31 July 2013

Some success!

I wish I new the success to sales.  Not just of art, but any kind.  I mean I have studied this part of business since college and have taken part in it since high school.  Heck, maybe even before that if you include my telling my father how much more important it was to be in that ball game rather than mow the lawn.  Like my father, buyers can be stubborn so and so's.

  Of course the buyer is not always right.......but he has the right to be.

  And that is the way I have always treated my clients.  Didn't matter if it was an idea to buy a certain commodity or stock way back when Merrill Lynch was really Merrill.  Or a stock position to that psychiatrist who himself should have been on a couch himself.  Or the bank president who had too many tips at lunch and fell asleep in the middle of a presentation.  I still contend it was the booze and not my titillating sales presentation.

The text says to find a need, find a product to fill that need, deliver it in a timely manner, and follow up to make sure the customer is happy.  Do all that and most clients with be repeaters.  And those that don't, you don't want to here about anyway cause they can never be happy with anything anybody does anyway. 

Oh and somewhere in there is "make them so happy they don't care what you charge them".  Not so sure that works any more.

I have been fortunate this week to make two sales.  First a lighthouse and then a frog.  I think that is OK.  Not great, but OK!   I mean I have no direct contact with the customer and have to compete with 85,000 other artists on a daily basis.  If I could just find the trick that sold those two, I could bottle it and start a whole nother kind of business.

 But the only thing I can think of is hard work.  Now don't tell all those folks that are on govt. handouts because I don't need to compete with another fifty million or so.

But I have found that I am no longer a photographer and photo editor.  But a purveyor of gibberish on a blog, a photo manipulator, a judge of whats good and not so good, and I can finally throw out that picture I took 15 years ago that I thought was so good.  Just can't understand how I could have been so wrong for all those years about that photo.  Never did sell it but love it all the way into the waste basket.  Maybe thats maturity?

28 JULY 2013

Glimpses into the tunnels of my mind, or some other equally noxious title.  Like looking in the right and out the left.

Sunday morning and even the birds are quiet.  Temps dropped last night from the mid 90's to mid seventies and it is downright cool here ninety degrees south of the sun.  I guess it will warm up tho later.  This weekend we have a house guest and therefore have been getting out an about.  Began yesterday with a market thingy in town.  All kinds of vendors, artists street musicians and people just walking about, some buying some not.  It was good to go free style shooting again for a change.  Just picking up whatever image offered itself.  The pasta was good and we bought some and photographed some. Reminded me of a little restaurant we used to inhabit up in Rock Hall, Maryland called "Pasta Plus".   Amazing how one image seen and photographed can conjure up all sorts of other memories.

The music was of the street vendor type.  Guys and girls trying to get some exposure and make a buck of loose change.  Not great but not too bad with only one cup of Pike Place on board.

The obligatory trip to the Riverbanks Zoo took most of the middle part of the day.  And guess what....we had showers....again.  I am beginning to think that South Carolina is becoming the new Florida.  Beautiful all day, fifteen minute down pour in the afternoon followed by beautiful again.  I can't complain it is better than temps north of a hundred ten and humidity at 2,000 plus.

The zebras seemed to like it too.

And I got images of the first Great Horned Owl that I have every been close enough to for a photo.

Yes, it is a zoo shot.  If he had been in the wild there would not have been a shot.  Cause he would have been asleep somewhere hidden.  They are nocturnal and full sunlight is like our own alarm clock going off at 5:30 am telling us that work is our next event to enjoy!  In this case he is taken out of his dark secure case where he was asleep and now wondering why did they to that to me.  And who are all these crazy people looking at me?  Such is the life of a captive bird and tourist alike.

Have a great Sunday.  Give a nod to God cause he put you here and maybe even say thanks for putting ma feet on the floor.

27 JULY 2013

We all wonder what it will be like when the Father calls us to the other side or, perhaps in my case, drops me over the other side.  You hear stories of white lights and angels with soothing music playing.  Or perhaps soothing nothingness with regard to sound.  I have no idea and really not anxious to find out.  Maybe it will include all those scenes in our minds which we play out in the dark of night when nobody is around to question our sanity or a gentleness within some public macho shell.  A gentleness we all to often don't allow to be seen by the rest of the world.  Or our own loved ones for that matter.

For a kid that grew up with Bay sand and river mud between his toes, a dip net was required equipment along with the sheath knife on his belt.  In the fifties money was not particularly short unless you were a kid with parents who, had the money and thought that fifty cents a week was ample allowance for a 15 year old.  If you wanted more, well there were chores to do at home and in neighbor's yards.  I think I pulled enough weeds in flower gardens to clear another section of I-95.  So, if my friends and I (not local thugs but hustlers) wanted spending money the water was the fastest and most pleasant way to achieve such wealth.

