A December to Remember

Well with fiscal cliffs, legalized pot and same sex marriage, one might think that the Mayan's might be right.  It's hard to be really worried about anyone of these things, in the end it is our lives that we need to concentrate on living.  Everything else will be worked out by powers greater than ourselves.  Why not enjoy the season or our last twelve days.

A Return

16 years ago today, much to the chagrin of Auburn and Yakima, trains began rolling over the old Northern Pacific tracks over Stampede Pass.  It was a bittersweet moment that I have written about before, I traded the old rail yard for the lonesome sounds of the train whistle.  By December 5, 1996, it was cold and snowy we had already received a couple feet of snow and were well on our way to getting several more feet.  Tonight's photo is a BNSF train in the Ellensburg yard taken in late December of 1996, there is about six and a half to seven feet of snow on the ground.

Meet The New Boss...

This is Seattle, the decider of all things in the State of Washington.  I read today in the Times that Jay Inslee won Seattle by 195,000 votes but only won the state by 95,000 votes, meaning outside the city limits Inslee wasn't viewed at the best guy for the Governor job. 
So which brings up a couple ideas, one the state could create a precinct by precinct or county by county electoral college type system that mutes the electoral power of Seattle.  This would mean pea processors in Dayton would need to be as important as Boeing in Seattle or Everett.  Probably not the best this for the state as a whole but a good thing for the forgotten places in the state.  Likely, this will never happen because the controlling party would actually be risking giving up its political juggernaut to try to do it at a state level and a grassroots movement to change the system would be considered right-wing wackos.  The second idea is for the Republican party to actually try to win more that 25% of the Seattle vote.  If a Republican could muster 28 to 30 percent of the Seattle vote, they would glide into Olympia.  Until they are willing to create a platform that could muster 28 to 30 percent of the Seattle vote, spending money on a Republican candidate for governor or any other state wide race is a waste of time and money, creating effectively an one party system in our state. 

Sometimes the Concept is Better Than Reality

Recently I saw the film the BBC was filming at San Quentin when Johnny Cash's album was recorded.  Ever since I first heard Live at San Quentin, I wondered about the BBC film.  It had to be cool, it was the BBC and Johnny Cash at San Quentin.  It was bad, it was that great though, it was half Johnny Cash and half prison life in America.  The lighting on the cover of Live at San Quentin eludes to a smoke filled room with great lighting.  Well it was a smoke filled room, just a very bright room, I am guessing that the photo for the album cover came from a different concert.  The other thing that was surprising was that for a good portion of the concert Johnny Cash is sitting down with a music stand in front of him, which its what you would think if you heard the album.  Since this a photo blog and I don't have any photos of Johnny Cash or San Quentin, I will contrast this disappointment with another example of something that stuck in my mind, this time something that ended up being really cool.  Cool like what I thought it might be like in my mind.  That is Molson, WA, the ghost town in the Okanogan.  So tonight Molson.

In My Free Time, A (Re) Discovery (Park)

I have had a lot of free time the last five or so months, the two beneficiaries have been my wife and my photography.  Recently, I have a person ask me to do a photo shoot for them in Seattle.  They bounced around a few suggestions and I have bounced a couple suggestions back, we haven't reached a consensus as of yet, that is not the story though.  One of the places that I suggested was Discovery Park, one of my favorite places on the planet.  My wife and I went out there earlier this week to check it out and scout locations.  It's been a couple years since I've been out there and it has changed a yet here and there, but it is the same wonderful windswept place I remember.  Tonight, photos of Discovery Park.

Thoughts

This chilly morning I drove out to put gas in my wife's car and passed by a yard that recently was dug up for some drainage field work, exciting stuff.  Okay, not so exciting, anyway the dirt yard and chilly air reminded me of December 1976.  It was just after we moved from Seattle to Mountlake Terrace and the landscaping had not yet been done on our new home.  In Seattle we had mature landscaping and places for kids to play, including a sandbox, so the lack of any landscaping was tough for a six year old kid.  One day I remember in particular was probably during Christmas break going outside to play in the yard, it was bitter cold and the ground solid like concrete.  It wasn't much fun and after a few mintues I went back inside.  Eventually, the landscaping was done, but I am not sure our Mountlake Terrace yard was ever as interesting or nice as our Seattle yard.   Today's photo is of our Mountlake Terrace yard shortly after the grass had been planted.

