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Friday, August 21, 2009


Foto Friday: Morning View


Morning View, July 2009Morning View, July 2009


Here's the view on a morning where the mountains are free of cloud. This is somewhat rare.

I am expecting something like 11 rolls of film back in a few days, and there will be some non-View pictures in there. Soon I will be done unpacking (yes, still at it) and I can get out and take more exciting pictures. I used to go to the beach a couple times a week, at sunset, but I have not been out at all, anywhere, since moving. I have spent all of my free time unpacking. Almost done now.

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Friday, August 14, 2009


Foto Friday: Sedentary Sunset


I, like, had to lean forward in my chair to get this sunset. So exhausting.

Sunset from upcountry Maui, July, 2009Sunset from upcountry Maui, July, 2009


Tropical Whatsis Felicia turned out to be a big ball of nothin'. The wind did take a heavy toll on the avocados, but none were heaved through my windows, as I feared they'd be.

(This picture was taken weeks ago, and so has nothing to do with Felicia. I'm just giving you an update on the dreaded Great LaRouche Avocado Massacree, which was cancelled for lack of interest.)

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Friday, August 07, 2009


Foto Friday: Fat Fruit


Avocados, Maui, July 2009Avocados, Maui, July 2009


Today, fatty balls of nature's goodness. Tomorrow (well, Tuesday) deadly organic projectiles from HELL! We're expecting a tropical storm, and the avocados have me surrounded.

(On the other hand, if the power goes out and supplies can't get through and I run out of food, at least I'll be up to my ankles in guacamole!)

Long-time residents I've talked to are all extremely nonchalant about the oncoming doom. When Rita was bearing down on Houston in 2005, I couldn't look at the soap swirling down the bathtub drain without quivering. There's a hurricane in the tub! Flee! (This is true; you'll remember that Rita was three or four weeks after Katrina.)

By the way, I'm rather proud of this picture. I finally figured out what the focus ring was for. Hey, look! I can move this, and the avocados are in focus, but the background isn't! Neat! Most of my pictures are focused at infinity. I sometimes contemplate gluing the ring there.

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Sunday, August 02, 2009


Time Capsule


I'm supposed to be unpacking.

I am unpacking.

Specifically, I just unpacked a picture frame. My paternal grandfather made this frame out of walnut. It's a very fancy one, which swivels between two pillars. Now that I think of it, I can't imagine why you'd want it to do that, but that's how he made it.

It was wrapped in a small plastic garbage bag, then in newspaper -- a lot of newspaper -- then in a brown paper grocery bag, and hogtied with packing tape. So it was quite a struggle to free it.

When I got to the newspaper I was curious as to which paper it was. I don't remember seeing this frame recently. I didn't think it was out in Houston, nor did I take it to Australia. California, maybe.

Nope. It was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from August of 1993. That's 16 years. This newspaper is old enough to drive. It's been 16 years since this frame has seen the light of day.

(Which is over half the frame's lifetime. Grandpa carved the date in the bottom of the base: December 1979.)

What was going on in August of '93? The headline reads, "Free Trade Accord Gets Back on Track." Just reading that is putting me to sleep. I can't read it through the tape; something about NAFTA.

Most of the front page is local stuff. One juicy local story: "160 Shots Fired in 10-Minute Chase." 100 rounds for the cops; 60 for the perps. There's also a section on the Great Flood of '93. And then there's "Tiring Pope Urges Ministry to Young" (that would be the failing John Paul II, who finally "tired" twelve years later).

Oh, here's the TV section. What's on TV? Murder, She Wrote is on Sunday at 7pm. Murphy Brown, Monday at 8. Egad, Full House, Roseanne, Coach, Seinfeld. Plus, Nick at Nite was still worth watching. Remember that?

Real estate! Housing developments springing up like mushrooms! In the town where my brother lives, new houses going for $77K. Nice looking ones, too.

Big ol' ad section for Levitz Furniture. "Since 1910". Went belly-up last year.

Ah, the comics. Calvin and Hobbes, Outland, and The Far Side. *Sniff* 1993, it was a very good year...

The Outland is a eulogy for photography, now that that newfangled "digital computer imagery" stuff that all the teeners are into has come along. My AE-1 begs to differ.

This has been the news from August 14, 1993. Next up, a gripping report on the status of my laundry. At this rate, I'll have to get a Twitter account.