civilized ku # 547-49 ~ canoeing

Canoe car • click to embiggen
Wilmington Beach • click to embiggen
Hugo and the wife • click to embiggen
Weekend weather forecasts called for a sunny Sunday but that didn't happen. However, it turned out to be warm without any rain - at least it was so in Wilmington at the beach on the West Branch of the Au Sable.

So Hugo got a chance to make a couple of paddling trips up and down the river. As he demonstrated late last summer, even though he has never had a zot of paddling instruction other than how to hold a double-bladed paddle, he just gets in the boat and goes with a rather amazingly intuitive sense of hull/paddle/water dynamics. Quite impressive for a 5 year old.

FYI, in the above Wilmington Beach picture, that's Hugo and the wife in the distance returning from an up-river paddle.

civilized ku # 546 ~ shake, rattle, and roll

Bluff Point CG ~ on Lake Champlain • click to embiggenYesterday's round of golf was not played under sunny skies nor rainy skies. It was played during a 5.0 earthquake which struck our region.

According to the EXIF data from this picture, it was made about 8 minutes after the quake struck.

civilized ku # 545 ~ the devil makes me do it

Work Zone # 2 ~ in the Adirondack PARK - Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenIn a comment on civilized ku # 531, Sven W (no link provided) stated: I like this image ... especially as it's a classic example of a scene most people would simply walk past without a moment's thought. And, many many years ago - possibly a century ago or more - Edgar Degas stated:

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Quite obviously, the 2 statements are related. What may be less obvious is Degas' use of the word "make" in the phrase "what you make others see". The way I read it, the phrase connotes the idea of compulsion as in "what you compel others see".

IMO, any reasonably competent picture maker can make a pretty picture that is easy on the eyes, the emotions, and the intellect - a picture that most people want to look at without being "made" to do so. Picturing cute kids and pets aside, the best way to get the picture viewing public to look at a picture is to picture an iconic subject, pump up the color and saturation, and voila - few can resist the attraction. It's a fine example of the drawing-bees-to-honey (or, flies-to-shit, depending upon your POV) thing in action.

Now, truth be told, under most circumstances it's probably rather difficult to "make" someone look at a picture that doesn't grab a viewers attention within the first nano-second of making its acquaintance. No flash + no dash = no sale.

IMO, that's fine example of a problem that is one of the bane's of the human condition - few people want to have their expectations challenged. They want to hear - or, in the case of picture viewing, to see - what they want to hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. They really want to hear/see, over and over and over again, those things that confirm / reinforce what they think they already know. They really like standing in their own personal comfort zone.

However, that doesn't mean that some - primarily those who are curious and open-minded - are seeking to learn / experience new things - things that challenge their expectations and, on occasion, cause them to re-appraise what they think they know. IMO, you can recognize them by their words - those who are not afraid to say, "I didn't know that", or, "I don't know what that means".

Or, in other words, that they realize that it's not just about what they see, it's also about what others make them see.

civilized ku # 544 ~ a good walk not spoiled, pt II

The Lower Course, aka The Links Course ~ in the Adirondack PARK - Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggenUnlike Monday, yesterday was not a grand and glorious Summer day. However, with my 9-hole walking experience successfully behind me, I decided to go for an 18-hole walkabout - about 4.5 miles - on the course of which I am a member.

Once again, I am quite happy that I and my fibrillating heart made it - not without some effort and a lot of sweat (high humidity and/or medicine side effects).

civilized ku # 543 ~ a good walk not spoiled

Au Sable Valley GC - #6 on the left, #7 (a dogleg right) on the right ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenYesterday afternoon I went out for a round of golf - I'm tuning up for a tournament on Friday. It was a grand and glorious Summer day, as a matter of fact, the first day of Summer.

I've been playing golf albeit - because of the heart thing - golf from a golf cart. Other those courses that require the use of a golf cart, I have never used a golf cart. That's for 2 reasons ... 1) you're suppose to walk when playing golf - that is unless you're a lazy fatass or want to become one, and, 2) I might as well add 4-5 strokes to my card when playing from a golf cart because I just can't seem to get in the "rhythm" of my game when using a cart.

Yesterday, even though the ASVGC requires a walk of billy goat climbing and walking, I decided to give walking a go. And, without too much trouble, go I did. True to cart-less form, I played 9 holes - it's a classic, circa 1920, Adirondack 9 hole course - at 1 over par.

Other than the fact that this course is about 1 block from my house, one other nice feature about the ASVGC is that a 9-hole round only sets you back $11.00US. That's about the same cost as a large bucket of balls at a typical driving range.

relationships # 11 ~ family style relationships

Mother and daughters • click to embiggenI decided to accompany the wife on her trip to South Jersey where we hooked up with her 2 sisters to visit her mom. Their mom is in a nursing home and in rapidly declining health. Other than mid-stage Alzheimer's, she has no painful / debilitating disease - her body is just deteriorating as a natural process of old age.

In any event, this trip/visit was centered around informing her/their mom about her brother's recent death. It was a little weird at first since no one was sure how the news would be received or, for that matter, if it would even be cognitively received.

The wife is pictured above as she read the eulogy that was delivered at her uncle's funeral this past Wednesday. It was liberally sprinkled with humorous family anecdotes and good humor. Mom seemed to understand everything and it was a very emotion-filled and "connected" experience.

Update on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 08:58AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Mike C (no link) wrote: "Let me guess who was watching golf during the visit".

my response: I wondered if anyone would catch that detail - it's good to know that at least some of you are paying attention to my pictures.

civilized ku # 542 ~ elvis has left the building ...

Elvis, Marilyn, and Wheel Chairs & More ~ CherryHill-opolis - South Jersey • click to embiggen... and is standing outside playing his guitar and singing for Marilyn Monroe.

As Marilyn stated - and it seems perfectly suited to this situation - in her autobiography, Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words:

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

civilized ku # 541 ~ afraid of the light

Morning window light • click to embiggen

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. ~ Plato