hooked...

on Nameless, Tennessee. That's right... Nameless. About four years ago my wife and I drove to Nameless to collect geodes. We're members of a geology club and we go on a field trip about once a month. On this particular trip, we took our youngest daughter with us. She was 15 at the time. She didn't want to go with us but we convinced her to go. She had a miserable time. There was no cell phone coverage in the Nameless area. There was no internet connection at the old hotel where we spend the night. There's not a hotel in Nameless so we stayed several miles away in less-than-nice accommodations. It was cold and windy and muddy, so searching for geodes was not a great deal of fun.

When I got an email this past summer from someone in Nameless asking if our club would like to come check out a new collecting site, I said yes. What was I thinking! But things sounded different this time. Mr. Watts told us about his property in Nameless and it sounded great. He also told us about the J. T. Watts General Merchandise Store that used to be owned by his father and now he owns it and has transformed it into a museum. I told our club about it and we made our plans to visit. We did visit about two weeks ago and it was fantastic. We found so many geodes we don't know what to do with them. We also found the museum to be a treat. It was like stepping back in time to the 1950's with wood-burning stove, Cokes in 6-ounce glass bottles, Prince Albert in-a-can, Gulf Oil, Moon Pies, and checker playing around the wood heater. I can't wait to visit again. I'm hooked on Nameless. Our daughter didn't go this time, but I honestly think she would have loved it as much as we did.

To find out about geodes, the museum and why Nameless is called Nameless, visit my Photostream.
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Song 606: Just The Way You Are
Artist: Billy Joel
Album: The Stranger
Year: 1978
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tall trees and long boards

This boardwalk winds its way through the wetlands of the William B Clark Preserve, and this Saturday I will be leading a nature walk [digital field trip] along this boardwalk. I don't know how many people have signed up for it, but I hope there will be at least 20 or 25. We're going to be exploring camera settings and taking pictures of the wetlands to illustrate the points of digital photography. I've taught about two dozen digital camera workshops over the last two years, but this is the first nature walk. I did a photography summer workshop for kids in 2008. Wish I had done another one this past summer. We did several digital field trips during that workshop.

cotton pickin time

Memphis used to be the Cotton Capital. There's still a lot of cotton grown in this part of the country. Cotton is still the most used natural fiber for making clothing in the world. I would rather have a 100% cotton shirt than any other material.

Near where I work are several cotton fields [right here in the middle of suburbia], and this week is cotton pickin time. Several of the fields have already been picked and I suppose the others will be by the end of the week. I have stopped by the fields a half dozen times in the last week, watchng the progress on the cotton bolls. They're fully matured and looking very healthy. That surprises me a bit because it has been such an incredibly dreary and wet late summer and fall. It's going to look very desolate and lonely around these fields for a while.

If you have an opportunity, drop by my photostream for a visit.
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Song 605: Hopelessly Devoted to You
Artist: Olivia Newton John
Album: Grease OST
Year: 1978
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wetlands shaken

One of my favorite photo techniques is shake photography. I gently shake my digital camera while shooting. It works best with a low ISO setting [ISO 100]. This image was taken on a recent boardwalk hike through the wetlands of the William B Clark Nature Preserve in Rossville, Tennessee. The late afternoon sun was streaming in through the forest canopy and the shake photography captured the light dramatically.

the pink palace arts and crafts fair

My wife is a fiber artist. She receives wool just after it is sheared... cleans it... teases it... cards it... spins... dyes it... and makes things like scarves, shawls, runners, hats, ornaments, etc. I help her in any way I can. She has been a demonstrating craftsman at the Pink Palace Arts and Crafts Fair for 27 straight years, and I have been right there with her all 27 years. Our daughters are 19 and 22 years old and they have both been at the fair every year... even when they were less than a year old their grandparents would bring them out to visit with us.

