Chick 'n' Wing(s)nut

Folks,

A little less intense photo day today - I did take some photos.  I explored black within the spectrum of colour - the photos will hopefully illustrate what I mean - still a lot to learn in this area - all photos are a study in darkness - never underestimate the power of the dark side of the force.

The Raven-Crow beasts insisted that I take in the Moab Brewery one more time and did I have a choice - of course not.

So I am sitting there having a Scorpion Ale ( speaking of which, check this out), 

http://scorpionbowl.blogspot.com/2009/02/you-got-to-move.html

- when in walks this woman and sits down beside me at the bar.  She orders a Belgian Wheat and hot chicken wings.  My camera - with the long lens, don't you know - is sitting on the bar.  She asks me if I got any good pictures today - I say no - but the day ain't over yet.  She asks me to take her picture - I said no problem, I just have have to back-up a bit as I have a long lens - she says all men should have that problem.  I take the picture.

I ask her if I can e-mail her the picture - she says no, it's for me, not her.

I ask her what she is doing in Moab - she says, she just flew in to Salt Lake City and drove over to meet her husband who has been away for 4 weeks - I say that's odd, that's the same amount of time I've been away from home.

I ask her what her husband does - she says, usually, whatever he pleases.

I say - that must be hard to deal with- she says no, he needs his space, I need mine and this works fine.

She says - for Christ's sake Phil come off it and pay the bill and stop this foolish role playing - I say, it's not role playing, it's really who I am - David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke; Neil Young, rocker, folkie, grunger - one person, many personas - she says OK, let's the 8 of us go home - the Raven-Crow beasts insisted that I stay, but she locked on to their frequency and said, 'Nevermore .....' - and they were silenced ..... but for how long .....

To quote from verse 91 of the Krome Koan, 'I chose the road less traveled, now where the hell am I??'

Phil

I Am Not A Mused ... Yet

Folks,

In hard rock country like Utah there is always something unique to see and a unique way to see it - take an arch formation for example.  You can appreciate it's lines artistically/aesthetically - how they change as sun hits it at different angles during the day, it's curve and form, it's sturdiness or delicateness, it's size and mass; you can appreciate it scientifically/geologically - the process of it's formation, the physical make-up of the rock itself, why it is the colour it is, it's height and weight, what used to be there but now isn't such that what was left was the arch.

As a photographer, one who aspires to be better, you have to be of two minds - one technical to make the camera do what you want it to do - the other artistic - to capture an image not only of the subject but to be able to make the subject say something to a viewer and say that something no matter the nationality of the viewer looking at the photo.

For some this process comes more naturally than others.  I think if you are artistically inclined you already have an advantage with a camera in your hand.  You are used to pre-visualization and you are used to taking 'reality' and reducing to it's barest essentials, focusing in in on what your artistic mind wants the viewer to see.  

Another aspect of picture taking is colour vs. black and white.  Sometimes a very bland photo in colour takes on a whole new aspect and meaning when rendered in black and white.  Gone is the colour information which can take a way from the subject detail and what is left is a stark presentation of a subject that before may have been lost to viewer's senses.

I think some of the most memorable photos are black and white - yet the most memorable paintings are indeed very colourful - can you even think of a famous monotone painting? 

I think the reason for this is that the painter has already stripped reality bare through the process of painting itself, i.e., a lot of colour information has already been removed from the scene.  The painter is using a palette of ten to twenty tones, where a 'real' scene has something in the order of hundreds of thousands.  If the painter were render the scene as charcoal or shades of brown/black the painting would lose emotional impact and be reduced to simply an image.  That said, there is talent to communicating sparsely - read any Cormac McCarthy novel.

So a photographer/ painter has several choices to make in rendering a scene - 'real or imaginary and those choices will affect the emotional response (or lack thereof) of the viewer.

So you simply don't take a picture and print - you learn to work the scene over a day, return to the scene again and again and work it some more, process the shot in different ways, maybe crop in, maybe burn in, dodge, maybe filter, maybe sharpen, maybe reduce clarity, maybe print using a different type of paper, use a creative border, add grain, sepia tone, etc.

