February 2009 Archives

Nikon D2Hs
200 ISO
300mm
3 second exposure
(No reciprocity failure. Isn't digital different.)
Yes this decoration is in my office, thank you. It's a memorial to landscapers who now look at the grass from the roots on up.

D— stopped over in Paris on her trip home and visited with M—, his wife A—, their children B— and R—, and our friend G—.

M— and A— gave her this Malian art as well as other gifts. They're lovely people. I wish I could have visited as well.

D— has photos from her visit and I will post one as soon as she downloads them to her machine.

While D— was in the village she met a craftsman who made traditional tools. She commisioned him to make an implement for me (I have to ask D— again what it's called). It took him two days to make by hand and the gentleman tried to give the work to D— but she insisted on paying him. I'll post a photo of him posing with his handiwork as soon as I sift through the 1200 plus photos she took!

D— found a traditional holster in Katmandu to go along with it. How cool is this? I photographed it (quick and dirty) placed on a Tibetan carpet she picked up.

It's 15.5 inches long (to give a sense of scale).

D— is home from Nepal bearing gifts wrapped in a Nepali newspaper. She's well and close to rested. As time permits I'll publish bits of her stories here on Jephnol.

For the moment, here are a few random scans of the wrapping paper:

D— and J— came over for dinner last night. It was a wonderful evening.

Now, J— may have had a half glass of wine too much. A one point she excused herself to use the facilities and as she left I offered the warning, "Don't fall into the tub, there's a Snapping Turtle in it." Findik's crashing there for a while. J— came back a bit later and announced she and Fin are the best of friends and that she had touched his nose (using the onomatopoeia "bloop" to describe the contact as she gestured with her hand how she had touched him).

Look at the photo above and note how proud Findik has been in his house. Now look below and see how sad and humiliated he is to have a warning sign hanging above him all of the time. Shame J—, shame.

Findik is two years old. He's twelve inches long and he enjoys swimming against a current, floating food sticks, Unit M's nose, high bathroom traffic in the morning, having his neck scratched, hearing his name said repeatedly in a cartoon voice and hibernating.

D— and Co. are back from the village and once again have access to email in Katmandu. She wrote to say the trip was eventful. The photos I scanned from C—'s collection were shown around and were quite a hit! I'm told they took photos of villagers holding the photos of themselves from almost 40 years ago! I can't wait to see them.

Congratulations to the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of Superbowl XLIII. What a game!