One of my favorite things about the fair is visiting with artists and friends we only see once a year for four days. We're almost like family. This year two of our best friends didn't get to come to the fair... Connie the natural dyer and Mel the polymer clay artist. We missed them and their families very much. Sebe [son of Mel] came into to town for the fair and stayed at our house. We had a great visit.

Click here to see more pictures from the 2009 Pink Palace Arts and Crafts Fair.

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Song 604: Dust in the Wind
Artist: Kansas
Album: Point of Know Return
Year: 1978
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the tour d' wolf trail

This is one of the most enjoyable hikes I have been on all year. The temperature was perfect. The sky was clear and very blue. The trees and grasses were bathed in sunlight and I took my 75-300mm lens with me, so all was good. The Tour d' Wolf hike/bike trail is located in the Shelby Farms Park. It twists through the forest, passes through meadows, over rolling hills and beside several lakes.

This picture and several others from the hike are on my photostream. Drop by for a visit if you have a minute.

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Song 603: I Go Crazy
Artist: Paul Davis
Album: Singer of Songs: Teller of Tales
Year: 1977
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nuts over art

My wife and I attended the Nuts Over Art Street Festival yesterday. This was the first annual NOA festival and I think it is a winner. There were only about 16 demonstrating artists with booths, plus a number of information booths and food vendors. It wasn't a crowded festival like last weekend's Cooper-Young Festival, which drew about 85,000. There were probably 2 or 3 thousand at NOA. We could actually spend time at each booth, talking to the artists, watching them create their art, and taking pictures of what they were doing.

The image above is a beeswax over oil painting. We watched the artist work on a similar piece while we were there and she was having a great time of it. She told us this is the first time she has done this type painting in the hot, beaming-down sun and she was enjoying the effect it was creating in her work. She might have to work in direct sunlight more often.

There was another street festival going on only a couple hundred yards from NOA. That festival was called the Woofstock Music and Pets Festival... with emphasis on local music and pet adoption. Kind of an unusual combination, but it worked. I think the same people that were spending time at the art festival were visiting this one as well. There were some great-looking rescued dogs up for adoption. We got our current dog, Molli, from a rescued dog agency and we couldn't be happier. She's a great dog.

See more Nuts Over Art images on my photostream.
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Song 602: Baby Come Back
Artist: Player
Album: Player
Year: 1977
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in memory of jay

Three years ago today, Kelly lost one of her best friends.

downtown door

I really like it when I have to go to downtown Memphis for a press check. After watching my newsletter run on press, I had an opportunity to walk around a bit at lunchtime. I saw this door on Front Street near Beale Street and had to take a picture. I think it has a lot of character, as does the wall around it.
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Song 601: [Your Love Has Lifted Me] Higher and Higher
Artist: Rita Coolidge
Album: Anytime... Anywhere
Year: 1977
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self portrait

This one has been photoshopped a little bit.
[01] adjust colors
[02] adjust levels
[03] adjust contrast
[04] turn down saturation
[05] diffuse glow filter
[06] cutout filter
[07] replace select color
[08] add argon[one] moniker
[09] save
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Song 600: You Don't Have To Be A Star
Artist: Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
Album: I Hope We Get To Love On Time
Year: 1977
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in the garden

While waiting for the hummingbirds to come to lunch in our backyard, I noticed the cannas in the garden, flapping in the breeze, soaking in the sunshine of one of the last days of summer. I'll miss summer. This has been a good one... as all summers are. This has been a different kind of summer. Our youngest daughter spent ten weeks [yes 10 long weeks] in Maine this summer. She left in May and returned at the end of July. I missed her so much during that time, and she returned to us changed... a good change. She came home more mature, more independent, more caring [and she had all those qualities before she went to Maine]. She just came more with more of them. She even introduced me to one of her boyfriend's friends as her dad and her best friend. That actually made me misty-eyed for a minute. She lives in the dorm, and I still wish she lived at home!

