Christmas 2008

I shot some B&W photos today (but they still need to be developed) and I ate way too much food. Flo Tiger had invited me to noontime"breakfast". She's been trying to sell the house in South Dade where she and her late husband Spencer had been living. She and her two dogs are now living at her dad's place on one of those ritzy islands along the 79th Street Causeway just east of the Channel 7 studios.

It was an interesting mix of people. Spencer's nephew Robbie was there. Well, since he got hit by a car while bike riding a few years ago he's never really "there", what with a steel plate and drain tubes in his head. He walks OK and his speech is understandable. He pretty much thinks like an eight year old and lives to play computer games. It's all he talks about. Flo's brother, who writes software for a living was there. Two of Flo's friends from South Dade were there. I think the reason for having our "breakfast" at noon was that the two ladies attend a Baptist church near where they live and then had to drive about thirty miles after the Christmas morning church service. They told us that normally the minister's sermons last about half an hour but today it was like he couldn't stop talking.

Flo is a gourmet cook! She made some kind of eggs with spinach and bacon in an egg poacher, as well as some fantastic potato latkes (pancakes) and French toast. I ate way too much, probably because I was eating breakfast so late as much as because it was so tasty.

I gave Flo a framed 11 X 14 print of Spencer when he was maybe 15 years old with his sister Donna, perhaps 17 at the time, sitting on the hood of an old 1950's vintage car on the Miccosukee Reservation. Donna was Robbie's mother. Now both Donna and Spencer are gone. Too soon, too young.

WHOOPS! Where Are The Photos?

Hi There. What with the new computer (and probably this new AOL program also) it seems that some folks can see the photos while other people are getting a blank rectangle! I'm hoping to get the problem solved soon! I sure hope so. (This post has no photo in it.)

In the meantime I'll just go along with my original plans to write the captions anyway.

Thanks, Al

Three Cheers For Flo Tiger And Jon Sinish

Yup, The Price Of Silver is back on line! My thanks to Jon Sinish for turning me on to Vision Computers and to Flo Tiger for coming over this morning and helping to get it set up and running! The computer came pre loaded with several programs that Jon said that I needed to have, then Flo loaded several others off the internet for me. The scanner works, the printer works, and she assured me that she could teach my brain to work also.

I even have speakers now, but I can't remember how to access the music. Damn, this thing is complicated! Oh well, I was expecting the computer to arrive on Wednesday and Flo on Thursday. With the computer getting here on Monday and Flo on Tuesday things are running 48 hours ahead of schedule. Hopefully I'll soon be posting photos again and Monkette will be writing copy once more before the week is over. This DSL is great, much faster than dial-up, and my new flat screen monitor is a lot more clear as well as being brighter than my old one.

Thanks to all of you for being so patient

The Ball And Chain

Not much has really changed since I shot this photo. The fan died and I got a new one. Instead of facing west into the glare of the late afternoon sun I now face east and look at a wall with a few framed pictures on it. I still make the effort to post a photo every night and write a bit about it. That's "the ball and chain part". I wore out one little fan and bought a desk lamp.

When I got dragged kicking and screaming into the blogosphere (isn't that what they call it?), very much against my best judgement, I figured that it would go on for a few months at best. At this rate I'll be crossing the "one thousand posts" mark before Christmas. It's fun and it keeps me out of trouble. Now I have to catch up and write something about Police Chief Jm Devaney. I didn't write it the other night!

Ex-wives...And He Stays Friendly With Them!

Al dragged me along to Claudia's house. She wanted him to take some pictures of her amarillis blossoming. I fugured "what the hell she always has some good homemade fruit cake", Al likes her coffee and he enjoys playing with her two dogs. He's known them since they were pups. Best of all, they seem to like me! Well, so does Claudia. She says that I keep him out of trouble, that I watch out for him. She just wishes that I agreed with her and Vivette about Al's shaggy mop of hair and just how much it needs, at the very least, a trim.

Hey Girl!, Al's MINE now. Ya hear me? I live with him. You guys are history ~ maybe good friends, but not a couple anymore, no way! And he better stay mine too!

Still, he worries me. Lately he's been spending way too much time on the computer, WAYYYY too much for my likings. Some chick out of his past name of Robin. They're always IMing one another and exchanging emails and chatting on the phone. At least she doesn't live in the Miami area, so maybe it's harmless. It BETTER be!

Oh yeah, in case you didn't guess from the low angle? I shot that photo of Al looking at the flower. Pretty good photograph, wouldn't you say? Nice composition, good exposure, great color!