Things I love

In no particular order:

Enjoying the company of good friends. They can do the talking if they want to, and I'll listen.

The rich smell of earth carried gently out of the entrance of a cave.

The clean, non-earth smell of a limestone cave with no mud.

A good rehearsal in a production with good, committed actors.

A warm hug that lasts longer than the don't-misunderstand-this limit, because they know I won't misunderstand it.

Picking a perfectly ripened fruit from the garden. This goes for fruits, beans, whatever.

Solving a problem successfully. Computer, printer, you name it.

Getting a phone call from someone I love for no reason.

Long walks on the... well, anywhere. A hiking trail, a beach, a sidewalk.

Children laughing and playing with each other.

Moms and dads playing with their children.

Hearing wives say good things about their husbands.

Being appreciated. Oh, don't we all, though?

Hearing the hedgehog giggle on Frontierville.

Hearing the words "It needs more butter."

Eating in a foreign country. That little ham sandwich bagette thing in Paris tasted better than escargot at home.

Old photos

Lately I've been on a project.

It's been rewarding, and time consuming, and my eyes are starting to cross.
I've been scanning family slides, dating from the 40's to the 80's. Slides that old look monochrome, either blue or green or yellow, depending on the film used, and you would think that it would be impossible to coax true colors out of them. Sometimes it is impossible, but often you can get amazing results with a little patience.

The first set I tackled was my dearly departed dad's collection. There were slides in there that I had never seen, probably because on those occasions when he set up the projector, he mostly showed the ones that we were most likely to enjoy seeing. But he never threw away anything, and so there were some rejected slides that I am thrilled to discover - though, granted, I probably wouldn't have appreciated them as a ten year old lad.

Take a look at this one:

OK, you can tell that it was shot from an airplane, sure. But where is it? That, my friend, is the city of Tokyo, in 1945, before the end of the war.

Here is one taken in Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands, where he was stationed. Did you know we had bases set up in Alaska during WW2? Well, it made sense. When you hop from island to island on the way to Japan, Alaska is a great place to start.

 Anybody know what kind of plane that is? I didn't care back in the day, but now it looks kind of interesting.

Look at these guys trying to stay warm. They were all Air Force buddies of my dad, but of course I didn't care. I didn't know them. I didn't try to stay warm with them. I suspect that one could really learn to appreciate a hot cup of coffee when it's this cold all the time.






Now, here is another one, from 1946, at least I think it is. This was in the rejects box, and I did some serious color correction to bring out the natural colors. I have no idea who these people are, except that they are relatives of some kind. I wasn't even born yet, so I didn't know them until they were grown up. But it doesn't matter. Look at the stuff on the table. Look at the appliances in the background. I think it's a great little photo.

I'm probably not doing as great a job as a professional might, but then I'm giving each slide a lot more individual attention, so who knows?

But now, take a look at this slide, taken in Morocco after the war.

Look at the way the locals are dressed, sure, but notice the guy on the bicycle! I think I saw this movie.

But here is one that I think I remember seeing when I was a kid, but probably when Dad returned from Morocco, and not again, because it was in the reject box. Thing is, at that time, it was strictly forbidden to take pictures of women because - I don't know, but whatever it was, it didn't really hurt anybody, and so he slyly took a shot as he walked down the street in front of the gas station, and he somehow managed to not get beheaded for it. By now, the woman in the photo has been stoned to death for sneezing wrong or something. Or she's died of old age before reaching 50. You know how it is.