I think I have become best friends with both my daughters. We talk. We share. It's really quite nice. Our oldest daughter graduated from college this spring and now she's in grad school. She got her first apartment this summer. I'm still getting used to this new adventure. She visits several times a week and spends the night at home on Saturday nights because she still plays flute in our church orchestra [for about 8 years now]. She plays soccer for two teams, a co-ed team and a women's team and I go to all the games. I love watching her play. She's as fast as a gazelle.

All this means that my wife and I are semi-emptynesters. We're rediscovering all the things we used to do when we were younger. We're going on dates and enjoying eachother's company very much. I'm cooking a lot of the meals, because she is very busy right now. One of her main activities is Tae kwon do. She's a pre-black belt and training to be a youth tae instructor. I'm very proud of her and all she does. She's also a master fiber craftsman. She takes wool just as it is sheared from the sheep... washes it, teases it, cards it, spins it, and knits it into beautiful things like scarves and purses and hats. We've got a huge show coming up in just a few weeks. I'll blog about it when it happens.

I really love my life and all those that are part of it. Now where was I? Oh yeah... in the garden. It's such a great day.

Visit my photostream if you have a minute.
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Song 599: Swaying to the Music [Slow Dancin]
Artist: Johnny Rivers
Album: Outside Help
Year: 1977
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enlightened mannequins

This image came about quite by accident. My daughter called from college and said she was coming home to work on a photography project for class. The subject... light. She and I were brainstorming ideas and I remembered these art mannequins my wife found several weeks ago. When we stored them away I mentioned that I wanted to photograph them sometime. Well... this was the perfect opportunity. Kelly and I had a great time setting up lights and staging the mannequins. While Kelly shot with her 35mm [which used to be my Canon AE1] I shot with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi. great fun!

Click here to check out another shot from the evening.
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Song 598: The Things We Do For Love
Artist: 10cc
Album: Deceptive Bends
Year: 1977
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wetland frizzies

Living near a nature preserve that has a boardwalk through the wetlands is such a treat. I spend a lot of time hiking and photographing the preserve. A lot of times I just have fun with the camera... like with this image from my shake photography hike through the wetlands. For this one I aimed my camera up into the sunlite trees. ISO 400. Manual focus. Self-timer on. Zoom from 300mm to 70mm on shutter release.

William B Clark Preserve
Nanture Conservancy
Rossville, TN

so... click here to visit my argon[one] photostream.
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Song 597: You Make Lovin' Fun
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Album: Rumors
Year: 1977
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the original hummer

SOOC [straight out of the camera]... success... two little hummingbirds have been playing and snacking in our backyard all afternoon. I quietly stepped outside and positioned myself about five feet away from the feeder. After about a half hour of attempts, I got several very nice shots. This is the first hummingbird pictures I have ever been able to get!!

Click here to see another hummingbird picture from today's shoot.
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Song 596: Just What I Needed
Artist: The Cars
Album: The Cars
Year: 1978
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the long walk ahead

Left to right are Don, W, and my wife Sherri. That's me behind the camera. This is an image from our weekend petrified wood hunting adventure. As you can see the water is a little bit murky in this shot. This was taken just after the rain stopped. Muddy groundwater was pouring into this creek from several locations. Once the creek cleared up a bit we were able to actually see the bottom and find the petrified wood easier.

Each one of us carried a petrified wood detector with us... that's a rod or a walking stick with a metal end. When we found a rock or a piece of clay that might be petrified wood, we tapped it with the rod. If it made a clinking sound like metal, it was petrified wood. If it sounded like a rock, it was.

In addition to petrified wood, we also saw three snakes on this trek. One fell from a branch overhanging the creek several yards in front of us. another was a 2.5-foot-long water moccasin which crossed the water just a few feet in front of us. He was a very shiny and colorful snake. the third was a young 1.5-foot-long copperhead lying underneath an overhanging rock at the mouth of a small tributary. Sherri saw him up close. I don't like poisonous snakes at all so I kept a close watch on the water for any that might be curious about this crew of people sloshing in their creek.

