The 13th day of the 9th month of the year of Emergernce

Fall is coming, the sunsets are becoming more like October and November than July and August.

Sixty six degrees this morning and crystal clear meaning the humidity is actually decent.  A nice day till it reaches ninety again.

The 12th day of the 9th month of the year of Emergence

Someone, before this day is out, is bound to ask me what I did on September 12 ten years ago.

Such a landmark day when everything in this country had changed.  As I recall, I did not physically do anything.  Mentally, well that may be another story.  One I am not so sure I know how to put to paper, or on the computer now that paper writing is relegated to but a few who really know what they are doing.  Today I try to arrange some thoughts regarding my own last ten years, how I view things through my meager words, and one of my photos.  My remembrance of the 12th ten years ago was that my world was stormy with a weird light.

I was working (part time)  at a menial job for a builder who was unable to trust anyone despite how hard they worked or how honest they were.  I was one of the first unpublished antique pickers, auction sellers, and buyers at a local auction which is a book all of it's own.  I was watching two wonderful kids build their families and was probably not as much a part of that as I should have been.  I was making pictures that would occasionally sell at art shows, fairs, to publishers and kidding myself that I was not retired and doing all of this for profit and not just for fun.  I never have been able to do things the easy way.

 I had just spent an entire day in front of the television watching a few blocks of a city come apart at the seams.  Wondering if any colleagues I knew had died.  Knowing some had.  I worked for 25 years within a block or two of that insane apocalypse.  What could I do two hundred miles away other than to grow angry at those who caused what now is called simply nine eleven? 

So I have learned to yell at the television news everyday.  Learned to distrust, more and more, the politicians that the people of my country elect and send to Washington every year.  They (the people)  keep doing the same thing,  getting the same results, but expecting more.  I have stocked up on dried food in case of emergency, boxes of ammunition, and cases of bottled water.  Most probably I will die of a stroke before I need any of that stuff. 

But life is good!

In reality, we live in a country that offers individuals every chance to succeed.  Well, if not succeed at least to live a decent life.  We get the chance to screw up our own lives all by ourselves without outside influence.  And some of us do a pretty good job of it.  We are not Europe or Asia.  We are the US and as such are the most blessed people on the planet. If only by birth.  We are part of a system that actually works.  The system needs to be tweaked a little bit every hundred years or so, but it is the best and most proven, productive system in the universe.  In the long run everything is going to be just fine.  I am only angry now that I am so dam old that I could not be part of a proactive defense of our system.  I am sure I would have made a great James Bond, but now am only an aging Winston Churchill.  Will someone please pass the cigars!

TEN YEARS LATER

To those who gave their ultimate and their families..........We love you and pray for you!

We will never forget!

To those who continue to serve and protect....We thank you!

And to those who continue to wish us harm.  It won't work....We got you, or if you persist will get you.

The 8th day of the 9th month of the year of Emergence

I am in the mood for some steamed Chesapeake Bay blued crabs.

Course I would want them steamed to a nice red color, in a big pile on brown paper so they could be picked with a knife.  And the mess just cleaned up by rolling up the trash in the paper.  Followed by a shower cause I make a mess with a mess of crabs.

The 7th of the 9th

Beach day for the Laborers!

We spent Monday, Labor Day, at Edisto Beach in South Carolina with about 150 of our newest and closest (?) friends of the moment. 

Of course it rained, but that's OK.

While this is not part of Hurricane Irene, that storm did leave piles of sea shells all over the beach.  Most of them were broken, but there were some serious "Shellers" there.  We spent a lot of time digging through that which was left against this groin which goes out into the ocean in an attempt at maintaining the sand on the beach.  One couple had a real operation going with shovels, screens, tables, and kept going rain or shine.  I didn't stop to ask why the elaborate setup, but remember seeing people like them on Sanibel Island in Florida years ago.  Serious collectors or commercial shell "Pickers".  Have no idea which.  Yes, we got rained upon and no Missy did not like the surf.  Her first outing in the ocean and she was not impressed.  As part border collie, she barked and talked to people who had the audacity to take their children into the surf.  Certainly an unsafe undertaking in her mind.  And what no proper parent should do.

She did get wet from the surf and also did not like the taste of the salt water.  Remember to double click for full screen. 

It was interesting to watch how people handled the rain.  Some had elaborate beach umbrellas.  Others like ourselves headed for the cars to wait out the heaviest of the rain.  Others hung out at the park offices (State Park).  And others just sat at their picnic tables and continued to eat soggy burgers and dogs.  All in all a pretty good day.  Love a rainy day at the beach, but then I've been called a masochist before.

The sixth day of the ninth month of the year of Emergence

Well, there is this problem with birds.  Particluarly those kept in captivity as pets.  And particularly our bird, "Deuce".  Because he's the second one, he gets that name.

But what about the third one?  Tripp? Tre? Tray? Trey? Three? Tres?  Thrip?

No of course not....."Hooty" because he looks like an owl and not a cockateal.  Go figure!

Duece had be sent into exile at the bird store because of his constant screaming, so he had a two week vacation.  Absolute bliss!  Well, like in all May to September relationships he found a friend....Hooty.  We got Deuce home and he seemed to be miserable, so back to the indideous bird store to get his friend and now we have two birds that frankly now can't stand one another. 

 Go figure!  It must be September...Duh!

The fifth day of the ninth month

Well, I have been delinquent.  MIA.  Writer's block.  Lazy.  Haven't written in a few days which has been duly noted by some of my more astute readers.

On Saturday past, day before yesterday, two days ago, we visited the local zoo for a feeding.  No not us, but the baby Toucans born July 16th.  These are the "Fruit Loop" birds.  They have bills almost as big as their bodies.

Of course when one photographs through screening a coupled of things happen, both of which make the photograph almost worthless.  But we keep doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different outcome.  Yeah, I know what that means.  Remember this is not my first attempt at being cute.  As you can see when compared to the adult bird, the "Little" guys do not have the coloration of the adult and therefore do not qualify for the cover of a cereal box.

Different screen, same outcome!  Mom  or Pop.  I don't know where to look on a toucan to tell the difference.

My labor day weekend on the blog is building and there will be more silliness to come tomorrow, but I leave you with an image of one of my favorite critters at the zoo.

Remember to double click on the image for full screen which actually does work a whole lot better on the elephant image because there is no screen.