So, What's New?

It's been awhile, it's been awhile. The kids are growing up, and I feel a little freer. Need to get in the habit of writing again, and this is as good a place to start as any.

Bloody Hell, it's been years, hasn't it? A post here, a post there. How boring. How busy? How now? Not bad, thanks for asking :-)

I've been teaching junior high school and raising a family for the last few years, and while the inspiration to take interesting photographs has been there from time to time, the interest in editing has been there a little less often, and the urge to blog almost nonexistent.

Maybe this is over. Bring on da hobbiez!

Well, it's part of it. I don't get out much, but it's never far away. 

Taichung HSR Station

I think there was a website called Sleeping Chinese. Yes, there is. It's fantastic check it out some other time. 

Here's a little of what's been happening lately. I've also been neglecting Tagging Taichung. 

ZMAX Four-Wide Drag Racing, Concord, NC, 2012

Venus and ..which one is the moon?

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and then just after sunset, we get this...

The neighborhood kids were curious what I was doing with the tripod out and a bunch of folks gathered around to watch.

One of the neighborhood parents came over and asked what I was taking pictures of...I was using my 80-200mm 2.8, so it was pretty obvious in which direction I was aiming. But I told her I was taking pictures of the moon anyway.

She asked ... "Which one's the moon?" I think this says volumes about the quality of education in Taiwan.

Piles o' Bikes

Got Time to Lean,Got Time to Clean

A couple hours ago I sent an email to a friend I hadn't seen in 30+ years
Told him that I had no time for taking new pictures
The pictures I have are languishing on my hard drive
Neglected and Dirty

This collage from Picasa hints at the depths of my wind-porn fantasies
Wind Turbines near Taichung Harbor, Chinese New Year, 2009

Day Trip to Taipei

I moved our Mac home and don't have Photoshop, so I've been playing around with Picnik, a free online photo editor. For what I do, which is basically nothing, this is more than I need.

I took a trip to Taipei on Thursday to visit the 228 Museum. This was my third trip on the HSR, and the first one for which I had my camera. Here's the train pulling into the station at Wuer.
















And another shot after arriving at the Taipei main station. The train appears to have encountered a flock, or at least a few members of a flock, of sparrows on the way north.







The Peace Park is a peaceful enough place, plenty of trees for folks to sit under. There's a traditional Chinese concrete pagoda, and a modern sculpture dedicated to the memory of the people killed in the White Terror.

Little Boxes On the Hillside

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes Little boxes
Little boxes all the same

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same





And the people in the houses all go to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same

And there's doctors and there's lawyers

And business executives

And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

--Pete Seeger

Creative photos by Chema Madoz | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

Creative photos by Chema Madoz | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

Taiwan High Speed Rail

Taichung Buildings

These are monkeyed highlights from a series of pictures I took facing East from the roof of the Early Bird Diner on Chung Ming South Rd just South of Kungyi Rd across from that little park there. If you're in the neighborhood, check out the breakfast and lunch menus at the Early Bird. The pancakes are award winning.

A Free Morning

A friend of mine and I took a scooter ride up Hwy 136 into the mountains and along the ridge down towards Puli. On the way, we stopped a couple times, and here are a couple shots that I picked up along the way. There are more at B@Taiwan.


First is a lotus blossom in a pond at a reconstructed park surrounding a tourist attraction called Bat Hole. And, as much as I hate cats, I had a good time communing with this one at a Buddhist monastery.