my mom and i love! trees....
will go look at the tree city link...
thanks for all the neat tree shares...
say, mouse have you seen the great tree thread, here, yet?
i have soooo many neat tree tops, all in their solo glory,
can't share much now though... perhaps someday...
neat plate, neat globe...
i am thinking to try to make some neat globes, with the grandkids,
they like those...
*
say, painting is going very well, now, at this stage... LESS scare, ;)
also, had to days two cold, i MEAN:
HAD TWO DAYS, too cold to paint...
yours got first rotation, then the egret for big mike...
ol' doug can wait a bit longer, good to say, and
the next fund-raisers will fit in among the gift things to folks...
I've posted to the Great Tree thread.
It's very "grovy" there.
And looking at a tree's shapely head
Up in the winter air
Is somewhat the same as looking at
A pretty lady's hair.
It's all in the moment with a camera. Your picture-taking is like mine (and so a lot of us) in that respect, it seems.
The process goes like this as I see it:
We are struck by the moment and lift, frame/compose, shoot, at least with a digital camera.
Or, like you told me, about when your were taking shots with film, like this: Lift, frame/compose, THEN wait till it's perfect so you don't waste film (thus losing spontaneity and some of the FUN) THEN shoot.
As I'm walking though the park or along a street, the view is constantly changing, so how can I be sure, that what I see is real...
(Sorry, slipped into song mode.)
You get the idea, I thingk.
The man who considers himself an artist will set the shot up, wait for the right conditions, shoot, then go home and look at what he's done, judge it for himself, then do it all over. Am I right, Claude Fidler? Am I right, Dean? I would need to type this whole page over if I wanted to remove that extra "g" in the last paragraph, were this a negative.
But I hope this little disquisition helps show you what
I DON'T KNOW. How can I find what that is except by listening to criticism? And you know how I feel about critics, neebee. My new friend Larry might have some things to say.
I only know that what I think I seem to have seen or heard or otherwise experienced may or may not have been real or true.
The corners of my eye lead to the corridors of my mind? I knew that.
Credit: mouse from merced
Still, that's cosmic.
Credit: mouse from merced
I like a certain amount of repetition. It helps get the pointless across to the clueless.
Credit: mouse from merced
It's why I don't think of myself as a bigot, though I have prejudices.
I was taught to distrust Russkies as we all were as boys and girls, except the very youngest. (Vitaliy would have been an outcast. Anastasia would have been shunned or deported--freakin' ice climbers AND Russkies, the double whammy.)
My new buddy Larry is Russian. And his stage name is not Pablo, like I dyslexically thought--SEE?--but Pobla. He is also a devoted fan of his home, Merced. We are gonna get along just Hunky, Dora.
So, Pablo turns out to be Pobla. His little "Pobla Studio" is on Main St. in the Tioga Hotel building, next to the empty lot where the Greyhound Bus Station used to sit.
FLASH--This Just In!
"At first she just looked and tilted her head sideways back and forth.
Then, she went to the window and barked. Then I said 'what's that?'
That sent her off her rocker. then she calmed down.
Same reaction she has when the cyotes sound off around here."
The report on Tim's dog when he had her listen to the Wolf Howl on YouTube. We are truly spreading the joy around here!
Getting back to Pobla Studio, the gent's name in Russian is the origin of Pobla. I don't recall what he said his first name was, but the second was Lavrentiy, or Lawrence, or to me, the stooge, Larry. Pob/La is the combination of the two names. Might be a diminutive of Pavel on the first name.
Larry.
Credit: mouse from merced
Larry's reading matter.
Credit: mouse from merced
He puts art and photos up in the front and in the studio he makes art. The art he puts in the window, he says, reflects what is happening in Merced's life. It's a window blog, man.
The other left window.
Credit: mouse from merced
Left window.
Credit: mouse from merced
Taking a call in private.
Credit: mouse from merced
We have much in common, I'm thinking, and a lot to learn from one another. I call the dude Larry, in jest, but the name will either stick or not. Our visit yesterday morning was cut short by the arrival of two young friends, Irene and Mike and their daughter, name forgotten before I could write all this down. Irene laughed and so did Larry, when I used the name to indicate I knew what Lavrentiy meantiy.
Irene, a Russian emigre, fascinated. Mike, happy to be a family guy. And the bairn, scowling at Brian, who has a camera and probably shouldn't be trusted.
Credit: mouse from merced
Later in the day I met this person.
Street windows should attract the eye. Pobla's spot on the end, then the sex shop, then the cookie shop, then an empty socket,reflecting the economy.
Credit: mouse from merced
Gigi, as this lady artist styles herself, though she could be a model.
Credit: mouse from merced
Her real name's Kim Benson. She'll do windows.
Credit: mouse from merced
This corner, by the way, is the same one where the bicycle wreck I photographed took place. The store on the corner is Sunny's, a wigged-out shop selling fake hair.
But we are done with stick-on muttonchops and toupes, are we not?
"Cool orange is better than burnt orange in most applications except chiaroscuro....and where blue turns into grey, it suggests hope."--Berndt C. Enna, Paint It Black, Absolutely: The Art of the Rolling Stones
Blarney Castle, Cork. The Stone of Eloquence is under the hole in the parapet. Has anybody dared to climb this? It looks killer. They'd probably find a gun somewhere and shoot you, though.
Edit: The CV has a bunch of silly mottos for its towns and cities. Riverbank - The City of Action. Modesto - Water, Wealth, Contentment and Health. Merced - Gateway to Yosemite. Madera - Gateway to Yosemite. Hmmmm.
Anyone know the Oasis of the Valley? The Jewel of the Valley? Cowboy Capital of the World?
Is there a prize? Is there cat burglars? Do you know the way to Oakdale?
Mommy, what's a Hummer? Daddy said he used to buy them. How deep is the concept of a Whole Earth? Ask this guy.
Credit: mouse from merced
I can dig it. And I can dig that crazy EE Icon, Ike an' Shari Edie. These former in-laws have been hosting EE Weekends for like thirty years. Mole holy frijole that's a lot of Catholic weddings.
Ike and Shari explain various things about Catholicity and birth controllery to engaged couples. Like what's a "hummer"? Has the Pope got one? Has my bishop ever had one? Who's driving?
Have you anything more to say about "Doggie On the Roof," Mr. Romney? Can we move on to "Rolling Stones" now? It is almost Easter, after all.
"knight takes knight, forking the queen" (from actual 1956 Bobby Fischer "game of the century") and if I recall correctly the Cardinal provided the Pope with a hummer (at least it wasn't some little kid - only a pawn in their game?)
it's all been said before, it's all been written in the book (but now we have the internet and Youtube)
Let us know!