



Koningsdag 04/27/2018
desert_woodworker wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 3:17 pmI saw this helicopter from the airforce base circling about three weeks ago, I think practicing landings at the hospital rooftop heliport half a mile away.
Here, it passed over my yard, and I put a long lens on the Nikon and took a few pictures. I think the helicopter was only about 200 meters off the deck, or less, and was very loud and large in the sky. In the 500 mm lens used for this image, the craft filled almost the entire field of view.
I am struck by the job of the poor guy who has to hang out on the porch of the chopper in his resistant suit, and with his headgear to protect his eyes and hearing. Presumably the headgear also has night-vision capability for night-operations. In that helmet, he/she looks a lot like Darth Vader!
This is a very capable gunship. --Joe
chopper_1024.jpg
chopper_soldier.jpg
Right. You said it. It WAS a bit unsettling to have that big thing pirouetting above me in my tomato garden. The fellow manning the outrigger machine-gun port could probably also see me pointing this huge ...thing?... at him (the 500 mm f/5.6 lens ).
In Japanese tea ceremonies, some sort of confection (called wagashi), specifically chosen to compliment the season or occasion, is served prior to the tea; the sweetness balances the strong umami taste of the tea, which is never served sweetened. An art form in itself, wagashi is unavailable here (except the simplest ones by mail-order at exorbitant cost), so whenever possible I like to resort to it's historical precedent; kashi, fruit. This is my favorite; field-ripened strawberries from a farm 3 miles from here. Available for only a couple of weeks a year, they're far too delicate and easily bruised for machinery. Harvested by hand at their peak of ripeness; they must be enjoyed today, this moment; if you wait 'till tomorrow, they're compost. Like the flowers in the tokonoma, they embody all of the beauty, sweetness, frailty, and brevity of this fleeting life, and as I don't grow strawberries myself, they're reminiscent of how dependent I am upon the hard work and dedication of many hands and many beings, seen and unseen, known and unknown, who collectively contribute to the causes and conditions which give rise to my well-being. Considering this deeply, I vow that whenever I encounter another being in need, I will respond in kind.What's the strawberry for?