On my recent call to the Invisible Fence Brand service department people I ended up talking with manager Brandon here in Fairfax County/Annandale, northern Virginia and I explained how my wire was inadvertently cut by our neighbor repairing our border wooden fence. I told him where it was and what I thought had happened and arranged for someone to come check on the problem and solve it. At no point in this conversation or any of the previous two that I had ( there were a number of messages going back-and-forth for a week or so ) was the cost mentioned to us of a service call. Silly me, I should have asked up-front as when I heard the charge from serviceman Pete I immediately exclaimed : " That's highway robbery! "
Pete had come and looked inside and then gone outside to where I believed the damage had been done. He was out there ten minutes or so and perhaps ten minutes or so inside : and for these twenty minutes I was charged $142.60 which included him coming ( $85 ) and his time ( $45 ) and the cost to repair the fence ($12 ). That's " highway robbery " in my book.
What about the fact that this was our first call in seven years ? What about a discount for being a good, loyal customer? What about telling us up-front what to expect? It's the holiday season, too. Pete was nice and professional enough and my beef is not with him : it's with Invisible Fence that should know better than to hire managers that do not discuss up-front charges and possible costs.
Heck, for that kind of money I could have gone outside and fixed the problem myself with wire that I bought from Home Depot. Maybe that's what they should recommend in the future : that the customer fix it himself.
So, in summary I am not pleased with the results here as it has been several days and Pete knew I was quite upset and marked it on the bill and I have not received a call or an explanation from Brandon or anyone else at the Invisible Fence Brand people.
The fence has worked well and for the last seven years I have not had a beef with that at all. As a matter of fact I am very pleased with that, just not this recent series of calls back-and-forth and then being charged an exorbitant sum in my humble opinion for twenty minutes of work max to fix a really simple problem.
Find other ways to make extra money and keep loyal customers happy with all your service. For $142.60 you just bought yourselves a whole lot of bad will that was unnecessary and so easily fixed with a call ( on the spot - from Pete to manager Brandon ) and some concession to my complaint.
I probably should not post this but then again I am quite unhappy and this is my way of being heard by someone I hope. Being in the retail service business I am quite aware of customer service.
There should be some compromise on this type of pricing. My afterthought after hearing Pete tell me the pricing and then explaining it and saying that I should have been explained up-front before his call the pricing is : that I should have kept him for the full hour that I paid for , the extra forty minutes doing handy-work on the fence or other things as I had paid for forty more minutes and got nothing for it except the feeling of being royally ripped off.
I'm a nice guy and I do not like to complain : but this is how I felt and still feel - ripped-off. TONY
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Spring Jazz Jam Take 4 / Michael Bowie ( Bass ) and Gene Bertoncini ( Guitar ) Jamming With Drummer Ken Kimery / March 2009 @ Lee & Leslie's
As I have been saying all along this Sunday afternoon of live jazz at Leslie and Lee's home in 2009 was an experience not to be missed and one that I treasure as a great moment for me to be so close to these fabulous jazz musicians as they played together and off one another and alongside one another. What an amazingly rich and vibrant and lively/thrilling/inspiring bunch of sounds they intertwined together to make this music that as I see and listen to it and them play it now makes me stop in both awe/appreciation and amazement.
Everyone involved deserves a big hand of applause. Karen , my friend and photographer took my " raw " foot age of this event and has really made it so much more complete and watchable. Thanks everyone, cheers, TONY
PS : Look at all these live jazz " takes " and there are still more to come.
Spring Jazz Jam Take 6 Michael Bowie ( Bass ), Robert Redd( Piano ) , Marshall Keys( Saxophone ) @ Lee & Leslie's Home March 2009 / 2nd Event
This was truly inspirational for all of us lucky enough to have been invited over to Leslie and Lee's for a Sunday afternoon treat of live jazz, food and wine and whispered conversations in 2009. It's such a great thing to see how Karen has taken the " raw " footage of this event and woven it together to help show how these four musicians played together and added their own spin on the jazz music for it to be so rich and inspiring all in one. I love it : I loved filming it. I'm all inspired.