Holiday Thoughts Redux

So an amazing Thanksgiving day yesterday, thanks in large part to my wife and to our guests.  It is sad to think that people increasingly rush through Thanksgiving formalities to go to the mall and fight others for the last copy of Field Surgeon 6 - The Ardennes for the Playbox.  It is as if the giving thanks part of the holiday is just something you do between the football games and passing the stuffing.  A meaningless ritual like going to church on Easter and Christmas.  I am sounding nostalgic and bitter, probably from the 18 trillion "Black Friday" ads that have been on T.V. today.  It's as if those who did not shop get punished by having sit through the commericals.  Anyway, I'd prefer to sound elitist, the other big gripe I have with "Black Friday" is, it seems so lower middle class and ignorant.  In my mind the Black Friday shopper, over spends on the holidays to substitute for their lack of involvment and caring, in addition that shopper also has apparently never heard of the Internet. 
So an amazing Thanksgiving indeed and because it was Thanksgiving, the nice glasses came out and when the nice glasses come out, that means one thing, that's right port.
Happy Holidays
Dan

Holiday Thoughts

For the first time since 2009, Thanksgiving will be at our home.  I am looking forward to it, I actually really enjoy Thanksgiving at home with friends and family.  It's nice to host the event and it's nice to not have to drive home afterward too.  But most of all, I get to watch my wife do something amazing, something to make the event just that much more special.
Happy Thanksgiving
Dan

Grave Robbers

I am rather annoyed today.  I noticed upon returning from my son's bus stop this morning that the piece of plywood that marked the cat buried in the corner of my yard has been made off with.  Not that I buried the cat and even know who's cat it was, it has been apart of our yard for a couple years so it has grown on me.  Oh well life goes on, well not for the cat, but you get it.

The Love Of My Life

It is my beautiful wife's birthday.  I love her dearly and am amazed by her daily.  I am a better person because of her.

Wow That's a Bad Photo of Me, Or Don't Take A Picture of Me Our Middle School Age Children Will Know Santa Doesn't Fill the Sockings

I came across tonight's pictures when looking for pictures for Wednesday's post.  My mother obviously doesn't want her picture taken.  Also obvious she should have ignored the camera.  There are two possible reasons for the expression, one she is genuinely surprised by my dad taking photos or second she did not want the secret of Christmas reviled.  I was in Middle School by the time these photos were taken, so the secret wasn't much of a secret.  It is nice to think however that mom wasn't just going through the paces when it came to holidays, she was still trying to make it special.

Smoke 'em If You Got 'em

Tonight's post is in direct response to Monday's post on model trains (see The Model Train).  It has nothing to do with trains but instead has to do with cigarettes.  Yeah, smoking is bad for you and smoking in front of children is terrible and smoking in doors in front of children is criminal in the twenty-first century.  It hasn't always been like that, watch Mad Men if you don't believe me, smoking indoors and in front of children was normal.  At least normal for families that had one or more smokers.  The is a certain amusement looking at a six year old playing with a model train with a pack of Winstons and book of matches sitting right in front of her.   So tonight I thought I would post a couple more photos of kids and cigarettes.  Enjoy and in the meantime I will consult with FDA to see if a warning label needs to be added to this post.

The Model Train

Once upon a time, before the Internet and video games there were model trains.  They were a rite of passage, something most kids, boys especially, got between the ages of 6 and 10.  For most kids it was cool for a while and then it collected dust.  That was sort of how it worked in our house too.  My sister got a train set sometime during the latter part of the 1960's and I can remember her playing with it now and again when we lived in Seattle.  Once we moved to Mountlake Terrace it seemed to disappear, that is until I was old enough to get a train set for Christmas some time around 1980, I guess.  Then we both enjoyed trains, I had a layout in the family room and my sister decided to go all out and build a large layout in the garage, complete with rivers and mountains.  I can remember one summer when we were tasked with ripping up newspaper for paper mache.  Time marched on and my layout was put into boxes and stored and her layout molded and was stored in our garage and later her own.  The trains and all that went with them were passed first to her kids and now I have it once again.
This last weekend I finally decided to get out the train stuff to see what if anything still worked, to my surprise most everything still works.  And the best part was to watch my son enjoy the trains the way his aunt and his dad also enjoyed them.
Sadly, there are no known pictures of my train layout, nor do I have any pictures of my sister's garage layout.  What I do have is a picture of my sister table topping and a picture of my boy doing the same.

Not Much to Say

Another than it being Spiro Agnew's birthday there really isn't much to say, except it was a beautiful day. 

It's Twilight in America or Those Mayans Better Be Right. Or I'm So Proud of America...

