The Arboretum has really matured over the years.

[alfredo]

Olympus EPM2 Tokina EL 28mm 2.8

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What a wonderful set of pictures, my dear alfredo!

I feel as though I've just gone on a little stroll through your Arboretum.

The plants are just beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.

[alfredo]

2. Thanks. It's a wonderful place. In years past it was the flowers,

now it is the whole garden. It has filed in beautifully. So many shapes and textures, much more relaxed than a formal garden.

[Solly Mack]

3. I love the textures and light/contrast in the B&W.

Excellent.

[alfredo]

4. Thanks. Photo app really does a good job of converting to B&W.

[Solly Mack]

5. So you credit your app with the photo?

[alfredo]

6. No, the conversion to Black and White.

And the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[Solly Mack]

7. I used to enjoy spaghetti.

Now it looks like a sacrifice.

[alfredo]

8. Communion

[Solly Mack]

9. Touche

[alfredo]

10. Don't forget the Marinara

[Solly Mack]

11. I do so hate temptation. I'm not very good at resisting it.

Oh, the obvious! How it mocks us.

[alfredo]

12. I've given in to temptation so often, temptation has lost interest in me.

[Solly Mack]

13. Is this a test?

[alfredo]

14. No, but I had an eye test today. I passed and will receive my new glass in 3 weeks.

One nice thing about the VA, I get free glasses every year. My Cataracts and MD have not progressed, and there is no sign of MD in my right eye, the one I use for my viewfinder.

[Solly Mack]

15. That's good news.

I like that about the VA too.

I like tests. Well, not all tests.

[alfredo]

16. Give a few years of your life, and you can reap real benefits.

[Solly Mack]

17. I gave 20 years and some change.

As a spouse, but still...

What hat did you wear today?

[alfredo]

18. Gloriously retired. I did four years in the USASA, three years at Kagnew Station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagnew_Station


http://www.amazon.com/Didnt-Do-It-You-Betrayed/dp/0060780932

A whole chapter was about our base. Some of my friends were interviewed. They were quite a bit wilder than I.

[Solly Mack]

19. Thank you

[alfredo]

20. It was three hots and a cot. Either join or get drafted.

[Solly Mack]

21. I married into it.

I didn't get a uniform.

[alfredo]

22. I got out because I had issues with authority figures. I knew sooner or later I would

find myself in the brig.

[Solly Mack]

23. Authority is best served when it isn't.

[alfredo]

24. That's why I like Democrats. We are unruly, messy.

[Solly Mack]

25. I like reading phone books.

Just got back from the Vet. My doggies were well behaved. Does that make them more mature than I am?

[alfredo]

26. Ask them, but wait until they forget that you took them to the vet.

[Solly Mack]

27. They love me. They'd lie to me.

[alfredo]

28. They are well versed in "diplomatic speak."

[Solly Mack]

29. They told me I needed a nap. So I took one.

[alfredo]

30. My cat was my advisor too, though I think she

had ulterior motives .

[Solly Mack]

31. I would expect no less from a cat.

My dogs napped with me.

[alfredo]

32. My cat napped on me.

[Solly Mack]

33. If I was a cat I would nap on my human too.

I'd also want several humans to choose from, a fish tank with goldfish, and plenty of catnip.

[alfredo]

34. Luckily our cat never got over 9 lbs. She lived 22 years.

[Solly Mack]

35. That's a long life for a cat!

My calico was around 18 and my gray tabby was maybe 15 when they died. The calico was the surrogate mother to the tabby; who was once a feral kitten.

I like both cats and dogs.

Sadly, I do weigh more than 9 pounds.

[alfredo]

36. Now I am not sure we want a pet that could outlive us

[Solly Mack]

37. I worry about that too.

[alfredo]

38. No Yellow Naped Amazons, or such long lived animals. Maybe Budgies will be more my speed.

[Solly Mack]

39. Budgies are nice.

You could try guinea pigs and hamsters.

