Lighten Up Would You?

 It sounds a little silly, but hey, as days lighten up about this time of the year we also do so  with the colors on our web page. We actually do lighten up.

Check it out. We also change the backgrounds behind the main banners. The old 100-year oak from one of the local country clubs has been retired now after being displayed for 10 years and the abstract has replaced it around the edges of our site. We also did a bit of weeding and moved some old static banners around. Would you believe, they didn't even complain. Imagine that!

Many thanks to our visitors so far this year from Norway, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Indonesia,The Netherlands,Turkey, Ukraine, Armenia, The United States and France. We hope you enjoy our site. 

 My fine feathered friends will be leaving for their nesting sites across the northern states about the third week of  March.  They return to winter on the 12th of October each year with a scouting party of four or five birds arriving about two weeks beforehand.

 

Things That I Have Seen and Heard This Past Week and a lesson of Persistence

While the title is accurate, some of the things have been on Media. Not, stepping on anyone's toes, those things were just my interpretation of what I observed or heard in person and observed. 

"Don't be a trendy Wendy"

"Smiley face fan in your hand"

"We got enough rain to wet the dust"

"Saw a lady on TV with a rolled up Yoga mat big enough to carpet a hallway"

And of course, the late John Madden was also a prankster. He would sit in the press box and toss peanuts out the window to the seats below and all the time watching on his monitor, the reaction of the fans that the peanuts fell upon. 

One of his famous quotes was: "The road to easy street goes through the sewer." RIP John!!

On the business side of things: 

DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) begins a realignment of bus and train schedules, routes on Monday, January 24. The old route numbers will no longer the served. The new route numbers will need to be relearned as habit. It's going to be a mess. DART is doing their part the first week by offering totally free rides all week. 

I have been paying attention to the hoodies that have been over hung on old bus stop signs with the notice of discontinued service under the old numbers and with the new numbers posted. The problem for me was that unless the bus stopped at one of those signs, you could not see the new numbers always. 

Going on the DART site was some help and some of the old routes had new schedules printed, but not all had the new schedules out on the buses. Sometimes, I had to take new schedule just to look at the map. Hopefully, I will be able to learn what routes I have been riding long before more good weather comes our way. Day before yesterday, I rode my regular bus toward Downtown Garland, getting off several miles before and walking the mile down to the main thoroughfare south of where I was. I needed to walk more anyway to aid my rehabilitation in my one leg. As it turned out, I got a couple of unusual shots and the amazing thing is that I had oftentimes wondered what bus went down the particular street before getting off for the walk mentioned above, and low and behold, I ended up on that bus by mistake. It took me to Parker Road from Far East Dallas to far East Plano and the Parker Road Rail station. That would have been fine had not had the rail service been suspended due to an accident at the tracks. I rode the 350 from Parker Road back to the Addison transit center then back to my rail station via the bus and then after the stop hit the last 8 minutes or so on home. What a day!! LOL .

This spring should be interesting. Since 1983 pretty much more or less, the trees here have buds on them by the first of March. Oh! I'm hoping this year continues the trend more than ever. 1983 was the first time I had a re recurrence of a nerve problem in my leg. Initially, I had fallen down an elevator shaft right out of college. Had not had a problem until after my 5th surgery 18 month's ago. Slowly I am making progress and have even walked short distances without my cane. Still, at my age, I get around as well as most 50 years younger. I'm lucky and blessed in that department.

The past three years I have experienced a delivery problem with FedEx. No one could figure it out as to what had gone wrong. FedEx started an investigation. I have spoke with tons of Customer Service people and executives. Experience many hours of frustration with the IVR ( really its artificial intelligence that can't get its act together.) Since I do not drive (although I could) since my car was totaled a year ago June, I have ordered my prescriptions from my drugstore to be delivered. It got so bad, the drug chain even started having my Rx's filled at their fulfillment center in Chandler, Arizona and shipped to me from there. The problems actually got worse still. The store manager ended up delivering my prescriptions to me personally. 

I got an email that my Rx's were due for refill. I did as instructed by their website and placed my order. I know the routine. So after a couple of hours I go back online to see if the refills had been moved as they usually do. Instead, the order wasn't even showing up. I waited for another day and checked it again. Nothing but I had received an email thanking me for placing the order. Good, I am thinking. Then, I went back on line the third time only to find a message that it takes two hours before the transaction shows up some times and to check back later.. Now, I am into the fourth time checking. The message was still there after a thank you email for filling with them. Now, I know something is wrong so I called the store. After going through the artificial operator and "just so you know" message I was finally transferred to the pharmacy. After 40 seconds of the worse music ever, the phone was answered and then hung up. That was repeated three times. Finally, I got the pharmacy and  she hung up saying she could not help me (she was the original cause of the problem in the first place). I called the store manager, going through the mess once again including the "just so you know" and bad music and the like of such things. I got the new store manager. I had met her once before and she remembered me likewise.She finally got me a tracking number for the order. I checked my bank and the payment had been processed. To be fair, I have eliminated two bouts of conversations much like the ones above  to save time. 

