#60 screening kangaroos with a mouse

Last weekend I tried out the RemoteCaptureDC software that comes with the Canon G9 point&shoot camera. This software controls some, not all, of the camera's functions from a USB connected computer. It provides a viewfinder window on the computer of what the camera sees, focus control, shutter button, an interval timer to take multiple pictures, storage of images directly to the attached computer, etc. Interesting possibilities...

The picture above is of my laptop screen with a picture of a library book in the background and the RemoteCaptureDC window on top of it. The RemoteCaptureDC window has a "viewfinder" window showing what the camera sees. Since my camera sees this window, including the window of what the camera sees, the kangaroo recursively hops into ever smaller frames.

I think I may use these features sometime to take time lapse photos at longer intervals and higher resolution than the G9's time lapse movie feature, and perhaps also try locating the camera very close to a birdfeeder and focusing/tripping the shutter from further away...

a few more 4th Avenue images...

#59 El Bike Swap de Tucson

I went down to "El Bike Swap de Tucson" this morning to wander around. This is a semiannual event held down on 4th Ave where the Tucson bike community gathers to sell and trade bicycle related items they no longer need and perhaps pick up exactly what they do need for a great price. Friends Ted & Barb cleared out a lot of their surplus bike items (pictured above) including a bike, two frames, a bunch of hubs, stems, etc. Great to see the cycling, recycling, and back to cycling cycle in action!

This bird landed on a table made of old sprockets and chainrings.

Way fancier hub than I have on my bike. I wonder if I could make a faucet handle out of it?

Lots of people wandering up and down 4th Ave for a bicycle swap meet!

All Souls Procession Finale (Flam Chen)

Tucson based Pyrotechnic Theatre Group Flam Chen gave an outstanding finale to the All Souls Procession last night. They used two high-lift cranes for parts of their performance. The short video above is of 13 aerial acrobats being lifted into the night sky by the crane. [sorry for the fuzzy quality of my night pics -- handheld P&S camera with a smallish aperture lens...]

Four of the suspended aerialists starting part of their fire routine

There are 13 performers hanging from the crane, 4 in the flames, one above the flames, and eight below. The crane would also move back and forth slowly.

red smoke, lots of red smoke

Remember the urn from last night's pictures of the procession? Holding the written prayers and notes that people had put in it during the earlier procession, here it is lowered by a 2nd crane to be set ablaze and send the messages skyward.

and being set aflame by an ET looking puppet...


and up, up it rises into the night sky with small ashes of memories falling back down into the crowd


Way neater than watching a ball drop on New Year's, I'd say...


This was such a neat experience... Celebrating life and death, people watching people, fun costumes, people carrying pictures of their departed loved ones and pets, old rituals, new rituals, people of all ages coming together in a meaningful, respectful, and fun community event.

[LINKS: I found someone else had posted a good video of parts of this year's finale on YouTube, better than my point and shoot footage, check it out here.]

#58 All Souls Procession (the big one)

Tonight I went down to the big All Souls Progression that starts on 4th Ave and ends up downtown. Wow. Wow. Way cool. According to the news, over 10,000 people showed up for the procession. The guy in red above is pulling "the urn" -- people along the route write prayers on pieces of paper and put them in the urn. [The urn will get burnt up in an incredible fire performance later in the night -- I'll post pictures soon.]

I took this timed exposure of a ghost swinging a LED lit hula-hoop.

It was a beautiful night out with lightning in the sky north of Tucson and a brief sprinkling of rain. After the main procession of dressed up folks passed by on 4th Ave, many of the rest of us joined in and walked along to the sound of bagpipes and a cool drum beat, passing under the old 6th Ave underpass (above) to end up downtown at a large area where Flam Chen would be putting on an incredible fire performance finale (pictures soon). An outstanding event, and great to see that many people in a huge crowd all peacefully coexisting.

#57 Tucson Open Studio Tour

This colorful lady was helping direct visitors into the driveway of a residence/studio located in NW Tucson.

The Tucson Pima Arts Council sponsors an annual free, county-wide, self-guided Tucson Open Studio Tour. This weekend over 155 artists opened their studios to visitors. The Arts Council provides a list of artists and directions to their studios. I visited several studios -- each one had some really nice art. A good time -- too little free time today to visit many studios, but I really enjoyed the stops I was able to make while out and about.

As part of the afternoon's wanderings I found out about another annual event that looks really cool, and which I of course missed this year (sigh). Check out the slide show of past art installations of GLOW A Nighttime Art Experience. Next year for sure.

rock on, rock on rock, on rock on...

House this for parking a cair n the front yard?

This is the front yard of a house that was apparently the original location of the Tucson Botanical Gardens back in the '60s.

#56 B&B Cactus Farm

I stopped by the B&B Cactus Farm on east Speedway for the first time -- they have a huge selection of cacti and succulents. I was able to pick up some ideas for part of my planned landscaping changes at home. Of course I had to take a few pictures while wandering around...

These are "Living Stones" and yes, they really are living plants. They come from a region of the world that gets about 2 inches of annual rainfall. The picture below shows one of them in bloom. For more info on these interesting plants, check out "The Living Stones, I presume" article at Colorado State University.

[Links: Tucson doesn't have much going on in the way of fall foliage colors, so I really enjoyed looking at Lynette's great pictures of fall foliage up in Portland, Oregon. Thanks Lynette!]

#55 Dia de los Muertos celebration @ TMA

Here are a few snaps from tonight's All Souls Procession celebration down at the Tucson Museum of Art. This family-oriented celebration of the ancient Mexican custom is known as Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead honoring our ancestors and loved ones who have passed away. The above picture is one of several nice sidewalk chalk art pieces drawn in the courtyard area.

One of several altars with pictures, religious items, food, flowers, skulls, etc.

This one was pretty cool, right below the Friday the 13th calendar was a metronome ticking back and forth...

Here are a few pictures of some of large masked characters in the progression parade...

spine-tingling pumpkins

I drove by this house on east Speedway today and had to take a picture of their cactus.

Its rare to see plastic pumpkins that are literally spine-tingling like this... :^)