Thursday Ramble: On the Political Campaign Trail

The fall of 1976 was the first Presidential Election I was eligible to vote in. Gerald Ford was president, taking over from Richard Nixon, when Nixon resigned. Jimmy Carter was the Democratic nominee, and in the end won the election. 

Early in the year, there was competition for the Republican nomination, George Wallace the racist, segregationist former governor of Alabama ran. Racism is nothing new in the Republican party, especially in the south. Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California, and long ago actor who once co-starred with a chimpanzee, also ran for the nomination that year. Ultimately the party nominated Gerald Ford, it is hard to unseat a sitting president who is eligible for reelection. Ultimately, his decision to pardon Richard Nixon to bring political peace to the country, likely cost him the election.  

My family was spending winters in Florida. Both Wallace and Reagan campaigned heavily in the primaries in Florida that spring, including stops in Brevard County, landing at what was then known as TICO airport about 3 miles south of the home my parents had bought to retire and die in. Wallace visited on a weekday, and his comings and goings overlapped with me being in school. Reagan visited on a weekend and went to a fund raiser at Fox Lake Park. 

I was there, standing along the waist high chain link fence when his campaign jet landed and taxied up. He worked the fence like the politician he was, shaking hands and exchanging words with the gathered crowd.  I was there with a my camera and a 135mm short telephoto lens. In the archive is a single print of a photograph of him, standing not five feet away. Deeper in the archive is all of the film I use that day. I remarked, "President Reagan has a nice ring to it" he replied, "I hadn't thought of it, but yes it does."(I am sure he had thought of it, Nancy probably had it embroidered on his underwear.) 

Little did I know that when he was elected four years later, he would try to destroy much of the social safety net in the country, and gut mental health care in ways that have never been restored - evil bastard.  

Thinking about this, motivated me to search in my archive of negatives from the 1970s, I have about 3,000 mostly black and white negatives in a three ring binder, in archival storage pages most from the mid 1970s. I was buying film in 100 foot rolls, and rolling my own (bulk loading as it was known.) I processed all of my black and white film and color positive film for several years. I knew this was late spring of 1976, and most of the pages are dated, I was able to locate the two pages from that day in just a few minutes. I have a film scanner (actually two of them) I scanned what appeared to be the best of the negatives. 

The Thursday Ramble: Along the Waterfront

For my gentle readers (and the rest of you too) who are looking for clues to my April Fools question. Sometimes I am the fool. I thought I had moved this post to next week, I hadn't, the post about one of the two true answers will post at Noon, New York time today. The other clue will post tonight at midnight New York time.  

The western property line of the farm I grew up was the east water line of Gravel Creek. We learned this after my Grandmother sold the front half of the farm to my father, he owned it for a few short years, and the neighboring farmer stopped on day and made him an offer he couldn't refuse to buy the land. He agreed to let my parents use the house, the pond, the farm buildings for as long as they wanted - they were a few years away from retirement. After the ownership had transferred, the farmer had the land re-surveyed and set the property line along the edge of a field, leaving the entire creek on the adjoining property - his property. Why, the creek had moved over the 200 years since the original survey, leaving my father's farm with about 10 acres of what had originally been a part of the adjoining farm. A gain of land by the movement of a water course is accretion, a loss is disacreation. 

In addition the creek along one side of the farm, there was a five acre spring fed man-made pond, and a couple of acres of wetlands that had enough water in it to have fish in it. Hence I grew up around a lot of water. Minnesota may known as the land of 10,000 lakes, but Michigan is not far behind with thousands of lakes carved out by the glaciers of the last ice age. 

Less than a month after I moved to the DC area area, I stepped outside one morning and realized I could smell the nearby water. Not in a foul way, but in a pleasant there is a lot of water here way. I realized then, that Lexington Kentucky did not have that smell. There are a few shallow creeks that pass through Lexington, but no major rivers and certainly no lakes. Kentucky has some massive reservoirs, dammed up rivers, but no natural lakes.  And we didn't live near any of them. 

