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!