There are many creative choices to make in capture, processing and printing and and none of these can be 'cookbooked' - it isn't the same process every time - it is what the image requires and even demands that true photographer must heed.  It must be similar to the song writing muse and that for writers, etc.  Something grabs your creative side and won't let it go until you have eked out what the muse wants.

I am not even hearing the muses yet, let alone understanding what they are saying - but nothing beats time behind the camera and you just operate knowing that, if there is enough time, and if  you work at it consistently, the muse will start to notice you and somehow, engage with you.

Let's see what today brings for a 'musement'.

To quote from verse 91 of the Krome Koan, 'I work for myself and my boss is STILL an asshole.'

Phil

You Can Lead a Phil To Horse But You Can't Make Him Think

Folks,

This trip has been about photography and improving it - from the Nikon School course, from working with Photoshop guru Sean Duggan and then constantly being out there 6-8 hours a day shooting.  Then go through the photos, get some feedback, adjust and then go out and try again.

When I am 'out there', I get asked a lot, 'what do you really do' - I will either respond that, 'I am retired' or 'whatever I want to' - depending on the mood.  The next question is just about always the same, 'aren't you bored?' - meaning didn't work define provide routine and structure for your life and now aren't you simply lost, directionless? Uh ...... NO!

I am really taken aback by the concept that a large number of people need 'work' - an agenda provided by something else - to give them a context for their daily lives.  We all need money but do we need work to 'fill up our day as well?'  I have always had many interests and I now simply pursue those in depth.  For a while it was audio, right now it is photography, pretty soon it may be writing but it could easily be the Mastery of Photoshop - we shall see.  Does that in turn mean that the folks who ask me these questions don't have any interests outside work, and if they don't, what kind of life is that?  I don't ask them these questions - I know better.

I'd like you all to watch a 6 minute video that I have linked right here,

http://www.zarias.com/?p=284

To view it you will need QuickTime on your computer and then just simply press the play button in the middle of the image you will see.

It's supposed to be a clip on how to do things in Photoshop but as you watch it, it morphs into a commentary on the artistic development process and then makes some observations that, I believe, will move you.  Nobody on their death bed ever said, 'Gee, I wish I spent more time at the office.'

Also in the month's Esquire Magazine, March 2009, there is a great editorial by David Granger entitled, 'The Best of Times'.  I will quote,

'If you have the courage to buck the prevailing mood (and are among the 93% of us who still have a job) - these are actually damn good times.

Gas is under two bucks. There’s never been a better time to buy a new car (half off! 0 percent!) or a new house (depressed prices + 5 percent over thirty years = unprecedented opportunity). Tables are available in the vast majority of excellent restaurants, to eat reduced-price menus. TV has never been better (30 Rock, Fringe, Friday Night Lights, plus everything on the winter season of cable). The new TiVo box offers miraculous access to, essentially, the entire history of filmed entertainment on the best generation of flat-screens ever, which retailers are giving away. Airports are way less crowded, there are empty seats on flights, and those flights land on time more often. [. . .] All in all, it’s easier to live a more enjoyable life right now than at any time in recent memory . . . if we can just convince ourselves to go ahead and do so.'

The good times aren't really gone for good - THEY'RE BACK!!  Just another example of life needing to be viewed from a slightly different perspective.

I was at Dead Horse Point yesterday, standing 2000 feet above the Colorado River, about 3 feet from free flight.  Yes, the Raven-Crow beasts were talking - I had my vertigo thing under control until winds started gusting enough to push me uncomfortably towards the edge.  The best part of the day was accidentally coming upon 3 deer and then staying with them for 2 hours.  The sunset was unbelievable - and yes the Raven-Crow beasts made me go into the Moab Brewery again.

Yesterday I think I captured some of the best photos I have ever taken - I don't have the time or the software to view them properly or to 'develop' them properly - I just feel I am getting there - another milestone reached.  There is much, much more to learn and learning is the sheer joy of doing it.

Watch the video I linked (QuickTime is easy and free to download) - you will be changed,

To quote from verse 9 of the Krome Koan, 'A day without sunshine is, like, night.'

Phil

Mardi Gras ou Coup de Grace

Folks,

There is an organization in Moab called WabiSabi - I gave you a link to that last night.  To quote from the Wabisabi by-line, 'supporting the community with recycled style and grace'.  It is the mother organization of several non-profit partners in Moab and it raises money for these partners through it's store of recycled article and clothing.

