In Case Anyone's Wondering

I don't imagine that this has been a pressing question interrupting the flow of any of your days....
but...
Here's little gouache painting number two:

It's just 5 X 7  (8 X 10 with matte and frame). It looks better in person...really.  Actually it's just occurred to me, since the gouache paintings are small and on paper, I could scan them into the computer rather than photograph them.  Might  turn out better. Dumb me.

I haven't titled it yet.  Any suggestions?

Solo

News Flash!  Deb has been asked to have a one person exhibit of her artwork!

Yippeeeee!  Until suddenly she realizes that she may not have enough stuff.

It's not a big show.  It's not even a formal gallery show.  But nevertheless it will be being seen in Rockport and at a location that seems to have made a 'thing' of their small 'gallery'.  More on all that when the month...September...gets closer.

Right now Deb is trying to put together enough to fill the walls.  She has gone through her oil paintings, large and small, and her photographs.  Currently she is working on a small selection of sell-able-sized paintings in gouache.  Gouache is an opaque watercolor.  (It sort of feels like working with liquid chalk!) These might sell well as the size (6 X 9 plus matte and frame should bring it to 9 X 12) and pricing will be good.

Here's the first (huh, it lost some of the blue-gray sky and clouds) of probably a half dozen or so:

The Estate

Super Sized

That's what the full moon was supposed to be on Saturday night.  So...I picked 'A' up from work, we grabbed a snack, and headed to...

Land's End with a view of Thacher Island.

I correctly assumed that it would be THE spot to view the moonrise.  So did many other people.  The usually vacant area of rocky coastline was crawling with moon-gazers.  It was rather difficult to find a spot to park in the little, muddy cul-de-sac but I managed to scoot the truck up a hump along the edge and 'A' and I hiked out on the rocks to wait.

And wait.

I was glad we had arrived early considering the crowded parking situation.

There were several 'pros' out there with their very cool camera set ups.  Long lenses for getting those 'squished' shots that would really accentuate the size of the moon as it made it's ascent in the sky next to the lighthouses.  They had tripods, too.  I own two tripods and forgot to bring either of them.  Should have remembered.

Thankfully the moon cooperated and peeked over the island, rather than further north or south which would have caused a massive, crazy exodus, and it was super-sized.  A funky red-orange colored globe rising between the two lighthouses of Thacher Island.

So I took a slew of photographs and cursed myself for no tripod...oh well.  And my moon doesn't look as spectacularly large as the ones that those with the long lenses will see. We had fun anyway.

It Just Goes to Show Ya...

You can't believe everything you read.

The new issue of Cape Ann Magazine is out and, yes, they put in some photographs of the Opening Reception of the Contributing Members Show at the RAA.
This kind of thing evidently gets put in their Party People section.

Hardly.  While I do enjoy getting together with friends, small social gatherings, or even meeting up with colleagues at a 'convention', I would not consider myself a party person.  Mom definitely isn't.

(Photo credit: Brianna Moore)

So...there I am on the left, next to my painting.  That's mom on the right.  'A' didn't want to be in the photograph.  Of course and as you may recall, Mom and I weren't too keen on participating, either. 

Free publicity wins over hating to be photographed.

Expired

So I suppose I haven't written and complained about much in some time.  I'm not going back to see how long it was but I would assume it most likely had something to do with snow.

This is different.

For some time now I have been noticing an increase in the amount of beyond expiration date food items on grocery store shelves.  I first noticed it at the now itself expired I.G.A. at the Whistlestop Mall in Rockport.  The I.G.A. was quite convenient to run to when, at the last minute, it became obvious that the teeny bit of milk left in the jug would not be enough for morning cereal, or that peanut butter sandwich that earlier sounded okay enough for lunch no longer held any appeal come noon.  Convenience lost it's appeal when we were traipsing back to return items long out of date.  Come on, a Stouffer's Mac & Cheese that expired in 2009?

So, I.G.A. is now closed and the majority of our shopping is done at the Stop & Shop on Bass Avenue.  Has this helped?  Not a chance.  I think they have decided to take over where I.G.A. left off!  Will I buy milk on the day that is the same as the buy by date?  Nope.  I checked a few days later and it was all still on the shelf!  Is Stop & Shop alone in this apparent negligence to remove expired items from it's shelves?

Oh no.  We stopped at Shaw's on Eastern Avenue to buy some breakfast items.  The next morning, when opening the box, lo and behold, the box read sell by Dec. 4, 2010.  Later that day we returned the item and went to yet another store, Market Basket.

Market Basket, at the Gloucester Crossing shopping center, is the 'new' competition on the island.  Maybe they would be more alert to quality.  You would think, huh?  Not so.  Although we replaced the Shaw's returned item with one that had a sell by date some 4 months in the future, we did a random check and found several different items, still on shelves, past their sell by date.

Add another half hour to your regular grocery shopping outing and start checking all the packaging!  I certainly will be doing that.  Especially after a news report last night (and this morning).

