Spring Evening on Point Loma

Sunset cliffs, the edge of San Diego, on Point Loma.

Avie quietly walks out towards the ocean, lost in thought.

Water runoff sculpts the cliffs....

....creating other-world designs.

Looking down at the beach.

Clinging to the edge of the world.

Contemplating a somewhat chilly evening.

Togetherness is not being alone.

The Road to Dingle, Ireland - July 1979

After spending some time in County Clare, the next place I headed for was Dingle. Folks I'd met in Limerick suggested that it would be a good place to visit. It was. I spent a couple of nights in a small B&B, walked around, and sampled the nightlife. I saw the famous Irish folk group The Wolfe Tones perform one pleasant evening. Up the rebels.

I took this shot and the one below at the train station at (I think) Limerick Junction. The nun seems particularly concerned about the man's somewhat gaudy socks.

I had smuggled some medicinal herb into Ireland. I was worried about getting through customs - this was my first trip abroad - but two sleepy customs officers yawned me through customs and out of the airport. At the time, I was a fairly heavy user, and I remember being quite stoned in Dingle, but enjoying the whole atmosphere tremendously.

I wrote this in my journal, July 8, after sitting out on the quay along Dingle Bay:

"great clouds engulfing, big night uproaring,
Dingle Bay ding a ling, ring ding a ling"

I rented a bike one day and rode out to the end of the peninsula. From there one can see the now abandoned island of Great Blasket. It maintains a forlorn beauty, as does the entire peninsula.

Evening on a Dingle side street.

Walking down the road. My memory of hedge-lined roads like this one is strong. I don't know who the fellow traveler was, but I wish him well.

I had a rail/bus pass which allowed me unlimited travel, but I also hitchhiked when necessary. On July 2, a sports car picked me and I was pleased to be in the company of one Vinnie Reddin, who introduced himself as "the number 2 race car driver in Ireland." He even gave me a picture of himself driving in a race. Good man, Vinnie. Thanks for the lift. Wonder who was number 1?

One night I wrote in my journal:

walking dead drunk down the Irish countryside
walking dead drunk down the Irish countryside
if the people I meet have red hair and blue eyes
I'm too drunk to care
too drunk to try
to see their red hair
and blue eyes

I left Dingle on July 9, heading south for County Cork, O'Donovan country.

Economic Indicators - Palm Springs 2009

There are wonderful business lease opportunities here for intrepid entrepreneurs. Get out your checkbooks now - these won't last!

An empty real estate office on North Palm Canyon Drive. Imagine the exciting possibilities!

Bank of America is ready to give you all the cash you need!

OK, this business did not do so well, but gays should just go to Bank of America. Or, if you are thinking about going into the mortgage business, why not simply rename it "Happy Home Loans?" (and you'll only have to replace one word of signage - a big savings!)

A gem in downtown! Ready to move right in.

This location has failed as an ultra-cool bar and a female impersonator nightclub, but it's bound to succeed with the right business plan. Maybe - YOURS?

Who could resist this possibilities here?

Or here?

We simply tore down this shopping center! Now it's ready for you to build something big!

Desert Wildflowers; March Full Moon

The desert had approximately an average amount of rain this winter, so our wildflowers, now blooming, are putting on an average display this year.

They're still lovely to observe, even on our first hot day of the year. Many more and many hotter days are yet to come.

The picture above is taken from the West looking East; our house is just below middle left - somewhere just right of where the desert ends.

The full moon as it rose over the eastern mountains on March 11. The exposure and focus aren't quite perfect, but then - neither am I. Almost....

Rochester - June, 1945

In June, 1945, the War In Europe had finished a few weeks earlier with the surrender of Germany. In the Pacific, fighting against Japan continued unabated. President Franklin Roosevelt had died two months earlier; the untested Harry S. Truman was President. In two months, Truman would order the use of the newly-developed atomic bomb against Japan.

In late May, my parents celebrated the birth of their first child, Elisabeth. They lived in the city of Rochester, NY at the time but would soon move out to the countryside some 25 east of the city. My father was 33 and worked as a chemist at the Eastman Kodak Company. My mother was 29.

I was some six years away....a vague twinkle in my father's eye, as they say.

These pictures were scanned from two relatively well-preserved 35 mm color slides from my parents collection. God bless Kodachrome!

County Clare, Ireland, July 1979

In 1979, I packed my bags and took a four-week journey through Ireland on my own. I traveled throughout the country by rail, bus and foot. It was a marvelous trip - I met many interesting and helpful people and saw magical things.

I shot many rolls of color slides that trip, using an old 1951 Leica camera that I treasured. Sadly, it was stolen the next year during a burglary, or I would still have it.

During the first part of my trip, I happened to spend several days at Spanish Point, just outside the County Clare town of Miltown Malby. As it so happened, the Willie Clancy Summer Festival of traditional Irish music was taking place at the time. So I would walk the rural paths from Spanish Point to Miltown Malby, enjoy the hospitality, liquid refreshment, and music in the pubs, them wander back home happily but a bit unsteadily.

I'm going through old slides and converting some to digital, and will post interesting ones from time to time. This batch was shot in July, 1979 in and around the town of Miltown Malby and Spanish Point, which is right on the western edge of Ireland. Spanish Point is so named because legend has it that survivors of the ill-fated Spanish Armada washed ashore here as the remaining ships plodded their way around the British Isles on their way back to Spain in utter defeat.

In a More Artistic Vein

Quiet days at the end of Winter. Cold morning and warm days. Optimism and pessimism, a strange mix. Trying not to look at the news. Reminds me of the tough times in the mid-70s.

Everybody's desperate trying to make ends meet
Work all day, still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat
Alas, their lives are incomplete

Don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio

Warren Zevon, 1976

A few worked over photos, two from Balboa Park in San Diego.