Norfolk Airport Carpet

Yeah, still stuck here. Flying sucks. OK HW

image for 4-28-2011 - tiki mug drawing

 

Delayed at the airport. Made this sketch from memory. Compare with the yesterday's photo.

Image for 4-27-11 - The New Tiki

My friends Casey and Laura picked this Tiki Mug up for me in Reno, NV. He's a real beauty and a fine addition to the collection. He sports real, plastic green gem eyes!

OK HW

Image for 4-26-2011 - The old Space Park

This was taken at the old Air & Space Power Park in Hampton, Va. I remember visiting this park on a field trip back in second grade. The park was in much better shape back then. It's sad to see all the rockets and jet planes rusty in this unkempt and forgotten place. I recall as a child wandering among these technological wonders and dreaming of a future full of space adventures. Now, with the Space Shuttle nearly retired and nothing to replace it, it will be the first time in my lifetime that the US will not have the ability to but people into space. NASA's current budget is about eighteen billion dollars a year. Considering the fact that we're spending two billion a day on the wars, it's hard to believe that we can't find the money to keep America on the leading edge of space technology. Hopefully this park of decaying relics is not our future.

OK HW

Image for 4-25-11 - The Wedding...

I did not find, or make a photo today, guess I got a case of the lazy eye. I did realize that I have failed to put up on here any photos from my friends Casey and Laura's recent nuptial event. This is a shot I took with my phonecam of the newly joined groom and bride and the nice lady (whom's name I can not recall) who did the joining.

I took a bunch of pictures that weekend and uploaded some of the better shots to a Facebook album.

I'm looking forward to seeing the other pictures from that weekend and the video too. It was a touching event, with lots of love and and happy tears. They even picked me to read a poem!

Laura and Casey are wonderful friends and I feel humble to have shared in such a loving celebration.

I wish them many years of happiness, fun and love!

OK HW

Image for 4-24-11 - Azalea Time!

The Azaleas are peaking right now. The walk I take through the neighborhood is laced with explosions of Azalea color right now. I haven't seen many bees taking advantage of all those open and willing petals, which is worrying with all the reports of bee colonies dying off. I saw one big bumblebee in the middle of the sidewalk, on his back, fighting to get upright again and gave him a little nudge that righted him and he flew off. Made me think that we're all in this together and if we don't help each other, we won't make it. Go forth my bee brother and hit that pollen!

OK HW

Image for 4-23-11 - I'm ready.

Got seven miles in today with the pack on. I feel ready for the coming big hike in Scotland. That seven miles also brought my year-to-date total up to two hundred and thirty-five miles, two miles ahead of the average I need of two hundred and thirty-three point thirty-three by the end of April and I'm not through with adding some more. It was hot yesterday, in the eighties, the first slicing fingers of summer heat in the wind. I enjoy the heat less and less as I get older. Prefer the cool and cold weather of fall and winter. Would rather have the fireplace roaring, then the AC humming. It's also more difficult to hike in the hot weather, the heat drains my energy, the humidity reduces me to a soggy sweat ball. The bugs swarm and bite and sting. Give me a cool, overcast day in November anytime.

OK HW

Simon's Cat

I enjoy these Simon's Cat animations. This one in particular is a lot of fun.

OK HW

Image for 4-22-11 - Perspective

Was this picture taken from five thousand feet or five feet? Does it matter? The view would be the same and your experience could be just as disconnected. From this vantage point, it is just color and texture and shapes. You could be an ant or a giant. What do you see?

OK HW

Image for 4-21-11 - Map

I am a big fan of maps. I will spend time studying a map, reading a map, walking down the roads in my mind. I've visited places just because I liked the shape of it on a map. Technology is all well and good; GPS will grab you by your nose and lead you where you want to go, but you won't learn anything. Maps can reveal a city, a landscape; show you the alley behind the wall; the pathway that leads out of town to the Roman ruins over the hill. With a map in my pocket, the world is mine. Now, that doesn't mean I won't get lost, in fact a map usually gives me too much confidence, which guarantees  I will get lost, but that's alright. I've made some of my best discoveries when lost.

