What's wrong with this picture?

• a. Photos of old machines are cliché
• b. The image is over processed and cartoonish
• c. The colors are pumped up unnaturally
• d. Relax... it's only a picture
• e. All of the above 

Looking out, looking in

More views of, and from the Johnson.  It is unusual for an art gallery to have such prominent windows as it affects the lighting and viewing of art and artifacts, but with this panoramic opportunity, I guess it was too good to pass up.

Johnson Museum of Art

Enjoyed my first visit to the Johnson Museum art gallery located on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca NY.  The collection offers a wide variety of interesting visual treasures ranging from photography to oriental to modern as well as changing exhibitions.

But as interested as I was in the collections I was equally impressed with the building and site.  Cornell is located on a hill overlooking Cayuga Lake, one of New York's Finger Lakes, and the museum has some fantastic views from its many windows.  The building itself was designed by I. M. Pei and was one of the first major projects of this famous architect.


So the building and the views were a highlight for me as well as the gallery contents.

Hydrangea

I love hydrangeas, or more spcifically, I love the blue color of hydrangeas.

But we are in early summer here in upstate New York, and my hydrangeas are still mostly white, but the blue is just starting to show in these first of the season blossoms.

There are hydrangeas that stay white, and some that are pink, but the French blue is what I like.

Arborglyphs

The trunk of this tree shows the markings of a number of tree carvers.  In my view this is another, but even more offensive, form of disgraceful graffiti. And yet there is interest here.  The traditinal intials surronded by a heart seems to be almost a cultual tradition, but others carve names and dates for reasons unknown.

I was interested to find there is a technical term for the practice, and have used it as the title for this post. The other descriptive phrase I found was "culturally modified tree" that evidently is so widely used that an acronym is commonly understood (CMT).

At any rate, I prefer trees un-culturally modified, but I guess there are many who disagree.

Mystery tree

Someone must love this little tree.

I first noticed it back in December.  It had red Christmas tree balls on it.  Later there were hearts in February, then green shamrocks in March. Next there were Easter eggs.  Recently it was covered with little American flags for Memorial Day.

And now we have moved on to summer blossoms.

The little tree is not located in a residential yard or close to any house.  It really is a field near the corner of two roads, and pretty difficult to see unless you are looking for it.  See the GPS position... you can find it on Google location link (zoom all the way in).

So the mystery... who takes the time and energy to brighten this petite shrub?  And why?

It does bring a smile to my face as I pass by, especially when it is freshly dressed in new trimmings.

Farm house

A typical old farm house that was customarily found in the northeast.  These were build when large family farms were common, and large families were needed to keep the farm going.