Photographs I should have taken

I'd like to TAKE pictures, not just regret NOT taking them later...
- the FOOD at the recent Chinese new year celebration
- the shoes sticking out under the blanket at the homeless shelter
= the geese all over the field in Vineland

Today I DID stop and take a picture of something that catches my eye every week. It turned out disappointingly, but at least I TRIED. It is a dead tree with dried corn stalks behind it.

The storyteller (audio book), by Jodi Picoult. I don't know what has come over me, but this is the second audio book I have stopped listening to. I am getting kind of sick of Holocaust fiction. There is quite a spate of it and other WWII stuff these days. I just did not want to listen to a guy with a German accent describing the horrible things that he did. There was a bit on an interesting premise to start....a young woman and an older man meet in a grief support group. He confides in her his secret that he was a Nazi. She has Jewish ancestors and a terrible scar on her face. I just did not want to hang around to hear about how she acquired that scar.

Still working?

Boy, was it hard to get up and out today. Had to be in Camden to start work before 9 AM. Also, needed to do several errands on the way to work. To add to the misery, I was sick, had a TERRIBLE night and it was dark and cold. Well, now I am at work and it is quiet and peaceful and I am catching up on my computer work and sucking on cough drops.

This is what I hate about winter:
- the dark
- the cold
- the lack of sun
- the wearing of coats
- the wind

This is what I love about winter:
- the bare bones of the trees
- the pastel sunsets
- a tiny bit of snow

The zone of interest (audio book), by Martin Amis. This is a despicable book. I picked it up without much thought, thinking that Martin Amis was a good writer. I started off trying to figure out what it was actually ABOUT. I knew it was about some misogynistic men of the German persuasion. So, it is about men who work at concentration camps during World War II. Other unpleasant topics are suspected adultery, abortion, murder, torture. I couldn't wait for it to be over. Also, it was hard keeping the narrators straight.

Elizabeth and Hazel : two women of Little Rock (book), by David Margolick. Got this on loan from another library for a book club discussion. It is the story of an event, the integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. More to the point, the story of a photograph taken on September 4th, 1957 of a black girl walking down the street surrounded by a crowd of angry white people. One face stands out, that of Hazel. The photo becomes an iconic portrait of America. The two women did get to know each other and even become friends later in life, but the raprochement did not last. The author examines the legacy of the Little Rock nine and the attitudes of the townspeople and the country in memory and in present time.

Geting to know my new phone

Very slowly, that is. Especially enjoying the camera. Took a picture Friday night at a fundraiser and was told by the subject that it was the best photo he had from that night.

Youtube pleasing me. Haven't figured out how to do music on my phone. Have been very conservative on usage until I see how much is one gigabyte. That is all I have. Keep seeing better phone deals, but, oh well. I will now have two years of lusting after better deals. Have found that Verizon in NOT the answer to all of my problems....does not work at the Cohansey Café or at Gallery 50 and people sometimes tell me that I am BREAKING UP. Maybe I will give AT & T a try next.

VERY busy weekend. Thank goodness for a quiet Monday and Tuesday to catch up with myself. Fundraiser Friday night. Lunch with Santa Saturday morning (another fundraiser). Bridgeton House tour Saturday afternoon. Only went to one house but it was warm and cozy, with 20 fireplaces. Then a Prairie Home Companion evening (my favorite thing to do). Sunday was church, Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, football (Eagles lost) and singing at a church service for the Journey to the manger. Luckily, I live right across the street from church so left the football game to practice our song, then 15 minute service, and back home to catch the depressing end of the game. So I switched to 60 minutes, my other favorite thing.

ERRANDS...(what I do best)

Recent legal news about a photography company which is being FORCED to take pictures at a gay wedding. Why would you even WANT someone opposed to gay marriage to be photographing you? How could they even do a good job?