This is a map I know fairly well of one of my favorite cities in the world. I will be there soon,

OK HW

Image for 4-20-11 - Big Chief

I got mixed feelings about graffiti. Sometimes I see it and it pisses me off, just looks like selfish bullshit inflicted on a public space. Then I'll see something that transcends that and makes it to the art level and improves upon the surroundings. This piece falls into the  later category. It has a humor to it and sophisticated sensibility that appeals to me. I also have to admit that I have become more open to graffiti after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop, a film that you need to see if you haven't. (Those with Netflix and Roku box can add it to their Instant Watch queue, hint, hint). The best quality graffiti I have ever seen was in Barcelona, Spain. I'll have to dig those photos out...

Image for 4-19-2011 - The Skull and the Brain

This is a quick camera-phone photo of the part of my desk of a skull candle, left-over from Halloween and a squeezy brain bit of swag from a trade show. I took this because I realized I spend a lot of my life here in this cube and see these things everyday and as a result no longer really see them anymore. Also needed to test my camera-phone. It's working again, but for how long, how long...

OK HW

Image for 4-18-11 - peep

I always liked this frame. It's from the fifth issue of my old underground comix, "Reluctant Sadist". I need to get back working on the book project I started that will collect all the issues together and also other work from that time. The "peep" is because I got no excuse. I must get ass in gear.

OK HW

Image for 4-17-11 - Red Helicopters

I was raking leaves this afternoon and looked up and saw this. Red helicopter seed pods against green leaves and a clear, blue sky. It was a fine peaceful moment.

OK HW

Image for 4-16-11 - Pollen Ring

I got a fast seven-mile hike in this morning. I saw lots of dried pockets of pollen along the edges of the sidewalks and in the gutters. This was the most interesting one, a pollen ring around a depression in the multi-use path that runs through the park. Found art is always around us.

OK HW

I'm a Mini Movie Mogul

Last night I threw twenty-five dollars in the indie film ring. There is a great web site called Kickstarter that helps artist, writers and filmmakers fund their projects. I've looked at it a couple of times before, but have never taken the plunge until last night. I found out through Twitter, about this making-of-a-horror-movie-doc called, "Hardcore Indie" that was getting down to the wire to meet their fundraising goal and decided to get off the bench and help them make it happen. I'm looking forward to seeing how their project develops! OK HW

Image for 4-13-11 - Tiki in Progress

Back on track.

This Tiki is in the front yard of a house I walk by on one of my regular hiking routes. It stands about four feet high and has been slowly evolving over the last couple of months. Once I ran across the artist at work. He had a variety of chisels and chainsaws and was sporting a finger splint earned from his efforts. I stopped and chatted with him a while about sculpting and tiki's. I haven't done any wood carving, but I have thought about it, even bought some tools. Sometimes I think that when I return to sculpting, that it will be wood. I love the smell wood, the texture, the grain. The connection with cultures through the whole of history. It's good to see the spark of creativity moving on to the next generation. Half drunk bohemians taking steel to wood to keep the old ones alive on a suburban street. My time is coming.

OK HW

Off track

I owe my regular viewers an apology for the lack of posts. I was out-of-town over the weekend for a wedding and was uploading photos and posts from my phone, or so I thought as there is no evidence of that here (thanks' Virgin Mobile). Yesterday I clean forgot to post anything. We'll see if we can get back on track today.

OK HW

Image for 4-9-11 - Mel and Billy

I am still back filling the days that were missed due to my stupid phone.

Here's a shot of Mel and Billy before the big hitch up. Billy was the best man and actually doesn't have a beard, that was a happy accident of the crappy tech. I enjoyed getting to know them better last weekend and look forward to hanging with them again sometime soon.

OK HW

Image for 4-8-11 - The Misty Mountaintop

I originally sent this from my camera phone to the blog, but it still hasn't shown up, so I'm playing catch up and reposting it directly. Friday we drove up to Wintergreen, VA to witness our good friends Casey and Laura be married. The ride up from the coast was uneventful until we got to the mountains. The cloud was down in the higher elevations and slowed us a bit. I am a big fan of fog, I love how it can take a normal environment and transform it into a mysterious adventure.

