This photo was taken with my new toy . . . well, sorta . . . it was actually taken with my trusty Canon . . . but it was taken thru the viewfinder of my $11 Kodak Duaflex II Camera . . . the "new" Kodak is shown below . . .
I have seen it said that this is the same style of vintage camera that was used by Sandra Bullock in the movie Hope Floats . . .
This is Riley watching the news on TV . . . there was a story today about a puppy falling into a three foot deep crack in the backyard where it lived . . . lots of cracked yards around here, caused by the severe drought conditions here in Texas . . . anyway . . . the puppy did a lot of yelping as it was being rescued . . . and Riley ran for the TV every time he heard it . . .
Clicking on the photo will take you to an online Picasa album containing today's photos of Riley which were taken for his 4th birthday . . . he is spoiled rotten as it is . . . but he got special treatment today, including extra chicken jerky treats (he always says please and thank you) . . . and a serving of his favorite Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream . . .
Today I went shopping for a gift for a three-year-old . . . and while looking at all the neat toys, I picked up this one for myself . . . Bennie wore out three or four of these games . . . and the buttons are starting to get persnickety on the last one he had . . . so time to break in a new one . . .
One hundred and one years ago . . . in September of 1910 . . . this century-old letter was mailed from Paris, France to Rockdale, Texas . . . I posted about my acquisition of these letters back in March of this year . . . and now I'm delighted to say that, as of early this a.m., digital copies of all of the letters have found their way into the hands of the descendants of the recipients of some of these missives . . .
This is my latest contraption for holding photos for the Then and Now type projects . . . these clips are mayhaps a Christmas item? . . . for clipping on tree branches? . . . and displaying Christmas cards? . . . in this photo I have it clipped onto the threads of the screw that attaches the quick release plate (from the tripod) to the bottom of my camera . . .
Clicking on this photo
will take you to a Picasa album
showing a few mitten kitten photos from today.
I dug Bennie's flying memorabilia out, looking for something to photograph for National Aviation Day (which is today) . . . not having a clue that there was a date-appropriate entry in his pilot logbook . . . and that on this date . . . the 19th day of August . . . in the year 1984 . . . Bennie flew his 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza from the airport in Cameron, Texas to the Red Bird Airport near Dallas, Texas . . . he only flew the Bonanza six more times before selling it the following year . . . I can visualize Bennie in the following verse . . . although the vehicle varies . . . sometimes it's an airplane . . . sometimes it's a racecar . . . or sometimes he's riding a horse around the meadows of Heaven . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
This is the one mitten kitten with a tail . . . the other two are bobtails . . . like their Daddy . . .
This is the mitten kitten with seven toes on one foot . . .
so I've been calling him / her Lucky . . .
Their eyes are now open . . . clicking on the photo will take you to a Picasa album containing a few more photos of this calico mitten kitten . . .
Well . . . the official thermometer for Dallas only made it to 97 today . . . so the official triple digit streak is over, with only 40 days in a row (as of yesterday) . . . but look what the thermometer in the shade of my tree showed at 5 o'clock this afternoon!?! . . .
Age is a deep pool, still and clear
Winds can not ruffle it, year on year;
Never a tempest its calm can stir,
All it holds are the things that were.
Shining, far in its crystal weeps,
Pictures of memory it keeps.
Places and people now passed by,
Here they change not, they can not die.
Age is a deep pool, soundlessly
Shrining the hours that used to be,
Holding safe in its depths unstirred
Smiles long faded, long spoken word.
by
Aline Triplette Michaelis
02 December 1883 ~ 10 August 1958
as published in 1935 in
The Dallas Morning News
Our forecast for the next 7 days . . .
unfortunately, it looks like we might be breaking the 1980 record of 42 days in a row of triple-digit temperatures . . .
