The View From My Kitchen Window

The morning February sun comes up on Geneva, IL, looking toward State Street, with the peak of the Kane County Courthouse just visible through the trees.

Solo--A Kayaker Lost At Sea: Very Moving Video

Leaving his wife and young son behind, a man bent on adventure sets off in his kayak to traverse an ocean--alone.  Experienced sea kayaker Andrew McAuley's doomed trip from Tasmania to New Zealand 2007.



Heartbreaking.

The View From My Kitchen Window Onto Old Geneva, IL

Winter View Down To The Geneva Dam

The Hurt Locker

Every year there's one or two Ocsar Best Picture nominated films that get such high praise, and yet I missed them at the box office. Sure, I saw precious (hated it--but Mo'Nique was fabulous as the wretched mother, and she will get the Supporting Actress Oscar, no doubt), and The Blind Side (Sandra Bullock returns!). The movie that I missed and now much see--this year, that film is The Hurt Locker, nominated for--among other things--Best Director and Best Film. Now on DVD, I plan to make this a family movie night selection. Popcorn, candles, large screen TV and Bose.

Watercolor Artist

Watercolor, Bunny Girl, by Linda Hutchinson
http://www.hutchinsonart.blogspot.com/

This is the type of art that inspires Cathy with her new hobby.

Riverside Reception Area With Friends

Super night with cocktails at David and Alexia's, wonderful butternut squash ravioli overlooking the Fox River, saw presentation about many small animals saved, always Jay's super humor, and finished with a nightcap listening to Sarah Vaughn and Boz Scaggs at Kim and Tom's place. Fun!

Fox Valley Wildlife Center Fundraiser Saturday

Whether you are interested in a luxury vacation in the Virgin Islands or a behind-the-scenes tour of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, check out the silent auction at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center fundraiser Saturday.

The center cares for injured and orphaned birds and mammals and depends entirely on membership fees, donations, grants and its yearly fundraiser.

The dinner and auction begins at 6 p.m. at Riverside Reception and Banquets, 35 N. River Lane in Geneva.

The center's staff says the auction is even more important this year because for the first time, the center is responsible for paying its own utilities, estimated at about $500 a month. Taking over utilities is part of a new agreement with the Kane County Forest Preserve District, which will continue to contribute the use of the house and land in the Elburn Woods Forest Preserve.

This year's live auction includes a chance to bid on a one-week vacation for up to 10 people at Satinwood in Coral Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, valued at $3,500 to $4,410. Accommodations include two full kitchens, a pool and a sun deck. The beach, shopping and dining are just minutes away. Visit www.satinwood-usvi.com for more information.

Another major attraction of the live auction is a four-course dinner with wine pairings for six people, prepared in your home by Chef Richard Fields of Citizen Kane in Geneva. The minimum bid is $400.

Other items include a behind-the-scenes tour of Lincoln Park Zoo for six people; artwork of the Wildlife Center's habitants; bird carvings; stained glass; pet photo shoots; art classes; quilts; carved pens and more.

The event features a dinner (entree choices are Chicken Rockefeller (Chicken breast with spinach and bacon and a Hollandaise Sauce) or a vegetarian option of Butternut Squash Ravioli with a Cream Sauce)
-- silent auctions
-- live auctions
-- raffle
-- presentation by a FVWC wildlife specialist
-- video presentation of animals that passed through our doors this year and the Volunteers that helped them
-- awarding of prizes for the 2010 photo contest
This is our fourth year at this location and we're pleased to return here again to join in the fun!

Invite your wildlife-loving friends and neighbors--yes, you can reserve an entire table for your group of eight or ten people.

I'll be there, as friends Dave and Alexia have reserved a table. And heck, it's right across the street and on the Fox River, so who could resist!

P.S. In keeping with the spirit of the evening to save samll animals, I ordered the vegetarian meal rather than chowing down on a chicken.

Happy Friday!!!!! from Ferris Bueller

Go Game Hits The Block

Sure, I'm still into Go. I just don't need this premium board (I have others, more reasonable in size) as much as I need to pay for the Canon camera lens. So, on the chopping block it goes. On eBay 2/4 PM, with plenty of Go-mongers and masters licking their chops to get this one. An heirloom.

Mars Needs Guitars

The axes are getting the axe. Listed on eBay now, they will soon, like a wooly worm to a butterfly, morph into....a Canon EOS 7D.

Millionaire Matchmaker

Okay, I'll admit it--last night I blew three hours watching Patty Stanger on Bravo's Millonaire Matchmaker with my wife.