The truly dense stuff waited until later that evening when we had to make our way back from the Devil's Backbone down in the valley. The shroud dropped hard, reducing visibility to a few feet in front of the car and I had to creep along at five mph, clinging to the center line reflectors. It took awhile to get back to the chalet.

More catching up to do soon.

OK HW

Image for 4-7-2011 - Tangerine

I love tangerines. They unfold so easily and beautifully. Taste so sweet and are so good for you. I took a snack break at work today and found this cool shape after I cracked open this little fruit. It looked like an alien flower to me. Good thing I got a photo of it as it wasn't around very long.

OK HW

Image for 4-6-2011 - The Mistake

That's my keys, on the seat of my car, behind a locked door. Yeah. Bummer. Been a long time since I did that. Had to call AAA and wait over an hour for the guy to show up and pop the lock. I was hoping to get the groceries on the way home, then get a hike in. Instead spent that time pacing around my car in the Kroger parking lot as the sun went down. By the time I got home, I was too hungry and grouchy to hike. Bah. Some days are better then others.

OK HW

Image for 4-5-2011 - The Surrealist Sketches Return

Finally got off my lazy ass and did a little art. Continuing my series of little sketches of surrealist. I have a book on surrealism that has a lot of great old pictures of those wacky guys and have been filling up a little sketchbook with their portraits. I'm embarrassed to say how long it's been since I last added to the collection. I like some things about this drawing, but also have some problems with parts of it (hey, nothing's perfect). I mixed up the quality of line using fine, soft strokes for his face and heavy, looser lines for the jacket and background. Kinda like pulling focus. I know nothing about the artist, or in this case, filmmaker, Pierre Prévert, so I got some Googling to do.

OK HW

Image for 4-4-2011 - Alien Among Us

I've been looking at some of my old sculptures lately. I did a bunch of weird, tiny heads in sculpey many years ago, I've shown a few of them on this blog. Here's another one, a classic bug-eyed alien straight out of the Cantina scene from "Star Wars" (at least that's what I was hoping for at the time). I think he needs some new friends.

OK HW

Image for 4-3-2011 - In Full Training Mode

I got out today and hiked seven miles with the pack on in a great state park nearby called "First Landing State Park"; locals call it by it's old name, "Seashore State Park". I usually park behind a shopping center and take this multi-use trail into the park. The weather was perfect for hiking, sunny and not too warm. It felt good to walk among the trees. The paths through the park are all dirt trails, easy on the knees. Hiking with some weight on my back is working a lots of muscle groups that normally don't get hit. It's good. I can feel them getting stronger. I'll be ready for the big hike later this month in Scotland!

OK HW

Image for 4-2-2011 - More Hockey!

More photos from the hockey game last night. The first image is of the ceiling of Scope, the Norfolk civic arena where the game was held. I love Scope. It was designed by the Italian architect, Pier Luigi Nervi in the early 1970s and still today feels futuristic and daring. It also makes me feel like I am in the belly of a Cyclon battlestar, but that's another story. I've been to many great concerts in that crazy hall, including David Bowie, James Brown and Elton John. I graduated from high school and community college in there too. Sometimes small-minded people bring up the idea of tearing it down and building something larger. Norfolk excels in obliterating it's past by destroying any cool old buildings and the culture and identity those buildings held, but that's a post for another time.

During the game I looked down in front and saw this little infant being held up against the protective glass (or is it plexi-glass?). I thought for sure that baby would start screaming in terror when the players slammed up against the glass, but he or she seemed locked in fascination. There were a lot of children at the game and the crowd was laid back, not much swearing, a real family atmosphere. I'm not much of a hockey fan, but I love to catch a game in the Scope.

OK HW

Zamboni Time!

At a Norfolk Admirals game. They are losing 2 to 0 --Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Tag:"From the road.", "Virgin Mobile"
Location: lat=36.855, lng=-76.286
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Sent from my Virgin Mobile

image for 3-31-2011 - Fancy a pint lad?

Got some Scottish pounds for an upcoming trip. I always like to hit the ground with some of the local currency in my pocket. In the olden times, I would order my American Express traveler's cheques, but in these modern days, it is easy enough to use a credit card nearly anywhere. Also, last time tried to use traveler's cheques overseas, no one wanted them because of counterfeit concerns. I always envy the design of foreign money, the smart details like varying the size (small to large per denomination amount) and the use of color.

