Marble Frieze

What IS this? At first glance, it looks like a marble frieze in a classic building. But it's not. Kathy makes home-made soap. Not the heat and pour soap, but the made-from-scratch stuff, that is made from Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoanut Oil, Palm Oil and Olive Oil. Nasty stuff work with, but the soap is amazing because it is loaded with glycerine. So good for the skin! Anyhow, when everything is finally mixed together on the stove, its temperature is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and is liquid. Then it has to be beaten until it thickens. You continue to beat the mixture until something called a "trace" appears, and then it is poured into a wooden mold lined with paper. The trace is this whitish relief on the top of the long block of soap. I saw this the morning after the soap was poured, and was amazed at the shapes and forms. I could begin to imagine all kinds of imaginary figures, and shapes within the soap trace.

Roadside Memorial

It is difficult to remember when I first began to see these roadside memorials appear. I guess perhaps ten years ago, which means probably they started twenty years ago! For those of you haven't seen them before, the memorials are liable to contain crosses, flowers, and photographs, among other things. The memorials are placed on the sides of roads where accidents have occurred, and where someone has died. I think they began with an increase in the Hispanic population on Long Island. This flag is from Brazil, however. I know nothing about the accident, and when it happened. But I was taken by the large photograph of the young man, and the flag of his country. There is a soccer ball signed by his friends, and rosary beads. It does seem important to me, that in addition to memorializing the terrible loss of a young man, that we are reminded how fragile life is, and how dangerous the roads can be.

One Bent Spoke

One bent spoke on my new bike. Doesn't look like much. Well... What actually bent this spoke is a piece of a small branch that was lying in the roadway on my ride yesterday. I was going uphill, at about 6 MPH, and apparently the tire clipped the edge of this branch, and flipped it into the spokes, which carried it up to the front fork, where it stopped the wheel cold! What happens when the front wheel stops dead while I am going 6 MPH? I flew over the handlebars! It was so sudden I just remembered being upside down, and then less than a second later, I felt my helmet gently hit the pavement, and then I rolled onto my shoulders and back, and suddenly I was sitting in the road! I was extremely lucky! I had some "road rash" on one knee, and my shoulder hurt a bit, but I was fine. A woman who was driving by turned around and came back and asked if I was OK, which was really nice. I realized I was fine, so climbed on the bike, and continued up the hill, and on my way. I don't want to do THIS again...

Old Timer

On the way to the bagel store this morning I saw this tractor flash by out of the corner of my eye. I went back later in the afternoon to photograph it. I spent about 20 minutes trying all angles. Just as I was leaving, the owner came by in his truck and asked if I liked it. I told him I loved old machinery and old buildings, among other things. He told me that this is a 1943 John Deere tractor, which means it is one year younger than I am! He said he has another tractor which he spent three and a half years restoring, and it looks as if it just came from the factory. What is wonderful about this machine is the simplicity of its design. It is simple, rugged, and easy to repair and maintain. I am sure it gave long service to its owners over the years.

Making Something

I was working on doing the Income Tax, and all the work with numbers was making me crazy. I don't really have a head for numbers, and even though I was making progress with the taxes it didn't feel as if I was accomplishing anything. So I decided I needed to MAKE something. So I went down to the basement and started cutting wood to build this box. It felt so good to smell the sawdust, and to watch the box take shape. I felt like I was really DOING something. So here it is in it's infancy. More on this project as it progresses, and then I will tell you what this box is for.

Salad Fixings

I went to the store at the end of the day to get some salad fixings. The display of red peppers jumped out at me from ten feet away! I first thought it would add a wonderful flavor to my rather ordinary green salad made from Romaine lettuce. So I went over to get a pepper, and was taken by the shape and forms of the peppers. It was then that I realized I needed to get one to eat, and one to photograph! It must have taken me ten minutes to pick my subject! I came home and got a big electronic flash unit, a light bank, and set up a background on the dining room table. I realized that I SHOULD have taken a photo of my studio set up - you would find it interesting, no doubt. I am sorry I didn't think of it at the time. The salad was delicious, by the way, and here is the other pepper. You MUST click on this image, to see much better color in a larger image.

The Cobblestones of Paris

Not Really. These are actually the cobblestones of the Vanderbilt Museum, in Centerport, where our astronomy club meets each week. When the meeting was over I was walking back up the road from the Planetarium to the car, and it had started raining. With the wet cobblestones, and the fog in the air, it felt like somewhere else. Like Paris, for instance. Not that I have ever seen Paris, but when I was in College, the photographer Bruce Davidson did an amazing photo essay on "The Widow of Montmartre" and many of the photographs felt like this.