We met in the third grade. We sat in desks just like these. I remember sitting in the back of the classroom. We were together in the same class till sixth grade. I sent Colleen a letter (yes, with a stamp) sometime around 2008? She responded but we lost touch once again until…
May 22, 2014
Colleen: As Marty has probably told you, we were talking the other day and your name came up. I told him what I knew of you from the last time we communicated, and gave him your e-mail, hoping it was current. You came only imagine my surprise when he told me you were practicing medicine in Saudi Arabia! One of the last countries I could imagine being in, so now I am exceedingly curious (or read nosy if you prefer).
Why? How? How long?, and anything else you care to tell (or nothing if you like better).
May 21, 2014
From Marty Martin: Colleen and I were talking earlier this week. She mentioned your name and…
Nothing is lost. An email search came up “zero!!” for any email from Colleen at that time in 2014. I never throw anything away! Ha!! Search in an alternate way…
“Nosy” She had me at “nosy!” The rest is history.
Was it but just one day?!? Marty emailed one day. The email was in the trash as I noticed Elkins in the header. I know I hinted heavily and desperately with a flurry of email exchange to get Marty to email Colleen and have her to respond to me. She had cut me off in 2008 and I was not going to send her an email first.
Gee! The things you can find when you go looking?! She came to visit in a whirlwind tour of NYC right as I was planning to move away from NY forever. Maine followed. Colleen had always wanted to visit Maine. NY – nightlife, Indian powwow, West Indian day parade… bright lights and people. It was quite a contrast to WV where life is definitely different from NY.
Yellow sheep, Scotland – different again. Travel. Adventure. Fun. Laughter. …favorite lighthouse? Wyeth? … all fond memories now.
An aside: my digital photography is so different now. Too. Better? I think so. Better camera? Or, better photographer?
This email exchange came on the heels of my first iPhone. David made me get it on my birthday less than a month before. It became the electronic tether for Colleen and I from Saudi to WV.
New camera old IV
8/28/2014 Nikon D610 B&H photo, direct from the store.
An iconic moment! First frame – Colleen and I. Our first outing – B&H photo. New camera. It had been planned (by me). I needed an upgrade. – It seems so quaint now! – I got Colleen a Canon S110 point and shoot as part of the bargain.
We had just met – again – reconnected after more than fifty years. Little did we know (shhh, we did) how this would all go as the future would unfold. It turns out I was in Saudi and moving out of NYC forever. So the two weeks we spent exploring the city – Broadway shows, dinner, Met, MOMA, etc – was a honeymoon of sorts.
Yeah! Memorable!! First frame? Priceless!!
It was also my break with B&H photo. I would soon enough be seduced by Amazon.
Quite the day
I’m Chinese by birth but Chinatown NYC remains a foreign land to me.
Dim sum – rolling carts of food. You order with your eyes. They count the empty plates on the table to calculate the total bill. You can try everything on the menu. Grazing! The best!
Dinner – suckling pig. Cousin Amy ordered ahead in honor of sister Wendy who was visiting. Wow!
Shops. There is no end of fascination and wonder. Tea? In restaurants the tea all has the same taste. Not so! Tea shops have hundreds of selections. Chop sticks – plain? Utilitarian? Nope! Pick a pair.
It was a rare reunion of sorts. As years pass I realize how infrequently we gather. It was precious to see everyone. I remember the day. The pictures cement the memory. I am glad I took a few images.
Twelve years ago
Shutterfly sends memories to my email. It seems a lifetime ago…. the High Line, NYC. I had a different life. Colleen was not yet back in my life. I was working in Saudi. Was I? It seems a lifetime ago. So much water under the bridge….well, trestle. We are all in different lanes now. Julia has a family. David is working…. Lisa is working, a new job? Happy? I am.
I am with Colleen. It has been a world of difference… in my life. Complaints? Zero.
Not too often
Speaking of… it is easy to fall out of touch. Eh, Kathy? Dave and Eric do not frequent our (Colleen and mine) lives too often these days. Distance. We are far apart enough that events have to be planned. When everyone was close geographically, we gathered on about every holiday.
No more. We see each other less than once a year. Bittersweet. I am spoiled. We saw each other so often once upon a time not so long ago.
