Graffitti

One of my favorites from the trip to Amsterdam. This was on a borded up shop window across the street from where we ate breakfast on the final day. Something very cool about the stencil even though it has been scribbled over.

Reminds me of a quote from Grant Morrison's The Invisibles.

"The graffitti on the walls, the crazy shit that the bums and the crackheads and the wild kids come out with. This is the underground data exchange: The Infranet. The city is the hardware and people are the software."

Giraffe and Zebra

The coolest thing, to me, about Amsterdam was the bicycle culture. Everywhere you went there was the sound of bikes rattling along the lanes, and the ringing bells shooing pedestrians. Conversations between couples, or familys and friends as they ride along together. It just had a great feeling as you walked around. Of course the friendly bell had a different effect when you realized that it was for you.

Dawn over the North Sea

Shot taken out my window as we decended into Schiphol International in Holland, on the morning of Sept 13th. The clouds are like a frozen sea to me, dimpled with vapour waves. I always liked the feeling as we decend into this false ground/ocean then pass through the white grey shapes into the overcast below.

Rescue Copter

Lego Recuse Copter. Justin put together just before I left for a long weekend trip. He's really getting good at following the pictoral directions without my help. This set was small enought that he could search for all the pieces he needed himself. I really like this helecopter. It looks just like the big Coast Guard Copters that roar past the bluffs by our house.

Six years ago....

I wont forget the look on Craig's face when he walked up to dispatch after the second plane hit. A disturbing combination of shock, fear, and bewilderment had taken hold of him. I looked down across the service drive and everyone in the waiting room was standing. The service writers had stopped working and had come around the counter and stood with the customers looking in at the tv in the corner of the waiting area. I felt my own sinking feeling as I realized that something big, no accident had happened.
As I recall Crystal had just told me, less than 4-5 days before that she was pregnant with Justin. We had big decisions to make, and big things to think about. The sinking feeling went right through my heart and into my shoes as I thought about the worrisome possible paths that life would stretch out before us in the coming years. I was concerned, right from the start, that whatever reaction we as a people had, might make for still darker days ahead. Hundreds of Billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of Iraqui lives, thousands of Memorials to young American soldiers later... the overcast and darkness spawned from this day, still fills our sky.
I hope for a brighter American dawn. For Justin, and now baby Jennifer, and all of our sons and daughters.

Ive posted this shot before... it has a certain...weight.

No smoking please

Taken from my phone cam the morning of Sept.4. Preparations for student fire safety training.