Wednesday, July 19, 2023

[Dave]

My daughter emailed that she had a pleasant flight to Auckland, that New Zealand's strict biosecurity procedures kept her at the airport for an additional 2-1/2 hours, then it took another hour for her to reach the Airbnb apartment. After all that I would have been exhausted, but she set off on a long walk to Mount Eden, past the University of Auckland and an old cemetery, getting some good photos along the way. (I had offered the use of one of my cameras, but she declined, being more comfortable using her cell phone.) She said she is pretty sore after the long walk up and down hills.

I'll ask her permission to share some of her photos over the 5-1/2 weeks of her grand vacation.

Meanwhile, here's a photo I took two mornings ago. I knew from past experience that getting good photos of red blossoms against green foliage would be a challenge because the reds and greens are often the same value. It took several layers during processing, and the photo still suffers from poor value contrast...

   

[Man From Ironbark]

New Zealand is right next door and it is cheaper to fly there than to most Australian cities. However, I've never been, though my brother and his family lived there for a number of years coaching basketball.

[Luv2shoot]

Good Morning Peter and Dave,

I am enjoying hearing about your daughter's travels.  Wow, a 5-1/2 week vacation. She is lucky that she can get that time off.  Being held over in the airport for over two hours would make anyone angry but hopefully she was not inside of a plane at the time in 110 temps with no air conditioning like the folks in Las Vegas were yesterday.  Did you hear about that?  People had the choice to get off and not have a connecting flight for days or remain on the plane until take off could be arranged. 

Dave, I think you handled the colors very well.  You can see a nice deep green background, enough to create a eye catching effect in both color and contras. 

Well, I hope your daughter and SIL have a good time. Keep up posted.
LORELL

As promised, here is another photo for tomorrow's club meeting.
This young man was eager for me to take his photo and performed several tricks as I stood there with my camera.

[Dave]

Lorell, That's a very fine photo. His skill shows as well as the confident attitude that performers usually have.

I once took a series of photos of street acrobats down by the HB pier. I don't have them anymore due to a hard drive crash.

My daughter's trip got off to and energetic start: after making it to her Airbnb lodging she took a shower then embarked on a miles long walk up and downhill to a dormant volcano, passing by the University of Auckland and through an old cemetery for photos. She said she thought it would help shake off the effects of 14 hours in a plane, but also said she was pretty sore the next morning.

Here's a photo I took yesterday morning...

   

I want to document my World Cup analysis and predictions because of a small bet I have with a neighbor. Those not interested in soccer (football to most of the world) are encouraged to stop reading. Any who share my enthusiasm for the game are invited to give me your thoughts:  tell me if you agree or state that I'm completely wrong - I'd welcome the discussion.

My analysis:
It's likely that the winner will come from the 8 highest-rated teams. These world rankings were set weeks or months ago, and many teams (especially England, USA, and Canada) have suffered injuries to key starters. This will make their quests for the title harder but probably don't change the relative rankings much.

The top 8 teams and their world rankings are:

#1 USA - Despite the injuries to starters, they are still the favorite. They'll need the younger replacement starters to perform well, and some experienced veterans (Megan Rapinoe, tough-as-nails defender Julie Ertz, versatile Rose Lavelle, and others) who will probably come in as second half subs) to make strong contributions.
#2 Germany - Hard to predict how Germany will do. They are a very strong team, but have a history of losing to lesser opponents, especially in big events. If they can avoid this, they are among the top 3 favorites.
#3 Sweden - Sweden is very strong too. They can adopt a smothering defense, and must be considered to have a good chance to win it all.
#4 England - They are an excellent balanced team but have been hit the hardest with injuries to key players, and  suspect this will be too much for them to win it all.
#5 France - Another top notch team, but like Germany they have been known to lose to a lesser team, and must avoid that to win it all.
#6 Spain - A solid and improving team, but I think they are a notch below those teams listed above.
#7 Netherlands - Another very solid team, but they'll need to be faultless to win it all.
#8 Brazil - IMO, the most interesting of the top 8. Led by the ageless Marta, when at their best they can beat anybody. But to reach the Championship match they'll need to upset Germany, England and France. That's unlikely but I hope they do it.

So here are my predictions:
In the 2 semi-final games where the winners advance to the Championship match and the losers to the 3rd - 4th place match, it will be:
  USA vs Sweden, with USA narrowly winning.
  Germany vs France with France narrowly winning.

  In the 3rd - 4th place match I have France beating Germany.

  And in the Championship match I predict US beating France by 1 or 2 goals.

[Rich]

Dave, quite an adventure for your daughter. I had some friends get back recently from there. They are in Switzerland now.
Don't beat yourself up too much, looks good to me!
Second one is awesome!

Greetings Peter!

Lorell, neat photo, works great in B&W. Dave said it right, confidence!

Not much new here except many missed local photo ops. Third week home from Hip replacement surgery and second week of PT/OT. Therapist says I am doing good. Couple more weeks of it I  imagine. Still using a walker but started some cane work yesterday. Making progress!

[Man From Ironbark]

One step at a time, rich. Glad to hear you are healing well.
Lorell's bikie was a showoff. Well deserved though because he and the bike are one. Great shot.

That's a lovely rose Dave. I wonder, did you try looking at the image vertically?

This is a lemon scented gum I saw in town today.

[Dave]

Thanks for the comments on my two rose postings.

Rich, I'm happy for you that the post-op rehab is going well.

That's a majestic gum tree, MFI. And you are right: my yellow rose photo looks much better rotated 90 degrees clockwise.