Reunion
The second thing I/we did after we met again is head off to B&H photo. I got the spiffy new Nikon D610. I was overdue for an upgrade. Colleen settled for a MacAir.
We did the Indian Powwow and the West Indian Day parade. We saw my NYC for the last time. I was moving away – forever. It’s not so bad. One might say that I am in a better place. … a much better place. And, I would not disagree.
As they say, one door closes and another opens.
After a long hiatus we were reunited. It was a dream come true for Colleen. Hey! I never remember dreams. I hope I don’t wake up from this one… Hang on tight!
Madhouse
Chinese New Year – New York City. Venerable Chinatown is located in a warren of narrow winding streets. The parade will meander thru crowds held back by metal barriers. Claustrophobic! Indeed! Colorful! For sure! It’s a spectacle. No Macy’s sponsorship it is a local event. Out in the hinterland of Flushing Queens there is a similar parade along Union Street, a wide venue lacking the charm and character of downtown Chinatown.
When we met…
…again. It was back in 2014. Little did I know. I had gotten my first iPhone. Dave bought it for me. A month later I was in touch with Colleen. It wasn’t the iPhone. But it facilitated the meeting in New York City to come later that summer. It was a long time ago since third grade… Fate? Serendipity? Dumb luck? Who knows? Time has flown… again. I chanced on these images in the catalog this morning.
Biking – I still think I have this shirt. Ha ha. Colleen knew to bring biking clothes when she traveled? Book store – did I know? Every bookstore has a “stop in here” sign on it! We were in a courtship dance and did not know it at the time.
It makes you wistful that time had played out differently and that somehow this meeting took place a long time before this one actually did.
Pin me down
Need a date? 2003. Canon G3. It was my first foray into digital camera thanks to a gracious gift from Lisa. Smart – Lisa. She saw the future. I was still heavily invested in film and film cameras. Too soon Kodak faded and disappeared in the rear view mirror.
In the space of a month I shot Ginny and Pat, my dog Nellie, sights of NY, and at Jule’s track meet. Ask me how I pulled off the selfie? Tripod and timer? It wasn’t hand held. Cellphones were not yet iPhone for years to come.
Meanwhile I was caught up building a cabinet and drawers to house my slide collection. Twenty six drawers, enough to house the current collection and for many years to come – which would be only one more (year). I overbuilt! It was a fun project and the kids helped me enormously. The completed project holds some but not all. Alas, the collection never grew much more. Film was gone in a year for me. I got a lot of drawers that sit empty waiting for slides that never came. It’s bittersweet. Digital images have far surpassed my film consumption in many fewer years than it took to accumulate my collection of slides. Progress? Improvement? Better? Worse? For the most part I think progress is/has been good. Here, Colleen and I have had a fierce recent debate over the earth and the environment and the preservation of natural resources. Stay put or go back? We, just like time, are always moving forward. We discuss and we agree for the most part.
Curious
You just don’t stop suddenly. Suddenly, I stopped – taking slides, pictures with film. I transitioned over a period of about a year after receiving a Canon G3 digital camera from Lisa. The DSLR digital cameras were thousands of $, upwards of $5 to $10K! Too expensive! I was wealthy enough, sure. But….
And then, the Nikon D70 arrived just about, right about this time of day/month/year in 2004. It came as David’s graduation commenced. And, I never shot another slide afterwards, just like that! …I eventually threw away a lot of slide film from my freezer.
These were some of the last shots from my film camera. We lived in a nice house, apartment, in Manhattan. I was with Jules at one of her last track meets; she want over to rugby soon after. I was still documenting. I was curious as to the last shots I took with slide film.
I still have my film cameras. My lenses, too, are still functionally fit for my digital cameras. Nikon finally changed the F mount to the Z, but there is an adapter. While the rest of the world shoots iPhone, I happily shoot digital (camera). The cost of a digital image pro-rated over the cost of a 256gb memory card makes digital nearly free when compared to the cost and development of film! That works just fine for me.
H.B.
Time is slipping by too fast. The decades go and I don’t have many to go. Maybe, none? No complaint. I’ve had a good ride, a charmed life. There were tragedies. Many. There has been great joy. Sometimes, the fries are great, others, not so much. Overall, I can only add, a happy ending is the preferred ending. Yes, it’s my post and today is my day. Happy. Happy? Happy! Yup, yep, yes!
