Christmas Traditions

I was going to show pictures of Christmas trees all lit up today, since we decorated our tree tonight. But I came across these photos and it reminded me of a Christmas tradition that has come to an end, making the dog wear silly Christmas gear. I miss that ol' mutt.

Dan

The Dreaded "S" Word

As we here in Western Washington prepare for the possibility of snow, I thought I would share some pictures of snowy days.

Enjoy

Dan

Getting the Perfect Tree

Today we have an overloaded father hunting for Christmas trees. This photo is from 1947.

Enjoy

Dan

Traversing the Winter Celebration Zone

As mentioned in the previous Winter Celebration Zone entry, one should be careful to avoid silly holiday photos. Great advice, but difficult sometimes to follow. Take tonight's photo, it is your intrepid blogger and his family at the big cooperate Winter Celebration. I should not have been any pictures today. My wife compared my hair to Bob Ross., which is better than many things my hair has been compared too, but that is a story for another day. Cicely does look nice in the photos.

Dan

The Artistic Shot

Every once in awhile you see something a fleeting and think that looks cool. Occasionally you even have a camera to shoot a picture of it. The nice thing about digital cameras is that you can immediately see that the thing you thought was cool, isn't cool in a picture or at least a picture taken by you. Film does not afford such luxuries and so you have to wait to find out that your "cool" picture is not cool, but instead embarrassing and lame. Today's photo is just that, a lame artistic shot, it was taken in Silverton, WA in June 2002.

Enjoy

Dan

The Winter Celebration Zone

This being Black Friday, is the start of the Christmas Season, or if you are a HR person in a major corporation, Winter Celebration. Anyway, since I have yet to suffer the cruelest of all twists of faith, taking a job in HR, it's Christmas time and Christmas means Christmas photos. Whether it be with the family, or with Santa, or a with a guy in a creepy looking snowman costume at the corporate Winter Celebration, Christmas photos seem to capture us at our staged best. Unfortunately, our staged best usually is pretty campy and or cheesy. And it is this fact that you should remember before sending your photographs with seasonal wishes to your family and friends. Because you just every know when a crass and sarcastic grandson will buy and scanner and start blogging.

Tonight's example in the Winter Celebration Zone, the Leroys. Lucky for the photographer their son had no legs.

Dan

Gobble Gobble

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so happy Thanksgiving.

Today's picture is that of Ben Franklin's noble bird. Sadly for Mr. Gobbles, the United States, like so may other nations, used an Eagle for its' Great Seal and national symbol. Relegating the turkey to mere food.

Sorry Gobbles

This however is a time for giving thanks. Its been a tough year for many of us, but its time to examine the silver linings. Time to take note of the all the firsts, all the opened doors and all those seemingly mundane moments that made us smile.

So wherever you maybe once again, have a Happy and trans-fat free Thanksgiving. Oh and happy holidays.

Dan

The Reflector

Today's photo is of our Artist friend with another artist, Dick Elliot. The photo was taken at the Clymer Museum in June of this year. It has come to my attention that Mr. Elliot past away last week. Dick was famous for reflector art and for Dick and Jane's Spot, his home and the Mecca of reflector art. The house has been featured in among other places, Weird Washington. I met Dick on a couple of occasions and once was lucky enough to get to go inside his home. He and Jane owned a cleaning company or something like that, so I once interviewed for a job in the janitorial arts at their home. Most people I would talk to thought that the interior of the house would be even crazier than the exterior, some sort of reflector art acid trip, with Jane's paintings of subjects that should not be mentioned, thrown in for added flavor. But to the despair of many, the interior was quite normal and not unlike many other peoples homes in Ellensburg. Well I didn't get that job, but I did have a nice conversation with Dick.

Dick you will be missed.

You can Check out Dick and Jane at their website: http://www.reflectorart.com/index.html

Destiny

When going through stacks of forgotten photos in Antique stores or thrift shops, its hard not to feel bad for people you are glancing at. Because they are the truly forgotten. At some point, their blood line ceased, or maybe their items fell into the hands of an unsentimental relative. Then again, are these the people that were so unredeeming in life, that once dead, their belongings were packed up and dropped off behind a thrift store. Even though their likeness does continue, we cannot assume that they remain in memories and hearts of the living. But I'd like to think that they do and that the photos I comb through are there for practical reasons. I think this because it is likely somebody 50 years from now may be looking through stacks of my pictures and assorted other stuff thinking the same thing. And I would like to believe that, memories of me will live on in the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that I may never see. The way that I will instill the memories of my mother and grandparents into my son. Dan

Its Me

It's late and I'm at a bit of a loss, so here's a picture of me. We can all agree that those are some fancy brown slacks. Also once again, proving once I had straightish repectable hair.

