By the time I got settled into the Inn at Brandywine Falls, and walked over to see the falls, the sun was low, and not shining on the water itself. I got this picture via the HDR technique. If not for Debra, I never would have seen this.

I saw this guy in the Brookfield Zoo, his expression doesn’t indicate a love of being photographed.

I’m now safely ensconced on Cape Cod, arrived Saturday evening, a day earlier than planned.

I drove from Peoria, Illinois, to Brandywine Falls (I don’t know if that is the name of the town), Ohio, last Friday, and checked into the Inn at Brandywine Falls, upon the recommendation of Debra. The innkeepers are a delightful couple, and made me feel most welcome. The house is either the last survivor of the old village of Brandywine, or one of the last. It is just steps from Brandywine Falls (the waterfall, that is), which is beautiful. After settling in I took a short, and lovely, drive to the town of Peninsula, and had a decent bite in a very crowded place (something about a lizard, “Winking Lizard?” “Dancing Lizard?” one of those modern cute names for pubs). I located Elements gallery hard by the Cuyahoga River, and drove back to sleep.

I was going to have time to continue my visit the next morning, but, for reasons not relevant here, got up early and headed for Cape Cod. I did swing by the Elements gallery again, and encountered Debra’s husband Steve. We chatted briefly, and most genially, and he gave me advice about which roads to avoid due to construction.

Saturday was a long day of driving. Ordinarily, if I were going to do the trip with one overnight stop I’d have covered more miles the first day (say, to Erie, Pennsylvania). I pushed on through, with frequent stops so I’d stay alert, and was glad to arrive home and to get/give a big hug from/to my Honey. Weary traveller indeed.

Bluemoon and Newmoon arrived Monday, along with good friends D and her daughter A (about Babycakes’s age). They, inlcuding D’s husband B, have been good friends since before SIL passed away, and very staunch friends since. B will arrive tomorrow.  Bluemoon and Newmoon (and,thus, us) have been blessed with love and support by many people in this time of grief, and we are “rewarding” a number of them this summer by opening our Cape Cod home to them. I put “rewarding” in quotes because their presence and company is just as rewarding to us as any hospitality we can give them.

We went to Martha’s Vineyard yesterday on the Island Queen. The weather was, I hear, the very best it has been for some time. Clear (patchy fog here and there) and mid-70s. D and A had never been, so they really liked it. The kids got ice cream, got to ride on the antique carousel, and gamely enjoyed a day with adults.  Girls went off today for this and that, and I’m enjoying catching my breath and relaxing (and doing a few minor chores).

Seen along a country road in Illinois.

Yesterday, I drove to the Chicago area to see my brother David. He tends to sleep into the afternoon, so I made a stop at the Brookfield Zoo before going to his place. I hear the Lincoln Park Zoo is the premier zoo in the area, but the Brookfield is near my brother’s place, and has had a good reputation in the past. I wandered around a bit with my camera, but didn’ t see a whole lot I found photogenic. My rating for the zoo: faded glory. They are building a very large new bear exhibit, however.

From the town/suburb of Brookfield it is a short jaunt to Oak Park, where David lives. I have related in the past, I believe, that he is blind as a result of diabetes. He was living in an apartment facility specifically for blind people, but didn’t like it, so he got a regular apartment. He seems to be doing well, and it is a well-maintained building from an older era, so it’s attractive, and on a nice shady street.

His three daughters all live fairly near him, and pay him visits. He has someone come in to clean, a visiting nurse and even a visiting doctor. The apartment management is kind to him, and even helped him prepare paperwork for Section 8 housing, to possibly save him a few dollars on rent.

I drove back a different way than I’d gone, as the light faded, and saw along I-39 a whole bunch of huge wind generators (all dead still at that time). I didn’t know they were there, but I cannot recall the last time I drove that way. As I drove, I listened to a couple of PRI (Public Radio International) shows.

One of the shows featured the billionare who runs Blackstone Financial. He is very concerned about the huge national debt/deficit and has, they said, put up a billion dollars of his own money to try to do something about it. I sounded to me as though all that money is going to my old bugaboo, “Awareness.” I agree with the guy about the debt/deficit, but see little hope to cure it with “awareness.”

