Saturday, September 19, 2015

On To Happier Things...


I've been making some progress on transcribing my old paper journals into a blog format. I'm up to mid-1992 or so, and I've gone through 2 1/2 notebooks. It's a big job and it's going to take months and months if I try to do them all -- and I'm still undecided about that. But it's been fun and I've happily reminded myself of details of some good times that I had long forgotten -- and I've happily edited out some venting that I'd rather not remember.

The end game, I think, is going to be to keep all that writing online and make one book out of it, just for myself, so that I have a hard copy (for when the apocalypse comes and the Internet no longer works). I'm still undecided about whether to make the blog public. That writing seems like a lot of inside baseball. I'm not sure anyone would understand it, or care, except me.

I also have to put together a selection of photos for another Royal Photographic Society project. For about a year I've been photographing barber shops and hair salons, with an eye toward showing how they represent the diversity of the communities they serve and the city as a whole -- fancy salons in fancy areas, ethnic salons in more diverse neighborhoods, that kind of thing. It's time to pony up some pictures, so I'm going to be working on those this weekend.

I'd considered going into a barber shop and asking to photograph the barbers and the customers, but I never did. I just couldn't bring myself to be that intrusive. Besides, being bald as a cue ball, I am the least likely person to need a barber shop, so I don't have a relationship with any barbers, you know? My photos are all storefronts, which is kind of my thing anyway.


Here's a completely gratuitous picture of Olga sleeping on our pillows. She has figured out that the best way to sleep is with her body beneath the covers and her head poking out, just like a person. If she can get her head on a pillow, all the better. She's a smart girl.


And here's our latest dog-walking find. Someone had set it out with their trash, and yet I'm pretty sure it's silver -- probably silverplate, but still. The bottom is a wooden disc. It looks like a vase for a dried arrangement, or for kitchen utensils, maybe? I have no idea. It may go to a charity shop, but I thought it was worth rescuing from the garbage, at least.

(Top photo: A guy playing a street piano outside a train station in South London, two weeks ago. He had a lot of sheet music with him and it looked like his regular practicing spot. He sounded great!)

12 comments:

Wanda said...

I think it's a wine bottle holder/stand, quite old I'd guess.

Steve Reed said...

Oh, yeah! That makes sense! Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Wanda. :)

Ms. Moon said...

I love these pictures! Olga- she's a woman dog. Didn't think you'd end up in a bed threesome with your husband and a woman dog, did you?
Life is funny.
I think your idea to preserve all your journals is awesome.
Great street find on the wine holder/stand! I think Wanda may be right.

37paddington said...

I think you should keep the wine stand. Clean it up and use it. Olga tickles me no end.

Sharon said...

I do love seeing photos of Olga so keep them coming. Good job rescuing that vase/wine holder. I bet it would polish up nicely.

Linda Sue said...

that is such a cool street find! Keep it for all of your wooden spoons, or wine, what ever you have most of. LOVE the photo of guy playing piano, maybe because the subdued colors and lines lend themselves to melancholy, it is a sort of Leonard story, love it! Of course OLGA! She is the happiest little being, so glad she owns you !

jenny_o said...

That pianist guy looks a lot like a young Leonard Cohen, does he not?? Maybe you stepped into a parallel universe for a moment.

Love that ... holder-thing ... whatever it is! And Olga, as always, has the sweetest face.

ellen abbott said...

yah, I think I'd keep it too. Minnie sleeps with us (I was training her to sleep in her bed next to ours until I went on my vacation to Canada. came beck to find she'd been sleeping in the bed all week. no moving her out. now she sleeps squeezed between us. she's like to be under the covers but we sleep naked and I don't want her sticking her nose in my butt all night.

e said...

Love the piano man, and your sweet dog. Best of luck with your projects, too...Got a few things of my own to wrap up...

Elizabeth said...

I'm so intrigued by your journal project -- I have stacks and stacks of journals from my college years, and like you they are really only for my eyes, but it would be wonderful to digitize them. Do you take photos of the pages and then make the book?

Also, that Olga is a hoot!

Steve Reed said...

Jenny-o: He IS very Leonard Cohen. I didn't really think of that at the time, but it's true!

Elizabeth: I type them all into a computer, and I scan pages that include artwork or clippings or other visual elements.

The Bug said...

Ooh - I 'm excited about your barbershop show! Don't bald guys go to the barber to get polished? Or was that just in some movie I saw? :)