i took this photo on Saturday at the edge of the Thames River, which runs behind my building.  i like to look over the edge of the brick wall lining the river because it provides an interesting view of the cool mix of rowers, ducks, swans and pigeons (and even on occasion the famed wild parrots) of the area. 

ANYway, this weekend i pulled out my camera to shoot a pic of the baby our local swan couple had obviously hatched recently, but ended-up shooting something a little less cute:  the tragic filth and rubbish condition of the Thames River, and the damaged environment in which these beautiful birds live despite it.

I think there's a metaphor in there somewhere...

This past week was the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show in London, and as you can likely tell from the above photo, I attended. 

Sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society, and begun way back in 1862, the show is described as a garden show held annualy on five consecutive days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London.  It's the most famous such show in the UK, and perhaps the most famous gardening event in the world.  It's also considered part of London's summer social season (though I do not purport to be a participant in any "social season").

I can't remember whose display this was in the photo, nor do I recall what the names of the contents were, but I thought the photo turned out pretty lovely.  It was taken inside The Grand Pavilion.  I thought it a bit ironic that one of my favorite shots from a giant flower show was actually of non-budding plants.

For that reason, and for the beautiful colors it contains, this is my "Pic Of The Week."

Instead of skipping Pic Of The Week for lack of something "fancy" to show, I've decided to post this pic I took along Great West Road (the A4 motorway) in west London.  I dig it because of the combination of grassy green, lemon yellow and white -- if I made my own textile prints I think I'd turn these dandelions into one for a sun dress. 

If you keep your eyes and mind open, even weeds along a highway can be beautiful.

This is the triumphant return of "Pic Of The Week" after a bit of a hiatus...

This week's shot is of the Round Tower at Windsor Castle (and the gardens below).  Windsor Castle is the residence of the Queen of England.  Contrary to the assumption of most, the Queen does not live in Buckingham Palace - she lives in Windsor Castle, which is in the town of Windsor, west of London.  I went there today.

In this shot you see the Round Tower in the upper left, and a steep, lush hillside in the rest.  I liked looking at the bench in the bottom right and thinking the Queen might hang out there when she needs a break from her husband.  The garden extends to the bottom of the hill, dispelling the notion that there's a moat around the place.

For a little history, William the Conqueror built the first castle there between 1070-1086 A.D.  A dark factoid about the place:  Queen Elizabeth left the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in London to go live in Windsor Castle in 1563.  There she built gallows where she executed anyone visiting from London.  Nice!

On a sweeter side, Windsor Castle houses an enormous dolls' house created for Queen Mary, who loved arts and miniatures.  It has miniscule silver on the dining table made of real silver, teensie oil paintings created for her by top painters of her time, real tiny jewels to simulate the royal jewels - even working electricity and plumbing.  Quite a site - better appreciated by adults than children.

ANYway, despite the gray and damp weather today - and the inability to use cameras inside - I managed to get a nice shot, I think.  A 900-year-old castle and lush English gardens make for a great Pic Of The Week.

Oh - and yes, the Queen was in the castle during our visit today.  She must have been in the shower or polishing her crown at the time because she didn't come over to say hello.

This week's photo is by a guest photographer and, like the last photo entry, it was done on an iPhone.  The shot was taken while riding the London Eye, which rotates its passengers around a super-slow ferris wheel-type ride to over 400 feet in the air.  This shot was about one quarter of the way around the wheel looking through the center of the Eye at the pod opposite us.  I thought it was cool, so I made it my first Pic of the Week taken by a guest photog.

Special thanks to SJRH  :-)

I took these six photos with my first generation iPhone on my walk to the tube yesterday.  I guess it's nice that while I spend an hour riding a stuffy train underground to get to the office every day, I do get to pass all these little signs of Spring on my way to the station.  That's why they're my Pic(s) of the Week.

* Apologies for the low quality - it's not because of the iPhone, it's my fault for not uploading them here in a higher resolution.  I'm lazy.  Maybe I'll upgrade it later today.

OK.  I admit I took this photo last year, but I still like it.  It was taken inside The Royal Botanic Gardens (AKA Kew Gardens).  The flower's common, but I dig the way you can see dew drops.  We arrived there right when the gardens opened, which gave us a pristine view of pretty much everything (and lots of opps to shoot pics without strangers in the background - a real treat).

If you're ever in London, check it out:  http://www.kew.org/

I took this photo through thick glass at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris a few weeks ago.  It is Edgar Degas' near life-sized sculpture "La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans," which translates roughly to "The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Years."  The figure was created between 1821-1831.  What makes it cool to me is that even though it's a statue, it has a muslin fabric skirt/tutu and a satin ribbon tying back the bronze hair. 

I took this photo partly because I was confused.  Earlier this year I read that this bronze was auctioned by Sotheby's and sold to a private Japanese buyer for $19 million (that's £13.3 for you Brits).  After my trip to Paris I came to find that there are actually MANY of these in existence.  Apparently Degas only ever completed one of these (in wax) and after his death his good friend created a limited number of bronzes cast from Degas' original (the original wax one is in Washington DC). 

It was kind-of a let-down to learn that the one I saw wasn't the only one, and that Degas himself didn't physically make the bronze version.  I have since read that some of the bronzes were originally naturally colored, fitted with real hair and wore real ballet slippers.  That's pretty excellent, and so while this isn't the only one, and it isn't the $19 million one, it's still worthy of my Pic of the Week.

I took this pic of a TV screen in Paris, France recently.  As you may have noted in my last blog entry, while in Paris I turned on the TV in my hotel room to get a dose of French entertainment (or just tickle myself by listening to a bunch of French words), and was pleasantly surprised to find the station running a Valentine's Day marathon of...  The Simpsons.  I'm not sure what The Simpsons has to do with Valentine's Day, but who cares?  All that mattered at the time was that in the ad breaks the TV station had produced interstitial programming of a live-action Homer and Marge doing skits on a recreation of the Simpson living room (see above).

I suppose English subtitles would have come in handy, but really it didn't matter.  The whole thing was rather surreal.  I was confused as to why live-action Homer took off his head.  Perhaps he was jealous that live-action Marge didn't have to wear a giant fake head too, so he rebelled once the cameras were rolling.  I guess we'll never know...