So shoot me.

The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge Over Connecticut River

The Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. It was the longest covered bridge still standing in the United States until the Smolen–Gulf Bridge opened in Ohio in 2008.  The 2008 bridge is ugly.


The bridge is approximately 449 feet (137 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. It has a Town lattice type truss. The bridge was originally built in 1866, and rebuilt in 1988. It was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1970.

The bridge is owned and maintained by the State of New Hampshire, and though often associated with Windsor, is in fact part of the town of Cornish, since the defined boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont is at the western high-water mark of the river. When one drives onto the bridge from the Windsor side of the river they are immediately in New Hampshire. The name is a point of contention among locals since many Cornish inhabitants refer to the bridge as the 'Cornish Covered Bridge' (minus 'Windsor') since, they argue, the bridge belongs to Cornish and not Windsor.

The death of Mr. Salinger reminded me of the one time I saw the Cornish, NH covered bridge in person, during my college years.  Went on a driving trip with my parents up the Vermont-New Hampshire state line.  Saw the Quechee Gorge and, as I recall, the Augustus St. Gauden's home and studio on the same trip.  Memories that still come to the fore when I think of Cornish, NH.

My Salinger Collection of Hardbacks

I was into Jerome David before it was cool to be into Jerome David. Well, not exactly, I suppose, because all those phonies were reading his books and all before I was born. But you'd think I be into that David Copperfield crap, but I really couldn't give a damn. I even printed out his unpublished and almost unreadable Glass letter home from summer camp, "Hapworth 16, 1924," It was never published in a book--only installements in the Saturday Evening Post--but I printed it and bound it.  And never read it.

Ever Have One Of Those Days?

Pretty Yellow Condominiums Across From Dodson Place, Geneva

Pretty!

Mitchell Greenland Paddle Heading Out to CT

Hi Scott, and thanks for buying my GP.  It'll ship today to Nancy's place in Wallingford.  It'll be nice to know you're blading the Yankee water in it this summer.  My Epic is not a wing, S,.so you can see it starting on eBay Sunday night after about 8pm EST.

Between what I have sold and what I have listed on eBay now and tonight (at low, low prices to score a sale), I have enough for the camera I want (but not the lens--sort of like my new local library: enough taxpayer gouge for the building, but not the books or staff).  My dear wife waved the white surrender flag and said I could order it, and my brother coached me on what to buy. As I did buy the lens, too, I will be adding hockey jerseys and knick knacks to the barrel on eBay.  If anyone wants a giant sized, gorgeous Go Game in a carrier box, "go" for it on my eBay auctions starting Thursday.

BrasilBrazil Returns from Sea Kayaking In Brazil

Hi guys,


Back from Brazil yesterday. Was gone for a week and we

circumnavigated a couple of islands and got some surfing in for fun.

tore up my foot pretty good with a nasty cut under the big toe and

scrapes all over the top of my right foot with the usual cuts and

bruises all over from a rather violent surf session.

Big water, saw sea turtles and sharks, went snorkeling for a couple of

hours and saw tons of angelfish and smaller fish as well as millions

of sea urchins.

All in all a great time!

Now I will have to work straight through to next thursday (7 days) to

pay for my sins. :)



Paul

Thanks for the update and fantastic photo of you negotiating the ocean swirly, BB.

Sea Kayaks On The Fox River

XM Radio

I have grown dependant on my XM Radio in my truck. Liquid Metal. Deep Cuts. First Wave. CNN Headlines. You name it, I enjoy it. Strongly recommended for anyone that spends time in their vehicle.

http://www.cluelessinboston.com/

http://www.cluelessinboston.com/

As a former Bostonian for almost a decade of my life, I can appreciate expressive photos of the city that will alwasy be dear to me.  This website provides brilliant photos of the city taken by a very skilled lensman. 

A photo site for anyone who loves Beantown.

Canon EOS 7D in Five Minutes

A nice summary, if anyone can understand what he's saying. One correction: he mentions only 12 minutes in HD video--in fact, it records up to 29.5 minutes in HD video continuously (apparently, any more than this and it gets too "hot"), compared to only 5 minutes continuous for Nikon's current DSLRs.

DIllman's Summer Camp  (click for more details) is where I will be spending a week in 2010.  Cathy came up with the idea, and I jumped on the chance for having an olde fashioned summer vacation in the north woods of WI.  You see, the beauty here is that Cathy has her thing, and I have mine.