[alfredo]

40. I have experience with birds.

[Solly Mack]

41. That would be a bonus.

('bout time)

[alfredo]

42. I liked learning to read their body language.

Here's a fun trick. If you are in the room with chattering Budgies, you can quiet them by making the "giddyup" sound tk tk tk tk tk tk. It's a sound they make. Head nodding gets the attention of your budgie. Mimicing that movement with your finger is just as good.

[Solly Mack]

43. I'll have to remember that. I can tell when a cowbird is showing off.

[alfredo]

44. I was raised on a chicken, but I still like birds.

[Solly Mack]

45. Poor chicken.

[alfredo]

46. They had an open yard, so they weren't factory farmed. They kept the bug population down.

[Solly Mack]

47. Yeah, but you said you were raised ON a chicken. So, there. :P

I was having fun with it.

It's turtles, all the way down.

[alfredo]

48. Soft shell or snapping turtles?

We used to noodle for turtles. We were two kids and a gunny sack, supplying turtle meat to grannies all around the neighborhood. Turtle soup was ok, but it was too rich for my tastes.

[Solly Mack]

49. I've never noodled.

Sounds like you had fun.

[alfredo]

50. I was one of those free range kids, feral to the bone.

I just remembered digging Sassafras root. There is no aroma as wonderful as when your hatchet strikes the root. I loved making tea with the roots, but too much of it will give you the "trots."

The Sassafras tree is easy to spot due to it having three different leaves. The government says it is a potential carcinogen, but they could be blowing smoke because the oil is used for MDA and MDMA, the love drug.

[Solly Mack]

51. I've had the tea. Never had the pleasure of getting my own root.

Fairly certain no one would trust me with a hatchet. I was city feral, I suppose. You know, come in when the street lights come on. Though we often played hide and seek in the dark.

Close to dusk we would stand outside and wait for the chimney swifts to come out. I would turn in circles as they flew all around me. It was thrilling to have them so close, enveloping me; their rapidly beating wings drowning out all other sound. Sometimes they flew close enough to brush against the skin.

I used to pick Poke Salad as a child. Had an Aunt (eight to be exact) who loved the stuff. Never would eat any myself, but I know how to pick it and prepare it safely. Well, as safe as any poison can be prepared for human consumption.

My mom grew up on a cotton farm. As a child I spent summers in the country with a few of my many, many (many) cousins.

Love drug, eh?

[alfredo]

52. At dusk I would throw sticks in the air and watch bats chase it.

We were on a migration route, so some evenings we'd watch them cover the sky horizon to horizon. We were near Fort Knox, so I got to see the dive bombers use our house as a practice target. Dad wasn't amused. I used to love watching them roll into the dive. I could see the pilot in the cockpit.

Dad was an auto upholsterer. Back when they were testing the Delta dart, they had dad make the harness for the pilot. They were stronger than the human body, so if there was a hard crash, the pilot's body would pass through the harness.

[Solly Mack]

53. Now there's an mental image to give me nightmares. Thanks.

I would definitely be out watching the dive bombers.

My step-dad was big on old cars - Model T and the like. We'd spend some Sundays riding around in an old Ford. It was great.

My daddy rode motorcycles, both on and off the job. He crashed shortly before he got a promotion and stopped riding them altogether.

I like bats. Fascinating things. Did not know they played fetch, however.

[alfredo]

54. Dad was well known for his restoration and custom work.

He started as a worker in the upholstery shop, making seats for model A Fords.

[Solly Mack]

55. My Dad was known for always wearing a 3 piece suit.

Until he retired. It was a bit of shock to see him in jeans and his hair touching his ears.

What are the chances of a car made your way making its way my way and then me riding in it as a child?

[alfredo]

56. I got the chance to ride in many classic cars.

Dad did the upholstery for Ed Hill's twin dragster. Mr Hill let me sit in it. Dad measured the bucket seat with his Hands, nothing else.