Tao: Phoenix rising (performance group): Japanese drumming including dance, cymbals, flute, costumes. It was truly special. High energy made me want to go to Japanese drumming camp (if there only was one!) I loved the whole androgyny thing they had going...all part of the tao. White and black, good and evil, feminine and masculine, positive and negative. All things are really their opposite or eventually get back around to that. I loved the women not acting ladylike: dressed in gorgeous floor length white gowns with bustles and slamming the drums with all of their strength. Men with long hair dressed in skirts. Touring from Japsn and passing through Vineland, New Jersey. I thought of about 20 people I should have invited, who would have loved it.

Amish businesses have a 95% success rate and they only have an 8th grade education. What is the secret of their success?

Looks like forsythia but isn't

These are the kind of things I have to look up on the Internet and through a series of extrapolations, I came up with the possible name for the plant down the street - witch hazel. Took a little ten minute walk at the end of a few computer chores and saw witch hazel, crocuses, and snow drops and heard a TON of birds. It was great. Sky is clouding up but it is still warm. I did not wear my coat, just a sweater.

Finished an autobiography I got onto from a reference question. The story of a musical life, was written by George F. Root and originally published in 1891. He passed through our town in 1856 when he participated in three-day musical conventions to encourage the betterment of church music. He wrote songs during the Civil War, such as The battle cry of freedom and Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! Not much info about the Bridgeton convention, but I found the few sentences I found in other sources quite fascinating. So, I sent away for this book from the Wm. Patterson College library and dutifully read it. It wasn't as good as the book written ABOUT him.

Adding to my daily list of things to do:
- Take a photograph (even if just by crappy cell phone)
- Draw a picture in little book
One or the other MIGHT help me to be more creative. Started my little book by sketching a woman I saw on the Ocean City boardwalk carrying a baby on her front.

A memorable Valentine's day?

Really only because the temperature got into the upper 40's and the sun was shining. Got the predictable Valentines from my nephew and my girlfriend (but they were really GOOD ones). A friend bought me breakfast and my sister gave me two elegant chocolate bars from Bolivia. My neighbor swept up some of my snow, but he does that many days. Just going home to stay there and read tonight. Ho hum.

Had a nice day volunteering at a local art gallery. People came in, had some good conversations and sold some stuff. I bought a photograph. I always like to buy something when I am working in the non-profit art gallery.

Today getting online. Tomorrow I must make more of a priority EXERCISE. Am starting to feel like a SAUSAGE again.

The death of a tree

This is my license plate because I am opposed to the murder of trees.  This tree was just standing there, minding its own business, and a branch fell down.  So, the owner of the tree decided to KILL the entire tree to avoid any future problems of this nature.  This tree is going to leave a big gap in my view. It offers a lot of protection from the neighbors. Sad.. I have just been glad that not-my-tree fell on not-my-car.  I just drove off like I didn't have a care in the world.

My playlist.com seems to have finally bit the dust.  Can't log in and probably have lost my list of over one hundred songs. I received an email saying that they got in trouble and had to change the format.  Sigh....I liked it because it WASN'T a radio format.  Now have switched to YouTube, though the pictures aren't that important to me.

Yesterday I went to a class on Picasa, which some of the students insisted on calling Picasso. The other annoying thing about the other students was the woman who kept saying, "Gotcha!"  Doesn't she know that I HATE that word?!  I liked the button that said Publish to blogger. Picasa is only one of many photo management programs. It is related to Google.   But since it now is the one which caught my attention, I plan to try it out.  If I am seriously going to get back into photography, I should be able to practice with my LG rumor phone, which is all I have at the moment.

 

Mislaid

Part of my many excuses about why I no longer take photographs.  I have an OLD SLR I could dust off and try out, if they still make film.  The digital camera given to me by my family has been MISLAID and I think the megapixels are 3.2.  My polaroids can no longer be supplied with film.  (Wonder how much I could get for a brand new Polaroid camera still in the box?)  Now I am taking really crappy pictures with my phone, an LG Rumor.  Just have not made the transition to the digital age.  I used to have a darkroom and all.  Several friends keep harping about what a great photographer I am (was).  So today I have an appointment with a techy person at the TLC (Technology learning center) at the Cape May Court House Public Library to ask questions about photo stuff.