Everyone involved deserves a big round of applause! Enjoy this and the other several " takes " that will be downloaded here for you to enjoy. Cheers, TONY
Live Jazz Music Take 5 ; Robert Redd ( Piano ), Michael Bowie ( Bass ), Marshall Keys( Sax ) & Gene Bertoncini ( Guitar ) @ Lee & Leslie's 3/3/09
This was such a fun ( 2009 ). impromptu moment for me and I loved watching and listening to these very talented musicians play off of one another/inspired by the others/watching sometimes the others as they played to them and with them and alongside them ; intertwining melodies and weaving their own notes into a fabric of existing sounds already to make the whole richer/fuller and more alive with all the highs/lows and middles that make a listener gasp and be stunned into almost a blithering state of wonder and disbelief and awe at having just been caught-up and swept along on a musical journey to match them all ... I loved it, really. This was a great event in the home of Leslie and lee celebrating and playing jazz. Everyone involved deserves a big round of applause.
Here with the help of my friend Karen Akerson ( a good customer of mine as well ) and photographer : she has taken my " raw " footage of this afternoon in Maryland back in 2009 and given it a bit more life and structure. Cheers, TONY
PS: There are two more here that I will download in the next day or twoo so stay-tuned for more. TONY
Friday, March 12, 2010
Live Jazz Music TAKE FOUR , Sunday Afternoon Last March 2009 @ Home Of Lee And Leslie
I'm having fun now finally putting this all together with my photographer friend Karen Akerson as it happened back in March of last year, 2009. She knows how to edit and get what I filmed in large and small snippets of video at Lee and Leslie's home last year into an enjoyable and cohesive format that may be enjoyed here by you and your friends.
I want to say up front that these photographs and videos here were done as my " thank-you " to a long friendship and strong bond that I feel for both Lee and Leslie. I marveled at the first Sunday ( 2-5 PM ) afternoon Live Jazz event at their home back in early 2008. At that point I only took pictures using both my camera ( that ran out of battery life - argh! ) to take the pictures that I down-loaded and posted on my blog at : chatart.blogspot.com. You may check those out at your convenience. It begins to tell a small part of the story. I am glad to have included it because it includes some people that were not at the second Live Jazz Sunday Afternoon in March, 2009.
Once that my battery ran out I went in search of Lee that quickly discussed things with Leslie and one of their cameras was made available almost immediately. It belonged to one of their daughters and I started snapping away immediately and that is what I left behind as my gift to both Lee and Leslie and really as much to their two wonderful daughters that will grow into all of this and be able to appreciate and share this with their parents as they understand the marvelous and memorable times these were that drew so many talented jazz musicians to their home to play each year live jazz. I mean Gene comes all the way from New York to play his vibrant and enthusiastic/story-telling guitar. That's impressive and he's charming and has a wonderful smile, too.
At the first Live Jazz Sunday Afternoon at Lee and Leslie's I even knew one of the musicians : the bass upright strings you see playing here in the second 2009 Live Jazz Sunday Afternoon. He's also in one of the pictures from 2008 I believe that I captured as I walked into Lee and Leslie's home?
You may also go to: chatart.blogspot.com again and look at the pictures and the story that I have already posted back in 2009 to see more of the pictures from the Live Jazz 2009 " happening " at Lee and Leslie's home. I even included some of my poetry on that blog entry as I was inspired by seeing these pictures and remembering the sounds and the people and all of their talent as it came from within themselves, their voices and their various musical instruments. What a special moment all of this was for me, really.
On this Jazz 4 snippet of video you get a sense of the whole event that was focused in this room but also spread out into two other rooms as well with all the talking and the lively banter and excitement of the moment as people hurried to say things/ express themselves before the next bit of music started as the players ( singers and musicians ) changed places and got ready for the next piece.
Cheers, TONY
Live Jazz Music TAKE THREE , Sunday Afternoon @ Lee And Leslie's Home, 2009 / Robert Redd ( Piano ) & Bart Stringham ( Guitar )
I want to say that Karen Akerson ( my video editor and very talented photographer ) are doing this for the love of the music and the musicians here that sing and play their various musical instruments to create such an engaging " live " jazz sound that cannot fail to stir the soul and churn the gut and inflame the imagination, mind and loins, too. This is exciting stuff, this is " racing for the finish - for the wonderful prize - whatever that may be ! " I love it. I am thrilled to have been included here by my two great friends Lee and Leslie. Thank you both. Accept this video and all the others as a token to our friendship over these long, glorious years.