Hunt for Petrified Wood in Central Mississippi
Greenwood Formation
Eocene Epoch [40-55 million-years-ago]

Drop by my photostream for more pictures from this adventure.

can't you see that it's just rainin

ain't no need to go outside... those are words from the lyrics of "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson. They seemed appropriate for this image. I work on the tenth floor of an office building that has really great windows [floor to ceiling on every floor] and when weather patterns change I can witness them as they roll across the city. On this particular morning the sky turned from a brilliant blue to cloudy to dark in [what seemed like] no time at all. I watched as the rain began to fall and drops began to form on the windows. This just seemed like the perfect time to stay inside and watch the rain pass by.

If you have a minute to spare, drop by and visit my photostream.
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Song 595: Banana Pancakes
Artist: Jack Johnson
Album: In Between Dreams
Year: 2005
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the nature of art

My family and I were recetnly on vacation in east Tennessee and western North Carolina. On our way home, Kelly spotted this old building from the interstate. I took the next exit and we wound our way through an old warehouse district part of Knoxville until we found it. It was a great find. I absolutely love this old building in east Knoxville. You have to see the earth-to-old-city: the-nature-of-art art on the brick of this building in person to get the full impact of it. it's just great!

When you have a minute, drop by my photostream and visit. Just click here.

3 days of peace and music

If you go by calendar dates, the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock is tomorrow... but if you go by days of the week, the fortieth anniversary is TODAY. During Woodstock week 1969, 5 buddies and I drove to Bethel New York from North Carolina in a red and white Volkswagen van with beads in the back and an old mattress instead of seats [except for the seats up front]. We couldn't get closer than 20 miles to Yasgur's Farm, so we parked the bus in a ditch and walked for 6 hours, following the crowd, to get there. All we had with us was some candy bars and a piece of plastic to sit on, but that plastic became our shelter from the rains, our cover at night, our refuge from the rivers of mud. The generosity of the people who had food and the tankers of milk that Max Yasgur eventually sent in were defense against hunger after the melted, flattened candy bars ran out.

And the music.... the music was incredible. Joe Cocker... The Who... Arlo Guthrie... Joan Baez... Mountain... Janis Joplin... Santana... Crosby Stills Nash and Young [I think this was Neil Young's first performance with them]... Jimi Hendrix.

What a weekend! What a memory! I was almost 17. My backpacking trail name is still Woodstock. I guess my only disappointments from Woodstock are that Led Zeppelin refused to accept the invitation to play the festival and Iron Butterfly [who's music i absolutely loved in 1969] got stuck in an airport and couldn't get to Woodstock.

Peace \/

spot of light

On the boardwalk through the wetlands of the Peterson Lake Nature Center in Johnson Park. I just love visiting this park. It's so serene and relaxing.

You can see more pictures from my afternoon on the boardwalk in my photostream.
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Song 594: Wonderful Tonight
Artist: Eric Clapton
Album: Slow Hand
Year: 1977
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concussion percussion

This could be the loudest 10 x 10 room I have ever been in. All four walls are filled with percussion instruments and the kids are given mallets as they enter. I am convinced that children's eardrums don't fully develop until mid to late twenties... otherwise how could they possibly be able to stay in this room for long periods of time, beating on the walls... and loving it!

This playhouse is part of the new "My Big Backyard" Children's Garden at the Memphis Botanic Garden. I think it's the most fun place in Memphis! The kids absolutely love it. I was there for the soft opening to take pictures of the building that the company I work for financed. I came back on Saturday with my family to the grand opening, and evening though it was a rainy, messy day, the place was packed out. You could see the transformation. When families first arrived the parents were telling their children "don't get dirty", "don't get your shoes wet" and other parent phrases. And then the kids took over. Shoes came off. Rains fell and the kids had a ball running and playing in it. The parents gave in and even they had a great time! If you are ever in Memphis.... DO NOT MISS "My Big Backyard", even if your children are grown and even if you don't have children. The laughter and fun is contagious!

