I'll not love again

[Casey Butler]

The cloud grinch remains in the valley here...



Driving to the south edge of town, I was wondering what to put in front of the sunset tonight when right where I stopped this cowboy fellow appeared (riding out of the sunset rather than into the sunset).



When he reached us and saw me taking photos he said "Gratuities are always accepted" and rode on. I turned around to try to talk to him, but when we caught up he just said the same thing again and wouldn't stop... And he just rode on down the road into town... Not the best way to make money to support that horse.



They finally cut down the corn field and sunflower field out there. This is another tree closer to the road though:



There's this house on the hill there that has no trees as yet:



As I was taking the house pictures, a Hawk or Eagle flew over us, but it was too difficult in that light to see any details. It was very big, though:



Finally, tonight's moon:



Feeling overexposed... Adios for now... :-)

Casey

[Casey Butler]

The town clock in Rockville read exactly midnight when I passed through on the way to Zion. These were taken on the Bridge around 12:30 AM:







I was a little worried because it was windy, and these were exposed for 25 seconds each.

The camera didn't move, however, but if you look at the how the tops of the trees are blurry from motion I think you could say I got pictures of the wind. In a metaphorical way at least.

I couldn't discern all the color, of course. It's amazing how the digital camera picks it up. I want to look online to see if there's a way to capture the pictures more like the night views appear to our eyes. I could experiment forever, but no need to reinvent the wheel even I was capable of it.

Yada yada yada... (Sorry, had to post these...)

Casey

[kellyexpo24]

very great poem. Thanks for posting it.

[Violet]

Hi Casey.. hi all.. hi Kelly.. thank you for the poem appreciation.. one forgets that it was a rather sad and romantic little poem that started off this whole thread of madness.. but alas, it was..

Well, it’s true, Casey, I’ve been under the weather, and now have to catch up with things, and so I’ve been out of “thread” commission for quite a few posts it seems like..

I like the etching.. and the post card.. and as usual, your stunning landscape photos, Casey.. but there’s too much to respond to in one post, so I’ll approach what jumped out at me the most right now… [oh.. and hi Boss.. you know, some of us need saving LIKE NOW I think.. just thought I’d add that to the mix].. [oh and, sorry, Casey.. didn’t get to reading the whole thread again yet.. though I do think it’s best that I do at some point.. just to tie the whole thing together a bit more.. as we lug the whole mess forward]..

ANYWAY, for now.. let me start with.. HALLOWEEN..

.. I slept half the day on Halloween day this year, trying to stave off the Evil Swine Flu, or whatever was trying to deter me (from this thread, obviously).. And, even though I was invited to a Halloween party –- put on for the very people responsible for organizing the famous (or possibly infamous, depending on your point of view) West Village Halloween parade that happens every year here, I instead decided to listen to my insides, which were telling me to lay low, since I was still feeling under the weather..

… well.. I watched Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.. the one with Spencer Tracey and the ever lovely Ingrid Bergman.. and I may have half slept through another movie as well.. don’t recall now.. I eventually made it up my little metal stairs to my itsy bitsy loft bedroom.. where it seemed I lay awake for hours.. but I must have fallen asleep since…

[PHONE RINGS].. hello?... oh, hi Erik.. WHAT???.. look outside??????????.. What do you mean, MY CAR???????????... it’s wrapped around...... WHAT???????????????????... (my concerned neighbor was talking about mysilver car, by the way)…

Yes, folks, another odd and (potentially) dangerous silver-car related incident.. the second one in two weeks.. [oh, and there was also Casey, nearly falling off a cliff at some point, while driving his car, Silver.. oh and the exploding eSpresso machine (which no doubt was silver in color too, come to think of it)..

.. ANYWAY.. as best I can construe it, here’s what happened..

