THE 31st DAY OF THE 8th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

EARL'S GOTTA DIE!

THE 26th DAY OF THE 8th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

A GREY DAY

Ever have one of those?  Sure you have.  Sky is grey.  Temperatures are about fifteen degrees below what they have been for the past few weeks. 

And everybody seems to be going through life in slow mo!
So why can't I?

I had one of those yesterday an, but ended up airing out the office and working on the "Puter" most of the day.

Really did get a great deal of computer clutter stuff cleaned up.

   Did reorganize some of the stores, so check them out.  You know the links on the right.  The stuff where I am supposed to get paid for stuff and so forth.

Today looks like the same grey out there as well----so!
Got to reorganize this desk.

Still seems like a like of work yet to do!

THEN IT DAWNED ON ME!

Is is "Clutter" or "Litter"?

Maybe I'll just put together a bunch of "Marshmallow Shooters" for my next show.

The 25th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

WHEN I THINK OF OUR COUNTRY

I THINK OF THIS!

UNFORTUNATELY, THE POLITICIANS ARE GIVING US THIS

THE 24th DAY OF THE 8th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

Nostalgia over a piece of seafood!

Weird huh?

Yup!  But we had dinner a night or two ago at on of the "Seafood" chains that always seem to serve day old fish a day late and a dollar short.  You know, crab legs which were harvested  in the "Previous" year of that "Catchy" television show which has become so popular.

I have lived on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay off and on for fifty some years ------ I know Seafood-------and that twern't seafood!

Tough when you've grown up taking it for granted.  When you wanted it, you just waded into the water or jumped into the boat and fetched it up.

Crabbing on the Chesapeake is major industry...or used to be.  The water men leave port in the dark just to be back at the dock by mid afternoon to meet the buyers.  All fresh stuff.

 

But you put one of these things between the boat and the table and "Not so much!"

They have to get it to market somehow and if the vehicle has to stop for some added artwork, then the seafood suffers again.

Oh well, just sayin.

I 'm waiting for a return trip to the bay just to find some of the famous blue crabs.  In the mean time, I guess I'll just have to do with the photographs and salivate.

Bon Appetit!

THE 22ND DAY OF THE 8TH MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

WEB WORK!

OK, now I get to freak out a lot of people.

Whilst at the super market last night I made some observations.  Why is it that most of the people you see in those little electric carts are always obese and not handicapped in the usual sense of the word?  I bet their just glad to be in there collecting their standard four hundred pounds of groceries.  You know out of the house, away from the kids, on a vehicle into which they have to put no energy!

And then I overheard some younger woman complaining about how she had to work on Saturday night, when over 10% of her friends had no work at all.  I guess we just take for granted what we have, while lusting after that which we don't have.

Think about it!  What if you had to work this hard just to get a meal.  And do all that work in one night and get paid with a dead fly!

Told you I would freak you out!

  A pretty intrigued night's work.

  At least this guy doesn't have to worry about more government restrictions and taxes to reduce his ability to do his web work.

Sometimes being under the radar is better.  At least until some over paid, over protected, tunnel visioned bureaucrat comes by with a can of "Raid!"

"RAID!"

The 19th day in the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

THANKS TO THE BIG GUY!

Wednesday night the sky looked and acted like a waterfall.  Throw in some mega bomb bursts of thunder and some incredibely close lightning and thats where I was.

In a the new old car (called Goldy)  driving around from lightning bolt to lightning bolt calling our lost dog.  She was lost because she had no idea where she was nor did I. 

If I had lost her on my watch-----well it would have been bad!  Found her after a two hour downpour absolutely soaked to the skin and really tired.  So tired in fact that she had to make a trip to the vet Wednesday just to make sure everything was still in place.  All is ok with that....Thank you Lord!

Yesterday, the weather was totally serene.

Then I had a tooth pulled and the storm and dogs were back in my head for about 12 hours.

Sometimes, I think it is easier to do portraits than all the rest of this stuff. 

Oh Lord!

What am I saying?

The 19th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

SHE'S IN THE DOGHOUSE NOW!

Last night I spent two wonderful hours riding around in one of the most vicious lightning and rain storms I have seen in a while.  No time for photos as I was looking for Missy, one of our pets.  She had taken off after thunder!  It was raining cats.....no dogs to be found.

Here she is in better times!

This photo has actually published!

CHA-----CHING!

When I last saw her, last night, this was not the end I was looking at.  She has a habit of barking and chasing lightning and thunder.  Once her mind is set she's gone and dove out the front door in about a six inch space.  Headed west at about thirty mph.  Last I saw of her for two hours.  And in a metropolitan area.

