Fritata
I’m cooking too. I get ideas. I read recipes. I read the news(paper) online. Technically, there’s no paper. I haven’t read the real paper since 2006. They didn’t deliver the NY Times to Maine. Now I don’t have to toss old papers… or to recycle them. Meanwhile, I riffed on a recipe I read. Potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, red pepper, and whatever… oh yes, garden herbs, lots of garden herbs. Don’t forget the eggs; that makes it a frittata. Ha! Can you smell it? Anything with cheese is good. Right? What I learned from the Food Channel is: there are no rules. So, I just wing it. This time it worked.
You pick?
Getting a spectacular sunset is like getting a fish image in the Red Sea. It’s pretty hard to not have an opportunity. Meanwhile I am woodworking. I can make basket stands. I need a new trick. These will go to another home. I won’t make more. No more baskets to be had at the store. And I’m not taking up basket making…. Pick? Two non-sequitur images. It’s a twofer. I’m just lazy today.
Hint:
Different Day
Different conditions, different light, less patience. I got shots, but you can see that I should have persisted. That raises the question as to whether you bother the wildlife (move the subject) in order to get a better image. I didn’t. My kids would be satisfied I didn’t (do it).
Focus
The challenge here was in focusing. The camera doesn’t want to do it. It would rather focus upon the background. Yes, I bet you wanted to hear me say it was hard. You don’t care….’cause I got the shot. Ha! Otherwise there’d be no post. We don’t show misses. But to get these, I took a lot of pics that were not good. If I had stopped after shooting one, we would not have anything but a lament.
Autumn
The annual leaf photo: I look every year. Sometimes I get one. I’m still waiting. … still working on it…
Local
What they never told me is that you can join a museum and get reciprocity at others. We have been to a lot of museums for free. And I mean in Chicago and in LA and points between. Of course, the exhibits are there to stimulate discussion. Hey! I just retired. Do we really need colored plastic heads strewn about? Humpf!! Gates!? Jean Claude and Christo – Central Park many years ago. It was about orange gates in the park for a few weeks. It was mesmerizing. The artistry is in the concept. The concept pictures and proposal sell for tens of thousands – enough to fund the project’s million dollars bill. I mean millions of dollars. So, the sales earn a lot of money. That builds a lot of gates. By the way, most of the proposals and projects never got built.
Inside Story
We pass through New Castle; we eat at Jessop’s. It doesn’t matter we only ate hours before. This was a bittersweet day. Business concluded. I’m now officially in retirement. It’s taken a year to adjust to the concept. Sweet – now life begins again. I’m pretty happy. I’m in a good place. As they say – the world is going to hell in a hand basket. I can only speak for myself at this point. I’m responsible to me and the few around me. The phone ring no longer is a potential threat alert. It’s been a long time. I can finally admit relief and appreciate it. You don’t realize how much it hurt until they stop beating your head. Obtuse? You bet. You need to be an insider. Try the restaurant if you ever pass by.
Lady
She’s iconic. You see her for free if you ride the Staten Island ferry. Free. The ride is free. Just show up. There’s the usual crowd (mostly commuters). So, there is plenty of room at the rail. We did it. I had business in the city. It’s a grand ride. I wish it weren’t business. When you fly over her the pilots all refer to her as “The Lady.” Yup, that would be about right.
Don’t forget…
By next 9/11, I won’t remember these photos. But they are spooky symbolic. Recently, in the fog the tower of the new WTC – Freedom tower – poked through the mist. One could make a case that the old tower is there somewhere…. I wish. Time passes. The wounds remain fresh. An empty ache makes me recall it like yesterday. As the years pass, many find the wound fades. I wish, but no.
