Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
This Blog started in 2001 as a Trip Log to record a summer in Alaska. Since then, it has morphed into my online diary.
Not real sure why I don’t sell all my other lenses (except the plastic fish eye lens) and just use that killer lens.
Well: It is relatively heavy. And: Photographers buy gear.
Even an afternoon of “nothing” to photograph is good with my favorite glass.
Healthwise – I seem to be almost over what ever it was that was troubling me Saturday through Monday. I did start taking Claritin on Monday night – and by Tuesday AM, I was feeling better. Allergy?
When I say I need a vacation – I am reminded of President Lincoln’s famous quote about General McClellan’s horses.
I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?
During this evil election season – I wonder what it was like during the election of 1860. I should know what the election of 1860 was like – Carlton and I worked at Harpers Ferry Park for 3 or 4 summers/falls and one of the things that we talked about was the election of 1860. The election didn’t solve anything. That much I remember.
I figure it doesn’t matter what little skipper this critter is. As long as it knows what genus it is – that is all that matters.
It was rainy all day – so – today’s picture is one of yesterday’s leftovers.
Speaking of yesterday’s leftovers – I still feel cruddy. I think it is that sinus issue that has troubled me for decades. I am just glad that it stayed mostly away all the time that Carlton was sick – and last year when I was so overwhelmed by moving. All I did today was go to work. I gave myself the rest of the day off.
Is it a Carpenter Bee or a big ass Bumble Bee? Easy – if you can see your reflection – then it is a Carpenter Bee. BTW – Male Carpenter Bees cannot sting and they are the ones you usually see. (Bumble Bees can sting – repeatedly without injuring itself. But, they aren’t naturally aggressive.)
Still feeling a little subpar. I need a vacation. Saturday and Sunday isn’t hacking it!
Do you ever wonder what it is like to be dead? I sure hope that it is like dead. Like nothing at all. Like a really good really long nap. If existence really is a huge computer simulation – I hope I don’t have to start over at Level One, until I get it right. Which is sort of like Buddhist Wheel of Life. I was always cool with Buddhism, until I got down to the reincarnation part. Which is kind of like being cool with Catholicism until the transubstantiation part. Which, seems creepily like vampirism to me.
Damn where did that paragraph come from? My mind is a dangerous place. Don’t go there.
On a cheerier note, I found this lovely little rose in a neighboring garden box this afternoon.
Feeling a little sub-par today. Just old age, I suppose. Missing old Carlton a little bit too. So, I fired up some football broadcast or the other. Now it sounds like he is still in the building.
I looked back at Sept 17, 2014 – September 2014 was a good month. I am really glad that our last month was a good month. Carlton was feeling good and by Sept 17, I had finished filling out our application to Goodwin House. Realistically, I sort of fast tracked myself into the Asylum. It hasn’t been 2 years since we signed up. And, I moved in a year ago. Most people are on the waitlist for 4 or 5 years. As much as I wonder WTF am I doing here from time to time, I am glad that I got it done when I did.
Also, getting a queasy feeling about the outcome of the upcoming presidential election.
Maybe I need a drink?
Addendum: Forgot to mention. I actually cooked today. From real ingredients. A pot (very small pot) of veggie stew. Made from a butternut squash and some stuff that had been hanging out in my freezer since who knows when. It tasted pretty fine. Put 3 containers in the freezer for “later” and will have a bowl tomorrow or Monday after the flavors mingle. My small (and only pot) makes 4 modest bowls of soup, stew or oatmeal. Works for me. Do not miss all of my other pots and pans. I also have two cute red skillets – one small and one tiny for eggs and stirfries for one.
And, I had a nice cold Longboard. Did I mention that I ran up a $36 bill at the bar last month? This beer was from the Old Bat Cave private stock.
Everyone knows that I love taking pictures of insects. However, not so much when the insect is in my salad.
Last night I picked up a little salad from the asylum’s salad bar and took it back to the Old Bat Cave. I settled down in my chair and started happily munching away… when what did I find? A dead fly!
What to do? Should I indignantly take my salad with fly down to the bistro? And demand what? Another salad? Just make a scene? What would that prove? Maybe get me a new salad. Maybe get a refund. And besides – the salad was almost all gone. Just how many flies had I eaten?
