Existing In BFE

It is surreal to be walking along brick ways, in and out of shops to explore their goodies, and then be shaken by the loud, mega-deep forms and turn to your right, and there, about a football length away, is a huge ocean-going freighter.     See the guy clear up front?  That gives you a little idea of how immense these things are.  I have a neice who loves to see these big ships.  She needs to come to Savannah.  Another shot of a guy peeking out the window.  Again, I am amazed at what one sees when one travels.  You just don't witness stuff like this in Seaton.

1.  It isn't often you see signage mistakes that are not only funny, but remain for all to see.   Ulmerton Road, just a short walk from Bedlam,  is a main artery and one of those busy, many-lanes, fairly unattractive city streets that one wouldn't readily know it were in Clearwater or Anchorage.   This is a mistake that no one seems to be in a hurry to change.  All the better, I guess.   2.  Too much going on a round here, I guess. The annual Mainsail Art Festival at the Vinoy park was held last weekend and it slipped my mind.  Drat.  One of the truly great things to attend here.  This is the invitational show where in years past I have paid a fortune for original art.  Makes me feel cultured.  I hate that I missed it for two reasons.  The first is simply that it hads become a time-honored tradition.  This is the day I gather all the clan willing to wander with me to get out amongst the well-washed St. Petersburg upper crust and look at creative genius.  The second

I'm no photographer.  I don't have the knowledge or expertise, not to mention talent.  I'm more of a point-and-shooter with a fancy ass camera type-guy who is just as surprised when I pull off a decent picture.  There's aperture, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, and light metering stuff (technical terminology) that has to be evaluated with each snap when you are on Manual settings.  While I do aspire to tweak settings, it's certainly not with any type of certitude that I do so.      This little accidental treasure was taken in Tybee Island on the recent visit to the Sutor's.  At my age if you don't know yourself, you are either in extreme denial, frightened or stupid.  I kind of knew going in that sleep may be elusive tonight. Put me in a different nest than my usual nest and somehow I get too wound up.  Too many thoughts, too much to control.  As it was, I was tossing and turning so I said to hell with it, got dressed and drove over to the beach area w

I don't want you to think that college was nothing but classes, studying at the library, late night cramming, and then up early to do it again.  Mind you, others found more time than I did to wander down to the bar, while I was engaged in more academic pursuits.  But I did my best to join them when I could.  Short of that we stayed on the floor and amused ourselves by taking pictures of each other, I guess.  Why remains a mystery.  Apparently someone thought I needed to be permanently recorded in the doorway, which, just might have been my room.  Perhaps my roomie, the now eminent Dr. Kolbow,  thought it necessary to use up my expensive Polaroids for no reason at all.   I include this picture for your perusal this week to let you know a couple things worth noting.  One,  after commending the Polaroid company last week for their superb use of film emulsions that have withstood time, I come across this picture that has not stood the test of time very well.  It is show

1937 2015 Today we continue our stroll down River Street in Savannah.  Not much has changed in the 80 years since the 1937 picture was taken.  I don't know when these old huge warehouses were built but when cotton was king the bustle of the bundles coming and going out, not to mention exchange day must have been electrifying. Savannah still has a world-class harbor with big freighters arriving and leaving constantly.  Cotton is no longer the main business, however.  Now there are small shops, antique stores and very neat cafes all along the street in the warehouse that used to hold commodities.  These two tugs were traveling in tandem probably to prepare a ship heading out of harbor.   Interesting picture of three types of ship:  on the left is a replica of the Pinta, a tug and a huge freighter on the far right.  These work horses not only maneuver and escort the freighters, but also take harbor pilots to and from ships who actually do th

Tybee Island is only 12 miles from Savannah so you can get the nice peaceful small-town seclusion of Tybee and in 15 minutes enjoy the best of big-city life.  This is Savannah from the West.  In the center is the gold dome of City Hall.  To the left is the Savannah river and the never ending churn of sea-going freighters, tugs and tourist ferries.  And this trip focused on River Street.  A mix of boutique shops, cafes, and history.   Everywhere down here are steps, some are closed off, but many are open, but not without warnings.  The history here is palpable.  It is not hard at all to see the merchants, farmers and businessmen coming down those steps to bid on cotton coming in from all over the South.  And then seeing it plied onto ships from all over the world for transport.   These cobblestones came from inside ships that used them as ballast.   To its credit, Savannah has long recognized its historicity and has attempt

1.  Barbie and Her Dogs Seen on the shelf at Target.  Wait for it.... 2.  Name Game OK.  Unimaginative parents or really imaginative parents?  Hey, Trav, where are the Harry Berries?     3.  Why does the fashion world insist on making women wear high heeled shoes?  I have never seen a lady wear them without looking clunky, awkward and, well, looking like they have some form of impediment to their gait. 4.   Am I missing something?  I see where UN Ambassador says we are "chipping" away at ISIS.  Our defense spending is obscene.  We are the world's only Super-super power.  Our technological know-how is unequaled.   Why is it, then, that we have spent some 13 years in a stalemate or worse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that we are still watching ISIS roll across borders?  The forces we have engaged in Afghanistan are using old Kalashnikov rifles and travel by camel or burro.    One would think our $640 billion would help procure a mili

I don't know when it was that I realized that Florida was too alien a place for me.  Great place to visit and have some fun but for a permanent day-in, day-out place, it sorely lacked some of the things that I had always taken for granted.  Once at Three Birds Tavern a few years ago I expressed the void I felt and came up with a two-state solution: a kind of snowbird idea where I would spend time in both Florida and Illinois.  In the intervening time I have made many trips up to Northlandia but always stayed with either the Wombie and his lovely wife Holly, or with great friend Pat.  There have always been offers from friends as well.   Then I bought a house in Henderson and it has served as a rental, supplemental income and all that.  More or less successfully.  More successfully lately as I turned it over to a management firm, sort of, and they have provided long-term renters and finally, I'm making a profit.  (Knock on wood.)     During my last trip up I commented to

Last month I wrote a short essay on my experience in a fraternity.  One of the fringe benefits was having an association with one of the local sororities.  Naturally, I don't remember a great deal of these pictures, but they had something to do with an initiation of their newest ranks into our ranks.   You will see mostly smiles in these pictures.  It was an annual event and the only requirement was to have fun.  Good clean fun.  Maybe a little beer, maybe some trepidation from the new ones, but that;s part of these things.  Good, safe, clean fun.   The Beta's were our sister sorority, and when they had new recruits they had an initiation kind of like our Hell Week.  Sometimes these things are done unannounced and participants don't even have time to take their curlers out.   In the above picture we are trying to keep the ladies in the room but RB and Nick are having some trouble getting that accomplished.  Of course it doesn't hurt when you send out Be