Signs.

Theme is signs. First thing I thought of was M. Night Shyamalans' movie, Signs; well filmed with a quaint farm and it's occupants surrounded but not protected by a corn field. Great looking farm. I would rate the movie supernatural lite. Loved the visuals.

Back when Mel was only an actor,

And Phoenix not yet a rapper,

a Culkin, not Macaulay,

played an asthmatic son.

It was Bo the daughter,

who turns out at the end,

had left clues all over,

and who would have guessed,

They looked quite invincible

but that wasn't the case,

turns out the alien's weakness

was something home based:

WATER...

(I love the baseball reference. Ha, you had to watch it to understand.)

Taken tonight, edge of backyard. Cornfield.

From Butterflies 07-11-10.

From 2010-07-30corn-etc

Backyard Lattice Fire.

Actually the fire was in our driveway

but I like the similarity to the band name

Backyard Tire Fire.

Not many videos on youtube yet; really good, raw, bluesy sound.

A couple shots of spare lattice burning

and one really good,

but really dark picture of Amy and Shanda.

From 2010-05-15-driveway-fire

From 2010-05-15-driveway-fire

From 2010-05-15-driveway-fire

From 2010-05-15-driveway-fire

Tony, Weeds, Poppys.

Just curious: was I the only person with HBO that didn't watch the season/ show finale of The Sopranos last night?

I added HBO and hi-speed internet to our cable package last November because it was on special. I never saw one show of the past five seasons because of not having HBO. If I ever do watch The Sopranos, I would want to start from the beginning with either reruns or DVD's.

In fact, I'm doing that with HBO's The Wire. I'm about half-way thru season two. That is a fantastic show. Very realistic (I think?) - I'm more rural. We don't get the big city crime out here. (Irony: we are about 20 miles from Delavan, Wisconsin where 6 people were found murdered this last weekend.)

The only premium channel we had was Showtime with its excellent Weeds and Dexter - a pot selling soccer mom and a police forensic analyst serial killer. A little dark but much better than shows I've gotten sick of: Desperate Housewives, Gray's Anatomy , etc.

Below is my veggie garden. Peonys and some buttercups are blooming next to the little white fence. Its harder than hell to get the fence straight so I purposely put it in crooked to give it a whimsical look.

This wouldn't be a bad place to bury a body either, right Tony?



Buttercups with aperture mode setting. This was easy with my old film camera. I am just learning with digital. The focus seems to jump out of manual mode. Its probably something I'm doing.



Wider view of the back yard. Its a little dark but it was taken at dusk. I just like the look after mowing.



The wildflower sand box below. The poppys hopefully are starting to take off. (and I was wondering how I could tie in The Sopranos and Weeds with garden pictures.) Poppys. They just sound illegal.



Below is a peony taken in macro mode.

Dark, but not really.

Sometimes a blog inspiration might be a song I heard on the radio. Today's is just that. Nothing special, just a song I like and had heard this morning.

I also had a picture that could complete the bad analogy I usually try to make with the song title. This picture was taken January 3rd 2007. Big moon, warm temperatures. It was almost like spring.

If you look at it differently, the moon can look like a light at the end of a tunnel. Or something from a Stephen King novel.

All in all, today's turning into a pretty good day. The week is flying by.

The title sounds a little dark but it's a pretty song: I will follow you into the dark.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark

15 second video. vol 1. Sunday the twenty eighth.

Sunday has its 60 minutes. Good stuff but I hardly watch anymore. Anyway, I have a video thing on my camera but I hardly use it. I can set it for 15 second clips (and except for me watching, that’s probably too long. Spielberg had his Duel - got to begin somewhere.) Starting today, I’m going to take a video each week of something I’m doing. It should be fun the see the seasons change and how boring my Sundays really are. Ha.

Volume one:

Burning the newspapers in a burn barrel. It’s not legal in town but I’ve only been caught once. Usually I would have music playing in the background but the cold out weighed my ambition. It just snowed last night so it’s too crappy out to hit softballs. Today I’m throwing them; left handed while holding the camera (that will explain the wimpy throw). Cubbie tracks them down and returns thru my legs, turns around and gives it back to me (thru my legs). Kinda like a pez dog dispenser. He just finished before time ran out. We both need practice.

The Rolling Stones; Walking the Dog.

An aside: Family Guy had the best cartoon / movie dance routine with the a film clip of Gene Kelly. Stupid show but pushes boundaries. Funny. Never thought I’d like it. Clint sold me on it. Video will follow when it’s posted and I’m sure it will be. (1-29-2007 it is)

Brrrrr.

My blurry pet picture was starting to hurt my eyes. Here's something more in focus. Hoarfrost.

By the way, it's way too cold for my taste.

Under 20 F. which is also about C -5 ??? Am I a cold wimp?

Moon.

I didn't have a working lens good enough to catch a better picture of the moon. This was the best I could do.

Lit up is my after work play area for Cubbie. I hit him softballs every night for about a half hour. Except when there is alot of snow. Obviously not now.

I have a portable light in the lawn chair. The garage is on the right with my radio playing . The table in front of the tree holds a drink and a flashlight for errant balls. Squirrel feeder doubles as an ashtray and a dog slobber rag holder. Aluminum bats lean on the tree year round. The clothesline pole is on the left and of course the moon is the moon.

Stupid thing I did getting ready to take this: I walked two steps forward to get a closer view of the moon. (like that matters. ha) Then I thought about and laughed. It's like a quarter of a million miles away? What was I thinking?

Neville Brothers:

Kiko and the lavender moon out playing

Makes believe nobody can see

And then he waits

And then he fakes

And then he bends

And then he shakes

He plays and plays

Still playing till he

Goes off to sleep


Kiko and the lavender moon

Out dancing making faces at

A big black cat and then he flies

Up to the wall

Stands on one foot

Doesn't even fall

Dance and dance

Still dancing till

He goes off to sleep


He always sleeps

'Til the sun goes down

He never wakes

Till no one's around

He never stops

Can't catch his breath

It's always there

Scares him to death


Kiko and the lavender moon

Out dreaming 'bout green shoes

Haircuts and cake

And then he wishes

The world away

And then he kneels

As if to pray

He dreams and dreams

Kiko and the lavender moon