Brown Fire Day

"The Queen of Bitches"  She gets the job done.

Sometimes not enough fire is just the right amount.

Pretty much take this stuff, put it in a blender, and fire comes out.

Evening Investigation

The backyard is a magical place.  Most folks completely lose sight of the great big world somewhere along their journey.  I think a big reason many people use drugs is to bring that magical mystery of being a child back into their life.

Our backyard is full of snails and slugs during the warm months.  Every now and then, there will be a slug bloom.  They'll be everywhere!

These Striped Leopard Slugs are big enough to pet.  Big enough to cuddle if you really wanted to.  They can really get moving too!

What is out there in the darkness?  A trained human eye could see so much more than a photo-  A burned-out fire, a pile of broken twigs, a chain link fence decorated with flecks of spray paint, plastic sheeting laying in the dirt, pieces of the neighbor's shingles...  Imagine what the cat can see.  Tiny insect eyes, death throes, city smells, a caterpillar panting, weeds breaking through the soil.

Contact Sheet

I don't think places are as different as some people think.  Usually there's a bottom part and a top or upper part.  In the middle is where we usually move around.  People tend to build little walls and things so that other people have to move around them, or into them, or maybe something else.  It's kinda like the circulatory system in the human body.  There are all these different ways to go, but after so many twists and turns, you have to turn around to go get charged again.  Places in the world are different though, in that almost everywhere can charge you up.

It was a snowy winter

So this winter was crazy.  New York never got much snow in the years I lived here, but this one year was really crazy!  Emily and I went to Omaha for Christmas.  It was the first time I'd traveled during the holidays in a really long time.  Sure enough, New York got snowbombed and we had to extend our trip for about 4 or 5 days waiting for the airports to clear out.  Omaha was pretty cool though.  There were a lot more hills than I would have thought.

When we got home, there were still a lot of roads that hadn't been plowed.  Even our street, Lafayette Ave, still only had one open lane!  The snowstorm hit the city so hard and so fast, no one was ready for it.  City buses were abandoned in the middle of intersections, cars were stuck all over the place.  There wasn't enough space to throw the snow.  Some sidewalks were more like hallways, pointed towards the main arteries leading to work.

Maybe we worked after getting back, I don't remember.  What we did do was get ready for our New Year's Eve party.  There was enough snow in the backyard to build a giant, u-shaped couch for our guests.  Brian helped me set up the wood stove in the middle to keep everyone warm.  It was so good.

I miss the snow of my childhood.  Drifts went up to my shoulders.  My dog had to hop between our footfalls to keep above the crust.  The neighborhood kids would build enormous snow caves in the piles left in the middle of parking lots.  I could jump off the very top of the playground equipment and not get hurt one bit.

Rear Window

We got this hummingbird feeder and filled it up with syrup.  At first it was really red.  Juicy.  Every day, the color faded away a little.  I'm looking at the feeder now, the syrup is clear as glass.  What a mysterious world this is.

Even though it's been almost exactly a year since this photo was taken, it looks almost exactly the same.  Some things don't change, inexplicably. 

Ghost of New Year's Past

There are these little green leaves on the trellis that never lose their color, even in the winter.  Something about climbing plants is really appealing.  Maybe people think of them as ambitious, inspired.

Hang it out to dryClo

Clotheslines are pretty damn homey.  Mmm, it smells fresh!  Put it on my face!

Professional businesses sometimes do the weirdest things.

Sunny Smoky Morning

He couldn't fall back asleep.  The first he remembered thinking about was an old cabin.  It was now his, but wasn't always.  It was cursed, or rather, it held cursed objects.  The objects were letters or maybe books.  They had to be destroyed.  The thought was terrifying.

Then, all he could think about was learning how to skateboard.  What type of clothing should he wear?  Would it be a good idea to wear pads?  Would they be comfortable?   Do other skateboarders wear them?  It was quite a moment of regression.

Eventually, he left bed.  It would still be a few hours until the sun came up.

Order and Progress

I've never been to Brazil, but their flag has become an important symbol in my life.  Maybe it is an important symbol of my life.  The words "Order and Progress" seem like good ones to have on a flag.  It's strange to juxtapose them over a field of stars though.  Is outer space the direction Brazil would like to go?  They have a space program, and can launch their own satellites.  NASA says they have an ideal launch site since the country is right along the equator. 

I don't know much about Brazil, but it seems like a good place.  "Order" isn't something I'd associate with Brazil, but I don't know.  "United" doesn't seem to describe a lot of the USA, so it's not a big deal one way or the other.  Maybe that's unfair as well.  America sure does have a lot of different people in it and it sure is really big.  We are probably more united than it seems.  Large media is starting to look more like reality television programming all the time.  It's just not that way in real life. 

100 Posts, 100 Legs

A Tool for Every Job

Bows for the Backyard

House of the Holy Ghost

Loupe Looking

Garden!

Paparantzi