I also want to say that neither Karen and I are in this for the money. We are not making a penny from this : that was never our idea. Rather, my idea has always been to share this with Lee and Leslie as well as to share it with all those involved. It preserves a small part of a moment but at least it does exist and I hope that when the people there see this that they will smile and relax and sit a spell to listen and to remember the lively, energized and inspiring and elevating times we all shared gathered together with great people, great talent wine and food and " live jazz music ". Wow! these last two events in 2008 and 2009 have been something else and something very special.
I could not have put this together in such a lovely, cohesive and interesting format for you all to watch without the help of Karen Akerson my very talented photographer friend. Thank you Karen for all your help so far and all your help still to come for both this blog and also for helping to put it all together in and interesting format to be put on a c.d. for Lee and Leslie to enjoy. You are dedicated and passionate about this work and you even sent Stephen by to help me get your last work done here on Live Jazz 3 and Live Jazz 4 copied onto my blog site so that I could write the story and post it in time before the next Sunday Afternoon of Live Jazz at Lee and Leslie's coming up at the end of March, 2010. I like this. This is all good and I cannot wait to come to this next event. Thanks again for including me. It is so much fun and so memorable.
On this Live Jazz 3 there is some great piano finishing with some excellent guitar work. I'm pleased with the sound and the images and Karen you really helped to get them into a nice format here so that it all flows together nicely.
I will get all the names of those musicians and singers that participated here in 2009 and include them soon. I did meet everyone and say " hello " but I was busy here at work filming and taking pictures. On top of that I took my invitation with the names and got it signed by everyone there and then gave it as my present to Lee and Leslie as a souvenir for them.
I'm really pleased that I have done this for my good friends Lee and Leslie. It's a great moment and it takes a whole lot of work, planning and energy and they deserve to have a memento to look back at and listen to as they are so busy entertaining and making sure that everyone is fine and having a good time that it is hard to really focus on this grand live music. Now they can and that pleases me enormously.
Now I am being proactive. On the invitation that we received in the mail the other day it says : Live Jazz provided by : The Music Teaching Project : Michael Bowie, Jamie Broumas, Ken Kimery and Robert Redd.
So stay-tuned/ jazz-tuned for more to follow on this 2009 Sunday Afternoon as well as the one to follow shortly.
Cheers, TONY
P.S. Having just returned from yesterday's live Jazz performance at Lee and Leslie's I am a bit better prepared. That was Sunday, March 27th, 2011 and it was superb. I have pictures and video and portrait sketches that I did of all the musicians to share here soon with Karen Akerson's help. I got more great footage and I was using a better camera, too. We will soon see and soon hear what we will both see and hear! Cheers, TONY ( Monday, March 298th, 2011 here at home in northern Virginia ).
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Live Jazz Music TAKE TWO : Marija Temo ( Jazz Guitar ) Plays Sunday Afternoon @ Leslie & Lee's Home March, 2009
What an amazing visual and sound Jazz-Bite & Leslie & Lee's home in 2009 ! " March 29th, " Leslie Just told me a bit earlier ...
This is the second-part of this amazing event that I was fortunate enough to be included in by my two dear friends Leslie and Lee at their warm and welcoming home one Sunday afternoon back in 2009. I had a blast : I got totally drawn into filming and recording this amazingly intimate and thoroughly enthralling moment of sound and sight and harmony between man and woman and both their instruments as well as their voices as they serendipitously were drawn together to play for three or so hours as we all also ate excellent foods and wines chosen and prepared by our two hosts. There were probably thirty or so of us there gathered closely around the front of their living room that looks out onto the street out front where all the musicians were playing ...
This is the second year of this wonderful event and sadly the first year I only recorded things with pictures but no videos with sound. Oh well, I think I have made up for it here in 2009 with many different sound snippets of the ten to fifteen musicians that were all drawn here becasue of Leslie charisma and consuming support of the the jazz world today with so many talented musicians all searching for paying stages to be heard with also audiences that help through their enthusiasm and great appreciation to keep jazz well and alive today.
Leslie with all her help at the Smithsonian Institutions Friday Jazz Evenings has done way more than her part to keep the Jazz-Dream alive and thriving and I am sure that each and every musician gathered here on this Sunday afternoon was in their way paying a certain homage to Leslie and her efforts/beliefs in them and amazing successes that often included them at one time or another. I am only guessing all of this : but I could feel it there as well as see it in their facial expressions as well as hear it in the strong/cheerful voices of many of the musicians...
