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

 

Monday Mood: I Waited Too Long - Don't Put It Off

I waited too long, and now something on my travel wish list will never happen. Don't let his happen to you, take a few minutes this week to think about what you really-really want to see or do while you can, and sit down, make the plans, book the travel, spend the money. In the end you can't take the money with you, and sooner or later something will make your dream - impossible.  I know, I have let this happen. I coulda, shoulda added three days to last springs trip and checked this one off of my list. But I didn't.  I can't use the excuse that we didn't have the money, our earning days are behind us, there is more than enough in the accounts to have made the trip. I can't say we didn't have the time, we are both retired, our time is our own. We were gone for a month last spring, another three days wouldn't have made a big difference. And we changed planes in Iceland, on Icelandair that famously offers a stopover in Iceland for the same airfare as changing planes there. But I blew it, and now sadly it will never happen. Things happen, things change, things that are unexpected, and beyond our control. Go and do it now, or regret it later. 

So what happened? I have wanted to visit the black sand beach with the basalt stone cliff at Vik in Iceland for years. The basalt cliff was formed by lava flowing into the sea thousands of years ago, forming geometric blocks, stacked high into the sky, trapping a narrow volcanic sand beach between the cliff and roaring ocean surf, often with ice washing up on each wave. People traveled from around the world to see this beach, but no more. A couple of weeks ago, the cliff collapsed in a landslide onto the beach. The rocks are being cleared off of the beach, but the basalt cliff is gone, replaced by a muddy hillside. This very rare geological formation is no more. I waited too long, and I really have no valid reason for waiting. 

We did try to go there back in 2021. We were driving from Geysir* to Vik, and drove into a blizzard, heavy snow and 40 mile per hour winds, it was so bad that trucks were getting stuck in the roundabouts. We turned around when we could find a safe place to do so, and followed a local driving a tiny Toyota back toward Reykjavik, driving out of the storm in about 40 miles.  The hotel in Vik was kind enough to allow a last minute cancellation, the roads were so bad that people couldn't leave Vik, or get in. 

But that was five years ago, two years of which I have been retired, and we even changed planes in Iceland last spring, a perfect time to have made the trip. I blew it. 

What is on your wishlist? Stop making excuses, make plans and go now, while you can, before something makes it impossible. 

* Go stay at the Hotel Geysir, it is amazing. I am so glad we did that. 
 

The Sunday Five: Chickens

1: Have you ever kept raised or kept chickens? 

2: Should your neighbors be able to keep chickens in their back garden? 

3: Other than chicken, what kind of eggs can you buy in your local neighborhood, and do you? 

4: Have you ever been chased by a chicken? 

5: Do you eat chicken? 

My answers: 

1: Have you ever kept raised or kept chickens? I have not, my father didn't want anything on the farm that required daily care. 

2: Should your neighbors be able to keep chickens in their back garden? This has become a hot topic in many American cities, I think they should, they don't make anymore noise than many dogs, and produce eggs. 

3: Other than chicken, what kind of eggs can you buy in your local neighborhood, and do you?  I can buy quail eggs almost all of the time, if I go to the fancy market or the asian market they often have duck eggs, Whole Foods has stopped carrying Emu eggs. Quail eggs are cute, but fussy to cook, Duck eggs are wonderful, I wish they were easier to get (we lost the Egg Man at the farmers market during COVID, he often has Duck eggs.) 

4: Have you ever been chased by a chicken? As a child, but then I ran from almost everything until I was in my 30's. 

5: Do you eat chicken? Yes, often. 

Please share your answers in the comments.