Just tried to copy a picture I took last night of the Philly Phanatic. Had to get one off of the Internet. Apologies to whoever took this one.  I get a kick out of him.  A whole hour of him was weird though.  He came to the Cumberland County Library last night.  I wonder if there is only ONE of them?  He doesn't talk, and was trying to get across the idea to the kids that they needed to TURN AROUND in order to pose for pictures.  They were so busy looking at him that they forgot to pose.  First he turned around in a circle, trying to give them the idea and almost wacking people with his tail.  Then he made circling motions with his hands.  I worried about the SPANISH kids, which was dumb, cause he doesn't speak ENGLISH either.  It must be really hard for him to NOT speak. Anyway, the kids were adorable, with PP dolls, headdresses, etc.  Some of the kids were in tears or on the verge of tears.  He is more scary than Santa Claus.  A kid from Canada, who didn't know from the Philly Phanatic, burst into tears when he saw him.

It's July 2 already and I really haven't made any summer plans.  Clay College or other art class?  Summer rental?  Travel plans to Maine or ? Visit old friends with beach houses?  I think the SUN just came out.  That was not in the forecast.  The forecast is rain off and on all day, heavy at times.  When I asked the librarian if that was the sun outside, she said, "Yes, but it is humid and gross out there."  Now I feel better about staying the the nice, cool library all day.

Forgotten

 

This is the best I can do copying the photo that I took this morning on my Sprint LG Rumor phone.  I stopped to take another photo and spotted this mailbox full of old moldy mail.  Sad....

Seems like the past few days I have spent TWO hours a day doing errands.  Every day I am buying gas.  Today I went to my arthritis exercise class at 8 AM, went to the bank, then had to drive ALL THE WAY across Vineland to get to the Grapevine office so I could get "hard" copies of the paper where an article about my commune in the seventies is starting to run, then got the gas (good price of $3.27), then took pictures and on to Bridgeton to pick up my emergency supply of Ambien.  Found out that you can PAY for drugs any time you want.  It is just the INSURANCE that says you can't have it yet.

Photo series I would like to make...mailboxes,  laundry, trees.  I really need to get a new camera.  My phone is unsatisfactory.  Everything is too far away and dark.  I could try my old SLR and see if they still make FILM.

A lot of spawning going on

Attended the re-dedication of the sign for the Fortescue horseshoe crab habitat, the first official horseshoe crab sanctuary in New Jersey.  Due to Hurricane Sandy, the sign was damaged.  There were plenty of horseshoe crabs spawning and we learned the appropriate way to HELP them if they get stuck in the sand.  One should never pick up a crab by the tail.  Pick it up from the side and just orient it so it can get back to the bay.  It was like an ORGY. Up to 14 males can attach to a female to fertilize the eggs. A female typically lays about 25 egg clusters each year.  Each cluster contains about 4000 eggs.  But only a small amount ever reach adulthood.  Some horseshoe crabs live twenty years, but it takes about 10 years before they can mate. Since I can't figure out how to get pics off of my phone, I had to steal this photo from someone in Maryland.



















Rushing today as had to use the Bridgeton Public Library computers.  They only give ONE hour and there is no room to put my STUFF.  But, they are the only library open on Thursday evening.

My trip is coming up and I don't have a plan for taking pictures.  I am getting in the mood to do that.

In a windowless room at the beach

My plan for the day was to lie on the beach and then take a walk.  Also spend a few hours in the computer lab at the Ocean City library. And maybe visit a friend in an aging place.   Well, the beach was wild and windy.  I should have been happy as it was beautiful and I was allowed to access it and there was NO ONE THERE!  But I was freezing as I swore never to wear a coat any more a few weeks ago.  I will have to find somewhere inland to get my walk in.

So I came over to the library.  I love this library.  You sit in the computer lab with comfortable chairs and very few people.  They are all well behaved.  Only problem is, there is not enough room for all of my STUFF.  But, hopefully, they still allow you THREE hours on the computer if no one is waiting.  Now, that is more like it! I am always struggling to get all my computer chores done.  It is a never-ending battle.

