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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 3d

And here's a bit of Ottoman opulence - decorative elements from the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I find it pretty, but in way smaller doses than they lived in.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekOforOpulent #TravelMemories

A massive tiled wall with a wood framed, arched door. The tiles are greenish blue, and there are at least three different patterns. Above the door is a broad dark blue band with Arabic script in white and a different floral pattern. Directly above the door, within the wooden frame, is another phrase in Arabic script, but inlaid in gold. The double doors are inlaid in a floral pattern, probably in silver shell. There's a bit of pink-red and green tile arching over the upper right corner, so the colors just keep going.

The picture is mostly looking straight up into a domed ceiling in a square room, brightly painted but getting lost in shadows, with gilded edges. Lots of gilded edges. The walls leading up to the dome are tiled in light blues and greens, in at least two different patterns.

Closeup of a geometric pattern, mostly in cream-colored shell and what looks like amber, with a bit of pale green. This was the surface of a piece of furniture in a room with walls like the others described.

Hard to describe this one, because there is just so much going on. It's a wall. The far left edge is a mostly plain, yellowish colored stone, with a small carved pillar decoration. The bottom two-thirds is mostly split into two arches. In those arches are abstract vases and vines that resemble peacocks, but made of plants and maybe monsters. Above the arches are bands of Arabic script and geometric floral patterns.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 3d

If you were part of the Golden Horde, these would be the height of opulence. The amulet is supposedly original; the others were probably made by descendants. From a museum of Mongol history, Inner Mongolia.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekOforOpulent

A gold amulet on a thick gold chain. The amulet is of a stylized horse, legs folded beneath it, making the horse a long, low rectangle.

Closeup of an old saddle and saddle blanket. The saddle is decorated with painted buttons, worked silver, and dark patterned upholstery. There are also colored braids and ropes. The saddle blanket also has dark floral patterns on a white-ish background.

Closeup of an old saddle and saddle blanket. The saddle is decorated with painted buttons, worked silver, and dark patterned upholstery, and the stirrup is clearly visible. There are also colored braids and ropes. The saddle blanket also has dark floral patterns and a deer on a white-ish background.

Embroidered dragon on dark brown fabric. The dragon is orange and green in a round, classic style, and the fabric has rows of dark metal rivets.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 3d

Bumpy early AM approach into Seoul. Or maybe the shakiness was me, since I'd been traveling something like 28 hours by this time. I kind of like the squiggles - zoomed in, they look like the ice cream cones there.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekNforNight #TravelMemories

View of a brightly-lit city on a night flight. The city is flat and spreads across the entire frame, only going black where it reaches water at the top. All the lights are blurred into tiny yellow, green, and white squiggles that look a bit like butterflies, caused by a shaky camera.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 5d

The Dragon Bridge (Cầu Rồng) night show in Da Nang, Vietnam - fire and water. The fire is neat, but the water part is more fun.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekNforNight #EastCoastKin #photography #urban #travelmemories

There is a famous bridge in Da Nang that looks like a long, snake-like dragon, with its body arching above the road. The head is a simplified but classic Chinese style, and is set up with a system that can spit fire and spray water through its mouth. In this night picture, it is spitting fire. The lighting is red and yellow, to match the smoke and flames coming from its mouth. There are people standing on the other size of the dragon, tiny and barely lit, standing behind the fire. I am standing in front of the head, so the fire is overhead.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 6d

Night back-alley view into the kitchen of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekNforNight #UrbanGaze #EastCoastKin

The photo is a night view into the open doors of a the brightly-lit kitchen of a small restaurant. The doors open into the alley at the back. Above the open doors is a large industrial ventiliation duct. Two shallow steps stretch the full width of the building, leading up from the cobbled street. The steps are cluttered with boxes, crates, buckets, and cleaning supplies, and in the dark next door towels hang on a drying line. The space inside the kitchen is very bright and blown out, but a man in black is visible cooking on a stove on the right. Also visible are stacks of huge plastic jugs of (probably) soy sauce or cooking oil and shelves of bowls plates, among lots of other kitchen things.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 7d

This one hurts. R.I.P. to a truly great human being.

