Tag Archives: Photography

Bye Bye Blackbird

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Neoporteria - Stick It

Neoporteria – Stick It

So long, Michele Bachmann, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Yesterday, this soon to be former US Representative from Minnesota announced her planned retirement from Congress, at the end of her current term, in 2014. She made this announcement via a nine-minute web video, in which claimed that her decision to retire from Congress was not influenced by any of her looming legal difficulties or that she was afraid that she might not win reelection in 2014. In full disclosure, I did not listen to her video; life is too short for nine-minutes of that sort of drivel. I’m sure that she claimed that she wanted to spend more time with her family, or some such rot.

Less than twenty-four hours after her announcement though, her first trial date was set for next May. By then she ought to be well on the way to transitioning from her current occupation, Congresswoman to her next job as a defendant. This court date is for a civil suit that is being pressed because during her failed 2012 Presidential bid, the Bachmann campaign allegedly stole and then illegally used an email list belonging to an Iowa homeschooling organization. This legal action is just part of the rumbling after effects of a campaign that began so promisingly. Bachmann won the Republican Iowa Straw Poll, the first, albeit unofficial vote of the Presidential election. From there it was all down hill.

Looming on the horizon for Bachmann are a Congressional ethics investigation that is expected to make its report next month and an accompanying FBI investigation. Both probes center on alleged illegal uses of her PAC campaign funds, also in Iowa. Bachmann was probably hoping to transition to a cushy and lucrative Fox News consultancy, but instead she might find herself doing her own pro bono defense work. On your way out of government service Michele, don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.

Norwegian Wood

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Fisherman's Cottage, Harald Sohlberg, Norwegian, 1906

Fisherman’s Cottage, Harald Sohlberg, Norwegian, 1906

I once had a girl
Or should I say she once had me
She showed me her room
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?
– The Beatles

This painting was photographed at the Art Institute, when we visited Chicago earlier this year. Sohlberg’s Norway is close enough in latitude to Michigan’s UP to share some similarities. Both locals are part of the boreal forest that rings the Earth’s northern pole. Both are situated on the shore of a large body of water. Both places have a cabin by this water, his was white, while ours is black.

Riffing off this painting, I was reminded of the Beatles tune, Norwegian Wood. Per Wiki, this song was a collaboration between Lennon and McCarthy. Lennon’s motivation was an affair that he had had. According to McCarthy, his then future brother-in-law had his room done out in wood, “A lot of people were decorating their places in wood. Norwegian wood. It was pine, really, cheap pine. But it’s not as good a title, ‘Cheap Pine’, baby.”

The Need for Speed

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Saint Louis Fabrication Arts Sculpture in front of Big Shark

Saint Louis Fabrication Arts Sculpture in front of Big Shark

A couple of weeks ago, while we were loitering in front of the Regional Arts Commission, waiting for the day’s bicycle ride to begin and some of us were contemplating yarn bombing a portion of our much diminished bicycle fleet, I stole across the street to take this picture. It shows the bicycle themed sculpture that is outside of Big Shark Bicycle. Depicted in outline form are two cyclists, a man and a woman. They look like they are going fast.

We didn’t go fast today, but we did complete the ride. We drove across the river to the land of Lincoln, Millstadt, IL to be specific. We participated in Trailnet’s Great Pizza ride. It was a great ride even sans pizza. Millstadt, Waterloo, New Hanover and Columbia were towns that we passed through. Both Millstadt and New Hanover are quaint German heritage towns, while Waterloo was the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.

The Great Pizza ride is an old Trailnet ride, but with new routes this year. Ole Captain Don met us at the start and bade us to weigh anchor and heave-ho. The new route was much hillier than the old was, but also more scenic. Funny thing about that, hills and valleys lined with trees are more interesting than pancake flat corn fields. In addition to hills, at least on the outbound leg, we faced a steady headwind. What with the aches from yesterday’s ride, I was feeling it today, when we hit the first rest stop. I would have been happy just doing the short route, but Anne was determined to do the middle route. She is dedicated to being in shape for this summer’s Michigan Lakeshore Tour. We did do the middle route, but not fast. We got home and unloaded before the rains came. This was our longest ride of the year, new rule, long ride, means short post.