Horton Deakins's Blog, page 32

Brother against brother

David

This is one of the antique photos I promised.  It is my great-grandfather, David.  This photo was sent to me by one of my long-lost Tennessee cousins whom I discovered only after the advent of the Internet.  Tennessee is where David and his brothers were raised.

David was seventeen at the outbreak of the Civil War, so it was time to choose a stance.  David opted to serve with the Union, but unless I am mistaken, all his several brothers served with the Confederacy.

The war literally tore this family apart, as it did with many others, and Tennessee was particularly divided in its allegiances.  This photo was preserved by another of my distant relatives who honored those who aligned with the Union, and it supplies one more piece of evidence as to which side David chose. 

I wish I knew more about David's participation in the war, but details are sparse.  Suffice to say he survived the conflict, as this photo was taken circa 1875, not very many years after my grandfather was born.

From July 4, 2009

Countin' flowers in the sky …

… while I eat my apple pie.

Fireworks at University of Central Oklahoma

No, this isn't another flower, but it does sort of look like it, doesn't it?  My wife took this photo during the display at the university last year.

In Japan, however, the distinction between fireworks and flowers is not so straightforward.  The Japanese word for fireworks is hanabi, which being translated literally is "flower-fire." Here are the two symbols, or kanji, which make up the word:

 花火

The left-hand symbol means "flower," and the right-hand symbol means "fire."

Parade: July 4th, 2003

Spirit of '76

Here comes the cavalry

It's not looking good for our feathered friend

Donald's Demise

From the terrified look on Donald's face, I think he must be saying, "Help! Time Pullers, translocate me outta here, quick!"

Of course, he'd be saying it en español since I took this photo in Mazatlán, which most of you know is on the main portion of Mexico, just across from the tip of the Baja peninsula.

I hesitate to call him "Donald," because I'm not certain American registered trademarks are honored 100% of the time down there, and I suspect Disney received no royalties for this candy-filled contraption.  We also encountered at the beach vendors of toys with Spider Man, Superman, and Batman themes, and I imagine the same arrangements were made for them.

I wanted to try some of the Mexican candy that spilled out after the duck was ruptured, but alas, the children were too fast for me.

One final note: For those puzzling about my use of the term, "ruptured," soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged after WWII wore a diamond-shaped patch or pin depicting an eagle in a ring.  This patch identified them among those discharged and allowed them to wear their uniform for thirty additional days.  The nickname for this patch was the "ruptured duck."

The man, the cow, the cheese.

Hey, diddle diddle

I can never remember–was the man riding the cow that jumped over the moon, and he fell off, so now he's in the moon?  And now the cow is so shaken that she gives green cheese instead of milk?

How many moon myths can you think of?  With the cancellation of NASA's Constellation Program, myths about the moon are pretty much all we shall have for a long time.  There will be no returning.

There is another way, however.  If you can find the Time Pullers, perhaps you can convince them to translocate you to the surface that rocky satellite at a place and era of your choosing.

But there are no real Time Pullers, now, are there? Of course not. Not in this reality, anyway.

This moon is real, and it is very much within our reality and our continuum.  I took this photo from my own back yard.

The sun rises … the sun sets.

Sunrise from our back yard

I shot this sunrise in November of 2006 from our back yard.  Evokes memories of the conclusion Dorothy came to after returning to Kansas from Oz, eh?

Sunset on the Gulf side of Florida

This is a sunset shot I did in the fall of 2009 at our "double secret" special vacation spot in Florida.  It's got sugar-white sands, you can wade out into crystal-clear waters, and, if you are lucky, you can see dolphins playing just yards away.  It's quiet, doesn't have a lot of traffic, and it has great restaurants with yummy key lime pie.

The sun rises, the sun sets.  That is what we say. http://www.hortondeakins.com/musings/perception.html

Hungry?

Fruit from Devon River Cruise

After all that traveling, I'm getting hungry.  How about you?  Pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, grapes, watermelon, and cantaloupe–yum!  Makes my mouth water just looking at it!  This was one of the treats provided on the Devon River Cruise we took one evening in the spring of 2010 on the Oklahoma River.

"Babycakes"

And now … dessert!

They're going to be doing living-history cruises this season, and we're looking forward to experiencing those, as well.   http://www.okrivercruises.com/

Cabo in the fall

El Arco de Cabo San Lucas

We took this photo in November of 2008 from a cruise ship anchored at Cabo San Lucas.  You may have seen pictures of this where there is dry beach beneath the arch, but we obviously caught it at high tide.

This is another one  of our snapshots we immortalized on a greeting card.  Hmmm … time to print more of those!

Paris in the spring

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Paris can be beautiful in the spring, but on this trip in the spring of 2005, this was the only day we actually saw blue sky.  Most of our other photos had gray-blah backgrounds.

Of course, if you're a Midnight in Paris fan, you may prefer Paris in the rain.