[Solly Mack]

57. I seem to recall some photos you did of classic cars?

Wow. On the hand measuring. That's a natural gift.

[alfredo]

58. We have a big classic show here each summer.

The contours of the bucket seat shell may not have lent itself to more standard measures. Mr Hill wanted a tuck and roll cover, so that complicated the fabrication. the tuck and roll holds the batting better than a flat sheet.

Yeah, he was a talent. When I was three years old I was the mascot for our grade school drum and bugle corp. Dad made the uniform, including the hat. He could embroider too. Only thing he didn't do was furniture.

Ed Hill's twin. It's hard to see, but he had four tires on the rear to handle the power of his machine.


Dad's sign


The Logghe Stamping streamliner was another dragster he upholstered.


He probably did a lot more racing cars, but he never mentioned them. Of the custom upholsterers, it was him in the east, and Tony Nancy in the west that were in demand. Still dad's real loves were classic cars and young women. He wasn't perfect.

[Solly Mack]

59. There's something about tuck and roll cover that draws the eye

and compels you to touch. Always liked the feel of it.

My Aunt ran a diner, so I'm familiar with the term. Her booths were in that style. I also have a cousin who insisted her front seat be tuck and cover. She was real proud of that car. It was a Fairlane, I think. This was about 1968. The actual year, not the car year. I believe the car was a little older. That cousin is 28 years years older than I am. I'm the youngest of the youngest, with a large span of time in between. I already had second cousins when I entered the world. I was never a mascot, but I was a pet to the older cousins. A pest, too.

My dad enjoyed crime scenes (his job) and other women. My mom got pregnant with me during their separation. My parents never quiet got the hang of what separation means. Divorce either. His second wife didn't take too kindly to that. He held on to this third wife. My dad was a perfect mess.

[alfredo]

60. I loved how the batting got installed. Dad used a yardstick and a strip of cloth to

slide the batting in between the material. That was pretty neat.

Crime scenes were a dime a dozen in our nasty little town. The one that stands out was when the father of a friend went into a bank and shot the loan officer right above his right eye. I saw them bring the body out. What a mess. Turns out, the dead man was a friend of my sister.

Later that day, the police chief visited my friend's house and ordered him and his little brothers to leave town within 24 hours. They were officially homeless after that. My friend joined the army as part of an armored division. I lost contact with him.

[Solly Mack]

61. I've never seen the process but I'd imagine it involves a lot of work and skill.

Poor kids. They weren't to blame.

I spent my first thirteen years in Atlanta, and I mean downtown Atlanta, not one of those 'burbs that like to call itself Atlanta. My father was also a native and my mother from the country. I've seen some things growing up, but the adults would immediately remove us from the area least we witness anything too terribly bad.

I could the difference between calibers just by sound though, and if it was closeby or not. Still can.

[alfredo]

62. After Shively and then Detriot, I feel war weary.

[Solly Mack]

63. It all seemed normal to me.

But then my mom moved us to the mountains. Talk about culture shock. People wanted to know what part of the "North" I was from because I talked so fast. Parts of my family came down the mountain many years before and I didn't see the sense in going back. I was a teen, leaving all my friends behind.

I cried like a baby, I will confess. I could take a city bus anywhere I wanted to go. Museums and theatres were just a short walk away. I was and remain a huge fan of puppetry arts. No such things were to be found in our new home. But I did find other things.

I learned to enjoy the surprises held along a wooded trail and the beauty of a forest. My feet adapted to dirt and fallen pine needles like they'd been born to it.

I learned to "buck" dance and flatfooting, and the difference between a hoedown and a hootenanny. I say that in earnest, because I also learned that it matters - it really matters knowing the difference.

I used to "cut a rug" with my mom and my aunt at the Diner but we did different dances. I learned to two-step and waltz next to the beer taps.

Oddly enough, I learned flatfooting and buck dancing in much the same way. Near the liquor.