A famous image of a young Jane Goodall, dressed in beige shirt and shorts, reaching out to a baby chimpanzee, which is reaching back to her.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 8d

Had to look this one up, didn't think it was real - so glad it is, and hope it survives, well, all the current things.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 8d

Another possibility for the bloated belly - wet FIP. Dealt with this earlier this year. Used to be a death sentence, but there is a (slow, expensive) cure now - but needs a vet.

etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 8d

I've used some of these tales with advanced ESL high school kids. The humor is often a revelation, and when they get it it is so satisfying.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 8d

A bit of a suburban kiddie #carnival from this evening. I've never been good at night photography, which is weird because I've always been a night owl. Will have to look hard for anything to add for this one.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekNforNight

The picture is a chaotic jumble of multi-colored lights that eventually resolves into a line of several kiddie carnival games and rides, after sundown but before the kiddies arrive. Left, bits of games - the most visible appears to be a shooting game. In the middle to right foreground, several trampolines with tall beams covered with light bulbs stretch up out of frame. These beams hold thick bungee cords, and one harness is visible - kids wear the harnesses to jump on the trampolines. Behind these, toward the right, you can see illuminated pieces of a farm-themed kiddie coaster, with a white fence and red windmill, and some of the chicken cars. Behind that is another illuminated pink pavilion, I think for a very mild teacup ride.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 10d

It must be older than three weeks (three+ months at least?), but based on the video I'd be taking it to a vet to check that bloated belly (if it's youngish, I'd guess worms; older than 6-7 months and actually a girl, babies 🙃).

Gah, I've been doing this rescue thing too long...

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 11d

Going off the beaten trail in #Cambodia. Learned after that this area hadn't really been cleared of land mines, so it was good I hadn't gone really off trail.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMForMemories #BlueSkyArtShow #TheRoad #EastCoastKin #Photography #TravelPhotography #TravelMemories

The picture shows a narrow, reddish dirt road, from the perspective of standing on it. The road winds through fields and thick but low jungle, under a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. The sunlight is quite bright. At the bottom, you can see the black handlebars of a simple bicycle. A little ways off on the left, a cow is grazing in a bit of field.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 13d

I loved camping out there. One site had a sign by the outhouses - there is a mother with cubs in the area, try not to smell like food. 10/10.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 13d

Beautiful

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 13d

#PalacesAndGardens

Very colorful #lanterns hanging in the very colorful hallway of a palace, I think in Vietnam.

#EastCoastKin #photography #travelmemories

The photo is of the ceiling of a heavily decorated hallway, mostly in red and gold. Several ornate Chinese-style six-sided lanterns hang from the peak of the ceiling - but they are only really noticeable because they include blues against the reds.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 13d

I don't remember what I was taking a photo of, but I remember this was my first camera. Peel-apart film, maybe 8 pics per pack and cost a fortune. I didn't get a lot of practice. (Dad took this with his much better Canon film camera.)

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMforMemories #vintage #photography

The photo is obviously old, grainy film, and is somewhat washed out. A young girl with long, light blonde hair (mostly tied back in a ponytail) looks away to the right, looking through the viewfinder of a huge, clunky, black camera. Her coat plus the camera plus the film quality puts this sometime in the 1970s.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 16d

Ugh - saw this earlier, thought it must have been a joke.

etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 16d

*sigh* on the wish list for my next lottery win... looking forward to the resulting pics, though!