We would hop in my 14 foot wooden runabout with the 15 horse outboard and off we would go exploring or exploiting the bay depending upon your attitude towards young boys in the first place.

East Neck Island, yeah you can google it, has a large flat or shallow section where the bay grasses grew.  The blue crabs loved those grassy sections and all a kid needed to do was walk around in knee deep water and dip them up when they tried to swim away from our approaching net.  We had a bushel basket in an old inner tube on a rope and that was our floating storage unit.

We could get five bucks a bushel (sure it was a rip off) from the fish house for each bushel we caught.  Mostly one!  At that time Maryland allowed retail establishments to have pin ball machines to entertain their customers.  Nickel machines that, when played correctly, ran up additional games when you won.  In addition said retail establishments were allowed to pay a nickel for any games won.  Well, within a week of a new machine showing up in say a restaurant (Hubbards for those in the know) we would have it all figured out and three to four hundred games would provide us with spending money for the week.  It took my parents three or four years to figure out where all the extra spending money was coming from.

Since the good Lord will probably not have a pinball machine waiting for me inside those Pearlie's, I kinda hope my vision when I get there will be a little like the photo attached herein.

26 JULY 2013

NEW FUN

Trying a few images that look similar to old movie posters.  These type of this sell on Fine Art America, so why not try it with a few of the lights.  This one of Barnegat was originally done in full color and can be bought that way if one so desires.

The two lights at Cape Henry also lend themselves to the same type of presentation.

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

25 JULY 2013

FAVORITES!

Back when I was doing upwards of 25 shows a year peddling my art, I was often asked which lighthouse is your favorite.  That's a hard question for me to answer and I guess my answer would depend upon what happened at each light when I was there photographing.  To me it's all about the experience.  And you can experience some of those structures by clicking on the links in the text.

I have been in Maine three times photographing these structures which are so much stitched into the fabric of our maritime history.  And of course Portland Head comes to mind first because of it's wide popularity and photo-ability.  Hey a new word!  It's probably the most photographed light in the country.  My Maine experiences always followed my New Hampshire fishing trip.  You have to go back a couple of years of blogs to find stories about that.

I have been and photographed 2/3 of the lights on the East Coast.  That's something like 230 plus destinations.  The most fun, I think, is in just finding each one in the first place.  Sounds strange but you can be only two city blocks away from one of these structures  and still not be able to see it.  Even though it can be seen at sea for up to sixteen miles.  My source of information about these lights is a very thick paperback book by Kenneth G. Kochel called "America's Atlantic Coast Lighthouses--A travelers Guide".  The book is 486 pages in length and it cover just about every light in the east.  The only problem is that when it says to turn left at the Exon station right next to the general store...They are both gone!  My copy was written in 1994 and time does have a habit of moving on.  But it's the search that's fun.

In Maine, you can go right down the list of favorites.  The fly fisherman on Nubble light in York comes to mind because I would loved to have been behind the fly rod as well as the camera.  Owls Head light outside of Rockland was another unique trip.  I photographed that one both from the water and land.  Bass Harbor Head is tough to photograph from any angle other than the one every gets because of it's location on the rocks.  Pemaquid light for it's reflection pool and some of the island lights like Brown's Head.  When visiting Brown's Head I mentioned to one of the locals about how hard it was to find because they had no street signs in town.  Answer...."Don't need them, we all know where we are!"  Sigh!  Maybe Curtis Island but because it is the wonderful town of Camden, parts of which remind me of the Village in NYC.  Marshall Point another favorite for no other reason that the location and front porch of the keeper's house.  So many photographs.  But more important.  So many memories.

24 JULY 2013

Creek's up....again!

This was Monday.  When we get high water, even the critters find it hard to make it.  This heron is simply looking for shallow water where he can see dinner swimming around.  Not so easy but at least he has dry land to rest.

Same spot 24 hours later.  Just a little different angle.  No rocks and no heron.  Just amazing what one down pour can do to this river.  I guess it's only about three or four feet higher, but it sure is sensitive to heavy rains and run off.

23 JULY 2013

Well, yesterday I walked the walk and today you have to listen to me talk the talk.  