Once a year though on Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras, etc.) it hosts a fashion show at  - where else - The Moab Brewery.  Tickets aren't cheap - it's for charity.  The fashions however are unique - nine local designers, grab clothes off the shelves of Wabisabi and work them into rather unique article of fashion.

There is a fashion show at the brewery, complete with runway and music, and then ... the outfits are auctioned off to raise money - the top outfit went for $750 and  - between ticket sales and costume sales I am betting they raised about 60k$ - good for them!!

I have included some better pictures of that event here.

Also yesterday I drove beside the Colorado River towards Castle Valley - it just like driving into the Grand Canyon.  I then drove back to Moab and drove down Potash Road to catch some petroglyphs and then I went back into Arches to capture the sunset at Doc Williams point before the fashion show - a big day.

Moab is turning out to be a very interesting spot - it will be investigated thoroughly for a future blog.

To quote from verse 111 of the Krome Koan, 'Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.'

Phil

Mo AM Moab

Folks,

Just returned from a day out - started checking photos and there are photos on the memory cards I don't recognize.  Check the photos I have included herein.

Just checked my watch and it is running backwards.

It can only mean one thing but I don't want to jump to conclusions - more in the AM after I have re-checked the photos and get a time line on what the heck is going on ...

Check http://wabisabimoab.org/ in the mean time ....

Phil

Arch Friend

Folks,

I can remember the first Rolling Stone magazine that I purchased - it was in Fredericton, NB in the fall of 1969 and it was the issue that covered the Woodstock Music festival (I'm Going Home .... by helicopter .... No rain .... what we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000 ...).  I still have that issue - nostalgic, Irish, sentimental fool that I am.

I also have the issues that reported on the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison - proof positive that when drugs go from recreational to professional, they will change your life - forever.

It rained in Moab today but I was in Arches National park for 7 hours - left at dusk.  I was driving by The Moab Brewery (http://www.themoabbrewery.com/) when the Raven-Crow beast voices suggested I should go in - needless to say, I listen to those voices.

So I am sitting there at the bar, having a Scorpion Pale Ale, making a few notes on the day, when the gentleman on my right turns to me and says, 'You're not to take notes are you - that's not allowed in here', and that lead to one hell of an interesting conversation.

Turns out his nickname is 'Chips' - he used to own and operate a fish and chip place - given name is, Michael - and is from San Francisco originally - now lives about an hour from Denver in ski resort country.  Now to set the tone for this, there is music playing in the bar and it is all 60's and all Haight Ashbury stuff - Airplane, Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company (Janis), the Dead, Country Joe & The Fish (give me an 'F' ...), Creedence - with a little Dylan and Jimi thrown in.

I made reference to the music in the bar and how I used to read about it and dream of going to San Francisco but it just seemed such a distance in attitude and culture, etc.  He then talked about his younger days, going to the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom ( all names I know from reading about them) and seeing Hendrix, Joplin, Airplane, the Dead, etc.  He mentioned going to the Fillmore on New Year's Eve 1966 and paying $12 to see and hear music that started at 8 PM and end at 8 AM the next day - with breakfast - check this link here and read the little overview on the right,

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/grace-slick-fine-art-print/BG037-01-02-FP.html

He said he had to make decision at some point to get away from SF and he wasn't going to get out alive - he joined the Air Force and ended up at Edwards Air Force base - later to become famous for it's Top Gun school - there he was trained and flew whatever new aircraft they had.  He told a great story about being on the tarmac one day and helping with hand signals for a pilot coming in with a new aircraft.  He mounted the side and reached in and undid the belt - and when the pilot got up he saw the insignia - YEAGER - it was Chuck Yeager - one of my boy hood heroes - I used to follow the space program closely and Yeager was a legend - even more so than the astronauts.

Michael didn't go to Nam, but flew into Thailand, Japan, Korea and all around it.  When he left the Air Force he worked at HP for three years - with a young Steve Jobs who would go on to Apple fame.  He then laughed and said, 'don't talk to me about hindsight'.

