New River Gorge

Rt. 119 crossing the New River Gorge, in central WV. Very cool “stuff”, despite bad the rain. Formerly the longest steel-arch bridge in the world. Now second to the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, by 105 feet.... I'll vote for NWG as a better setting, though!

Round Round Get Around, I Get Around (Pt. 2)

More pictures from the archives, around this great country of ours: . From near Tampa / St. Petersburg, FLA:

North to Alaska, to Mendenhall Glacier, just outside of Juneau:

Back across the country to downtown Atlanta, and The Varsity:

More to come, on occasion.

charmer shoo

Last fall (through spring) we had to do some significant work in our backyard, including re-pouring a 20x20’ patio… Whatever, huh? A couple of weeks ago, we repainted the bedroom of one of my daughters. Again, whatever. BUT, in cleaning up, I took the (essentially) empty paint can, and lid, and put them in the back yard (since you can’t put it in the trash until they are 100% dried). SOOOOO…. We woke up the next morning to yellow tracks across the (practically) new patio. Some critter had checked out the can, and stepped on the lid. Then walked across the patio. GRRRRRRR. NOW THEN: question for the day: Possum? Or Raccoon? Or something else? This print is probably a bit bigger than life size, depending on your screen.

Hello, It's Me

On this date in 1948, Todd Rundgren is born in Upper Darby, Pa. I had to look, but that's Philly area (I knew it wasn't Pittsburgh!). Todd leads the groups Nazz and Utopia and produces albums for Meat Loaf, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad and XTC. His biggest solo hit is "Hello It's Me," which reached No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1973. Also notable for "We Gotta Get You A Woman" and "I Saw the Light" and "Bang On The Drum All Day"

Round Round Get Around, I Get Around

Ok.... Slow times in the picture taking realm, time for some reposts from the blog-archive. Let's start with 2 of my personal favorites from the Pacific Northwest:

These are both photos of the Spokane River, just a bit outside Spokane, WA. Probably just couple hundred yards apart, but taken on different trips. Both of these were taken with a point'n'shoot Kodak, before I got my DSLR...

Green

The theme was “Green”. I figured this fits. From my own front yard, after a late spring rain. .

Digital Photo Nut

I've just recently started participating at Digital Photo Nut, still learning my way around. But I have scored 2 POTD's in less than a month, including today. This one was posted here just the other day, as Peacefulness First Rate.

The Way...

Taken at our church Saturday afternoon, after picking up my daughter fresh back from a week long mission trip to Tennessee. I really liked the clouds, and the “Rule of Thirds” Cross made a good graphic element to set them off…

You got your demons, You got desires, Well, I got a few of my own...

The Eagles had another of their mega-hits make its debut today (6/14) back in 1975, with "One Of These Nights". This was the second consecutive #1, at the front end of a 27 month string that included 4 number 1 songs, a #2 and a #4. A pretty impressive run, snapped by "Life In The Fast Lane", which could only make it to #11.

And, yeah, I know... it's just "Eagles" and not "The Eagles", but deal with it, OK?

peacefullness first-rate

Highland Cemetery, not too far behind where I work. After 16 or so years, I drove out that way recently, just to see what it looked like. The title, btw, is from the subject line of a recent spam email. At leas tI presume it was spam, I didn't open it. I’m going to start using these semi random words and phrases occasionally, just an homage to our evolving internet culture…. .

Silly String!

On closer look, I see it’s Wacky String…. Oh well, Six of one, ½ Dozen the other, I suppose. It’s always a Kleenex to me! Our Church Youth Group is on their mission trip, helping re-roof a house in Tennessee. But the trip couldn’t start without attacking Judy….She’s under there somewhere! how silly.

In God We trust?

Well, I usually try and avoid politics and religion in this forum, and save my controversial viewpoints for other forums . But, this made me think of a song I like, so I decided to run with it…. I heard a news report this morning, in which noted atheist Michael Newdow's lawsuit challenging the phrase “In God We trust” on US currency was thrown out of a Federal Court in California yesterday. Typically for our system, this was not an end, but a beginning, a necessary step in Newdow’s quest towards the “famed” 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. His comment on the verdict: “it's even better than I had hoped for” sorta says it all.

Not to get too philosophical, but I tend towards the libertarian viewpoint. And while I’m troubled by the apparently rising anti-Christian sentiment in many areas of society; whatever it says on our money doesn’t have any influence on my personal faith. Most importantly, the discussion made me think about the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “Can’t Take that Away”. This is the “post crash” version of the band, from their 1993 album “The Last Rebel”.

