Monday Moods: Spread the Adventure not the Ugliness

I am not 95, yet, though at times my knees feel like I should be, but I so identify with this quote from the painter Grandma Moses. 

There is a lot of sadness and ugliness in the world, but I don't think the world is improved by spreading or repeating it. I get angry, I get political, things around us can be very depressing, even terrifying. I feel all of those things. I do what I can. (VOTE!) 

But, I try hard to keep Travel Penguin a retreat from it all. A place of peace, and reinforcement.  Most of the time, I keep my comments on other's blogs positive and upbeat, if I can't do that I try to skip commenting on that post. Not because I haven't read, or don't care, but I don't want to amplify the angst. With very rare exceptions, (is there room at the Tower for a former Prince?) I don't comment on politics in other countries. I can't truly understand the full picture in another country, it is challenging enough to understand the politics in this country.  

I try my best to not paint or write sadness or ugliness. 

Pause today and breathe. Look around you at the awe and wonder. Find the good in others. Notice the beauty around you. 

When you think of the things that need to be changed, think of what you can do to make them better, focus on the solution not the problem.  Spread the beauty, not the ugliness. 

The Sunday Five: Photography

1: When was the last time you took a photograph? 

2: Do you own a camera that is not a part of some other device? 

3: Have you ever been told you can't take photographs here? 

4: Do you leave the flash on or the flash off?

5: How often do you share your photographs? 

My Answers: 

1: When was the last time you took a photograph? Yesterday, I take at least one everyday. 

2: Do you own a camera that is not a part of some other device? Four of them. 

3: Have you ever been told you can't take photographs here? Yes, several times, at one time I thought about doing a collection of forbidden photographs. 

4: Do you leave the flash on or the flash off? Flash off 99.999% of the time, one of the first things I do with a new camera is find how to turn the flash off. 

5: How often do you share your photographs? Everyday, on this and another blog. 

Please share your answers in the comments.

The Saturday Morning Post: Is It Art?

Most art is obvious, it is in your face, it shows and glows, and is clear what the message is. But not all art is that way. I like to think of this as "Unseen" art.  Messages that you might pass by 100 times and not see anything of interest, then it hits you. It suddenly makes you smile, you wonder how could I have missed that? Is it really intended to make me feel this way? Do others feel what I feel when they look at this? 

Maybe this is the difference between looking and seeing. Looking is a physical process, seeing is interpreting what we are looking at. When I look at the image above there is a rather nondescript painted surface and what is probably an electrical outlet. When I see it, the eyes, the nose, and the circle creates a smile for me.  If the artist was just plastering around the outlet the opening would probably be rectangular, making it round, adds a layer of meaning for me. 

Take time this week to look around for art in unexpected, maybe even accidental art. You will smile at what you see. 

It it me, or is this art.  

 

Fabulous Friday: Balls Out

This is a mechanical steam engine speed regulator. As steam passes through the engine, the top spins, when centrifugal force spins the heavy metal balls far enough out, steam is released from the system, lowering the pressure, and regulating the speed of the engine.  By adjusting how far out the balls spin before steam is released you can change the engine speed. The term, "balls out" came from this mechanism, and has nothing to do with masculine anatomy. 

I took this photo in the summer of 1976 at Greenfield Village, a part of the Henry Ford Museum complex in Dearborn Michigan. Shortly after I took this, the docents turned on the steam, let the balls fly and demonstrated how this worked. 

I developed the film, and made the print. There is a reflection on this image, there is glass in the frame. It has been in the frame since 1977, I am not going to take it out at this age. This was the first piece I showed in a public show, at the Titusville Art League show in the spring of 1977, earning an honorable mention. It will be going into a show with a theme of New Works and First Works, in late March.  

The Thursday Ramble: I Talk To Strangers

Much to the dismay of others, I talk to strangers. When I sit on a plane, I always ask my seatmates if they are headed home or headed out. Sometimes there is no response, other times it leads to a conversation. I have a few dozen stories that start with a sat next to a guy on a plane one time. 

On the recent trip, there was the tall-thin kid from Georgia who had just completed Air Force boot camp and was headed to some remote base in Texas to study munitions.  Going to boot camps was his first time away from home, his first time flying on a plane. 

A few years ago I sat next to a guy who worked for HP. He was on the road selling print on demand book publishing. If you order a self published book on Amazon, odds are it is printed on the machines he was selling. He said it was the future of book publishing, and he was right. 

I sat next to a guy on time, who was returning home from a job interview. He worked for a company that made control systems for cars. They were developing autonomous driving controls. He said, I need to move on. He went onto explain that he had spent most of the month before in a conference room full of engineers and ethicists trying to write computer code to decide if faced with running over the baby buggy or the wheelchair, which should the car run over. He said "I just can't be the guy who wrote that piece of computer code." 

I sat next to a guy one time who described himself as a corporate executioner. His specialty was firing senior executives in corporate America. He was an outside independent contractor. He said about 80% of the time the reaction is relief, thankful that the ordeal is over. The other 20% of the time, he is paid well to hear all kinds of rude things said. 

There was the morning that I slept with Gabriel Iglesias's road manager. It was an early morning flight out of Detroit, going to Phoenix.  I had been in Detroit for a memorial party the day before, and checked into the hotel in the airport the night before, as I recall the flight left at like 7:00 AM. He had finished up a series of shows in Detroit was flying home. He had been up late the night before at an aftershow party. We were in the first row of first class, and slept most of the way to Phoenix, before talking about what had taken us to Detroit. All we did was sleep, and then talk for a last few minutes of the flight. Nice guy headed home for a few days of rest. 

My World of Wonders: February 25, 2026

What was the first thing I thought of when I saw the above? Dump Trump. It was nice to read the Supreme Court ruling that he can't just decide that there is an emergency and levy tariffs. 

Where have I been this week? Out for a haircut, and shopping at Target. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to hear the National Symphony Orchestra. The community center to hang and open a new gallery show.  The latest gallery show opening. The gym. Into the city, and the African and Asian Art museums, and the National Portrait Gallery. It was great fun to ride the metro and walk in the city. 

What made me very sad this week? Attendance at the NSO last Thursday evening. The hall was half empty. There are ten seats in the section we were in, and the two of us where the only people in that section, it is usually full.   

Who have I talked with this week? My Sweet Bear, Linda, Jon, Amy, Kevin, Ruth, Warren, the usher at the Kennedy Center, Amy, Linda, Anna, Susan, Joan, Mary, David, it was a socially busy week with the gallery show opening. 

What do I have in the new show?  

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  Fried chicken and smashed potatoes for butter and chives. A quick ravioli with butter, cheese, and ham. Steaks, safarin rice, and glazed carrots. Roast pork with potatoes and carrots. 

What travel plans did we make this week?  I have a board meeting in Chicago in late July early August, I booked the hotel and we made airline reservations. It is fun to have plans. 

What is keeping me busy these days? We have a month long adventure coming up in a couple of months, and I am writing and scheduling blog posts for while we are on the road. I have about 2/3rds of the posts finished. There will be a digital detox on this trip. 

What else have I been writing? I submitted an article on housing options, I am editing one on keeping the bills paid and the lights on, and I have started one on older lawyers in the ABA. It keeps me active and thinking.

What made me laugh this week? The man who said, "money can't buy happiness, must have bought a Tesla, instead of a Porsche." 

What did I read that I wanted to quote? "Vae, puto deus fio" translated to mean, "Dear me, I think I am becoming a god." 

Travel Tuesday: All That Glitters at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum