Feeling my age a little. I think it's a myth that we get smarter as we get older. I think we're just giving ourselves "extra credit" for having survived this long.

I had so much fun taking the Boxcar graffiti photos on Friday that I decided to check out the tracks by Fort Dent here in Tukwila yesterday. I've been walking through there for years, and I got a bunch of shots that I'm going to edit soon. This vantage point is from the walking/bicycle bridge just north of the Sounders practice Fields. You walk over this bridge headed south towards Ft Dent, take a left, and there's a path that crosses under the tracks and continues over to the Black River area.

Looking through the pass-through I put in between the kitchen and the living room, Neo the cat was patiently waiting for me to make my coffee, so he could snuggle up to me while I read the morning newspaper...

They were all lined up, and posing for me on Friday. Driving home along Airport Way, how could I Not stop and take photos? I love the colors, shadows, spray paint playing over the different surfaces, the signatures of different taggers...

Sometimes, when I decide to watch a video in the bedroom at night, I'll take one of my old Hawaii shirts and drape it over the light next to our bed:

This is one of my favorite places to walk, not far from our home. I call it Seatac Park, because it's just North of the Seatac Airport, and it's where I've taken most of those overhead plane shots.

The other day though, I was looking down as much as I was looking up.

Star Bangled Banner - Dave Bunker on Touch Guitar

Not very functional, even as a pill box, but fun to make. I can put 22 low dose aspirins in there, but it will only hold two of my Multiple Vitamins or Vit C pills. 2 3/4" tall :)

A shout out here to my brother's father-in-law Dave Bunker, and amazing musician and the creator of the "Touch Guitar". This wood is from the scrap wood box where he was making some of his beautiful guitars. The first of the following links is Dave playing Jimmy Hendrix's "Star Bangled Banner". Do watch!

Star Bangled Banner - Dave Bunker on Touch Guitar

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000625&slug=4028640
https://www.facebook.com/BunkerGuitarsAndBasses/

Sujatha, is this the box u remember? The dimensions were approximately 7x16x5, and I remember that I made it for a Special Project I signed up for with an Art Prof for 5 credits. When I took it in at the end of the Qtr, he told me to give myself a grade. Like a dummy?, I gave myself a "B" because it wasn't finished. Oh well. I also remember meeting Armen Stephanian, the "unofficial mayor of Fremont" at the time. He's the face of the dog in the "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture by the Fremont Bridge. I was sitting in front of "Toad Hall", a group house where I was renting a room, working on the lid carving when he came to visit one of my roommates. He pointed out that I was going to hurt myself if I didn't stabilize the wood better.

"Waiting for the Interurban" - the sculptor, Richard Beyer, "made the face of the dog to resemble Fremont political leader and the city's "godfather of recycling" Armen "Napoleon" Stephanian, who Beyer had public disagreements with in the 1970s." I googled this photo. People like to dress up the figures...

In Seatac Park yesterday morning, looking Down into puddles again...

and Up when the planes are coming in for landings...

I was going to post only one of the Plane shots, but I like all three of them. All three were of the same plane, with my camera setting on Sport.

I just saw where sales of George Orwell's "1984" have soared!

I decided to post this one without any editing, other than cropping. Beauty is everywhere. This was in a ditch alongside the road during my morning walk yesterday. A combination of moving water, shadows, reflections, and a low morning sun. The colors, etc were caught with my camera on "Auto", my usual setting...

I'm really excited about Chuck the box-maker Part 2. When I was on Lopez Island, besides the street fair circuit during the nice weather months, I had a routine of going over to Bellingham every Friday. I would take my boxes up to the W Wash U campus and rent a table outside the Student Union bldg ($1). I often sold 4 or 5 boxes, priced between 5 and 20 dollars. Mostly the less expensive ones. I would then take my remaining inventory down to "Gallery West" in Fairhaven, and the owner at the time, Dave, would often buy what was left. I have fond memories of negotiating prices with Dave, and how he would double the amount, and put the price tag on the box right there :) I would then go to a store in North B'ham that carried some nice hardwoods and buy some wood. After that, I would treat myself to a meal at a restaurant. Then off to hitch hike back to Anacortez and my ferry ride back to Lopez. The second year I spent up there, my brother JR left his motorbike on the island, and I loaded up a back pack and rode up to B'ham along the coast and beautiful Chuckanut Drive.
One big difference between then and now is that I'm not creating these pieces to pay the rent and buy food. These are for me, for fun, etc. :)
This is Box #2. The dimensions are approximately 2"x3"x1".

In the words of that famous philosopher, Rodney King: "Can't we all just get along?" A little facetious maybe, but I'm serious. Back to my photos and box-making...

Even with my Popsicle fingertips, I had a good walk downtown this morning...