We have had, like everyone on the east coast, some more rain.  Actually Sunday night we had about two inches in maybe ten minutes.  Well, not that bad but I will bet we did have two inches.  We had to go across town and got caught in it.  So we had a good chance to witness the real stupidity of man.  There is a reason not to drive in that puddle bud!  You may not come out the other end.  In the middle of Columbia we saw this happen.  Redneck water slides.  Come down the hill as fast as you can, hit the water and wheeeeeeee-ho.  Watch the water fly.  At least until your car stops in the middle of it and you then have to walk out.  Moron!

So yesterday I was out on the Riverwalk.  

These are the bathrooms, the new roof and the new tree through the new roof.  They have from left to right ladies rooms and men's room.  In the middle is something called "Other".  God only knows what that is and he ain't talking.  The tree is a medium aged oak what had too much water around it's roots and simply toppled over.  After seeing this, I had no idea what was in store for me on the walk itself.

At just about it's highest here, but yesterday it was down considerable.  We'll see what happens today.  You can see the picnic table on the left quadrant.  Here it was on Monday.

So in about three days the water had receded that much.  Probably 15 feet lower.  All the water has brought with it some serious erosion as the color of the water suggests...it's muddy and that mud had to come from somewhere.

Two weeks ago the construction guys were standing to the right of that fence, which is new, and now it's gone.  Bad spot there with not a lot of vegetation to hold the bank in place.

We'll see what it looks like today.

Big time news from FAA.  They bought something called Pixels.com and will now be able to put our photos on things like iPhone cases.  And more down the road.  Click here to get to my page, select a photo to see the iphone stuff.  More to come!

http://pixels.com/profiles/skip-willits.html

21 JULY 2013

OCEANS

Never having been on the Pacific, I guess that my experience with the above topic is like a one legged man running a 100 yard dash!  As I get older I question whether I ever HAVE to see it.  I mean it's big, blue, wet and some day might end up in Arizona!

  But the Atlantic, now there's an ocean for ya!  It's big, blue, wet and here recently tried to end up in Trenton, New Jersey.  During Sandy, that is.  So, probably not all that different but the whack-a-doodles that live in California would dispute that.  Don't get me wrong, we have our share of wackoes (or is that spelled whackos?) here.   There is nothing to them like the Pacific.  Me, I'll take the one to my right when I am looking at my beloved New Hampshire from here in the south where everybody goes to retire. 

I saw a thing on line the other day about how the south is so great because nobody goes north to retire.  I think I would, but maybe only for Sept. and Oct. and then off to sunnier climes.  The old blood can't take temperatures much below sixty degrees for too long any more.  Always made fun (bless her) of my mother for having the heat on and a sweater in August.  For all you young critters out there, you have that to look forward to.

Even from atop a lighthouse, the Atlantic can look pretty awesome.  This storm off shore of the Hereford Inlet in New Jersey.

Seems the old Atlantic gets pretty clear, clean and blue the farther you go away from the middle of the coast where all the people live.  Says something about the way we live, but this shot is about as far north as you can get in the good old US of A.  Not far from the Canadian border the water is clear and cold at the West Quoddy lighthouse on Maine's rocky coast.

She can get pretty nasty too.  This fisherman on North Carolina's Outer Banks at Cape Point on Hatteras.  And yes those waves are like that pretty much most of the time as two major currents meet at the point creating the cone like waves crashing on an ever changing beach.

Now that's more like it.  A calm day with a great sky slow, low rolling surf.  A sure of fine sand held together with palms and pines.  Water in the 80's eight months out of the year.  This is South Carolina's Hunting Island beach and state park.  A little known (by northern standards) beautiful park that does not get over used other than during July and August.

And watching another day begin.  Thank you Lord for putting my feet on the floor for another day!  Watching the sun come up in Florida's Hammock beach.  

Yeah, I'll take the Atlantic.  It provides good places to go.  Good food to eat.  Good fun to be had with friends and family.  And I don't have to get on an airplane to enjoy it.  Bless ya all and have another day to enjoy!

19 July 2013

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I just saw somebody on facebook say that,  and my immediate reaction was "It's Friday"?  What ever happened to June?

It seems to me that when one has a commute to work each day to his/her place of business, it is much easier to keep track of time.  My commute is longer depending whether I am coming to work from the kitchen or the bedroom.  If the dogs haven't been fed then traffic can be bad, but normally it's not too tough.
  You real commuters have the advantage of your black berries, blue berries, newspapers, strawberry's, train schedules, radios, subway schedules and all that just to move you to that point were you can tell your co-workers...."Hey thank God it's Friday".  I remember those days, I really do!