.. somewhere in the early morning.. (and actually, I think I did hear something go bump in the night) (the more I thought about it..).. anyway, it must have been a sizable vehicle, a truck maybe… came roaring down my one-way street.. traveling at some ridiculous speed, and in the wrong direction.. Meanwhile, my ’85 Camry (my zippy and trusty traveling companion, I might add.. though I’ve never named her, or him..).. anyway, my Camry was the only car parked on the west side of the street.. [OHMUGOD.. the WEST SIDE.. of the street.. that Wicked West Side again.. hmm].. (oh, I’m in a rather industrial neighborhood, where artists and, in this case, a plastics factory are situated).. ANYWAY.. this truck, seriously on the loose.. somehow nabbed my little Camry.. smashing into the corner of the car on the driver’s side, and somehow managing to drag the thing down the street and across an intersection to where the back of it landed, with its rear fender wrapped around a big steel street lamp..

.. THEN.. (as best as I can construe it).. after the car was left abandoned there [that’s called leaving the scene of an accident, by the way –- a criminal offense].. some Halloweenie-type vandals got to it… jumping up and down on my poor.. (hmm.. let’s call her Silvie).. okay.. jumping up and down upon poor Silvie’s silver little hood –- oh, while gleefully smashing in the windshield with a metal pipe or something..

… and so that’s what poor Violet flower woke up to the morning after Halloween.. her poor silver Silvie, alone and abandoned, sticking into the intersection… its back end neatly wrapped around a street lamp.. its front end a tale of horror all its own..

.. OKAY.. briefly.. oh, by the way, folks.. try a little web service known as “Scroogle.org”.. the not-for-profit people running it have a great sense of humor, and see Google as the true and virtual embodiment of the Evil Empire itself.. It’s actually something of a piggy-back service that rides on Google’s searches, but it takes out wicked third party cookies ‘n things (.. sorry, Cate.. I know you have a thing for cookies.. but this kind you really shouldn’t eat.. I shouldn’t think).. (methinks).. [third-party cookies are kind of like nasty little corporate spies.. as best as I can tell.. I just looked this up, so I’m no expert].. Anyway, Scroogle “scrapes” off these cookies and other wicked stuff that attaches to our Google searches with what it calls its “Scroogle scraper”.. oh.. did you know, for example, that Google STORES all of our searches.. forever and ever and ever..?.. I think that’s rude, to say the very least.. And well, with the Scroogle scraper, those searches ain’t being stored no more.. BUT MAKE SURE.. you go to Scroogle.org –- not “com”.. “com” gets you to.. well.. some sort of porn site, I’m afraid.. (stands to reason, I guess)..

.. anyway, for some strange reason, the nefariously all powerful Google is allowing little Scroogle to stand.. possibly with the idea that any publicity is good publicity.. OR maybe with the idea that to do away with poor little Scroogle makes big bad Google seem even more “evil”.. (evoogle?).. so that Google, by seemingly being tolerant, would seem to defy Scroogle’s contentions.. [just a few theories I have on the subject, as I’ve been Scroogling for a long time now]..

.. now where was I???...

.. Oh, my Scroogle scraper search for symbolic meanings of SILVER.. (how’s that for alliteration?)..

.. here’s something interesting and somehow thematically appropriate under “Answers.com” [regarding, yet again.. The Wizard of Oz]..

It has been suggested that the Silver Slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East symbolize the silver standard. Those who accept the symbolism point to Dorothy walking in the slippers over the Yellow Brick Road of gold. They interpret this as symbolic of free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver, which was a major plank in the platform of the 19th-century Populist Party. The aim was more accessible money for loans to businessmen and farmers to pay off their debts.

Author and Oz series originator Lyman Frank Baum [May 15, 1856-May 5, 1919] described his book The Wizard of Oz, as entertainment in the form of a fairy tale for children. He described previous fairy tales as heartache and nightmare-inducing in children. He characterized his book as a fresh attempt in a new direction, to entertain children and to develop and cherish their sense of joy and wonder. So if he put the symbolism that others see in his book, he didn't admit to it.
[end]

.. okay.. just for fun.. since I did mention Burl Ives singing this before.. and since he does mention silver and..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMlqn_Hjyi8
FULL SCREEN..

