a stalking

i went to shoot the capitol today, and i swear for a city that prides itself on the number of oak trees, there is an equal number of palms.  i don't mind, but they show up in the weirdest places.  for instance, on Broadway, there is a sign on the median that says "Welcome to Oak Park".  on the median behind that sign is a row of palm trees that runs for about a mile.  that's a lot of palm.

so anyway, i was looking through all my photos from today looking for the shot i want to submit to the contest.  damn it if there wasn't a crap load of palm trees wedging their way into my photos!  i don't really mind all that much, i think it's cool.  palm trees make me think of fireworks- slender trunk, green spray of leaves, like a firework caught in time. 

below are a couple of the photos of the palm tree that seemed to be stalking me today.  the one on the left is a shot of the State Capitol building, the east wing.  up near the top of the tree, you can see in the window the CA state flag.  i thought that was cool.

the second photo is of one of the walls in the Vietnam War Memorial.  Originally, I was taking a picture from the bottom of the wall looking up, but i noticed the palm and changed the focus to the tree.  the names are still legible, but the palm looks like a lonely firecracker exploding just for these men.