Visit my photostream to see more pictures from "My Big Backyard".
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Song 593: Good Times Roll
Artist: The Cars
Album: The Cars
Year: 1978
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my big backyard

The Memphis Botanical Gardens has a brand new area called "My Big Backyard" and it is a kids' paradise. There are playhouses and slides and mad-made streams to run and play in... swinging bridges and sculpture gardens... chairs and sofas made of vine and moss... huge birds' nests to sit and play in... funky birdhouses... giant metal sunflowers... and a place called "the storm stop". In the storm stop misty clouds build up for three minutes, then heavy rains fall for three minutes, then its calm for three minutes, and the cycle starts all over. The company I work for is a sponsor of "My Big Backyard", so I dropped by on opening day to take pictures, and I had a ball. The ribbon-cutting is Saturday, and my family and I are planning to be there, cameras in hand.

For more pictures in "My Big Backyard" visit my photostream.
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Song 592: Singing in the Rain
Artist: Cliff Edwards
First Notable Performance: The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Year: 1929
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I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin',
Singin' in the rain

Dancin' in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I'm happy again!
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!

I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain...

Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does September
Seem sunny as spring?
Why do I get up
Each morning and start?
Happy and head up
With joy in my heart
Why is each new task
A trifle to do?
Because I am living
A life full of you.

twenty-mile creek

Looking for fossil sharks teeth in Twenty-Mile Creek near Frankstown, Mississippi. This creek is scattered with huge boulders [like the one I'm sitting on]. They're not boulders in the traditional sense though. They are 75-million-year-old concretions. Beneath these boulders is where the sharks' teeth tend to gather. To get to them you have to dig shovel loads of creek bottom out and sift it through a wire mesh to separate the sediment from the teeth and other fossils.

My wife and I woke up Saturday morning wanting to go on a field trip, so we loaded the truck with digging and collecting equipment, gallons of water, water shoes, a change of clothes for each of us and hit the road for a nice little 1.5 hour trip to Frankstown. I hoped we would be the only ones there, but alas when we arrived there were perhaps 20 other people there already. We worked our way upstream a few hundred feet and settled in for a few hours of collecting. My wife is much more productive at fossil collecting than I am, but we both did quite well Saturday. We came home with a number of sharks teeth, petrified wood, fossilized worm borings and several other fossils.
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Song 591: So Into You
Artist: Atlanta Rhythm Section
Album: A Roll and Roll Alternative
Year: 1977
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pinky out

Jennifer, my oldest daughter, received her degree in engineering in the spring and is now in graduate school. Her brain is always on fast forward... always looking for a challenge.

The hard drive in her Mac recently crashed [probably from trying to process as fast as she thinks], which started her thinking about what goes on inside a hard drive. Over the years I have had several hard drive crashes, so I had three of my old hard drives stored away in a box. That's one of them you see in this picture. I gave them to Jennifer to "experiment" with and she had a great time last night, taking the largest one apart. Then she put it back together and she has plans to turn it into a "found object" sculpture for her bookshelf.

Here she displays the proper etiquette for hard drive assembly... pinky out [with a blur].
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Song 591: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Artist: Leo Sayer
Album: Endless Flight
Year: 1977
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industrial art

I had an incredible opportunity last week... a location photoshoot. While taking pictures of engineers and equipment I spotted these caps. I had no idea what they were but I thought they made an awesome industrial monolithic sculpture so I spent a few minutes photographing them. I posted a couple of pictures on flickr. One of my good friends saw the pictures and offered this explanation of what they are.

These are caps to a centrifugal cleaning system used in the paper industry. Water, wood fiber, and dirt enter the system and are spun at high speeds by pressure differential. The dirt separates from the water and fiber, and is rejected via a seperate chamber inside. The white residue you see in the photo, is dried wood fiber that has leaked out.

