Author - Paul Schatzkin

Look Up Ahead…

…there’s a hole in the clouds!

I think this has been the coldest winter I can remember since moving to Nashville… ohmigod, 28 years ago.

There hasn’t been much snow to speak of.  We had our one annual ‘winter precipitation’ event back in January, a few inches of snow that stayed on the ground for a couple of days until the sun came out.

What’s notable about this winter is just the daily temperatures seem lower than I recall.  I’m sorta thinking daily temps during these months are in the 30s and 40s.  This year it seems like the 20s and 30s, and often in the teens when I go out for my 2-3 miles ‘morning constitutional.

And this past week has been just one cold, grey day after another.  And that’s just when it wasn’t raining buckets.

I guess the good news is it has stayed warm enough that there hasn’t been any snow.  I know a lot of people like it when it snows.  I like it too… until I have to go somewhere.  It’s the mix of snow and travel that I find un-tempting. Of course that hasn’t been much of a problem over the past month, since I haven’t really had any place to go

Anyway… I went out this morning around 7:30 for a three-miler, and as I was walking across Lone Oak Drive about a half mile from my house, I saw the strangest damn thing: an actual patch of blue in the sky!

And whenever that happens, I immediately start thinking of this song by John Smith:

Look up ahead… there’s hole in the clouds.

And, hallelujah, it looks like we’ve got some sunshine to look forward to in the week ahead.

I hope I can find some place to go, it’s been too long since I’ve had the top down…

 

A Sunny Saturday

I made this picture of the studio in the back of my house last Saturday, February 19, 2002.

That might have been the last time anybody in these parts saw the sun.  It has been cold and grey, wet and dreary ever since.  Winter.

All of my websites have been offline for a week, thanks to GoDaddy.  It’s a long story .  The TL;dr version is: we tried to upgrade our sight, GoDaddy botched the transition and it took them a week to figure out how badly they’d fucked it up and fix it.

It’s fixed, so enjoy this week old memory of sunshine.

Buster Sez Hey!

I went to a show last night and saw a whole bunch of people I haven’t seen in forever on accounta Covid.

I almost didn’t know about the show because apparently all the invitations were sent out via Facebook.  I’m not on Facebook any more.  Didn’t think I missed it until last night.  I still don’t think I miss it, but I had a FOMO moment.

One friend I literally hadn’t seen in two years (!) asked about Buster.  I explained that, well, I’ve already taken pictures of her in just about every imaginable setting and pose.  Also, she’s a full grown cat now, and while still adorable not the cute little kitten she started out as.

But above is one I did grab this one a couple of days ago.

The last Buster squeezed herself into that horizontal file on my desk, she was still small enough to fit.  This one is almost a year ago – Feb 28, 2021.

Next?

This has been my mantra over the past week or so, re: my dismissal from Apple (email me if you need the password) on Jan 20 after five years of seemingly meritorious service :

  1.  If they hadn’t pushed me, I don’t know if I ever would have jumped.
  2. I don’t know what’s next, but I am intrigued that there is a ‘next’.

I’m in good shape, at least for the time being, even without the bit of income I received from Apple that helped make my ends meet (or, as I half-joked on occasion, because I am old and have other means, “I could actually afford to work for Apple…”).

As the photo above illustrates, I’m floating free, and looking for a soft place to land.

(Incidentally, when I went a-Googling for a picture of a wing suit and first saw these images, my first response was “oooh… that looks like fun!  I quickly came to my senses 😱)

Over the past decade, I dissipated a lot of creative instinct,s impulses and energies into social media… but I’ve been off of Facebook (and Instagram) since June of last year… and now I will attempt to focus that energy here.

Right now I’m just fondling the focus ring, thinking about which way to twist it.

Stay tuned, more to come.

 

Recycle #1: Begin At The Beginning

This is a test.

I am experimenting with a slide-show plugin for WordPress.

These are photos from the 1970s…

What She Said (***WFAT #63***)

I watched the first episode of HBO’s new show “The Gilded Age”  last night.  I’m not sure yet what I think of it.  It’s created by the same guy who created Downton Abbey, and I liked that, but one episode in this seems over the top and a bit fatuous.  I took a shine to Carrie Coon after The Leftovers and Fargo, but she seems wasted here in a role that is all about living in a ridiculously large house and wearing ridiculous dresses.  Granted this was the pilot episode, so maybe it gets more worthwhile from here, but the viewing was at least hearing this line.  I take a note these days whenever I see or hear the word “incorrigible.”  Every time somebody uses that word, this little demon gets his smile on 😈