Whoosh

Whoosh, originally uploaded by sMacshot.

That darned (and wonderful) light-leaking plastic camera business again. It's perfect, I think, for presenting summertime memories the way they are in my mind. I was following my sister one evening after dinner down a seagrass path leading to the ocean. The sun was shining, the wind rippling across the tall grass, and butterflies....thousands of them, everywhere.

Crop Top

Crop Top, originally uploaded by sMacshot.

I am finally getting a start on the summer photos... scanning and potential post-processing takes so long, it's the part I dread. I shoot with so many lo-fi cameras that the majority of what I shoot never get seen by others, (still, I feel compelled to go through the steps to process and store them) and of the rest I actually do show, a certain kind of appreciation will be necessary if one is to see the beauty. They aren't everybody's cup of tea. You can click on the photo to read the humorous caption which explains this self portrait.

7 (More) Random Things About Me

I've been 'tagged' again...well, three times...oops, now make that four times since the last (and only) one I responded to. Here we go...

1. I forget how to drive. I keep my drivers license current for identification, and 'just in case' I do need to drive, but I've lived in Manhattan for so many years (and have never missed owning a car which I sold before moving here) that I have pretty much forgotten how to operate a vehicle. When I go to the beach house each year, Ann (my twin sister) drives us everywhere. Sometimes she lets me park.

2. I have never broken a bone or been a patient in a hospital, even for a minute.

3. I have shared a big hug with Smoky Robinson full-on. This was not a personal appearance or concert; I live in New York City- - anything can happen here. He is very warm and has kind eyes.

4. I have eaten at least one apple a day for at least the last 20 years. I love apples.

5. When I first moved here, before Giuliani cleaned up all the organized crime and there was an active 'crew' in my neighborhood, I was made an offer I was expected not to refuse. In exchange all my rent and bills would be paid. It's not what you're thinking, I mean it, in fact I basically had to do nothing. But such an offer to me would mean that they would own me; I didn't want that, so I refused, and then went weeks fearing I was on the Hit List for disrespecting or something. It was a long while before I felt in the clear. I sorta miss those days.

6. As a child, a recurring nightmare I would have whenever I was delirious from having the flu (oddly not when I was well, then I'd have other nightmares I suppose, but this one only came when I was sick) was being in a hospital bed in a room so full of beds you cannot see the end of them...beds to my left and right as far as I can see, beds foot to foot with mine and the others to my sides (so that if someone was in the bed foot-to-foot with mine, we'd be facing each other from our own beds.) And rows and rows of beds beyond those. Everything is white, and there is a nurse in the scene. It absolutely terrified me in unexplainable ways; terror beyond screaming; it made me silent, frozen. And I've often wondered if it's a dream of the neonatal ward from when I was born.

7. I talk to my toy collection. I don't want them to feel lonely. I'm not crazy, just extra polite.

Benny, Jack, and Moe Throw Down A Mad Line Dance

I'm still a little busy with a new consignment order, (84 items!) and my apartment looks like a victim of a massive printer explosion. My back is paying the price, but I've got a big smile on my face, why I daresay even my antique toy collection seems to be smiling. When I go off to work at my completely non-creative job, I continue to snag any scrap to doodle on. It's the itch I must scratch, and one day I will do it full time. I so hope.

UPDATE: it was not 84 items, but 108 items. Even better!