Tag Archives: wandering

Pacifica Pier: versions & evidence of me, evolving

During my “missing years” or the “healing ramble” or whatever, there was sort of a circuit of safe houses, hideouts and caches i rotated through which included Pacifica, California.

“Im just a constant headache.” is how I felt for a long long time (although I did not paint this myself on the pier)

A couple dear friends there looked out for me as I received of medical treatment there – some planned and some ummmm unintended.

As it goes, while looking for something else, I kept coming across mah ole face on four separate visits and right away could see the change as dealt with so much well, change and loss… “Losing everything” / my health, my erstwhile career, my energy, my mind, myself, my parents, and so much more.

the pier takes and “L” shape / you could often hear circle language is spoken, sometimes kids selling something, crab pots, fishing lines, a few dingy sinks for gutting your catch

The pier would be usually occupied by a scattered assortment of fishers and crab catchers, and others like me, just watching the waves rolling, fog twitching, the occasional hearty surfer, and every once in a while a humpback whale.

As usual, there’s more to say about “all of this” (yes, there’s a pending medical – specific report in the slow moving “healing ramble” series) but for now, I present to you: me & Pacifica pier which was a safe refuge for me as could walk back-and-forth – at the foot is a coffee shop serving clam chowder in a bread bowl and a Matcha latte, the street has so many cute little funky beach ‘shacks’ (any of them cost in million+ now) that, due to zoning regulations & shoreline protection mandates, couldn’t really be changed… so the area of town was sort of stuck in a past decade and showed it’s working class roots and rum running/bootlegging history.

Minor annotations included with the photos. Remarkable to me anyhow & a reminder of what “we” are capable of, I mean if I am able to tough it out, evolve and change with it all, you certainly can.

2014 / not happy with how I found myself in life as it was
2015 / it turns out the “unknown“ was a lot more dangerous than expected / and yes, it was much worse than this suggests
2016 / trying really trying to intrepidly step in to the unknown
2016 / an unexpected and unfortunate trip has no picture of my face but this is the coffee shop at the start of the pier
2018 / came to deposit my mother’s ashes off the end of the pier and took a moment to think about the changes my life would take in the months to come
2017/ Pacifica on a scrapbook and a Lomo rolling with me through Thailand

I Hell<3 Pacifica. Grateful.

wandering, wandering, being grateful and dreaming about the future
and oh how we rambled!

Suez Canal Transit Panorama Views

+ Back to Sea with Suez Canal Panorama views +

I enjoy building panorama views especially when space and time is compressed, warped and otherwise manipulated and bent – whether by scissors and glue, my olden panorama film camera(s) – both 35mm and APS, or the fancy feature on the common pocket robot cameras (as in the case of this series).

Anyhow, as such, i made some panoramas views in the Suez Canal – to go along with Suez Canal Dossier and Musings – which make for pleasing immersive views. Click to embiggen

Consider this bundle for your amusement and/or remixing – some showing magnificent desolation of desert, others town on the banks, and other catching ships and the accruements on the vessel on which i transited.

PS One or two of these may be cropped rather than panorama as i used a load for header images on this web archive and can’t quite remember what and which so carry on accordingly. 

PS my classic Fuji Panorama 35mm camera, bought from close-out bin at TOPOS dept store in Tottori Japan, 1993 for ¥3000 (still have receipt) Alas the winder broke (salt-water damage in Guam) but still have the artifact.

Suez Canal Transit Dossier and Musings

Queen Mary ahead in the mist – the ships make caravans with cruisers / liners in front of containers and fuelers

+ Suez Transit Dossier and Musings +

If i was crafty and timely, woulda shared these snaps a few weeks when Ever Given was blocking up the flow of the Suez Canal (yeah you saw this…) i had/have a lot to say about it all and well, lot of more important things to do (nursery school!) so just didn’t get to it, but today is now, so: 

up early to note the transit – takes most of a day to work through / and yes the desert is chilly

Quick annotations:

  • Suez isn’t “squared off” with tidy concrete walls and locks
  • Was dug mostly by hand/buckets
  • Ships assemble caravans at either end and go very slow
  • Winds are weird (really) which makes mishaps not shocking and coordination important.
  • Don’t start with the Egyptian pilots!