The other show featured a professor from Middlebury College (once rated the most expensive college in America) talking about global warming, and carbon. He’s running, or participating in, a move to raise “awareness” that we need to get back down to 350ppm carbon in the atmosphere. I think we are at about 375 now. Again, I got the “Awarness” vibe. I didn’t hear any down and dirty proposals to actually accomplish the goal. His was an early voice on global warming, so at least he’s not a Johnny-come-lately.

As I was driving north, in Illinois, I decided to vist my father’s grave. He is buried in a tiny churchyard by a country church near the hamlet of Macedonia. My mother grew up on a farm near there, and a portion of my childhood was spent in the area. The summer my father died we were living in a rented house there, because Caterpillar, where he worked, was going through one of its periodic downturns, with layoffs.

We, the family, have had a headstone placed with both my father’s and mother’s names, although she is not actually buried there (we did the same at her second husband’s grave). She was cremated by her own wish.

So, I placed two flags and a pretty artificial flower arrangement, and got back on the road. As I was going west towards Benton, Illinois, the storm pictured above came up. Looked pretty grim, but all was well. I think it contributed to the elegiac feeling I had after being at the cemetery.

I have visited the grave very few times in my adult life, it is far from the places I’ve lived, and I’m a bit conflicted about the whole idea of visiting graves anyway.

As I drive from Florida to Peoria, Illinois, I usually abandon the interstate system once in Illinois, to enjoy the back roads and small towns. If my timing is right, I have a nice long day to do this in, without arriving too late at my brother’s house.  I almost always pass through Lebanon, Illinois. It’s a cute enough place, and there’s a cafe there where I usually have a bite. This year I spotted the car pictured above. Amazingly, in this country, it is not unusual to see cars painted like cows (promoting one business or another I suppose). This one caught my eye, and I really liked the vanity license tag. The horns didn’t hurt, either.

I’ve bee ensconced at my big brother’s house for a few days, and it’s another good visit. We’ve been out a bit to eat, see some music performed, and other stuff (like the Peoria Art Guild Member’s Show). My brother has a little musical endeavor going with a woman singer/guitarist, him (big brother) on bass, and my youngest brother playing drums. They do mostly recongnizable acoustic/singer-sonwriter stuff with a few originals. They played on the street one evening this week, and I really enjoyed it.

Few more days and I’ll be off to Cape Cod. I miss my Honey, not to mention BlueMoon and Babycakes, who will arrive there not far from when I do. I like it when our little family is together.

For some reason I only averaged 48.1 miles per gallon coming “up” here (is going north “uphill”?).  I think I probably kept up to the speed limit on the interstates instead of lollygagging as I sometimes do. Who knows?

Haven’t done a whole lot photographically. I think I’ve related before that I fare better with shooting when I’m settled in a place, and not passing through. I need that “feel.”

Our little sweetie is 7 years old.

I still recall when she was born, and falling in love with her on the spot.

I hope it’s a happy day for everyone everywhere.

Recently I posted a picture of a mannequin, with the conceit that it looked like some overblown Americanized standard of beauty, with reference to the women (usually women) who undergo a bunch of plastic surgery, and end up looking like caricatures. So, I’ve been thinking  .  .  .

We are told over and over that “beauty is only skin deep,” and that “real beauty is on the inside.” I suppose these aphorisms are true, but, for the most part, nobody believes them, or at least our culture doesn’t seem to. One of my commenters said something a bit wistful about the subject of physical beauty.

So, when it comes to people, what is beautiful? Watch the following video clip, while listening carefully.

Does someone want to tell me Cheryl Wheeler is not beautiful? You can, but I’ll never be convinced. Real beauty has a special virtue, like love, it can grow and expand.

Cheryl Wheeler wrote the next one, and performs it  wonderfully. The beauty inside her spread, and I’m showing this “cover” intentionally.

Love and peace out.

Hey, anyone who reads my blog, I’ve started a new WordPress blog for my photos called “NewBlueDay.” Hope you drop by. Right now I’m posting up some of my favorite images, but there will be new ones soon, I’m sure. There’s a link here on my Twoblueday blog for your viewing convenience.

This is probably just a prelude to starting a “real” photoblog outside the auspices of WordPress.

Thanks.

Can’t trust that day.

