Happy New Year

I only posted to this blog five times in 2013.  But since it seemed like I wasn't blogging at all, I'm kind-of surprised by that number.  And since this is my first post of 2014, I guess this blog isn't completely dead yet.  And I wonder how long it can exist?  Will it still be here somewhere on the internets ten years from now if I don't purposely take it down? Will it still be here in twenty years? Fifty?  I doubt that.  But who knows.

I didn't take as many creative photos last year as I usually do.  But here are some of my favorites from 2013:

Hilary Who?

I think everyone should have a hyphenated name (sort of like the way it's done in Spanish speaking  countries.) For example: if your father's name was Tom Smith-Brown and your mother's name was Ann White-Jones, you would be Jane Brown-Jones.

It has never made sense to me that children get their father's last name, but not their mother's. I say it's time to end this outdated custom of the patriarchy. Under the hyphenated name system a woman would not change her name when she married - another outdated custom. Since women can now vote and own property I think they ought to be able to keep their names, too.

Here's another little interesting part of my idea: Females would take the name of their father first, mother second, and males would take the name of their mother first, father second.  The brother of Jane Brown-Jones would be Tom Jones-Brown.

In this way Jane's children would get her maternal name, and Tom's children would get his paternal name.

Pretty nifty, huh? Sure do wish I was queen of the world.
 What would your name be under my system?

The Queen of California

I recently discovered this song by John Mayer.  Love this video version of it.

Blue moon

I made a new photo collage that I think is pretty cool:     

Sans umbrella in the suburbs

It  rained here today in the suburbs of Detroit and so, of-course, I took my umbrella along with me when I went out to do errands.  I opened my umbrella each time I got out of my car to walk into a building -which included the post-office, the grocery store, and the library.   But I was the only person using an umbrella at each of those places!   Everyone else just ran through the rain, or waited in their cars for it to stop.

I've noticed this trend for a couple of years now.  I guess most people are too cool to own an umbrella.  Or else they just don't think they need one because everyone drives to where they're going in the suburbs.  And I think this is too bad.  There's something so civilized about umbrellas.  There's also something about being in your own little world below your umbrella that those without them miss out on.  It's also fun to have an umbrella that expresses your personality or fashion sense.

I love my Mona Lisa umbrella - a gift from a friend many years ago.  It's not something I would have ever bought for myself, but I love to use it on rainy days.  I love the smiles I sometimes get because of it.  I took this photo of my grandson, Ben, with my umbrella last year:

Marche Du Nain Rouge

On Sunday March 25, 2012 I helped kick the Nain Rouge out of the city of Detroit.

According to legend, this small red devil has been causing trouble in Detroit for more than 300 years. When the French explorer Antoine Cadillac founded the city in 1701 he encountered the Nain and hit him on the head with his cane, causing the Nain to put a curse on him

Since then, the Nain Rouge has been spotted throughout Detroit's history, most notably at the city's most unfortunate occurrences.

There was once a yearly tradition of marching a symbolic Nain out of the city. This tradition, which ended in 1910, was revived in 2010.

I missed the first two modern marches, but I'm glad I finally got to participate this year. Me and BB are somewhere in the middle of this photo. 

What a treat to be part of such a positive, fun event in a neighborhood, the Cass Corridor, that was once notoriously dangerous. I hope it's a tradition that continues for many years to come.





















It's important to come to the Marche Du Nain Rouge in disguise, so the Nain won't recognize you. It's also a good excuse to wear whatever crazy thing you'd like to wear. Most marche attendees got into the spirit of the event and dressed up. I only wish I'd taken more pictures, but I was having too much fun to shoot.

One of the best parts of the marche and the party at Masonic Auditorium afterward was the presence of the Detroit Party Marching Band. A guerrilla band that sometimes appears at events unexpectedly, they play a mix of Balkan-inspired songs, and modern pop tunes re-arranged for brass. Their energy and enthusiasm made the day.

Color!

One of my photos is in this group show - the blue one at the bottom right of this poster. Because I've been working so hard on my thesis I haven't been taking pictures or doing anything fun for weeks and weeks and weeks, so I'm really looking forward to seeing my photo up on the wall with all these other photo artists and schmoozing at the opening reception.

Two Years of Counting

It's been two years now since I added a hit counter to this blog and I'm pretty amazed at the results - especially considering how infrequently I put things up and how little promotion I do.

4,379 visits have been made since 12/24/09.

78% of people who click onto this blog come from the United States, but it has been visited by people from 79 countries, including Bulgaria, Jordan, Ireland, Russia, and Estonia!

I know that just because someone happens to click onto this blog for whatever reason doesn't mean that they actually read any of it, but still.... it boggles my mind.

I really like the idea of blogging, but I think this kind of blog - a personal blog - has pretty much been replaced by Facebook. In an amazingly short amount of time, blogging has begun to seem somewhat old-fashioned!

I say I don't have the time to blog, but I do find the time each day to visit Facebook. I scroll through all the recent status updates, maybe play a video clip or two, look at some photos, make a few comments, and play a few games of Scrabble. I wonder how much time that eats up?

If you're one of the few people who actually reads my posts, and especially if you've actually read this one: Best Wishes for a happy new year!

Marcel the Shell With Shoes on

Still too busy with schoolwork to blog. In the meantime here's something amusing:







Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is a stop motion animated short film about Marcel, an anthropomorphic shell. It is a collaboration between writer/director Dean Fleischer-Camp and writer/actress Jenny Slate.

The film premiered theatrically at AFI FEST 2010 where it was awarded Best Animated Short [2] and was an official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at the New York International Children's Film Festival.

November 22 1963

I was in 4th grade. A nun came into our classroom to tell us the President had died. My first thought was of Caroline. I was sad for her, and sad that she and her brother would have to move out of the White House. On the walk home that afternoon some boys said that the Russians would probably attack now because we didn't have a president.