Welcome
to My World
October, 2003
Click the images to see larger images, then use your "BACK"
button or click on the larger image to return to this page.
Links to all the weblog pages.
Price list for photographic prints.
 Self-Portrait
Since I'm showing you everyone else in my world, it is only fair
that I start with a photo of myself. Here I am, late at night, a
solitary individual under a 40-watt bulb. There are big speakers
on either side of my head. My wife is asleep, so the music isn't
very loud. I am writing in my journal, a continuous effort of mine
since 1982. On the music stand is The Artful Dodger by
Nick Bantock, a beautifully
designed book effectively using a typeface called Scala that Martin
Majoor designed in 1999. Music stands make big, heavy books easy
to read.
[Click the photo to see a larger photo. To
get back here, click the large photo or use the "BACK"
button of your browser.]
.
|
Boots and a Collar
 When
looking for the surreal, there's no place like home. My wife likes
fun things, so she ordered these frog boots. Our young, big cat likes
to get in fights. A wounded ear developed an abcess. Those are two
drains sticking out the side of his face. The collar kept him from
scratching them out. For days he wandered the walls, rubbing his face
against them. He's doing fine, now. Thanks for wondering!
. |
 Face
in a Wheelbarrow
My banana
and blender blade face was quite a success at the Arden
Fair Exhibit at the end of September. One teacher took a poster
of it to his fifth-grade class and had everyone write about it --
the first time I've ever gotten critiqued by twenty people at one
time! (All the reviews were glowing, by the way.) Lifted by their
praise, when I saw these eye bolts in the bottom of a borrowed wheelbarrow,
I was inspired to add dandelion eyebrows, a stick nose, and a twig
mouth. I think this guy looks a bit like Abraham Lincoln or, as a
therapist might point out, my dad. The last therapist I had killed
himself. Now why he do that? Was it something I said? One of the hardships
the grandiose must bear is a feeling that everything is our responsibility.
"And
when I looked to heaven, it was all aflame,
And someone's saying I'm to blame."
.
|
 Reflections
I love reflections, especially when they are self-referential
and therefore mock my swelling ego. This pair of mirrored columns
on East 79th Street in New York City are a delight. This photo of
them is the second I've taken recently of multiple mes (that is, more
than one me). Are such photos a sign I have multiple personalities?
Last month I had six reflections
in one photo. This month I'm down to two. That's improvement!
. |
 Musicians
Twenty of us groupies, mostly from Texas, were in Manhattan to hear
Jean Farris Fuller's organ recital at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
That's her in the middle, soon after leaving the Rainbow Room on
our way to Carmine's, where I would break a tooth eating salad.
This isn't a flattering photo of Jean, who is the organist at St.
David's in Austin, or of David Stevens (on the right), who is
the music director, but it does catch some of the New York frenzy
that grabs hold of unwary visitors as they make their way at night
through the big city. Also, note the reflection above Jean's head
of the last three letters of the word "RAINBOW" -- reflected,
it spells "WOE". Jean's had her share and is still as
up-beat and fun to be around as anyone I know. If you know Jean,
it may be as the piano player in the movie Waiting
for Guffman.
.
|
 First
Leaf of Fall, 2003
This leaf reminds me of the twelve I photographed two years ago. Click
here to see those photos. Saint Paul says we are all better off
dead, that is, past the sufferings of this life into our Redeemer's
joy. He then goes on to say it's our job to stick around and do the
work we've been given to do.Bobie,
my faithful feline companion of 18 years, is barely eating, though
she keeps crying for food. She's been especially affectionate lately
(that's her job) and, in fact, is in my lap now as I type, purring
away. I thought she was going to die last year, but she fooled me.
Perhaps she's fooling me again. Better
Off Dead is, by the way, the name of a '50s-style band from Jersey
City.
. |
 Addiction
Technology
An odd phenomenon in my world at the moment is the variety of people
asking for my help. For example, here's an outfit called the Gulf
Coast Addiction Technology Transfer Center whose researchers wanted
their website re-designed. Since their logo is based on an ellipse,
I based my design on a group of overlapping ellipses. This work came
to me via a friend who has fascinating stories to tell about hard
drug use in Texas and Australia. I didn't know, for example, that
heroin addicts often start by snorting and only take up the needle
after about seven years, when they can no longer get high by snorting.
Snorters don't consider themselves junkies, who are trash. So, when
they can no longer get high by snorting, they face a dilemma. Do they
start using needles and become junkies? Or do they go into rehab?
Me, I snort pixels, now in year seven.
. |
 Accidents
I've had three accidents recently and I don't know what they mean.
The way I think, any unusual event is a sign, but of what? In this
case, I was simply walking across a newly-mowed field at a charitable
event in the Brandywine Valley when I stepped into a hole. It was
only two feet deep, about 18 inches round, cased in concrete. I went
down. I could have easily broken a leg but the only thing I broke
was the UV filter on my camera. If you click on the photo of the broken
filter, you'll see a photo of my friend Jack taken later that afternoon.
. |
 Impractical
Horsewomen
No, I don't understand why my wife loves to ride horses around and
around but I can plainly see she loves it, so I encourage her enthusiasm,
or so I'd like to think, and pray I don't get in the way. She didn't
ride horses when I met her. Changes can make a marriage difficult.
This change has been as easy as falling off a log, I mean, a horse.
. |
 A
young bird's first experience with glass
I saw this juvenile Hermit Thrush fly into the window and fall to
the deck. It didn't hit that hard, so I was surprised it remained
dazed and confused as long as it did. Eventually we put it in a shoebox
and brought it inside, planning to take it to Tri-State Bird Rescue
in Newark (302 737-9543). When my wife checked on the critter an hour
later, it exploded out of the box, dropping purple poop on the door,
walls and floors as it flew. Eventually my wife caught it under a
towel and very gently put it outside, where it sat still for a few
seconds and then was airborne, apparently still healthy and hopefully
wiser.
.
|
 Westminster's
Clergy and Staff Welcome You
After morning prayer, a review of the calendar for the next two weeks
and a stimulating discussion of Income-Tax Withholding, the clergy
and staff of Westminster donned masks for this photo. That's me, tall
in back. To learn more about the church that employs me, visit www.wpc.org.
. |
 Halloween
Costumes
For awhile, you will find 15 photos of Westminster Church's Harvest
Festival on their website.
Earlier that night, I shot this mother-daughter team in Arden. Will
I take time to upload the other ten shots from Arden? Hold your
breath!
Next month's photos.
Previous month's photos.
. |
|
