Night Noises

It is after 2 in the morning and my restless mind just can't quit. I am going out to clear out the cab of my pickup truck because there is a shipment of books I need to pick up first thing in the morning.

I have decided to sell my old Kelty backpack. I have a hand-me-down Osprey from Anne that is much nicer and holds more.

I am not sure whether to use my backpack for the India trip or get one of those suitcases on wheels. Unsure of the terrain. I have many questions for Steve, our team leader on our first meeting on the 28^th of this month. I emailed him about the visa application. It will only cost $60.

A good deal accomplished, but it is now going on 5 in the morning and my brain has turned to mush. The night is inviting but I am officially spent. Thinking of nachos so I won't have to waste time on breakfast. Dogs bark in the night. Strange night construction vehicles growl like hungry nocturnal animals grinding into the bones of tomorrow... My eyes grown heavy but my mind feathers in the wind...

Toads & Snakes

Friday, September 27^th, 2007

Woke up late late today, 10:58 and had to be at the frame shop at 11:00. So I was five minutes late. Sometimes it is just like that, just get up and go. Time is always a luxury I have to often overlook. Since I own a truck now waking up a little late is not such a big deal anymore. Takes me about 8 – 9 minutes to walk to my workplace and about four minutes to drive.

If I am running late I simply drive by my house after going to the post office to mail books for the bookstore that my shop is adjacent to and which I often help work in. I run by my house for a quick shave and a brush of the choppers, which I consider my 15 minute break but is actually only about 10 minutes altogether. I don't usually take breaks or lunches even though I am entitled to both. I find a waste of time and a break in my work flow. But today was an exception. I took a full hour lunch break to go get two new front tires put on my truck. They were as balded as my freshly shaven head. I feared driving in the rain since I hydroplaned a long time ago at the age of 16 and hitting a tree.

I installed a passenger side mirror and a lock box in the cab for my camera gear. I've put about $140 into “customizing” it so far. Not much! It should run forever and a day just as my Dad's truck did back then. It is the very automobile that I learned to drive in when I was only 14 years old.

It is late and I am into reading up on India. It is very quiet as my wife has laryngitis and bronchitis and cannot mutter a word. She has been out of work all week but has months of sick time at her disposal.

The night is mild, cold according to the twins. I like it, though it does mean an end to my insect shooting for the most part. I am trying to get a couple shots of toads in for the an upcoming publication before the frost lays down the gavel of winter.

My youngest brother, Victor caught a massive specimen and held it for a couple of days in the garage, but rain delayed my driving out to my folks' house to pick it up to be photographed as my front tires were too bad to drive that far in the rain. And by the time it cleared up the toad escaped with the innocent help of my Dad into the night from whence it came. There will be others – I hope!

I am kinda kicking myself because I have exclusively gone after the “hard” subjects and took for granite that summer would not last forever and passed over the “easy” prey or the common creatures. I will do my best with the fading warmth to find and photograph the hibernation stragglers such as toads and snakes.

Reading up on India and it is very late. The hands of time sneak up on me like spring vines after a good rain. Before I know it my eyes turn to itchy sawdust and I must close them like lead coffin lids until the morning, which is never far enough away...

Trigger Finger

Saturday, September 29^th, 2007

En route to Great Lakes Brewery for a dinner with the inlays. I have been reading up on India during the drive trying to use my time wisely. The weather is so nice I can't help but think of what else I could be doing. Family time is very important to Emily so I swallow my photographic lust to be by her side. Love requires sacrifice – you get what you give.

My wife is one of a kind even though she shares the same genes as her twin sister, Anne. They are both tough women. Anne is a police officer and Emily is pursuing firefighting. I am drawn to my wife because of her deeply ingrained sense of justice and honesty. I tend to get dragged down by the bleakness and negativity that plagues this world. She is my pillar of hope for truth and the good things in life that I should be focusing on but oh so often drift away from and go blind.

It is Saturday night and the wait to get in is long even though Emily called it in half an hour in advance. I had expected it. So with the extra time allotted we strolled thru the West Side Market and bought figs and fresh strawberries for later. I had my camera out and my trigger finger was itching, but there really wasn't anything interesting and worth the film. I silently imagined what the market places in India would be like. I could have closed my eyes and materialized into the future, to India and envisioned the faces, the smells, hear the voices and the bustle of everyday India life that is so alien to my own.

For now my finger rests...

We found a coffee shop across from the restaurant with a movie room, the eastern wall a giant screen. Not sure what the movie was but I set up some long exposure shots propping my F5 on an empty table top and using the self timer.