Moving on now to entering the tracking number with FedEx to see the status. It was already showing that the shipping label had already been transmitted to FedEx at the 4 o'clock hour that day. Meanwhile, a day later, nothing. The package had not been picked up by FedEx. Then, when I fill out the online form on FedEx's site to receive SMS text on status, An old email address that I have not used for sometime kept appearing. I had changed that email out several years ago.That meant, that the messages were going elsewhere. Then that problem escalated. 

The final straw was to call a number FedEx had provided last year if the situation became more critical. It had, I did. and got a real live human being who was very nice.Very helpful. She solved the age old problem of more than three years, now, in less than 4 minutes. As of this writing, the package is out for delivery using one of FedEx's 4 different branches----FedEx Ground. Ironically, I knew that FedEx had these 4 cats as I have watched the past 3 years as the Union Pacific Railroad Trains travel through Truckee,California with miles of containers after containers double and single stacked and sometimes close out the super long trains with pigs (shipping semi trailers on a flat bed rail car tandem) where I see the FedEx Greens, Orange, Ground semi's on pigs day after day after day. 

 I have long believed that persistence pays off. Never give up the fight. You will find on this blog's right hand column several noted people who wrote about that very thing from Douglas onward. I learned that at 14 with a very large paper route that took in the entire town. My Dad would help me on Sundays or if the weather was bad, but other than that,
I was on my own. For a 14 year old kid, the money I made at that age was well into the three figures monthly. If someone wanted their paper put between the storm door and the front door you didn't have a problem collecting at the end of the month. If you failed to listen to your customers instructions, it was persistence in motion to collect. That paper bill was due like any other bill. It taught me a lot at an early age and had a reinforcement of that principal earlier with my grandfather who made me pay him the 5-cents for a Hershey Bar at his store. 

 

                                                                                             

  Air traffic for Drones!!

     If Texas Does Succeed From the Union. I vote for this as the new       

New scene on a new traffic signal control box between the sidewalk and curb that cuts down on the glare from the sun on a signal box that looks like a new dime.

A Rockin' Haircut Found Today

Several years ago I researched my picture sales and found that 89 % were shot within a 5-mile radius of my home. Today while walking to the bus stop which is .3 of a mile from my front door,well within that radius, a construction project to repair a condo building from last winter's storm, there was a young man sporting a replica of that rockin' Mullet cut  that topped the list of "most popular' hair styles of 2021. I walked over to him and said to him that he had just caused me to have flashbacks of my younger days. I told him that it really looked good and that he should continue to wear the do!

After leaving him and his co-workers, I made my way to the bus station to go to the main post office in Garland. Not thinking that today was MLK Day and federal offices being closed, I soon found  out when I hit the parking lot and saw a single car. Right away it hit me that the Post Office  was closed because of  MLK Day. It's not that I totally forgot about MLK Day. In my own defense, I had been in the house buttoned up for the past two days. I recalled seeing all the parades on the news and those that were cancelled and even the exhibit at the George Bush Presidential Center. Created by an  attorney/artist. He had created and collected images over the past 13 years. It was an amazing collection from what was seen on TV. His father was being interview by one of the local news channels. Then the standoff and hostage situation in nearby Colleyville,Texas, took the news cycle beyond the MLK Day cycle with it being declared an act of  terror. So when I got the the bus this morning it just didn't occur to me about it being a legal holiday let alone that it was Dr. King's Day. I also have a family member who celebrates a birthday tomorrow and I was going to the post office to mail a gift to a long time friend of mine at the same time. The town square in downtown Garland is being redone.  Since my surgeries, walking is the one thing that has helped me get back on my 'feet', pardon the pun. The last time I was at  the downtown square was a few weeks ago and the fence was going up around the square. Today, as I came to the point were I could see the downtown square, I was stunned. All the beautiful trees had been bulldozed away and much of the area that had been upgraded was now rubble. My first thoughts were that those trees probably took a third of a life time to grow. Now, even if they do replant a tree or two, it will be another third of a life time just to get back to what was there. It just does not make sense in a time of climate change to bulldoze mature trees, period. These contractors today have no use for trees in the way of them making money. That's one of my pet peeves and I am not a so called "tree huger" by any stretch of the imagination but over the past twenty years of photographing the Metroplex and watching all the development explode, trees are the first thing to go any more. That isn't counting the 700 mature old growth trees lost at White Rock Lake from storms or the several hundred lost to the North Dallas tornado just a couple of years ago. 