.. don’t you love how he gently slides across the snow?.. [by the way, I noticed this itsy bitsy little christmas tree in the background.. slowly creeping up on him.. now what's that about I wonder]..

OKAY.. back to..

.. silver slippers.. hmm.. I did mention before “metallic fashion statements”.. but didn’t think it would lead to this.. Dorothy in SILVER SLIPPERS???... just what’s the world coming to???.. oh, wait.. that preceded the ruby ones.. (have to get to this ruby business later)..

.. actually.. now that I’m thinking about it.. I once read an interesting if disturbing article about how the lovely Bush people (namely, the original president by that name)… busied themselves with suppressing the price of silver.. and selling off gads of silver from our federal reserve at low low prices, and to cronies.. and, well, to themselves (as I recall.. and as.. well, would stand to reason..).. [anyway, that’s called stealing, methinks.. and I believe it’s treasonous(ous) too]..

.. Casey, are we supposed to now invest in silver? or scrap these useless metal heaps?? (that was a tasteless joke, Silver and Silvie.. but at least I didn’t say “shoot”).. Actually, I have to now decide whether to spare poor Silvie, or put her out to silver scrap heap pasture.. (shush with this.. but I think it may well be the latter, mefears..)..

MOVING ON.. now to a horse and pasture theme..

I was so taken by your cowboy shots, Casey.. and his coming OUT of the sun, as it were, instead of riding into the sunset.. [so.. there’s that SUN again]..

.. and just how did he enlighten us?

.. well, I'm intrigued by this mystery cowboy’s rather humorous seeming line (which I've placed below the photo).. the whole thing is all so very cinematic, Casey..


“Gratuities are always accepted”…

.. I’m actually thinking of breaking out a Marlboro.. and I don’t even smoke..

.. anyway.. these cowboy pictures, the second one in particular, had me thinking of this wonderful Kirk Douglas film (his own favorite film, in fact) called -- actually, I thought I’d put the title under your photo.. as it’s just so very appropriate..


LONELY ARE THE BRAVE

… it’s appropriate since the film is really about the end of the line for the cowboy.. how the vast open spaces of the west, especially by the early sixties, were nearly all fenced in and civilized, with houses, and roads and all of this highway “glunk” (I just made up that word, I think), along with everything else that this civilized glunk represents.. all of which leaves no room for the lone cowboy.. or the rugged individualist.. as if the outsider has no room to be outside even..

.. [no.. we've only room for these designated fenced-in zones.. meant for these trapped little rats.. in their mazes..]… [so to pick up on a prior theme..]…

.. OKAY.. just to give us all a flavor for the film.. and in an interesting way too.. using the film’s musical scoring as a way into its themes... [This film has an early film score by a renowned movie composer by the name of Gerry Goldsmith]..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Iwcgk8-ByE
FULL SCREEN…

Oh.. and back to the sun.. and some other stuff too.. I thought I’d pull a “rune” after this last silver-metal car disaster, just to see what possible insight I might glean that way..

.. for a quickie intro. on runes, I grabbed something from.. sunnyway.com.. (‘cause of the “sun” reference)..

Runes are an ancient Germanic alphabet, used for writing, divination and magick. They were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E. Runic inscriptions of great age have even been found in North America, supporting stories that the Vikings arrived in the Americas long before Columbus.
[end]

.. now I’ll post what my own little booklet had to say about the rune I pulled out of the black and gold (and a little ruby, here and there) Chinese silk satchel, where I keep my runes and tarot cards..

The rune I pulled out was “Laguz”.. which looks like a and arrow pointing up, only with the left “slanted” part removed.. so.. a half arrow, in other words.. (sort of).. And here’s what Ralph Blum (the author of my little book) has to say about this rune…

Laguz: Flow, Water, That Which Conducts

Unseen powers are active here, powers that nourish, shape and connect. The attributes of this Rune are water, fluidity, the ebb and flow of emotions, of vocations and relationships. Laguz supports your desire to immerse yourself in the experience of living without having to evaluate or understand. It speaks to the satisfaction of emotional needs, to the awakening of the intuitive or lunar side of your nature. For while the sun strives for differentiation, the moon draws us toward union and merging.