Thanks to all the neighbors, the Cayce Neighborhood Association, the police, Animal Control, Aubrey, and Dave for all their efforts.  I found her, finally, soaked to the skin and almost totally exhausted from her jaunt.

She knew she was in the dog house when I got her home!

If the dog had been a "He" by the time I got him home, he would have been an "It"! 

But she's not even a "She". 

Just glad she's home!

And thanks to all who helped.

The 18th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

CAPE STORM

There was a point in my life where the family travelled with some very close friends to vacate on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We generally stayed in either Cisco or Hatteras village on or near the beach. 

This is the southern end of these barrier islands.  A little more rural than the northern end around Duck or Duck, Nags Head, or even Rodanthe.

 For those not fortunate enough to visit this place, all I can do is urge you to do so.  In the little town of Buxton, NC there lies the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the equally notorious stick of land called by the locals as "Cape Point".  Simply enough because it is the point of the elbow of the outer banks.

Cape Point is one of the two most famous surf fishing sites in the country.  Montauk is the other.

When one arrives on the banks, the first thing to do is to take half of the air out of the tires on the four wheel drive vehicle.  You know the vacation is over when the tires get pumped back up and there is no more off roading on the beach.  A sad time.

This storm shows the extent of the point with an approaching storm in the distance.  This place may not be one of the seven wonders of the world, but it comes in a close eight.

The 17th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia....I think I got that right

INSPIRATIONAL

Psalm 62:11

One thing God has spoken,

two things have I heard:

that you, O God, are strong.

The 16th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

WE GOT THROUGH LAST FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND

AND

A NEW DAY IS DAWNING

Sunrise at Assateague Island in Virginia

Sunrise at Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia

Let's go get um!

The 15th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

FRIGGATRISKAIDELKAPHOBIA

Yep, that's why I haven't written in two days.  First day because of the event and another just to make sure.

As some of you know, I'm old and just a little slow with things anymore and when some outside, out of my control, unforeseen force is in the air................I listen!

That day started out with simple things that my hands have done for years.  Almost automatic.  No real thought as to process, but going through the motion not realizing the day in time was taking away not only part of the process but allot of the outcome.  First thing I did was cut a finger with a box cutter.

OK, not a big deal.  Clean cut!  Let it bleed out a bit.  A touch of neo-sporin, and a band aid or two.

Then things began dropping to the floor............obviously just so I would have to bend a 70 year old back to pick them up.  I mean you don't drop things on purpose.

And of course every time I would walk into a room, I would forget what I was doing in there.  Even the dogs were watching me with uncomprehending concern.  The bird just sat there as squawked everytime I passed.  After all, he has a brain the size of an overcooked pee! Sometimes I think that might not be a bad thing-----At least somebody takes care of his every need (Most of the time).  Well, we haven't given him a playmate and that might be a little stressful......or not!

Finally, on one of my trips to get something or other from another room......the guy on Fox News said with a huge, unusually bright toothed grin, "after all folks it is Friday the 13th".  Those people on TV......They're hair never moves.  Ever notice that.  And does their make-up go below their necklines?

And what happens to their skin after fourty years of that goo they put on?

  Hey this is important stuff here!

I have now gone through the next two years of calendar and marked each of those nasty days.  That was a precarious couple of hours and I even put big black circles around April 15th.  Now I know I have to do something on those days too.

And

 have since been tucked away in my cave until this thing passes over. 

That is the inside of a real cave taken some years ago in Barbados.

As it is now Sunday and soon we with be into Monday, I think that I can start being productive again without fear.

THE 12TH DAY OF THE 8TH MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

HELLO FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SUN!

Going to be over a hundred today, so it feels as tho we are standing at the screen door to hell!

And scared somebody's going to open it.

Hot tar on the roads is soft to the touch and I can remember when we walked on the roads in bare feet and had to jump and run to get to the grass cause is was so cooler there.

And the grass felt like you were dancing on crunchy little spikes. 

Sometimes we had to wash our feet with a gasoline soaked rag to remove the tar.

(Old farmers trick)

Same way with the beaches, but fortunately our mothers were smarter and told us to wear our sneakers on the sand.

  Hated that sand in my shoes.

They don't call them sneakers anymore do they?

  Nor can you buy them in the supermarkets the way we used to. 

 They were cheaper there too.

 

And tar stuck to your bicycle wheels and made little squishy noises when you rode over it.

And when you looked down a long flat road or accross the field you could just see the heat shimmering on the land.

It's Summer Algore!

Just a couple of images to help with the momentary memory of cool.