Boston Public Schools have been serving up meals made with items that are months (possibly years?) past their 'use by' date!  They claim they are abiding by all government guidelines (which allow the use of out dated frozen food items)!

Longer Days

More day time is really appreciated.  It gives me that extra being awake feeling so that I can get more done...like the income taxes...oh joy.  As usual, Mom gets a little check back from the government, Amanda gets a large check back, and yours truly did a poor job of estimating earnings and now must cough up more than I really want.

But daylight hours have been used for more enjoyable endeavors, as well.  Some warmer temperatures have helped in that regard, too.  'A' and I have started walking explorations once again.  The Mill Pond is a favorite spot.  Particularly when we have plenty of stale bread crusts.  The ducks are very happy to have us back and have demonstrated that by their dog-begging stances.  Yep, quit paying attention for just a moment and they will tramp all over your feet.  I looked down after a momentary delay in feeding to find several ducks standing directly in front of me, beaks up, with pleading eyes...one guy was planted firmly on my right shoe.  Nice to be appreciated!

Shortly we'll be springing ahead the clocks, warm temperatures will return, and then the warmth of summer.
The sooner the better I say.

Slow Days

This is the time of year when work slows down.  I've just enough to keep afloat, but not so much that there isn't time for other things.

One thing I have done is to sort through one of my bookcases.  I've pulled out some volumes that are not 'keepers' and fit in some others that had been stored in wrong places such as under my TV in my bedroom.  I also store some of my piano music in this bookcase and I pulled out my copy of Carolina Moon.  It has inspired me to start practicing again...another thing to do during work slow-down.  I was amazed that I could play this piece with little hesitation after so many years away from it.

Anyway, as you can see there is not much organization to the bookshelves.  I tried at the beginning to keep things classified, but in just more than eight years, well, it's suffered.  I don't intend on getting overly zealous about sorting it all out.  As you can see, there is a large Statue of Liberty 'preserved' puzzle (it has NY scenes all over it) that stands in the corner overlapping the bookcase.  On the bottom shelf, in with the piano music, I found a book I had purchased at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, FL.  It's a book of black and white photographs of behind the scenes at the circus.  That's where my name jumped off the page at me.  I had never noticed it before.  I scanned it and then played with it for a while.  Then put it at the top of this post.

Extra time on my hands.

I Surprise Myself (sometimes)

My afternoon tuning called to reschedule.  The family is all sick.  That left me with an afternoon open to possibilities.

So, what did I fill it with?

Wellllllllll...I vacuumed, dusted, tidied, organized, shredded old paperwork, went to the bank, paid bills, returned a couple phone calls, AND....

I worked on my Manning presentation.  Yes, I, the non-public speaker, will be giving a presentation for the historical society (and anyone else around that may be interested) on William N. Manning, organ builder of Rockport.  Originally planned as an article (still not completed) for the Reed Organ Society Quarterly, I goofed and agreed (in an obviously weak moment) to give a 'talk'.  It's scheduled, I think, for November.  Plenty of planning time as I'm hoping to make it a multi-media presentation - PowerPoint presentation, lecture, and recorded music written by Manning and the majority performed on a Manning organ.

Today I started organizing the visuals.  All got scanned into my computer that weren't already there.  Then I successfully copied them to a CD.  Really, this is an accomplishment as I don't do that kind of thing often enough to remember how it's done.  Then..........I took the CD and found the DVD reader on my second hand (third hand in reality) laptop that I nearly never use.  The laptop has PowerPoint installed on it, my desktop doesn't.  I popped that CD in there and much to my amazement the thing worked! Now I'll be able to create my program, copy it to a Flash drive and use the library's projection equipment.

I feel so brilliant!   (no laughing out there)

Valentine's Day

A very brief explanation...

Back in the 1950's my mom and dad invited their best friend couple to come and live with them while the best friends were looking for an apartment.  My dad and Earle worked together at Western Electric.  Mom and Priscilla had been friends since high school.

While living together at my parent's house, Valentine's Day rolled around and Mom and Pris baked a heart shaped cake while Dad and Earle were at work.  They were thrilled with it and could hardly wait for their husbands to get home.

This poem was written [by Mom (and me)] as a remembrance for Priscilla and Earle's 50th wedding anniversary book.

(Please excuse the punctuation errors and various other glitches...our typist at the time was volunteered for the job and kind of messed up a bit.)    

The Exhibitionist

Not what you think.

This morning a friend emailed and a part of her email exclaimed, "FRONT PAGE!"  Well of course I had to check it out.  Sure enough, there on the front page of our local, weekly, free newspaper was a photo as part of a story about the elementary school's new science center.  And in that photo...
It soars again!

The photo above is copyrighted material (Beacon) and is shown here for personal use only

And that was just the start of a pretty swell day. 

Mid day was consumed with tuning jobs and late day demanded my attendance at the Rockport Art Association Contributing Members opening.  Once again I'm showing an oil painting.

Beyond the Oaks

And a photograph.

