the mighty hunter

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 This image and others available for sale at my RedBubble Site!

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Thematic Photographic 73: "Leaves" v.2.0 - Leaves of Spring

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"Just Gotta Be Different, Don't I?"
Morrisville, NC - June 2009 (Click to embiggen)

 Hosted by Written Inc.

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Or was it summer already? Might have been, it was late June. But around here late spring and early summer are virtually indistinguishable from each other. For that matter, early spring and summer. So the leaves here bust out early and stay late like the party guest that doesn't know when to leave. (Get it? "Leave"? Nevermind.) But given the merciless heat of the Carolina summer, that's a good thing. At least you can find some shade... most places anyway.

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Friday, Solstice, and Bacteria

Today is the longest day of the year. And I feel like 10 miles of bad road that sank into a swamp (or maybe a castle nudge-nudge-wink-wink). Great stuff, na? Apparently the abscess that was doing its best to turn me into the Elephant Man managed to send out infiltrators before the assault on it late yesterday afternoon. Because I awoke this morning feeling like I had the mother of all colds coming on. My chest feels something like I'd imagine a coal miner's to feel after a bad day at the office. How cruelly ironic that I'd have a chest full of crap after I quit smoking.

I guess I can actually say that now: "after I quit smoking." Let me pause and take that in for a moment. Okay, I'm done. It's not the word "after" that's a wonder, it's the context for it. It's always been used in future tense before. As in, "I can do X 'after I quit smoking'". I've never stayed quit long enough to use it in the past tense. As in, "I X'ed 'after I quit smoking'". So pardon me while I get used to this.

If nothing else, all this crap in my chest coupled with all the other influences will make the idea of relapsing too horrible to contemplate.

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A few days ago I ran into a charming couple from Pune, India at the dog park। Being something of an Indo-phile, I struck up a conversation sticking to the "usual" topics I'd discuss with my other friends from the sub-continent. Nothing more controversial or enlightening than the latest trends in Bollywood films or music. The woman - whose name I later learned is "Neesha" (Hindi: नीशा) - mentioned that she'd written a book. That alone is enough to perk my ears up, then she went on to say that it had done fairly well in India - especially for a non-fiction work. Then she dropped the real bombshell. At the book launch, she was joined by Shabana Azmi -- who's famed all over India both as an actress and a politician. I found it remarkable that someone so influential took the time to do a book reading -- especially for a non-fiction work. Until I learned more about the book's subject. I won't go into details here (mainly because I haven't read it yet), but if you want to know more you can go to http://baba.niya.org/. In brief, the book is about a humanist and Gandhian named Baba Amte and the work he did for the betterment of less fortunates in his 94 years.

You just never know who will turn up at the dog park.

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Worth 1000 Words, But Needs A Title
Occasionally I enter stuff in competitions and I've considered this shot for such an effort.Trouble is I have no title for it. Usually "Untitled" is fine with the people running the contests, but I don't like to submit untitled work. (I'm just weird that way, okay?) So I thought I'd offer it for consideration since there are so many creative people out here in the blogosphere.

And no, Iwon't tell you whose pants they are.Stumble This!

It has to be said.

It's the only sporting thing to do I guess. Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings. They knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 last night at Mellon Arena to take a 4-2 series win and claim their 4th Stanley Cup since the 1997-98 season. So now I've said it, but don't ask me to say it again.

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Summertime and the living is...
...hot. Not merely uncomfortably warm, we're talking about brain-boiling, energy-sapping, chipotle-seasoned temps over the next 6 days (or more?). Today's high is supposed to reach 97, then a string of 99's through Sunday before we drop to 98 on Monday and Tuesday and 95 on Wednesday. When did this happen? We were cruising along with a nice mild spring right up through the end of May. Then suddenly somebody turns the gas on and we jumped from the low- to mid-80's into triple-digit heat indices. Not funny guys. Knock it off.
And should we manage to climb to an actual temperature of 100 or more before Sunday, it will be the earliest 100-degree day ever recorded in Raleigh. It's a record I wouldn't complain about not breaking.

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Presidential race green-flagged
I guess it's official. Barack Obama has apparently locked up the Democratic nomination for the White House. The question now becomes whether or not America is willing to put a non-Caucasian with a foreign sounding name in the Oval Office. Because that's what it will come down to. Obama could have single-handedly fed all the starving people in his home state, reconciled the Russians and the Chinese, found a cure for cancer... and it will still come down to a question of whether or not he can take the job from a white dude. Never mind that this particular white dude courts the company of every special interest known to the western world, and seeks support from right-wing extremists like John Hagee who refer to Hurricane Katrina as "God's punishment of New Orleans". (I wonder know how he explains why the rest of the Gulf Coast had to suffer along with them. Anyone? Anyone?) McCain hasn't merely shot himself in the foot with the company he keeps, he's blown his whole leg off. Will it matter?
Are American voters smart enough to realize that breaking the mold in November can go a long way in restoring our cred with the rest of the world? Or will they play it "safe" (a very relative term in this case) and maintain the status quo?
It's going to be an interesting summer, that much is certain.Stumble This!