After that he moved to Colorado and worked in the ski resort industry there - doing set-ups for professional racing series.  He does carpentry on the side and is now semi-retired.  The first waitress he hired for his fish and chip place - well he married her - and they have three daughters - 33 to 22.  

He and his wife have a business together, cleaning houses for the super reach in the resort areas.  These folks own huge 5000 square foot homes that they visit twice a year - Michael and his wife get them ready for habitation just before the super rich show up.  The houses are climate controlled year round and the Home Owners Association charges $1200 a month for maintenance and security.

It was a great conversation - was he pulling my leg - no, I have a good sense for this stuff - he`s the real thing - a reformed hippy.

If you ever want to know what it was like -SF in the late 60s - check out Tom Wolfe`s, `The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test`,

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Kool-Aid-Acid-Test/dp/031242759X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235454283&sr=1-1

It`s a great read and hopefully someone will be brave enough to make a movie out of it some day.  I have always wanted to see footage of the Pranksters bus trip from LA to New York - it must have been one hell of a ride.  Ken Kesey was the man - check out paragraph 3 in this bio,

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/ken-kesey/

The other book to read would be, `A Long Strange Trip`, ostensibly a biography of the Grateful Dead, but really a snapshot of the times,

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Strange-Trip-History-Grateful/dp/0767911865/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1235454223&sr=1-2

We are all one - living, breathing, loving, sharing ...

The silver spoon in the sand - the seaweed barked at me ...

We must be in heaven man ....

Don`t eat the brown acid ...

Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love another right now ...

What a time it was - what`s that old expression, `If you remember the 60s, you weren`t really there`.

Interesting that the 60s closed out with Altamount Speedway, the Stones and the Hell`s Angels knife killing of Meredith Hunter - somehow the optimism created at Woodstock evaporated and the dream was over before it began.  But when you hire The Hell`s Angels for security - man, you get SECURITY.  Hunter made the mistake of drawing a gun with probably no intention to use it; the 5 Hell`s Angels near him with knives, pool cues, hob nail boots and fueled on a concoction of Jack Daniels laced with acid, simply stabbed him five times, kicked and beat him to death while grooving to `Gimme Shelter`,   ... oooh, the storm is threatening, my very life today ...`

To quote from verse 83 of the Krome Koan, `Heavily medicated for your safety.`or 83a, ` said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen`.

Phil

Science To All - Oh Gee

Folks,

I drove over to Moab from Kanab today - one of the more picturesque drives I have taken.  At one point I-70 passes through Spotted Wolf Canyon in the San Rafael Swell and that descent (in the direction I was headed) is very dramatic indeed.  There is a great overhead shot taken from a light aircraft of this section of highway in The Fall Edition of Nikon World - you can the image here,

http://markkettenhofen.com/

Just highlight '500 feet' and it is the image of the curved road with the transport truck on it - it's only a partial of the one published but it and the others will give you an idea of the country here.

Interestingly the original Moab was an area east of the Jordan River (modern day Jordan). Moabites were noted for being incestuous and idolatrous - it's interesting how some things just don't change.

Moab, much to the chagrin of more conservative population of Utah (read Mormon) has gained notoriety as the 'off road' capital of the US - that would be dirt bikes, mountain bikes, jeeps, anything with tires - and we already know from the Koan if it has wheels it will be trouble, right?  

It also has become an extremely popular second home location for those that still have money - which means there are a significant amount of vacant homes here year round.  The conservative folks see the eventual development of Moab to the point of Vail and Aspen as a bad thing.  Which is odd because that is exactly what has happened to Salt Lake City - or more specifically the highly developed ski resort area north of Salt Lake City.

Another interesting trend in Utah is that in all major urban centers, non-Mormons outnumber Mormons, which means that it is only a matter of time before they lose control of the political agenda.  Watch out for a crusade coming shortly.

Tomorrow I intend to spend the day in Arches National Park - named for it's unique geological formations in the shape of .... hmm, what were they called ... Now if you think I had vertigo in Bryce, tomorrow should be hallucinatory - that said the Raven-Crow beasts were on my trail the whole way today - so it could be 'speaking in tongues madness' at daylight.

Thelma and Louise took flight near here and the classic western Wagon Master was filmed here.  Uranium and Vanadium are huge here and that accounts for all the Iranian mountain bikers I have seen.

