Signpost recycling, Nevada

Encountered on the highway, a truck full of carefully extracted metal signposts, each still embedded in its anchoring cylinder of concrete, presumably destined for some manner of repurposing.

Classy Vegas Hotel Room Art

Back in March, we took a family vacation to Zion National Park in Utah. The first stop along the way, however, was flying into Las Vegas, where our hotel room showed that classic "classy" Vegas look in the form of neon sexy cowgirl art.

Pentagon, Washington DC

Just after Arlington National Cemetery, planes taking off from DCA bank past the five layered geometric bulk of the Pentagon.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, for many the heart of Arlington National Cemetery, is an small rectangular casket in front of this oval amphitheater.

Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC

This semicircular building stands as a memorial entrance for Arlington National Cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC

Graceful arcs and dense straight rows of the nation's honored war dead in Arlington National Cemetery.

Giant flag, DCA

The airport terminal in Washington, DC has a few of the biggest flag that I have ever seen, hanging straight down from the terminal ceiling, one seen her lit in the rays of the setting sun.

Evening tree, Iowa City

A simple tree in the evening against a blue sky's growing dusk.

Circus Oz, Hancher, Iowa City

Figures in silhouette in a (all human) Australian circus performance we saw at the Hancher Theater in Iowa City last year.

Tamed Rivers, California

Rivers joining together in the great agricultural basin of California's Central Valley: unlike the unruly meandering floodplains of the Midwest, here their course and flow appears to have been completely tamed to human usage, straightened and squared off to fit some dominating plan.

South San Francisco, The Industrial City

Starting to disappear into the clouds as we rise, South San Francisco proudly declares itself THE industrial city of the United States, a claim whose origins and (certain) age I am rather much unclear about.

Waving Cats, SFO

An exhibition of lucky waving cats inside the terminal at the San Francisco airport. Seeing them all together like that in such a variety of styles felt a little bit unsettling, not unlike when I walked into a house filled with thousands of dolls one time at Somerville Open Studies back in Boston.

Wing Mosaic, SFO

Tiled mosaic of an airplane wing above the curbside drop-off in the San Francisco airport. I find the texture and color choices elegantly beautiful, and wonder how many people look up at the right corner to be noticing in. Myself, I saw it looking back and down from the elevated air-train.

Airtrain Station, SFO

Hazy hills loft above the graceful curving roof of an air-train station at the San Francisco airport. You can tell by the architecture that it never snows or gets truly cold in this city.

Portland Oregon Airport Terminal

Arching trusses on the ceiling of the terminal in the Portland, Oregon airport.

Sunset over Sugar Bottom, Iowa City

Sunset over Sugar Bottom, glowing contrails framed by the trees above the reservoir lake.

Sugar Bottom Reservoir, Iowa City

Looking out across the Coralville Reservoir from Sugar Bottom, a reserve and beach on its shores.

Bicycle bicycle racks, Iowa City

The new bicycle racks they have been putting in around downtown Iowa City are shaped like bicycles, and this appeals to me far more than I think is particularly reasonable.

Dandelion in clover, Iowa City

A dandelion growing in clover in our yard. I love dandelions and having a semi-wild lawn. In the spring, it bursts into exuberant violet and yellow for about two weeks, before we reluctantly have to start the mowing for the year.

Whose spine is this? Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City

Encountered not from from where I met the deer, it looks like one of its compatriots has met its end and been picked quite clean.

Deer, Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City

White-tailed deer, encountered in a park not far from my house.

Yard bunny, Iowa City

Our yard is full of rabbits. Some people fight their yard bunnies, but we have decided that they are cute and good entertainment for our frustrated indoor cats, and we just don't try to grow anything they might like to eat.

Female cardinal, Iowa City

Much duller and less red than the male, this female cardinal is still recognizable by her pattern and tufted head.

Circular ice formation on the East coast of Greenland

Circles of ice on the East coast of Greenland, I think off-shore, though it is hard to tell. Perhaps a result of some sort of pressure interaction?

Icy Greenland coast

At the coast of Greenland, white ice plunges into the shadowed black water of the fjords.

Icy ridges on the East coast of Greenland

Ice-covered ridges glowing orange in the setting sun, along the Eastern coast of Greenland.

Glacier near the East coast of Greenland

Another glacier, quite clearly a river made of ice as it slides between two mountains here, coming down toward the Eastern coast of Greenland.

