Salvaging a Cold, Wet Weekend....

It had been our intention to go "primitive" (no electricity, no running water) camping in Florida's Seminole State Forrest this weekend. But.... with rain and temperatures in the 30s forecast, we turned old and wimpy and decided to camp out in comfort with family and friends in Winter Park (FL) instead. While this meant we were not going to have the chance to spot any bear, deer, or big birds, we did manage to capture the images of a few feathered friends outside of the kitchen window...

The photo above is a Downey Woodpecker, hunting a bug meal in a small tree. Below is what we believe to be a Carolina Warbler in the same little tree a few minutes later....

TUrned out to be a great weekend after all -- not much photography, but very much time with family and friends that we don't get to see often enough... simple!

Another Year Down...

Untouched, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Time to update the profile information to reflect my passage through year number 56. I've passed the speed limit on many roads today. But the regrets, while there, are remarkably few. Interestingly, I've had more birthday calls, wishes, and visits today than I've had in the last five years combined. Not sure what that means other than that I've expanded my reach a bit. Friends connected with through FaceBook and MySpace Music that I haven't heard from in 30 years... my office crowded with co-workers singing Happy Birthday... my 2 year old grandson leaving a phone message that sounds vaguely like "happy birthday grandpa"...e-cards from distant relatives... dinner with my wife, youngest daughter and her fiance. A song by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris posted by a friend 3,000 miles away. Pretty cool business.

So I'm 56, employed, healthy, more full of friends than I really knew. Life is good. Simple.....

Blast From The Past

And now for something completely different....

About 35 years ago... Back in college in central Ohio... I played saxophone and sang in a 1950's Rock an Roll Revival Band called Dick E. Do and the Don'ts. The guy in the top photo (shot a a concert we played at Centerville High School) is Russ -- our lead guitar player. Until two years ago, I had not seen Russ since graduation in '75. That's me, immediately below -- breaking the hearts of the high school girls...

A couple of years ago someone had the bright idea that it was time to get the band back together again -- at least to hang out for a few days. So four of us (two have died and a couple couldn't make it) met in Austin Texas to gawk at each other's signs and symptoms of aging after more than 30 years. So here's Russ -- older and a little wiser, two years ago at a guitar show we stopped at in Austin...


Ah, but there's more... early last week I get a text message on my 21st century cell phone asking if we would like some company for a day. Turns out our boy Russ was biking from Texas through Florida -- taking a week off of being an oil company executive.

So this is Russ, as of yesterday morning, along with Mrs. Muse (who was a mere rock and roll groupie back in the day). The man still plays a mean guitar...