Harold von Drehle

watercolor painting of a crow perched on a branch, looking up at a purple starry sky.

Happy decembirb #ArtAdventCalendar

Wonderful and wonder-filled!

A close-up photo of a blue Viola flower. There is a fuzzy whitish V-shape pointing up at the center, down from which flows a bit of orange shading. There are also darker blue streams reaching out into the 4 to 6 big floppy petals, and smaller veins of lighter hues cascading into the petals as well. The background has some darkness and several large olive green leaves.

#ArtAdventCalendar
#BlueTuesday
#FlowerReport:

From San Jose, California, Sunday.

My gosh, how true!

Hello, @graciewilde.bsky.social.

A very minor point, but I made a little boo boo in part 4 of my last reply. I said that something happened 44 years ago in 1971. Actually, going back from 2025, 1971 is 54 years ago, and the event I refer to did happen in a previous story of ours in 1971.

(6/6) Eve smiled at the memories set free by the little one who whirred and beeped, perched on her fingers. Ringo cast a tiny light across Eve's painting. She thought and she thought. And she realized her heart grew as she created, and she wondered if that energy could be channeled into real change.

(5/...) What had appeared to be a scarab brooch about one inch round flew towards Eve, as she held out two fingers together. The flight of the beetle was wobbly, but it did land with a clickity noise on Eve. This was a recon and report video "bug" that was used in Egypt in 1971. His name was Ringo.

(4/...) In other lives, Eve had known the fear of the chase and the rush of the pursuit, the victories, the folly's, the failures. She recalled an adventure with #Blue from forty four years ago, and whistled softly. From on top of a cabinet there was a hum, and the sparkle of tiny wings aflutter.

(3/...) The cold air of Ocean ruffled the thin curtains. Eve drank it in, felt the energy of the waves, the vastness of the waters, the calming of her soul. She ran her fingers along the easel, squinting at the painting begun on the canvas, the flow of the colors, the mysteries yet to be revealed.

(2/...) The metal, a shade lighter than his other arm, was cool, but Eve knew the warmth of his heart. She eased her achy bones off of the specially reinforced sofa the two shared, glimpsed the conversations begin to bubble up among the others, and walked down the short hall, and into her studio.

(1/...) Eve looked into #Blue's metallic eyes. The woman and robot couple silently shared their sense of gravitas, of the weight of this moment in Time. They had seen other pivot points, through their linear lives, and via timeskipping to steady the roiling seas of history. Eve touched #Blue's arm.

A macro close-up photo of the orange and red center, and some golden yellow petals, of a daisy-like flower. Near the middle is a long thin beige bug with long legs and long antennae, seemingly pointed at a rather stout smaller green bug with short antennae, facing the camera, who is heading up one of the petals.

#MacroMonday
#FlowerReport
(And a very early #InsectThursday.)

This morning, in San Jose, California.

A little boy was sitting in front of Eve's TV, where a US attack on a Venezuelan boat was being replayed, with the flash of the explosion. "Neato!" said the child. "Blast 'em!"
"Tommy!" said his mother, going to him. She knelt, and gently stroked his blond hair. "They're people," she whispered.

A close-up photo of a yellow marigold flower, with her dozens of small petals fanning out to every side. Tiny bubbles of dew dot them all. The light of the camera creates a lot of contrast and pale shadows. Some green leaves and brown soil are in the background.

Good night, #FlowerReport.

Thank you for the reminders
to stop, look, and click.

Dream well.

Oh, and the year is right now. So if we want to refer to any current events, we can.

Ah, the twists and turns of...
Harold's Brain.

The young woman is just an average person from 1968, unrelated to anyone in the story. I did at one point consider that she may become very conservative in her later years. This is her before the shock of Martin and Bobby. Her hope may fade in time.

That's fine, of course. 🙂

Out for a Sunday stroll

#photography #winter #scape #stunday #newjersey

A macro close-up photo of a blossom with five petals that are white, but have a lot of pink veins and shading on them. Ringing the center are the red stamen with roundish light green anthers atop them. Some are standing up, and some are dipping toward the red stalk in the purple center, on top of which is a small flat green disc. They almost appear to be bowing, or leaning over to get a better look at the disc.

#FlowerReport:

A New Zealand Manuka tea tree blossom, found in Mountain View on Thursday afternoon.

A CONVERSATION

“Never look back unless you’re planning to go that way.”
Henry David Thoreau.

“I try to avoid looking forward or backward and try to keep looking upward.”
Charlotte Brontë

#dont-let-them-steal-your-joy #sunflower #courage #inspire #slavaukraini #mobilize #50501

A macro close-up photo of a bee on an all-yellow daisy-like flower in bright sunshine. The fine "hairs" on the bee are prominent, and her antennae are dipped toward the center of the flower. Sunlight reflects off of her clear stained-glass wings, which are folded back.