Palmetto Carriage, Charleston, South Carolina

Palmetto Carriage Barn

Palmetto Carriage Horse

1. Been a while since I posted. I’ve been involved in a major computer/photo project which is nearing completion: I take a lot of pictures. I take the Compact Flash (CF) cards and load the images onto my desktop computer (or in summer, while away, onto my Honey’s laptop which goes north with us). At some point after loading them, I look at them (all RAW files the last couple of years or so) on the computer, and, if one or more strike my fancy, I convert them into either .tif or .jpg files, or both (i.e. first into a .tif, then perhaps into a .jpg). I have been very bad about two things: eliminating images which, for one reason or another, I’ll almost certainly never use. So, if I dump a full 4 gig CF card onto the computer there is sits, even though maybe half of it could be disposed of immediately. The result? A hard drive getting almost full with junk, and with good stuff just waiting to disappear if/when the drive fails. In recent times, I’ve been using “idle” hours to go through some folders eliminating useless images (out of focus, otherwise technically flawed, or just plaing crap). That takes a good bit of  time, and, truth to be told, is not fun (except for a few magic moments when I run across an image worth my while).  That project is far from over, but my hard drive is almost full and still waiting to fail (all hard drives are waiting to fail). So, I decided to do backup. This required getting the files from my Honey’s laptop, and some files from CD’s I actually backed up a pittance of stuff on in an earlier moment of sanity. But did TBD just back up once? Nooooooooooooo. I decided to back up twice. I think I’ve got everything saved now on two different external drives. Hundreds of gigabytes of images. Now I know why people back up as they go along–it takes forever to backup that much stuff via USB once, let alone twice. Whew.

2.  Now I’ve got to bite the bullet, and delete the photo files from my desktop and from Honey’s laptop. I’m going to keep all 2009 photos on them until the year is over (yes, those files are part of the double backup). My files are sorted by dated folders (a crappy way of filing, by the way). I’ve checked and re-checked that my images transferred intact. Still, it is scary to think of hitting the delete button (and then emptying the trash, and washing the “empty” space). Be brave, my beamish boy.

3. I’ve also been doing yard work. Our yard guy is pretty much a “mow and blow” type. I do all the feeding, etc. I know I mentioned a year ago we decided to go with gravel mulch, and a bit of touch-up of that was required this spring, a few thin spots. As much as I like crawling in the dirt on Cape Cod to do my gardening, it all just seems a chore here.

4. My interest in guitar playing has revived, and I’ve been spending a good bit of time practicing (playing while file backup is running is a nice diversion).

5. I see Roger Penske bought (or is in the process of buying) Saturn from GM. Saturn has never made money for GM. Ever. The cars are basically nondescript, and do not get impressive gas mileage. Mr. Penske has a Midas touch, but I wonder about this one. I read an article about this transaction this morning, which included some commentary about the real problem which was already plagueing the world automotive industry before the current economic mess: too many cars being built for too few buyers. Good luck, Mr. Penske.

6.  I think my mind is already halfway out on the highway of this summer’s travels. Hmm, that phrase I just used “I think my mind .  . .” just struck my funny bone. Since my mind does the thinking, how can I think my mind? Anyway, this always happens about this time of year.

7.  I watched a show on Discovery (or Nat. Geo, or something) last night called “Home.” If you get a chance, watch this. Then maybe think about something you can do, however small, to preserve this beautiful world and save it from . . . us.

8.  I saw a news bit on TV (and saw it on the web) that some cities are thinking about “taxing” the bags (paper and plastic) they put your stuff in at stores. To me, that’s idiotic. A few cents won’t change people’s habits, and most of that collosal amount of trash will still be in landfills or blowing around the environment (or causing immense forest cut downs to make the paper bags). BAN THEM! I think China has banned the plastic bags, and San Francisco has, too. Carry your own bags! We do. I think this “taxing” thing is the kind of eyewash most supposedly environmental measures are. Sounds good, accomplishes nothing. Whatever we, the human race, do to preserve this beautiful world, let’s make sure it doesn’t inconvenience anyone to do so. An inconvenient truth indeed.

* (Ahem) We have been using a product called “Poo-Pourri.” It comes in a little pump/spritz bottle, and you spritz the toilet bowl before doing #2. It comes in more than one fragrance, I think, and really helps keep odor down. We hardly ever run the exhaust fans anymore. I recommend it (I’m sure I’ll see a report soon that this is an environmental disaster, but I haven’t seen it yet).