Crawling From The Wreckage: December 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

...christmas eve... eve....

this is the decorative display at my house this year.... garage sale vintage 40's santa head watching the kids from the attic.... and my peace wreath - rebuilt this year - restructured - restrung. All recycled materials... including the wreath - all found at the roadside on one occasion or another.

so.

Peace - He's watching your actions! Be good - or else! Damned nasty overgrown elf!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

october 2009......

....the names have been left out to protect the not so innocent....

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

june

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Directions:

it's good to have directions.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

"it's got an old chair that's got no seat

cracked snowshoes and warped wooden skis

hardcover books, pages all turned brown

dad has a reason for everything he keeps around

so if you need something when times get hard

you can probably find it in my dad's yard..."  -catie curtis

sometimes people just want you to fail - no reason, 'cept maybe they're just mean.

sometimes folks think it's funny to destroy stuff and not give no nevermind to who it might affect or how.

sometimes a semi-tractor trailer blows by so hard it knocks the wind right out of your sales.

I dunno.... coulda been any of those or somethin' else...

Friday, December 17, 2010

funny signs.....

Our dogs were a tad upset to have to pay full price for their Chimichanga Frontera... of course they didn't even show up until eight!

funny signs rock my world in small and beautiful ways.... my favorite one this year - sorry no picture - was from the David Adler Arts Center in Libertyville: "Catch the singing bug!"

Priceless!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

sunset at bong......

"East of Williams Bay, near Kansasville, Wisconsin, I visited the former Richard Bong Air Force Base, 3347. This short-lived Air Force base is now called Richard Bong State Recreation Area, located at 42-37-45, 88-09-15. The property, originally known to the Air Force as the Kansasville Area, was redesignated Richard Bong Air Force Base on 1 Dec 1955. Corps of Engineers documents indicate the land was acquired in fee during 1957 and 1958. On 5 Jun 1957, jurisdiction, control and accountability of the installation were assigned, on an inactive status, to Strategic Air Command. The base was declared excess by the Air Force on 23 Aug 1960. By that time, the runway and taxiways had been graded and the subsurface prepared -- they were within weeks of being paved. A few other buildings had been constructed. I was pleased to see that the state maintained the name of the property, and that they describe the base and its namesake in their visitor pamphlet. In fact, the signs refer to the runway area as -- the runway! I was able to drive the length of the park road that now sits on the planned parallel taxiway. On a different day I might have walked on the planned runway, but I had arrived during a special pheasant hunt. Not having pre-registered as a participaing hunter, I had to stay on the paved road and out of the runway area"    -scott d. murdock (airforcebase.net)

...we train our dogs on the runway these days....

....and how about the size of them mosquitoes!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

...the wind and the rain And the mercy of the fallen.....

"oh my fair North Star

i have held to you dearly

i had asked you to steer me

'til one cloud-scattered night

i got lost in my travels

i met Leo the lion

met a king and met a giant

with their errant light

there's the wind and the rain
and the mercy of the fallen
who say they have no claim to know what's right.....

...and if your sister or your brother
were stumbling on their last mile
in a self-inflicted exile
you'd wish for them a humble friend....." -dar williams

....seems like anywhere I've been in the true south the past five years... everything is broken - disturbed - mangled and physically psychotic.

was it like this all my life or has my perception just become more clear, or worse - more jaded.

this Stuckey's in alabama wreaked of urine and sold cynical souvenirs

the pigeons on the sign were making noises that either sounded like they were laughing at me or crying - for what? I don't know.

maybe for the south. the true south.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Larry at the GFP - Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 2002

"...there are times in our lives when everything goes right

and our troubles all fade away yeah

the ebb and flow of this sad rodeo lifts us up, drops us down everyday

everyone has a broken heart, has a broken heart, has a broken heart

everyone has a broken heart, has a broken heart to mend..."     -joziah longo

....missing Larry, tonite

Monday, December 13, 2010

wednesday, ‎july ‎11, ‎2007, ‏‎10:07:14 PM, schuba's tavern, chicago, illinois

"....each string is barbed wire

each chord is a threat

this blues guy I met

that never had a hit

said you don't gotta be loud, son

to be heavy as shit...." tom morello

tonight's photo is a reminder to myself to keep supporting my brilliant singing song-writing friends who struggle to keep up with the day to day challenges of transportation, nutrition, communication and all the other inconveniences of keeping it together while answering to their demanding muses - they keep me going - they inspire me.

tom morello - in his forties - puts out a folk album - then another - after years of boisterously successful pop expression with his guitars....

...from pop star to the young adult section - starting from scratch.

don't give up - that's all

Sunday, December 12, 2010

fables of the reconstruction....

"let's put our heads together and start a new country up

our father's father's father tried, erased the parts he didn't like

let's try to fill it in, bank the quarry river, swim

we knee-skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red 

this is where we walked

this is where we swam

take a picture here

take a souvenir....."

