Month: May 2026

Levitation Part II

Wrote this nearly two years ago. Reading the news today about RFK Jr being bitten by snakes, I was astonished that he did not know what a 12 year old knows – go in slow and pick up Racers behind their head – duh! He is a jackass!

Photo by JD Willson

Except for it atop my HoA directed six inch thick, leaf free, pine straw a la golf course sterile landscaping in front of my town home, this one looked just like the one that greeted me upon arrival home from Saturday shopping chores.

And it held the same pose during four trips past it with groceries. Okay, there was a stop at Total Wine and that trip wasn’t groceries.

Having stowed all away, I peeked later and saw it gone. So with some outdoor leisure time before evening meal prep, I have a story.

Somewhere in the very early 1960’s, there were some large open fields in easy walking distance of home. Before the developers scraped them clean for sub-divisions. In an after school afternoon, I found and picked up by hand, a beautiful Blue Racer Snake, probably 3+ ft long. I draped it around my neck and handled it gently as it explored it’s new and temporary environment.

My guess is, it was about 4:30 in the afternoon, before Dad got home from work. Mom had dinner simmering on the stove as I came through the kitchen. I walked through that now impossibly small bungalow to where she was trying to nap. Her days were long, something I only realized much later.

In the dim light of the bedroom, sunlight diffused and reduced by a window shade, I proudly and brightly said “Hey Mom, look what I’ve got!” and I lifted the snake for her to marvel at.

She opened one eye and I swear “Levitated”. My reptilian conquest was immediately returned to its site of capture.

In Memoriam II

It was a Saturday and I needed something while doing house or yard work, don’t remember what. Drove to a neighborhood Ace Hardware store. PBS on the car radio, listening to “Prairie Home Companion”, whose musical guest was Emmy Lou Harris, singing to promote her new album “Red Dirt Girl”, the title song of which I sat in the parking lot and listened to – but that’s not what this is about.

Its’s about overwhelming emotion preventing me from visiting Arlington National Cemetery when I drove to D.C. to retrieve a teenage son from a summer internship. Years later, I depended on the support of his newly commissioned arm, to walk along the Vietnam Memorial.

It’s about another song on the album, written, about her father, a WWII Marine Pilot, Korean POW and Pilot of Marine One. For all who swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of these United States.

In Memoriam

This Memorial Day weekend, through no plan at all, I read “D-Day” by Stephen Ambrose and “The Longest Day” by Cornelius Ryan. Without distraction, but for food and sleep. And thought about, memorials, I’ve visited. And my luck.

WWI: Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France

WWII: USS Yorktown CV-10, Charleston, South Carolina

(Renamed before launch to replace USS Yorktown CV-5 sunk at Midway)

WWII: Detail of WWII Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Vietnam War: “Three Soldiers” Washington, D.C.

It’s a Mystery *

Thinking about the meaning of Memorial Day, I was looking through some of my travel photographs. And I was surprised to see the Reflecting Pool was was Blue, in 2009. I know my color balance was correct, cameras were always set for “Raw” files. Curious!

Washington D.C – 3 July 2009

* “It’s a mystery” was an answer to a question I once asked of a Jesuit Priest. Lord knows!

Pourquoi, Bubba? “Corrected”

“I mis-remembered the Island name. While waiting for my “Brand New” 2005 Silverado W/T to be serviced today, I remembered!

For no reason whatsoever, I was thinking about, long ago, stopping at a roadside stand for Boiled Peanuts on a two lane blacktop to Johns Island from Charleston.

Angel Oak – Dec. 2017

And a Paris Restaurant, on a side street, discovered while walking back from shopping at Marche Bastille.

Marche Bastille – Sept. 2017

Found the Boiled Peanuts last weekend at the Raleigh State Farmers Market (Not these Strawberries from May 0f 2014).

And maybe, I’ll find an excuse for dinner at a proper French Restaurant, in my Tar Heel home.

From Tour Montparnasse

Pourquoi, Bubba?

For no reason whatsoever, I was thinking about, long ago, stopping at a roadside stand for Boiled Peanuts on a two lane blacktop to James Island from Charleston and a Paris Restaurant, on a side street, discovered while walking back from shopping at Marche Bastille. Found the Boiled Peanuts last weekend at the Raleigh State Farmers Market . And maybe, I’ll find an excuse for dinner at a proper French Restaurant, in my Tar Heel home.

Travels With Jane #10

The Blackball Car Ferry from Victoria Harbor, B.C. to Port Angeles, Washington lands you close to this National Park – which my Boss Lady knew about and I had no idea. She guided me in Seattle & Hawaii. Yes, back in 2009, at sea!

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington -16 May 2008

And So It Goes

Made this photograph long ago (27 Dec. 2010). Had just found my footing as a photographer. This corner at Academy & Chatham Streets is being converted from an automobile gas station & repair shop to a restaurant.

Catty-corner at the intersection, Ashworth’s Drug Store is being converted to the Once in a Blue Moon Bakery & Cafe.