Weary as you feel, you wouldn't change any of it would you?

[alfredo]

64. Hell no.

A friend needed some watch photos for CD artwork, so my day has been spent doing that. The winnowing down was the most time consuming part of it.

We didn't have hootenannys, but we did have barn dances/hoedowns.

[Solly Mack]

65. I dislike the winnowing most of all.

I'd do lining out with my mom as precentor when I was very young. There was one song we did all the time because people asked for it. I won't be sharing the title, but I will note that her father was a Baptist preacher. I was ever so glad when I didn't have to sing anymore.

My family liked to gather and tell jokes, riddles and play other guessing games more so than sing. Very rowdy bunch.

I'd change a few things.

What kind of music on the CD?

[alfredo]

66. Not sure. He didn't say the name of the group.

A friend did the cover art for Mountain's "Mystic Fire."
She's a geologist and artist living in Arizona.

[Solly Mack]

67. Like falling into the wayback machine.

If you know what I mean.

[alfredo]

68. Remember when album covers were important.

[Solly Mack]

69. I do. I'm a Frank Frazetta fan.

[alfredo]

70. H.R. Giger is my favorite

Last edited Thu Jun 18, 2015, 08:41 PM - Edit history (1)

[Solly Mack]

71. Dune, the book series, is usually my number one book love.

It slips and slides, always changing places with Game of Thrones.

Though Dune has been, and remains, a bit of a "bible" to me.

So I know who Giger is.

[alfredo]

72. Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy is a favorite of mine. I highly recommend it.

I am reading "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi. I read his first book "The Windup Girl."

I like Orhan Pamuk's books, and Salman Rushdie.

[Solly Mack]

73. I own it, O&C, but have never cracked it open. I will now.

I do that, a lot. Buy books when I am already behind on my reading. The books patiently sit on the shelf, waiting for me to discover their wonders.

I am prone to moving new books down the list to read old favorites again. Now I'll have to add new books to the lonely corner, where they'll keep each other company - ever hopeful.

I'm all over the board when I read. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to my book shelves. Well, maybe a preponderance of Southern authors, both old and new. And maybe, just maybe, a whole lot of books about the family dynamic and the individual against the backdrop of societal norms and mores - and hardships. Which is just a long winded way of saying I enjoy Faulkner and Williams - Alice Walker and Fannie Flagg - Dorothy Allison and ever so many more.

I also enjoy sci-fi and fantasy, but I do so like to mire myself in the heat of red clay and hot summers, where the dysfunction that comes from being human can turn a single day into a generational battle for the soul.

[alfredo]

74. Here's a book I highly recommend

http://www.amazon.com/Hullabaloo-Guava-Orchard-A-Novel/dp/0802144500

It's delightful.

This is very good too.

http://www.amazon.com/Interpreter-Maladies-Jhumpa-Lahiri/dp/039592720X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QJ7EYSJJ08WFC7DJ7DE

I just ordered a book by Jhumpa Lahiri, "Unaccustomed Earth."

[Solly Mack]

75. Thank you. All sound interesting and right up my alley.

Especially "Unaccustomed Earth", which I just read a review of from the NYTimes.

Ever read Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

[alfredo]

76. Yes. 100 years is one of my all time favorites. I've read it 2 or 3 times.

"Shalimar the Clown" by Salman Rushdie is really good.

I might as well add "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy, just mention to my other favorite Indian author.

[Solly Mack]

77. I better get busy.

The last 'new' book in the lonely corner I read was published in 1957 - the memoirs of the famous Courtesan, Harriet Wilson. The next book is on Mary Tudor. Perhaps I'll shake things up a bit.

I also read the graphic comic, "The Walking Dead". I'm a huge fan of Romero, and Kirkman's treatment of people in a world of Zombies is one I enjoy.

[alfredo]

78. I will read until my eyes give out.

[Solly Mack]

79. I read all the time. I just go through periods of re-reading old stuff.

Like comfort food, only better.