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 16d

The first half of 2009 was interesting. -18 meters, in the Andaman Islands; +5416 meters, crossing Thorong-La in Nepal; (not pictured) 0 meters, laid low with Chikungunya. Two left me hallucinating; one left me terrified and fascinated.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMforMemories #travelmemories

Left: The photo is underwater. In the foreground, diagonal from bottom left to top right, are grey rocks and yellowish coral. In the background, a diver (me) with scuba gear floats above that rock, against blue open water.

Right: Three woman (I'm in the middle) crouch on the snow, in the sun, in front of a huge mound of multi-colored prayer flags. In the middle of the flags is a sign reading:

Thank you for visiting Manang
Thorong-La Pass
5416 met
Congratulation [sic] for the Success!!!
Hope you enjoyed the trek in Manang
See you again!!!

(There's actually quite a lot of hike left after this, to get back down.)

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 18d

Haha - thanks, and yeah. Fortunately I turn down the hall visible in the mirror second from the left... which actually goes off to the right on the other side of the lobby. Makes me dizzy just typing that 😂

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 19d

Some of the #lines and #angles in the main lobby of the school where I work. The entrance in the mirror 4th from the left is actually on the left side of this photo. It's a lot to deal with before 8am.

#BlueSkyArtShow #AlphabetChallenge #WeekLforLines

his photo is vertigo-inducing, and I'm honestly at a loss as how to describe it.

Left to right are a series of narrow iscoceles triangles, with the sharpest angles alternating at the top and bottom. Two acute angles at the top, then two at the bottom, then back to the top. They also alternate between beige-ish, lined, textured triangles, and mirrored triangles. All of these pieces are facing in different directions on an x-y-z graph. The mirrored pieces reflect 1) beige-ish, lined, textured walls, 2) mostly a floor tiled in large marble squares that are either white or the same color as the beige-ish walls, 3) a bit of floor and walls, but mostly a white ceiling with circular-made-of strips lights, 4) some ceiling, some floor, but also a hint of outside, and 5) mostly ceiling again, with some wall and floor.

I'm looking at it, and I've walked through it for a couple of years now, and still can't make sense of it. Sorry.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 19d

A #bluesky cloud #scape as a peace offering before what I have for tomorrow's lines and angles. For today, there is peace and calm, with just enough wind, far enough away, for a hint of movement.

#EastCoastKin #photography #clouds

A bright blue sky with fluffy clouds, in varying states of moving across the sky.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 22d

Same with my dog and cheese - sorry, buddy, this is the good stuff.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 22d

Live your life in such a way...

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22d

Far as I can tell, Robert Redford was:
* successful at everything he tried
* genuinely intelligent & insightful
* desired by women
* envied by men
* an absolute mensch to everyone he dealt with
* a tireless, lifelong philanthropist
... and he died peacefully in his sleep.

10/10 life. No notes.

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etaylorc @etaylorc.bsky.social · 23d

Leading #lines in the supposedly longest hall in an Indian temple, Ramanathaswamy Temple. Very old digital pic enlarged way beyond where it should be.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLforLines #architecture #travelmemories

The photo is one of the four outer corridors of this temple. Square-ish grey-ish blue columns stretch into the distance, both side standing on a raised yellow-ish platform, each topped with a golden lion. Far into the distance is a bright band of light - this is half way down the hall. Beyond that is hints of more hall and eventual darkness. Overhead is a long, brightly painted strip of a green background with circular patterns. Small human figures are far down the hallway, with a few lying or sitting on the raised platform.

This is an awesome temple to visit - it is like a water park for the devout. Traditionally, many holy rivers and streams pass through or end here, and your job as a devotee is to get some water from all of them dumped on your head, in a particular order that is not orderly. Since the priests get paid by the whole experience, you end up running, and slipping and sliding, and being drenched as fast as possible, at wells all over this large complex. It was hands down the most fun temple experience I had in India. (FWIW I had a private "tour" and a local Hindu fixer.)

Honestly, though, there is a final stage, after you have been purified by the water (and if you're lucky, a darshan), where you go into the sea outside the temple and throw something away, and never think about it again.

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