"This machine thwarts luddites"

Happy accident? I'm happy with it, anyway. I don't edit my photographs very much- a little cropping here and there, a little digital adjustment now and then. Relative merits of Photoshop aside, I think of photography -even digital photography, malleable as it is-- to be ultimately a record of an event. I am personally not interested in using a computer to manipulate someone else's idea of a paintbrush to manipulate someone else's idea of a color in order to manipulate someone else's emotions. It's just not hands-on enough for me.

But now and then our camera will make an image on its own. I was trying to shoot a sunrise through the car window here, but various factors interfered and this is what happened. I like it because -as far as I know, anyway-- I could not have achieved this effect with digital manipulation.

Birthdays today: Samuel Pepys (1633), Georg Friedrich Handel (1685), W.E.B. Dubois (1868), and Kazimir Maleevich (1878).

In 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land."

And in 1905, The Barmouth Advertiser (Wales) reported that two men, one of them a prominent farmer, had seen a 'gigantic human form rising over a hedgerow. Then a ball of fire appeared above and a long ray of light pierced the figure, which vanished.' They had been returning from a religious service conducted by the visionary preacher Mrs Mary Jones of Egryn, Merionethshire, a figure at the center of the religious revival of that time. Many observers, including sceptical reporters, saw mysterious aerial lights which seemed to follow Mrs Jones around.

Desert waterfall

Saw this out the window of the car while coming up out of the Yakima valley, a desert waterfall. The rock wall was probably 150m from the road, maybe 20m high? Maybe something to go back to look for, someday.

George Washington was born on this day in 1732, and in 1810, Frederic Chopin followed suit.

White wigging

Mt Hood, seen from above the Gorge on the Washington side. We were on the way home from Yakima at this point.

On this day in 1803 at around midday a strange 5-meter wide glass-topped round object was seen off the coast of Harayadori, Japan, by some fishermen who went to inspect. Inside was a red-haired woman, with a white wig, who did not speak Japanese but only smiled at them. She clutched a box, and they noticed rugs, a water bottle and what looked like fruit and meat. Not wishing to tangle with the authorities they pushed her back out to sea. There are two accounts of this event, in the Toen-shoesetsu (1825) and the Ume-no-chiri (1844).

In music history, Leo Delibes and Andres Segovia were born (1836 and 1893, respectively).

Democrats

Little flowers I found growing under a big bush in our yard. I don't know what they are, but let's call them Democrats, because we're keeping them when we get rid of the bush.

I had a little epiphany yesterday regarding Work. I had been stressing over the notion of Marketing: how to do it, where to do it, what to do, who to aim at, etc. So many choices, so many options, so many possible directions. ...OK I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but at least I feel like I have a new handle on the situation.

Today is the feast day of St. Paula the Bearded.

It's also the birthday of Karl Janacek (1903).

And in 1943, the Paricutín volcano began to form, in Mexico.

knob or toad

As I recall, this is the road coming out of the Yakima valley. The mountain picture is of Mt. Adams, taken from the valley itself.

Sometimes, I feel like a knob.

Today, I feel like a toad.

One of the tricks to successfully working for oneself is to clearly demarcate the boundaries between personal time and work time. So it seems to me, anyway: otherwise, everything turns into Work.

It's Copernicus's birthday today. I had a goat named Copernicus when I was a kid. We had a lot of fun. I miss him.

It's also the birthday of Luigi Boccherini (1743), Constantin Brancusi (1876), and Smokey Robinson (1940, same day as Turkmenbashi, RIP).

And in 1954, an elderly German decided to commit suicide. He took a lot of sleeping pills, tied a brief case full of stones round his neck, rowed out to the middle of the Rhine... and was found sound asleep in his boat. (from Fortean Times)

There ya go.

Today in history, Italian football hunk Roberto Baggio was born in 1967.

And in 1973, a 54kg octopus (7m across!) was found in the Hood River Canal, in Washington.

Yakima

Yakima.

Ok, not as boring as my picture might lead you to believe, but close. This was the view out the back window of the hotel room.

Our trip took us through the Columbia Gorge to The Dalles, where we crossed the river heading north across some low mountains into the Yakima river valley. Fruit trees and grapevines for miles. Imagine eastern Wyoming, but with orchards. But of course, it's winter, so paint it all brown, and there you have it.

We toured some local wineries on Saturday, with some friends who were also in town for the weekend (their son, a student of Phil's, was competing in the state singing competitions, or whatever the singing event was that weekend, I'm not real clear on that part...). They're great folks, Jerry and Geri.

I have to say at this point that I came back with so many new ideas that I might have to hibernate again, to give myself time to process it all. But then I wouldn't have time to work on anything, so I'd end up even further behind... Jeesh! I need a golem! (to whom it may concern: I'm kidding!) Where are those damn elves?