After the storm passed and I was able to get out (still driving then). I went back to the old neighborhood where my mom had lived and where my son KP has spent some time with her one summer before he passed. A flood of memories came back to me. The old neihgborhood was in shambles. Walking to the train station today, in downtown Garland, I made my way to the FedEx store at Forest and North Central Expressway. Finally shipping my package, I waited for the next bus to take me back to the train station to catch my bus home. All-in-all, making it home was about the same time I come in when the weather is good. As I walked past the construction site again, I spotted the young Mullet wearing man again. Not only did this mullet wearing young man  bring back more memories of my own hairdos from a more youthful time, he also reminded me of my son, KP, who died unexpectedly at age 27. This young man, though he may not have know at the time how much he made me happy, I thank him more than he will ever know for brightening my day. Wear that Mullet proud young man. Wear it Proud!

Two Hubcaps in One Mile

Since I have been walking more and more lately as my healing processes recover, I'm spotting things more as if I were walking with my cameras out. The cameras are in my backpack but I have also been selective in what I shoot, too. A price has been paid for it, also. Still, the repositioning of priorities have been worth it at the same time.

 To drive home that point, a couple of days ago my digital bus pass didn't start until noon and I had left the house at 10:30 that morning. It was a very nice day for January---almost mid January at that. So, I just started walking , figuring that when I got tired, I'd make it to the bus stop and wait for the bus. I also understand that streets are laid out on a 1-mile grid. It's easy to keep track of the miles that I do walk. At one point in my life, I had a timetable of distance traveled from point A to point B in time as well as distance. Since I was 14, I never minded work. What I did mind was having to do work twice because of someone else not doing their job correctly the first-time. That's a whole new story.

 

But, as I was walking the route, I saw buses that I would normally ride zipping past me like no tomorrow. Along that route I also noticed a lot more trash than normal and I also noticed some strange objects lost or tossed from  cars; so on and so forth. Then came the hub cap. In perfect condition as most are, generally. Then, less than a half mile farther down the route lay another hubcap. Different than the first one, but in good condition. There are places that have made a very good living for buying those items and reselling them at a discount. Sometimes even back to the very person who's car tossed them from hitting a pot hole or what not.

 

 The one place that came to mind while living in the Great Lakes area was a place that conjure up a nefarious name like Midnight Parts. Here in Dallas, the popular place was Sandy's Hubcaps. As I walked past those caps, I wondered if Sandy's was still in business today. I don't get down that way anymore, but I should walk that way from a train station just to see the history as it might have changed. A couple of weeks ago I went past a couple of places that I normally passed every day.

 

 

 

 

 

It's Strange How The Mind Works But Not Really

 When I lost my first born son at age 27, it was devastating to me. So devastating that I suffered a light stroke four months after his loss. It took me nearly twenty years of personal grieving before I began to see many things much more clearly on how I looked at life before and after his passing. 

Then, as if by a miracle, I began to recall all the fathers and or mothers that I knew through work, college or church that had also lost a son. The list grew. Year after year as more people that I knew or had contact with began to be included  in  news special interest programs.  Father's that were also dealing with unresolved grief through the loss of their own sons or mothers who were suffering with unresolved grief of their sons also were more apparent.

A few years after I lost my son, I wrote a poem to him which was titled, "I Must Release You".  It  was later published in hardbound. I had ask that no ISBIN number be included in the space where the copyright, ISBIN and publisher is normally listed. Ironically, a chief librarian that I knew at a Big Ten University had made me aware that in some circumstances, that could be done. I checked it out and submitted a request. After I received my initial published copy, the publisher also included a fairly large supply of cards and envelopes that included the poem. They lay stored in my apothecary cabinet, one of my cherished pieces of wood furniture. 

From time to time, I would open that drawer while looking for something else, not because I didn't remember what was stored in various drawers but out of instinct for which I did not understand at the time.  Those actions were passed off as just a random muscle memory action. 

This past weekend, I saw a post on Twitter by Irish Musician Sinead O'Connor.  Her post announced the sudden death of her son, Nevi'im Nesta Ali Shane O'Connor. Reading the post in detail her grief was truly devastating and then doing something that I never have done in the past, I responded to her post mentioning that I,also, had lost a son and can relate to her grief. Like I had done, more or less, that she must release him to go find his better dreams. I had done that for my son after a protracted grieving period that I had endured. My son had died as a result of an undiscovered congenital defect that became terminal suddenly. Shane's death was a personal struggle. At early stages both could have been prevented.

