Shadows of Beauty

Well, I'm back. I've had a difficult year fighting the Fibromyalgia, but I'm still plugging away. I've been working as Uncle Billy in the French Lick Springs production of It's a Wonderful Life. Tech and production week has had me in French Lick, Indiana. One day we went to West Baden, famed for their mineral springs and about a 2 minute drive down the street. This is a shot of their enormous courtyard. Words and pictures can't do it justice. This is one of the most magnificent restorations I've ever seen. The mineral springs were very popular into the middle 20th century, and they restored and reopened, just like the French Lick Springs Resort and Casino. It has been a learning period. I learned that I can still do some of the things that I enjoy--if I'm careful. I also discovered that I need acupuncture every week or two to remain functional. I've learned that while I can perform, it takes a heavy toll and Matinee and evening performances are terribly draining. I've been offered an opportunity to direct and I hope that that will fare more easily on my system.

I'm excited to bring Sandie with me as we do our last two performances this week. I hope to have more photos to share. I like this image because amid the beauty there is still a sadness--I revel in the beauty, but I am touched a little by sadness, no matter what.

Hopefully I'll be popping these out daily with my new/old camera, which is all the camera I need. Now if I can just get a tripod--because I'm shakier than I used to be.

My Little Town

I've been walking the downtown area of my hometown--a fairly typical mid-western place and will be posting several images from it. This is a pre-fabricated restaurant that I believe originated in the 30's and has been called "The Little Chef" my entire life. It has persevered under diverse ownership and at one time I thought they had one of the best burgers you could buy--I was wrong, but that's what I thought. Their smaller footprint allowed them lower operating expenses, which led to low prices--I haven't been back to it for decades, but the last time I was there, I had a steak sandwhich and fries, with a coke for about four dollars.

This is one of two remaining shotgun houses in a neighborhood I used to play in as a child. In fact, I believe it belonged to friends of my parents, but I can't be sure. The neighborhood has the sad distinction of being on the flood side of the floodwall--as a result, it is no longer a neighborhood, simply a piece of land. There are a few junk yards and a recycling plant on this side of the wall too, other than a couple of trailers and a city park zone, that's about it. However all this deserted property belonged to people my family knew (since my grandparents ran a general store, they knew a lot of people in town), but only a few were actual friends. Johnny and Margie I can't remember their last name--funny. There was a fellow further down who was called Rigsby--I remember one visit in which I got to drive a go-cart. Now the area mostly belongs to a power company--there is a bar called The Rustic Frog there as well--I got a picture of part of it:

I remember one year my High School reunion took place there--I've never had the gumption to actually go anywhere near it. Frankly, it scares me.

Breakfast at Dairy Queen

Well, this is the crew that built the chicken coop--my Dad and Nathan. According to Nathan "Papaw" loves Dairy Queen, so that morning we had biscuts, gravy and other such things for breakfast before starting. I know I've put one of them up working together, but here they are waiting for me to get the grub. I took several at the breakfast prompting Nathan to note: "you're as bad as your wife," which I suppose is true.

Music Music Music

I got an opportunity to help install new equipment in the recording studio I built at UofL when I worked there. It seems a fellow co-worker who inherited the lab on my leaving ordered upgrade equipment and had no clue how to put it together and asked me to come help--naturally being a nice guy I did. This is a shot from the little closet looking into the control room--it really is two closets full of equipment.

Just because I think it's cool, here's a close-up of one of the microphones.

Lazy Man Strikes Again

I've honestly been taking photos--I've just downloaded 74 of them in fact. The problem is at the end of the day I've been wiped lately. So, I'll probably post one from this a day as I go along for several days.

First up some edible delights: This is from Desserts by Helen where we had a wonderful snack while waiting for some work to be done at Kinko's. The Brownies looked incredible, but in the end we had to share a snack and it too was excellent.


Also, I couldn't leave without this wild display cake I spotted:

It may not be up there with some of the more far out creations by Duff the "Ace of Cakes" but it is pretty cool, and everything we had there was tasty--next time I'm hitting those cheesecake brownies!

BTW: LazyMan did manage to take a quiz to see which Marvel Faction he'd belong to:

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Music selection for today is:

A Doll's House

We were running errands, I was along for the ride and took a few shots around the "Loop" in the Highlands. This was my favorite from an antique shop window. I have nothing deep to add--I've been a little more exhausted lately due to this cold snap (I think) and the stress of an insurance demand of an Independent Medical Exam by one of their doctors.

We had lunch at Dundee's Bar, but if we had been paying attention we would've realized a Noodle Bar opened recently with aq lovely selection of tea and Saki. It is Called "The Pink Door" and they actually invited me in. I, of course, felt guilty because I wasn't able to get anything after my huge pub-burger and Onion Rings (bad food for you--but oh, so good going down). Next time we splurge, we'll make sure to put "The Pink Door" on our "must visit" list.
Oh, BTW, it really does have a pink door:

Here is the Easter Altar pre-service. The palm cross, during the service is filled with flowers by the children of the church. It is close to a "High" service with brass, lots of extra music, and most especially, the Cantor gets a good work out. It is always special to me with the children waving banners, flowering the cross, and some of the best music of the year. Don't get me wrong, I can do a sparse service anytime and be completely fulfilled by it, but I enjoy the music in particular floats my boat in a big way.

