Last Stand in Stockton

“I am almost a hundred years old; waiting for the end, and thinking about the beginning.
There are things I need to tell you, but would you listen if I told you how quickly time passes?
I know you are unable to imagine this.
Nevertheless, I can tell you that you will awake someday to find that your life has rushed by at a speed at once impossible and cruel. The most intense moments will seem to have occurred only yesterday and nothing will have erased the pain and pleasure, the impossible intensity of love and its dog-leaping happiness, the bleak blackness of passions unrequited, or unexpressed, or unresolved.”

― Meg Rosoff, What I Was: A Novel

Mamiya 645 Super, Ilford 120, ISO 125, f/16 @ 2 seconds, 55 mm

Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire.
– Patti Smith

It was the 80’s. Life was Good. (#3)

I hope when you are my age, you’ll be able to say – as I have been able to say:
We lived in freedom. Our lives were a statement, not an apology.
– [I can’t believe I’m voluntarily quoting] Ronald Reagan

“Old Daytona Beach” had so much more charm than today’s version. One could say the same about the subject of today’s photo, my lifelong friend, John.

“John” Ilford film & chemistry; Nikon Photomic FTN SLR; lots of cassette-taped music; Daytona Beach boardwalk (near the old clock tower); circa 1980.

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Watermelon

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing,
the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.
– James Dent

Nikon D300, ISO 640, 1/250 sec at f/5.6, 200 mm

I like this photo not only because I love watermelon, but because of the way it incorporates the primary colors: red, green and blue.

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Left Behind

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and
sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.
– John Betjeman

Nikon D300, ISO 200, 6 sec at f/22, 35 mm

This post is in honor of my grandmother, who passed away yesterday at the age of 99. She was an amazing woman, living on her own and keeping socially active to the end. We were very close; I will miss her and our phone calls and chats which, invariably, consisted of her complaining that she’d barely gotten out of the house that week although she’d been to craft club and church and out to lunch and …

I’ll never forget the time about 5 years ago I tried to encourage her to buy new curtains for her living room. The ones that had hung there since the early 70’s were finally, visibly, falling apart. She looked at me and reminded me that formal drapes were expensive and she needed to save her money for when she got old. THAT’s the spirit that kept her going and that I hope I inherited.

She was so looking forward to turning 100 in November; she’d been talking about it since the day she turned 99. She’d tell anyone and everyone how old she was, after proudly asking them to guess her age for themselves. It’s okay, Granny; considering the life you lived and how close you came, we’ll just tell everyone you made it.

Sleep well until we embrace again. I love you.

Phyllis A. Mueller (aka “Granny”)
November 6, 1912 – July 2, 2012

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Mini Cooper

A kitten is, in the animal world, what a
rosebud is in the garden.
― Robert Sowthey

“Cooper”, Nikon D300, ISO 200, 1/60 sec. at f/2.0, 50 mm

Looking for a kitten? Please visit your local shelter.

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