Last night, I had a dream that was  more in line of past dreams where something becomes a eureka moment-- such a moment  is a moment of sudden, triumphant discovery, inspiration, or insight. One of the first thoughts that I had was God, Almighty had also lost a son--Jesus Christ. That was added to my list but at the Top of the List as I drank my coffee and prepared this post.

An so, those cards that have been safety stored in that specific apothecary drawer, will now be sent to those fathers and mothers that have lost a son all to early in life that I rub an elbow with in my photography. 

It is strange how the mind works, but not really, as I do believe that things where we experience special eureka moments are truly Divine Moments. Moments that happen in sudden thoughts or dreams we recall, with or without explanation as a clear  reason for justification.

That dream was a mixed up type of dream, too. It centered around my mail carrier and a package from a dear friend that had been in the system for a bit as I tracked it to show my friend how Informed Delivery system works at the US Postal Service. In that follow up process this morning, I came across an envelope for my postman. My package was delivered by him a day early. It's a great day!

                                            The Angle of Grief at the Alter of Life

On The 12th Day of Christmas It Was Cold and Windy As Could Be

                             A Vendor making these before it was a fashion statement on one's arm.

                                             Things I find on the way to finding other things.

 The week  of  Christmas we were in the 80s°F for several days. Since then, it's been in the teens and 20°F to 40s°F. Tomorrow morning its gonna be 20°F with wind chills of 15°F. Thank you Santa. Your Polar Express is a holiday train in Grapevine for the kids, not for the rest of the Metroplex. Christmas is over, so lets get back to those mid 50s°F to 60°F. Any time now, Buddy!

All kidding aside, I like some cold weather. My time in the Great Lakes saw 17°F below zero during the blizzard of '78 so I know what cold can be like. But, just because it gets cold, when the earth is tilted away from the sun, means that all these people taking 10-minute rocket rides into space  need to stay put here on earth. It's the old cause and effect thing. You are shaking up the Jet Streams, don't you see.(Harvey, did that last launch move the needle any on the balance gauge?) Oh, you think it's that secret program in Alaska that is shooting lasers into the center of high pressure systems to change the weather. And here I thought that that program was over already. Now I"m between a rocket launch and a laser beam. Imagine that!

 Seriously, though, it's been a crazy ride in 2021. I am glad to leave it behind. I was looking back to when I was me, and not some surgical experiment.  2019. Surgery. 2020.Surgery. 2021.Surgery. I do admit that 2021 under the knife was in the very early part and since then, I have been trying to regain my muscles and balance walking. The one thing that has suffered more than me is my photography in the overall scheme of things. I've always said:" when you create the beast you have to feed it." Feeding the beast takes about 250 shots a day with a sale ratio of 5:30. I gave up the live feeds and I shot what I could to keep some workflow flowing toward that goal. Then, it occurred to me that what I really wanted to do at my stage in life was to shoot interesting textures and create abstracts. I have experimented with them on and off in my down time and it has grown on me to the point that I have done some abstracts on my Zazzle account. I've gotten some pretty good response from people thus far as to the fact that they like them. 

So, as 2022 begins. I am not giving up on my photography. I'm just going to experiment with some new aspects of it technically. You will still be able to see my images on the blog. But I am getting ready to start listing with one or two agencies instead of the six that I now use. Making a selection will take a little time away from my photography for a short time, but in the end, it will be better for me and my readers and my photography as a whole. Hang tight, I'll keep you posted on the process and where my workflow lands. I'll also get a much better deal on my royalties, too!  Most will not notice a big change from the past. I've got images Google hasn't found yet!! Unk. Unk.But my agents will notice.  Some more than others. But as is said in Midtown Manhattan, "you'll have that from time to time. Yes you will."

Things that were fine but got more fine with redevelopment and a couple of thousands of new residents living across the sidewalks.

Our First Image of 2022 Comes From Nature Herself

This image is straight out of nature from a natural creation of nature and her ability to create over time naturally and more creative than man on any stage.

The image is from a large piece of steel plate that had been painted over several times over the years. But, finally, nature, through a natural process of oxidation of metal (rusting) worked it's way through that many layers of paint. And, in the process, created this beautiful work of art. 

Let this piece instill in you hope for creating a better life, a better view of who you are and let that spillover into your future well beyond 2022. Make your world better with creative talents that are hidden within yourself and inspire others through you.

May your 2022 bring you Great Joy by looking through the windshield and not the rear view mirror.