Let’s begin our transit in the “staging area”… (note captions and annotations)

Ships assemble at anchor in Gulf Suez at tip of Red Sea (see also Gulf of Aqaba) and then are organized into caravans / quite enjoyed the sound the anchor chain dropping and reeling back up

Local Traffic amongst the behemoths 

Importantly, the canal is active with local ferries darting back and forth between lumbering giants. The sides are so close you can wave to folks (of course i did) and the ships in-front/behind are also so close and don’t have brakes.

Ferries time departures to slip between the ships, looking like likely collisions and almost comical variations in scale
Ferry loading up (i think East Qantara Ferryboat or the West Qantara Ferry – regardless, wave hello (they did)

Continue reading Suez Canal Transit Dossier and Musings

Diptych(ish): from Rhodt, Germany / castle (watercolour + photo)

Once upon a time in 1992, I hitch-hiked around Germany (and other Western European countries) experienced many hi-jinks and met up with my dear pal Trevor in a magical, fairytale town near the Rhine River called Rhodt unter Rietburg.

To earn some Deutsche Marks, we would gather chestnuts in the woods, and sell them to the tourists who enjoyed eating Kastanien, boiled, while drinking the excellent local wine.

While passing time at our “stand,” I painted the local environs.

Now, with the wonders of the Internet, I can find photos of the scenes I only remember has faded watercolour pencil sketches (i did not take a camera).

In this case, one of “crazy” King Ludwig’s summer villa/castle of some kind… Resplendent with ancient grape vines in the foreground.

[update] here’s another one from the view straightahead from the wine press where we sold the chestnuts – looking at one of the beautifully plastered houses with vines growing all around, now connected with its real life inspiration via Google streets view.

See also: 3 photos and 1 item & Rhodt watercolours

Assuming aluminum is smelted… / Towns and Trains

Mostly so i can answer Drs when they ask if significant exposure to heavy metals. Not more than others except for Geneva steel labourers. Never worked in an aluminum smelter assuming aluminum is smelted and changing pronunciation in my head, proudly on the fly.

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018

Sanambin road goes to the airport / Towns and Trains

Sanambin road goes to the airport

Occasionally closed for a motorcade of minor relations of Royals
Reviewing, visiting Buddhas, adorned with black-clad citizens, black ribbons to indicate respect and match endless bunting and banners of visage — with camera, saxophone, with monkey cheek, with ribbons, bespectacled always

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018

One of three destinations… / Towns and Trains

The obvious anonymity allows one to wander, unhindered by conversations about homes, jobs and places to go

Nowhere to be but here

Markets of fruits, meats with flies and disposable clothes

Hospitals, shops of pots and pans and endless choices for scooter repairs, stationary by train station

Sidewalk stands of noodles, meat on sticks which unify the world, tuk-tuks, rickshaw bikes who don’t want to go far, bank machines and carbon sheet receipts, taxis never seem to know any one of my three destinations: inn, hospital, clinic

Repeat

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018

Letter, directed towards a conductor / Towns and Trains

To write a letter
Directed towards a conductor
Sequestered awaiting diagnosis
In a hi-fi bungalow

His son flies so close
To the Borealis
The Inuit might call him
Aurora in another name

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018

Glints on stainless trim… / Towns and Trains

Beds are cantilevered
Crisped sheets whisked
Into place at our whim
The attendant nods

I burn a small lamp
Glints on the stainless trim
A gift from my brother
The Bangkok diplomat

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018

Suitcase of cigarettes… / Towns and Trains

Saffron robes
And a suitcase full
Of cigarettes
Eating past dark

We trade a blue-spotted orange
For bag of salted cashews
In a train compartment
Bound for a jaunty frontier

The garland of marigolds for him
A dried purple bloom
Intertwined within
my battered straw hat

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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018