I do enjoy getting out along the water here.  We are close enough to smell the water, and the walks along the waterfront never fail to bring calm to me.  The building we live in is also about 150 feet higher than the river level, living on top of a hill I don't worry about flooding. In fact with global warming and rising sea levels, we could end up with waterfront property in 100 years. 
 

My World of Wonders: April 1, 2026

 

Where have I been this week?  Thursday we went over to the outlet mall across the bridge in Maryland and I bought two pairs of shoes and some casual shirts, then we stopped by for early voting on a ballot initiative. Friday I spent four hours hanging the new gallery show. Saturday I was off the farmers market - it was cold - but the pastry shop is back for the summer. The gym, the pool. The community center. Into Washington DC, a walk around the Washington Monument, up past the Old Executive Office building to have lunch with a friend, then across town to Gallery Place to catch the subway home. 

Who have a talked to this week? Rachel, Ruth, Mary, Amy, Michelle, Warren, Marcell, Zack, Joan, Pratibha, Jon, Kevin, Jane-Ann, my sweet bear, Anna, Julia, Mike, Linda, my social contacts runneth over. Erica, Amy. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? A saffron rice and chicken casserole. Sauteed chicken, cheddar mashed potatoes and coleslaw. A beef and white bean chilli. 

What have I been watching on YouTube? In addition to the usuals, The "Volta a Catalunya 2026" a bike race in Spain, NBC sports had a daily highlights show of the race. The last stage started in Barcelona started a couple of blocks from the hotel we stayed in. 

How is the weather? Bipolar, hot for a day or two, cold for a day or two, with intermittent high winds. 

What am I doing for April Fools Day? Two Truths and Lie, you get to guess which is which.

1. I have a Richard Nixon Action figure.
2. I photographed Ronald Reagan when he was running for President.
3. I was once invited to the Oval Office for a bill signing.

Edit late in the day

Watch the next couple of days to find the ultimate answer. This has been fun and sent me deep into my past.  

Travel Tuesday: Arts in Montebello New and First Works

Spring Colors, in the Restaunt - my work

There are 55 works on this one long wall 

Lots of diverse talent 

Fluid and Abstract Works, we have a resident to who teaches fluid art.

I have two paintings and a photograph in the restaurant. 

Spectacular, colorful and large, yours for only $850 plus shipping.

The long wall from one end to the other

The last piece to be added. 

It takes a few minutes to see them all.

The Show Poster

A photo from 1976, shown for the first time in 1977 at the Titusville Art League in Florida. 
One of my all time favorite images. The night I printed this, everything just worked like magic. 

There are three portraits in the Restaurant taken in Belarus in the 1990s by a now retired state department official. 

The third of Dian's portraits

Water color, calligraphy, photographs, painting, collage. 

A cluster of black and white photos, all inkjet prints from scanned negatives. 

Monday Mood: Immortality is Being Remembered

A great loss for the blogging world, Catalyst aka Franklin Bruce Taylor of Oddball Observations died last week.  I must have found his blog through a comment on one of your blogs, he has been on my daily read list for several years, he most often posted on Fridays. He was a retired journalist, who had lived a long and interesting creative life.  His darling wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) died in her sleep a couple of months ago, and Bruce had written of his own failing health - as his posting became less frequent. 

I never met him, yet somehow I feel that I knew him.  We knew him through his writing, his sense of humor, his wonder at the creativity of his wife and his brilliant daughter. He was modest, but occasionally his accomplishments as a journalist showed in his postings over the years. 

I wish I had met him. As bloggers, who regularly read and comment on one another's blogs, we really should meet one another. We have this very superficial connection, friends who have never met - modern day penpals in a public forum.  

Over a decade ago, a dozen or so of us gathered for dinner and conversation. I met several bloggers, a couple of whom I consider friends, a couple of whom sadly have died. Our lives are richer for having met and known one another. 

