After the rain

After the late afternoon hard rain the skies cleared enough for a nice sunset. We were worn out from a day of keeping kids, cleaning up appliances. We were lazy and had Jordon get McDonald's for supper, picking up Melanies Claritin D. Funny, like druggies, she and Jordon use it so much we have to rotate getting it. Pitiful.
A reminder that I have six all new works down at the Gateway Gallery. They are older prints I did in the darkroom of the Mt Tabor Methodist church that burned several years ago. They are framed in black and white 16x20 shadow box frames and are for sale at $130.
I have been showing such a variety, I decided to narrow the focus and do a series. I will be curious to observe if any comments are made. Feedback is a rare thing these days. We could be sorry artists or grand artists, but we would never know it, for seldom do the artists comment on any work.

Before the Snort

Now both were well aware of my presence about fifty yards in front of them, intruding upon their velvet removal from their antlers. Soon they snorted and took off for the marsh.

Velvet Bucks

The two male deer were in the shade working off their velvet when I walked up. The one had a wreath of moss that saw me first. The other was more concerned with his velvet removal. Eventually they snorted and took off. It was a good spotting as I usually see the doe but seldom these two.

July Full Moon

I did not publish this back when the moon was full, but here is the Buck Moon of July. Called the Buck moon for this is the time of month the male deer start losing the velvet on their horns.
And sure enough, this past week I saw two large buck doing just that.

JT

I posted on Facebook today about JT recovering from being shot in the rear with a pellet gun. He is doing well. We keep him as much as possible in the back yard when he goes out. If he gets out the front door without our knowledge, he will return to the scene of his shooting. There is a female dog there no doubt he is interested in.

To Fanning Springs

Monday around noon we made the decision to travel down to Fanning Springs and get the refrigerator, stove and dishwasher we had purchased from Stacy and Susan, whose house was being foreclosed upon next week. At first Melanie was not going to ride with Jordon and I but decided to take the day off and ride with us. We took my sisters SUV and trailer and about the time we got to Ft White, realized I had forgot the dolly. We called Stacy, who did not have one, so we made the nearly twenty mile trip back to get it! It was debated should be go today, but trudged on. When we finally found their place, they were not expecting us. The refrigerator was full, the dishwasher was in use and the stove was a mess.  We finally got our stuff loaded, plus a mamma cat and her kitten I had not counted on. Hot and worn out, we unloaded all on the back porch to clean it up, make sure no mice were present. I told Melanie, I do think they got the best deal out of this.
Lesson learned. NEVER buy sight unseen, especially from Kinfolk.

Alligator loop ride

Today, to give Melanie some peace of mind, I took Pearce and Jonathan to the Alligator Lake park in the heat of the day to ride the three mile dike loop. It was slow going as we had to make many stops and adustments. I told them to carry little, but they insisted on bringing too many bottles, and sure enough, asked me to carry them. Of which I refused, saying, let it be a good lesson in economy of carry.
We made the loop finally and they spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool cooling off.

Cracker Part 4

Experience taught the Cracker to resent intrusion and be suspicious of unfamiliar things and persons, particularly strangers who do not speak his idiom. Anyone approaching with a 'How do you do? is likely to be answered by an eloquent and disdainful expectoration. Generations of contact with hardship and poverty have made him undemonstrative, and he seldom displays any but the strongest emotions. He has appropriated the defensive guile of the Negro and turned it to good account in his dealings. Consequently he drives a hard bargain with soft words. The Yankee is his special prey and to best a Yankee by any device is legitimate. 'In the winter', the cracker boasts, 'we live on the Yankee, and in the summer on fish.' Yet with all his bargaining craft, he is often cheated.
from the 1939 Florida, American Guide Series

Chevy Syrup

From Henry C Vause, to Luther Ray, to John Clare, to Landon Randolph, to Nathaniel Manoa...the old hubcap syrup strainer.

Mr Vause taught my father much about cooking syrup. 1884-1994 his daughter Ethel "Red" Vause, never married, lived behind the 20 acres in Crawfordville. Her parents lived in an old wood house similiar to my father near the Methodist Church, which was beside the property.
Red would come over every Thanksgiving and help cook the syrup with us. When my father was the circuit preacher of Crawfordville and Sopchoppy, Red was part of the youth group.

An Unrehearsed Tragedy

by john clare stokes

The going out is never well-rehearsed
Given the script we practice the parts
We feign the inflection trying from the heart
Stage fright stealing the forgotten verse.

There is no room for grieving here---
It might bring down the anger of the gods.

From the wings the lines are mouthed:

My own flesh and blood, dear sister, dear Ismene,
how many griefs our father Oedipus handed down!

Poor actors in the act of life to end
Huddled for the curtain's call
The gurney men await in the empty hall
From the pit the dirge begins.

Now as we keep our watch and
wait final day, count no moon
happy til he dies, free of pain at last.

The stage lights dim as angels descend
Dumb-founded the unrehearsed clamor
in silence not even a stammer
he rises on cue from the bed
the play ends.

Live Oedipus, as if there's no tomorrow!

The gurney men enter and scurry about
Coin the glazed eyes
Close the wordless mouth
Pull the final curtain sheet
One by one the unrehearsed
file out.

There is no room for grieving here--
it might bring down the anger of the gods.

Ploughing on Sunday

by Wallace Stevens

The white cock's tail
Tosses in the wind.
The turkey-cock's tail
Glitters in the sun.

Water in the fields.
The wind pours down.
The feathers flare
And bluster in the wind.

Remus, blow your horn!
I'm ploughing on Sunday,
Ploughing North America.
Blow your horn!

Tum-ti-tum,
Ti-tum-tum-tum!
The turkey-cock's tail
Spreads in the sun.

The white cock's tail
Streams to the moon,
Water in the fields.
The wind pours down.

The Insanity of Artistry

After writing the "Flushed" blog, it was soon time to go down to the gallery for my day of volunteering, part of the contract with showing. I had reserved a section and when I arrived, another artist was in the spot I had asked for. My work was against the wall in the back room. I bristled, took my work and put it in the car. If it wasn't for the board members there having a meeting, talking me into keeping my work and placing it across the hall in the same room, I would have packed it in.
As it was, I cooled down for this silly show on my part and placed eight works on the wall.
Volunteered with the excellent water color artist and was drawn again toward painting, be it oil or watercolor.
My next thought now since my pastoral, country, historic scenes do not seem to resonate, to go with perhaps some of the street photography, or all monochrome. Shock value if you will.
Even the water colorist told me the pieces she likes, no one else seems to either.