They used to call it "The rat race".  That is going to work.  Working at work.  Doing deals.  Getting back home. I wondered where that term came from.  Wikipedia, that place for truth or as close as they can get it to, tells me there was a movie of that name sometime in the sixties.  They also say the definition of the term is;

A rat race 
is an endless, self-defeating pursuit.

I guess the guy on the ground at the back of the pack would agree with that.  But the last horse in the race is actually free! Free I say, and it's only Friday.  Of course, he's really not free.  Somebody will catch up with him and put him in his nice safe stall.  But for the moment he's free.  Except for that thing that's dangling from his back and scaring the bejesus out of him.  If you could see his eyes you'd see the fright.  Maybe we have stuff from the week that is still back there scaring the bejesus out of us too and it's not TGIF after all.  Huuum? Nah, it's Friday Jack!  Have a great week end!

18 JULY 2013

I REMEMBER

Standing in the "Platinum" surf with the waves lapping around my feet sinking deeper in the sand with each advancing and retreating wave.

Early mornings after the first snow or ice storm of the season and waking to a completely different world from  that which I left the night before.  A clean and pristine other world.

The awe and even fear of an afternoon summer storm booming across farmland.

An evening sunset on a River of Fire! Or an October evening across a farm pond.

I don't often go out in public, but when I do.....I stay safe my friends!

Have a great day!

17 JULY 2013

One of the delights of living on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake was for me to be able to get in the car and visit just about anywhere within a couple hours.  I was kinda centrally located and could get to Havre de Grace in an hour and a half.  Have de Grace is a bustling little city at the head of the bay on the Susquehanna River.  For me their claim to fame is the Concord Point Lighthouse which I visited many times.  I even showed my work there one year for the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

I am using the high lights here as links to other images which will help you understand my verbosity  as I wander through the small places in my brain.  Please click on them and enjoy.

A few states hold a challenge each year and they are generally very successful.  Entailed is the opening of a number of the lights in each state over a weekend and one has to get to each one in order to win some sort of accolades in the form of stickers, pins and other things that said you had made it.  I have attended the New Jersey one for many years, showing at the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse where I will be again in October.  It's a fun weekend and if your state hold one give it a whirl.

Instead of travelling north to the head of the bay, I could have gone south as far as the eastern shore of Virginia or even Assateague Island in both Maryland and Virginia.  I guess the shore in Virginia has finally been "Found", but it is still a long haul from any large city.  I suppose the closest are Norfolk and Virginia Beach which lie across the Bay Bridge Tunnel on the western shore of the bay.

Some of the towns in southern Maryland include Deal Island, Tilghman Island, Easton, and of course Smith Island.  Deal is a small flat piece of land with few inhabitants who mostly fish the bay or farm the land.

This is not a horribly old picture of the docks on Deal, but I have processed it in such a way as to look archival and old.  In fact the Skipjack was probably built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. 

Because I spent a large part of my life on the bay, Deal Island is to me what the Bay used to be.  A watermen's territory until the 1970's when the sailors took over and the fishing declined.  The number of watermen have been declining since that first settler in Jamestown learned to harvest oysters from the Indians.

Hence, you will find a growing gallery on "The Galleries" page devoted to the Watermen and the Bay.  I lived either in Rock Hall or Chestertown, Maryland for over fifty years off and on and frankly consider that area as one of my home towns.  Two other areas of the country where I have a home town are Westfield, NJ where I went to high school and to a lesser extent the lakes region of New Hampshire.  I put all that here just so the NSA doesn't have to spend my tax dollars to research all that.  And they might not discover all that in my phone conversations.

Much more to come my friends, stay free!

16 JULY 2013

Thank you Lord, the sun's up.  You still going to rain on us today?  Let's hope so, the jungle still needs watering.

I am not sure I need to go into the back yard, I mean there are vines ready to attack whenever I stick my head out the side door and who knows what's back there.  All this, of course, tongue in cheek.  And I guess I should be happy because we don't have to use city water and the temperatures have not yet hit the century mark.  But that's coming too!

My high school class has some sort of reunion in September and it looks like I will be making the trip up to the wilds of New Jersey.  Used to be they were every ten years, but this is the 55th.  Every five years cause people are dying off and may not make it for ten.  Not buying green bananas either.

 Means I will have to pack all kinds of things and take my own grits and a car full of "Bless her hearts"!