Not many people know this but the Indiana Jones character is from Moab and the Last Crusade was filmed here as well - fiction and truth in a strange meeting.  Tom Cruise hung from a cliff here in Mission Impossible II - and yes, he was well hung - but not well enough it would seem.  

Interestingly enough Tom is a Scientologist - this is a pseudo-religion/cult where only actors and  musicians can appreciate and understand it's philosophy.  It's hard to figure out what Scientology is 'for', but not what it is against - one of their perceived deadliest anathemas are psychiatrists.  L. Ron claimed their 'profession' was evil and that mental illness was a fraud. You know, if I was paranoid, delusional, psychotic and monomaniacal, I would think that way too.  They still pursue this agenda through proposed legislation today - thank the founding fathers for the separation of pseudo-religion/cult and state - and for the separation of some folks from general society ( find a happy place...)

If you remember the scene from Dr. Strangelove where General Jack D. Ripper relates to Group Captain Lionel Mandrake that fluoridation was a post war commie conspiracy and that he had to take matters into his own hands by engineering a pre-emptive strike on the then Soviet Union - this is thematically how older interviews with L Ron play out when you read them.  There is nothing more terrifying than someone who dreams with their eyes wide open.  The fear intensifies when there are followers - yikes.

To quote Richard Dawkins, 'Of course we must be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out'.

To quote verse 77 of the Krome Koan, 'If you don't like my driving, stay on Earth' or it's companion 77a, 'J-Trav is my co-pilot'

Phil

PS - hundreds of celebrity whack jobs can't all be wrong!

Signs Of The Times

Folks,

Today was packing day as we get ready to move the show to Moab, Utah tomorrow.

Signs, like bumper stickers, can sum everything up in a few words and or indeed be somewhat contradictory.  Some signs entice, some tell you what to do, some tell you what not to do, some are enigmatic and others are just plain strange.

They can be neon, billboard, road side, dragged behind an airplane, tattooed on a body part - you name it, somebody is always looking for a unique way to get the message across.  I think it was Marshall McLuhan who suggested that the media was the message.  And it was Henry Gibson on Laugh-In, who, in one his little short poems, pleadingly enquired, `Marshall McLuhan ... what are you doin` ....

Now people sometimes see `signs` - usually either as very divine apparitions (Fatima) or very evil (Hitler`s astrologer).  Sometimes people hear `signs` - again, divine, Joan of Arc, or evil, Joan Rivers.  

There is no doubt though that if you are looking for a sign, you will find it.  If your mind is open to something, and you really are looking for it, you will find it.  It might be in a bowl off All Bran, in the last slice of luncheon meat in the package, in the bottom of the beer bottle, but you will find it.

And when you do, you will immediately declare the gospel and amass some followers who also have been searching and soon you will codify your philosophy into a book and it`s a matter of time before the inquisitions, auto-de-fe`s and crusades begin.

To quote from verse 666 of the Krome Koan, `Don`t pray in my school and I won`t think in your church` or verse 150 is always good, `Darwin loves you`.

Phil

High Wire F(act)s

Folks,

The land out here is what I refer to as, 'the God's playground'.  Nowhere will you see this kind of landscape - vast upheavals and rifts, deep crevasses and canyons.  And yet as you travel over this country there is one feature that is omnipresent even in the most challenging terrain - the barb wire fence.

Barbed wire was invented in 1874 and it was the first wire technology that would restrain cattle. At first cattle is allowed to roan free range and the herders cut them out in the fall.  As more and more people arrive (i.e., the Homestead Act), people start helping themselves to water, land and cattle.  While barbed wire may have been invented to restrain cattle, it evolved into a way to define ownership of land.  It was the Enclosure Wars of the UK repeated all over again.

Now if you are a western movie fan, a few classics were devoted to the 'range wars' - free rangers against the barbed wire enthusiasts. 'Shane' is a classic, the Broadway musical 'Oklahoma', uses a range dispute as a backdrop and the great film, 'Open Range' deals with this topic as well.  These disputes continued off and on until the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.

I am amazed at the innovation of some of the barbed wire installers because you can find it embedded in hard rock going straight up in the air to meet a section that takes off at an impossible angle over a gulch and then doubles back over some pedestal and then follows the land contour after that - how they did that I have no idea.