This Rune often signals a time for cleansing: for revaluing, reorganizing, realigning. A Rune of deep knowing, Laguz may call you to study spiritual matters in readiness for self-transformation. Success now lies in contacting your Intuitive Knowing, in attuning to your own rhythms. A Rune of the self relating rightly to the Self, Laguz signifies what alchemists called the conjunctio, or sacred marriage. In fairy tales, it is the end where the hero and heroine live happily ever after.

OKAY, Casey.. I’m not to sure what the crunching of silver car metal has to do with any of the above.. but I’m thinking that the confinement of car space is probably not right for me just at this time [I hope that line made you laugh, 'cause it just made me laugh].. But will I fare better on the subway???.. (recalling now the heavily painted steel beams on the subway platforms (and sometimes used beside potentially exploding eSpresso machines).. anyway, unsightly though they may be, these sturdy, lumpy beams remain my only hope of possible survival should someone not of sound mind try anything untoward.. or very toward (as the case may be)..[to those a bit hazy.. I refer to those cases where unsuspecting innocents.. standing on subway platforms (some might even have been wearing platforms, come to think of it, like the platforms I happen to have) -- now where was I?.. oh, I was referring to those who have been fatally shoved in front of moving subway cars]..

You know, Casey.. it just seems that.. well.. it just seems like things are only getting worse for me, now that I’ve sent you off looking for signs from God.. and you know, I’ve always thought God might very well have a black sense of humor.. (I'll bet I already said that somewhere).. anyway, I think this thread is actually bearing that theory out..

.. oh.. before I go (in confounding confusion).. here’s an interesting little blurb on Dorothy’s ruby slippers from a site called “Turn Me On, Dead Man”..

According to Joey Green's Buddhist interpretation of The Wizard of Oz, the ruby slippers represent the "inner spark" within all of us. When Glinda instructs Dorothy never to take off the ruby slippers, she is telling Dorothy never to lose her inner spark. [4]In his New Age interpretation of The Wizard of Oz, Darren John Main suggests that the ruby slippers represent a person's principles. "Keeping tight inside your shoes" means never losing sight of those principles and falling prey to worshipping false gods. [5]

.. Now, I don't know if this is exactly about what I just quoted, but I do admit to coming to a place in my life where things have to either come together (but not like poor Silvie and that big, fat street lamp), or they need to totally fall apart (possibly like poor Silvie and that big, fat street lamp) -- just possibly so that things might come together again, in another form, maybe (but hopefully not like Silvie and that big, fat street lamp)..

That’s about all I can say at this point.. after all, it’s late.. two words that only just reminded me of..

Okay.. this is supposed to be sung by that little white rabbit who falls down that little rabbit hole.. only here it’s just me in my “Barbara” mode.. (you'll have to forgive me, I do get a bit distracted in the middle there.. as I so often do)..

.. oh, and notice, Casey.. it’s back to that little hare theme again.. and.. as B. says at the very end of this.. (jazzily, though rather ominously methinks..)…

“I’m over due… I’m in a kind of rabbit stew”… [which might just refer to the state of this post, actually].. [do I spin here, at least?.. I don't recall]..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23w5ml1Y-s
FULL SCREEN


nighty night.. from the city that never lets you sleep in your car..
v i o l e t (flower)…

.. oh, and.. gratuities are always accepted..



.. [next morning edits.. just some minor "tweaks".. as is my violetish proclivity]..

[Casey Butler]

"Lonely Are The Brave" is a good example of what I'm talking about somewhere... People stifling themselves in the past until their rides get killed. I'm sure Silvie wasn't as warm and responsive as Whiskey, but you didn't have to clean up after her either, or do all that other horse care stuff they do around here for most horses.

I didn't mean I'm the only one who feels the way I feel about what will work... I just meant (apparently) I'm the only one (I know of) who read what it means from twisted metaphor. Lots of people feel the same way using simple common sense... Every time they sing Imagine.