Actually, this is an "excursion" day.  I need to plan one a week.  Haven't even been able to get THAT in as every day seems to have an event.  Sometimes only one event, but an event nonetheless.  But now I am thinking that I need to schedule TWO excursion days....one for the beach and one for all the other places I would like to go.  Why not?  I AM retired, after all!  I could visit oh-so-many beach towns and get back to my idea of exploring every exit of the Garden State Parkway.  And suddenly, miraculously, my Sprint navigator started working again!  I do have some slight fear that the saleslady at the Sprint store might have signed me up by pushing a button that I never push.  She was trying to show me how to load a picture onto Facebook from the phone.  That, BTW, was NOT successful.  Only a small portion of the picture appeared on Facebook.  It looked good, but was incomplete.  Back to the drawing board on that one.

Going private

Trying to figure out how to take this blog private.  I am sure I saw it go by once but HELP is not helping me.

Saw my first azalea blooming today.  What a riotous week of exploding colors and hot weather.  My audiobook talked about "the wafting scent of the forsythia".  I stopped by the side of the road and I sniffed.  Just as I suspected, forsythia HAS no scent.

No luck trying to copy photos from phone over to here.  My phone automatically sends it to Yahoo email.  Copy and paste does not work.  Wanted to show some photos from Victorian house art tour I went on last night.  My friend has 3 story home and yard FULL of whimsy and beauty...art from Africa, Australia, Japan and Cumberland County, New Jersey.  Her home is in Newport, a quaint, quiet little town.

Cacophony

Time for the headphones again. Stopped into McDonald's to use the computer and they have the TV AND the radio going.

Had a "handyman" stop by today. Makes me nervous due to mess at my house. We just talked about stuff that needs doing and then he went away. Odd sense of accomplishment. Enjoyed getting ADVICE about what to do about certain things.

Good reunion last night of women friends from, oh, 40 or so years ago. Amazingly good turn out, more than 10. Woman from Oakland, CA and one from Cape Cod. Almost felt guilty that I only had to travel a number of BLOCKS to get to the gathering. We were supposed to report on what we had been doing since our days of rabble rousing in Bridgeton area. Here are some of the current occupations of our group...artist, unemployed lawyer, retired librarian, psychotherapist, trophy wife. It was warm and cozy and delicious. I showed some slides of Women of the Sticks activities and we couldn't even remember who all of the people were in the pictures.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes pictures of their food", a woman said as I snapped a picture of the cheese plate unexpectedly received at "The red store" tonight. She came over and showed me the picture she had taken this morning of a "bacon doughnut". She was dinnering in Cape May Point, New Jersey, but had breakfasted in Nyack, New York.

This was only one of the surprises of the night. "The red store" is a building, it is red and it is a store, but it does not say "The red store" anywhere on it. It is also impossible to find.

My friend and I were a bit taken aback with the menu which was fraught with strange ingredients (or are we just country bumpkins?!?!?) Also, we weren't sure if we were UP to a four course dinner of "tastings" for $50. So we ordered an entree each. Of course, this was very difficult for her as she is "gluten free" and VERY picky.
So, this cheese plate arrives. We looked at each other in consternation. I hope they didn't think we ordered the whole shebang? But then there was the issue that I KNEW the manager. Perhaps we are being treated VERY WELL in spite of being cheapskates?
So we commence to nibble at the variety of cheeses, grapes, honey, quince jelly, nuts, burnt dried olives, toasted bread, and strawberries cut into creative shapes. Then MORE stuff comes...a squash fritter for me and for her, a special creation of roasted figs with a sauce including pickled onions. It sounds horrible but was surprisingly delicious. After our entrees of stew for her and lobster for me, we received surprise desserts. The bill was quite reasonable. It really pays to KNOW someone, and a special someone he is.

The other highlight of my day was taking a bike ride up and down the Ocean City boardwalk. It is 2 1/2 miles and it was a superbly gorgeous day with miles of fantastical clouds in every direction. I am a bad exerciser and was very uncomfortable on this bike which came with my cottage. Here is what was hurting me....my butt, my hands, my knees and my ankles. But I felt quite the sense of accomplishment for having done it and now I can cross THAT off my list. My friend was garnering quite a bit of attention as she rides a RECUMBENT bike which is a bit unusual.