What can they all be thinkin', Wanna' take the cross off of the hill
Put away the pledge of allegiance, Lord, just the thought gives me a chill

They can take God off our money but, in the end 'o ain't it funny

How we're all gonna see him on the judgment day?

So sing it loud:

One more time, Hear what you say

When you got the truth inside, now they can't take that away

One more time , 'Cause it ain't too late

Hold on to what you believe 'cause thay can't take that

they can't take that away

Centerfield???

On this date (6/12) in 1998, John Fogerty canceled the first date of his U.S. tour because it conflicted with Game 5 of the NBA Finals, between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. Fogerty claimed "When we realized just what this day might mean to the folks in Chicago, it only made sense to postpone the show. Besides, it gives the band and me a chance to catch the game, too." (Billboard.com). I presume the show was scheduled in CHicago, but it didn't say.

On an almost complete aside, way back in college, I was working crowd control for a Marshall Tucker concert, on Super Bowl Sunday. I thought it was "way cool", they had a projection-TV set up back stage for the roadies to watch the 49ers beat Cincinnati (1/24/82). Especially cool since I was working backstage! But the band stayed on the bus, and watched it there, delaying their start till the game wound down...

It's A Hit!!

My son, playing T-Ball last Saturday. This is his second year at T-Ball, still a long way from “the bigs”. I think he’s having fun, but he likes soccer more.

advice westward

An oldie, from back in 2003. Umstead State Park, outside Raleigh, NC. From my mediocre Point’n’Shoot Kodak LS443, effects added to cover the deficiencies. .

Hope I Died Before I Get Old #42

On this date (6/5) in 2002, Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) is found dead in his Hollywood, Calif., home. He was 50... I saw the Ramones in the late 70's, an awesome experience....

Keypad

Last week (5/30), my Yahoo group had theme day. The theme was “Telephone”, and I didn’t get a shot done. BUT, this weekend, while at my son’s T-Ball game, I saw a payphone, and took a shot. Better late than never, I suppose….…. . .

Sprinkles

Late afternoon, running the sprinkler for the benefit of our new grass. I was struck by the late sun illuminating the water streaks, and the random splashes of water on the edge of the patio. 1/160th second exposure to catch the motion, convert to B&W, add blue tone, and here ‘t’is: A nice abstract for a Sunday afternoon ….…. . .

In The Dugout

I finally made it to one of my son’s T-Ball games today. As recent kindergarden graduates, they’re all playing better than last year!! His team actually made a couple of outs, and had a few balls make it to the outfield grass!! ….…. . .

Georgia Rhythm

A new CD arrived at my home yesterday, from Amazon via a big brown truck. This is a UK import, of a good ol’ southern (US) band: The Atlanta Rhythm Section. A combination CD of the albums “Third Annual Pipe Dream” and “A Rock And Roll Alternative”. ARS was a great band, with one of the best bass players ever, Paul Goddard. I saw them 2-3 times in the late 70’s (it all blurs) and they were a super tight band. Except the one time where the lead singer (Ronnie Hammond) was stumbling, slurring drunk. I really like what they say in the liner notes, a very British evaluation:

“The Atlanta Rhythm Section are one of the more fondly regarded footnotes from the 1970s. While they were enormous in the States, in Britain they were relegated down-page during the height of punk, heard under the bedcovers from Radio Caroline and purred out by Bob Harris – a sweet, southern underground confection for ears that were sated by Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers”

That pretty well sums it up! Another way to look at it: where Skynyrd is shots of “Jack” on a Saturday night, ARS is a nice cold beer on a dog day afternoon…

Towering

This is from a couple months ago… Every place has to have a landmark, I suppose, coming into Highland IL, it’s the microwave tower. Visible from miles away, on the town’s threshold when coming in Rt 143 from the interstate….…. . .

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

On this day (6/2) in 1865: In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of the Civil War, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators. With Smith's surrender, the last Confederate army ceased to exist, bringing a formal end to the bloodiest four years in U.S. history. The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate shore batteries under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. During 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort, and on April 13 U.S. Major Robert Anderson, commander of the Union garrison, surrendered. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to help quell the Southern "insurrection." Four long years later, the Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of 620,000 Union and Confederate dead.

Hmmm.... I've always though Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox, VA, signaled the end of the Civil War, but that was 4/7/1865, almost 2 months earlier. I guess news didn't travel as quickly back then.