Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Thematic Photographic - #310 Messy



"I confess you're a mess, but you're my mess!"










MESSY

Shoot out on Deadwood's Main Street can be messy!

(Thank goodness they're only street performers.)



"I'll tell you what happened.  Was the man with a gun, he's done run away now.  Shot himself a drunk thief.  It was real easy."



"Yep, he's done for."



"Hey, what's this cowboy's story?"



Even in the land of make-believe things can get real messy.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Petulantly-Waspish Creatures


"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." 
 - Carl Sagan


A few photos from my weekend stash.

PETULANTLY-WASPISH
CREATURES




"It is the mark of the educated man to entertain a thought without accepting it."
- Aristotle


"Look, no cavities."



"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
 - Walt Disney




"Nah, nah, nah , nah, NAH."







"Yes, thank you very much.  My next show is in one hour."






Mud babies!

God said, "Let us make living things out of mud, so the mud can see what we have done."




"Promise me you'll never forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave." 
- A. A. Milne

So it goes, another year of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival comes to a close for this season.


Saturday, September 27, 2014

Well, Are We Paid Writers Yet? - 27 September 2014


All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain



SIX WORD SATURDAY


WELL, ARE WE PAID WRITERS YET?






Does Papa Smurf have money on "The Boxtrolls"
Opening Weekend Success? Boxtrolls adapted by Here Be Monsters see here and here.


KITES RISE HIGHEST 
AGAINST THE WIND -
(not with it. - Winston Churchhill)

HOW DOES A WRITER BECOME SUCCESSFUL?

Follow the course of others?


WELL ARE YOU 
MAKING MONEY YET?


Enter some that are.

 Joanne Rowling
From living on welfare to living to
 owning a $7 million Georgian House in West London




"It's our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
- J. K. Rowling

"Secretly, we're all a little absurd than we make ourselves out to be."
- J.K. Rowling


Recent Success

2013 film

Wrote the Frozen screenplay, and co-directed with Chris Buck




Kind of a writer, of sorts.
She creates from her own basement.

What she creates is free, she made her money on the ads companies place on her site. 

WHATEVERLIFE

Story here for
Whateverlife.com

It's reported she gets 7 million visitors to her website every month.

Ashley Qualls, a teen-age girl with a creative flair for set up a site to offer layouts for MySpace








The first of my children's book series is nearly complete.  No working on it this weekend.  But the creative flows will be generated immensely.  Today is the Grand Opening of our new Whitetail Woods Regional Park, with live music from the Twin Cities own The Honeydogs, horse=drawn wagon rides, 5K run/walk, food and fun!

The Renaissance tomorrow- Last day of the fair too!



Friday, September 26, 2014

Everything Forgotten Returns to the Circling Winds

Sepia Saturday #247  - 27 September 2014



"Remember what you have seen, because everything forgotten returns to the circling winds." 
- Navajo Wind Chant


Life as they knew it, changed quickly.  

Strangely enough how folks earned a living changed drastically after 1937, and yet festivals and other celebrations in life continued, year after year.

Have you heard about the Harvest Moon Festival?

It's kind of a big thing up in the North Woods.
Check this link out for an idea.



Winton was prosperous as a lumber town beginning in the 1880's.  Story of the giant ancient white pine trees  here.  Following that iron ore deposits were detected.


Stroll along through quaint little Winton that survived the ins and outs as well as they could in northern Minnesota.



Winton, Minnesota



Houses and lone dog in lumber bust town, Winton.




Happy couple aren't they?

Too bad he covered up his name and the other writing across his apron.

I'm guessing, this friendly chap may have been Emil?

The photo reads, Storekeeper and his wife in "bust" iron mining town.







Abandoned Saloon, and possible restaurant?
August 1937


Broken down steps 
entrance to abandoned house.
Owner unknown.



Abandoned properties, yes.  But they still had a Post Office in the summer of 1937.





William Besson
and mine shaft he abandoned.




