Roots and Bluegrass Festival

This weekend was the second annual Roots and Bluegrass Festival, and while i do believe i missed quite a few of the bands due to not feeling the hottest and it being so hot out, i did get to several. It was interesting to see so many bands like this just playing in the street. Many bands were in the various taverns, restaurants and coffee shops,  but several would venture out and play on the sidewalk. It was surprising that while walking around outside you wouldn't see many people, but then each venue was packed to the brim with people. No surprise that this time i also took my infrared camera out, with the ir flash, which really did help inside places, and the flash wasn't a distraction. I'm still working on photos, so they might take a while to all get up, but as usual they will be on my flickr in a while.

(unrelated side note, something seems to be up with the city daily photo gadget on the side there, not sure if it's permanent or what though. Sorry)

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Yesterday was St. Patrick's day, and there were bed races and other events downtown, where for a part of the evening they closed off the downtown part of main street and allowed people to drink beer out of special event cups. I decided to go with my infrared camera again, so while the image is black and white, just pretend everyone is wearing some sort of green, because most were. I am not sure what bed races had to do with the holiday, but it seems to be a popular event to hold. Some of the beds didn't quite seem like beds, but a lot of them seemed to enjoy the races and there was a pretty large crowd. It was also very, very warm, getting up to if not over 80F, and even overnight it didn't cool down much. Today was also close to the 80s.

There are many more images of the events over on my flickr in a set, some converted to black and white, others how they look right out of the camera with little (slight things) corrections.

Dreary Day

Yesterday it was over 50F, today it's 36F and raining, with sleet predicted for later. This winter has been one of the most confusing for weather i've seen a long time. You may also note the lack of snow in this panoramic photo looking out over my front yard. Still, better weather than when my car broke down on saturday twenty miles from home, in the middle of nowhere. I'm beginning to see why several people i know moved south or spend winters down where it's warmer.

Snow??

Woke up this morning to a very beautiful sight, which doesn't quite translate exactly to this photo. This has been one of the few total snow coverages we've had all winter, and the fog and covered trees makes it all the more lovely. This time last year we had feet of snow and had very cold days. This year we've had little snow, the ground has been mostly uncovered with snow. The temps all winter have hovered around 35F, right above freezing, which has caused a lot of problems for ice fishers, with several vehicles going through the ice which hasn't had proper time to get thick. Monday they are saying the temps are supposed to be in the high 40s. this is one odd winter. Hope summer is more mild than the very high heat we had last summer.

"Dancing with the UWRF Stars" - Be My Guest

Here are Bradley Caskey, Brian Schultz and Rae Benson daning to "Be My Guest" from Beauty and the Beast. I can't hear this song without hearing The Simpson's version "See My Vest". (couldn't find a good video of it, sorry) It is a much sillier song to be sure.

All the photos are now up on my flickr in this set here.

"Dancing with the Stars" UW-RF 2012

Last night was this years "Dancing with the Stars" benefit for the UW-River Falls dance team. Here are Tyler Biola with Emily Grosskopf facing to "Drop it Low". Again, wasn't feeling very hot, and the lighting was a nightmare. This is one of the good ones, but between dances they would cut the lights to show a video, then bring them back up, but to different low levels making it much harder to get consistent shots. Add in that nearer the front of the stage didn't seem to be lit at all, so when dancers got nearer the front, they would be almost in the dark. So while some of the shots i got turned out decent, there are several dances that will take work. So all the photos may take a while to get up, and as usual they will be on my flickr (side note here, the old flickr link on the side stopped working so i have a new one there, hopefully it will keep working.)

Wearable Art fashion show

Here is a shot of all the people wearing the wearable art in the fashion show that just happened a little while ago. All the fashions were things that normally wouldn't be materials for clothing, minus any perishable things, so no meat dresses. All of them were very creative, although i loved the metal squid headpiece the most i think, and the paint swatches dress too. I'm still working on my aluminum dress idea, and i think mine is better, but i do have no time limit, so that could have something to do with it. ;) More photos will be going up later in my flickr, just thought i'd get this up there now.

Side note, while waiting, i noticed a flyer for this years Dancing with the UWRF Stars (link goes to last years photos) that i hadn't seen anything about this year. It's happening thursday, so hopefully i'll be able to get out to that too. Last year it was before African Night, so i expected it then, not afterwards

The rest of the photos are up on my flickr in a set here.

