I continued my research in New Ockervil and Kudrovo, some of St. Pete's newest suburbs. Two pounds of dirt on each boot and these photos were my prize. That, and an extremely lengthy article on the site I'm working for, but I don't think you're interested in around 27K characters of my thoughts and other people's quotes. http://cs630628.vk.me/v630628358/27b84/Ql2roY__QuU.jpg
Ockervil creek in the Leningrad region. Further downstream it becomes positively filthy - I don't know why nobody has done anything meaningful yet. Apparently the overhaul of the city's sewage system has passed it by. http://cs630628.vk.me/v630628358/27ae3/D4roZX_PDvk.jpg
Kudrovo is St. Pete's eastern suburb. Up until recently, it was a village with a staggering population of 137 (per the 2010 census). However, around that time, hectic construction activity has started in and around it. The old, wooden private houses have largely been torn down, and their inhabitants have moved into the new blocks (presumably). The current population is around 10K but this figure tells nothing of the scale: it's a very shifting and transitional parameter, but 100K is predicted within 5 years.
Wandering off the beaten path may have been a mistake: the soil is damp from all the rain and thaw, and each of my boots has gained around 2lb of "augmentation". Should have taken a picture of that, but believe me, that was NOT amusing.
For a geographical yardstick, I address you to Wikimapia: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=59.909147&lon=30.513282&z=14&m=b http://cs630628.vk.me/v630628358/27aec/0Z7wp9pqyh4.jpg
European avenue isn't quite "there" yet in its northern part: the construction is raging all around. The pavement is pretty mucky because of all the big lorries and whatnot. http://cs630628.vk.me/v630628358/27af5/K0eVm9nvhOg.jpg
Farther south it becomes pretty civilized, but real problems lie underneath: there are very few exits for traffic (and those that do exist are pretty narrow and bound to get congested); public transportation is scarce and unreliable; since the place is really not in St. Pete's but in the adjacent region, many services are only available in the (pretty distant) district centre; and while this place isn't nearly as chaotic as another of the similar suburbs, Murino, it can't be called a dream place to live by any stretch of the imagination. At least not just yet. http://cs630628.vk.me/v630628358/27b8d/L79Gtsbn7_8.jpg
Here's something... you're not going to guess what it is. Alright, this birch is the only tree in the built-up area that seems to have survived from the "pre-construction" times. There are new plants but whether / when they're going to grow to any decent size is yet to be seen...
Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?
Buried under snow and ice, that's where. It's not as bad a predicted, 20-30cm snow, 10-15mm of freezing rain is what they said....but it turned out a lot less. Still not what I would call spring, despite what the calendar says.
For our family, spring means a trip to the beach (Okaloosa Island, FL). The normally flat Gulf of Mexico was a bit stirred up by a recent storm and the kids got to enjoy some wave action.
And a few more spring beach images. A mix of the 1dx and 5dsr (CPS borrowed) and some of the 5dsr images are severly cropped (dolphin especially so) shot from my condo deck a couple more than a hundred yards away from the action, but a testament to the power of 50mp.
For the night scene, I forgot a tripod, so literally layed the camera in my shoe and pointed towards the sky. I am still fascinated by the fact that there are more stars than grains of sand on earth. So, while it's not a great shot, it has some thought provoking sentiment for me.
That, and an extremely lengthy article on the site I'm working for, but I don't think you're interested in around 27K characters of my thoughts and other people's quotes. 
