Dream Street Inspiration

I saw this car today while dropping off some books at the library. It reminded me of an image I have hanging in my darkroom by W. Eugene Smith called "Dream Street". So I drove home, grabbed my camera, and drove all the way back just to shoot this photo. It doesn't quite have the same feel as when I first saw it but it's the general idea. It's down a dead end street that turns into someone's driveway. The driveway is lined with trees that have their branches hanging over the road. But unfortunately my little camera can't capture the scene with the branches and the car, so I opted for a close up.

While I was in the neighborhood, I browsed through the library's historical garden. Apparently these are the same plants and flowers that could have been planted when the library was first built in 1851. Here are some bees being busy as bees.

TTV Photos

Beginning to look A LOT like Xmas.

I haven't forgotten about you, dear old blog. I just don't have much to say. But you are on my mind. As soon as something cool presents itself, you'll be the first to know.

As a side note, I did see an allergist today. I have hives up and down both arms. Turns out I have no food allergies, but slightly allergic to dogs, cats and yikes! feathers. I am very allergic to something called Timothy grass. I can't be allergic to my bird. No way. I also had to do some major blood tests and I won't know the results for a month. Scratching and swelling continues.

You know, it's April friggin 6th and there's a full on blizzard outside my window. The hell's up with that? Mother nature, get your act together! This is Toronto, not the north friggin pole.

From -17C to +30C in under 2 minutes.

That's what happened to me on Saturday at the Buffalo Zoo. It was bone chilling, tongue - sticking - to - pole - cold. But the zoo has a fantastic new indoor interactive rain forest exhibit that's hot and humid. Wouldn't want to be in there in the middle of a July heat wave, but on a snowy Buffalo afternoon, it's perfect. It's a giant greenhouse, with monkeys, anteaters, ocelots, capybaras, dwarf caimans, tons of free flight birds, plus a whole bunch of other animals. And the fun part is that every 15mins or so, it actually rains.

Here are some of my photos:










I can't believe how close I got to the elephants. That was pretty awesome. When I grow up, I want to be a zookeeper. :-)

Rockin out...but not really.

Here are 2 B&W videos sent to me by Edward. 1 is of Dick Dale and the Deltones doing his song Misirlou in what looks like a really bad movie, and the other is of The Chantay's on the Lawrence Welk Show. I feel bad watching them play. They can't get too excited and rock out, so they just stand there waving their guitar necks around. Wouldn't want to offend anyone!

I can't figure out how to get videos off Youtube, so here are 2 links for you to click on and enjoy.

The Chantay's

Dick Dale & The Del Tones

So sad I could puke

Did you know today is the most depressing day of the year? It's officially called Blue Monday.
I couldn't agree more, but for me personally, it's more of a bright pink Monday. Pepto pink to be exact. I don't know what's going on in my house, but my mom & I are sick. She's a hellofa lot sicker than me. We're going through a bottle of Pepto Bismol at an alarming rate. I think it's food poisoning from the chicken pizza on Saturday. She thinks it's the flu. What ever it is, it needs to go away. At least I can half function and make emergency trips to the drug store. But I'm not as energetic as this guy.

Surf Photograher - Joni Sternbach

I came across these stunning surf photos while browsing books on blurb. If I could afford it, I would definitely buy one of her books. I'm not sure if it's kosher for me to post some of the pictures here, but I think of it as free advertising.

Now THAT is a long board!

The photographer's name is Joni Sternbach. She shoots with an 8x10 camera and produces "tintypes" which are prepared and developed right after shooting. Believe it or not, a lot of these photos were shot on Long Island at a spot called Ditch Plains. Who knew you could surf on Long Island?

Please check out her website for more stunning photography.
Her artist statement is very informative as well.

Yesterday, another swollen lip day

Wow. What the heck is going on with me? This time it's really messed up my bottom lip. The the inside texture is all bumpy and peeling. And the tip of my tongue is numb. Couldn't do much about it except take a Benedryl and lie down. Once that drug gets into my system it acts pretty much like a sleeping pill. So because of that, I missed out on bird counting in the Rouge Park (and the fact that it was supposed to be -20.) I don't have winter clothes that can deal with that kind of cold. Every year, for the past 5+yrs I've been saying to myself, "I need proper winter boots, but I'm going to hold off and see if I can get by without. Just 1 more season." There's maybe 3 more months of winter left. Let's see if I can squeek by another year without boots!

Surf Guitar

I don't play guitar or have any aspirations to learn, but I do love the way they look. If I were to collect guitars (and surfboards!) this is probably what I would get. Aren't they cool? Love the case, but I think it would look better without the girl on it.

From the website:

Legendary Surfer magazine publisher and much sought-after surf artist John Severson created a unique take on Southern California’s favorite pastime: surfing. Severson put his many years of experience from the ’60s to today into making his two Fender Sonoran SCE acoustics true works of art. Hang ten with the Surf Fever model (shown here)—inspired by the surf posters of yesteryear—or rev it up and go with the Woody. Each instrument features a maple neck, Stratocaster® guitar headstock shape, die-cast machine heads, Fender preamp, John Severson hang tag and Severson’s signature on the back of the headstock to create a truly cool look that’s all Fender!

See photos of it being played while surfing at SurferArt.com.

Swollen lip, again.

I woke up yesterday with a big ole swollen lip. Since I can't seem to remember to write it down on a calender every time it happens, I'll blog about it instead. Not much to say about it. I took a bunch of Benedryle and was just stoned the entire day. Eventually it will go away but there's still a little swollen bit left today. The skin on your face isn't supposed to be stretched like that. I'm a bit worried about getting stretch marks on my face. :P

Read all about this grossness here.

Glowing budgie