Capture This

I think some people overdo the use of black & white photos. It has its place, but I think it needs to be a highly selective thing and not the focus. Too many photos are diminished by eliminating the colors in them. 

But to each their own. If someone is happy with their results using primarily black & white, then why should I care? 

I know the excitement I feel when I capture an image that's close to what I am seeing. If another person feels excitement with black and white, that's great for them. I have a few photos that I think are enhanced by black & white or where it's needed to communicate the mood of the moment.  

..... Continued

More desperate musings, frantic notes and possibilities for unjustified rants .....

• Inflation these days ..... Arby's used to have specials offering their classic roast beef sandwich, five for $5. Now the big sale is two for $7. And it feels like a bargain. I wonder if they offer senior discounts. That's a 250% difference!! Apparently, my brain is going through a deflationary phase as I had to use a calculator.
• I drive by old haunts and see my youth flash by me. I wonder how much is revisionary history? 
• I occasionally think about moments in my life where decisions had to be made and directions to go in, chosen, and wonder what if I had taken a different path?
• Last week, as I arrived at a doctor appointment, the first three people seen as I walked in the door, were all in wheelchairs. I realized at that moment how fortunate I have been.

Weekend Musings and Notes

Notes on the end of the world (as I know it) ......

• I wandered through Best Buy last night and felt totally lost. Way in over my head. The only thing less than intimidating was the microwave ovens. 
• Why does it feel like I'm driving around at night and that everyone coming towards me has their brights on? Both literally and figuratively. 
• Had to watch an instructional video on YouTube to make sure I am eating crab legs correctly. I'm all hands and fingers. I was worried that I looked like a neanderthal man.
• Whenever I'm driving about and the Tears For Fears song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, comes on the radio, I instantly become one of those annoying, volume turned up way too high guys.
• I keep thinking that I'm all hip and cool and whatnot and if not any of that, well then, I'm still certainly an elite vinyl record collector   .... and then see a sub-headline on a music and culture website about new album releases and out of nine musicians/bands mentioned, I don't recognize a single name.

These Days

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about life and the end of it. Several doctor visits in a year will do that to a person. You realize that you are not invincible any longer. You see trends and patterns that you are not that far away from. 

I suddenly think there's importance in acknowledging the significance in every day I am given. It can all change in an instant.

Fun fact ..... I have stopped looking at the obituaries in the newspaper. 

I simply want to focus on the next fifteen minutes. My idea of planning ahead is to look forward to tomorrow.

Don't Get Your Expectations Up

My kind of luck .....

A day that was supposed to begin with a spectacular "ring of fire" annular solar eclipse, there was too much cloud cover and all that was witnessed was a hazy sun and some weird lighting for five minutes. I should have expected nothing more for an autumn day in western Oregon. 

Maybe it's just the senior citizen in me but I am still dealing with inflationary sticker shock. Too many items on the shelves of grocery stores where in the past I wouldn't have thought twice about purchasing but now I refuse to pay the asking price. Am I the only one? Am I in the minority that doesn't matter? Does it matter in the grand scheme of what is decided to be produced?

It wasn't my intent here to sound too negative. There was a dozen or so herons, unaffected by clouds or eclipses, feasting in the field today. Or perhaps engaged in the dance of the herons ...... I managed to get a photo. 

Year of Anxiety

2023 .... I am looking forward to its conclusion.

This has been a year of health related anxiety followed by intense bouts of gratitude. So far anyway. I attempt to stay thankful and humble through it all knowing that a new challenge may be lurking.

I wonder if this is what the senior years of life are destined to be? ....  Always another issue to be concerned with.

Through all the doctor and lab visits though, I have seen so many people struggling to get to the next moment. You just never know what's going on in the lives of others. And then suddenly, it's right there in front of you. So always be thankful for what you have!!

Chatting With a Stranger aka The Fish & Chips Chronicles

Enjoying dinner at a picnic table for this food cart pod I recently discovered, and a stranger asks if he can sit at my table. That was the start of a 10–15-minute conversation about the joys of fish and chips and a few out-of-town suggestions where I can find more. 

Who would have thought I could be so chatty with someone I've never previously met? My normal yearlong conversational warm up period was waived.

But I suppose given a great and proper topic, I can open up with anyone.

I'm thinking that as long as the fish is not too thickly battered, and the chips are basic chips and not some of the sliced potato variations and takes that every so-called chef and hipster cook seems to like to experiment with and push onto us, I could enjoy them for dinner, every evening. It's the food from heaven.

I'm pretty sure that when Jesus fed the hungry with fish, they just accidently omitted the mention of chips and deep frying.

You know how everyone in the world (but me), gets so freaking ga-ga and googly eyed about cheese and pizza? ..... Well that's myself with fish & chips.

A New Statistic

OK being a acknowledged lifetime stats freak, I thought they had everything covered. That they had a number or measure for every possible situation. Apparently, I was wrong. Though I've yet to see it on the back of a baseball card. Or in any of my Bill James analytics books. I just read a baseball statistic that I've never seen before ..... average sprint speed, measured in feet-per-second. As in, said player that I was reading about was the sixth slowest in the majors among those with at least a hundred at bats. I would think that two or three at bats would be enough of a sample size to qualify for that judgement. Or that just the eyeball test and assigned label of "slow" would suffice. But I guess there has to be a number. And it even has a decimal point .... 24.6 feet per second. That "sounds" like sprinters speed to me but it's actually slower than slow.

The Evening

A cool, wet, breezy Monday evening and me sitting on my back deck, listening to the world. I might just stay here for an hour or two .... or longer. If I could slow down time, this would be the perfect moment. A fire for warmth would be nice but obviously not essential. The weather forecast says rain will resume soon and that the temperature "real feel" is 50 degrees. I guess I am tolerating 50 degrees better in my senior years than ever before.