You have to have a good ball to play. One with some bounce. Similar rules to baseball they say. But you could get the ball thrown at you as you rounded the bases and be called out. Everyone wanted to pitch. I left school Friday afternoon and saw this kickball on the playground in the snow.
Almost a study in black and white. Anna and Maura sat together on the piano bench. Anna practiced her lesson and Maura provided accompaniment with her own offbeat tune. It was a pretty wild duet. Matthew titled the photo Heart and Soul. Has anyone played that lately?
Driving through Oakland. A snowstorm. Lights in the night. An enormous Diplodocus accumulating snowfall on his back. Sporting a red knit scarf. Pull to the curb. Forbes Avenue. Turn on the flashers. Get out of the car. Focus. Shoot. Find the beauty of winter.
How old do you have to be to remember what 45rpm means? I had a carrying case for this size record. Down at Excuses again, SouthSide, where King Cobra Blues plays the first Friday of the month. I saw this scene- a guy named John had two old 45’s and was asking Don Hollowood to sign them during the band’s break. I asked if I could photograph the 45’s. He was worried I didn’t have a flash but I managed. John was explaining to me how there was an A side and a B side to a 45. It was dark in the bar. I had about twenty years on him and knew about the A and B side but he said he was used to explaining the concept to his nieces. So the rare 45’s of the band Bon Ton Roulet were Black Diamond(A) and You Excite Me Daddy(B) and the other was Love and War (A) and They Call Us Bon Ton Roulet(B). Check out the MTV Basement Tapes, hosted by Frank Zappa, see the early music video featuring Pittsburgh Band Bon Ton Roulet singing Love and War. John said he bought them at Sunny Jim’s in Emsworth. There is one copy of Black Diamond on Amazon. The plastic insert 45rpm adapter is called a spider.
On the way home from school this late afternoon, crossed the Bloomfield Bridge, down Howley Street past the Shur Save and turned to the right instead left. Too much traffic by the new Children’s Hospital. On Pearl Street the car ahead of me was stopped. It took a long time for the parallel parker to get into the space. Thought the row of houses on the right had some good repetition and rhythm.
In Lawrenceville. As I walked over the 40th Street Bridge I looked up and saw all these houses packed so closely together.. There was no air between the rooftops. Reminded me of a difficult jigsaw puzzle.
And the birds flew up into the shot. I was wishing I had taken my new fingerless gloves from Christmas. Just left the Millvale Post Office (no line!) to mail Joanne’s Christmas box I’d been driving around for three weeks. And the cards that each needed an additional 5 cent stamp. As I came back over the Allegheny I saw the light stream down onto the city. Pulled into the Bus Stop indentation at the end of the bridge, put the flashers on and walked to the center. Fortunately the light was still there. Could have used a filter, too, but it was a stunning late afternoon in winter. Could feel the bridge vibrate as I stood out on the walkway.
Once her mother’s, now in my granddaughter’s room on a shelf along with her mom and dad’s teddy bears and a doll with a purple and white crocheted outfit made by Anna’s great grandmother. The window light hit the blue skate, highlighting the plastic dangling down. I was shooting the teddy bears and got distracted with the brightly colored charms. Underneath a music box bunny rabbit Erika had as a baby. Can something from the ’80s be vintage already? I found a listing for Plastic Charm Necklace at the 80’s Museum. Today at work a teacher said she is teaching the children to say TwentyEleven not TwoThousand Eleven for the year. She asked me how I said 1985? or 1900? Hmmm.
Seemed once we hit two thousand we started saying it differently. Two Thousand, Two Thousand One, Two Thousand Two……..As I walked down the hall a song came into my head- “In the year 2525….”
Home after being away for ten days. Steve bought a pizza for us. Found a pile of mail in the front hall; catalogs, bulk mail, a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, a notice of a tangelos and grapefruit delivery, a bank statement and the water bill. A few Christmas cards and the Barbie scrubs I ordered for Christmas from Etsy. A nice card with a Starbucks giftcard from Cj. AND a “Mug Rug” with a Norfolk VA postmark from Colleen, a long time friend of Joanne in Omaha. Joanne insists that Colleen and I have met but we haven’t– yet! Colleen stitched a quilted “mug rug” and sent it to me with a lovely card. (Depending on when you are reading this, I am writing on the 9th Day of Christmas so it is 9 Ladies Dancing, 10 Lords-a-Leaping, Mary.) I love the numbers on the fabric. There were instructions for a cup of tea and room for two cookies on the side but I didn’t want to cover up the fabric for the photo. What a happy surprise to find a handmade gift in the sea of fliers and junkmail! And how fortunate Steve had some cookies to supply for the shot. What a great way to end the vacation. And Deb B I like the quote on your handmade card.
“How we choose to think,
Determines what we will see,
And so it is that we,
Create our reality.”
(a quote but no attribution, maybe someone will help find the source)
It is a happy 2011 already. Thanks friends.
*If you want to see the Blog Year in Review 2010 and the Top Posts- click here for late post 1/2/2011
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 69,000 times in 2010. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would have performed about 3 times.
In 2010, there were 352 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 451 posts. There were 633 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2gb. That’s about 2 pictures per day.
The busiest day of the year was May 31st with 18,398 views. The most popular post that day was My Bookshelf .
The top referring sites in 2010 were reddit.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.live.com, jimmyr.com, and facebook.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for disco ball, new york city, city rooftops, new york rooftops, and new york city at night.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
My Bookshelf May 2010
11 comments
New York City Rooftops by Night Light July 2009
4 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,
Furry Convention in Pittsburgh June 2010
11 comments
Their Eyes Looked at Me as I Walked By- I Had to Photograph Them June 2010
8 comments
Memories Sparked by Disco Ball Reflections? November 2009
1 comment