill to the air.  Clarendon was forty shades of green.  This was taken outside of O'Sullivan's Pub at Wilson and Washington.

antennae II

In my theme of antennae, and of things that take a lot of effort to do relative to the gains, here's a picture of some honeysuckle.  These are my favorite flowers.  I used to spend hours at my grandma's and by our pond out back picking apart the stems, pulling out the interior strand of plant, and licking the tiny drop of honey-like dew from the core of these wonderful smelling buds.  After taking this picture, I tried to relive that moment, only to realize that you get a tiny, tiny amount of tasteful pleasure for a good deal of work.  It's kinda like watching Jurassic Park, and realizing that you misremember how awesome the graphics were....

antenae

Did it take 10 minutes to get this shot?  Yes.    Is it the best shot ever?  Hmm....  No.  I've found that shooting insects is pretty fun more for the sport of catching them than for the resulting photo.  

theoretically valueless

I've heard that if Bill Gates is walking down the streets and sees a $100 bill, it's not worth his time to bend down and pick it up (since he makes more than that in the same amount of time needed to grab the greenback).  I, however, don't make more than a dollar per second, BUT I did see some kids playing nearby so I left it in hopes of making one of their days.

shoo, fly

A little guy atop a little flower.  The tricky thing with a macro lens is that the range in which things are in focus is very, very narrow.  Fortunately, the wings, mouth and eyes are all pretty equally deep here and hence crisp: you can see the intricate film of his wings, the geometric patterns of his eyes, and the delicate parts of his tiny mouth.

open point

The side of an electrical box--not really sure what an "open point" is, but I am currious about why the O's are the ones peeling most quickly.  Perhaps a delinquent boy named Olyn tried to steal them.  Perhaps birds exclusively use O's to build their nests.  Perhaps some was trying to write a threatening, anonymous ransom letter.  Thoughts?

for whom the bell tolls

A small seed shell on a plant that reminds me of the bells we used to use in Catholic mass to wake up the old guys (I'm sure there's some deeper meaning behind the bells, but that's what I always thought when I was a kid).  As an alter boy, that was really the only think I remotely enjoyed about mass. 

man down

While living in Bulgaria, I had a friend (who was drunk) that fell down a man hole.  Another time, she (drunk) tried to climb up a chimney.


This one's for you, Chimneysweeps.

Where Is This? #11 sunshine

OK Clarinets, this one has a pretty big hint in it so I'll be sadly disappointed if no one gets this week's quiz.  Good luck!  Congrats to Aaron for quickly solving last week's puzzle, and to Anonymous for finally solving the stumping quiz from a few weeks ago (it was the headstone shop on the corner of Washington and Highland)!  High fives all around!

sign day 2k10!

Another street sign, this one to denote something about parking or some such non-pedestrian nonsense.  I took this near the farmers market in Courthouse (be quiet Clarendon snobs) and spent 15 minutes discussing cameras with some friendly homeless guys in the small park in front of the jail.

4B or not to be

Even though the 38B is OBVIOUSLY superior to the 4Beezie, it still gets props.  I like the sharp lines of the sign compared to the blur of morning sky and trees high above.

evergreen

Close-up shot of the tip of an evergreen tree.  These are the little blue seeds that--as a child--we would foolishly use as b-b pellets when the metals ones ran out, or that we would throw at the girls we liked.  Stupid kids...

so tired

Don't know why I'm so tired this morning, but I thought this picture was apt.  This is a sticker on the side of a large garbage bin, listing the things that are not allowed (tires, flammables, batteries, babies, etc.).

locked down

Continuing with the theme of security, a picture of heavy-duty bike chain dangling--without it's bike friend near by--on a bike rack.  These are the chains that people usually drape around their necks Rambo-bandolier style, with the material to help soften the links.

poppin and lockin

A key hole, about the diameter of a nickel, on an electronic box that controls the traffic lights.

what's up, buddhi

A small, pocket-sized book of the sayings of Buddha, perched meditatively atop the chain ropes of an outside cafe.

what's up, buddy

This reminds me of gummy bears.  [Bud > hair > hairy bud > haribo > gummy bears.]

death grip

A tree root that grew itself around the fence it loves.  What does this first one look like?  A turtle biting a worm?  A zombie hand?  What else?

LE PURPLE!

A gift from france from mi amor.  Similar to the lack-of-word-knowledge from the previous post, I'm not really sure how to speak the words of french, so please excuse me.  This is a small box of "chocolat noir noisettes 56%" called "Laduree."

PURPLE!

A host of purple daffodils.  I actually have no idea what these things are, other than cute as a button.  (Excuse me while I invoke my inner grandmother....)

Where Is This? #10 bored

OK Clarenadians, time for another weekly close-up quiz.  Where in Clarendon is this?  Last week's winner was GG from DC--congrats!  STILL no winner from the previous week--lame.  I've added another clue to help in the comments section.