Month: May 2015

rDay Sixty: ‘Shroom Quest

Almost four hours tromping about the mountains and forest this morning.  Started with a jaunt up Looking Glass Hill Road, going as far as we could before 4WD was even inadequate to the task, spotting an old IH pickup and viewing the remote forest estate of Kim’s doctor along the way.  Then Kim and Ivi decided we should revisit the Oregon Trail Pass area again for mushrooms. But this time we went up side logging trails, going deep into meadows and draws and dense foliage where we came upon exotic logging equipment, a few ticks and, yes, even some mushrooms.  Charlie enjoyed every minute.

 

 

rDay Fifty-Eight: Weather Report

Walking downtown just before noon to confer with ex-colleagues, I encountered rich blue skies and white clouds of the highly fluffy variety.  But as I was headed back an hour later, the blues were turning gray, then nearly black.  Not long after my return, a thunderstorm burst forth, and — you guessed it — another gush of basement flooding.

Before …
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After …

UPDATE – THE RAIN:

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rDay Fifty-Five: Tuesday, A Scheduled Shopping Day

Today we do some light shopping and price comparing, checking out a “slammed” (auto slang for radical lowering to achieve the optimal “stance”) pickup and an unusual trailer from North Carolina in the parking lot, drop by a local plant nursery (a seemingly habitual act by KAE) where I see a nice welded-sculpture bird-water-thing, and return home, where the front door is reassuringly guarded by the Terror Beast.  One sentence.

 

It’s What I Do

addario_3d-1A while back, we caught interviews on Charlie Rose, Fresh Air, the PBS NewsHour and elsewhere of Lynsey Addario, a “conflict” (i.e., war zone, etc.) photographer who has covered situations in almost every global trouble spot, from Africa to Afghanistan and much more) of the past fifteen or so years. Notified Friday by the local library that my special order of several weeks ago for her memoir had arrived, I eagerly picked it up, concluding my read yesterday and turning it over to Kim for a turn.

I soon got past my initial reaction that it was something of a self-serving (probably by definition what autobiographical work is intended to be) piece that had the benefit of hindsight, realizing that I had found a real page-turner. More than once, it inspired tears. I kept thinking that surely this one could be adapted as a movie, and, sure enough, last night a little research showed that Steven Spielberg is slated to direct, with Jennifer Lawrence to play Addario’s part.  (Not sure when it is to be released.)

Discovering this book, by the way, came about shortly after we happened to watch “A Thousand Times Good Night”, a 2013 Norwegian/Irish film directed by Eric Poppe (and inspired by his own experience as a war journalist) and starring Juliette Binoche as an obsessed war photographer.

While we’re at it, you should know about the stunning “War Photography”, a 2001 documentary film on the work of acclaimed photographer, James Nachtwey.  

Normally, this is the kind of post that I would limit to my photography blog, but it seems worthy of attention by a wider audience. Highly recommended.

See Addario’s website: http://www.lynseyaddario.com/

And learn more about her book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9B7CSM/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

rDay Fifty-Four, Mushrooms and Clouds

Because yesterday’s small harvest of mushrooms turned out to be so delicious, Ivi and Kim returned to the mountains today for an extended hunting & gathering session.  By dinnertime, we realized that some key meal ingredients were needed, so a quick and determined trip was made to the market before the impending thunderstorm could cut loose.

 

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rDay Fifty-Three

This morning, it is a drive twelve miles out of town into the national forest area.  Finding our intended destination not open until Memorial Day weekend, we hike along side roads.  At one point we encounter weekend walkers with their own young aussie sheep dog (elusive; not pictured).  And Kim penetrates deep into the shadows and unmarked zones to find some mushrooms that have emerged after the rains of this past week.