Hand weaving and spinning is a lost art. Wrong! There are many enthusiasts. It’s not too common. Your average person does not weave or spin. But the gatherings – so called festivals – draw thousands – of people, sheep not included. There is fiber on the hoof and fleece and finished product. Lots of money changes hands. There was a classic auction complete with rapid fire auctioneer. His job is to rev up the crowd and grow enthusiasm and drive the price ever higher. The tapestry loom he was standing in front went for $20. Really!? The wood was worth more ( a whole lot more). But there were other things that sold for a lot more. Last spring I bought a loom – sight unseen – for a mere bagatelle. This time around I stood pat. Yes, there are llamas – and alpacas – and sheep – and goats. A good time was had by all.
TSC – I don’t own a tractor
I had never been. Now I have. It’s interesting. It’s a milder form of Cabello’s. No guns. But you get about anything else that has to do with hunting and fishing and tractors and …Yes, there is a completely different life out there. I still don’t have a tractor. I don’t figure to ever have one. Maybe I will ride on one someday.
Where have I been? Under a rock?
Modern
Modern art is baffling too. Rauschenberg painted white on white with rollered house paint and no brush marks. He instructed it to painted over if it aged. Okay! Bullets in road signs. Yeah, that is art too? Jackson Pollack – Drip painting. He put the canvas on the floor, walked around it, and painted away. The upper two to the right are black and white. I kid you not. How imaginative.
It reminds me of the art I was forced to do in kindergarten. My mission was to take out all the blocks. In fact, play time was over before I ever took out all of them. Meanwhile, there was nothing to show for parent teacher conference. To the easel! Reluctantly I took one paint brush and one color and proceeded to paint a twisted curvy line. One. One line.
Teacher, “What is it?”
“A roller coaster,” I replied. The steam was coming out of the teacher’s ears as she stalked away. So much for my budding art career…
Icons
MOMA. Spend a day in New York City. So many things to do, so little time. Eat. Walk around. Duck into the museum from the rain. Museum of Modern Art. Starry Night – Van Gogh, Christina’s World – Andrew Wyeth. There were many more. But these are pretty famous icons. We got to see them up close. There was a huge crowd surrounding Starry Night. The Wyeth was hanging in the hallway. It was cool to have seen them both. People were 10 deep around the Van Gogh taking selfies. The Wyeth was quietly passed in the hallway. So much art, an icon like this would be center stage. Here, it was relegated to the hallway. So much art, so little space.
NY NY
We visited. The plan was to meet up with Jules later. The day was rainy. We walked midtown. Trump and his building were up Fifth Av. I did not care to be near the chaos. He was in town and demonstrators were in abundance. And, in the same walk (across town) was the Sullivan theater – Stephen Colbert, pundit and thorn in the side of POTUS. NY NY, it’s a helluva town!
Waves
It ain’t easy. Try to photograph a breaking wave and likely you will miss. Well, at least I do, more often than not. This activity is from some of the leftover hurricane activity. Nice breakers. Good high ones. Clean curl. I don’t surf. Still, I can appreciate a nice wave.
Show and Tell
Passing through Ocean City… there was a fast car convention. It wasn’t official. It wasn’t sanctioned. The police were out in force. The cars were just revving and zooming around in a circle. It was a social media gathering. Everyone who was in the know was privy to knowing to be there. There were a lot of loud mufflers. Cars were circling and spectators were relaxing by the roadside. I got caught in the middle of the traffic jam. The old family car hardly looked souped up. Look at the tiny flat tires. They are awful on the road. You get a flat tire every time you hit a pot hole. And the rims get bent…. Good luck guys.
Deer
We pulled up to feed kitties. There was a family of deer feeding just off the driveway. Beware! There are signs on the road outside: Managed Deer Hunt. Oh well. This poor family may be torn asunder. I wonder if it will be bumpstock and silencers that get them. 600 rounds a minute ought to do a whole lot of damage and kill a whole lotta shit. Yeah, the NRA has us dead to rights. Imagine? They are bucking the will of 90% of the people. Yes, I would say the buck stops there.