Thanks Canoe Master, for telling me what it was I was so fascinated by. Click here if you would like to see another centrifugal cap picture. Visit Canoe Master's photostream, if you want to see some incredible pictures. He has built his own cedar strip canoe. It is awesome.
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Song 590: Whatcha Gonna Do?
Artist: Pablo Cruise
Album: A Place in the Sun
Year: 1977
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... And all at once you're ready to hang it up
'Cause things din't turn out the way you planned
And all your friends they're calling you a fool
"Cause you don't know a good thing
When you got it in your hands...

last light

This could be my favorite picture that I have taken in recent years. I just really like the light in it. I stopped by the William B Clark Nature Preserve for a quick hike [which turned out to be a long hike timewise] but I enjoyed it so much that I stayed in the preserve for two hours or more. This shot was taken looking out over the wetlands as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the canopy of the thick forest. The light is framed by the boardwalk which winds its way through the cypress and tupelo trees. On this hot summer afternoon, the temperature inside the preserve seemed to be about 10-15 degrees cooler than on the outside. I totally enjoyed my afternoon there and plan to return very soon.

Visit my flickr photostream for more recent photos.
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Song 589: Southern Nights
Artist: Glen Campbell
Album: Southern Nights
Year: 1977
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Southern Nights Have You Ever Felt A
Southern Night Free As A Breeze
Not To Mention The Trees
Whistling Tunes That You Know And Love So

Southern Nights Just As Good Even When
Closed Your Eyes I Apologize
To Any One Who Can Truly Say
He Has Found A Better Way

Feel So Good Feel So Good It's Frightening
Wish I Could Stop This World From Fighting
La Da Da Da Da Da La Da Da Da Da Da
Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da

Mysteries Like This And Many Others
In The Trees Blow In The Night
In The Southern Skies

Southern Skies Have You Ever Noticed
Southern Skies It's Precious Beauty
Lies Just Beyond The Eye
It Goes Running Thru Your Soul Like The Stories Of Old

Old Man He And His Dog They Walk The Old Land
Every Flower Touched His Cold Hand
As He Slowly Walked By
Weeping Willows Would Cry For Joy

organic showerhead [with its eyes open]

I saw this lotus pond beside the road today and my little truck just automatically came to a screeching halt. This is one of the organic showerheads [aka american lotus pod] inhabiting the pond. I spent a few minutes gazing at them and taking pictures. I seemed to keep hearing this quiet, whispering multitude of voices saying "there's nothing to see here. move along." emanating from the pond. It could have been the frogs... or it could have been the organic showerheads. Either way, I think I'm going to see them in my dreams tonight.

Click here to see more organic showerheads, and may the force be with you!
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Song 587: We Are The Champions
Artist: Queen
Album: News of the World
Year: 1977
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I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortuen and everything that goes with it
-
I thank you all -

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

train tracks

On the way home from a hike in the wetlands of the William B. Clark Preserve today I was thinking about train tracks. You see, there's this great public park near the train tracks that run through the small town near the wetlands. As I crossed the tracks I thought "huh, I should stop here and take a few pictures of the tracks." but I didn't stop. These tracks pretty much parallel the highway all the way to my hometown, winding their way in and out of the forests, disappearing at times behind the corn fields, but I know they're there. As I rolled into my town, I was still thinking tracks, so I took a left and within a minute I was at a railroad crossing. I parked on the shoulder and saundered over to the tracks. Normally there's a train on these tracks every five or ten minutes, but I didn't see one train today. I spent a few minutes walking the rails, figuring angles, setting up and adjusting the tripod, taking pictures.

That satisfied my need to take pictures of train tracks... for today. But I'll be back in the town with the wetlands soon enough. And when I am, I'm thinking... public park near the train tracks and the tracks just seem to go on forever there, slowly fading into the east. !click!