Do over… again
We have been on an extended road trip. I chased fall color and cover bridges. Colleen chased fiber. Fiber? As in wool and fleece from sheep. Sheep? Yes, there are a myriad of rare sheep with fleeces she covets. ?? Polworth? Teeswater? It’s an endangered breed in the US. TMI!! We made it to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Fair. It went on as scheduled despite Covid. Yes, we got big rain. There were prizes at the auction – another spinning wheel! Ha ha. (I/Colleen won one.) There was the fleece barn, Colleen’s candy store. Llama, pajama, an interloper! Yarn?! Tons. It was more knitter’s fair than weaver/spinner. There was a line (out the door!!!) to purchase this year’s (yarn) color. There was the one room school (revisited). We – Colleen and I – almost went to one. We did sit in this style school desk in elementary school. So, why not – recreate the image of where we met. Again. And, yes, it is my regret – I wish she’d have grabbed on and held me close those many years ago. What a difference fate could have dealt. Such a good time, too many pictures, wistful, and hoping for a do over – life.
Oops…
The modern expression, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, was first published in Henry G. Bohn’s A Hand-book of Proverbs in 1855. It appeared in a newspaper in 1831. (How do they know this stuff?)
I do not recall why we were in the “city.” We met Dave for lunch. Afterward we wandered the Highline. The stairway to nowhere was under construction then. Yes, I take food pictures. And even so, I cannot tell what it was we ate. Have I told you Colleen loves to eat out? More seriously, this stairway has been a place for people to commit suicide. ??? I don’t know either. We always referred to the 6th floor as LD50:
LD stands for “Lethal Dose“. LD50 is the amount of a material, given all at once, which causes the death of 50% (one half) of a group of test animals.
Most people will not survive a fall more than 6 stories. With all the bones you break, I’m not sure you would want to – survive. Of course, on this nice pleasant day – lunch with Dave, and, a pleasant stroll – who would have thunk this would be a death trap, closed at the moment (now), while engineers try to build in some more safety measures?
Time flies
Where were you at the millennium? Second, minute, hour, day, year, decade, century, millennium… what an auspicious change. We – me and the kids – were in Times Sq, the mother of the “ball drop.” Everyone grew up. We moved on. It’s been years since the ball drop was on my New Year’s Eve radar. I used to contact the kids at midnight to be sure they were alright on New Year’s. Teens and then adults, they were always out somewhere else celebrating. It’s all still good, just different. Different is good too. Nowadays, Apple message gives you fireworks. Change, it’s good.
After you move
Ha ha! You never see the sights until you move away. I lived in NYC for the better part of my adult life. I have/had never been to the main branch of the NYC Public Library – you know, the one with the lions outside the entrance. Colleen came to visit from WV and off to the library we went. It was absolutely the first time for me too. It was my first and only visit. Who would have thunk that would be the case?
Santacon
“This must be what it felt like watching the moon landing. It was a historic scientific achievement that you just know a bunch of idiot jabronis are going to say was faked.” — SETH MEYERS
“You know that 2020 has been weird because I’m looking at a person in a face mask getting injected and I’m thinking, ‘I cannot wait for that to be me.’” — JAMES CORDEN
“This is a relief. I would hate to start another week of shows without talking about the same election results we’ve all known for the last month and a half.” — JAMES CORDEN
“At this point, Joe Biden has won the election so many times, he’s our 46th through 51st president.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“This is also big news because this means after six agonizing weeks, the election is finally over. Stick a fork in the president; he’s done. Also, keep that fork handy because poking him in the butt might be the only way to get him out of the White House.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
SantaCon. I was there once. Look it up. It’s an enormous bar crawl. It sure is colorful. Halloween style costuming in December. It’s a guerilla event, a pop-up. Everyone knows but no one does. It’s quite the thing. I went once. Yeah, yeah, I (famously) don’t/can’t drink. I went for the pictures.
Lena
One and only. This is the one and only image. Once. We never spoke, I don’t even know how I knew her name. This lady sat in this doorway for years while we lived in NYC. She would always smile at my kids when we came out of our building. One day I snapped her picture. Finally! Her demeanor changed in an instant. It was clear she did not want her picture taken. She was a “character” in my neighborhood. The doorway? I do not know if it was a home or storefront. I never saw beyond the darkened entrance. One day she was gone. … but not forgotten.
