Exactly Caleb. Exactly how we feel. We’ve all just had enough.
Notes:
- Thank you Linda Hatfield for sharing! Find Linda’s site here.
- Background on Caleb/Wednesday/Hump Day Posts and Geico’s original commercial: Let’s Hit it Again.
Guess.What.Day.It.Is?
November 18, 2020 by 50 Comments
Walking. With M-G.
November 13, 2020 by 61 Comments
Head Cold. Nasal drip. Nagging cough. Light nausea. Friday the 13th. Feels about right.
6:10 am. Cove Island Park. 192 days. Consecutive, and getting long in the tooth.
45° F. Wind gusts up to 25 mph. Drizzle. Wet. Cold.
Cloud cover: 100%. Like a million %.
M-G: You’re dragging.
DK: It’s that obvious?
M-G: Snarky too.
M-G: COVID?
DK: Can’t be.
M-G: How’s that?
DK: Hood Brand Ice Cream Sandwiches.
M-G: Ice Cream Sandwiches? [Read more…]
Saturday Morning. Walking with Lucy.
October 10, 2020 by 66 Comments
4:30 am.
I shake off the cob webs from Tylenol PM.
Read morning papers, blog posts, skim social media.
Read another chapter of Christopher Beha’s “The Index of Self-Destructive Acts.”
Think about my index, and yesterday’s destructive acts. Guzzled two (or was it three?) bottles of Diet Snapple Peach Tea. Sugar Free. No preservatives. Turn the bottle to read the label. Aspartame, sodium, citric acid, potassium citrate, malic acid. Natural, my a**.
And then Nachos. Potato Chips. Three donuts. And, a large (large) number of Hershey’s Nuggets…like on a conveyor belt, I love Lucy and the Chocolate Factory. Oh, that milk chocolate sugar high.
C.S. Lewis said “Life (or Sugar), is as habit forming as cocaine. What then?” What then? What now?
I pause before weigh-in. Regret the Self-Destructive Acts. Inhale. Hope. I ease onto the scale, like tip-toeing is going to pare back a pound or two. A**holes believe that it will move down after yesterday’s performance. Disgusting. Disgusted.
I check the weather app. Think about how many layers I need. Should be one less with the extra layer of glazed donuts. Whale blubber is said to taste like arrowroot biscuits or Stop & Shop Cake donuts.
57° F, but breezy. No jacket. Tee-shirt. Long sleeved sweater. Camera gear. I walk by the island in the kitchen. 3 donuts left. Don’t you dare. Don’t even think about it. My mouth waters. My God, I have issues.
5:30 am.
I’m out the door.
152 consecutive days.
5 mile loop to Cove Island Park and back.
~10,000 steps…
600 calories…
Or approx 3 glazed donuts.
Monday Morning Wake-Up Call
October 5, 2020 by 17 Comments
Or is this what being home is like: home as a place from which the entire world is suddenly possible?
— Hisham Matar, The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between
Image: Let’s Eat Cake
Oh, I need it! Oh, I need your help!
August 24, 2020 by 36 Comments
VOLUME UP! (I SO LOVE THIS!)
Thank you Sue W.
Monday Morning (Epilogue)
August 18, 2020 by 40 Comments
Yesterday’s post, yesterday’s comments. Loved them. Link here.
The ask was: “Two different cameras, shot taken 1 minute apart, two different perspectives. What’s your favorite?” Same photos above. Here’s my take.
- I didn’t really See them until I was at my desk, at home. Wow. What a difference!
- One taken with a camera that had dials for aperture, for shutter speed, for exposure compensation. So it had to be better.
- One had a separate, expensive zoom lens. So, it had to be better.
- One camera was so much bigger than the other. And was made for still photography. And was so much more expensive then the other. So it had to be better.
Photo 1: Came from an iPhone, zoomed 2x. No other alterations.
Photo 2: Came from a Fuji X-T4 with a 50mm x 140mm zoom lens. No alterations.
I stared at the iPhone photo. I wasn’t there. Not with this scene. Not with these vibrant colors. Yet, I was drawn to this photo. “Warmer” (Beth, Darlene, Jnana, Michael, yes.) “Better composition with light and dark contrast.” (Jnana, Lori, yes.) “Bright, depicts the awakening of life…under the kiss of blush” (Christie, Louise. Yes.)
No. No. But it just can’t be. It had to be an aberration.
So I did it all over again this morning. Except this time, I took 20 shots with each camera.
Result: Same.
Can’t be the camera. Can’t be. Has to be the Operator. What an amateur. Can’t be the camera. Not with the money sunk into this device.
I’m standing under a hot shower a few minutes later, thinking about the photos.
I think I need a Canon.
Inspired by Jnana Hodson‘s review of my shots — some day I hope to see and be 50% as good Jnana.
“The top one, though I would try to level the water to flat horizontal rather than its current slight tilt. It’s warmer and speaks of sunrise. The bottom photo is tonally too muddy. There’s no light detail and no distinctly dark contrast. Also, the right side of the shot lacks the compositional closure the bit of land gives the top shot, balancing the land on the other side, even though the power lines are a bit of clutter. That detail invites the eye out into the bay beyond before returning to the heron or egret in the foreground.”
T.G.I.F.: Riding Metro North
July 31, 2020 by 22 Comments
Miracle. All of It.
July 28, 2020 by 119 Comments
It’s 5:52 a.m., yesterday morning.
I’m done with The Cove Park portion of my 5 mile walk, and it’s the last 7/10s of a mile in the home stretch. On asphalt. Through the side streets. Heading home.
I’m tired. I’m dragging. And my head has shifted to Work.
I slip the cap on the lens while I’m walking (because one cannot waste precious minutes). I tuck the camera into the sling, zip up the bag, and swing it over my shoulder. I accelerate my pace. And practice my breathing as instructed by James Nestor. (Because he’s so deep into my consciousness, I can’t take 10 breaths without thinking about his instruction.)
I round the corner onto Anthony Lane and hear a rustle.
And there they are. The two of them. Staring at me.
I freeze.
They freeze.
Please. Please don’t move. I slide my sling from back to front, and start unzipping the bag. I don’t take my eyes off them.
Please. Please don’t move. I don’t know anything about shutter speed. Continuous bursts. Or whatever-the-Hell-else I need to catch you in motion.
I grab the camera. My hands shake, the lens hood flies off and hits the ground. The lens cap follows and rolls a foot or two on the shoulder. My God Man. Get a Grip. You’re going to blow this.
Jack turns to his brother: “Is this amateur hour? Can you believe this guy?” “No sh*t. I’m getting tired of posing here.”
I raise the camera.
I see a thin film through the view finder. OMG, the humidity is fogging up the lens.
It clears.
And then comes the camera shake. I tuck my elbows in tight to my body. My breaths are short and quick, hot little puffs.
I move my index finger to the shutter, ever so gently.
I zoom in on my targets.
Now!
And Bam! I got it! And another. And another. And another. And another.
They turn to walk to the woods.
I watch them disappear.
Wow, so Beautiful. Miracle, all of it.
Notes:
- Photos: Mine! A Miracle! July 27 2020.
- Post Inspired by Kiki. She told me that if I didn’t share this story, she would send the Dale and Sawsan posse after me. So here it is.
- Post title Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
