atomic spa

for a friend of mine’s grandfather

There was something new at this year’s EuroCar. It is a strange conveyance, but after reading its reason for being it is a useful solution to a potential problem.

When I was a kid all of the US spacemen landed –splashed-down– in the ocean. Not so for the Soviet cosmonauts. They got to splash-down on dirt, or if things went really pear-shaped they came down in swampy rural part of Siberia (just guessing but I think the majority of the area was/is rural). That swampy rural part of Siberia is where this machine would earn its rubles. It is a air-boat. Not too dissimilar from those that are seen on Swamp-People TV, but leagues more cool. Thick over-lapping props, gull-wing doors, and this big-ass hammer and sickle painted on the side. I haven’t seen any of that on Swamp-People TV.

Red interior with room for about four — if they are comrades. It is a bit tight, but if you’re in Siberia you’ll accept heat where ever you find it. There is some room behind the rear seats for luggage.

Radial air-cooled engine with no bloody thought of noise abatement. Little stubby stacks pump out the decibels. I don’t know if ear-plugs were considered to be a decadence of the West.

It was by far the coolest thing at the show.

Bluegrass music and adults playing with blocks. Always a wonderful way to end a day at school.

totems, prayers, and pleas
in hopes of return, love,
& perhaps immortality

Bald Rock, Hwy 76 at the top of the South Carolina escarpment.

I was looking through a drawer, and found several envelopes of photographs. These of my brother and sister-in-law were among them.

James Mason Yates

Bridge over the canal at Lockheart SC.

as the building crumbles comfort awaits.
from somewhere deep inside a telephone rang,
no lines were attached.

Sandhill, South Carolina

I used to travel much more than I do now. There was an ancient store/gasoline station on the highway from Columbia to Sumter. This tilting building was my test subject for every new piece of photographic equipment. Film or digital, lens or body — everything was used on this lovely bit of decay.

I understood that a couple had purchased the building with the plan to restore it to its former beauty. Sadly, the place burnt to the ground.

It only hurts when you care.
If you cared about nothing, then nothing would hurt.

And when words hurt someone you love, then you hurt like knives.

It only hurts when you care.

and it does hurt

As the cold winds of winter finally arrive, I remember a warm and lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

Found in the thrown-out pile of the once loved, a doll’s house is cleaned and made useful again by a heart that saw its potential.

Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas