Walking home for lunch, along South First Avenue and Catherine Street …
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Nik Heads Back to Seattle
After nearly a week’s visit, we arise very early this morning to get Nik on his return way, catching the commuter shuttle to Tri-Cities for his connection.
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Today we picnic in Pioneer Park and Aviary, encountering gaggle upon gaggle of free-range geese, exotic birds, quaint sculpture and a rising temperature.
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Nik’s here, visiting from Seattle. So we are talking and sightseeing and exploring. Unfortunately, in one of those Old Man Things (OMT), I destroyed my main camera and a lens a day ago, so my documentation is limited. However, for a three-mile hike around Bennington Lake, I managed to find a years-old P&S that worked long enough to get this:


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Fort Walla Walla Cemetery (established 1858).
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Walking around town with Nik.
Just Randomly Scanning About …
Today, deviating from the course of pursuing the Dreaded Boxes Project, I blundered upon some other random stuff that has been long-lost in storage.
First, a wonderful photo taken by Ivi at about age seven, during a memorable “S Day” trip by father and daughter to Joseph and the Wallowas. Had to scan this from a plain (non-photo) paper printout that was tucked away in some old office supplies (no idea where the original might be).
Next, I found this image on a very old self-portrait print tucked away under some expired photo paper and darkroom supplies. It was originally taken with my 4×5 view camera using some then-expired Polaroid film, hence the discoloration, fogging and other effects. This was when I shared living in a cat-filled Santa Monica apartment around 1977. I recall that about every 15 years or so I try another take on the always- but gradually-changing Polaroid original print, so there are other versions around, probably on my photo blog.
Finally, returning to the Dreaded, I find a copy that my mother had of a print that I long ago misplaced. And it happens to be one of my favorites, historically. This is myself and my younger brother, Dennis, probably about six and four, respectively, taken by an anonymous photographer (a parent?) on my grandfather’s farm near Turin, Iowa, circa 1947. Some documented details appear to include my uncle in the distant background, my grandfather’s ’40 Ford (which was brand new and driven by my father when he was courting my mother) and my father’s ’37 or ’38 Chevy. (Remember when Kodak film always came with a little illustrated piece of paper that advised you to shoot with the sun at your back? Even if it blinded the subjects, apparently.)
rDay Twelve Hundred Twenty-Four, Continued
Tell Me How You Really Feel
If you ever look at my music blog, you may know that Courtney Barnett has made my personal album of the year * listings a few times. Here, she responds to listeners’ reactions to her latest, “Tell Me How You Really Feel”.
(And what a bonus to find that we share the referenced Joni Mitchell …)
* Just do a “Courtney Barnett” search at the blog and scroll to the bottom (past the Google-inserted sponsored results) for my links.
Thanks to Kim for bringing this one to my attention.



























































