Existing In BFE

1.  Awesome Cloud    On the way back to Floriduh this big guy was over to the right and I saw several lightening bolts as we passed by.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a shot of one. Last week a guy walking on the sidewalk was killed by lightening.  Floriduh is the lightening capitol of he US.  Since 1959 477 have been killed.  2.  While at North Henderson Civic Center I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of an old electric train that took me back to one we had when we were kids.  Big, heavy and the real deal, this set, I'll bet, could run today with just a little cleaning and electrical tape.  This isn't the cheaper quality plastic stuff they have today.  This is an iconic Americana toy.  What a find!  And yes, it takes the drop in the smokestack that makes smoke come out.   3.  "We mature with the damage, not the years."  Unknown 4.  While at McD's on 66th Aven...

Mark, aka Wombie, and Holly, aka Ms Wombie, are always up for a road trip.  We jump, not so nimbly into the Jeep and head out for parts unknown.  Today we went east of town and some country road.  The mystery and excitement of an unknown road evokes some kind of need to explore.  Little boys explore by bicycle, but big boys scout in 4 wheels.   We started out by finding this old school.  At first I couldn't figure out why there would be a chimney on a farm storage shed, but then it became obvious that this was, long ago, a country school.  Some owner along the way built a doorless shed on the the school.  Perfect vistas.   This is known locally as Horseshoe Bend.  The erosion caused by the creek reminded me of other places I've been but not Illinois.  Look at the trees and their exposed root systems.  It won't be long till another foot or so falls from the top a...

We revisit once again the grad school days in Denver and my buddy Eddie Valverde.  Like I said in the previous post regarding these times,  I had some really nice friends to spend time with when I wasn't studying.  No snickers, because grad school did entail some intense study to ensure successful graduation.   As a side note, as I type this message on Thursday,  June 25th, at 6:52 am, I just awoke from a sleep that included a dream/nightmare of a Logic paper due and unfinished.  Funny, isn't it, that school tests and homework still invade my head decades after it all became irrelevant.     These Denver days were likely the least photographed of all.  I'm not really sure why, except that study here was pretty important and took up a lot of time.  Dr. Schmidt hardly ever thought my thesis was good enough so I'd go back and tinker, expand, and take it back a month later to seek approval.  Dr. Wilbanks would have a "Whipl...

This is the Bluff road between Keithsburg and Seaton.  This valley was formed by the most recent Ice Age that started about 2 million years ago and ended approximately 8000 B.C. When we were in high school and college it was not uncommon during exceedingly wet and rainy nights to have this whole road filled with live small frogs.  It made driving an exercise in animal genocide, but   it couldn't be helped.  Take the first right on the bluff and go down a ways to find an open area that overlooks the valley.   As stunning a view as you can find in these parts.  Mrs. Olson, Seaton's 6th grade teacher always took her students to Bald Bluff Overlook.  Not sure if this is it, but it would have been a similar view.

Sunday and it's finally a dry day.  Nothing going on so I decide a nice bike ride is at the top of the list today. My itinerary is New Boston, Keithsburg, Seaton and back to Aledo.                                          The river is high and destined to go higher.  I had never been, or it's been a very long time, down to the river's edge and seen what they have done for viewing.  Not too bad.  Plenty of parking and nice views from this area.  The oversize Adirondack chair is a little cheesy but this is New Boston, not Boston, after all.    Always been fascinated by the river.  I wonder why.  Is it the mystery?  Or the avenue to watery destinations, adventure, new beginnings, or tragic end?   Don't try using the walkway to the floating pier.  You'll get your sneakers wet.  ...

1.  The Earth Spinning on its Axis   Sunrise... ...Sunset In Emerald City 2.  A couple local stories I heard while in Northlandia. Dick Hunter, who passed away about 6 months ago, was a long-time heating and plumbing guy in Emerald City.  A few years ago he some advertising on some pens printed with his company name on it.  Underneath he also added, "Bring your wife in and we'll dicker."  One winter day, when we boys were kids, down at the grain elevator my Dad owned, Walter Hood came in and tossed a stick of dynamite in coal heater that   stood toward the back of the weigh house.    Dorothy Bell, the secretary took off running.  V.G., my grandfather who was sitting in a chair remained sitting.  Walter asked him why he didn't leave.  V.G. responded that he figured if Walter wasn't running then he didn't have anything to worry about.  Apparently dynamite needs a cap...

