Bright, bold, warm colors are the season. And that’s the reason that this is my favorite season of the four, no matter where I live in the world.Taken from the base of the Jefferson Davis Monument, looking across the street at one of the houses that ring the monument grounds.
Fairfield, Kentucky, USA.
What’s the title have to do with anything?
Not a damn thing. It’s just a line stuck in my head from a great song by a great DJ. Gary Clail’s his name and if you get a chance, give him a listen. He was a DJ when folks didn’t think of DJ’s. He was pushing beats 15-20 years ago, when the only DJ’s that anyone knew where the guys that backed the Rap (soon to be R&B) performers. The line has stuck with me since 1990 or so, when he screamed that line through a megaphone into the mic.
I’ve been quite busy with other projects lately, hence the lack of photos. Here’s my biggest project, a 1964 Chevrolet 1/2-ton Fleetside pickup truck:
It’s basically a love affair with an older woman. She’s 42 years old and needs lots of TLC. The easy stuff was taken care of right away, like buffing out those ugly rust stains, which was easy. It has since progressed to reworking her heart (carburetor) and her knees (shocks).
I do love the fact that my lovely wife has yet to get jealous. At least outwardly.
It looks like it was the wrong time to get my blog rolling, what with a move halfway around the world rapidly approaching. But I had my reasons.
A lot has transpired in the past few months, but I won’t bore you with the details.
My frustrations with DeviantArt grow by the day. For a long time it has become apparent that the business decisions that are being made to run the site are made in a vacuum, with no concern for the paying customers of the site. And when feedback is given, it’s brushed aside or ignored completely. That’s definitely not a business that I can continue to support financially.
Any more than returning to a restaurant where the manager spits in your food before serving it. And when you point out that fact to him, he does it again.
But enough of that.
Our last full weekend in Tokyo and I got the shot that I really wanted to get the few years that I was there:
I was extremely lucky to get this shot. Right in the middle of Meiji Shrine in downtown Tokyo. The crowd parted perfectly to let this wedding procession through. I happened to be in the right spot at the right time. I can’t wait to get a print of it on my wall.
It was always fun to sit in the shrine and wait for the weddings. This time, I lucked out and got up close to get shots like this of a bride in her traditional kimono:
Imagine my surprise when she started whispering, in English, to her gaijin husband. She was complaining that she couldn’t possibly smile any more and that the sweat was pouring down her back. She was surprised when I laughed.
Just a few short days later, we were on a plane back to the United States. Not what we wanted, but we have to go where the work is. On our way back we stopped overnight in Seattle. Great city, from what we could see during our brief stay.
We were amazed by the synergistic architecture of the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project, as well as the grooves laid down by the street performers just a block away from the Pike Place Fish Market:
After a short 20 hours in Seattle, we were on the plane again to our destination, which looks nothing like Tokyo, with clean air, blue skies and trees:
The culture shock was pretty intense. It had been a couple of years since we had been back to the US and we honestly hadn’t missed it. We were quite comfortable and content in Japan. But we’ve slowly made the transition and are getting used to our surroundings.
We even got back into old routines, including spending last night wondering how long the tornado warnings would continue.
We must be over the rainbow.
A day with friends who introduced us to a relative, who happened to be a Buddhist monk who ran the family temple. The temple had passed from generation to generation for at least 400 years. It was a wonderful experience to be able to roam around the grounds and see the entire temple, including behind the scenes. Not something a gaijin normally gets to experience.
A few views through my eye:
Riding the trains in Tokyo is always an experience. On our way to the temple, I had the “pleasure” of sitting next to a stone-cold passed out drunk. Now, this isn’t the first time for this in Tokyo, but it was 12:30 in the afternoon! We figure he had been on the train for hours, riding back and forth from end to end. But the beauty of Japan is that he’s safe, although a few times I thought he’d throw up. In that case, he’d be out the door on his ear at the next stop.
That night, catching the last train is also quite the experience. Trains stop running here in Tokyo from about 1am until 4:30 am. So if you are going out for the night, you have two choices: start early and catch the last train, which is very crowded and full of tired drunk people, or start late and catch the first train, which is very crowded and full of tired drunk people. See, it’s an easy choice.
There are always great street scenes to find when walking around town before rushing to the station. Ginza at night is an cacophony of sound and barrage of light, but there are small islands of beauty:
In Ginza, palm readers set up card tables along the main street to make some money telling fortunes. But not every one is on top of the game:
We realized after I snapped this shot that she was sleeping. Definitely not doing her part to attract any customers.
That’s about the extent of my patience with the WordPress html limitations. It’ll take some time to get used to, but I will and will be able to post some more.
Finally getting around to starting something like this.
Please be patient…
Bill Anders' Rambling, Photos & Beating Feet 