Presenting... My Folks

Felicita & Justo Hernandez, Mom & Dad, Sometime around 1988

I just thought I'd pop in these two old photos I just scanned of good ol' mom & dad. The photos probably date from back around 1988 (give or take) but as you well know, old slides in a box often do not have dates written on them! I love these guys... Jesus, I'm so ferklempt!

Scarecrows Takin' a Break

Scarecrow Exhibits at a NYS County Fair, 1997 or 1998

On one of many trips upstate to visit the Happy Mortons, my ex's parents, we took a day trip to enjoy a NYS county fair (I've no idea which county now). There I came upon these two happy fellows as well as some farm animals with shockingly large balls and a contest for best looking rooster (Ye-haw!). My favorite attraction, as always, was the large county-wide garage sale going on in the fields there. A good time was had by all.

Technical Note: The slide this was scanned from says May 1998 on it. However, the vegetation surrounding the scarecrows tells me it must be fall (very perceptive, Sherlock). So were these pictures taken during Autumn 1997 or Spring 1998. Logic says it was probably 1997. As always... does anybody out there know when these particular scarecrows were on display? Of course not!

Fear of Falling

Myself at The Grand Canyon, July 1998 (Photo by Jill Weiner)

I had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and now... there it was. It was exactly as I had imagined it (aided, of course, by a myriad of photos and films). Of course, there can never be a substitute to actually seeing being somewhere. The scale of it was tremendous. It was simply the biggest, most spectacular, most beautiful bowl in the world. The colors were muted but magnificent. What really raised the little hairs on the back of my neck, however, was not the size or sheer beauty of the place -- but its history. There, laid bare before my eyes, was more than a billion years of geological history, going back to a time long before man, ape or monkey had walked the planet. Now, thousands of years after our arrival on this continent it was still there, barely acknowledging our existence. For me, being there, was a profoundly spiritual experience. The gods being time, space and nature.

This most spiritual experience of mine was brought back crashing down to earth by a simple human frailty: my fear of falling. It is the same fear I feel when standing near the edge of a subway platform. It is the same fear I felt driving down California's Highway 1, hugging its gorgeous cliff walls all the way down. It is the same fear I feel standing at the edge of any cliff, for that matter.

To get this photo I had to make a very short hop from the solid rim of the Grand Canyon (a rim physically connected to continental North America, of course) to a tiny little rock island seemingly floating above the canyon. It was not physically connected to the rim. Instead, its connection to the earth was more than a hundred feet below. To fall into the cravas or to shoot beyond the rock island during a short hop, would be to fall into oblivion. To faint or trip while there would result in the same.

Of course another way to look at it was that it was only a short hop from here to there. Can you see the fear gripping my body as it tensely poses for this photo? Half my mind was focused on posing, the other half on my fear of falling. A most profound and spiritual moment for me confronted by a simple human frailty of mine.

I will not die an unlived life,
I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire;
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible.
To loosen my heart until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise…
I choose to risk my significance;
To Live.
So that which came to me as seed,
goes to the next as blossom.
And that which came to me as a blossom,
goes on as fruit.

By Dawna Markova

A Mighty Wind

Whales Off the Coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, October 1998

I have seen whales many times while in the Caribbean, California and Alaska. Someday soon, I plan to see them off the coast of Hawaii as well. My favorite place for spotting whales however, is off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where I try to go every couple of years. The whale watching guides there always warn you that you might not get to see whales on any given trip, yet the whales have never once failed me there. Seeing them is always an exhilarating experience.

Gloucester calls itself "America's Oldest Seaport." Besides being a quaint little fishing village, 50 miles north of Boston, it is famously known as the home of the doomed Andrea Gail, of "Perfect Storm" fame, which was lost at sea on September 28, 1991. The town has seen more than its share of sea-faring tragedy, however, and commemorates its lost fishermen with its famous "Man at the Wheel" statue.

A Word to the Wise: Have you ever smelled a whale's breath? Peow! Pew! Peow-wow-wow-wow! If you have ever smelled a cute little kitten's horrendous breath after a nice, wet fishy meal, imagine that multiplied by a factor of 9,000! The horror! A Humpback Whale can weigh as much as 45 tons while my 6 year-old tabby weighs in at 10lbs. You do the math. You've been warned.

Can anybody tell me what kind of whales are in this picture?

Wind on the Water
Lyrics by Graham Nash
-
Over the years you have been hunted
by the men who threw harpoons
And in the long run he will kill you
just to feed the pets we raise,
put the flowers in your vase
and make the lipstick for your face.
-
Over the years you swam the ocean
Following feelings of your own
Now you are washed up on the shoreline
I can see your body lie
It’s a shame you have to die
to put the shadow on our eye
-
Maybe we'll go
Maybe we'll disappear
It's not that we don't know
It's just that we don't want to care.
Under the bridges
Over the foam
Wind on the water
Carry me home