Taken with an iPhone between meetings where I had gone for office work today…

For all the great sights we saw in our vacations, one of my favorite pasttimes continued to be some “me” time sitting in the patio looking into the forest. Sometimes it would be sitting with a cup of coffee early in the morning and hear all the birds chirping. Sometimes it would be late in the evening around a fire on a cold day. And many a Saturday and Sunday summer would be spent just sitting there idling with a camera and perhaps a cocktail.

Best part was patiently waiting for the birds – especially the hummingbirds – and the deer to get close enough to me to take some clean shots. This year, we did not have much ice or snow. So, I have no icicle pictures off twigs and branches like every year.

I hope to increase my quiet “me” times as I keep growing older.

Shot on an iPhone from inside the car while waiting at a traffic light on my way to drop Nikita at school.

Got a chance to fly my first plane – not a real plane but – in a flight simulator. Jay – the great instructor – made us go over New York – by the Statue of Liberty and even Natasha’s dorm. The simulation pictures are unbelievably realistic but I had no time to check out Tasha’s dorm – I was so worried about the plane going down 🙂

Staying up in the air was no problem. Landing was a whole different issue. Jay picked Teterboro runway. Let me put it this way – if you ignore all the warning sirens inside the cockpit that I had triggered with my landing skills, I was still glad that I was in a simulator. I did manage to get it to land on the runway with some help from the instructor.

Beautiful Lake Michigan

Struggled to capture the splash after a rain drop fell on the white banister in the patio. After quite some time, this is the best I could get. You can see on the right side what a rain drop looks like a nanosecond after hitting the surface. The one on the right obviously had hit just before the one on the left…

Two leaves literally next to each other hanging off from the same twig. One is totally oblivious of the onset of fall. The other could not be any brighter with the brilliant fall colors. How come they pick up different signals?

Two twigs next to each other with almost identical set of leaves. Except one is totally green while the other has marched forward with the signals of fall…

Speaking of wet bars, took the cocktail of the day and sat out in the rain just to get wet and enjoy the nature. The best part was when Sharmila brought out some piping hot samosas!!!