A Very Cool Patio - 2/17/15 - Image-a-day

Woke up to five inches of snow under a layer of ice. Finally got the snow day from work I was hoping for and I made good use of it by wrapping up a few art projects that have been sitting around too long.

OK HW

Snow on the Beach - 2/16/15 - Image-a-day

 

Tidewater finally received a proper taste of winter today when "Winter Storm Octivia" rolled in. At first there were just a few small flakes gently floating around and then it got more serious and then there was no question that the snow was here to stay. By the time I got home from work, there was an inch or two settled over everything. I got out on the beach and walked for a couple of miles enjoying the cold and wind and fine, powdery snow bringing stillness and quiet. It's a rare and beautiful moment to walk on a beach during a snow storm. 

OK HW

You Shall Not Pass - 2/15/15 - image-a-day

I took a six mile hike today. It was clear and cold, mid-twenties which is the coldest hike I've taken this winter. Not many people out and about, but there were a few hardy souls trying to disc golf. Last night we had a vicious wind storm which claimed a few trees. In the park I came across this casualty, the top thirty feet of one of the tall pines was sheared off and nearly took out the footbridge. I got there just as the park workers were blocking off the path from anyone who thought it might be a good idea to try and go under the fallen tree.

OK HW

PS - Here's my hiking route.

Will You Walk with Me? - 2/14/15 - Image-a-day

Will you walk with me? Down the beach on a cold, windy day. The winter sun soft and low in the cloudy sky. We're both a little older now and there are a few aches and pains, but some fire left in the belly. Will you walk with me, my old friend, my new friend, my love...

OK HW

PS - This was the hike.

Big Red - 2/13/2015 - Image-a-day

This hulking beast is parked across the street from our house. Our neighbor recently tore down his old house which has given us an unobstructed view of the Chesapeake Bay for a couple of months. Now the heavy equipment has come in and soon the construction will begin. We'll be sorry to lose our view once again.

OK HW

A Touch of Frost - 2/12/15 - Image-a-day

Woke up to an Arctic blast that left a covering of frost on the cars and the bushes. It didn't last long once the sun took the sky, but lingered in the shadows for a little while. The crisp edges on the ivy like powered sugar.

OK HW

Watching Shadows on the Wall - 2/11/15 - Image-a-day

Late on a winter day, I find these long shadows painting the hall as I left the office for the day. It was just that moment. It was the right time of the year. The right time to leave for the day. The right light at the right angle. It was just that moment. What was your moment today?

OK HW

JAVA - 2/10/15 - Image-a-day

Cold weather day like today, it's damn near impossible to get through it without a cup or two of hot, black coffee. Today's image is of a refrigerator magnet a made back in the Kan-Ken Studio days of my art career. I used to do a lot of outdoor art shows back then and found it good to have some smaller, impulse buy pieces to ensure sufficient sales.

OK HW

Game Over - 2/9/15 - Image-a-day

I did the laundry tonight. Monday night always seems to be a good night, it just seems wrong to have to do it over the weekend. The place I usually go to has a classic, sit down Ms. Pacman machine, which I've never played. When I was a kid, I was never any good at Pacman, always preferred Defender or Robotron or even Donkey Kong if I was going to play an arcade game.

OK HW

Zombie Response Unit - 2/8/15 - Image-a-day

While driving home Friday, I spotted this "Virginia Zombie Outbreak" vehicle in the Ocean View section of Norfolk, Va. I had seen it once before a few months ago, but failed to get a photo, so I was glad to cross paths with it again. I am a fan of eccentrics and think it's a fading quality in the American character and blame the internet and the over abundance of homogenized twenty-four television culture distracting and brainwashing the population into a dull stupor. I wonder if this is just some kid having a bit of laugh or maybe they're shooting a movie. Whatever the reason, these folks are serious with a human skull dangling from the roof rack. I for one sleep a little sounder knowing that "Unit 2" is on patrol and will be ready to take on the zombie outbreak when it happens.

OK HW

Dart World - 2/7/15 - Image-a-day

I went over to my good, old pal, Doug Maume's house tonight to throw darts and guess who won? We both did, 'cause anytime you can spend time throwing darts on a Saturday night with an old friend, everyone is a winner.

OK HW

PS - I won three games out of five, but it was very close...

Monsters from Heaven - 2/6/15 - Image-a-day

Today I received a surprise gift that took me back to a favorite part of my childhood, "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazines! I first encountered Famous Monsters or "FMs" as me and my friends called it, one summer when I was staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Woodruff, Wisconsin. I picked-up a copy of issue #114 at a drug store and my life was never the same. I read that magazine until the covers fell off. When I returned home to Eau Claire, I went to buy the latest issue but could not find it any where in town! Horrors! I worked hard and saved my money and got a subscription. After that, I never missed an issue until they stopped publishing it in 1983. "Famous Monsters" was the bible for monster movie geeks through the 1960s and 1970s. The beloved Forry Ackerman, a.k.a. "The Forrymonster" was the editor and driving personality behind the magazines amazing photos, articles and legendarily bad puns. I fondly recall flipping through the pages and obsessing over the images of movies I wished to one day see. This was long before Netflix or DVDs or even VHS tapes! If there was a movie you wanted to catch, you had to hope it showed up in the TV guide and was on a channel that came in clear or clear enough. I watched many a late night movie through the flickering curtain of static, squinting desperately to make out the monster. That usually made a mediocre movie great since my over-active imagination would fill-in the blanks.

Will I be reading these mags? You're damn right I will!

Thank you Larry Merrill,

OK HW