I think it's time to add something new to the menu.

I do wear glasses.

[alfredo]

80. I went from reading glasses to trifocals.

[Solly Mack]

81. I'm just bi

So, you win. So to speak.

[alfredo]

82. I remember when I first got my trifocals. I was in a pickup ball game with family.

A fly ball was hit in my direction, but because of the three lenses, the ball was jumping all over the place. All I could do is get out of the way. I had to turn in my macho man card that day.

[Solly Mack]

83. Oh, now. Piffle on macho.

Though I can imagine a little ding to the pride. As I get older, I get more and more dings.

[alfredo]

84. Peaople do remark on my dings. They say I'm really dingy.

[Solly Mack]

85. Don't ya just love words!

[alfredo]

86. Yes, and the visuals they create.

[Solly Mack]

87. Nice boat.

[alfredo]

88. It appears to be hyperrealism. Good painting.

[Solly Mack]

89. I like it.

It has a bird in it.

[alfredo]

90. And the oars lead your eye to the bird and the motor.

[Solly Mack]

91. They do.

The whole of it has me wanting to be on the water.

[alfredo]

92. Serene.

[Solly Mack]

93. That's probably it exactly.

But I do thrive on chaos.

[alfredo]

94. That's my driving style.

[Solly Mack]

95. I love road trips with no set destination.

I love driving at night, when the world seems bigger and it feels like it all belongs to me.

Until the cop pulls me over for speeding.

[alfredo]

96. Many times I set out with my camera with no destination in mind.

Sometimes my destination ends up at a bistro, and the camera just hangs there.

BTW Depression Bill is right over my location. I'm staying in.

[Solly Mack]

97. There are times when observing is better.

And the beer. Or coffee.

Naps are always good when it rains. Old movies and hot chocolate are too.

[alfredo]

98. Yeah, I have some Dortmunder Gold, a good book, and an easy chair.

Life is good.

[Solly Mack]

99. I'm spending time with Jane Austen.

I adore the dialogue.

[alfredo]

100. Now I am recharging my senior citizen's status by watching Antique Roadshow.

[Solly Mack]

101. I get my senior on after I roll around in the grass with my dogs...

...and need up getting up.

Your way seems less painful.

[alfredo]

102. The only pain is knowing I have nothing of value other than some cast iron truing stands.

Each one is worth about $400.

[Solly Mack]

103. I've a solid wood, rough hewn table handmade in 1840.

I beeswax it twice a month and buff it weekly.

I also have a drop-leaf table made in Mexico in 1900. It was a gift from Cherokee friends from Mexico.

Not sure their worth, but they mean a lot to me.

[alfredo]

104. I have other things that could have worth, I never think

of selling them.

[Solly Mack]

105. My stuff is so me specific that no one else wants it.

[alfredo]

106. Yeah, I have an iron Ethiopian blessing cross.

See one here: http://coyotespaw.com/Detailed/133.html

I bought it while in Mekele Ethiopia.

[Solly Mack]

107. Neat. During your tour?

[alfredo]

108. I spent three years up in Asmara Eritrea, pre independence from Ethiopia.

It was a photographers paradise. When I got home, I found nothing of interest to photograph, so I put up my camera for over 2 decades. It wasn't the lack of subjects, it was PTSD. But, I did find people weren't as friendly as I experienced in Africa.

[Solly Mack]

109. I read about Kagnew Station the other day.

I wonder if reliance as a community is related to the friendliness of its inhabitants.

I'm glad you got your camera out again.

I'm familiar with PTSD.

[alfredo]

110. Tribal ties were strong in Asmara.

I'm glad I got back intohotography. I'm also glad I started going to the VA. They recognized the
PTSD and started treating it.

[Solly Mack]

111. It's gotten better around here due to proper treatment.

I'm off to your Litha walk thread.

[alfredo]

112. Yeah, it was a nice way to spend the solstice.

I left for home right before the golden hour.