Canadian forest fire smoke returns…

Closeup of mountains obscured by smoke haze from Canadian wildfires. Roof and chimney in the foreground.

Closeup of sun rising above a house roof ridge line, dimmed by smoke haze from Canadian wildfires.

Not as bad as weeks ago. We live in trans apocalyptic times.

Also from this morning’s walk…

Corvid bird perched on the rim of a municipal trash can, looking at the photographer.

Corvid bird perched on the edge of a municipal trash can and tilting down to grab something.

Corvid bird perched on the edge of a municipal trash can, looking at the photographer, beak slightly open.

Corvid bird perched on the rim of a municipal trash can, head turned towards the photographer.

From this morning’s walk…

Closeup of globe allium bloom in the going to seed phase. The florets have become triangular shapes with rounded ends and edges. There is a multitude of them.

Closeup of an echinacea bloom opening. The edges spiral into the center.

Closeup of a moulded cardboard packing shape looking a little like a negative space spinal column.

Closeup of a large tropical plant type leaf.

Partially deflated purple and yellow star shaped balloons reflecting off one another to produce an orange hue in the middle.

Close up of a spaghetti tangle of metal channels at a demolition site.

Two antique lamp bases, each with a lamp shade attached and second lamp shade piled on top.

From last night while watching TV…

View from a living room into a dining room. Dog asleep on the floor in the foreground, table, chair and wine goblet in the distance, framed by the opening between rooms.

Closeup of table, chair and wine goblet from the previous image.

Having just finished season 2 of The Bear, this Chinese fortune is like a message from the gods… The Bear gods…

In the final episode of season 2 of The Bear, Sydney makes an omelette. She passed the eggs through a fine sieve after beating together, before cooking. I tried that this morning. Made a definite difference to the texture. Smoother, more consistent. Pro tip?

About My 50th High School Reunion :: Essays On Attention Paid

I realize, as I thumb through the pages of my yearbook and think about what was, that it isn’t only friends, co-workers and acquaintances that I left behind, I left numerous former selves behind. Islands of me scattered along the road I have walked these past 50 years.

Bonus images from this mornings walk… playing around with zooming in using the Lightroom camera app on the iPhone…

Close up of rapids in a local stream.

Closeup of rapids in a local stream.

Closeup of rapids in a local stream.

Really loving the new LR app… so much easier to move back and forth between device, social media and LR… The LR camera app has become my go to camera app…

From this morning’s walk…

Metal sculpture stork in median by the street.

Circular sticker for Blood Sugar Tunes on metal rail.

Close up of nose and eye of sculpture face. White.

Fading and new lilly blossoms.

Shirt made with collage of photographs printed fabric in a shop window.

Two yellow arrows, one hanging from a chain, the other painted on the asphalt beyond.

Closeup of a milkweed blossom.

About My 50th High School Reunion :: Essays On Attention Paid

What I realize as I think and write about this, is that all my life I have been arriving at places, doing the work of being me, making friends, having coworkers, and then, moving on, mostly without looking back. I left over bridges that were sometimes burned, but mostly just not maintained. They fell into disrepair then crumbled from neglect. This is habit from a lifetime of moving on. I did not live anywhere for more than five years until we moved into our current home in 2006.

Closing in on 14K words with two days left to go. Should make it and then some. And I didn’t start until day 2!

About My 50th High School Reunion :: Essays On Attention Paid

Years later, Facebook became a thing and people were discovering long lost friends and acquaintances and reconnecting with them. My wife did. I did not. I never went looking for anybody and nobody came looking for me. Throughout my life, wherever I have gone, whatever I did, when I moved on I left people behind and didn’t look back. Still, I am mildly sad thinking that nobody out of my past wanted to find me.

From today’s walk…

Closeup of oak leaf hydrangea blossom.

Tree branch on edge of sidewalk, dirt patch beyond edge of sidewalk.

Food service clear plastic glove on sidewalk.

Clouds above the tops of buildings and a streetlamp on Main Street.

Dented chrome fender of an old red Chevrolet pickup truck.

Queen Anne’s Lace blossom.

Woman’s bathing suit on a translucent mannequin form with tree branches reflected in the background.

Reason cannot be the creative principle, unlike intuition: it is the quality control department only.

— The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist a.co/g2pdlCa

Thus in creativity there are bound to be at least, and at the very simplest, two phases, that may often nonetheless overlap: a phase of exploration guided by the imagination; followed, at a distance of anything from seconds to months, but in any case followed, by a critical sifting and evaluation of the results.

– Poincaré

— The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist a.co/7e95PqU

After some trials and tribulations, I have all my prints ready for frame insertion. This will happen tomorrow and delivery of the work will happen on Tuesday.

Having a frustrating day… need to make some large prints but Lightroom is not cooperating… it keeps crashing!

From this morning’s walk…

Water droplets on an off white background.

Lock chain on a chain link fence.

Colorful stickers on a utility pole.

Graffiti abstract expressionist art.

Steel sign supports cut off flush with the concrete sidewalk.

The exotic meat section of our local supermarket…

One pound packages of ground exotic meats in a freezer. Bison, elk, venison, yak are among the offerings.

It’s raining so no walk today… a couple from the other day…

Stair railing shadow cascading down the stairs.

Shadow of railing and small circular tables on posts. Concrete terrace.

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/june-23-2023-friday?r=3lmw0&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

There’s something happening in Russia, but as of midnight tonight EDT, what is going on is not clear.

www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/c…

We were introduced to this mock potato salad by friends pursuing a keto diet. It’s become a regular in the evening meal lineup. It’s a surprisingly satisfying substitute for potato salad.

Is there a 12 step program for half sour pickle addiction?

For creativity to succeed, then, there needs to be breadth of vision; the capacity to forge distant links; flexibility rather than rigidity; a willingness to respond to a changed or changing context; as well as tolerance of ambiguity and of knowledge that is, at least at the outset, inherently imprecise.

— The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist a.co/ingE4o6

Talent hits a target no-one else can hit, wrote Schopenhauer; genius hits a target no-one else can see.

— The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist a.co/fGdTWh9