Hanging Out in California

I was at a shop ordering some doors.  I was feeling cold and rushed and a little annoyed.  Then I looked over and noticed the light on the metal siding of an adjacent building.  In front was a block wall and overhead the sky.  I had only my phone with me so it would have to do.  I didn’t really have time to stop, but I did anyway. Sometimes these things work. Sometimes they don’t. It is a bit austere and abstract.
I like threes. Under, middle, over. And the different textures, the rough stone, the smooth metal, the soft clouds.
Is it really a neutral thing to snatch bits out of life and put a frame around them? I’ve been doing it for so long that I’ve forgotten what it’s like not to.

For the past few months, October, November and a bit into December, we have been getting ready to move, moving, and recovering from moving.  At various times we had tidied, reorganized, etc. but we had not completely moved house in twenty-nine years.  It was daunting. At times it was horrible.  If you had told me in December 1990 that I would be staying put for almost three decades, I would have laughed in your face.  Now that it's mostly over, I can see, in many ways it was wonderful.  I was like a boat sitting in one place for too long. Then the boat got hauled out of the water to have the barnacles and such scraped off the bottom and a new coat of paint applied. Now I feel ready to set sail for open water again.
While digging through my stuff, I decided I would put all my various Buddhas together on the top of my bookcase. Okay, a couple are Bodhisattvas, they will enter Buddhahood when they can bring the rest of us with them.

I was concerned about the rain gods, but apparently they have better things to do than listen to silly humans complaining about getting wet.  We got an amount sufficent to make me feel safe about purchasing new rain boots. I hope I haven't been hasty. Will there be a drought now?

They hard pruned this crepe myrtle and it's sprouting new leaves.  The roses are still blooming. The sun is still shining. Gushing about the pretty weather and angering the rain gods is not a good thing. 

 These squash were piled on the concrete outside the grocery store.  I liked how the light looked and decided monochrome would convey it  better.  There are some white pumpkins, but everything else is a riot of orange, yellow and splashes of green.  Too much of a distraction from the textures and forms.  This year I haven't had much time for photography so I have to grab a shot when I can.

I was walking around the neighborhood with one of my film cameras. It was loaded with black and white film. I was ignoring the colors and concentrating on form and light. This particular facade looked particularly interesting. 

Last week I had to take an extended lunch to get a tire repaired on my car. Since there was no place to sit in the waiting room and I was hungry, I decided to take a walk and look for someplace to eat. I have brought my digital camera along in case I need some entertainment. These are some things I found on the eight block (round trip) stroll.

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This 35 year old beauty just came back from the shop. Ready for another 35 though I doubt I'll last that long.

I've been going to the July 4th bike races since 1985. This was one of the few times going alone. Back in the day it was quite the thing with good crowds. Now it's much quieter.

When I first started taking pictures seriously, I was a bit of a camera snob. One of the camera makers I was snobbish about was Minolta. It was my opinion that Minolta was a second string brand. It was a camera that I was sure most people used mostly in Program mode because they couldn't be arsed to learn about aperture and shutter speed and the reasons for various combinations. Minolta's were too common. Since then I've owned a lot of cameras far above Minolta grade and managed a few attitude adjustments. I bought this particular camera because it is small and light but still has a solid feel in your hands. Also, it was cheap. And it's fun and it's simple. Did I mention the batteries last, like, forever?

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