Interesting also is that there is a modern day range war shaping up out here.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for the administration of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  They are trying to restrict access to the 'Monument' to hiking/camping only.  This would mean that  a number of folks who currently graze cattle within the 'Monument' boundaries and did so before it was a 'Monument' would lose the right to do so - even though they pay for the right (by the head of cattle) now.  Also to gain access to some of the more picturesque parts of the 'Monument' you would have to hike several mile and camp out for 2-3 days instead of driving part way and having a day hike.  The locals are not happy.

Not unusual for the locals to dismantle/destroy/ incinerate BLM installed fences, etc. as a form of protest.  I am not sure I would want to have any rancher/free ranger mad at me - it seems to me they have weapons and know how to use them!

On the BLM side - and this is very simplistic on my part - it is wild country in there and folks have been trapped for 2-3 days in their vehicles - after a washout or a snowstorm.  Also there are a large number of old Indian ruins, artifacts, petroglyphs, dinosaur tracks, etc. that they wish to protect.  But I really can't see that side of it.

Consider - the dinosaur made the tracks about 65 million years ago - the dinosaur tracks are still there - they survived freeze/thaw cycling, erosion due to wind and water and geologic activity (admitted they were probably not always exposed to the elements over that time).  I don't think a few guys on ATVs are going to much damage where mother nature has done it's best and it's still extant.

The petroglyphs are much more recent - 600 - 1600 years - yet they too are still there and untarnished by human hand.  

My fear is that the more the BLM tries to control and restrict access to these areas, the more it riles up the folks on the right who will display their right to be in those areas by defiling and damaging the very artifacts the BLM wishes to preserve - live and let live.  As usual it is a battle between those that have created a process for government land management and those that simply want to enjoy and use the land - both sides really wanting the same thing.

Oh well - life goes on.

To quote from the Krome Koan, verse 23, 'Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.'

Phil

PS - those aren't dust specs in that sunset photo - they are Raven-Crow beasts ...

I Found JC Tonight ...

... TO BE CONTINUED ....

 ...well it was .. another attack of vertigo.  I have a problem at altitude - I am not afraid to be there - it's just if I turn really quickly or move laterally with a huge depth of field like at Bryce Canyon, I get dizzy and almost nauseous.  At one point I had to get down on one knee.  No wonder the Crow-Raven beasts were talking to me.  Usually after about a half an hour I am OK - at Bryce that sensation was getting worse the longer I was there.  Oh well -  I made it out and home - no thanks to the crows - remember Mickey Rourke hating chickens in Angel Heart - for a whole other reason though.

Today I drove over to Marble Canyon and then back along Highway 89 to photograph the Grand Staircase in profile.  Marble Canyon is sort of the unofficial beginning of the Grand Canyon - just downstream from Lee's Ferry.  At Marble Canyon the bridge is 400 feet above the Colorado River and it is there where they are experimenting with the re-introduction of the condors.  In fact there was a Park Ranger there with a modified paint gun to fire soft projectiles in their direction should they return to roost on the bridge.  He had an antenna to track them - they all have wireless transmitters attached to them - he knows which direction they are heading, he just doesn't know where they are- kind of like me , I guess.

I spent the night with an acquaintance from last year - JC Stimson.  JC is probably mid 60s in age but boy is he youthful in spirit.  JC has travelled the canyons, the gulches, the rivers and the back country of the 'Four Corners' and has slides and video to prove it.  He has put together a 70 DVD set of his adventures and I am proud to say I have the complete set.

JC went over his Moab adventures where I will be headed on Sunday - so needless to say, I am more than well prepared.  JC is from Las Vegas originally - which seems almost at odds doesn't it?

He is one of the few people I know who think nothing of backpacking, hiking or canoeing - completely solo.  I continue to be amazed by the man and his adventures.

Tomorrow will be a less intense photography day for me as I head over to St. George for some general browsing around but the highway always produces dramatic skies at sunset so we'll see what we find coming back.

On the way over and the way back from Marble Canyon, the Raven-Crow beasts were out there - they just weren't talking - which as Martha would say, 'is a good thing.'

To quote from the Krome Koan, verse 51, 'You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

Phil