Well, I decided to just pitch the fly and the associated lettuce leaf. And finish my dinner. Including the rest of the salad. What good would complaining about the fly do? It wasn’t intentional. Flies happen.
But, it was an opportunity to research that great old “Waiter! There’s a fly in my soup!” line. Apparently that joke goes back to the 1870’s in the US. Check it out->
“The best camera is the camera you have with you.” I was strolling home from work this afternoon and happened upon this marvelous butterfly. Shamu the Phone was the camera I had with me. And, I think Shamu did a fine job.
My GMAIL account is 10 years old and has some 10 year old emails. I am wondering, maybe I should just delete some of them? Or not? When was the last time someone asked “Remember that email I sent you in 2008?”
This is just wrong and maybe even illegal – herbal tea in a Harley Davidson mug.
At work, I am on this crazy quest to scan 5 stuffed file cabinets of data into the computer before I go to Hawai’i. I am a little over 3/5 of the way done. I seem to enjoy setting these impossible tasks for myself. And no amount of skill, dexterity, or cleverness will make the job go any faster. The limiting factor is the speed of the upload to our “cloud”. Wonder if it would be faster on the weekend? Wonder if I want to go to work on the weekend?
My favorite bus driver – who is my age – says he is going to turn in his notice on Friday and retire. He told me I should retire too. And then he started telling me about all the people who are younger than we are who have died. Yes, I know. On the other hand, if we make it through tomorrow – no one will have died here in two months. When you consider we are 500 old people – 2 months without a celestial change of address is remarkable.
I am still clinging desperately to my “pre-asylum” life. And having a reason to get up, get dressed, and get out of the asylum every morning is an important part of clinging to the before Goodwin House mentality.
Having fun with my “details” fotos. I should redo this one with more DOF.
Not having fun with the prospect of a Trump presidency. But, I also fear the reaction that the Trump supporters will have to a Hillary presidency. Either way, it will be a very unpleasant 4 years.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says that conservatives may have to turn to physical violence to protect their values.
I want us to be able to fight ideologically, mentally, spiritually, economically, so that we don’t have to do it physically. But that may, in fact, be the case.
Bevin went on to say that he believed the U.S. would survive a Hillary presidency, but it might require bloodshed.
This does not bode well. YOUNG PEOPLE – Put down your phones and take action. I am old. I have way more yesterdays than tomorrows. I can just die. Youth will not have that luxury. Youth will be forced to live through the aftermath/train wreck.
DARK. Very. DARK.
Today’s detail is my Mag(Not So)Safe. The replacement arrived today. Got 4 years out of the first one.
Wonderful Monday. Well as wonderful as Monday can be. Great weather. No problems at work. The MagSafe arrived before I caught the building on fire. Salmon, avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato, on a great bun for lunch at the asylum. Nice 50 boring minutes of lap swimming.
A friend who is downsizing gave me a heavy old monopod. I think I am going to like it. If I like it a lot – I’ll get a carbon fiber one.
It was early in the morning in Skagway Alaska. Carlton and the Park Superintendent were playing tennis. And, I was doing some side work for Devils Tower National Monument on the computer before heading off to my real job. I was the only seasonal person who had private internet. None of us had TV and there were only two radio stations. (The few people who lived in Skagway year round did satellite TV.) The school principal came by and told Carlton and Bruce what had happened. And, I was watching the Washington Post website where they had a traffic camera pointing at an apparent fire at the Pentagon. I thought that the Washington Post web site had been hacked. In due time, one of the saloons opened up so we could all watch CNN. But, Skagway was and is basically a playground for cruise ship passengers – so, we all suited up and showed up and the show went on.
Sort of a normal old lady Saturday. Still having over 90° days, It was 95 today. And that is really too hot for me to want to hang out outside.
This is a reflective time of year for me, coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my move to the Asylum, the 2nd anniversary of Carlton’s death, the 15 anniversary 911, and the 50th anniversary of my 1st marriage. (Or is it the 51st?) Not to mention the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.
All things considered, it has been a damn good run.