Racks
Built them. Me. It was another simple (learning) project. Ha ha, you can’t even see the wood (mistakes). We have a lot of cones of yarn. Projects line up. You can never have enough “stash.” Just ask any weaver. I’ve been to a few estate sales. There were tons of cones on sale for pennies on the dollar. I would have to say that the cones move from home to home circulating from weaver to weaver. Sometimes things are made… Anyway, there is a lot of stuff and an excellent color palette. And I hope some product is forthcoming. Meanwhile it’s nice to see color in the room. Oh! The cords are all up out of the reach of the cats.
Crossroads
I used to live at the crossroads of the world. Now I am at another crossroad. It seems that air traffic out of Reagan and Dulles and BWI and Phi all cross Delaware. The clouds move fast. They change like the weather. Wait a minute or so it will look different. Every once in a while, the jet trails cross over in a great pattern. Everyone is headed somewhere. There’s an app that lets you point your phone at the trail and it will tell you the flight and destination of the plane that made it. TMI, I just like the pattern. Simple.
Warning
Obviously, I don’t have legs like this. But it was about a year ago I left Jeddah. It seemed prudent. A suicide bomber went off in the parking lot across from the US Embassy. I won’t say that it is less secure now. After all this is fairly random in a city of 3 million or so. But I feel good that I am not part of the news. Not much happens at the beach except the occasional storm. That’s about my speed
Address Book
This address book stopped me in my tracks. Nostalgic! Oh boy. Le Madeleine – Proust. This is old. It’s old fashioned. It’s not in use any longer. Does anyone use anything but a smart phone? You move the tab to the “letter” and open the pad. It shows you the name address and info you wrote there. Not only is it for sale, but all the contacts are still inside. My mom had one. She filed my ‘Auntie’s” name under “A” for “Aunt.” That worked fine for me. But, they were her sisters. So they weren’t her Aunties? Go figure. Nowadays we have caller ID. No one gets past unless I know who’s calling. Funny, I don’t get too many calls. All them “800” callers are SOL.
Americana. I guess that is what one can call this stuff. I’ve never seen an egg beater like this. Rarely. Occasionally. Sometimes. I’m glad I don’t collect rolling pins. They abound by the truckload. I’m looking for a beater like this. But it has to work (at the right price) . I’m still looking.
Carom boards are an older game. The boards are collectable. Notice the pegs. The ones for sale always have a missing peg. Just one. Not two. Just one missing peg.
I had this book. It was a favorite. I loved Peter Pan. It reminds me of another pop up book my mother purchased at Macy’s. It was Cinderella? Maybe Sleeping Beauty. I was opening the book as we crossed 34th St. The head of the heroine tore off. I just let it fall to the street. My mom was so disappointed. I was not. She made and taped a crayon-drawn head and life went on. What mattered and that I remember is her disappointment in my allowing the head to fall to the street without telling her. I would say that I had brain lock and it never occurred to me though I vividly remember the head tearing away. Sad. Read the inscription. Someone’s grandma once wrote “love” into this book. No. I took a picture. We did not buy it.
Old Clocks
I visited this place in Bridgeville around 2015. At the time I heard a lot of ticking and a lot of chiming on the hour. I know a lot more in the past year. I’ve got a few clocks. I did not seek them. They sort of jumped up and grabbed me as I went by. The price was right. They (the clocks) all work. Or, they can be made to work. It’s cool. I have seen a $35,000 clock. And I have heard tales of another for $80k. No, my price is way lower. I’m purely dabbling. I don’t want another. It’s just that they keep jumping up and grabbing me…
It’s been a while
If you are a certain age you might remember Howdy. That would make you old and of black and white TV age. The last episode of the show – Clarabel was supposed to do something special – speak? I was sick and never saw the episode. It is a regret of my childhood that I still remember. The old Comet sign is about to be covered. It will never be seen again. I figure the next time, the building will be demolished and this bit of history will never come to light. Ringling is gone. No more three ring circus. That’s recent. And Yearbooks? Who wants old high school yearbooks? Really? …just don’t throw ‘nuthin away!
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