This could be my autobiography :-). It’s actually a really good childrens book. Highly recommend this title.
Category: Personal History
F-22
Yesterday one of my brothers in law took us out on Lake Washington on his 50′ yacht. Pretty amazing experience. Before the Blue Angels practiced, this F-22 did some fly-bys. Pretty amazing aircraft, as it can almost hover.
We are experiencing smoke from the wildfires in British Columbia, to our north. The photos I will post following this post will show you how smoky it has been this week; kind of looks like 1970’s Los Angeles, no offense to LA.
Also, I didn’t take my camera bag with me on the yacht, but just my camera and a portrait lens. I wasn’t able to get the best shots with this lens, even extended all the way out. There were about 22 of my wife’s family on board the yacht, a 50′ Bayliner that is equipped beyond what I could do justice describing.
Some Bluestar2012 Stats
As promised, some blog stats:
Posts: 3,203
Visitors: 7,646
Total Visits: 28,328
Followers: 468
I have no reference point, so don’t know if these stats are meaningful.
Thanks to all of you are make up some part of these stats!!!
Very humbling.
Our Garden Window
Since my range of traveling has been limited to home or close to home ( due to health issues: broken bone in right foot, fractured 8th rib and a blood clot causing edema in my lower left leg-phew!) and not in the usual interesting places I find to shoot, I have some images here from our garden window. I love plants from the desert SW, and besides, they easily adjust to my black thumb!
Blog Stats
I rarely check the Blog Stats, but did so today and thought I would share them.
As of today: 22,121 total views ( since blog inception in Feb. of 2009).
444 Followers.
Thanks to all who have visited my blog the past 8 years.
I owe a debt of gratitude for the encouragement of my wife for getting this project off the ground and to a friend, Deb, who sadly passed away two months before I launched the blog.
Best regards!
Music Update
I’ve updated the Music Bar, on the bottom right hand column, to include the full EP, Inburst, by our son ( aka: Missing Vwls). His music can be found and purchased on Bandcamp.com. Years ago he was in an instrumental band in Seattle, WA called, Autofirelife.
Check it out!
Shameless plug! :-).
Enjoy!!
Music Bar
I added a music bar to the front page of the blog. The song that is currently available was written and played by our son, who lives in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to being a musician/composer, he is a dad, works for Simon and Schuster full time, writes music reviews online and is currently finishing a book that will be published by Harper, Collins in Jan, 2018. Busy guy!
Outdoor Plumbing
There is a bit of history regarding this photo. Photo was taken in July of 1970, using film and decades later, scanned into PC.
Location: East Oakland, CA. A friend had recently remodeled her bathroom and the remnants of the old bathroom ended up in her backyard. She lived on Oak Knoll Rd., a few blocks from the Oakland Zoo. Across the street from her lived Sonny Barger, the head of the Oakland chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. An interesting neighborhood!
Had to crank up the “Way Back Machine” for this one :-).
Meditation
A break from what I usually post. The other day, when it was 35 degrees outside, our 5 year old grandson decided he was too tense or anxious so he went out to the sidewalk in front of his house, of his own volition, and decided to get centered.
Note: photo taken with my phone. Quality not so great, sorry.
Mondays Floral Offering
Did a shoot for a wedding reception last Saturday night; one of my wife’s nieces. A working/fun event, as it was the first time I had shot a formal, but fun, event such as that. I loved the floral arrangements on each table, so I incorporated them into my ‘work’ for the evening.
Two Bridges
The Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Taken while in Brooklyn last week.
Canada Gallery
A family reunion of sorts at the Canada Gallery, Lower Manhattan, NY. I rarely post an image of myself but this was a rare occasion, visiting the Canada Gallery and meeting with Lily. The last time we were able to connect was in 2012; a few hits and misses in the interim . Lily has been painting most all her life, when not traveling with her best bud, Chloe Sevigny. Her work has been getting a lot of attention the past couple of years. She has done shows in the US and Europe, which always sell out. Currently her paintings sell in the $10K -$15K range, but will probably go up. She keeps an apartment in Port Chester, NY, but is rarely there. Most of her time is spent in Upstate NY, living and working in a large old house that was once a boarding house. Peace and quiet in the countryside, rather than the non stop noise of NY City, etc. More space to do her work. I’ve known Lily since she was a wee lass, holding our months old son on her lap. Like many artists, she is very unique in many ways; her approach to life, time, work is on her terms.
