Old-Timey Skyscraper, Seattle

Though I do not know for certain, I suspect that this thin and blocky skyscraper may come from the early 20th century, in the era of "setback above street level" laws and lower confidence in structural steel.

Plane and Crane

Lying on my back on the grass of the University of Washington, I enjoyed this juxtaposition of plane and crane above me in the perfectly clear blue sky.

Downtown Seattle

Maybe it's just that I've been around too many other big cities at this point in my life, but downtown Seattle always looks like a cute little-big city to me, rather than the economic engine of the Northwest.

Giant strainer on the road, Seattle

I don't actually know what this is, but I encountered it on the highway going into Seattle, and it looks like a giant drain strainer to me.  My guess is that it has something to do with hydro dams.

Mt. Rainier, Washinton

One of the great stratovolcanoes of the US Northwest, Mt. Rainier is a dramatic sight as you glide into the Seattle airport.

Red skies over Iowa City

A particularly glorious evening's show, as I drove to pick up my daughter from preschool one evening.

Trailer park, Charlotte, North Carolina

Lines and curves of a trailing park near the Charlotte airport.

Pleasure boaters, North Carolina

Another lake, not sure if it's a natural one or reservoir, but very popular with the boaters chopping its surface into textured wakes.

Reservoir dam, North Carolina

The reservoir is clear and blue, but downstream the water is roiled and muddy.

Hydro dam, North Carolina

I love the difference in height and texture between the water in the reservoir of this dam on the right, and its outflow on the left.

Gravel pit, North Carolina

Spiraling grey and green of a Southern gravel pit.

Highway interchange, North Carolina

I know, I know, I have an unhealthy love for the curving forms of highway interchanges.  And yet they are just so elegant and remarkably varied in their forms.

Scraped ground, awaiting development, North Carolina

Roads are already in place out, and even where nothing has yet been built the housing lots are already divided up in the raw-looking scraped red ground of this housing-development-to-be.

Tree-lined roads, North Caroli

Roads, apparently on some sort of country estate, lined with trees in carefully measured rows, each road a different size of tree.

Removed mountaintop in the Appalachians

Somewhere over the Appalachians in West Virginia, looking down to see the top of a fold of mountains entirely scraped off for mining purposes.

Overflowing petunias, Iowa City

Petunias bursting up in a planter on the University of Iowa campus.

Happy hay bale, Iowa

It just looks so cheerful to me.

Dinosaur in the corn, Iowa

 Lurking by the edge of a hayride at a family farm attraction.

Winter thistles, Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City

The cold is upon us once again, bringing to mind for me this image of cold thistles in the park in winter.

Small family farm, Iowa

Looking at a small family farm from above and behind, its back yard trailing down to a creek surrounded by corn/soy fields.  Most of the farmland in Iowa is on a three year corn-corn-soy rotation: two years pulling nitrogen out and one re-fixing it to restore the soil.  Harriet, who's very into patterns thanks to Team Umizoomi, will sometimes call out the pattern in the fields as we drive down the road: "Corn, Corn, Soy! Corn, Corn, Soy! Corn, Corn, Soy!"

Ribbons of cultivation, Iowa

Bands on the field of harvested and standing crop, cut through by the green channels of water-courses.

Harvest patterns

Tracks in a field show the trajectories by which the crop was harvested.

Astronomical Mobile, Eastern Iowa Airport

Rarely glimpsed by those who do not know that it is there, this beautiful mobile hangs from the apex of the higher ceiling above the very end of the terminal in the Eastern Iowa Airport, obscured from view except when you stand below it and look up.

Bonn Train Station, Germany

Lovely patterned roof of the train station in Bonn, Germany.

Black Hills thunderhead, South Dakota

This is the thunderhead that dropped the golf-ball sized hail shown in my last photo, lit by the setting sun as it sailed East, looking smugly self-satisfied with the destruction it had wrought.

Being pelted with golf-ball-sized hail, Black Hills, South Dakota

This is what it feels like to be caught in a fierce hailstorm in the wilderness of the Black Hills, rushing along back toward my car just before duck, fervently happy that I had carried an umbrella with me and that it turned out to be strong enough to survive the impacts of golf-ball-sized hail.  Meanwhile, back at the campground, Harriet and Ananya were running for shelter from where they'd been watching the horses, and a several-inch wall of water was rushing through our tent and soaking everything inside.

Needles Highway, Black Hills, South Dakota

The Needles Highway in South Dakota takes its name from these pillars of rock that cluster all along its sides.

Wooly Verbena, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Tiny purple flowers of wooly verbena, poking up over the Badlands in South Dakota.

Wall Clock, Brussels, Belgium

A skeletal clock, two stories tall, graces this building just above street level.

City Square, Brussels, Belgium

The central square of Brussels is a fine gathering place for tourists, amongst the fancy structures of early urbanity, rings of cafes and gourmet chocolate shops, and the frequent festivals that occupy its center.

Japanese Tower, Brussels, Belgium

Near the royal palace on the outskirts of Brussels, there are a pair of curious and rather out-of-place buildings, built to satisfy the their king's enthusiasm for Asia in the early 20th century.  The Japanese Pavilion, partner to the Chinese Pavilian stands tall on the other side of a busy road, its base concealed behind high walls.