Having invested considerable time and resources to create a website to share my images through galleries and philosophy through a blog I have to confess that during these challenging past few months I’ve struggled to be creative. So commenced “radio silence” from this wanna be blogger and photographic artist. Truth told, I haven’t done anything since my last blog except…
It all started with painting the living room back when the pandemic forced a shutdown (read lock down).
The conversations with Patty went typically something like this. I would say, “Hey! It’s the weekend! What should we do?” And Patty would respond, “We can either paint or take a walk.” Or Patty would say, “Hey, it’s Wednesday! What should we do?” And I would say, “Let’s take a walk after we’re tired of painting.”
Thank God, we finally got everything painted, the banister, the ceilings, closets and the trim. You name it, it got painted. And it was only April. Then the conversation shifted. I’d say to Patty, “Hey! It’s the weekend!” And she’d say, “We can take a walk after you tear the living room carpet out.” And I would think, “This fucking pandemic’s gonna kill me…”
After ripping up the glued down parkay wood in the entry way,
the carpet in the living room and linoleum in the kitchen (of course the cabinets had to come out), every nail in the sub-floor got set (hit with the hammer) followed up by a threaded fastener. This floor is squeak proof! And here’s something I never thought I’d say, “I’m done with banging and screwing”.
Now we’re starting our third week without a kitchen. But we have one hell of a nice floor.*** Just ask the dogs.
… Breaking radio silence.
Like most successful writers, I try not to publish anything I’ve written when I’m pissed, tired, hungry, drunk or stoned which sort of describes my condition after they cancelled Major League Baseball, Hockey, March Madness and closed my favorite brewery.
That was then. Today, things look a little brighter. I’m sitting at the bar of my favorite brewery, sipping my favorite beer trying to avoid using the following phrases in this essay:
- “These unprecedented times” – a phrase that currently appears in 98% of every news cast and advertisement. Implies concern. I’m concerned alright.
- “We’re in this together” – this is not news. Fact of the matter is, “we’ve always been in this together“. You can quote me on that.
- “These past challenging months” – aw shit. Already used that one.
- “The new normal” – Whenever I hear this it makes me want to vomit?
- “_______________ matter” – fill in the blank. The main reason I pay to have a blog is to talk about shit that matters, and I have a camera to do work that matters – just look at the footer on this website or read my bio.
I’ll wrap this one up here before I get on a rant. I sincerely hope you and yours are well and surviving these unprecedented times with some kind of normalcy.
Me? I’m a protest veteran from the 60s. I have a “sit in” in my driveway most afternoons. I play America the Beautiful by Ray Charles as loud as my JBL bluetooth speaker will crank it, drink a beer, light one up and let my hair grow out.
Peace!
Your friend,
Mike
*** I have to give a shout out to Patty for her help and her son Kyle who assisted with the tear out and did the entire floor and cabinet install.
Ps. Your thoughts matter too! Share a bit of your philosophy in the comment section where it says Leave a Reply.
Pss. I promise to put some nice art on the site shortly and be more regular with the blog so be sure to subscribe. In the meanwhile, here’s a couple snap shots from our vacation to Wyoming and Colorado.
Psss. Did i mention I’m ending my radio silence? God damn the virus and while I’m at it, god damn ignorance and violence.