The opening ended up being very crowded, although it was a miserably wet night outside. I found out, while there, that I had been put on a list to go out to dinner in Tribeca with the gallery folks and the artists represented by Phil, the gallery co-owner. However, I passed on the invitation and slogged my way back to Delancey and Essex St. to catch the subway back to Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Note: photos were taken with my iPhone.
South Park
Fall colors line this street in South Park, Seattle. I lived in South Park between the ages of 3 and 5.
South Park: fishing in the Duwamish River in South Park in 1955.
Reminder/Notice
Just a reminder that my photo display is still going on at Capitol Hill Hair. Tues through Sat. from 9:00AM to around 6:00PM. If you live in or near Seattle please feel free to stop by and take a peek. I will probably be stopping by myself this Saturday around 11:00AM to straighten frames and make sure everything I put on the walls is still up on the walls–gravity has a way of pulling things down. The address is: 514 19th Ave. East ( basically, 19th and Republican, east side of street on ground floor).
Photo Show
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be displaying some of my recent work at Capitol Hill Hair during the month of Sept. I will actually be hanging the show on the afternoon of Sept. 5th, so from the 6th forward, during business hours, it will be there to see. Best times are between noon and 6pm during business days ( closed Sunday and Mondays). The shop # is: 206-325-2700 in the event you want to verify the shop is open on a particular day and hour. I have put the address in the ‘location’ window of this post, but here it is also: 514 19th Ave. East, Suite C, Seattle, Wa.
Dublin Graffiti
The first afternoon we were in Dublin we discovered this lane with both graffiti and old stone walls. The lane got a little sketchy towards the end where it meets the canal. Probably not a place I would venture after the dark, but it was interesting that this was my first view of Dublin.
Signage
After this week my posting may be a bit irregular. The following three weeks I will be on the road in Portland, OR. and then onto Ireland for 10 days. Posting from Portland is fairly easy as there is Wi-Fi at my daughter’s home; Ireland may be a bit more spotty, but I hope to post from our travels there as well ( via my iPad Mini), depending on availability of free Wi-Fi spots. I won’t be taking my Nikon, but between my iPhone and a Samsung St150F digital camera I hope things will work out. After we return from Ireland I have ten days to put the finishing ideas together for the September show I have at Capitol Hill Hair. I’ll be posting a notice about that as well as map and directions on both the blog and my Facebook page.
South Park Bridge
The two crews rowing were the first ones to pass under the new South Park Bridge. The last photo is looking south where the old Sheet Metal Shop of Plant II, Boeing, was located. During the bridge construction Boeing demolished the long vacated building (whose footprint ran right up the the waters edge, with no set back or buffer zone) and is now cleaning and refurbishing this section of shoreline of the Duwamish River. Pretty amazing transition. The Sheet Metal Shop moved to the city of Auburn, WA. in the mid-80’s-known as the 17-45 building. I actually worked in the 17-45 building for a year, 1999, before being moved to the Everett Plant 67 miles north, where I spent the last two years of my working career with the company. Seems like a lifetime ago.
Change of Blog Theme
I felt is was time to update a few links and widgets on my blog. While doing so it seemed like a good time to change “Themes”. The last theme was called “Chateau”, the current theme you see is called “Mystique”. I am at 86% usage of the space WordPress allows me to use for free. It has taken 5 years to get to this point. Once I max out I think I can convert my current blog over to a ‘premium’ account for a small, annual fee, something I plan on doing. The premium account will allow me to add much more to the visual and functional appearance of the blog. Thanks to all for your support and encouragement.
On another note, I will be having a show here in Seattle during the month of September. I will post a reminder and maps as the time gets closer. It will be in the same location as my last show, Capital Hill Hair, which is really a cool art space, in my opinion. I have about 20 framed images and I think most of them will be new or different from the last show I did. More black and white images this time around. Still need a few more images, which I will be working on this summer. It’s a long and torturous process for me (I’d rather go to the dentist!).
Blessings to all,
Bluestar2012 (aka Fred)
Looking Back Thursday: SF, 1970
A bookstore in an alley and street musicians from 1970, San Francisco. This may be the last in this series unless I can dig up some 45 year old prints that could be hidden about our home or garage.
Bluestar2012's Photoblog 