-buck/berry/mills/stipe

today's shot is of lake minear in libertyville - locals still refer to it as "the pit" since long ago it was, indeed, a gravel pit on the outskirts of town.

there is a great deal of symbolism here - none of which I will go into tonight

still

I remain hopeful

Saturday, December 11, 2010

raging bull, six flags great america, gurnee, illinois, 10/30/10

"you can waste your time on the other rides
but this is the nearest to being alive
let me take my chances on the wall of death..." -richard & linda thompson

life is a roller coaster

snapped this one while waiting for it with my friend, sharon, while chit-chatting with a fellow enthusiast

....with the iphone

Friday, December 10, 2010

Wednesday, ‎January ‎17, ‎2007, ‏‎8:17:54 PM Uncommon Ground, Chicago, Illinois

rose polenzani.... playing during a night which included andru bemis and rachael ries - among others...

a warm show on a cold night.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

...naughty lark!

...today's photo is the runner up to this year's christmas card.

it is Lark - with a ball in her mouth - which I photoshopped into a christmas tree ornament.

What a merry scamp!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Linden - north

"i've got a mountain to climb before I get over this hill
i've got the world to unwind before I ever sit still
i've got a hard row to hoe before my seed is sown
i've got a long way to get before I get back home

i've got so much to put down before that's all she wrote
i've got so much to give for my heart ain't so broke
i've got to find myself where I can never be alone
i've got a long way to get before I get back home

there's an ocean of reason that I cannot explain
there's the weight of the world like a ball and a chain
there's a black hole inside that I fill up with stones
i've got a long way to get before I get back home
i've got a long way to get before I get back home

there's a man I've never met before who looks a lot like me
there's a little place called heaven that I'll probably never see
there's a thing called peace of mind that I have never known
i've got a long way to get before I get back home
i've got a long way to get before I get back home

i've got a long way to get before I get back home"

-bob schneider

i'm tired, now.  'nuff said .

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

rock city - lookout mountain, ga - lover's leap

".....well, you have been kind and I know it seems hopeless
you smooth the ground, tear the knots all apart
you're helping me move from the inside to the outside
you're trying so hard and I can't even start

.....it's a war in there...." -dar williams

today it's all about the textures

impossible to convey

faultless in their elusiveness

maddening

Monday, December 6, 2010

falcon ridge folk festival 2002 - workshop stage

"...we always did feel the same,

we just saw it from a different point of view,

tangled up in blue..." -bob dylan

...it's a photo I've overlooked for over eight years...

but I look at it...  and I look around it... and sometimes I look through it...

...and sometimes it looks through me!

....and that's gotta count for something, no?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Linden - south

"...the anger will hold you as long
as you keep holding on
and the pain can be plural
and singular at the same time
i'm glad that you found me
we're slipping – we're bound to
be with all of these gravities
going on..." -b. gundersdorf

....seems like you shouldn't have favorites...

...but you do.

This one - she went to memphis - with two very lucky people!

she took my heart with her in her suitcase.... mailed it back later - I think

Saturday, December 4, 2010

....like a circus wheel....

"....and no more saying goodbye for the last time again..."
-d. armstrong, r. armstrong, brian eno

...so what's been happening since last spring... you know, when I got hacked...?

where the hell have I been?

why no photoblog?

I gave up.

I threw in the towel. I became stuck in time - unlike Billy Pilgrim.

I lost a lot of faith in a lot of people. I hid.

I lost something very special to myself and to people who are very special to me - that was the hardest.

....but I'm back.

Today's photo is of my dog, 15 1/2 year old Gem and her handler, my wife, Heather - in the ring at the 2010 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver National Specialty - about to win first place in her class and go on to take Best of Opposite in Veterans Sweeps. What a grand old girl!

Minnesota in September. 

Friday, December 3, 2010

the terrorists won....

"....cast the swords down, take off all your armor, let me see you.
the game is up, the other soldiers have gone, and we should too.
the grass is growing back on this dusty battlefield.
i know you love your wounds, but you've got to let them heal....."
-a. coller

....the battle. ...but not the war!

See... last spring my wordpress blog was hacked with a redirector - the terrorists had spoken! No Blog For You!

I tried desperately to re-install WP but with no luck - even by following their "5 minute easy install" to the letter - I could not get it to work....

I gave up - the terrorists had won.

guess what?

I changed my mind!

Welcome back to Crawling From the Wreckage!

Today's photo is of two of my favorite anti-terrorists, Sarah and Brie, at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in July of 2010 - between songs at a song swap.

Be warm my friends.... it's good to be back!

PS: I'll be reinstating the early edition of this Blog here:

http://crawlingreruns.blogspot.com/

for anyone interested.... have patience, though... there are a lot of them!