Sandie was charged with bringing dessert to her Dad's and always outdoes herself. She enlisted Nathan in making this Chocolate mousse filled chocolate cake and chocolate eggs with cheesecake filling. Oddly enough, my favorite was the chocolate and white chocolate fudge (double-dipped) strawberries. The grass is edible coconut colored green.

A good, if exhausting day.

3 Days behind, but a picture from each

Nathan went over to help my Dad pour some concrete--here he patiently awaits having something to do. It actually brings back memories of my Dad's hurry-up-and-wait way of doing things. He wonders why I never learned to do some of these things. The answer is I never progressed beyond the standby-and-hand-him-tools stage of things.


Ancient churches putting the "Holy" in "Holy Week". The above is from Tennebrae--a beautiful service in which lights are extinguished until the church is dark, except for a single light. I love this service. It is probably as close to simple meditation as a large church gets.

Finally, last night we had our Agape meal and service. This includes the foot washing ceremony, and a reading of the Psalm 22. Very moving stuff if you're faithful and thoughtful. Sorry to be so brief, but this week is putting extra effort into testing my energy. It has been rough, and the weather turning cold again hasn't helped at all.

Palm Sunday

How interesting that our Palm Crosses are Ankhs. Here is mine from today. I made it through the whole service and coffee hour--even agreed to play some guitar on Good Friday for the stations of the cross. After I went home, I passed out for about 4 hours. Can't afford to get too cocky about this. I have a feeling that Holy week will test my improved but not great endurance.

Tribute to the Blue

Welcome to Wildcat Country, better known as my Dad's house. He has "been a fan since 1947" and has a passion for the team and the sport (basketball) I just never understood. Though we lived in Indiana (the unofficial basketball loving capital of the free world) we were "Kentucky Blue" around my house.
Basketball is an entirely different game now than it was prior to the 60's. The integration of African-Americans into the game changed the available tactics and game play (and truth to tell made it a more exciting game to watch). Their passion and creativity drove that game from a horizontal offense-defense to a game of vertical mastery, spectacular shooting, and simply amazing teamwork. In short, they changed it for the better. However, even with all of that, I'm still only marginally interested in the game. I admire the athleticism of the players, the quality of play, etc . . ., but I am a curious observer, not actually a fan.

Vogue

This little chick is ready for America's Next Top Model. Couldn't help but pose. Those of you watching Sandie's 365 Site will realize that the chickens came to roost today. It amazes me that such cute creatures eventually become chickens. So, we have 24 Chickens--we'll eat their eggs, but I don't know if I could eat one I've had as a pet--the idea doesn't sit well with me.

Green Fountain

I love Weeping Willows. A house down the street from my Dad landscaped and added two. While I was walking I caught this little guy shooting up like a fountain of green on the ridge.

Move now or be lost

Well, no deep thoughts to go with deep water. A storm blew through last night, and it left me swollen and sore this morning--air pressure is a killer. I had time between appointments today to check out the riverside and, as I suspected, it was swollen pretty well. Something about a "No Parking" sign nearly covered and washed away by the currents amused me. I hope folks were paying attention to the sign before the river rose. This is just below the flood wall near a dock for putting boats in the river. I played with the image to give the river a darker look, it was closer to grey than brown. If I were to give this a name, it would probably be "He Who Hesitates" or something along those lines. I may add another image from today later, but I wanted to get at least one up.

This did put in mind of when I was 5 or 6, when my Mother took me down to the floodwall. We climbed to the top and stood on the train tracks that sit there. Not long before, I watched them put the gates in place. From the top of the wall, you could reach down and touch the water--it was an amazing experience to look out where I had seen homes--I even knew some folks who lived on that side of the wall and see the river swollen to the top of it. In typical child fashion, I skipped a rock or three--or probably more.

INDIANA GLASS

While picking up some prescriptions today, I noticed candle holders for sale at the pharmacy--pretty cool I thought. Bright and shiny--I've been feeling closer to shiny these days thanks to my accupuncturist and Chiropractor--that along with some herbal supplements have made a huge difference in my ability to do. (The nice weather has really helped as well, but what can you do about the weather).

New Home of Dirk365

Okay, because I've been unable to contact any human at Google, I've resorted to rebooting my Dirk365 site as Dirkus365. No one has called me Dirkus in years, but during High School and College Dirkus was commonly used as my nickname by those closest to me.

Anyway, this is just a "heads-up" post. I am working my way towards wellness, and hope to be posting again come tomorrow.

(At least now that I have a place to post)