The shade of a palm just before a cooling dip. (Barbados)

While it doesn't lower body temperatures, the mind perceives that it's cooler on the water.

(St. Michaels, MD)

Then there is the spot where the rubber really hits the road. 

 A hot offshore wind takes on the relentless march of tide and waves.  Combing the tops off the waves and just looking cooler.

(Outerbanks, NC)

The 11th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

TOO MUCH HOPE AND CHANGE FOR ONE NIGHT!

Six cheap wine glasses.  $37.50

Cheapest red wine you can buy.   $4.00 a bottle!

Cleaning up the studio afterward.  A mess!

My son's enjoyment at pulling the trigger on the BB gun and destroying the glasses.

Priceless!

The 10th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

BRRRRRRRrrrrrrr!

Right, that was what we were doing in January.......member?  Now all I hear about on the Weather Channell is how hot it is.  Yep, it's August.

So just to give you all some hope....you'll have to wait till winter to get the change....I include an image or two I made some years ago in Maryland.

This is the Utica Bridge in Maryland, one of the five or six covered bridges still in the state.

BTW--How's that hope and change working out for ya?  Good, I'll Betchya!

Cool ya off?

Here's another.

This is a little place in time called Rock Hall Harbor.  Dead of winter, harbor is frozen and these guys are breaking through the ice to go out on the bay to fish for clams.  They'll spend about 8 hours out there with their hands sorting clams dredged up from the bottom...............Freezing!  God bless em, they work hard.

Time to get another ice tea and yell at the Weather Channel!

THE 9TH DAY OF THE EIGHTH MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

DID JYA EVER WONDER?

Why a dragon fly is attracted to a car antena?  If it's reproductive, it would probably hurt!

Does a Crape Myrtle actually feel the rain?  Or does it just go "Slurp Slurp"?

What was it like to actually live on one of these things?

The Fifth Day of the Eighth Month

SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE

Simplicity is the essence of appreciation in the mind's eye!

Water, early morning, a little fog, and an old rowboat. 

Actually it is known as a Bateau to the Watermen of the Chesapeake.  It's a working platform for those who make their living out on the water, or used to.  It is a center of fun and enjoyment to a vacationer who rents one to go out and catch Callinectes Sapidus.  Thats greek for those of you who went to the government run schools and means beautiful swimmer, ---- sapidus is latin meaning savory. 

I'm not so smart.  Just go to Wikipedia and look up Blue Crab.

  More have been caught out of a boat like this than you can imagine.  Might even be more than the national debt..........Nah!

  What was I thinking.

I could just sit at that spot for hours and enjoy the scene.

 Actually I can because I have the photo.........You have to buy it to do that!

The fourth day of the eighth month of the year of the Camellia

JUST LISTED ON EBAY

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200504844349

THIS TOO!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200504844349

THE THIRD DAY OF THE 8th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

A NEW SECTION CALLED "SKY SCENICS"

I am expanding my stock photo page, http://skipw.snapixel.com/, my retail stores (links at the right), and modifying the website, http://www.skipwillitsfineartphotography.ifp3.com/, in the next few weeks. 

Going for a meaner and leaner look.

Amongst the new sections which have yet to be included on most of the pages, but will be coming, are the "Sky Scenics".  Here you will find images where the clouds or sky is the driving force in the photo.  I have always been intrigued by Mother Nature's ultimate lawn sprinkler and here you will find some of her work.

When you see some of the images you will begin to get the idea of the meaning of the section name.  Here are just a couple of the new images going up.

The first day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia--Can't believe it's August

NATURE'S PAINTBRUSH

Now that everyone is shooting digital cameras and manipulating photographs with Photo Shop and similar software, it is refreshing to look at some images which need none of that stuff.

Simply a little re-aligning to get the horizon straight, a tool to clean up the density, color, and contrast which adjusts for human error on the camera work side.................and let nature take over.  The following images have been left to reflect just what I saw.  Kinda refreshing!

This is the only image not made on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  A storm approaches Edisto Beach.  Two of my favorite photographic situations.....beach and storm!

This is the Farmer's Paintbrush in Kent County Maryland.  You can almost see a flock of geese coming back to the fields to feed at night.  Just over the top of the silo!

I always love the way the light can play through a wooded area.  You'd almost think that this spot was just outside Hogworts and not northern Maryland.  But maybe that's where Hogworts is-----ummmmm?

Of course everyone loves a sunset!  Or is it sunrise?  I'll never tell, but it is in Kent County, Maryland on Chesapeake's Eastern Shore.  Just a tree line and Mom.  Nature that is!