Click here to see more pictures from the train tracks.
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Song 588: We Will Rock You
Artist: Queen
Album: News of the World
Year: 1977
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Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo� face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo� face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're an old man poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

the story of the truck

Thirteen years ago I was searching for a new car. I wanted a Jeep. The father of a friend of mine had just purchased a brand new white Chevy S-10. It had wide tires and custom wheels and it was really nice. One day while my friend's father was mowing his lawn, a bee chased him down and stung him. He panicked. He wasn't allergic to bees. He was just paranoid of bees. He freaked out, had a heart attack and died. Several weeks later, while talking to my friend's mother, she mentioned that she still had the truck, and would love to sell it for just what remained to be paid. I bought it. I drove that little truck for thirteen years. Six years ago the air-conditioning went out on the truck. The cost to repair it would be $1300 so I decided to trade it instead. But my wife needed a new car so we got her one and I waited. Then my oldest daughter got her driver's license and needed a car. So we got her one and I waited. Then our youngest daughter got her driver's license and needed a car. So we got her one and I waited. In our quest for a car for Kelly [our youngest] we saw a bright red Toyota Tacoma with wide tires and running boards. Kelly and I both fell in love with it. We didn't get her the truck though.

My little truck just kept clicking along. The odometer clicked away 160,000 miles. Three seasons of the year it was a great pleasure to drive. Summer was totally insane. On days when the outside temperature was 100, the inside temperature of my little truck had to be 120! I dreaded the long drive home from work every day. I wanted a Jeep.

So last weekend I saw this bright red Toyota Tacoma and it just had to come home with me. I traded my little white truck away and the red Tacoma now sits in my driveway. I love it! Kelly is away for the summer [spending the summer in Maine] and when I texted her about my new truck, she called me back immediately. She's mad at me for getting her truck! Not really.... but she definitely wants her time behind the wheel when she gets home.
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Song 586: Serpentine Fire
Artist: Earth, Wind and Fire
Album: All ‘n’ All
Year: 1977
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When I see youre face like the mornin sun you spark me to shine
Tell all the world, my need is fulfilled and thats a new design
As long as youre near, there is no fear of a victory
But when Im away, influences stray my mind to disagree
I wanna see your face in the morning sun ignite my energy
The cause and effect of you has brought new meaning in my life to me

Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire
Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
I need to see your face like the morning sun ignite my energy
The cause and effect of you has brought new meaning in my life to me
The moments I find when Im inclined to do my best
Negative wins when I give in and then I lose the test (not many times)

Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire
Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire

drifting

Here's another great YouTube video. Oh, the artistry of guitar.

better together

Better Together by Jack Johnson. It never fails. Every single time I play the In Between Dreams playlist or CD, I have to play this song several times... back to back. The lyrics are just great. The lyrics on just about every Jack Johnson song are great, but I can't hear Better Together enough. I think of my wife every time. The life we have together. How we compliment each other. How much I love her and how much she loves me. I was in Austin, Texas all last week and I listened to this song every single day, just after calling my sweetie and just before retiring for the evening.
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Song 585: Better Together
Artist: Jack Johnson
Album: In Between Dreams
Year: 2005
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There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart,
our dreams, and they are made out of real things
like a shoebox of photographs
with sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer
at least for most of the questions in my heart, like
Why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

Mmmm, It's always better when we're together
Yeah we'll look at the stars and we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah it's always better when we're together

And all of these moments
just might find their way into my dreams tonight,
But I know that they’ll be gone
when the morning light sings
and brings new things
for tomorrow night you see
that they’ll be gone too,
too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
i was somewhere in between
With only two,
Just me and you,
Not so many things we got to do
or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree, now,

Yeah It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

[MmmMmmmmMmm, Mmm MMmmM]

I believe in memories
they look so, so pretty when I sleep
Hey now, and when I wake up,
you look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
There is no, no song I could sing
and there is no combination of words I could say
but I will still tell you one thing
We're Better together