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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

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In Situ ~ la, la, how the life goes onLife without the APADoorsKitchen SinkRain2014 • Year in ReviewPlace To SitART ~ conveys / transports / reflectsDecay & DisgustSingle WomenPicture WindowsTangles ~ fields of visual energy (10 picture preview) • The Light + BW mini-galleryKitchen Life (gallery) • The Forks ~ there's no place like home (gallery)


Entries from December 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

Sunday
Dec222013

diptych # 58 ~ frozen in place ....

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Ice storm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
.... literally frozen in place.

We're in the grip of category IV (of V) ice storm. Although, here in The Forks, we're straddling the weather line between nasty and really nasty. Just 10 miles to the north, the storm is much more severe than in The Forks - State of Emergency, travel restrictions, power outages, etc.

But, here's the thing re: travel restrictions - currently, the advisory is for no unnecessary driving. However, my idea of necessary driving during inclement weather is heading out in our AWD vehicle and doing donuts and 4-wheel drifts around corners and curves.

And, seriously, what better time to do so than during driving restriction conditions? The roads are slippery and virtually everyone else heeds the advisory and stays off the roads which means no slow pokes to get in the way and clog things up - not to mention the diminished possibility of a head-on collision (due, no doubt, to the driving error of others).

That written, I won't be heading out today for a couple reasons: 1) it would take a blowtorch or buckets of hot water to open the car door, and, 2) we're starting a fire in our conjugal bed to keep us nice and warm on an icy cold winter day.

Tuesday
Dec172013

civilized ku # 2639-42 / diptych # 56-57 ~ seasonal offerings

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The Grinch ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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PBS Downton Abbey Season 4 Premier Dinner ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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Starving Artist Sale / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Instruments / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Spuyten Duyvil / Bluseed Studios ~ Saranac Lake, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Candlelight dinner ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
It's that time of year which is jammed up with parties / gatherings / events (a few pictured herein), some of which are mandatory - the wife's on a zillion organization boards - some of which are voluntary, some of which are fun, some of which not so much. But like the trooper and all-around swell arm-candy guy / husband I am, I soldier on.

Tuesday
Dec102013

pictures + words project ~ picture 8 / words g

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picture 8 • click to embiggen
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words g • click to embiggen

Thoughts. Ideas. Synaptic pings reflected from the gravity-free weight of a thousand days and nights, whistling by the graveyard on threadbare treads of lost wisdom. Free association obstructed and obfuscated beneath the digital-noise whine, unrelentingly crashing and breaking on the extracranial barriers of prejudice and assumption. Convoluted contradiction competing with the light and darkness for attention and adulation. Never ending, always working. Never ending, always working. Restless thoughts and vague ideas.

Thursday
Dec052013

civilized ku # 2637-8 ~ who the hell really knows

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Former residence - 1513 Fleck Street ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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St. Anthony's Chapel ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
Last week while in Pittsburgh, the wife, the daughter, and I took time to visit our former residence / neighborhood on Troy Hill. During our neighborthood walkabout we also stopped in St. Anthony's Chapel. Stepping into the relatively small neighborhood church is like entering into a very strange world inasmuch as the church contains the largest public collection of relics in the world - over 5000 relics and only the Vatican in Rome has more relics.

For those not in the know, relic means "remains." Relics are venerated on the premise of "beneficent contagion" in which the supernatural graces received by a Saint do not die with him but remain in the body after death and can be received by those who come into close proximity with the "eyes of faith." GOD’s work was done through the lives of the Saint's and so His work will continue after their deaths, if GOD wills it. Or so many believe.

Relics come in 3 classifications - 1st Class - Typically remains from the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ or a bodily remain of a Saint. 2nd Class - Any item or possession of a Saint (i.e. Prayer Book, Rosary Beads, Vestments...) 3rd Class - Typically a piece of cloth that comes in contact with a 1st or 2nd class relic - and St Anthony's is repeat with all 3 types.

Most notable amongst the collection are 5 relics consisting of 5 splinters from the "true cross" on which Jesus was crucified. The non-believer / Doubting Thomas in me believes that, if all the splinters of the "true cross" were to be gathered together, one just might be able to build a decent sized house or two using just the splinters. But, then again, who am I to judge.

My picture was made from the very rear of the chapel and the group on the right was venerating a tooth from St. Anthony which was on view in a reliquary / monstrance in the tabernacle under the statue of St. Anthony. FYI, a heavenly host of reliquary/monstrance(s) can be seen behind the main altar in the center of the picture.

If interested, click to learn more about St. Anthony's Chapel.

Thursday
Dec052013

civilized ku # 2636 ~ making art

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Making art in the cold ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
Met a painter making art in Pittsburgh. It was cold. So we talked about making art gear. In this case, the thinnest yet warm gloves to use when making art in the cold.

Wednesday
Dec042013

civilized ku # 2533-35 ~ history/memories

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Twas the night before turkey and all through the house, expectation was stirring and no one got soused ... ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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Turkey ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen
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Post turkey ~ Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

Memory demands an image. ~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. ~ Salvador Dali