It was a good movie I got even when I was a kid... Kirk Douglas missing the old ways, not even hearing his own rationalizations... like Casey and vaping sometimes.

Can you believe all these dots I'm using. But three instead of two!

Tonight the cloud grinch missed one little guy, so we had a sunset!!!

First, fall has reached the Virgin River Valley bigtime:




Now this cloudy sunset I was mentioning, after four days of sky suffering cloud drought I must admit I went wild.

I won't do this again (hopefully), but I have several shots at different zoom levels and locations.

The sunset vista shot:


Zoomed in on the clouds:


When checking the pictures out on the computer, like the Starlings the other day, I found I'd inadvertantly recorded Geese (I think) migrating...

...Through the clouds...


Tonight was also cool because the sun set just before the moon rose, so I've included the glows from each - sun in the west and moon in the east. There was actually about 30 minutes or so separating these glows, to be honest about it.

Sun glow in the west:


Moon glow in the east (nightshot!):


Tonight I present the moon in abstract, as indeed settings for night shot landscapes do not work right for night shot moon shots. I caught it rising over that Zion formation you see in the glow shot above:


Sheesh... I'm tired tonight! Thanks for the videos... Welcome back to the mess. :-)

Casey

[Casey Butler]

A banner day. Still not much in the way of clouds, but today we went to Zion in order to drive up the Zion Canyon road. It's closed to traffic from May to the end of October because of the pollution and congestion. You have to take the Shuttle System (kind of a free subway above ground) to go up there otherwise.

This will be my last photo post, probably, I don't know, as I've been picking up signals from the Great Beyond that patience with me is running quite thin in certain quarters. Connection problems, hints, subliminal accusations and pseudo threadts... But I just HAD to show you the stuff God put in front of me, Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Silver today, Violet! :-)

We stopped at the Ostrich farm just outside of Virgin. Mr. Darcy wanted to play, the Ostriches wanted to play, but the farmer had this fence up...


The congregation at attention...


A pretty girl who really liked me, I could tell by the twinkle in her eye...


Some views on up the Virgin River Valley you're already familiar with, but this is their sunlit fall version:




From the old iron bridge in Rockville:


In Rockville we saved this Gopher Snake's life (we found out this type of snake, the same kind that I posted earlier, is called that), he was enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on the road:


E picked him up - you have never seen an angrier snake in your life. Now we've seen a lot of Rattlesnakes here - several even while rattling at us - but this Gopher Snake guy was hissing and hissing, all coiled up as though he were a Rattlesnake. But he was all bark and no bite, fortunately.

He just never appreciated all that my Saint Elizabeth really meant to him, by shooing him off the road like that.

Here's a portrait:


This probably won't mean much to you, but in the little pond just outside of Rockville there was a pair of Hooded Mergansers floating around! Very, very cool... The male had his crest full up when we parked, but he put it back down for the camera:


A tree in Zion Canyon that caught my eye. We just made it while the sun was still on some things. The canyon is narrow and spends most of the day in the shade, the sun blocked by all the cliffs:


One of the rock formations taken through the trees:


This is the Virgin River as it flows out of the Canyon, about a mile upstream from the Bridge of Perfect Photography. The evening light just made everything look magical.


There were so many deer today! I caught one crossing the road in my rear-view mirror...


A Mother Deer and what looks like her Teenager Deer:


This is one out of about thirty Wild Turkey pictures, these guys move so fast it's nearly impossible to get a clear picture of them in low light.

You know what... Sargeant York was really good:


This was funny, a Buck Deer who would not hold still for me because he was chasing this Doe Deer all over the park. Every time I'd get focused he'd try to jump on her... Here she is escaping down to the river, but when we turned around and drove back he had her up on the road again. Does have a difficult time...


It was a wonderful day... Cate, if you're still reading this thread (the view/reply ratio is pretty abominable compared to the other threads here), please accept my sympathies for your recent loss. We have a Ferret named Munchkin who is really old. I dread when she goes because E dotes on her so.

FINALLY, Violet, my friend... There were some people there from New York, recent retirees, I would suppose, out to see America, and today, of all days, they came to Zion National Park.

