Figure 1 – The churning storm, Westborough, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Storm watching is great as long as your life, home, and loved ones are not in danger. And there is something wonderful in a primordial sense in the staves of lightening and crack of thunder that accompanying a sudden, dark, and churning summer storm.

So we were watching the clouds, rain, hail and wind of a later afternoon July thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon, when I was struck by churning clouds. These reminded me of images of the unbreathable, storm clouds of Jupiter. That added to the other-worldliness of the moment. I grabbed my IPhone. It was the only camera that I had. The result is the photograph of Figure 1. A few moments later low lying clouds moved in and obliterated the drama into a dull uniform grayness.

Figure 1 – Sno Cone Maker, IPhone Photograph, Lincoln, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Photographically I am an aficionado of shiny metal. Like a little kid I want to touch it and photograph it, To this I will add that there is a certain amount of skill in striking the right balance in shiny metal as a subject in a photographic. And most of the time I feel like I’ve got a lot to learn.

All of which is to say that I was delighted to come across this “sno cone maker” at a local coffee shop. Now to definition, the Sno Cone or Snow Cone is a peculiar variation of shaved ice which is typically doused with flavored sugar and served in a paper cone. It is a relic of our antique childhoods, typically served in memory from man-powered street carts.

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia the snow cone has its origins in the ice industry of the American Industrial Revolution of the 1850 when wagons would carry ice from the Northeast to Florida and children in Baltimore would beg shavings from the drivers. The parents of these children would then flavor the ice, most commonly with a sweet vanilla egg custard.

By the time of the Great Depression snowballs had spread widely outside of Baltimore. They were one of the few treats that strapped people could afford and hence they were referred to by names such as the  Hard Times Sundae and Penny Sunday.  Your see them still sold on street corners and at street fairs today.

I am not sure if the machine of Figure 1 is actually used or is merely a decorative antique. Still child-like, I love its shininess and delightful curved shape. And in the end I do remember.

Figure 1 – Sudbury Minutemen Re-enactors, July 4th, 2017. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

It was a magnificent Fourth of July in Massachusetts; the weather was just perfect, and the company more perfect. Our town has a small town parade and that is really the essence of the meaning of the whole holiday. We have the memory of the Minutemen to live up to; so excuse us if we are a bit concerned about the ability of our institutions to survive these latest tests – or whether we even deserve their survival.

I took the image of Figure 1 of the local Minutemen (Re-enactors) this afternoon. Black and white somehow seemed appropriate.Tomight there will be the Boston Pops Concert and the fireworks. The local and national television stations have been broadcasting about the dangers of playing with fireworks. More simply, we may be reminded of what Mark Twain said about thisproblem.

” Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.”
–  Mark Twain –  Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar

Figure 1 – Eyes, Natick MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Have you ever had the sense that you are being watched. Video cameras are everywhere. It is as if the walls have eyes and ears. And if the walls have eyes do they blink? That question was answered yesterday, when I came across a multitude of peepers staring at me at my local Luis Vuitton store. I watched for a while and it definitely blinked at me. In fact, one time it winked – as if returning the amusement. I tried to do a sequence shot with my IPhone, but the camera just doesn’t respond rapidly enough. So I had to be content with the shot of Figure 1 captured in mid blink.

But we still have not answered the question of whether we are being watched. In the words of poet and novelist Catherine Fisher, from her Incarceron:

“Walls have ears.
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beasts tell lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man
You think you know.

-Songs of Sapphique”

Figure 1 – Cookie kittens, IPhone photograph, (c) DE Wolf 2017.

What could be sweeter than a basket full of kittens? The photograph of Figure 1 is a hint. The answer, arguably, is a basket full of cookie kittens. Note I did not say kitten cookies, which are liable to be catnip and liver flavored, which could turn you off to cookies for ever, or at least a long time.

I found these at my local grocery store and snapped this less than perfectly framed image with my IPhone 6. I could not find any suitable quotes about cookie kittens; so the old Irish nursery rhyme must suffice.

Figure 1 – Star in a snowy window. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Every once in a while, I go through the images that I never processed and have forgotten about. Sometimes there are pleasant surprises. Case in point, today I found this image of a stained glass six pointed star hanging in a snowy window.  It was taken on Valentine’s Day. I remember rejecting it with an “eh”. But today I examined it closely and decided that I really liked the composition, the tilted mullion in the glass and the shadows of branches outside. Notice also the subtle opalescent face in the center circle, like the “Man in the Moon.”The color and lighting certainly point to winter. Who wants to think about winter this time of year – especially about snow.

Some trivia, of course, is in order. Most of the stars we think of are five pointed and they vary the whole spectrum from the Star of Bethlehem to the Devil’s Pentagram. The big exception is the six pointed Star of David. And an interesting point – if you look at the Great Seal of the United States you will find a set of 13 five pointed stars, symbolizing the original 13 states. But in the seal these are arranged in such a way as to create the pattern of a six pointed star.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 100 mm, ISO 800,Aperture Priority AE Mode at f/7.1, with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Green grass on the pond in late spring, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Sudbury, MA (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Something that I find dramatic are photographs where most of the image is black and white which serves emphasize a brilliantly colored subject. Such was my sense of Figure 1. I loved the intensity of the swirling green grass, perfectly complemented by its reflection in the cold black late spring pond. I loved the way that the ripples on the water distorted the trees reflecting off the surface. But most of all I liked that sense of color on black and white, Here it is all natural, a fact emphasized by the little blue patches of sky. This is the peace that we seek in the woods – bright flashes of light highlighted against primordial darkness.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 100 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/400th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Decaying pines on the pond, spring 2017, (c) DE Wolf 2017.

I have hiked by the twin trees of Figure 1 many times. They are a feature on the pond, the kind of dead trees that the great blue herons favor as their nesting grounds. I have found them difficult to photograph, but was happy on this particular day to find a suitable cloud formation as a background that speaks to their magnificent height. They tower above the water, and the birds like to perch in their branches and screech out a song.

I have always had the sense that they were a feature on the pond – something timeless. But in reality that is not the case. The meaning of the pond is not timelessness per-say, but timelessness against a background of endless change. I have watched these two ancient trees metamorphose over the last couple of years, their tops breaking off, their bark peeling, and the way that they yield slowly to the endless attack of insects. Soon they will fall.

“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”

John Muir