Witnesses to notoriety?

Scanned a few more pictures tonight. There are so many and it's hard for me to figure out how to label them when there is no information on them.



That's my Grandfather, today is the 112th anniversary of his birth.

Got some genealogy updated. Have a couple of death certificates that I cannot connect to the rest of the family. One of them is of a girl who died at the age of five of marasmus. Click on the link if you dare, times was hard in 1888.

Also confirmed that some of my family lived around the corner from the Lizzie Borden home at the time of the murders. Small town that Fall River. Wonder if they were ever interviewed, or in the background the crowd photos of the trial, if there were any taken. Plenty of research in that case.

Ten years ago

What was my 5,000th Live Journal post.

Who is this guy?

A friend messaged me this morning to tell me that I was on the CBS Morning News in a clip about Star Wars. This was news to me, I do not remember any cameras when I was in the theater.

Found the clip here and was a bit freaked out.
The person who looks like me is at the 1:53 part of the segment.

The wardrobe, the glasses, the hair. Honestly, it almost could be me.

Took a screen shot.



Honestly at first glimpse it's kind of jarring.

Now. How do we find this dude?

The weird area of social media

Yesterday I received a friend request from a person with whom I had one mutual friend. Did a little vetting on the person's page and added back. You never know what to expect when a complete stranger adds you, with no obvious reason for them to do so. It is on me that I added this person with little hesitation.

The next thing I knew I got a like on a link I posted over a week ago. I guess that's what we do when we add someone, go back a bit in their timeline to see who they are. To get a small picture of what they do. This is understandable.

Right after that the person's cover photo was changed into one of my vacation pictures. There was no thank you, no introduction, no credit given for the picture. But this person got a couple of likes, so that makes it ok, right? The person had to go into my photo albums then dig through a couple of recent ones to find that picture.

It's not like the picture is a work of art, it's not. It's not a picture worthy of monetizing, ever. I have no intention of attempting to copyright the photo. It's a Bukowski quote that is painted on the wall of a bar in Glasgow.



I recommend Chinaski's they have a great selection of bourbon, and a sweet patio in the back which is where that picture was taken.

In the past I've posted a few pictures on this blog with no credit, which is wrong and I try not to do that anymore. It does bug me that a complete stranger adds me on Facebook then takes one of my pictures with no hello or credit. If I say something directly does it make me a bad person?

Poem and pictures, with the boy

My son still swims, and enjoys the water. Took some pictures last Saturday. Thought I'd put an old poem with the pictures and cover a couple of topics this month; National Poetry Month and Autism Awareness Month. A couple of years ago, I did thirty poems about autism for National Poetry Month, to mixed results.

This was one of the better ones.


Swings Inside the White Fence

This little boy I see, at the playground where I take my Grandson
He seems shy
He waits his turn, patiently, to go down the slide
Sometimes he likes to climb it, from the bottom

A lot of kids do that, even my Grandson
I've never seen him speak to anyone, not even his Mother or Father
They watch him close
He walks along the fence that encircles the play area,
but does not leave
My Grandson asked me about him, he tried to talk to the boy -
he walked right past him

This boy, he makes a sound like a motor cycle, or a boat
I'm not sure why he does that
I told my Grandson that he is the captain of a ship
on an ocean that is more important
than the ground he is walking on

Taking matters into one's own hands

One thing that I have really noticed from my visits to Glasgow is that the people there root out pretense, and will rip the crap out of it when given the opportunity.

That is one reason that I am always given a reason to smile whenever I've gone by the Wellington Statue in front of the Museum of Modern Art.



The statue has been in the city since 1844, but the traffic cone placement is said to have started in the early 1980's, if not sooner. It's become a rather iconic image of the city and it gives the world a glimpse of the city's humor. It's not a negative image, and far from a depressing one.

Yesterday, the city council tried to obtain funds to make a larger plinth for the statue, that would have made it more difficult to place the cone on the head. The city claims that it costs 100 pounds to take the cones off the head, and that it happens about 100 times a year.

My question why is even do that?

By making it more difficult to put the cone on, you're really encouraging those who put it there. Not the smartest move by the council.

Social media went all a-twitter, the Wellington Cone set up his own account, there were petitions started and #savethecone hashtags spouted up. It reminded me of the Hurricane Bawbag event a couple of years back. Another D.I.Y. and viral protest was happening.



By the end of the day Tuesday, the people had spoken, and they city council plans to withdraw their request to have the plinth raised.

Always a good walk

My son was generous enough to give me whatever sickness had been inside of him last weekend and that left me waking up this morning and deciding going to work was not in anyone's best interests.

After sleeping a bit longer than usual I figured it would be better for me to not sit on the coach and get outside to take advantage of the beautiful September weather. Even while sick, I could appreciate it.

So the decision was made to take a walk in Greenlawn Cemetery.

It had been awhile since I've been here. It's hard to maintain a large space effectively. A portion of the fence on the west side of the property has busted down and now anyone can get in easily, at anytime. They need funds to repair the property and I do not have them.