  Sure do hope that the guards on the Mason Dixon line remember me.  Hate to have to shoot my way through, but then again it is Rte 95 and they let all sorts of indigents on that road.  Sorta like the bar scene in Start Wars, I mean do you ever look at the other peoples driving on that highway.  I call it the Blue Hair Highway.  Mostly blue hairs making their way to and from Canada and Florida. 

 Then I go back to NJ in Oct. for the Lighthouse Challenge in North Wildwood.  At least that will be a money maker!

The work continues on the sea shell project and the scanning/editing of new entries for "The Galleries".  Be sure to take a look and let me know what you thing of some of the new art.

  One of the neat things about working will the old files is that I get a chance to relive all the things I saw when I made the images.  The "Platinum Heron" was found on Assateague Island one evening along the walking loop.  Actually I guess it is walking and cycling loop.  Then at four or five pm they open it to cars.  During the day however, it is a great place to bike (bicycle that is) and to photograph.

  It's quiet during the day and you don't have to constantly look over your shoulder for cars intent on getting around the loop in record time.  That's a pet peeve of mine.  People go in their cars on these nature drives through wonderful scenery and just like any other road they come right up on your bumper.  Trying to make you go faster.  I mean you're there to see stuff and it ain't Nascar pal!  So Back off!  Oh well when they make me Emperor, I'll settle all that.

It's just like some spots on the River Walk!  You're go there to walk, run and/or cycle.  So why when the concrete walk makes a sweeping turn do you cut across the the corner and grind a trail through the grass, thus cutting off the corner.  Why?  Your there for exercise moron.  Why try to take a short cut. There ain't not shortcuts to physical or mental fitness Bud?  Well maybe there is to physical fitness.  Don't mess with the natural scheme of things.  And don't foul my playground!

July 15 2013

The rain jokes are getting pretty bad around here!  We're six inches above normal precip for the time of year and I have gotten to the point where I just walk out in it and think nothing of getting wet.  I did check the River Walk at the West Columbia location and it's still under control there but closed in our part of the walk.

This from West Columbia Saturday evening.

So Sunday was spent basically indoors.  Well, if you can call working in a garage with the door open working indoors.  It's actually kinda nice to watch the rain while staying dry and enjoying all the sounds, sights and smells of nature dumping on you.  

I have a collection of sea shells that my parents collected some fifty to sixty years ago and thought that perhaps now with all my vast knowledge of table top photography...well why not.  Actually, I have no vast table top experience.  But with digital, I now can take hundreds of photos economically and throw out thousands until I get something that looks semi-right!  I took over 600 pictures and as usual there are about three that look decent.  You will be seeing these things on the website soon.  The scanning of the library continues and there will be some three to four thousand images to be edited and listed.  In the mean time I need encouragement from the public that I am on the right track.  Yup, the only meaningful vote is a sale.  So get with the program.  You must have some poor unsuspecting Aunt, Uncle, daughter, son or parent to buy a picture for.  And I have just the right place to go.  And remember I am partial to prints done on metal.  They are much better than you could hope for.  Chow!

July 12 2013

DID-JA-EVER

I know it's Friday and TGIF and all that stuff, but ever have one of those mornings when you just can't get started.  Even with two cups of Pike Place Roast and the clouds of "What should I do next" won't clear.  Maybe a couple of tablespoons of grounds with get me off the dime.  

I have a lot to do.  It's right there on my list of "Things to do"!  Some folks make a list the night before and then the day is all scheduled out and they don't have this quandary.  But do they stick with the plan or is it just an anal retentive thing with them.  Whose to know.  Me, I make a list every three months and then each day and a half look wistfully at it and wonder "What was I thinking?"

I need a drill sergeant to give me a good figurative kick in the pajamas to get it going!

JULY 11 2013

I really have to stop ranting on Face Book.  Drawing way to much attention to my NSA account.  Not to mention my IRS account.  ABXYZ squared account.  And a whole bunch more govt. abbreviations.  I think I want to move to colonial Williamsburg.  No, not the way it is today but back in the day.  You know before they starting calling it Political Science in college and giving it three points towards your graduation.

Speaking of something other than myself that's old.  I have started to play with my photo manipulation gremlins again.  These are the guys and girls living under the bridges along the river walk.  Genius is not a fair description of these trolls!

The original photo was taken years ago in a place in time called----Way back!  The general store in a little town called Oldwick, New Jersey.  Just down the street from the Tewksbury Hotel where they served the greatest greasy cheeseburgers you could imagine.  I remember those burgers after a cold morning for hunting with my lifelong friend, dentist and bon vivant.  God they were good.

This is the light room atop the Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City, NJ.