OK HW

Image for 3-30-11 - Lush

I got Janet some flowers for our anniversary last week and they are still alive, thriving in fact. I took this shot without a flash, so it has a warm quality due to the lamp light's color temperature. Some natural beauty on a cold, wet evening.

OK HW

Image for 3-29-11 - What's Out of Place?

One of these stickers doesn't belong. Can you guess which one? I met my buddy Casey for a pint after work at Sarah's Irish Pub. A section of the bar is covered in sassy, jokey bumper stickers all generally themed around drinking, bad attitudes, the battle of the sexes and other silliness. Today I spied one new sticker that spoiled the good humor of the collection for me. Yep, it's the Obama as the Joker sticker. I consider Sarah's to be a refugee and one of the things I need a break from is politics, especially the hateful, ignorant kind. This sticker perfectly illustrates what depresses me about the current tone of political dialogue (or lack there of) in this country. It is also a dishonest image as it aims is to bluntly paint our President as a villain and label him something he is not. I have no problem criticizing this President or any President, which is not what this image does. What it is is disingenuous, mean-spirited and worst of all not funny. Exactly what need a lot less of in the world right now.

OK HW

Image for 3-28-11 - Lucky shot

Heading south over the Delaware Mem. Bridge.
I took this with the phone-cam. Truth be told, I did take two pictures and this was the better of the two. I like the soft quality of the image and the colors are more vivid then I'd expect from a little, cheap-o camera phone.

OK HW

Tag:"From the road.", "Virgin Mobile"
Location: lat=39.558, lng=-75.653

At the Rochester Market

A fish stall at the Farmer`s Market. --Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Tag:"From the road.", "Virgin Mobile"
Location: lat=43.155, lng=-77.606
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Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Image for 3-26-11 - Happy Birthday Bernie!

Happy birthday Bernie! My Mum-in-law will be 90 come next week, so we are up in sunny Rochester, NY to celebrate! I love Bernie, she is a great, fun lady and former Marine in WW II. Here she is enjoying a cupcake just before kicking our butts in dummy Euchure.

OK HW

Location: lat=43.066, lng=-77.626
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Sent from my Virgin Mobile

On the Road Again!

Driving north on highway 15; heading for Rochester --Sent from my Virgin Mobile!
Tag:"From the road.", "Virgin Mobile"
Location: lat=41.34, lng=-77.092
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Sent from my Virgin Mobile

Image for 3/24/11 - More Empty Coal Ships

Lately there has been a constant collection of empty coal ships waiting to get into port, sometimes as many as fifteen. I wonder what the crews do while they have to wait. Janet and I took a walk on Christmas Eve and saw the ships and I envisioned that the crew would have some tiny, artificial tree with make-shift ornaments and maybe a little egg nod. If they were lucky, the old, chubby cook would dress up as Santa and hand out a few candy bars as gifts. I bet they are mostly just bored watching TV.

OK HW

Image for 3/23/11 - Glad to see ya!

I love those attractor balloon people things. They need to develop some artificial intelligence and overthrow their human masters. Of course all we'd have to do to defeat them is turn-off their fans.

OK HW

Image for 3/22/11 - The Grid

Guess what this is? It is a tile bathroom floor from the building I work in. Reminded me of the first video game graphics, 8-bit style.

OK HW

Ten Years Ago Today...

Janet and I took that walk. We were married on a beach in Freeport, Bahamas. It was a very casual ceremony with just a few close friends. 

I think of that day often, how we chose each other. It's been the best ten years of my life.

I wish the same good love and happiness for all my friends.















OK HW

Image for 3/20/11 - The Hiking Report

I upped my hiking goal for 2011 from 650 to 700 miles. So far, I am keeping up with the extra miles. Today I did a six mile hike with my backpack on (about 17 pounds in the pack). I have a big hike coming up in May and will have to carry the pack, so training time. It felt good to get the carry the weight, could feel different muscle groups getting some heat. We'll see how I'm feeling in the morning. I've hit 166 miles for the year thus far, only 534 to go.

OK HW

Image for 3/19/11 - Spring Forward!

