Kansas Dresners
Monday, December 25, 2006
Fun With Adobe Photoshop
I got Photoshop for Hanukkah!
¶ Monday, December 25, 2006 0 comments 
 | Here's the original picture (rotated), taken last night in our neighborhood. The Chinese food around here isn't all that good, so we did Japanese, then drove around |
 | The ability to tilt pictures is a huge step up, just by itself. I can't wait to try the picture skew features on the art pictures I took recently. |
 | Colors by Max |
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Winter in Paradise
¶ Saturday, December 09, 2006 0 comments
 | Instead of the obligatory "don't hate us just because we don't have snow" I thought I'd start by pointing out that the noise in our attic is probably rats, again, and this is probably where they like to sleep. |
 | This is the best detail shot I've gotten of the observatories. The light was just right: shining from the east without being glary. There have been reports of snow on the mountain, but there's been a lot of cloud cover so it's been hard to see. |
 | This frisbee is a little big for him, frankly, but he's been really good about trying, and about following my goofy instructions. |
 | I've wanted to get this picture for ages. Finally, I got lucky. |
 | Every few months, it seems, Max has to put on every piece of headgear he can find. |
 | Just a fun shot, and also to give you an idea of just how large this kid is. |
 | Max's school participates in the annual Pahoa town holiday parade. It's a pretty free-form event in a lot of ways, with traditions and innovations. Here you can see the Toys for Tots train, a perennial favorite, as well as a woman leading a goat. When I first saw the goat, as we were forming up, I thought it was part of some other float or group. Nope. Just a goat. |
 | My pick for "best engineered" is definitely this smoking volcano. Max's favorite part of the parade, aside from being in it, is that many of the groups and floats throw candy. We haven't finished the Halloween candy yet... |
 | One of the parents on the float -- ok, it was a trailer, pulled by a pickup truck, with leaves garlanded on the sides -- was blowing big bubbles. Woody and I were forward of the float, but when we stopped (as we so often did) and the wind was right, they'd come towards us. |
 | While you're admiring the detail shot of the bubbles, I'll point out that it did rain during the parade, working up from a mist to a gentle rain, then fading away by the time we'd reached the bandstand. Oh, and one thing nobody tells you about marching in a parade? You have to march back afterwards! |
Monday, December 04, 2006
Sunday at the Zoo
Last sunday, Max and I went to the zoo.
¶ Monday, December 04, 2006 0 comments
 | I've seen peacocks display their tails. Hard to miss, with a half dozen of them wandering around the zoo. But I'd never noticed the peahens doing it until this trip. |
 | It's not easy taking pictures of the frogs through their glass and plastic enclosures, but this funky looking fellow came out just fine. |
 | Just a nice flower shot. |
 | One of the prides of the collection. |
 | The trick to these bird shots is to catch them far enough away from the cage that you can take a picture through the wires. |
 | A nice detail shot. |
Max's Thanksgiving Adventure
¶ Monday, December 04, 2006 0 comments
 | We didn't have family here for Thanksgiving, so we treated ourselves to a little time away from Hilo |
 | Max was really excited about the trip. You could say that he "got into" packing: actually, he was finished packing two days before we were ready to go. |
 | Unfortunately, Max got a little touch of some bug the second night, so he was a bit draggy for some of the sightseeing. Didn't stop him from getting in lots of boat and tram rides, eating well, etc. |
 | Thanksgiving dinner was Chinese food. There was a traditional Hawaiian turkey and sushi buffet, but we didn't call soon enough to get a good seating. |
 | Just playing around. |
 | Max took great pride in his luggage independence, from start to finish, from the early packing to rolling himself through the parking lots. A good trip. |
Hotel Cetaceans
We never caught the dolphins doing jumps and tricks this time, but we did get to have lunch overlooking their waterways. They were having lunch, too.
One of the females was pregnant, and due "anytime" but it didn't happen over the weekend. We did get to see them doing ultrasound, though:
¶ Monday, December 04, 2006 0 comments
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One of the females was pregnant, and due "anytime" but it didn't happen over the weekend. We did get to see them doing ultrasound, though:
¶ Monday, December 04, 2006 0 comments
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Birds of the Kona Resort Coast
The flowers at the Waikoloa are ok -- lots of hibiscus, mostly -- but the birds are fantastic.
¶ Sunday, December 03, 2006 2 comments
 | They have a small flock of Chilean flamingos. They're still Max's second favorite bird, I think (penguins, of course!) |
 | These ibises are the prize. Max was wondering why they never leave their little islands. We didn't talk about wing clipping.... |
 | Catching one actually doing something is really a matter of pure luck. Getting it in focus from a moving boat; that's a challenge! |
 | They had two cockatoos down by the water on Saturday, both in their late teens. Cockatoos get to be 50 years old or more (Churchill's is still alive), so these are still youngsters. Max took some time to warm up to them, but ended up petting them both. |
 | What would a Hawaiian resort be without a parrot in the lobby? |
 | There's captivity, and there's scavenging. Our first breakfast there, we were treated to a full array of myna and sparrow scavengers working over the uncleared breakfast at the next table. |
 | Yeah, it's cheating a bit, but it's the best sparrow shot I've ever gotten. |
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Waikoloa Hilton Art: Blogging Test
JapaneseDollCrowned
Originally uploaded by jondresner.
JapaneseDollCrowned
Originally uploaded by jondresner.
This is just one of the 300+ photographs I took over the Thanksgiving weekend at the Waikoloa Hilton. Fantastic art collection.
More pictures of Max, birds and other attractions tomorrow!
¶ Saturday, December 02, 2006 0 comments
