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November 22, 2012

A NEW WORLD

NIKON D100-NIKKOR 18-135@95mm-F6.3-1/25th-ISO640   
... i wonder if columbus ever discovered the best of what he had found ...


THE MOVIE

OLYMPUS E-P1 PROJECT
"As a child the dark confines of the house would became my own little world, and I would spend long afternoons watching the movie showing on the other side of my window."
J. GREEN

CAT


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... i'm so happy i'm a cat ...
... a cat ...
... not a nasty ol' rat ...
... not a silent swooshing bat ...
... not even a wombat (what's that) ...
... a cat ...
... fuzzy, and it's okay, cat ...
... black cat ...
... purrrrrrrrrring cat ...
... 'cause only a cat can get away with that ...
... dog needs a master, almost as much as master needs the dog ...
... not me ...
... i'm on my own ...
... not a hepcat, copycat, or even a cool-cat ...
... no alleys for me ...
... neither garfield nor sylvester nor felix-the-cat ...
... just cat ...
... cat-cat-cat ...
... get it ...

PATRICK GROLEAU

November 20, 2012

RIVER OF NO RETURN

... i just downloaded and watched "river of no return" ... i remember pa taking mike and me to see this movie at the post theater when we sere stationed at elmendorf air force base in anchorage, alaska ... i must have been 1958 or 1959, so the movie was probably in re-release, or, perhaps, it was just that the military wasn't always quite up to date in getting the "latest" in entertainment ... in the opening scene matt calder (robert mitchum) is cutting down a giant pine tree on top of a mountain, the background a sweeping downslope view of a beautiful rocky mountain valley ... the scene cuts to mitchum riding down the flank of the mountain to his little homestead situated alongside the fast flowing milky-white waters of an alpine river ...

... on the drive home after the movie i saw my brother's eyebrows furrow into the position which indicated some great thought was twisting 'round and 'round in his convoluted mind ...

... "pa, why would he be cutting down a single tree on the top of the mountain, then leave it to ride miles and miles to his house way down in the valley" ...

[... i wasn't quite sure why, but in that moment my brother reminded me of albert einstein ...]

... pa, pondering for but a brief moment, naturally, responded, "it was blocking his view" ...

... we accepted that, of course, absolutely, since in all such things pa was the authority ... at least, that is, for a short while it was fact ... later, our room a little darkened cave where the two of us practiced achieving some semblance of brotherly camaraderie, in muted voices we giggled and laughed until ma's pounding on the door reminded us that there were some things which eluded her sense of humor, especially when such banter was a serious violation of "lights out" rules ...

... "spoiling the view ... geezum ... spoiling the view ... where does he come up with that stuff ... how come we always fall for it ... he's not going to get us next time, nope, no way" ...

... but, of course, he did ... we always fell for it ... always ...





November 14, 2012

MY LITTLE GIRLS

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... quite obviously the two prettiest girls in the world ... if not, then i don't know anything about either pretty or girls ...

November 12, 2012

A NOVEMBER RIDE


OLYMPUS E-P1 PROJECT
... i woke up pre-dawn to a cold, damp fog that made me lose faith in the afternoon forecast promising "warm with scattered clouds" ... back to bed, only to have roger call, "so, are you ready to go" ... he's willing to ride in what i consider to be winter conditions, partly because his bike has a wind fairing and heated handgrips, but mostly because he's nuts about riding ... me, of course, i've an aversion to any  ride requiring at its end a visit to the emergency room for hypothermia treatment, so i wished him well and turned over for a bit more shuteye ... when i awoke it was 65ยบ out, more a normal summer temperature than is usual in maine this time of year ... i donned long-johns, grabbed my new riding jacket, and headed down to mt. vernon to get my bike ...

... i did a nice circle, up around jay, then back roads to farmington, where i enjoyed a late breakfast/lunch at the irving station ... after that it was route 2 to to new sharon, up and over the cape cod hill road, then a bit or a race with the setting sun back to mount vernon ... 120 miles, what a treat ...