Zasummenfall is German for "wondrous coincidence".  A few days ago the skies finally cleared for the first time since my arrival. I decided to try some night shots, so I set my alarm for 2:30 am.  The Wombie had shown me the North Lagoon area so that was where I was going. No traffic, houses or ambient light pollution.  It was like the South Lagoon where I took meteor pictures last summer, only better.      The most interesting shot of the few I took out there was this starry picture with some cloud action.  You eagle eye viewers will, no doubt, readily see the Big Dipper.  If you can't, squint your eyes and it should be easy to see.    While I was up I decided to go to Keithsburg to see if I could photograph a barge going by.  Sorry to say, no barges, but what turned out to be a wondrous coincidence, was a lightening filled cloud drifted by while I was there and I was able to get some really nice shots.  This post...

A friend asked me a couple days ago about whether or not I, as a twin, had that "special" thing with my brother.  I immediately said yes.  But I don't know whether it is that mystery tie that you read about with twins or if its just the old fashioned kind, a good brother.  My guess is its the latter.  And that's even better in my book. The advantages to twinship are so obvious I'm sure I don't have to dwell on them.  Imagine instead of an imaginary friend most kids concoct, you actually have a real one.  An Army of Two.  Every second of every day. The Wombie and I were talking about such things the other day.  When we were wee and in our bedroom at night, we kept making conversation instead of sleeping in order to keep the other one awake. How wild is that?  Neither wanted to be alone if the other dozed off so we would keep talking to each other, making the other stay up by having to converse. In the past month we...

Denali from FELT SOUL MEDIA on Vimeo . On the lighter side - 

With my two-state experiment going on,  certain sacrifices had to be made regarding personal pleasure.  One of those sacrifices for Northlandia was cable TV.  I, like many of you, have a love/hate relationship with my TV. Much of what is on at any given moment is junk, far worse than Newton Minow's "vast wasteland" speech when he was chairman of the FCC.  "When television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines, not the newspapers - nothing is better.  But when television is bad, nothing is worse.  I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet, or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that TV set until that station signs off.  I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland." I have become so averse to com...

1.  Just ran across this YouTube vid I found on some site. It's fake, of course, but dang, that is well done.  I had palpable goosebumps.    2.  Rhubarb Pie and a Time Machine   One of my highlights so far is to have this rhubarb pie gracing my fridge.  Rhubarb days was a couple weekends ago and S-I-L Holly went down and bought this for me.  A first she was going to get one of those blended rhubarb-strawberry ones because they taste better, but I stepped in and said a rhubarb-only was my heart's desire.  Why?  We had a rhubarb patch in Seaton and Marj made the rhubarb only variety.  This was strictly a nostalgia treat for me. 3.  Brendan, concerned with my internet hookup problems, called and told me about a devise sold at Wal-MArt that could get my desktop running.  It is a USB Wi-Fi adapter.  So I picked one up and it worked!  Thanks, Brenny.   4. ...

You've seen some of my walk route at Bedlam.  I take the Route 19 frontage road up to East Bay, then turn left all the way to Belcher, then down to Ulmerton and back up to Bedlam for my just short of 10,000 steps.  There is never-ending traffic, ceaseless noise, things to look at, sirens blaring and often lost coins along the way.   Now see where I walk in Northlandia.      This stretch of the walk is disarming.  Absolute quiet -save for the occasional breeze rustling whatever is there to rustle.  I'd forgotten how deadly silent it is in the country, or just never realized it.  The birds chirping is about all that makes any discernible noise.  Also along this country road is a house in somewhat poor condition.  Every time I go by there is no sign of life.  No observable yard work besides the mowing.  To the left of the house is a very deep ravine full of undergrowth and what look...