Friday "My Town" Shootout--Photos to make you smile :)

This week's topic was chosen by Kerry from Corvallis, Oregon--Photos to make you smile. A fitting topic, as Thursday was Tax Day here in the U.S. of A.

Head here to see the other participants' great shots.

Kerry challenged us to share JUST ONE smile-worthy photo this week, and mine's from the archive (I'm in rehearsals for a production of "The Producers" that starts next week, so time is scarce). Too bad that I wasn't able to take pictures of two situations that gave me a chuckle this week--1, one of our resident wild turkeys heading towards 7-11 (maybe he wanted a Slurpee??), and 2--a tow truck with a flat tire.

Nonetheless, this is still a good one!

Seen at a local church:


Have a great week!!

Friday "My Town" Shootout--Country Roads!

This week's FMTSO was chosen by Gordon in St. Augustine, Florida--country roads!

Head here to see the other participants' fine photos!

Dublin has an interesting situation... in one direction, it's a bustling, modern, suburban city with people scattering hurriedly to and fro.

But... in the other direction, we still have the ranches and fields, full of livestock and crops, that hearken back to the founding days of Dublin, when the horse was the preferred mode of travel.

On the cusp of the two, it's an interesting sight:

(behind me is a MAJOR development being built: Windemere)



And we have to keep our equine friends in mind, too--these are THEIR types of country roads.


But head off the beaten path, you'll find the roads that time pretty much forgot.

(Yes, that's a busy 10 lane freeway behind this small, meandering road...)




Until next week, shutterbugs... :)

Friday "My Town" Shootout--Bokeh!

This week's theme, chosen by T in Maryland--bokeh! It's a technical aspect of photography that deals with blurriness in a photo.

Being an amateur photographer, this one was hard for me, especially since I try to delete the blurry shots I take!

But, I gave it a whirl. Being a music teacher, it's hard to show examples of student work on Open House, so I usually try to take photos throughout the year and have a slideshow running. I went back to look through the photos of the year to find a few good ones:

My orchestra kids were flying!




Hope I did this right....

Have a great weekend, shutterbugs! If you celebrate Easter, hope you're blessed!

Friday "My Town" Shootout--Bridges!

This week's FMTSO theme was chosen by Elaine in Ontario, Canada--bridges! The FMTSO group also suggested the option of doing the entire shoot in black and white.... so here we go!




The babbling sounds of an arroyo can lead to quiet contemplation...


Northern California has a long history of trains, so old train trestles hve been refurbished and integrated into the Iron Horse Trail, a 33 mile bike/walking/horseback trail crossing 12 cities and 2 counties.



Have a great week, shutterbugs!

Friday "My Town" Shootout--favorite colors!

This week's theme was chosen by Doreen in Michigan--your favorite color!

Mine is purple, as well as nature's orange....

Spring is in the air here in Dublin, California, so here we go!



Some orange occurs natrually, like California's state flower, the Golden Poppy...


And other oranges aren't so naturally occurring!





Spring means birds are out, so here's California's state bird, the California Quail (note the "cowlick" feather on the head!). You can hear these guys with their unique "whistle"...


Lastly... a black-crowned night heron giving me the stink eye...

Friday "My Town" Shootout turns 1!!

Hey there, MTSOers. It's been a while since I've been around; being a music teacher isn't easy right now in the midst of severe budget cuts. :/ Add to that our usual schedule of concerts, and I barely have time to sleep!

Things are starting to calm down a bit, though. :)

Hard to believe, but this week celebrates FMTSO's year anniversary! The blogger team had the great idea to go back and revisit topics. I decided to be different... and celebrate birthdays on OUR birthday!

Click on the larger camera link in the sidebar to see the other participants' great photos!

(No, I'm not mistaking "1" for "7"... ;) )


Some of us try to hide from the passage of time...


Some are comforted with the frills and bows, as well as gentle stuffed animals...



...but no one stops Father Time. Happy Birthday, Friday "My Town" Shootout!

Friday "My Town" Shootout--Sounds!

I'm a few days late here, but here nonetheless! Being a musician and a music teacher, this is a busy time of year--my own groups had their concerts last week, and this was tech week for a show I'm playing.

So... on to the pictures!

This week's theme was chosen by Nan from France--Sounds in your Town!

Click on the camera icon in the sidebar to see the other participants' photos!

As I'm sure you've heard, California has had a whopper of storm after storm this week. The normally quite stream near my house was turned in to a furious, raging whitewater experience...

Here's what the creek looks like on a summer day:


...and here's the same stretch of the creek after 4.5" of rain in 4 days. (Dublin normally gets about 15" of rain annually, so having this much in such a short time means that we have to watch the local creek levels and have sandbags at the ready)





I've never seen ducks work so hard to stay in one spot...


A young boy looks and listens to Mother Nature's work...


Along with the rain, and with it being winter... our surrounding mountains were once again dusted with snow. None fell on the valley floor, though!


Like I said, I'm playing in a show that opened this week... so here are some "behind the scene"s shots! This is was we musicians see!



My battle ax...





A musician's view from the pit...



And lastly, a proud teacher moment... this weekend was a memorial reception and concert for a man who had volunteered with my orchestras for over 20 years (his wife still comes in 4x a week). I had asked my students if any of them wanted to play for it, and 12 of them stepped up. They even came in on a day the didn't have school to practice.... I have such great students! Here they are, playing the famous "Pavane" by Maurice Ravel (and that's me playing the piano behind them!).