Dillman’s Bay is a nostalgic resort on the shores of White Sand Lake in Northern Wisconsin - just 12 miles from Minocqua. This classic vacation paradise offers a peninsula with full marina, tennis courts, playground, four beaches, picnic grounds, creative workshops taught by renowned instructors and space to relax.  Think "Baby" on Dirty Dancing.

Cathy is taking watercolor class all week with Tom Lynch, famous Naperville, IL artist, teacher (he has his own PBS show).  It's an intermediate class, and she is taking over 15 hours of local watercolor classes just to get ready to go to Dillman's.

Me, I have three goals in mind: write my short story for the autumn contest, kayak White Sand Lake daily and work on Eskimo rolls, and take photographs in natural settings.

I didn't mention bikes, hammock with reading and swimming. Total relaxation.  Total summer. Totally on my mind.

Coolkayaker1's Writer's Desk: Where The Magic Happens

Last Known (Only Known?) Film Footage of Jerome David Salinger

So Many Books. So Little Time.

Silver Jumping Carp Terrorize Illinois

J. D. Salinger Dies in Cornish, NH

My absolute favorite literary quote is this one passage in The Catcher In The Rye, which sums up the entire book in it's off-kilter, prophetic way:

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." - The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield,Chapter 22

Apple Classic Commerical

Paddle Me Away To The Sunny Tropics (100mm, f 2.8, ISO 100)

The eBay listings continue--Sunday is the best day to have auctions end on eBay.  Sunday night at around 9pm, to be specific.  So, the seven-day auctions for two of my best, but least used, paddles, starts this Sunday.

Up next: guitars!

Apple iPad Is Here &: First Impressions: It Stinks

A giant (but not giant enough) 9.7 inch iPod Touch, uses same apps and everything, for over $699 with a measly 64 GB of memory.

Thank God I just went ahead an bought my netbook.

The Herrington Inn Lobby On Geneva Daily Photo

I am pleased to show you this photograph from my online friend and schooled photographer Kelly at http://www.genevadailyphoto.blogspot.com/

Full credit to her for taking a sabbatical from her blog, now to return with triumphant new photos of the town everyone loves, 40 miles outside Chicago proper (and only a Metra ride away), Geneva, Illinois.

I enjoy her perspective on the town, from many angles and with many views. This particular lobby is of the famous Herrington Hotel, the toniest place to stay in Geneva, where the Bushes, Clintons and foreign leaders (Gorby) stay. It is one block from my place, and I have walked into the lobby just to peek around. I've not seen anyone famous--or even infamous like Joey Buttafuoco--yet. It's well captured on Geneva Daily Photo, where I learn about photography from perusing Kelly's photos.

Guitar Lesson Night Means Week 1/2 Over

Yes, this is whare the magic happens in downtown Champaign.  Every Wednesday night for over 1.5 years.  It's where Sean, a virtuoso heavy, tone-chasing guitar teacher, works his magic with my son.  Much steel is plucked, much metal is burned through those amplifiers. 

Tonight, it's snowy, so the photo would look different.  Plus I am meeting my friend yanoer at the mall to inspect and sell two paddles (baby steps toward the camera--appreciate the comments of WFF under prior posts).

February 20, 2003 The Station, West Warwick, RI 100 Dead

A chilling video.  A wildfire within four walls.  Never forget.
(click the arrows on lower right of video for full screen)
96 died on the scene; 4 died later in hospital. 230 injured, some burned horrifically.

Details about the fire and its aftermath.

Canon EOS 7D 1920x1080p HD video...wow!

Out of the box video from Canon 7d, naterus on youtube:


Guardiansnapper on youtube says: So here is my first attempt at filming with a production Canon Eos7D just one hour after receiving it from my local camera store. Starting at 10pm I spent about 2 hours in total filming this an the Nanluoguxiang Hutong in Beijing which is popular with locals and tourists alike. Due to the lack of light its shot mostly at around 1600 to 6400 ISO.


Although I could carry a video camera around separate from my still camera, why would I? This is brilliant! Professionals take music videos and such with this camera. And it's not just the low frames per second, 780p "HD" that most under $1000 portables espouse, this is the real deal--1920x1080p HD at 30 frames per second. Smooooth! I continue to sell everything I own on eBay to afford this cool kitty!