Near Winton, Minnesota


Old resident of Winton.




and





Sharpening an axe.








Winton began to struggle like many other towns Up-North.



Freshly washed clothes hung on the line for every household.





Another resident connected to lumbering in Winton.








Winton mining prospector with his homemade windlass.





Children of "Lumber Bust" Winton










Residents of section 30
also near Winton.


A handmade saw mill constructed by a Winton resident.



Winton Resident that formerly owned a livery stable.




Changes happen.  "Mankind is resilient; the atrocities that horrified us a week ago become acceptable tomorrow." - Joseph Heller

But there's a happy ending for those remaining (172 per 2010 census) residents of Winton.


and it has to do with the Winton Power Dam
Hydro Power since 1924.


More photos here at Winton  Gallery.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Good Fences - # 27 - Falling into Fun

It just wouldn't be autumn without a trip to a pumpkin patch, and catch a few fences too.

GOOD FENCES









"What, I have to beg for treats?  Not me, I'm waiting for that little hand to feed me my bites!"





Just strolling along carefree.  Not a trouble or worry in my little world.

"Life has no remote.  Get up and change it yourself." - Mark A. Cooper



Yeah, yeah, we'll get to the pumpkins, and the festive scarecrows soon enough.  Must say hello to all my animal friends out here.






Closer please!  What! Empty hand?








Extra fun maze made of rope fencing on fence posts!






Oh yeah, where are those pumpkins and scarecrows anyway?

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Is This Art?

Is This Art? Or, perhaps just lost treasures?




"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." -  Pablo Picasso



One man's junk can be another man's treasure.


"Random things are luxurious to people.  It's personal." - L'Wren Scott




"One eye sees, the other feels." -   Paul Klee




"Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity." - Damien Hirst




This piece of art was shaped by many hands, and originally based on the idea of random things discovered floating in any lake, river or simply left on the ground for lost.



"Art making is not about telling the truth but making the truth felt." -  Christian Boltanski



Sometimes we have the sudden urge to bake sugar cookies and scribble frosting in the silliest of ways.






"We don't catch hold of an idea, rather the idea catches hold of us, and enslaves us and whips us into the arena so that we, forced to be gladiators, fight for it." -  Anna Funder




Major companies present the likes of ensembles much like this one which can be seen at the Radisson Blu in Bloomington, Minnesota.






"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star." -  Friedrich Nietzsche





Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Mag - 21 September 2014

The Mag






THE BURDEN OF PROVING


She moves in exile
on broken tiles of woes 
framed about her ankles.






He said, she'd never 
escape the weeds
of her days.

She'd always wear an air 
of resignation in tomorrow's cloud,
always hanging heavily over 
her today's sunshine.


But, he'd be mistaken.



Each mere step into the wealth of her worries
were steps only she mustered
from the embers of her shadows-

Shadows that dwelled,
left an ashy trail at best.
Shadows were her zest,
begging her on.

From the edges of her soul
undoubtedly, there's no cure in
arguing.  She treads well the avenue
of her dreams ever still.

If you're lucky, you may meet her someday, along the avenue.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Beware Leaf Peepers -

It's not time to reach for your camera just yet.


Not every tree has made the great change over yet!

Greetings from our last weekend of summer here in Minnesota.  This year's ending for summer possesses a determined touch of magic that may not deter autumn, but offers instead, a quarrelsome nature.  Hoping to reassure all, it'll be back in full swing sooner than we know.


Friday morning opens-




Saturday afternoon beckons in a rainbow of cheer-



Lions rest before their gentle roar of winter's song.



Frogs scatter.


Wise enough to find shelter.



What did the iron horse have to say?  "May I help you, little one?"






Create your own pictures here-






No chair is too small to be shared.






"Walk neither faster nor slower than your own soul.  Because it is your soul that will teach you the usefulness of each step you take."  - Paulo Coelho





Our days end in summer's glow, preferring to linger rather than disappear.



Perhaps these are summer's last words for this year, but I find them rather refreshing don't you?