neal...keepin' it real.

your life laid bare here
under scrupulous young eyes
have watched all and cheered

favorite things 14

it's been a busy day. my son aaron turned 11 and he wanted to start the day out by getting a dozen doughnuts from the bakery and then settling in to watch the giants/pirates this morning at 9:30. the kid is baseball crazy coming off a giants world series win. fortunately they won their rubber match today for him against the bucs at that beautiful park that so echoes the look and feel of our own.
later he opened his presents which included a new bat and batting gloves. grandpa and grandma came up and brought him a new catcher's glove. we spent the afternoon shagging flies and taking bp out on our front lawn. and he didn't want to stop. and i didn't want to stop.
back when i was in my early twenties i read an article in a magazine about the nokona athletic goods company in the little town of nocona, tx. i loved the idea of this little town's economy dependent on making quality baseball gloves and when i came across one in a used sporting good store one day i grabbed it. i've had my nokona for nearly twenty years now and it has only gotten better with age.


i also love the idea of carrying an old catcher's glove and a ball around. once i took the bus up to seattle with a friend of mine and when we stopped for a bathroom break a couple of guys broke out their gloves for a catch. whipping it back and forth across the asphalt parking lot. it was beautiful to watch. and there is this beautiful cycle of going from throwing the ball with my dad, when i was the gawky kid who dropped routine flies to now being the dad throwing those same pop flies to my own son. and when one sails over his head because he misjudged it and he goes chasing it down, i sometimes look down at the back of my nokona and smile as the sun warms me.

a bridge on both sides
of a divided land that
keeps men from crossing

borders

i have been looking at borders lately. i'm doing this project at work that requires me to find remote radio antenna locations. sometimes there are addresses listed, but often i only have a set of gps coordinates. using google earth this usually gets me right in the backyard, but sometimes it pins a position quite a distance away. as i went through my list of sites sometimes i would notice "nad27" before listing the coordinates. most of ours use nad83. a little bit of research showed me the nad27 model was created in the 1800's by a survey team that traversed the entire north american continent and was based on an ellipsoid.
in the 1980's satellite mapping technology revealed that earth was not as perfect an ellipse as originally suspected and thus a new more accurate model was created. and even today there is a another model called wgs84 using the center of the earth as reference. so what does all this mean?
interestingly, as we travel around the country and pass from one state into another, these borders may have shifted. often as much as the length of a football field or more. the invisible lines we have drawn on maps to establish fences have been re-staked. all those folks who made trips to the four corners states as kids and stuck a hand and foot in four different states at once may have only been bending over in utah.
and this got me to thinking about what is it that actually creates a border anyway? if you look at a map of the united states, those early established states are often separated by natural borders like rivers, ocean and mountain ranges. this it seems to me is an idea that makes the most sense. but when you get into areas like kansas and nebraska where it's all just rolling flatland, then what? i guess since there's no more land to discover and draw new lines on we'll just keep erasing the old and re-drawing new ones.

the slow turn of a
monday unbuckles freeing
rusty wheels to roll

risen

in time of legions
we stood together fighting
unseen enemies

little green men

my son made this diorama recently for a project fair. his project centered around andrew j higgins and his famous seacraft. he built his model to scale around the little green army men and finished it off with some painted duct tape surf and real sand.


as classic toys go the plastic army men certainly i think make the top 10 list. although they don't really do much except stand in position (or lie if you're crawling guy) there is something very wonderful and comforting for a small child to command a small army. to set each one up in lines and rows as your eyes and imagination travel past each soldier contemplating his situation and ultimate fate.


when i was a kid i only had the one army. some sets came with the same guys cast in two colors, the traditional green and a desert tan. and i always felt a little strange sending them up against each other, like it was a just a field exercise. one day my wife brought home a big bucket with 4 different armies in it, the american green, a tan british desert troop, a pale green japanese group and a grey german detachment all complete with respective flags. where were these when i was a boy?
the thing i love the most though is the level of detail on these tiny guys. i remember as a kid i would stare at each one turning it in my hand. the pistol and holster on the officers. straps and belts. the tiny canteen and pockets. and even the obligatory circles showing where the plastic injection tube connected to the mold. and recently two of my boys started painting some of these guys to add a little more detail and personalize their squad.


