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December 24, 2023 – My wish for you all is a great Religious Holiday Season

Most kids in my school lived in Company houses in a tiny Appalachia coal town. The view out their window was of other Company houses or the Company coal train.  I felt so privileged, at Christmas, to have a view of the old homestead barn out of my bedroom window – I dreamed of the Christmas manger being there.  So, for this image, I started with an old photo from my bedroom window, added a manger scene from Fairways Drive and a photo of our Nature Center Christmas tree . ……  My wish for you & your family is that you have a great religious holiday season.

Christmas 2023

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – Wish each other the best for the season and the New Year

December 23, 2023 – I love the new way:

December 22, 2023 – And that is what the Psychologist said:

I moved this Jeep from Windsong to an orange grove and gave it new headlights. Look at the license: ORAN JEE. (Orange Jeep). There’s a curious habit that we share – bestowing names on non-human objects: a trusty boat, a cherished golf club, or maybe even a community like TGO. On my ranch, I named dozens of animals. For example: Red (Dog), Black (Horse), Gone Again (Emu), Goofy (Cow), Barn (Cat), Not Sure (Llama). Psychologist say the act of naming objects is a way of bonding with the object – extending ourselves. The named object now flows as part of us – a conversation starter, helping us socialize and share life experiences – enriching our lives.

JEB – 12 22 2023 Jeep

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – maybe you can start your next conversation with “Let me tell you what happened to Me and Old Blue” yesterday.

December 20, 2023 – Post processing just for fun:

I like our Photo-Club’s show and tell time.  For example, sometimes the purpose of my post-processing is just to have fun.  Here, I used two photos and a screen shot with the purpose of confusing the kids. Their response was:  “Where in the world is Dad? I told you he is too old to be out there on that tractor alone”

Started with a screen shot

Photo 1

Photo 2

The result of post processing

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – have fun – need I say more?

December 18, 2023 – Fish, fish, fish, TGO, TGO,T GO

In TGO there are dozens of ponds. They are a part of us! We can’t get into TGO without filling our windshield with a view of lake Judy or a pond in Hidden Lakes – they are everywhere in TGO. Most of the lakes are shallow retenion ponds with sedimentation that covers the Bass and Bluegill spawning beds making reproduction dificult. To keep our ponds/lakes healthy, beautiful, and a positive influence on our environment, they need fish – so we restock them. That happened last week through the help of a lot of volunteers – THANKS

12 18 2023 Restocking

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – think about nature and the ways we all can help keep nature healthy, beautiful, and a positive influence on our lives.

December 16, 2023 – Dave and the Brown Creeper that showed up & Me and my abstract art of the lake in the rain!

Dave Wrote:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. We had some snow yesterday and our feeders were very active. We had a Brown Creeper show up at the feeders. Creepers are a small woodland bird. They do not feed on seeds so I guess it was after suet that  I have put out. Here ar some pictures of the Brown Creeper. Dave

12 16 2023 Dave Cesari

12 16 2023 Dave Cesari

12 16 2023 Dave Cesari

12 16 2023 Dave Cesari

I WROTE: Today,I was testing various settings with my old Coolpix 510. On the left is a photo (at x42, aperture prioity f5.5, 1/13 sec, iso800) shot across the lake behind my house in the rain downpour. On the right is an abstract photo art I made using the photo on the left. That project was one of my rainy day enjoyments!

JEB 12 26 2023

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – and it rains on your parade – enjoy the change of pace – grab the digital pen or the graphite pen and enjoy an hour

December 14, 2023 – I am about done showing you the GAP – But……….

Islands create social engagement. A.  All whom an Islander meets knows their name. B. God’s landscape and water are shared by all. C. Since there are a limited variety of things to do, Islanders share a lot of experiences. D. God’s weather controls the activities of everyone. Three photos: 1.Together experience making hay for the horses. 2. A borrowed driveway scrapping blade in exchange for doing the scrapper’s owner’s driveway. 3. Bad weather sends every home from the GAP.

Bad weather setting in Drummond

Sharing experience -Drummond

Sharing tools and chores – Drummond

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – You determine your own social engagement – Whether in a city with many people or on a small Island with few people it can help you age well

December 13, 2023 – A book undone!

Using the photo on the left, I painted the book cover on the right. I wanted show how you can use a photograph, as a base, for a story.  In this case the story is: Did the Four Winds get traded for the West Wright Potter before the Potter (or the author) sailed off into the GAP’s sunset?  Keep coming back – the end of the book has not been written yet. 

A book without end – Yet

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – Snap more photos, tell more stories – better yet – Live a life full of stories!

December 12, 2023 – Sailing (selling) the good Life – Plus Dave’s Swan photos posted yesterday.

Jim wrote:   You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a boat.  I had a number of “bay boats”, canoes, kayaks, sunfish, windsurfers.  I can’t help but rub it into my family with a photo like this when I am boating  in my open outboard, padding my canoe, or boating through the Gap at night in my Four Winns inboard/outboard.  Actually, I used this photo to entice them to come visit and spend a week with me. I feel this photo belongs in a magazine sailing (selling) the good life idea.

Summer 2019.

Dave wrote:  Hi  Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog.  Tundra Swans. They breed in the high Arctic and migrate thru NY state in the late fall. They stop on the larger lakes in NY on their way to the Chesapeak Bay area where they winter. Dave

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

 

AS YOU SWING THROUGH LIFE – Snap some photos that will help you sell the message that you want family to visit you!

 

 

December 11, 2023 – No freighter this time – just the Gap as a background. Then look at Dave’s photos from yersterday.

I wroter:Here is another Gap photo – and an other life of me photo. In another life and another Island, as an ordained minister, I performed many weddings, most performed in the church with small to moderate sized parties. Some were performed outside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with a wedding party of a hundred. So, years later, a small informal wedding on Whitney Bay, overlooking the Gap, caught my attention. In order to not disturb them, I peeked around my bushes to take the interesting snapshot, showing the Gap in the background. One more Gap photo was added to my photo library.

A wedding on Whitney Bay overlooking the Gap. July 2021

Me performing a wedding – Block Island. Around 1990.

Dave wrote:  Hi  Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog.  Tundra Swans. They breed in the high Arctic and migrate thru NY state in the late fall. They stop on the larger lakes in NY on their way to the Chesapeak Bay area where they winter. Dave

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

12 10 2023 DAVE CESARI

 

AS I SWING THROUGH LIFE – My goal at the weddings I performed was to make that their most special day. – To make someone’s day special is a good idea!

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