The Town of Cary was my landing place in late 1998. New job, new house, fresh start. Today, I don’t need a GPS to get around. And just down the street from the above photography is La Farm Bakery, where I buy my daily bread – weekly! The only constant, is change. Yet, it still feels, like home.

Un “LinkedIn’!

Thought I’d gotten rid of “LinkedIn” after closing my Photography business. Recently, been getting Spam Broadcasts from LinkedIn accounts I have zero interest in. Googled “How To Delete LinkedIn account” – found answer. So finally, no more oxymoronically named, “Social Media” presence.

Jane Smarter Than Tarzan

Reading this today, I was surprised that young men could be so stupid. Ok, not really surprised, I’m an old man: Women Home Buyers & Men Dating.

Long ago, a 21 year marriage blew up and I lucked out, finding a woman who’d made a similar poor decision. We shared her apartment until we decided we could afford a house. I presented a stack of cancelled checks, my half of rent & utilities, written to my late Sweetheart, to the Mortgage Loan Officer handling our application, as proof of her income. I was “Miscellaneous Income, Other”. It made the numbers work for the bank and we became homeowners – unmarried and living in Sin. We did Marry and I bought the next house with a VA Loan Guarantee and my first pay stub from my new job at the IBM PC Company. The proceeds from selling our first house together improved the lives of a combined five children plus some grand kids.

Marché Bastille, Paris

She was way better with budget than me. I was good for fixing stuff, gutting & renovating kitchens and lifting heavy stuff. The Italian Julia Child , spoiled me rotten. And we both thrived in Paris. Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. It’s okay to have a Boss Lady. Tarzan knew!

How To Pour A Beer – II

Before a lazy Sunday, Slow Cooker, Low Oven and Rice Cooker dinner of Collards, BBQ & Rice, I remembered how the very young woman, pictured below, taught me how to pour a beer – down the side and halfway up, in the middle. This photograph was made years before she became my Mom. And I still use her advice. She taught me to dance so I didn’t embarrass myself before a High School Prom. And I dearly miss her Chicken Paprikash. I was one lucky kid.

“Operation Petticoat”

The last (for now) of my DVD Movie purchases from Goodwillbooks.com arrived today: The 1959 Blake Edwards directed “Operation Petticoat”.

While flirting today in the grocery checkout line with an age appropriate flirtee, I mentioned it. She said, surprised and without hesitation “that’s really old!”. And I explained that as an ex-Submariner, I found it riotously funny. Didn’t bore her with the true story of another Submariner I met in a tech school in Dam Neck Virginia who saw it while stationed at Key West – a Pink Submarine! He said it was god awful ugly – but yeah, Bubblehead humor.

“Molumphry, will this boat go down?” “Like a rock, sir.”


	


	





	

		
		
The Lost Gallery
	


	
	
	

		








As reported here before, I discovered that I’d never edited the rough photography gallery made at the 2018 Cary Ballet Conservatory 6 PM Sunday performance of the “Nutcracker”. Literally, unseen. My discovery was prompted when the wonderful Dancer and Actor who has performed as “Herr Drosselmeyer” in the Cary Ballet Company productions of the “The Nutcracker”, asked for some photographs. To show some folks who had never seen it. Retired as I am, I set off into archive land, thinking I could give him a well deserved chronology and evidence of his artistry, from my work of 2011 to 2021, in an afternoon or two. Not even close.





So here it is, finally! – The Lost Gallery: 6 PM Sunday, 2018 “Nutcracker”





It was a bit of photographic special. The last of a long week, had everything, let’s take some chances! Added a 1.5x Tele Convertor to my tripod mounted 100-300 F4 Zoom. So I was at 150 mm to 450 mm focal length – capable of making head shots from rear of theater. But high risk, including the loss of an aperture stop and narrower Depth of Field -lots of soft and out of focus images. Still had my 50-135 mm on the other body. 20% kept.






	


	





	

		
		
“A Rit Of Fealous Jage!”
	


	
	
	

		

My young, dog rescuing, soon to be moved neighbor (with good reason) lent me some movie DVDs.   Watching “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” aged 75 is way different than seeing it at age 16.  But that’s not what this is about. 





This rare, triple Spoonerism (above) is from the 1964 movie directed by Blake Edwards (below), who I discovered, also directed “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”, “Operation Petticoat”,  “Waterhole #3” and “The Pink Panther”! Movie night!* 





* Disclaimer – It’s “Blazing Saddles”











































































































































































	


	





	

		
		
Before The Call -Redux
	


	
	
	

		

Almost finished printing & framing my living room gallery. Ordered this version from my printer today – 20″ x 16″, Fuji Deep Matte Paper on Standout Mount. Destined for one of the Neilsen 13 Float Frames I have on hand. I was never satisfied with my framed prints until I saw a Herb Ritts Exhibit at  La MEP in Paris, 2016. And couldn’t “see” this image, until now.





Wildly different from the color version I posted here, in 2011. But much closer to the spirit of dancers in theater.   Much closer to the magic.












Stage Rehearsal for “Anastasia” – Cary Ballet Conservatory, June 2011