Firesale

Listed on eBay, one of my awesome Meridian drysuits.  Two paddles out the door with good deal for my friend yanoer, and some more cash in my pocket.  Gilligan's Island full series DVDs,  my Pentax 20x60 Binos, two Bic Yakka inflatable kayaks on eBay.  It's all gotta go to pay for my new camera and lens.

One Semester of High School Down

I'm proud of my son.  He's done very well academically this year so far.  His first semester of high school.

Photo Advice from Frank Capa, Life Magazine photographer

"If your photos are not good enough, then you're not close enough."

--photo from aquascout on flickr.com

"Eh No Pilaust Versuite! Eh No Pilaust Versuite!"

I think that means "The photographer just ate shit! The photographer just ate shit!"



Seriously, rather than trying to stand on the ground behind a tree, it might have been safer to get up on top of something. Like a big camera stand or something.


Nope. And with all the little kids and families in the audience, is it really necessary for the announcer to freak out and yell, "Oh, fuck!" over the PA system. I mean really. Walter Cronkite never would have said that.

Freelance Photography: Selling Images

At Borders yesterday, I thought of my brother, a skilled shooter. This book shows places paying anywhere from $200 to more than $1000 for a single photograph!

With 1,500 market listings, "2010 Photographer's Market" is the resource freelance photographers need to find markets for their work. No other book contains as many market listings for magazines, book publishers and stock agencies all over the world. Readers will find "2010 Photographer's Market" easy to use with its clearly marked sections and four indexes that will aid them in narrowing down the markets that interest them--Amazon.com, $20

Freeman and Luck Photography Book

Browsing Borders today, came across the 2009 edition of this book for $9.99. It's huge, with tons of photos, chock full of camera and technique information. I put the photo magazines back on the shelf and am reading this 500+ page tome now.

Fuji Finepix Z33WP P&S at ISO 800 and ISO 1600

Both photos taken at my table at California Pizza Kitchen tonight, with only change (other than my elbows on table, lop-sided leveling job) being forced ISO at 1600 (top photo) after the camera chose ISO 800 (bottom photo). The level of noise on the 1600 is disturbing. Both are 10 megapixels. It was slightly dark in the restaurant. I took several pics at each setting to assure no movement artifact, these were the best.

I notice my camera seems to prefer ISO 800. Light settings, no matter, it defaults to ISO 800, it appears. Hmmm.

A Tsunami Hits Japan In A Folding Kayak

My dear friend and San Diego/Reno paddler Tsunamichuck ventured to Japan in late 2009 for a 2 month, solo expedition in his bag boat. He took many fabuolous photos (before losing his camera in the drink) and sent them to the boatloads of friends he has in the States. TSC is back in the states and safe now, but he was gone for a long time, and incommunicado for much of it. He was out on the waves in the middle of the seas. Fron the pictures, he experienced every type of weather. The hospitality of the Japanese people came through, and TSC's gregarious personality made him a hit, I'm sure, with the saki-drinking, shanshin-strumming crowds at each port. I applaud Tsunamichuck for grabbing life by the b*lls, and living it.

Mayhem Fest 2010, July, Chicago.

Lamb of God, absolutely epic, with outta this park CD Wrath, dropping it at Mayhem Fest 2010. Lesser bands also present include Rob Zombie, Hatebreed, Five Finger Death Punch, the reunited Korn (who cares), and on and on.

A fantastic day of heavy metal fun with 28,000 of your favorite metalheads.

Don't click the video below unless you love monster metal from Lamb of God. Absolutely the most talented, fast and fresh drummer in music today, Christopher Adler (born November 23, 1972 is an American drummer, best known as a member of the metal band Lamb of God). Just listen to that drum!

Paddling Pals

This is my friend and paddler, Gabrielle, a.k.a. Trailmom, cutting an edge as she passes under the bridge over Clinton Lake, Illinois, autumn 2009.  I look forward to more paddles with her in 2010.  She has an adventurous spirit, always up for any good paddle, or hike, or anything outdoorsy.  I enjoy paddling and spending time with Gay, and all my fellow paddlers that are hibernating this winter.

Cute But Very Freaky When U Can't Understand It

http://www.searchtempest.com/

http://www.searchtempest.com/

Every once in a while, a website makes life easier.  I have not bought much from Criagslist, but I have fellow paddlers that adore it.  Simpler than eBay, and free, it is catergorized by major location, city.  Well, here is the link that is the meta-search engine just for Craigslist, and you can "dial in" how far from any zip code to search.  Simple, Eloquent.  Helpful.  try http://www.searchtempest.com/