The shoals of Absecon and Brigantine had to be marked by a light of some sort in the early 1800’s when Atlantic City was but a small ocean side village.  The Lighthouse was first authorized in 1837 but not built and lit until 1857.  Built by the active Lt. George G. Meade of civil war fame, the tower was erected on a stone foundation, which rested on a wooden platform.  The structure rose 150 feet and was fitted with a first order Fresnel lens as was befitting a coast line light house.

Shipwrecks had been many along that coast on the aforementioned shoals, but after it’s construction the incidents of wrecks in the first months became nil.  In 1872 the tower was white with a red band around the middle but in the latter part of that century, the light was painted orange with a black middle band.  Until 1998 tower was white and red. It has been since painted a light yellow with a black band.  The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1932 and was turned over to the state.  It is now the centerpiece of a town park.

7 10 13

THE FLOOD'S BEN CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF WATER

Because of the pressures of work and maintaining life, I walked only briefly yesterday.  I decided to go upstream to the West Columbia section of the RW, just to see.  Not bad and I have seen the water levels much higher.....so bring it on Chantal.  For those of you that get your world news from MTV and Jimmy Kimmel....Chantal is the tropical storm making it's way toward Florida and points north.

As you can see this entrance to the walk is a little more urban and does attract the "With it", plug and play, "I" crowd group more than does the Cayce entrance.  A little further upstream is another more rural entrance to the walk.

This is the Gervais Street Bridge between Columbia on the left and West Columbia on the right.  I have seen the river over the boardwalk at this point, so this is not what it looked like it could be.  And who knows what Chantal, the tropical depression that is, and not an aging rock group (Chantals from the fifties), is going to do.  Just about every artist in the area uses this bridge as a subject of a photograph, painting or sculpture.  So I guess I have to join in.  Although some of my other attempts seem better to me.  The angle here is just a bit different.  And remember to click on the highlighted words for a brief but crass commercial moment.  And while I am at it, why not friend the blog and pass it on to your friends.  Every bit of advertising helps greatly.  OH, and I will get worse.  Have a blessed day!

JULY 8, 2013

WELL THE CREEK'S UP MA!

I went down to the river yesterday about mid morning and saw that the water we have had in the past  week (s) had done it's thing.  

The walk is about nine blocks below us, with a nice parking lot, restrooms and a pavilion.  The trail is a connector from the parking area to the walk which runs parallel to the river.  This is part of the connector which is raised boardwalk as you can see from the photo.  I was there an hour and by the time I left that area at the end of the photo was under water.  It's not official, but I think that the river is up 25-30 feet in just the past five days.

Under normal conditions the river bank is out there at that tree on the left of the photo.  This is big water but can be waded at certain points during the dryer summer months.  We are scheduled for afternoon thunderstorms for the rest of the week and then there is that tropical storm/hurricane/whatever scheduled to be around next week.  If the water gets too high, they will close the walk and I will have to find some other vantage to photograph.  But we'll just wait and see.

The good thing about all this, from a photography point of view, is that the whole area is now new!  And that offers all sorts of photo ops not normally apparent.  

This is a tiny turtle living in the land of behemoths!  He/she was only a couple of inches long and had found a protected log tip not normally under water.  Made a nice image as opposed to those measuring over a foot to a foot and a half.  If you double click on the images they can become clearer. 

I have no idea what kind of water bug these are.  If you can zoom in on them, they could be mosquitoes are just the water bugs you see on the surface of most ponds.  Would make a heck of a jig saw puzzle!  Yeah, I know!  I'll try to get back down there today and report back.  Good day all!

JULY 8, 2013

STROLLING THROUGH THE SITES

I did walk the new section of the River Walk last week.  It is a nice section and mostly wooded with occasional glimpses of the river.  But we have had so much rain in the past few days that getting out and about is rather dicey without ones own personal bubble.  With all the rain the river is up of course, but because the Congaree River is the product of the merging of the Saluda and Broad Rivers, an interesting phenom can be seen.

The two different colors show the nature of the two rivers merging.  One more muddy than the other.    

I have seen this take place rarely on the Chesapeake after major storms, but this is rather common on this river

The rain can also play little tricks with the mind.  These two ghosts are out walking the walk but not talking the talk.  Actually the dampness of the boardwalk is evaporating in that area where the sun's rays are most intense.  Hence, the ghosts.

Or.....Maybe there really are?

One of the critters we see on the water are the turtles.  Because they are cold blooded critters, they have to haul out to take to the sun and thus warming up their blood so they can move comfortably.  They have been a bit cold in the last few days even though we have been in the 80's and 90's.