2005
2005, February, Central Park, New York City, “Gates,” Jeanne Claude and Christos. Christos passed away recently. Jeanne Claude died in 2009 of a brain aneurysm, no less. Their signature art installation for me was “Gates.” My database and Lightroom catalog got me to the images in about five minutes. My memory got me to the only frames in which I caught the artists inspecting their work. My memory also recalls that I did not walk the park with Lisa. Strange. I persuaded Charlie to fly over Central Park in the helicopter. Alas, the (aerial) pictures were not memorable. Carol framed and hung a few of my “Gates” pics. I wonder if they are still hanging? No one else has tried such monumental works. Somewhere, I have a sample of the ‘Gates’ cloth. No, I will not find that anytime soon.
IMG_0771
I did a search on the hard drive for a picture. These images all carried the number “IMG_0771.” The image number(s) recycles. It is the nature of digital cameras. Fish in the Red Sea. Cat in Delaware.
I was surprised by the images that had the same number spanning many years. The image of Jules, around 2007, and Colleen 2014. Jules – Maine or Vermont. Colleen NYC.
I was blown away by the mask and the drawn face. It was a bit of shock. I have no recollection of that joke, date and place, unknown. And then, there’s a cerebellar tumor, Jeddah circa 2013? As I recall we successfully removed that tumor and it’s recurrence. IMG_0771, this image, has been an interesting historical journey touching significant things in my life.
published
… not really. I’m not professional, strictly amateur, as far as photography is concerned. I have sold an image or two. It was a mix of surprise and curiosity that I was contacted via my blog for use of an image. The request came via an unused link from an unused blog I had many years ago. I was suspicious of a scam. But, it turned out to be a legitimate request. The image in question was cropped from the original and used strictly in an internal memo. So, what the hell, they got it for free. Dumb, maybe. I got a credit for the use. Consider it a charitable donation. The image? It was the NYC Marathon Sunday crossing the Verrazano Bridge.
Airplane
It’s a shame no one really cares about flying. That is to say no one flies with nose pressed to the window looking at the scenery passing below. I do. And there must be others like me. We were fortunate enough that the flight path crossed over NYC. And the cloud cover was not too bad. Not good, but not bad. We flew over my old house. Yeah, it’s too diffused to make it out. But… hey! For reference, that blank space is midtown and Central Park.
Bridges
These new generation of bridges use a different looking suspension system. Some architect made it work and it is the only new type of bridge built that I see nowadays. I first saw one in Maine. It was so picturesque and impressive. Then there are a few when I drive north in Delaware. New York builds bridges and has been engaged in some major bridge projects. This created monumental traffic jams. The Kosciusko bridge jam is legendary. Before and during, there’s never been a time we passed that we didn’t sit in traffic. But I have digressed. These new style bridges, they are just the best photo ops!
Liberty
First time for me… We were in Liberty St Park attending a wedding. The venue was chosen for its view of lower Manhattan. There! The World Trade Center – aka – Freedom Tower. Funny, it never dawned on me till Ginny lamented the loss of the original twin towers in the picture, there’s no emotion in this image for me. It’s not the perspective I had when the towers fell on that fateful autumn day. Not the same. This view did not evoke an emotional response in me. I suppose over time the emotional impact of 9/11 will diminish. No, it was just a different point of view on this evening.
Parking
For decades I’ve hunted for parking in NYC. Now that I’m gone to Delaware, it’s a new ballgame. I’ve even paid for parking in a lot. But, I’m still lucky. I impressed my companions by finding a parking spot with hardly a struggle. That’s our car over our shoulder in the background (the little corner of a car by Dave’s left ear). You might laugh. This is not my first rodeo. We get a spot with relative ease – till we don’t. It’s worked for me in large cities – San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and so forth. In fact we had a fight in Washington when I tried to back up on a one way street to snag the spot I’d inadvertently passed. Nope, it didn’t work. I missed/lost the spot. I’m still alive and with my loved one intact and having forgiven me for the near heart attack of backing up in DC. Sometimes you pay in ways that supersede cash. Ummmm? I don’t remember the name of the restaurant we’re seated. It was a nice interlude for lunch. As with many places NewYork, we were close enough for me to pick off the plate of the girl next to us.
photobackstory 