Category: Uncategorized

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

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.

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. 

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.

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

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.

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

“I am ‘rephotographer‘ because I have at least 100 photos of Great Lake Freighters in the gap. This is a 1,000 footer heading for the Soo Locks and into the Lake that holds the Edmund Fitzgerald. I am aiming for the nine ten and I bet I see her there.” (That last sentence is Island language)

Ponies are slow compared to planes. Yesterday I wrote about the youth experiencing the responsibilities of flying RC airplanes. I predicted the experience would help him prepare to manage a fast changing world. This 80 year box camera photo shows me experiencing one of the responsibilities of owning farm animals. Farm responsibilities were a strong part of the experience of youth in those rural homes. I believe it helped us have a positive impact on those we touched throughout the slower changing future of 1944.

This photo story is about the 30 year future. Wish I could see it. Folks, from the generation of this young man in red, will be managing our world. Amazing, he is already a certified Radio Controlled pilot. Those beside him could be a retired fighter pilot and a commercial airline pilot. Their planes are connected to satellites, giving the pilot information, and in some instances doing safety moves for him. Soon he will communicate his take-off plans and the run-way will be his. The senior pilots respond knowing the young man is in control of the run-way air space at that time. This experience is building technical and social skills as well as confidence to help his generation manage our word, when cities will need to handle 100’s of millions, colonies on planets will need support, planes, trains, and automobiles will all be pilotless, and things we never thought of will need solutions.