I learned as a child that your favorite toys are much more likely to have a relatively short time on this earth. I remember countless entertaining toys that are at the sitting on the bottom of the Lycoming County landfill. I guess they are technically still on the Earth, buried down a couple meters, waiting for future archaeologists to excavate and opine upon.

Look at these beauties though – obviously well loved and the wheels still spin!

I am happy to report after a quick swing back to PA that our dearly loved Matchbox diecast vehicles have be passed along to Nephew Jack – and they are looking great! Technically they were passed through all three brothers, so this is the 4th young rascal to get the chance to live out elaborate car chases, dramatic rescues and the simple pleasure of a mammoth car accident.

I found a little patch of natural light and a vaguely white background for a 10 minute photo session. They might not mean a whole lot to the untrained eye, but looking at these little cars & trucks are childhood memories in the original steel!

View the Full Set

Abstracting these pieces from their surrounding environs is a bit difficult, hard to take photos of a water main or the inside of a power plant. However, there are some rare times when you can catch parts in just the right situation. I like this set of photos I snagged today of power/telecom lines & streetlights for this very reason!

More at Flickr….

ColoPana, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

You keep looking real pretty CO!

The snake in the first 2 photos was about 4 feet in the air in a large bush – not sure how he got up there but seemed to be enjoying life, tree snakes are a  somewhat terrifying proposition for city dwellers who are afraid of serpents…

The cat is my fave neighborhood kitty, Leah – nearly every day on the way home from work I see this friendly feline, always down for a lil’ headscratchy & some sidewalk stretching…

Blue Jet, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

There’s a neat spot in Boston where you can watch planes, like this puppy, as they land. They zip by right above you on their final approach to the runway – they are huge and loud at this point, pull out all the stops for the last 1/2 mile.
I really like the way this one turned out!

Just Ducky, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

Look at this little fellow!

X – Detail, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

My parents made a fantastic book of ABCs for my cousin in 1975. He was about 6 at the time, but the book is unafraid to venture into more advanced topics. like the xerophytes above.

When I visited my aunt & uncle for Easter they brought out the “book” which is in remarkably good shape, suggesting it was kept safely out of reach from my cousin.

I was able to take some pictures of each page, the detail and humor is a testament to the creativity of my folks and perhaps a splash of Yuengling. I love it.

Here is a link to the whole set or watch the lil’ show below!

Getting Twiggy With It!, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

We have a bunch of friendly neighborhood cats around my new digs.

This one was spotted on a recent walk, after some brief attempts to be friendly it started munching on some twigs. Looked like a nice way to spend a Saturday!

turkeysz, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

For many, Valentine’s Day is a special occasion to spend with your loved ones or robot pals. For me it’s always been about the turkeys, which made this day extra special for me.

While walking with my special lady around Brookline, we came across a group of 20+ wild turkeys! We are not talking about the uber-fancy sprawling-estate section of Brookline, it was still very residential, right next to the D line – right here actually:

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It was pretty cool to see all the birds, not particularly attractive animals but scraggly and resourceful critters.It was hard to take very good photos because of where they were standing but you are not missing too much, trust me.

After a few minutes, a common housecat wandered into the scene. As this photo shows the cat was initially pretty mellow – he had obviously dealt with birds before. For a minute I thought they would turn out to be great friends – then he tried to start a little trouble. They backed off for a second but eventually realized through their collective pea-sized brain that the odds were in their favor and chased the fellow off. Not much else happened after that, they are probably still there, pecking at stuff.

More pictures here…