OLYMPUS E-P1 PROJECT
... me, all bundled up ... i'd found a combination cold-weather/rain jacket i liked online at the motorcycle superstore, but the $240 price tag put it on my "someday" list ... while doing some grocery shopping at sam's club i found this jacket for $49 ... it's pretty much exactly the same as the "motorcycle" gear, except it doesn't have armor pads in the elbows and shoulders ... it fits perfectly, is snug and warm, quite versatile, and, equally important, it fits into my make-do-or-do-without motorcycling budget ... cross fingers, it's going to be perfect for the long-distance trips i've planned for next spring ...




November 11, 2012

THE ART TEACHER

NIKON D100-SIGMA 18-50@26mm-F5.6-1/25th-ISO400   
... art is a sculpture, a photograph, and a story told ...

THE STAIRWELL

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... in "summer of 42" herman raucher's dorothy leaves a note for hermie, in part saying "life is made of many comings and goings, and for everything we take with us, we must leave something behind" ... as  i stood looking down into the stairwell of the boston museum of art, observing the ascending and descending visitors, i wondered what it was those who were departing had left behind, and would it be discovered by those who were just arriving ...

November 5, 2012

WIPEOUT

NIKON D200-SIGMA 100-300@300MM-F9-1/1000th-ISO200   
... on christmas eve or new year's day i'd take ma on a drive down to point judith ... we'd sit in the car watching the line where the cold atlantic current battles the outflow of narragansett bay, and, while we both enjoyed watching the rhode island surfers demonstrate the fortitude and grit that proves them to be of the most seriously dedicated wave riders, ma would regale me with stories from the days when she moved to cosmopolitain rhode island from the warmth and isolation of her caribbean island home ... we'd sit for awhile, never long enough as far as she was concerned, then we'd go looking for clam cakes, since, as we all know, that's one of the primary reasons g*d created the south shore ...

NOVEMBER FIREWORKS

NIKON D200-NIKKOR 18-135@70MM-F6.3-1/40th-ISO400   
... so, just as jeff probst announced, "i'll count the ballots" (yes, i admit it, but a fellow's got to keep some sort of a sense of mainstream american culture), my television exploded ... okay, perhaps that's too strong a word ... a sort of musty ozone odor, coupled with a sharp crackling noise, like water makes when you splash it into hot grease, then a brilliant flash of light from the rear of the set accompanied by a miniature thunderclap followed by a small mushroom cloud rising up behind the television ... hmmm, close enough that i'll stick to the word "exploded" ... 

... what to do ... repair people gave quotes ranging from, "oh, a couple of hundred dollars," to, "you might as well get a new television" ... one problem creates another, of course, since the thought of purchasing a new set involved deciding whether to simply replace the set (at much less than i paid for this one several years ago), or "upgrade" to a newer l.e.d. technology ... either way, was money i didn't want to spend ... sooooo ...

... so, after a bit of internet research learning it is usually the power supply that fails on flat-screen televisions, a few dozen screws removed, and almost an hour tracking down a replacement part that was located in the united states (much, much less expensive in china, but delivery times were rather vaguely promised), i decided to risk fixing the set myself ...

... kudos to "tv city" in washington state ... no postage charged, and if it hadn't been for the transportation disruption caused by the hurricane the part would have been here overnight ... having already mastered the "how the set was put together" learning curve, it only took me ten minutes to install the new power supply ... then, with a satisfying click, the television powered up good as new ... most impressive, the onboard memory retained all the channel and image settings ...

... there's probably some sort of lesson in all this, but i'll leave that to you ... mostly, i'm happy that i made an effort to live up to one of the brags my little girls used to make of me, "our dad can fix anything" ... i can't, of course, boo-boo's and broken hearts and and a legion of disappointments have proven that, but i'm happy that at least i keep trying ... 

November 1, 2012

THE KISS

OLYMPUS E-P1 PROJECT
... of the greatest of the joys of photography, despite the disdain of those who think they've somehow the prerogative to refute the concept, the "snapshot" is perhaps the most sublime manifestation of the art of "painting with light" ...