Just a reminder, you can click on the photos and get an enlarged version.  I did not walk most of the holiday weekend because of the presence of the weekend warriors.  So, I will be out  there today hobbling along with my stick and camera.  Conjuring up more pearls to share with you.  

A new Gallery has surfaced on the website, and if you have an interest please go and spend some time (money).  As the more astute of you know, I spent about 59 years of my life on or about the Chesapeake Bay.  As a result of that and my interest in fishing, I have a large library of "Watermen" images that I will be sharing with you.  The descriptions for each photo comes from my experiences and are "as close to the truth as I can get".  My eternal thanks to my friend Pat Biddle late of Chestertown and currently of Easton, Maryland for that last pearl of wisdom....always told the truth or as close as he could get to it.  The entire web site is going to be expanded dramatically over the next few months and I hope you enjoy those additions.  Well, I see that it's 6:22 am so I had better get to work.  Hope you all have wonderful day defeating your challenges and creating your happiness.

July 6 2013

I will refrain from using the much maligned jokes about building the ark.  And "It's rained so much that".......one liners.  Probably all of my east coaster buddies have heard em all in the past couple of weeks.  It has rained a bunch down here and even the mushrooms in the front yard have mold growing on em.

I put in a bunch of hours yesterday culling old slides, scanning them, cleaning the images and making new files that you all will see in the weeks to come.  I don't know the actual count of photo, but it will take the rest of the year to get them all posted.  Probably four or five thousand.

The dogs, actually only Mcgee, wake me around seven each morning wanting to go out, eat and play.  Nice dogs and of course the two birds will also get into the act unless I cover their cage with blankets in an attempt to convince them that it is still dark outside and they really should be asleep because their flock leader (me evidently) will feed their sorry butts to a higher level in the food chain if they aren't quiet.  And on and on it goes!

I ran across one of my father's old slides in this culling process which reminded me of his early education of his only son.  He taught me, and my son, how to work.  One summer he arranged for me to join a travelling maintenance crew for the Borden Company's New York region.  In fact in High School and College I worked for them twice.  The afore mentioned crew and in College I worked as the sales rep for them in 1964 at the World's Fair on Long Island in New York.  I wrote my Master's Thesis on what effected milk sales at the fair.  Low and behold it was found that the higher the attendance the higher were the sales.  Duh!  Well there's a no brainer and I had to spend the entire summer to learn that.  Oh well it beat going to Nam!

The farmers are delivering their days milk in those cans you see on the belt going into the plant.  It was at this plant in Watertown, NY that I learned just what made that glass bottle of milk the guy delivered to the back door every other morning back at home.  And chocolate milk really doesn't come from brown cows.  I also learned how work all day long at physical labor just so I could go back to the boarding house and sleep, then do it all over again the next day.  Not much play that summer.  I would leave home on Sunday night, drive to the group foreman's house to meet the crew on Monday morning early and make the drive to upstate. Then back again on Friday night.  I might have been able to go out Saturday night....maybe.  I was sure glad to see school start again in September.

  God Bless him.  I miss him.  He was a good man!  And I should have listened more closely!

JULY 4, 2013

Well, happy Independence Day folks.  

For most of my life this day meant .... A day off!  But as I get older the real reasons for the holiday take hold of me,  but I discard the opportunity to rant.  When you think about it all, those rebels a long time ago took incredible risks just signing a piece of paper saying that we were in fact independent.

I read yesterday in an annual speech given by Rush Limbaugh's dad,  just what happened to those devoted signers of the declaration and what happened to them after the signing.  Simply and condensed...They lost everything from health to wealth.  Because after all they rebelled against a tyranny from across the pond.  We're lucky!  It's right here ... right now!

  I wonder today if there are those amongst us that would do the same.  Probably and sadly not.  Our leaders are more prone to manipulation and accumulation than those poor idealistic souls that made it possible for us to celebrate this day with all the wealth that we have.

  And yes we are wealthy and way fortunate,  at least by most standards.  And our fleeting freedoms have always been primary to that wealth.

  So Happy hot dog and hamburger day everyone.  Celebrate that potato salad and have your choice of mustard for that dog.  Want sauerkraut with that or maybe some chili and cheese. 

 Down here we pass around the "Sweet Tea" or break out the bud and we don't know anybody that lives in a mud hut! 

JULY 3 2013

IMPONDERABLES

I guess it's sorta like--- Why does the toast always land butter side down?  I do keep the kitchen clean floor clean enough for the five second rule to be reasonably acceptable....But why?  It just as easily could have gone the other way.