when we were kids we spent hours setting them up but i never really knew what to do after that. sometimes a kid who would take his hand and wave it across your army and declare that he had just dropped an atomic bomb, but that didn't really seem sporting. we sometimes use a bag of rubber bands and take turns laying flat from behind each soldier and shooting at the opposing side. it sort of brings the battle to a more personal level.
and then i think of the life my little plastic army man left behind. the hopeful plastic family waiting anxiously for news from the front. the green plastic girlfriend writing letters with news and encouragement and promises of what life could be like if my little guy can just make it home in one piece.

the beginning of life
presses outward from here to
start the push of death

wednesday night is bowling night...

satisfying that
question of what lies behind
curiosity

feeling wild today. spring break. kids are out of school. many things are possible...

packing up troubles
as rest stops here and the soul
journey continues

crime?

while refilling my coffee at work this morning and gazing out the window wishing i was outside and not here at work, i noticed these concrete benches that line the walkways. yes, i have noticed them before and i've also noticed the little brackets that have been glued and screwed along the edges every three feet or so. i am sure that you have noticed them too. they weren't part of the original design but are an afterthought in response to one activity.


now, these modifications don't really prohibit anyone from using the bench as originally intended, but they are there, and serve as a reminder that this activity is no longer encouraged, and as much as is possible, prohibited.
don't get me wrong, i do understand what is going on here and i get the practical defense of this kind of action. as a business you maintain a certain level of liability for not taking such actions. and you certainly don't want to be seen as encouraging such behavior as would incur liability. so although the designers of your surrounding architecture never saw this coming, for you the business to take no action to modify the original design sends the wrong message.
funny thing is it may not prohibit people from trying, and in the process actually cause more damage then if nothing had been done to stop it in the first place.


and so there is a conversation going on here that i find interesting. the architects and designers set out to make a statement and the guerilla psychogeographers set out to exploit them. and in the middle of this back and forth it looks like the original design got shelved along the way and has since been redressed. something tells me though that the conversation will continue.

look up to the sun
and orient yourself now
to the rising road

lincoln highway part 001

i've gone on before about old roads. i love 'em. my advice to all the young people is to go find them and get lost. i've waxed on before about old hwy 40, but i think now it's worth mentioning the lincoln. for roads scholars it must begin here. route 66 gets all the buzz. it helps when they write a song and make a tv show about you. and i'm sure it's pretty too. some call it the mother road. but i honestly think this is a misnomer. the real mother road is the lincoln highway.
conceived in 1912 by industrialists keen on affording the public better roads and formally open for travel in 1913, it was the first continuous coast to coast road across the united states. it was not so much a purpose built road, but rather a route linking together existing roads and improving conditions on the worst sections along the way. in this sense it was a patchwork of so many of the local roads sewn together to cover the country. and in the spirit of the time, maintained and promoted through local municipalities rather than a single agency.
at this time serious road travel was not for the faint of heart. the auto and motorcycle were still in relative infancy and often unpredictable. and the road infrastructure hadn't yet caught up with the ambition of driving for extended periods. so often you read advice from veteran travelers in guidebooks advising would be adventurers to "gas up at every opportunity" and carry extra fuel for the long gaps between services. the surfaces could vary between newly paved sections to gravel depending on where you were, and it was never advisable to travel after dark. the lincoln, though primitive would be the impetus for so many of the road projects that followed, including 66.
in the 1920's the states began numbering highways and the original lincoln route was re-designated us 40 from san francisco to utah. it basically runs along us 30 from there to the east coast. as roads will it has undergone significant and constant realignments in the years that followed. but for the more serious road geeks like myself, it is the original route that is most interesting. here you travel back in time and sometimes see the ghosts of the old highway as you travel.
for the most dedicated of enthusiasts there is the lincoln highway association, a group dedicated to promoting and preserving this national relic. each year their members hold a conference in one of 12 states along the original route. and this year they're meeting in my home state just up the road in lake tahoe. included in this year's list of activities is a drive from the original western terminus in lincoln park, san francisco to lake tahoe along the original alignment. sounds like a lot of fun. and maybe i might just find myself tagging along behind the caravan of runabouts and straw boaters going all the way --- on the lincoln highway.