They had this great licence plate on their Silver Toyota:


Casey

[Casey Butler]

Boss, when you get your turn...

I think the Theory of Intervention is the best bet, all things considered. People are much too concerned with money to care about saving anyone, even themselves, I think, if you can figure this internal health care issue the leading lights are having.

So... The Man said:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, (thou) that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under (her) wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed (is) he that cometh in the name of the Lord. [Matthew 23:37-39]

Boss... For six years and counting it's my mantra, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord". :-)

Casey

[Violet]

.. Casey.. just what the heck are you talking about here???.. between that and the license plate.. don't know what to think.. of course, that license plate might be meant for me, if I'm not careful.. oh, and the Toyota just had to be silver too.. didn't it???..

This will be my last photo post, probably, I don't know, as I've been picking up signals from the Great Beyond that patience with me is running quite thin in certain quarters. Connection problems, hints, subliminal accusations and pseudo threadts... But I just HAD to show you the stuff God put in front of me, Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Silver today, Violet!

Also.. the fact this thread seems to get hits, even if people prefer not to reply, is still a GOOD SIGN Casey.. it means people are interested.. besides, I thought you were a "glass half full" person???

.. anyhoo.. it's up to you what you'd like to do relative to this thread.. I know I'm working at a slightly slower pace with things.. so.. that's just how things are.. (in this wiki wiki city)..

Well, your fall foliage shots are wonderful.. and the ostriches and the deer.. deer with very big ears methinks.. much different than the deer I see upstate..


.. and the snake.. well.. we've been cast out of the Garden of Eden, but there are still snakes around.. something to consider further, I think.. [I mean, in the biblical "bad guy" sense of the snake]..


I guess.. if you really are calling it quits, I should also post this car photo again.. But.. if you're not really leaving.. well.. then let's just say it's for symmetry's sake..

.. (oh, and by the way, and in answer to an earlier comment you made, I'm thinking of patenting the "two point ellipse".. I find it's a more casual ellipse, as it happens.. and that way, I can save the big "three point ellipse".. for when I want to add a bit more drama to the time lapse.. like right here...


.. for now, at least..
v i o l e t (flower)..

[Casey Butler]

.. anyhoo.. it's up to you what you'd like to do relative to this thread..

No, it's up to you, it's always been up to you.. Your pace is just as fast as before.. You're the Artist.. But I'm not doing the job of occupying our brains I ought to be doing.. I lack your sophistication, consciously at least.. Although my subconscious seems have been raised in a different box, I am sensitive to your will..

From all these signs for you I've learned something to write to Leonard, about how even Poetry has been turned upside down now:

It's not the killers in high places who say their prayers out loud. It's the ones we give places high in our hearts who say them both ways, who suck their living from the tit of humanity as the killers' willing enablers.. It's the Golden Calves we all share, be we rich or poor, powerful or weak, killer or victim.

I'm still here, Violet. Yet human, yet with an unanswered question, yet ignored. Yet dreaming...

So, when this thread sinks down a little in the list I'll need to free up some server space by deleting all those pictures. Maybe using bigger ones for a new desktop wallpaper site would be cool. :-) I should have used one of those free image posting services. Oy vey! :-)

Casey

[Violet]

.. well, it's sad that you'll be taking away all the lovely photos..

... this has got me thinking.. I mean.. the beauty of poetry is that it conjures images without having to literally see them.. I was actually hoping to see a night photo, Casey, that would go along with this poem of mine, which I originally posted on Leonard's Birthday Thread a year ago now -- a poem I'd written for his memory, actually.. and to which I'd given its own thread as well.. It's a tricky poem to attach to a photo, since I wouldn't want to literalize the "contours" of the face in the mountainscape.. so, I was hoping to see a sort of dark image with that feeling of a dark mountain presence against a dark night sky.. the kind of image where your eyes have to adjust somewhat in order to see it.. But so far.. I didn't see an image I thought would work..

