techNOlogy

Drove to Quincy Florida home of my favorite newspaper job. Would post pictures but silica based technology has failed. Laptop hard drive making cement mixer sound. Must fall back to home, make repairs.

29.31.032N 82.13.318W

tea leaves

On the road. Greeted by this computer screen two days running.

Spuds Florida

I-95

boxing day

disappointment

Yes, it was a baby, but not the one whose arrival they had long awaited.

Trinity

President Bush delivered his Kwanzaa Hanukkah Christmas messages a few days back. He covered a lot of bases, Virgin Birth, Light of Hope, Triumph over Tyranny, Those Lost in Freedom's Cause, Commitment to Compassion, Creativity, Collective Work.

The White House bows to diversity and simultaneously squeezes three takes on the Winter Solstice into the Bush Policy Bag. Impressive.

However the President failed to say words recognizing the Holiday of Commerce. Words for the Nutcracker, for Santa, for Frosty the Bleeping Snowman. Will his omission have a political cost?

Yesterday, Jose Luis Espinal of Washington Heights NY had his name changed in Manhattan Civil Court to Jesus Christ.

That, my friends, is Freedom.

deadline

CSX tracks south of the Woolen Mills Road

Making a pdf book of street views for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. It is a rush project. Problems abound. What is a street view? At the moment much of the work is in color (gasp!). The current page count is 62 and I'm in day one of layout. Have 48 hours to finish.

Bille Mory

In debt to the French.

Last month it was their machine, the da Vinci Robot, taking bad pieces out of me. This month they are sending me web traffic, 40 visitors yesterday.

How, in French, do you say:

"hey French people, come paint my house!"

Note- the nude photographs get more visits...

solstice

Look at the bright side New York chums, starting tomorrow the days get longer, more time for walking to work.

transcendental sierra

John Lockhart

Kelly Scott Perdue

My friends Chuck and Nan are bearing the loss I fear more than any other.

day of rest

Suburban JC, the missing years

The New York Times has an interesting piece about Angelo Rizzuto:

No one saw these images while Mr. Rizzuto lived. When he was dying of cancer in 1967, he asked that his photographs - some 60,000 of them - be sent to the Library of Congress, along with $50,000 from his estate to finance a book of his work. The library printed a cheap, staple-bound booklet, then used the bulk of Mr. Rizzuto's money to acquire the work of more famous photographers like Diane Arbus.

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The Genius of the Crowd- Charles Bukowski

sandy claws

Cricket the logorrheic doll

This Christmas promises to be a simple affair, two family meals combined with meditation and contemplation. Gifts of company, gifts of spirit.

In the past we had some fantastic Potlatch Xmases. Santa strode about the room supreme. In those years E&H reaped the bounty, but were paradoxically inoculated. They were gifted into anti-materialism.

The doll above was a present the twins received one Christmas. One of those presents you give to the children of your enemies, like a blanket covered with variola virus, or a 1000 piece puzzle with one piece removed.

Cricket contained batteries and made scary conversation like "lets be friends!"

Time passed. The mouthy Cricket fell out of favor, lost her clothes, was relegated to outside.

I remember her final afternoon above ground.

E&H took the doll. They dug a shallow grave. They placed her in the bottom. They covered her with sand.

They filled a 2 gallon watering can and painstakingly rained its contents on the doll hole.

Were they hoping Cricket would sprout or were they thoroughly destroying her electronics?

Whichever, I was proud.

Twin Oaks

Drove out to the Twin Oaks community with Danny Schmidt and Devon Sproule. The short story is 102 people being nice to me. Pay it forward. Sproule and Schmidt are musicians + both have connections with Twin Oaks. The community fed me, let me sit next to a wood heater and listen.

There are days when I feel like I am sitting on the sidelines getting ready to be readmitted to the game of life.

Being with these players, with these kind people, gives me cause for optimism.

Memo to Mr. Dylan-Bob: both these musicians dance around the genre question: jazz/folk/roots? Spin them on your XM show and possibly you could supply a label?

Victory Bridge

Flaubert wrote, "To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."

cold house

I like non profits. They do good work. Housing, heating, feeding, inoculating.
They contact me and ask to use photos for free. How can I refuse? I don't.

Not a good business plan.

The fifteenth Virginia Blog Carnival hosted this week by Below the Beltway.

day of rest

Zion Baptist

This the time of year for the plastic baby Jesus. I've been sampling nativity scenes.
Watched "Kingdom of Heaven" the other night. Young Orlando Bloom as a sword carrying Christian in Jerusalem of long ago. Found the movie profoundly discouraging, the trouble wrought by sand religions.
Here is another outpost, in His name. Zion Baptist, on the edge of Route 17, between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers.

grade crossing

West Point

left bank of the Pamunkey

therapy

I am on the no diet. No fruits, no vegetables, no nuts, no garlic, no onions, no apples, no tofu, lots of highly refined processed food. White bread, white rice. The adolescent boy diet.
I could write my doc and see if its time to revert to macrobiotic/raw food? Really, I am not in a hurry to eat healthy.
This no diet is fun.
Cheeseburger therapy approved at last.

BB-63

U.S.S. Missouri Tokyo Bay

the place

looking east, Albemarle County to the right, Charlottesville City to the left

In 1848 the railroad came to Charlottesville. For a while the Woolen Mill was really connected, served from its port by the Rivanna Navigation Company and via rail by the Virginia Central Railway.

The first snow of the season fell on Charlottesville yesterday.

service dogs

Attended Service Dogs of Virginia's graduation yesterday. The dogs, Ivy, Independence, Rocky and Dandelion were raised by various saints in the community and trained by Peggy Law.

Pictured above, Mark Snyder and his dog Ivy. Below, puppies at the beginning of the process.





the Virginia Blog Carnival rolls on, this week hosted by sophistpundit

frog dog

French Poodle

Blackbird needs a dog, I am hoping that she'll selects a dog that is genetically disposed to regard other living creatures favorably. Blackbird likes 130 pound Shepherds and dogs whose last literary appearance was in Call of The Wild.
My mantra is lab-mix lab-mix lab-mix.
This has been a bad-press week for Labradors.
Over yonder in France: was the face-transplant patient's dog trying to kill it's mistress or was the dog clumsy at CPR?
French people are different than American? (not so fat...)
Maybe French Labradors are different than American Labradors?

friends

The photographers came to my house last night, from Kuala Lumpur, from Greensboro, from Charlottesville, from Tye River. Friends are a sweet thing. Looked at photos, drank scotch, laughed. Sophie ate a plate of cookies.

home alone

blackbird on the streets of Davetown, Dave's birthday today

Blackbird flew south this morning after 2 weeks of being my caretaker, shepherd and everything through rain, night, frost, fugues, depressive interludes.
I haven't been easy, but I have rested easy, I have been cared for. A curative visit appreciated beyond words.

Amsel flew towards the south this morning after 2 weeks of the Centres my employee, sheepdog and all by rains, harms, freezing, Fugues, of Zwischenspiele depressing. I was not simple, but I have simple, me interested was stopped. A curative visit estimated beyond the words (english to german to french to english again, courtesy babelfish, the poetic translation machine)