Red Sky

Red sky at night....and all that jazz.

Survival

Have you ever noticed that in the natural world things seem to thrive in spite of extraordinary circumstances?  Take for instance these flowers.  They are growing with abandon on the lake shore, oblivious to the over abundance of water they have been receiving from above.

My garden, on the other hand, is in a sad state of affairs.  Drowning from the excessive amount of water.  No matter that it was planted in raised beds carefully constructed to allow for drainage during the wet times.  Six tomato plants have already bitten the dust and my peppers are on suicide watch, mere shadows of their former selves.  And don't even mention the basil!

And yet 200 feet to the west, nestled on the water's edge, inundated with the runoff of 30 days of rain, these sweet white flowers continue to bloom and grow, utterly content with their soggy lot in life.

There's a lesson here somewhere.

Maybe I'll figure it out...once it stops raining.

My brain functions at a much higher level when the sun is shining.

Enough Already

We had a one day reprieve from the rain.

One day.

Monday morning we awoke to the sun streaming through our bedroom window.  The sky was blue. Nary a cloud in sight.  It was so beautiful that I drug the kayak down from the barn and gave her a good scrubbing.  Unfortunately by the time the dinner bell rang storm clouds were gathering.

So.

I drug the gleaming kayak back to the barn in the nick of time.  Just minutes before the deluge began.

Again.

I am convinced Mother Nature is sleeping at the switch or some heavenly prankster has mislabeled the switch. We are getting all of the wet stuff budged for 2015 in one month.  Shouldn't this be divied up a little better?  Spread out among the months in equal portions so as not to leave anyone out?  I say fire the bum.  Whoever is in charge of that switch needs to go.  We need an engineer or an accountant in charge.  Someone regimented.  Someone who plays by the book, not a free spirit with a penchant for practical jokes.

Enough already with the rain.

This rant brought to you by Noah & the Ark the Builders.

You're Never Too Old

The image above was taken on a flawless April day.  It was perfection.  South Florida at its finest.  I think I said those exact words to Stephen as we floated along in clear blue water, the sun warming our faces while Chris fished and Bethany and the kids searched for shells.

And then this happened...

The quiet was broken.

The gauntlet was dropped.



Cowabunga....you're never to old to be a kid again!

Who Gives a Hoot?

When my camera is idle, the blog lies fallow.  Photography it seems is the cornerstone to my creativity in both words and images.

In recent weeks I have given a great deal of thought as to why I have been content to allow my camera to sit idly on the shelf gathering dust.   I am not certain I have yet begun to scratch the surface as to the why, but as my thoughts gave way to words on paper (an exercise in journaling),  a couple of  truths  emerged from the muddy depths of what remains of my brain.  (Is that a run-on sentence?)

1.  I take the same photographs over and over and over again.  Somewhere along the way I have lost the ability to take something old and make it new again.  I have all of the tools.  What is lacking is the drive to use them effectively.  Creatively.  Then again, perhaps the ability is not lost.  Perhaps it was never really there.

2.  Expectations.  Both real and perceived.  From myself.  From others.  The more I felt something was expected of me, the more I retreated, intentionally leaving the camera at home on vacation or gatherings of family and friends.  If I don't have the camera great pictures can not be expected.

No camera.  No photographs.

We all know what happens when a skill is abandoned.  It begins to rust and eventually decays into a shell of it's former self.  A fragile shell that can easily crumble if handled improperly.  I am in the danger zone.

3.  Insecurity.  The Kid tells me my personality type is "Amiable."  I want to please  everyone. The seeds of creativity can never blossom and grow with that kind of burden weighing down on its fragile shoulders.  Here I sit 1/3rd of the way through my sixth decade and I still don't have the self-confidence to not give a damn whether or not what I do with the camera pleases anyone but myself.  I am too old for this nonsense.

I am also well aware that 90% of all of the above comes from within and but I don't know how to let it out.

I know, I know, who gives a hoot?

Just take the picture and get on with it.

Batman & Robin & Cole too!

Batman,  The Cole Train & Robin

Baseball season is upon us.

Way back in March I was fortunate enough to capture this image of Batman, Robin & The Cole Train (aka: AJ Burnett, Gerrit Cole & Jeff Locke) at the Pirate's final home spring training game in Bradenton, FL.  Little did I know on that day, when the offense was scoring runs like crazy, that my boys of summer would start the season giving me an abundance of heart burn.

Things are better now.

If only those darn Cardinals would start losing.

Let's Go Bucs.

For Jim and Micky

For Jim and Micky who are tired of viewing Henna in her Santa hat.  I really don't know what this means.

What I do know is that I wish it would stop raining.