.. anyway, now that you'll take these lovely images away, I thought to put this poem here anyway.. it's a kind of comfort to me to do so, as I feel this poem does what such an image would do if we had it.. I guess it's to note the absence too.. should all the wonderful pictures go away..




The blessed contours of your face


this earth
a desolate place,

without
the blessed contours
of
your face.

and
in the way of mountains
crumbling down
in
death’s bereft,

I fear this loss
(when mountains
will be left.)


though with your self
evolving toward its end (no
time to waste)

when finer threads of mind
dissolve to grace;

in loss
we’ll keep these
smallest clues

(the pen
you used to
use)

as
if your secret
had a secret
place.


But now
in slumbering mountains
do I find,

such shades of loss as
tends this grieving
mind,

for
mountains in their midnight
deftly trace,

these

quiet

beloved contours

of
your face.






v i o l e t, 2008

[Casey Butler]

This one is from the archive, but it's a formation you see when you're on top of Gooseberry Mesa.



I don't think it's dark enough and maybe it's too literal for your poem, but if you'd like me to try I can go there at night, or just try to get clouds with contours in a night shot (there were some wispy mare's tail types out there a few minutes ago).

Casey

[Violet]

.. hi Casey.. I guess it should be darker.. what I like though is the background mountains.. the layers of them, since that way, you're not looking at any one specific mountain and trying to make a profile of a face out of it, which is what would ruin it for me.. so.. maybe to work with the way that background looks, and do away with the foreground even.. I guess you wouldn't be able to do that in the deep of night though, since the layers would disappear..

I guess, for a dark night shot, which is my original idea for this, it would just have to be dark enough to suggest that presence I was talking about.. that sense of a dark mountain against a night sky.. not too sure how else to describe it.. just all sad and grieving and contemplative..

.. anyway, earlier today I started working on using some of your photos with another poem of mine that also has this dark mountain theme, but it got rather involved, so I don't have it ready yet.. but if you're going to just remove all the photos anyway, I'm not too sure I should be doing these things.. so.. not sure what we're doing here anymore..

v i o l e t

[Casey Butler]

so.. not sure what we're doing here anymore..

Okay.

I will leave the pictures up, my hosting service allows way more disc space than I thought.

Casey

[Violet]

... hi Casey.. maybe you could also start putting images on the free servers you mentioned..

... Anyway, been working all day, and have more to do still, I'm afraid.. tomorrow is a big day.. I may actually be finishing with this phase of things, so let's keep our silver linings in order.. OHMUGOD, that reminds me.. I've got to dig up a funny little poem I wrote eons ago.. [BE RIGHT BACK]... Well, that wasn't too hard to find (but the search merited the three point ellipse, you'll notice).. somehow I think the poem fits in with some of this thread's themes.. oh, and there's a mention of violets before I became Violet..


Re-set

Roses are red, violets are blue,
I lurched, hitting a speeding cab.

Invention comes to deride necessity. But
that’s the decadent age, for you.

Cleanliness is lined with clouded intentions, divorced
from this writer’s ungodly habits. Once parked, the
car was not as damaged as you might think, although
the blue sedan is now yellow.

4/01


.. I added the color part, of course..
I'll get to the dark mountain poem, and the use of your photos, C., early next week I should imagine..
v i o l e t (flower).. taking a kukicha-tea-and-walnut-brownie break..

[Casey Butler]

Hi Violet... I hope your situation has improved.

So.. We actually made it to a Leonard Cohen concert, the one Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Mr. Darcy had to stay home, but our neighbor Pat made his evening great too by letting him play with her "boys" and hang out at her place until 3 AM this morning.

I took some photos (shock) so here they are... :-)

First, I had to get Silver's oil changed as she was nearly 500 miles over the 3000 miles since the last oil change... I was taking a photo of the clouds when the guy at Slick Willey's happened to peek around the corner to tell me Silver was ready to go... It's a cute photo so I thought I'd include it:



Speaking of clouds, after days of none or wisps, Thursday was fantastic all the way down to Las Vegas.