from here we've watched the
world blur past but soon will see
clearly and be known

night church

it's nearly 6pm on a sunday night and i'm flying down murphy's grade road following my friend jess. we're both returning from a weekend in the mountains with our families. jess is riding his r60 and i'm on his brother todd's r75. its' april and the days are just beginning to grow longer. it is sunday night, almost 6pm and the road is nearly empty. it's the dinner hour and the night before the return to the work week, and most people have settled in by now.
as we near the angels camp high school i glance over to my left and something catches my eye. the sign for the church advertises a sunday evening service and i see the small crowd arriving. my head spins as a thousand sunday evening memories come flooding back. it's 6 o' clock and i am back in the church of my growing up. night church is for the hardcore. the devotees. the ones who open and close the doors. it is the inner core. and i am transported there. seeing the faces of those no longer here. the more casual atmosphere. it is family time. old time testimonials. a glimpse into the pain of the olders. it is where i am now in life.
and as we speed by at nearly 70mph i am drifting now. i am taking night church away with me. and it now rides on the back of my bike as new worship continues.

before you can love
something new you must first love
something that is old

philately have i loved

one of my sons recently developed a new interest for collecting stamps. he checked a book out from the library and has since immersed himself in procuring and studying these little works of art. he even pestered me enough to go digging for a few old canceled examples i'd kept in an envelope. i was never really a stamp bug. comic books was my career in collection. i can see the draw though. the art and design. the international flavors. the romance of travel. politics and history, science and economics, sure sure, it's all there.
sadly i think though that it is a dying passion. we're into the second decade of the 21st century now and how much magic is really left in this old pastime? and though we can now communicate across oceans with each other instantly i don't think we are better for it. life was what used to happen while you waited for replies. the news from a loved one, the encouragement that weighed against our doubts as days passed waiting for a letter. isn't there so much more to say in those spaces?
i used to take great pleasure in buying stamps at the post office, like finding something that would express to the world who i was as they moved silently, even unnoticed in that corner of an envelope. they were there. and sometimes i might even pick out and save one for a special friend in hopes that they would see my secret message and smile. little bits of currency and art from my hand to yours.

the dream of boyhood
played out now at scale
under watchful eyes

feeling subdued.

the division of our
lives wears heavy on us like
harlequin masks

sisyphus

sunday was a beautiful day. i awoke to no obligation after 2 days of hectic appointments. the sun was out but not too hot yet. i went outside our door and looked down the hill. among the growing green grass i spotted a discarded car wheel and sent my boys down to fetch it. oh the fun that can be had with a wheel and a hill!
we tromped all over that hill rolling the wheel again and again. sometimes it would hit a little bump and catch air and we all let out a hoot. and what goes down must of course come back up, so i got my fair share of exercise which i am much in need of. later we took the wheel to another hill and rolled it into a culvert where it bounced and rolled back and forth like on a skate ramp.
spring is indeed in the air. the birds are flitting back and forth as they gather nesting materials. i spotted a garter snake, a bullfrog, a hummingbird, a butterfly and a field mouse. where have these been all winter? as we enjoy this fine weather in a time between extremes i'm looking for more days like this. and as i rolled that old wheel along the trail with a stick, the thought occurred to me, "pity the rich for they cannot afford such simple pleasures"

and monday finds us
back in the yard of our thoughts
sorting out the lines

exploring outdoors and back roads today to find hidden cathedrals...

the line blurs between
fair trade and extortion and
makes us all poorer

the stereo project

i saw this great collage on brainwerk's blog (full credit to we love typography) and loved it! i started thinking about all of the great old record sleeves i have and decided to tackle my own "stereo project". and the more i got into this the more it became like an archaeological dig. all of my records from the 70's and up made no mention of being stereo, and the earlier records in my collection used the term "high fidelity". a little research showed the development of true stereo beginning in the late 1950's and really progressing throughout the 1960's.
at this time the new stereo technology must have seemed a revelation to then audiophiles whose equipment up to that time had been like the old horn gramophones, a single output. and as more and more record companies caught on to the act they began marketing their releases with catchy names. so as you went out buying records and then discussing these purchases with your friends you may have asked "yeah, but is that living stereo?" or "full dimensional?". "does it have duo-range?". "is it full 360 or kaleidoscopic wondersound?!" wow, i think i would have gone a little nuts.
anyway, by the time i was buying new records it was a given that you were buying a stereo record. no more crossover sales where if you hadn't paid close enough attention you might get home before realizing you just bought the latest beatles record in mono! i guess too a day will come in the not long from now when broadcasters will stop reminding us the shows we're watching are in "hd" as well. i hope you enjoy this little "stereo project" album.

(next month a new installment of actual music. promise.)