balloons and credits

Hot Air Balloon Deflating, originally uploaded by gurdonark.

This evening I stopped for a quick supper at a nearby grill place on the way home, as my wife is with her sisters in the Missouri Ozarks for an annual dad-daughters fishing expedition.

When I arrived home, I decided to take our dogs Teddy and Beatrice for a walk in neighboring Glendover Park. When we got to the park, we found a huge hot air balloon was being deflated, to the delight of the folks in the park.

On the drive home, I saw a few balloons in flight. I love the way that Spring brings hot air balloons. Tonight's walk let me see some cool looking chimney swifts overhead, a nice addition to the swallows, grackles, house sparrows, mockingbirds, scissortail flycatchers and
mallards common to this neighborhood.

I had a curious experience with a photo credit. I noticed someone had put one of my photos at a web page for a Canadian conveyance called the Victoria Express. I was delighted to see it there, as I license my photos Creative Commons BY, but the photo merely had an embed link to my page and not a proper photo credit. So I wrote the site to say "please just add the photo credit, I'm glad you're using it", as I consider a credit not only part of the license but also good netiquette. The site took the photo down, which is their prerogative.

It's amusing, in a way, that one says "use my photo any way you like, just credit it", and
even that is too great a burden. Of course, on the other hand, why did the credit matter to me? I had a photo link. So perhaps I am the pot, and the kettle is really aquamarine. Next time I'll play that hand differently, I think.


This was a hard-working 4 day week. I am exhausted. But I am not sleepy. I plan to enjoy a very quiet and yet fun weekend. The next two weeks will be very busy, and I will be ready for them come Monday.