I will long remember Bruce and his work, immortality is being remembered. 

The Sunday Five: Light at the End of the Tunnel

1: What are you looking forward to this year? 

2: Where would you like to be in 5 years? 

3: Do you think things are going to get better or worse? 

4: What do you look forward to each day? 

5: Is there a tunnel near you that you can walk or ride a bike through? 

My answers: 

1: What are you looking forward to this year? The grand adventure, a month of travel. 

2: Where would you like to be in 5 years? Still moving around under my own power. 

3: Do you think things are going to get better or worse? It is going to be a tough year, then it will get better. 

4: What do you look forward to each day? Reading blogs and trading texts with a few special people. 

5: Is there a tunnel near you that you can walk or ride a bike through? This is the Wilkes Street tunnel in old town Alexandria, it was built for trains when the waterfront was industrial, and converted to a pedestrian passage after the waterfront become million-dollar residential. It is about 1.5 miles from where we live. Wilkes, as in John Wilkes Booth the assassin of President Lincoln, his family lived in the area. 

Please share your answers in the comments.

The Saturday Morning: Shopping for Creativity

Sometimes, we need to go shopping to get creative. There is always shopping for creative supplies, believe me I have enough paint, brushes, canvass, cameras, lenses, reference works, pens, pencils, do-dads and glitter to keep me busy for a decade.  But sometimes, I just need to wander around the arts supply store, the fabric store, the book store, to shop for ideas, without buying. 

Shop in new, different or weird stores.  I am unlikely to buy Camel Milk, but running across it while exploring a relatively local specialty market did make me think.  People from varying cultures see food, drink, and the world differently. Thinking differently allows my mind to be creative. What would I use this for? I wonder if it makes a rich custard. Maybe I should experiment with different custards - custard tart anyone? 

Take a different path through the same store. If you always go right when you come into the store, go left, view the store in a different direction, you will see things you normally walk past. Go shopping without a list - look and figure out what you need when you see it. 

Take a different route to places you always go. So what if it takes an extra ten minutes, the novelty will feed your beast. 

Get out of town, and see something new.  Find new places to travel to. Try different ways of getting there. I have three conferences over the next 20 months in Chicago, I have promised myself to take the train at least once. It will cover the same route, it will take longer and probably cost more, but I will see things I never see when I fly or drive the same route.  Onward! 

 
 

Funky Connections to History: George's House

George Washington had dinner with the Fairfax family, on the hill top that we live on - in view of our windows, about a week before he died. For those not familiar with United States history, he was a General in the American Revolutionary War, and first President of the United States.  Mount Vernon, his home is about 8 miles south of us, overlooking the Potomac River. He was often in Alexandria, he built a small home there to stay in, when meetings in the city kept him late. He built rental property in the city. The founding fathers regularly met at Gadsby's Tavern (we hosted our wedding reception at Gadsby's) and other taverns nearby. His townhouse was closer to the taverns than it was to Christ Church Episcopal, where the family box still holds bears name. He most likely bought slaves at the markets in Alexandria. 

There is something almost spooky at times, in knowing that we walk the streets, well known to George and his colleagues, the people who drafted, debated, and approved the foundational documents of the country. 

A dozen or so times a year, I walk the grounds and gardens at Mount Vernon. Once or twice a year, I take the "mansion" tour. Standing in the places that he lived, worked, received guests, and the room that he died in. Martha, his widow, never slept in that room again after his death. 

Mount Vernon is a spectacular story of preservation. After Martha's death the estate passed through several owners and fell into disrepair. It was bought by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association just before the Civil War, with representatives from each of the states, it is owned and managed by the Association today. It is privately owned, and receives no government funding.  The house is completing a massive restoration and stabilization project that included major repairs to the foundations. All privately funded.  

Come by for a visit, feel the funky connections to history.  I have guest passes for Mount Vernon.