Ah. spring is in the air. I did a seven mile hike today and the weather was perfect. Sunny and about sixty-two degrees. I felt pretty good, even did a bit of jogging. I love Saturdays.

OK HW

Image for 3/18/11 - Fire Good!

We had our first fire for the year in the chimenea tonight. Nothing like a Friday night fire on the patio to kick-off the weekend. It was very warm today, eighty degrees, about twenty above normal for this time of year. Everyone has spring fever.

OK HW

Image for 3/17/11 - Happy St. Patty's Day!

On my way home from work, I had stop  off for one pint at my favorite watering hole, "Sarah's Irish Pub" in Phoebus (Hampton), Va. Sarah's is run by Trish (to the left) and Frank, too of the happiest people I know. They throw a legendary St. Patty's Day party every year complete with green beer, corned beef and cabbage, live music and, of course, a leprechaun (pictured below). The place was packed out by the time I stopped in and I was lucky to score a Guinness and find a rail to lean against. The band started off with a cover of The Beatles, "Back in the USSR". Must of been an inside joke. The crowd didn't seem to mind.

I got to admit that I've only become a fan of St. Patty's Day since I lived in Ireland. Now it makes some sense to me; helps me to reconnect with those years I spent wandering the green and rocky hills of the Burren in the west. It also helps that green is my favorite color.

Sláinte Gaelach!

OK HW

Image for 3/16/11 - Sidewalk Hieroglyphics...

I did a quick two mile hike after work tonight. My usual roundtrip from the house up to Shore Drive. I was walking along feeling bored with all I saw. The uninspired, soulless colonial ranch and vinyl sided duplexes that dominate my neighborhood were not providing the kind of photo opportunities I was hoping for then I looked down and saw these markings on the sidewalk. Some kind of utility tags. I see abstract art, abstract tags, subterranean hints of another world.

OK HW

Image for 3/15/11 - Red Skies in Morning...

It was a rosy dawn, fire across the eastern sky. Daylight savings makes it much easier for me to enjoy the rising sun. True to the saying, "Red skies in morning, sailor take warning", we did have some mildly bad weather today, just a little rain. The ships out in the bay are empty coal freighters waiting to coming into the marine terminals for a load. I'd prefer to see wind turbines or wave turbines instead.

OK HW

Image for 3/14/11 - Mr. Lizard-Man...

Alright, I'm gonna lean on another pic from Key West today. It was a boring Monday and I felt uninspired, so better to remember being back in Key West on a hot Friday, hiking along the moat for Fort Zach Taylor and coming across this fellow. He was about three feet from nose to tail tip and looked well fed. We startled each other pretty good, but he hung around long enough for me to get one quick snap before he jumped into the green water and disappeared.

OK HW

Image for 3/13/11 - Another Key West thing...

I walked around all day today with the camera in my pocket, but never saw anything worth shooting. So I'm going to dip back into the pile of photos from the Key West trip for today's image. I took this at an interesting place called the "Pelican Poop Shoppe" that is in a great old building called the "Casa Antigua" and is purported to be Ernest Hemingway's first home in Key West. Now it's somebody else's private residence with a gift shop in the front. If you buy something in the gift shop they give you a tour of the courtyard, which is where I found this weird fellow. The courtyard was wonderful, full of tropical planets and a pool in the middle. A secluded outdoor space within a town. That's a design feature that I think needs to come back.

OK HW

Image for 3/12/11 - Goodnight Starling

Out hiking today (seven miles, thank you very much) and came across this beautiful European Starling carcass along Shore Drive. Click the image to enlarge  and better appreciate the iridescent feathers which, according to my bird book, are only seen in the spring. A dead spring bird; the edge between winter and spring; death and rebirth.

Weirdly enough, I saw a second bird cadaver half a block from this one, but it was in the shadow of a telephone pole; badly lit for a photo.

OK HW

Image for 3-11-2011 - Doodle Friday

Scanned this out of a notepad at work. I'm not much for meetings. Find that generally they are a waste of time, so the pen and mind will wander. This little sketch was inspired by an old friend, Nino. He passed on some years back after living a long and interesting life. He was happier then this doodle portrays him. I never saw him wear that kind of sweater. Weird the connections a mind will make.

Happy Friday!

OK HW