Tools of the Trade

 

For a number of years I have belonged to a photography group on Yahoo. It is low pressure and fun, well at least for me. I get to share my pictures. We have a contest each month, and sometimes I even win. For the month of July the subject had been, "Tools of the Trade." For years I had been a carpenter, but now because of my knees, I can no longer do that on a regular basis. Still I have all the tools and occasionally get to put them to use. When they announced that July's subject was "Tools of the Trade", I started thinking about my subjects. Much to my surprise when I started preparing the shots, I found the tools came with memories. I loved being a carpenter. The feel and smell of the wood. How you would start a job and see it grow before your eyes. In the morning there was only a wood deck, and by evening the house would be framed. By the end of the week you could see the entire house. It was great to be part of that. Sometimes the owner's would have you build secret rooms or hidden trap doors, but the best part was the guys I got to work with. They were a great group. When I started taking these pictures, many of those memories came back. I have aways known the power of a photograph, now I know the power in creating one.


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Photo Day with Shelly

 
 
 
 
Both Shelly and I enjoy photography. She is much better than I am, but still it is something we can do together. Usually we plan a day and a place to go take our shots. Some are larger or have more subject matter, still we have a good time. We each shoot away then we compare our work.
On this day we got a late start. There were a number of old barns and sheds about 5 miles from our house. We live in the middle of tobacco world, so there are lots of old barns used to cure tobacco. For years I had driven past them and wanted to get some shots before they fell down, or rebuilt. I had wanted to catch that "low afternoon angle golden light."
I believe very strongly that a person's property belongs to them. Sure I may want to take some pictures, but we would ask permission first. We knocked on the near by house and no one was home, so we went to the neighbor to ask them if they knew who owned the near by barns. To our surprise the elderly woman said she had grown up in the house next door and she knew the owners very well. They had treated her like a daughter as she was growing up. Just about that time it started to rain. The elderly couple invited us in while she called the owners. It was very nice and unexpected surprise. They were friendly and interested in what we were doing. They told us lots of the history of their family and beamed about things in their home. The owner of the barns gave us permission and the rain finally stopped. So we said our good byes and headed out to shoot some pictures.
The clouds were very dramatic, and the barns had lots of texture. Mostly it is just an excuse to enjoy some time together. Probably this will be one of the last times we will get to do this. Shelly is getting older and will be soon moving out to her own apartment. Her life will get busy, and there will not be time. I understand this is the way of life. Still I will miss our times together. Maybe someday she will look back at some of these shots and it will remind her of our day together. That will be enough.

Quite the Enjoyable Experience

Earlier this year, I had an unusual experience. A friend of mine that lives in Australia decided to take a trek across her country. Ziggy Quirk had posted her itinerary on the net for her friends to see. Just out of curiosity, I fired up Google Earth and started following her adventure. Much to my surprise she had a mobile phone that connected her to the net. Each day I could IM her, while she was actually on her trip. I was looking at photos from exactly where she was. It was really fantastic. It was one of the most fun things I have done this year.
Much to my surprise it has happen again just minutes ago. Another friend of mine from Canada, Elizabeth Levi was/is on a trip to South America. I saw her name pop up and I said "hello." She is exploring the Andies Mountains in Ecuador. With Google Earth, you can see photos, and even elevation changes. I cannot express how much fun I find this to be. I guess there are probably lots of folks that are doing this, but it is new and exciting for me. When Liz posts some of her videos to YouTube, I will try to put a link here so you can see one of them. I love the Internet.

Who is Watching Whom?

 
 

A friend of mine, Fred Lewis*, went to shoot "24 Hours at Daytona" for a magazine. He asked me to watch his cats. I have never been a big cat person, but Tiger and MiniMe are very nice. So I said yes. Well learned a lot about cats this week. Keep your hands to yourself. A dog rolls over on his back and you can scratch his chest. Not so with a cat. I had been playing with Tiger, when he came over and laid down at my feet on his back. I reached down to rub his chest. BIG mistake. 4 paws loaded with razor sharp claws like lightning trapped my hand. I knew enough not to pull away or it would have been shredded, but it really hurt. I also learned, to relax and they will come to you. They entertain themselves, but they really are glad you are there. Finally, if you pet the cats, don't touch your face. Something in their hair, makes my skin swell, my eyes water, and my nose run. So if you pet them.....wash your hands. It was fun taking care of the "kids."

Found an Old Friend

Years ago I use to play a game called, MechWarrior. You are the defender or as is the case most of the time the attacker. Some missions you are defending trains, or passengers, or you may have to hunt down traitors, or crush a group of pirates. Each mission was an adventure. Some tasks were so difficult I thought I would never complete it, but I always did. I played, MechWarrior 2, Ghost Bear, MechWarrior 3, MechWarrior 4, The Black Knight, and MechWarrior Mercenaries. There haven't been any additional major programs that I know of for the PC. What a shame.


I was at the library the other day, looking through the used books they have for sale. Shockingly, I came across a number of paper backs, all in the MechWarrior series. Each was only .$.50 so I figured not much risk. Wow, to my surprise they are fairly good. Not great of course, but fun. It brought back memories of old battles. Not exactly as exciting as a new game, but enjoyable to read, and the images are all in the mind.