Enjoy

Dan

Happy Birthday Cicely

November 17th is Cicely's birthday, so what better time to celebrate a wonderful lady. I could go on for quite a lengthy period of time, expounding the virtues and positive qualities of her person. But I'm not , I just going to say that, I know I'm better because she's around, she's great wife and wonderful mother, but mostly she's my best friend. Oh and she's a true American patriot and a lot of fun to be around to top it all off. Check out the last picture a couple of old friends of America's Finest Blog are there with Cicely.

Happy Birthday Cicely,

I love you!

Dan

November 13th, A Big Day

Today is a big day, it is the 1654th birthday of Augustine of Hippo and in 1851, the Denny Party landed at Alki. Sadly I don't have any photos of St. Augustine, so the Bishop of Hippo will not featured today, even if he is probably more interesting than the Arthur and David Denny. But since I do have lots of photos of the fair city of Seattle, we'll focus on that. Read Confessions, if you would like to know more about Augustine.

On this date the Dennys, along with the Lows, Terrys, Bells and a Boren, set foot on Alki, there they were greeted by David Denny's warm words of welcome, "I wish you hadn't come." Good times. And from that, the Jet City was born. Read the Sons of the Profits for more amusing antics of the founding families.

Enjoy and thanks for coming

Dan

Seattle 1950

Land Yacht or Why Not Buy American Gas is "Cheap" Again

Today being the 38th anniversary of the Oregon Highway Division's attempt to blow up a whale, I thought why not show a picture of a vehicle that is as big as a whale. This is a 1972 (ish)Plymouth station wagon, what a vehicle. I remember this particular Plymouth fondly, it had an extra luggage space in the floor in back and on long trips my sister would setup a pillow palace back there. My mom liked the car, so I remember, and was sad when we got rid of it. I also remembered it having faux wood siding, now that would have been stylish, but I guess I was wrong about that. Maybe with the big Detroit bailout money, the big 3 can once again build cars as awesome as the Plymouth wagon. Regardless, Plymouth, station wagons and the 1970's are truly just dusty moments in American folklore now.

Enjoy

Dan

Why You Should Write Things Down

This photo probably has some sort of amusing story behind it, or maybe it is a reference to the popular culture of the day. We probably will never know, since the photographer and the subjects have moved on from this mortal coil. So write stuff down, you grand kids or great grand kids might enjoy it.

Dan

Not Paying Attention Can Be Cool

Sometimes you get in a hurry and you cut corners or don't pay close enough attention to what you are doing. We all do it, yes even you, most the time nothing comes of it. Other times it requires a lot of re-work and the ruining of various good intentions. But in the case of tonight's photos, it results in something unexpectedly cool. These photos are scanned positives of 35mm negatives, the result is this eerie x-ray or inferred look. Of course re-work is still involved but hey at least something mildly interesting resulted from the mistake.

Enjoy

Dan

Cholame Post Office

Proving once again that America's Finest Blog cannot tackle an item too small or too trivial, tonight I give you the Cholame Post Office, the slide says that it is the smallest Post Office in America, who am I to disagree. I've said it before, but this is zenith of blogging excitement.

Enjoy

Dan

A Great Day for America and A Picture of Ladies in Swimwear

It is truly a great day in America. The color barrier has been broken on the highest office in the land and that is something we can all be proud of, well the collective we, I voted for somebody different, but I'm still proud. Now the real work will begin, not only will our President elect have all the issues that come with being a trailblazer, he will take over a country that is in a rather large mess, both home and abroad, and of course, we voters returned many of the same folks to Congress that helped in create the mess in the first place. But now for ladies in swimwear, I found this photo, in an antique shop in Issaquah.

Go America

Dan

PS Thank God, this election cycle has come to a close.

A Public Service Announcement From These Fellas

November 4th is election day. So many important items to vote on, such as, opening HOV lanes to everyone, dying easy and President. Your vote could make a difference as to how or even if the guy pictured below retires. But you should also remember the electoral college will decide the President, so you should vote accordingly. Then there is the governor's race in this state, and with choices like Gregoire and Rossi, we might as well be run by the fellas in the first picture. So, America's Finest Blog, urges you to join half of America and vote on November 4th.

Moo

Help I'd like to retire

Happy Halloween !!

I wanted a picture of something kind of odd or different or maybe spooky for the Halloween Blog entry. Then I wanted to use a particular photo because I think it looks kind of cool and Halloween seems to be the best day to show if off. But then decided to highlight some pictures of people in costumes, Halloween or otherwise. Some pictures are cuter than others and some are more amusing than others. If you think the Christmas Tree looks a lot like the Artist from posts such as the Artist or the Artist redux, then you are probably right. As for tin foil hats, I still wear them, but only at work to ward of the radiation of idiots and to avoid mind control beams. I'm beginning to think that the tin foil isn't working too well. Enjoy the photos! And if you are in one of these photos, congratulations you have made it to America's Finest Blog.

Dan

Snowball and the Waterfall

This is a photo of my sister, at Yellowstone Park. It seems that the snowball must be particularly cold. Wow, aren't you glad you checked this blog today.

Dan