December 2008, Part the Second

Here we are, having completed a short and ponderous journey through 2008.
There are 158 photos on this web-page, a bit shy of the expected 365, but all in all a good effort. As for the future, I am not sure...of course I will continue to take photos but may not post as many here. I will think of something to amuse myself in 2009. We might as well enrich ourselves in the three (or more) years we've got left.

That said, I love you all quite a bit.


Home



This is the house where I grew up. I call it home, but I've called a few more places home, too. So its "My house at home" and will probably soon be "My parents house". Its a strange world we live in, to have dual homes.




Wall It In



It is important to photograph things that disturb you. I find this extremely disturbing for reasons I can't fully explain. Wall it In? Would you ingest this?




Baking 2



My mother is one of the best bakers I know. Seen here over a cranberry upside-down cake, preparing pie crust as Lucy the Cat looks on.




Baking 3





Said pie. Its a winter fruit pie, with apples, cranberries, prunes, golden raisins, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel...its award-winning, actually, and feels so good in your belly on a cold winter day.




Milkweed



Seeds gone, snow as fluffy as they once were.




Papa-San




Waste of a good chair if you ask me.




Garlic



Oh, what the heck. Here are the health-benefits of garlic. Its pretty awesome.




Gus 2



There is nothing like the sultry look of a happy cat, with, as Oscar Wilde penned, "eyes of satin rimmed with gold"





Geranium



Have you ever noticed how green becomes so rare and so precious in the heart of winter?
For that matter, so does sunshine.




Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman



So here I am a year later. Far better traveled, a little older and, in truth, a bit wiser. I've figured some things out this year. I've been aimless and let down and lonesome. I've been jubilant and glad and awestruck. What more can you ask?

December, Part 1

Soldiers



All I want for Valentines Day are plastic soldiers. Candy gets eaten, flowers fade, but plastic soldiers last forever. Literally.




Tannenbaum



All the houses on our street became obscenely decorated for Christmas. Our house built a cardboard palm tree.



Biscuits



Is there a difference between those spelled with a C and those spelled with a Q? If so, what is it? All I know is, these ones were made with yogurt, orange peel and raisens, and are fricking delicious.




Feeding Frenzy



Mornings are best when shared. With a dozen other people cramming food into their mouths.



Cookies



Andrew, my radio show co-host, partner-in-crime, and just a generally curly-haired fellow. We get together and run around and shout loudly.



Jack Frost



I was going to take a bunch of pictures at a different window, but from there I could see into the next house over, where there was a guy in his underwear.



Whiteboardocracy



The message boards in our house are a little bit of information sharing a lot of wisecracking.



Imprint




The winter will kill us all.




Valley Forge



This is about the only way to survive. After just a few days in December you realize that almost everyone around you is wearing multiple layers of socks, pants and long underwear. Those who don't, freeze.




Algebraic Inferno



Graduating? Burn all your notes from your most hated class!




More to come!

November

Yes, yes. November. What a grim chill wondrous month.


Towelocracy



This election is so big, even the towels are voting.



City of Lakes



Unseasonable warmth leads us out on a walk around Lake Harriet. Its not every year you can hang laundry on the line in November, or enjoy the (ever-earlier) sunset by the water.



Amber



Beer by candlelight, winter is coming!



Babylegocracy



The youth are pretty excited about the election.
The next day I was talking to some Mormon guys and one asked who had won the election. I said, "Obama!" He then asked, "Did he get the popular or the electoral votes?"
How strange that they are different things.
"Both" I replied, gladly.



Wedding Gift



All I will say is that this wheelbarrow contains 100 tacos.




Moo-juice



Signs of a mis-spent morning.



Truth in the Streets



And never forget it.



November



Crossing the river each day I am awestruck. Trestles, smoke stacks, walkways. Bright snow fell from a sunny sky. This city is stunning in November. Certainly it holds itself well in the dumb swell of summer, briskly suits itself in autumn, but it is winter! Winter fits Minneapolis like a glove.



Bohemian



Its like one of those Greek Isles calendars, but Midwestern.



Cornucopia



Holidays are all about being with family and friends...



Trellis



Never will I tire of light on buildings.




Grey Milwaukee



This city is all white and pale gray.
Oh, and this is the art museum designed by some fancy guy by the name of Calatrava.




Interactive History



Solomon Juneau was the founder of Milwaukee, which is pretty cool. He was also the first mayor, first postmaster, and started the Milwaukee Journal (now the Journal-Sentinel). His nephew founded Juneau, Alaska.
Man, those were the days. Any old guy could just up and start a city.




House




This may or may not be a picture of a ghost...



ALMOST DONE WITH 2008! WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD????

Stay tuned, gentle viewer. Stay tuned.

October Part Two

Bus Stop

The only really good thing about having to get up early to catch the bus is seeing the light on all the buildings.

Minneapolis

Autumn makes living in a city much more pleasant.

Waiting

When I pass this leaf in the hallway, I am filled for some reason with expectation.

Wall

Who knew that pink was what is left behind when autumn gets too cold?

Gourds

Gourds. They're the human condition. Think about it.

Jack o Lantern

Somebody got a bunch of baby-doll legs and we’ve been hiding them around the house, most notably in the refrigerator. Certain people’s brains make me happy. For example, the creator of this masterpiece.

Olmec

How pleasant to sit in a booth and drink a cup of coffee and forget everything for a while.

And then you see this face staring up at you…a face from the past…

Gleaners

We went to this farm and picked the last of the raspberries as the snow fell down…there was something so beautiful about it. Being together in the snow, and suffering, and then coming away with delicious produce that would have gone to waste.

Halloween

For obvious reasons, Halloween is the best holiday all year. Because your beautiful friends become beautifully creative. Festivities then occur.

October Part One

I am not going to lie to you…most of my pictures from October are just leaves. Thing is, that is what mostly occupies my mind/eye/camera as I go from place to place.

Cinderblock

I guess I really didn’t expect this to look so cool! Such is life.

Sumac

Sumac is one of my all-time favorite trees. It’s fuzzy and the berries make this great lemonade. You can hollow out the stems to make spigots. You can tear them down and make a huge bonfire. In autumn, the range of colors they produce are just shy of unbelievable.

Orange

I warned you.

Dead Leaves

As Jack White sings, “dead leaves and the dirty ground/ when I know you're not around”

Zombies

About an hour into the Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis, I realized that our generation has no real purpose. We have no war, no Great Depression, as it were. Instead we prefer to spend our considerable resources dressing up and playing dead. Just to feel alive.

Corn 1

Many breathless moments have been spent afraid in cornfields.

Corn 2

Let it be known that walking in corn is the best thing ever, unless you start thinking about drowning in it, or starving children, or government subsidies…

Fall Fare

Pumpkin soup, salad, fresh bread, red wine, hot cider…

Life is good.