It's about 135 miles from here, but instead of showing you the entire trip I'm just going to post a few shots:

Driving down the Virgin River Gorge where it cuts through the corner of Arizona (it's very beautiful and rough terrain, but I couldn't stop as E wanted to get to Las Vegas early. She was so looking forward to seeing Leonard, she's the big fan in this house):





Out of the Gorge now and heading down to Mesquite... Just outside of Littlefield:



[WHOOSH...]

By the time we got to the Moapa Indian Reservation, the clouds had gotten together to form the most amazing pattern in the sky, like a tunnel with a padded roof stretching right down to Nellis AFB:



Even though this was only around 2:00 PM, the open sky around Las Vegas made it look like the sun was setting already. Here's a shot down the highway taken from just south of Moapa Tribal Enterprises:



I don't know if Leonard got a chance to the see the sunset in Las Vegas, but it was very cool. This picture doesn't do it the least bit of justice. It was multi-layered, with clouds under clouds and a "window" to blue sky where the pink is:



It was an amazing trip, not one of our usual ones with a few unappreciated (until afterwards) adventures working themselves in. For example, E wanted to go to Border's Book Store... And I drove right to it on Decatur. Then she wanted to go to Starbuck's, and right across the street from Border's was a Starbuck's.

Okay, now to the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace, she said...

Well, I picked Desert Inn as a good road to get us down to the Strip, but I'd forgotten that Desert Inn goes under the Strip (actually we lived in Vegas when they put that stretch in as a bypass of sorts for commuters, but their doing that slipped my mind for some reason).

So we ended up turning right on Paradise and going to Sands Boulevard, turning right there, then turning left onto the Strip after I determined that Caesar's was to the left.

So at this point E was on the phone with daughter Heather, who visits Vegas regularly sometimes from Hollywood with her husband Colin. Heather told me (through E) exactly where to turn right off the Strip in order to find the parking garage for the Colosseum.

So I turned right there, and after going down a hill and winding around a lot (following the signs) we turned into the parking garage and I decided immediately to go straight up to the top.

I drove up to the top and after half a swing around looking for a parking place spotted back-up lights coming out of one which I then slipped Silver into.

Needless to say, Caesar's makes it fairly simple for you to find things once you're parked in their parking lot, so...

Next picture is a view of the stage and audience as they were still coming in at 8:11 PM:



We had great seats in the accessibility section way up top in the third tier. The chairs there were like office chairs on wheels, so they could be moved back and forth and rotated. There was also a brass rail in front of us on which I could put the camera to stabilize it. E was in heaven, you should have seen her smile...

We had a unique angle up there... Anyway, here are some pictures from the concert, starting with zoomed out shots of the whole band:







Here are three zoomed in photos of Leonard Cohen...







The Webb Sisters did a backflip at one point, and since I happened to take a picture at that moment I thought I'd include it, even though it's a bit blurry!



Finally, another zoomed out shot, this one taken during one of the several standing ovations Leonard received during the show, this one being towards the end of the show:



That's it... the concert was great. Everybody did a fantastic job, the sound was good and there were nothing but smiles when people left (that I saw anyway).

E was a teeny bit disappointed that he didn't do Alexandra Leaving (her favorite Cohen song of all time), but I'd warned her that I'd not read any set lists with that on it anyway. The bottom line is that she loved the whole thing and has been on the phone all day telling everybody about it. :-)

I loved it too.

Our trip home went as smooth as the trip down - oh, E keeps telling people how we were coming out of the parking garage and there was a sign that said Las Vegas Boulevard to the right and Frank Sinatra Boulevard to the left, and the radio at that instant played Frank Sinatra (the one with the words "Nice work if you can get it...") so I playfully went left. It turned out there was something going on at the Tropicana entrance onto I-15 and traffic was way backed up with police cars, etc... But taking Frank Sinatra Boulevard whisked us right down to the Russell Road entrance with practically no other cars there.

So we WHOOSHED back up to Hurricane (stopping at Moapa Tribal Enterprises for food) and arrived at 4 AM.

Mr. Darcy was wagging his tail when we walked in...

Casey