African Night 2012

Friday night was African Night at the local university, put on by the Black Student Union. Here is a shot near the end of the night, from the back of the very crowed Falcon's Nest area in the University Center. The reason it's in black and white is because i (for some reason, possibly because i now feel like i'm sick, chills, fatigue, etc, but didn't feel the hottest before going, uh oh, i'm patient zero.) decided to shoot the whole thing with my infrared converted camera and a flash that had an infrared filter on it. I could then use the flash without it being visible to people, and it wouldn't disturb them. It was interesting, although i didn't find out why they moved it here instead of where it was last year. As usual, i have more photos going up in a set on my flickr.

Crows getting lunch

When i was leaving the bank, i noticed my second favorite animal (rabbit being first) grabbing some lunch from a nearby dumpster. Crows fascinate me, as they are quite smart, and an episode of Nature on PBS goes into how smart they actually are. I put out food for birds, and sometime nuts for them and the squirrels, and i'm always fascinated by their behavior, like how they will see me in the kitchen, and wait until i turn my back to grab the nuts and fly off. They are also bigger than any of the pictures i take of them seem to show. When they land on the deck and sit there, they seem as long as my arm, and are even more impressive up close.

On a different note, they must be enjoying the weather, it's been near or over 50 degrees F lately, and that is way, way warmer than it normally has been. You can also sort of see the lack of snow, last year we had over three feet of snow to this date, and we've so far got a fraction of that, and all of it has melted pretty quickly.

Where Lund's used to be

There used to be a hardware store where this lot is now. Econofoods has decided to expand, and got a pretty big tax break to do it, which upset Dick's Market, the other grocery store in town, and the one i prefer for various reasons. So basically, it seems they tore down three buildings, are putting a lot there for better parking (it couldn't be worse than it was, which is saying something), and going to be some sort of work inside too. Not to mention, there is going to be a stop light at the intersection of the road i took this at. Get ready for lots of people not stopping for the lights, especially while people get used to it being there, and i'm guessing accidents too. This feels and looks odd to me, it's right downtown, and now a big lot, not the feeling most downtowns have or desire, but whatever.

I'm putting a panorama photo of the lot and such below, hopefully that isn't against the daily photo idea.
Only way to really get a good view of it all though. Click to embiggen.

Japanese kimono and Chinese garment exhibition

A few hours ago was a Japanese kimono and Chinese garment exhibition in the Chalmer Davee Library on the university campus, with Japanese language instructor Magara Maeda shown here, showing how a kimono is put on and taken off. Various Japanese 101 students were also packed into the small space. I will say this town is blessed with so many cultural events and people willing to put them on and go to them. I have had a couple years of Japanese, and some self taught, but sadly through lack of use it tends to get a bit muddy in my mind, not to mention my horrible shyness makes me doubt myself, so yeah. I need to work on that.

River Dazzle

Here is a shot of downtown with the streets closed off and people starting to gather, and the obligatory Packers fan. Speaking of the Packers, i'm not a huge sports fan, but it's pretty impressive that they've gone undefeated this season, lots of people i know are thrilled. A lot more people gathered for this, as it wasn't so cold as it could be, even though not spring like by any stretch of the imagination, it wasn't bad and the precipitation waited to start until a good deal afterwards. It's currently raining here now, not sure if it will turn icy or snow, hopefully not.

River Dazzle Parade Santa

Here is Santa in the River Dazzle parade that i just got back from. It wasn't too chilly when i left, but although i dressed pretty warm, my nose got a bit chilly. As usual i wasn't surprised to see collage age kids not wearing winter jackets, some no jackets at all. There is more to the River Dazzle than i got pictures of, a rather varied chili cook off, twenty or so vendors, races, a display with camels and llamas in the park, etc. but i have a sick pet rabbit that has me worried, so only went to the parade. I'll be going through the photos later, but wanted to get one up today at least.

First substantial snow

It snowed today, quite a lot actually, and i thankfully saw my first wild rabbit in a long time in my yard. Since i've had my front yard redone, i haven't seen any, and i was worried that they lost a lot of where they could hide, and it made me sad as it was always a bright spot to see them under the bushes. I doubt the snow will stay, its supposed to get warmer later in the week, not hugely warm, but enough to melt.