American Spirit

The three gals showed up just after five o'clock to check out the exhibit and to nibble on finger food.  While standing around chatting, we were approached by a photographer who inquired about being photographed for Cape Ann Magazine.  We hesitated and then a thought came to me.  "Sure, we'd be glad to as long as the photo is taken in front of my painting."  'A' didn't want to, but mom and I did the photo thing and the photographer jotted down our names AND the title of the painting. 

Just maybe a bit of publicity, huh?

It's Not Political

It's just that one thing led to another...

First, if you remember, there was Dexter the snowman.  Dexter began to suffer mightily when wind and snow changed to wind and rain.  So much so that poor Dexter lost his head.  Then he took a hit to his midsection.

Dexter looking a bit doggy

After being emailed some clever Calvin and Hobbes snowmen cartoons (thanks with a big smile), my thoughts turned to salvaging what I could of Dexter.

"I'm sinking"

Then I thought a bit more and gave up real work for the morning to create this...

As Lady Liberty

I'm sure some will read all sorts of stuff into my current snow display.

(Before y'all jump on what you think is an error on my part...there ARE seven points on the crown.  Ya just can't see the one all the way around to the left side.)

Three Words

 No More Snow.

partially dug out back drive

                                                                            

Just some pictures from the past week or so...

the deck - fence is 6 feet tall

Oh, have I mentioned ice?  We've got that, too.  This is my back drive.  At least what I shoveled of it.  Today it is a cascade of thick ice.  Two and a half inches thick in some places.  Yes, I measured it while I was out chopping some of it up.

this morning's icy mess

I sure hope that groundhog wasn't just snow blind when he didn't see his shadow.  I'm ready for some seriously warm weather!

Some things do make for pretty pictures though.

In the Bleak Midwinter

I find it necessary to just set everything aside once in a while and take some fun, exploring time.

This afternoon we did that.  Not that we hadn't been to this spot before.  But never in winter.  Today we were amused by some form of pheasant.  They crossed the drive in front of our car and lined up at the door like they were waiting for a restaurant to open.  Several peered in the window, but mostly they squawked incessantly.  I don't know if that's because they were darn hungry and were overdue a feeding, or if they were quite perturbed that our car was somewhat blocking their exit from the doorway.  Nevertheless, an amusing flock.

After our visit through New England Biolabs, we took the long route home...oceanside.  Along the coast through Beverly, Pride's Crossing, Manchester, Magnolia and Gloucester.  What wasted the entire afternoon in driving and sightseeing was a needed mid-winter break.

The Rest

So...his commendation reads as follows:

United States Pacific Fleet

Flagship of the Commander Third Fleet

The Commander THIRD Fleet, United States Pacific Fleet, 

takes pleasure in commending

ALFRED LOUIS BIRCH

CHIEF FIRE CONTROLMAN

UNITED STATES NAVY

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

"For outstanding service in the line of his profession as Chief Fire Controlman in the plotting room of a fast battleship throughout a difficult and especially successful bombardment of vital enemy industrial shore installations in the Japanese Empire on the night of 17-18 July 1945.  By his skill and initiative in the performance of his exacting duties during this bombardment he contributed directly and significantly to the success of his ship in inflicting substantial damage upon the enemy.  His conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

W.F. Halsey

Admiral, U. S. Navy

_____________________________________________________________

Mom and Dad at the mess table, Mom and 'A' at Dad's bunk, Dad at the controls

Now, I don't know if this is the same incident as the bombardment of the Hitachi Industrial area.  What I do know is that on one occasion the USS Alabama suffered a hit that disabled the electrical system for the 12 inch guns.  The command of those guns was my dad's responsibility.  In order to continue firing, he personally maintained the electrical connection...literally...kind of 'grab this wire with the left hand and the other wire with the right hand'...and don't worry about me, don't touch me, and keep on firing guys!


Below is a post war photo taken at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where my dad earned his degree in electrical engineering through the G. I. Bill.

Typing a letter to my Mom?  (Mom's picture on dad's desk)

The Final Page

                                                                                     

Eight and Nine

New to this?  Scroll down and find "A Letter Home" and start there.
                                                                                                    

                                                                                 

More of the Letter

Well, I couldn't keep you hanging with that stalled vehicle any longer.  Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to scroll down and start at the beginning..."A Letter Home".

                                                                                               

Two More Pages

For those of you new to reading this you might wonder about starting in the middle.  Please scroll down.  There are two previous posts to read before this one!

                                                                                     

Pages Three and Four

continued from the last post...

A Letter Home

My mom has been going through old photographs and scrapbooks with the idea of trying to organize all the items.  Unearthed, so to speak, once again, are letters home from my dad from his Navy days.  I have scanned one of the longest...written on rice paper...that was composed while aboard the USS Alabama anchored in Tokyo Bay.  Here are the first two pages of eleven total.  Watch for the rest in the upcoming days.  You will need to click to enlarge the images to read.  Since this is the first attempt at publishing these on the blog, I'm hoping the enlargements will be legible.  If not, I suppose I shall have to transcribe the letter.