Glacier near the East coast of Greenland

The clouds cleared as we flew South and West across Greenland, opening near the coast as the sun began to set, tinging the glaciers and mountains with dusky orange.

Where contrails come from, somewhere over the north Atlantic

Flying home, I watched contrails condensing behind the nacelles of the airplane wing.

Sylvan Christmas shrine, near Wadern, Germany

A view of the Christmas shrine from a little closer up, better showing the cross and red and green decorations inside.

Sylvan Christmas shrine, near Wadern, Germany

I stumbled upon this apparent Christmas shrine hiding in the woods near Wadern, still decorated in the middle of February.

The tiniest church, Wadern, Germany

Perhaps the tiniest little church that I have ever seen, in a hamlet I walked to on the North side of Wadern.

Woods near Wadern, Germany

Near Dagstuhl, there are a network of walking and jogging trails laced through the woods and farm fields, perfect for contemplative walks with a workshop worth of scientific arguments bouncing around in one's head.

German windmills, Wadern, Germany

Windmills shining in the early morning light across the hills of Wadern, Germany.

Trumpeting ironwork, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany

A trumpeting head in the ironwork decorating the windows at Schloss Dagstuhl, once a manor house and now a computer science meeting center near the town of Wadern, in Southwestern Germany.

Ready for defrosting, Chicago O'Hare

The frost-encrusted wing of a transatlantic jet in Chicago, waiting for defrosting before winging its way across the sea.

Deadpool's Jeep, Eastern Iowa Airport

Apparently, Deadpool has been flying out of the Eastern Iowa Airport.

Streetlight multishadows from leaves, Iowa City

Near our home, all of the street lights have recently had their bulbs replaced with LED lights. One curious side-effect of this is that the LEDs are not a single illumination source, but an array, and so when they filter through tree leaves they make remarkable patterns of multi-shadows.

Hanger Demolition, DCA

An old hanger undergoing demolition at the Washington DC airport.

Construction site, Cambridge, MA

Early morning light textures the view into a half-completed building near Alewife station in Cambridge.

Kids playspace, Chicago O'Hare

Between terminals at Chicago O'Hare, there is a playspace for kids that I have rarely ever seen any child playing in. Perhaps it has something to do with the decidedly unwelcoming architecture? Toys and gum balls sealed behind plastic out of reach, a great big box of spiders from Mexico... what was the designer thinking?

Craft aisle picture at Target

Part of a picture advertising the craft aisle at target, showing some very nice perspective.

Line painter practice area, Dallas, TX

This is one of my most favorite ever aerial finds in an urban area: if you look closely, you will see that, across this obscure bit of parking lot, all of these yellow and white lines and curves are road lane markings. Clearly, this is the spot where all the line painting trucks in the area go to practice or otherwise to test their equipment.

Half-built warehouse, Dallas, TX

A half-built warehouse in three stages of construction, just outside of the Dallas / Fort Worth airport: fully roofed to the right, girders in the middle, and open with nothing but walls on the left.

Dallas NBC Affiliate

An NBC television station in Dallas, Texas, notable not only for the logo on its roof, but also the white cylindrical drums of microwave transmission stations in the tower standing tall above it. These will relay line-of-sight to receivers on the broadcast towers of the station, which in turn will pump FM signals to those dwindling numbers who still depend on wireless broadcast for their television.

Suburb-to-be, Dallas, TX

Another suburb to be, its lines drawn and merely awaiting filling in with houses. The silhouette of this one for some reason makes me think of the shape of an assault rifle, with the stock on the right, trigger below, and muzzle protruding to the left.

Pac-Man Lives Here, Dallas, TX

For whatever reason, I find the maze-like lines of this particular suburb to be strongly evocative of Pac-Man.

Endless parking, Stadium near Dallas, TX

Endless lines of parking spilling out around a stadium near Dallas, the inner regions conventional parking lot, but the outer regions appearing to be park-on-grass regions for overflow crowds.

Empty housing pads, North of Dallas, TX

Coming into Dallas, a land of exurb where the pads for houses have been scraped clean and roadways marked out, yet no construction has yet begun.

Red crop checkerboard, Northern Texas

A checkerboard of many fields of these red crops, holding different shades and textures from square to square. This is perhaps the most peculiar agricultural sight that I have ever yet encountered in my travels.