#BlueSkyArtShow
#Warmth
#FlowerReport:

From an August afternoon
in San Jose, California this year.

A six frame photo collage of Fall leaves and trees. A close-up of a five pronged dry leaf of red and brown among sprig-like green leaves, with the shadow of one of them in the middle of the fallen leaf. A scattering of turning leaves backlit by the sun, with blue sky and white clouds beyond. A tree with dark red leaves on the left side and golden orange leaves on the right, in a blue sky. A frame filled with golden orange leaves on thin branches, with some prominent green leaves. A thin tree of sparse, turning leaves amid a blue backdrop. A tree with few reddish leaves and a trunk covered by green ivy, with that blue sky beyond.

#SixOnSaturday
#FoliageReport:

Still Fall, in Mountain View, California,
Thanksgiving Day, 2025.

Friday is also the day for the art challenge of #Scape day here on Blue Sky.

Another wonderful sunset in #Yachats #Oregon

I have taken more photos here than anywhere else in the world over the last four decades. Amazing beaches and rocks.

#EastCoastKin #Photography #OMSystem

#FlowersOnFriday
#FlowerReport:

From Mountain View, California, yesterday.

Alt text would have been:

Two close-up photos of flowers. One is of a Lily of the Nile, who is light violet, with purple stripes. The other is of a pair of pink Azaleas, with dark pink "leopard spots" in the centers.

A close-up photo of a black chain link fence. Further back are a little blue sky, thin tree branches, and a lot of small green leaves. More green, sharp-pointed, teardrop leaves are pressed up against the fence. Growing through the central square of the fence is a very thin tangle of red and green twig-like branches with tiny white buds. Some are closed, and some are open, showing yellow anthers. A few have a dollop of light on them.

#Photo #Thought

Let us not be defined by
the cages which confine,
let us grow beyond them.

A moody, vertical eye-level shot showing a wooden boardwalk path winding through the dense trees of Ballinastoe Woods in the Wicklow Mountains. The boardwalk curves through a carpet of reddish-brown pine needles, flanked by dark tree trunks covered in moss that create a natural tunnel. Dappled light filters through the pine branches overhead, creating an enchanted and mysterious atmosphere.

Into the Woods. #ballinastoe #wicklowmountains #visitwicklow #ireland #forestpath #woodlandwalk #naturelover #hikingadventures #moodyphotography #forestlife #scenicview #landscape #outdoors #smartphonephotography #photography

A macro close-up photo of a hover fly on a ragwort flower, which is sort of a cross between a daisy and a dandelion, with broad yellow petals, and yet curled anther ends. The rounded floral disc is more gold than yellow. The flower is angled away slightly. The hover fly (with brown and yellow stripes, long yellow legs, and curved yet angular brown eyes) is on the top edge of the flower disc, "nibbling" on some pollen, I presume.

#InsectThursday
#FlowerReport:

In #Thanksgiving colors, a hover fly in San Jose, California yesterday afternoon reminds us that the intricate interwoven world of nature is something else for which to be thankful, and that beauty in so many variations and perceptions is everywhere we care to see.

Photo of a yellow rose with golden anthers. She is dappled with drops from a sprinkler. An unopened bud is below to the right, and a hint of another rose is down to the left. Green vines, leaves, and tiny thorns fill the background.

A photo of a tightly wrapped red rose with petals turning yellow toward the center. Greenery abounds behind her.

#RoseWednesday
#FlowerReport:

A rose from two weeks ago in Gilroy, and a rose from the day before yesterday in San Jose, California.

Photo of a single "tower of flower." On a single stalk, leaning left, are many blue blossoms. The lower ones have a broad, curled, split petal at the bottom, with a few dashes of white. Just above that is a fuzzy "thumbs up" projection. Around the base of the stalk these flowers make it appear wider, with the blossoms bunching together toward the top, giving it a conical Fir tree shape. This "tree" is among broad, bumpy green leaves, and is growing out of a concrete city planter which runs into the distance, containing other greenery and flowers. The base of a skyscraper is in shadow, while a few low square buildings further away are in sunshine. Lit up brightly on the right is the St. Joseph church with its towers and domes. A tree in Fall foliage is at the lower right. The sky is a light blue.

#BlueTuesday
#BlueTue
#FlowerReport:

From last Friday afternoon,
in Downtown San Jose, California.

#MacroMonday:

From San Jose, California, yesterday.

Alt text would have been:

A macro close-up photo of a reddish orange ladybug with no spots. The front armoring is black, outlined in white. The eyes are black with a white stripe between them. She is on a thick green leaf, among more leaves.