Well, half of America is super happy, whereas half is super ready to move someplace more conservative like Canada or France and half of America is super sure neither party really cares about Americans.  America's Finest Blog will consider all three platforms tonight and then will stop boring our reader until the obligatory post on why closing public lands and museums is absurd.
First the part about either party not caring about we the people.  Well we've done it to ourselves by not paying attention and while we weren't looking the elected officials that are working for us, have taken gifts for lobbyists and taken campaign money from cooperation's that they speak against but vote for and benefited from insider trading and other unsavory stuff.  These guys and gals make a 19th century Indian Agent look angelic.  The they don't care group of course does one of two things, don't vote because it doesn't matter or they do vote only to send the same SOBs back to Washington because they like the letter next to the name.  The former is actually the second best option here, the best of course would be to vote the incumbents out every cycle.  The latter seems absurd, you believe that both parties don't care about you, but you will only vote for people from a particular party.  Makes no sense.  To be fair, it is possible that voting out incumbents every cycle, may take more money for lobbyists and cooperations to buy the new people.  In which case the cost will drive inflation as cooperation's will need to make up cost somewhere.
Now the super happy half, well they are all pot smoking, same sex couples that vote Democrat.  It was a good day for them, face it, you probably had a good day once and they didn't so its karma or something. 
Seriously, as much as this was about liking one guy better than the other, there was another force in play.  That force is something that the super sad half need to address before we in essence become an one party nation.  That is the winners got women and minorities to vote for them.  The losers got older white males to vote for them.  Generalizations to be sure, but poling data more or less agrees.
The moving to Canada or other conservative nations gang needs to realize that America is more than older white guys.  That party needs to update its image and parts of its message badly.  They needs to become savvy in the ways of social media and somehow try to draw in minorities.  It is easily forgotten watching the all white losers party last night, that the party of Lincoln actually emancipated the slaves, that they once where the champions of minorities.  Also the champions of breaking the influence of big business and champions of ending laissez faire. 
Until that party gets it, barring a Harding-like scandal, they are like these leaves just waiting to be ground into the mud by liberal tree hugging types.

The Time Grows Near

Once again we have come to the greatest moment of a representative democracy, which is of course election day.  We are all very lucky to be able to vote our conscience without fear of recourse.  The cynical would also say that we are able to vote without fear of change, since both major parties are really just run by unions, cooperation's, banks and the industrial military complex and the elected officials on both sides of the aisle are just puppets. 
I choose not to prescribe to that theory, instead I like to think that we as a voting public, tend to not hold our elected officials accountable.  That we the voting public tend to forget that our elected officials work for us, not vice versa.  So when you vote, don't be afraid to show them who is boss.  Just like they always said, our vote is our voice and if we use it wisely we are the ones in control. 
That all said if I had 25 cents for every negative television, radio, print ad or phone call I've been subject too for the last sixty days, I could buy a congressional seat of my own.  I will be glad when that part is over.

The Power of the People

On this date the Pike Place Public Market and the surrounding buildings were saved from becoming garages and office buildings.  It is hard to believe that somebody thought removing the place would be beneficial, but greed is an odd thing.  Back in 1963, the market wasn't as untouched as it is today.  It was in fact rather run down.  So the Central Association, or the group of downtown businesses that needed more space and parking, suggested removing the market, resulting in the city deciding it couldn't do without the Market.  The city made a bold move and pledged to preserve 10% of the Market.  For folks like Victor Steinbrueck that wasn't good enough, they wanted all of the Market saved.  So in 1971 things came to a head with the "Friends of the Market" pitted against the "Committee to Save the Market,"  Friends wanted to save the whole 17 acres that is the market district whereas the Committee was going to reluctantly allow the 1.7 acre core to remain.  The people of Seattle preferred friends over committees and the Market was saved. 

It is hard to image the city without the market, it is a tourist trap and it is more than a tourist trap.  I mean by that, the there is a community there and a very proud one at that.  It is also a grounding point, where the elite mingle with the other 98% on common ground.  In the last 20 years Seattle has taken to homogenizing its neighborhoods into rows of earth-toned condos, so the Market, more than ever, has become the soul of the city, thanks in large part to the "Friends."  You wonder if there had been "friends" for Ballard and Fremont would they retain the character that we so dearly miss. 
That question however is for another time and place.

All Hallow's Eve

Well there are two days a year people are unwittingly Catholic (unless they are Catholic then it is just another day), Halloween and St. Patrick's Day.  Today is Halloween and it seems to be a fitting time to have a retrospective look at my son's Halloween costumes from cute tiger to hippie army dude.
Enjoy
Dan

Boo!

Well Halloween is just around the corner.  I am hoping that the rain abates for a period of time on Wednesday evening for the kids to go out and get their sugary treats.  I am sure that I am not the only person hoping for the rain to abate.  Like most Americans I want to be bombarded by political adds and mud slinging this time of year, not stories of pineapple expresses, super storms and 100 million sobbing eyes of children who had to stay home because of the weather.  That said, I will distract from issues of the day with a Halloween photo from 1977.  A few things about this photo, first the black and orange brick to Dracula's right was my favorite brick in that fireplace.  Second, that maybe the happiest smile, I've ever seen on my sister.  Third, I have no idea why my sister was cropped in the photo (maybe my Mom like that brick too?).  Finally, the make up was done by the theater department at Mountlake Terrace High School, specifically by my older sister's boyfriend at the time, Fred.
Nice work Fred.
Happy Halloween
Dan

October Light

It has been with great deal of sadness that I have watched the rain for the last week or so, because it is ruining the best light of the year.  The summer light is bright until late evening.  Winter light is cold, harsh and full of contrast which is great, but it is the light of the early to mid autumn that is the best in Washington.  It has a warm glow and is still high enough in the sky to product a soft light.  You really can't bet it, if it's raining.  If it's raining then the gray gloom sets in washing out the color and contrast of the light.
Tonight, October light.
Dan