Or when you're in a hurry to get out the door for an appointment and the stupid dog has to go out? Didn't want to back when I asked him to go and now I'll be rushed waiting for the duty to be done.

Or when first thing in the morning before the Starbucks has even perked she says the dog pee-d somewhere and it's all your fault.  Just imponderable how that is!  I mean, I didn't hold and aim it for him!

Or my flat bed scanner has a place where I can ask for dust reduction!  Huh!  Dust reduction?  Some geek type with a pocket full of pencils and a slide rule hanging from his/her belt sat in a cubicle somewhere, sometime ago and figured out how to tell a scanner to eliminate dust from the work it was copying.  BTW if you youngsters don't know what a slide rule is, google it.  I never was able to master the thing.

Or when you are farming 2,000 acres that look as flat as a pool table...why in the world do you leave one tree right in the middle of the place untouched.

What was the reasoning all those hundred years ago when, before the slide rule even, the farmer decided to leave this beautiful old sycamore for eternity to see?  The base chocked with poison ivy and the limbs now bereft of life.  Did those original agriculturists have an eye for art.  Or was it the tree where the community hung that dirty, two timing skunk of a horse thief?  And it was left in glorious remembrance.  Maybe the farmers wife all those years ago used it to anchor the cloths line.  But then some witness to the existence of a house foundation should be apparent. 

Or maybe the horse died before they could get to removing it.  Who knows, but I for one am glad that farmers do leave an anchor point in a field or two just so we outlanders can ponder the imponderables.

7 2 13

The idiots are already putting off fireworks off in the neighborhood!  And it's not even noon and only the second!

Last Friday, our Mayor (Bless her heart) opened the new section of the Riverwalk and it was a nice ceremony.  A lot of politicians praising and thanking each other for doing a job they were expected to do in the first place when we elected them.  I still say the downfall of this country was when the colleges starting calling Politics, "Political Science".  But the Riverwalk is, in my humble opinion (when have you ever seen me be humble?), one of the best ways to spend taxpayer's dollars.  And I don't care what program did it, in the end we paid for it and other things like it.  It is an excellent form of recreation.

She is a pretty lady and doing a terrific job.  I am happy to call her my friend even if she has to bite her tongue when I rant to her about something that I can't explain and she can't understand.  But then again that falls into the category of old age on my part.  I've earned it and am going to execute it to the best of my vast ability.

I did not walk the walk on Friday.  Too many people and politicians skipping along and holding hands.  But, this morning I did make my appearance just to be able to say that the old guy with the camera and lethal walking stick has shown up after the big dance.  We had a nice calm rain all morning (let's see it's not over yet) and the only sound on the walk was that of big drops hitting leaves.  It was quiet and no people.  I mean I love my human counterparts, but let's face it for the most part you're just pains in the potatoes.  Let's see it has been open four days and all I could find was some guy's t-shirt (like to know that story) and an un-recycleable plastic bag.  

I took this at a slower shutter speed lust to accent the rain, so your glasses or monitor don't need adjusting.  But it is apparent that the place hasn't yet been FOUND!  None of the I-generation was present.  You know that group of I-phoniers, I-padders....... I, I, i, ME, me, me group!  So without the uninformed amongst us walking, jogging, talking, laughing at inappropriate times at the top of their lungs.....it was nice.  I could not even hear my moccasins padding along the wet walkway.  Animals are fun to stalk, people are to easy!

Saw no deer trails yet, but they are coming.  Did see two does as I was leaving.  They had this year's offspring(3) with them and were headed for the river through the woods.  Relatives of St. Louis were there but not in huge numbers.  St. Louis you say?  Go back a month and read the blogs to see who he is.  Happy to report that no snakes or other creepy crawlers made their presence known and that's probably a good thing.  

All in all, a good morning was had by all and that is what I wish you! 

July 1, 2013

July first .... Huh?  What happened to April?  Yes all my younger friends time does fly and as you get older it goes so fast that you can't even remember Saturday because it's Monday and you can't even remember why your in that room looking for something in the first place ... but what was it?

I have been asked by people far smarter than I .... Why is my grammar so bad and if it were not for spell check even I know it was spelt wrong.  Yep, I do proof read but when you have no idea in the first place what's wrong, how do you expect to be able to correct something that a retired English teacher catches?  I love retired English teachers, don't get me wrong.  I just feel they all should be on
Downton Abbey (?).  I do love phonetics to, don't you?  But proofreading, now that's an art!