Still, it was a pleasant day for a walk and I picked some areas I do not usually wander in.



Would love to know the back story to Mr. Gene. How did he get that name?



I know Columbus has a vital Greek population but did not realize there was a section of the cemetery that had a lot of Greek people buried there. This made me chuckle, shoot me.



Away where now? She did not go out for a pack of cigarettes, or did she?



The grave of a woman in her early twenties who died in 2012. This type of decoration fascinates me, and it's all over the cemetery here, and I imagine elsewhere.



I know I've posted this before, but it makes me giggle, ok?



And this one is further down the row. I'm sorry, but this makes me laugh.



As far as I know, this is the only grave in the world of an Olympic gold medal winner who was executed for committing murder. Here's the story.

None of my visits here are complete without some reflection here.



I was very happy to see that a lot of the overgrowth that obstructed the view of the pond from this spot had been cut back.

And just a few steps from this spot is this humble gravestone.



Greenlawn has been one of my go to spots for some quiet reflection and inspiration. Sometimes some cool birdlife is spotted, or a sprinting ground hog as you drive out of the property.

Plans and ambition

I live in a city, yet am on the west side of downtown and rarely go there. My blood pressure is stupidly high and needs to drop, along with about thirty pounds. So I decided to run a few errands and include a downtown walk as part of an early Saturday afternoon.



Did you know that Columbus has on the downtown riverfront, a full size replica of the Santa Maria? Now you do. It was built for the ill-fated Ameriflora exhibit in 1992 and has been docked down there ever since. If I recall right, the ship is rotated every year to keep the deterioration even. It's not the money maker the titans thought it would be, but neither was Ameriflora.



Naturally, our City Hall has a statue of one of the most renowned creators of genocide in history. We also have a statue of Arnold Schwartzenegger just on the other side of the river from City Hall. Next walk I'll get a pic of that.




I've lived here 22 years and swear I've never noticed that sign until today, despite having been by it hundreds, if not thousands of times. Maybe it was the angle?



Setting up in Columbus Commons for Picnic with the Pops tonight. There will be fireworks. I have thoughts about that stage.



This is another stage I have thoughts about, and it may be more realistic than the one at Columbus Commons, or not.

Good little walk I hope to repeat often. The route can be altered to form a decent circle with the Scioto Mile as a starting and finishing point.

A great windup

A couple years after my son was born, my mother sent me my old little league uniform with the stipulation that she see him wear it when he was big enough. When his mother moved out of the house, the uniform was "lost" for six years.

Last week the uniform was found and I did not have my son until this morning.



Would have done the shoot outside, but it was pouring rain most of the day. The original cap disintegrated years ago so I had an appropriate hat or two he could wear.



The uniform is flannel and goes back to the mid 1970's. They're not made like that anymore. I wore this, and played ball in the outfit sometime between the ages of eight to eleven. Would have given him my glove, but it's bigger than his head. He's a lefty anyway!



The shirt fit fine, but is missing one button. The pants are a bit short, but he's even thinner than I was and needed a belt.



For some reason I thought I wore number four. Sent my mother the pictures and she was so happy. Grateful to have the uniform back before he grew out of it completely.

Coffee and Pictures

Last year My Scottish Wife got me a French Press for Christmas. I took to it well and use it mostly on the weekend. Found out which type of coffee I like and try new types frequently. I try to have a couple of different ones around and buy it already ground in small amounts, about a quarter of a pound at a time, to keep it relatively fresh.

For Christmas this year she got me a Burr Grinder. Used it over the weekend. It's quite loud but works very well. Now I can buy beans, keep them a little longer and have supposedly fresher and better tasting coffee when I want it. Maybe I'll increase the varieties in the house to three.

Took a bunch of pictures last year. Inspired by another blogger, who did something similar last year, I decided to keep a file of 'best of' pictures as I downloaded them. By the end of the year I had enough to put together a slideshow in near chronological order, added a song from my favorite album of the year and voila, instant youtube sensation. Or not. Did not really go anywhere exciting, but there are some amusing pictures in there - and not just of me and my kid!

Enjoy.

And, We're Back

Returned from a busy trip out east. My Scottish wife met a lot of my family for the first time. I think it went well. We were busy, but a bit isolated as there was a lot of snow on the ground.

We did drive out to the beach. Robert Frozes State Park, it was cold out there. What was shocking and sad was the amount of erosion that has occurred since my last visit.

This picture was taken in the spring of 2007 from the beach at field five of the Robert Moses State Park.



This picture was taken on Friday the 14th of January from about the same spot.



It's quite the difference. Looks like about 50-75 yards of beach has been reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean.



Also saw some deer for the first time so close to the road. It's not a new thing, just my first time.

It was a good trip. The boy was great on the plane and he and my Mom seemed to get on very well. Even met my Half Sister for the first time, and I'm still kicking myself for not taking a picture.

Back to work as normal activities resume tomorrow.

More to come.

Merry Christmas from You Know Who