And thanks to my talented photographer friend Karen that stopped by my wine store yesterday we got to talking and with one thing leading to another yesterday Karen helped me to get these two sound snippets of both Gene and Maria here for you all to enjoy.
It's now Valentine's Day on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 and I will be posting this now and calling Leslie and Lee so that they may be the first to see these two JAZZ snapshots that I have just posted with Karen's help of yesterday.
Being a visual artist, painter, sketcher, poet, etc ( go to : chatart.blogspot.com, chatpoetry.blogspot.com, chatwine.blogspot.com ) for more of all of this if you care. I loved filming all of this in my own artsy way to show the relationship and dependence of man and woman musician to their instruments. I loved all the body and instrument language between the two. Hope you do, too ...
I believe that Karen and I will be working together on the many other " sound snippets " that I still have and wish to post as well. So, stay-tuned and in the meantime enjoy Valentine's Day as well as the aftermath of what has been billed here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area as the snowstorm of the century!
And, can you believe it, we may have 2-4 inches more of snow starting tomorrow?!? Yikes.
I think I will listen once again to both Gene and to Maria here.
Oh, each time I meet Maria I tell here that she reminds me of Bernadette Peters! She's certainly got her talent as well as her looks wouldn't you all say? Go Maria!
Cheers, TONY
This is the second-part of this amazing event that I was fortunate enough to be included in by my two dear friends Leslie and Lee at their warm and welcoming home one Sunday afternoon back in 2009. I had a blast : I got totally drawn into filming and recording this amazingly intimate and thoroughly enthralling moment of sound and sight and harmony between man and woman and both their instruments as well as their voices as they serendipitously were drawn together to play for three or so hours as we all also ate excellent foods and wines chosen and prepared by our two hosts. There were probably thirty or so of us there gathered closely around the front of their living room that looks out onto the street out front where all the musicians were playing ...
This is the second year of this wonderful event and sadly the first year I only recorded things with pictures but no videos with sound. Oh well, I think I have made up for it here in 2009 with many different sound snippets of the ten to fifteen musicians that were all drawn here becasue of Leslie charisma and consuming support of the the jazz world today with so many talented musicians all searching for paying stages to be heard with also audiences that help through their enthusiasm and great appreciation to keep jazz well and alive today.
Leslie with all her help at the Smithsonian Institutions Friday Jazz Evenings has done way more than her part to keep the Jazz-Dream alive and thriving and I am sure that each and every musician gathered here on this Sunday afternoon was in their way paying a certain homage to Leslie and her efforts/beliefs in them and amazing successes that often included them at one time or another. I am only guessing all of this : but I could feel it there as well as see it in their facial expressions as well as hear it in the strong/cheerful voices of many of the musicians...
And thanks to my talented photographer friend Karen that stopped by my wine store yesterday we got to talking and with one thing leading to another yesterday Karen helped me to get these two sound snippets of both Gene and Maria here for you all to enjoy.
It's now Valentine's Day on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 and I will be posting this now and calling Leslie and Lee so that they may be the first to see these two JAZZ snapshots that I have just posted with Karen's help of yesterday.
Being a visual artist, painter, sketcher, poet, etc ( go to : chatart.blogspot.com, chatpoetry.blogspot.com, chatwine.blogspot.com ) for more of all of this if you care. I loved filming all of this in my own artsy way to show the relationship and dependence of man and woman musician to their instruments. I loved all the body and instrument language between the two. Hope you do, too ...
I believe that Karen and I will be working together on the many other " sound snippets " that I still have and wish to post as well. So, stay-tuned and in the meantime enjoy Valentine's Day as well as the aftermath of what has been billed here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area as the snowstorm of the century!
And, can you believe it, we may have 2-4 inches more of snow starting tomorrow?!? Yikes.
I think I will listen once again to both Gene and to Maria here.
Oh, each time I meet Maria I tell here that she reminds me of Bernadette Peters! She's certainly got her talent as well as her looks wouldn't you all say? Go Maria!
Cheers, TONY
Live Jazz Music TAKE ONE 2009 At Leslie & Lee's House One Sunday Afternoon In 2009 : Gene Bertonsini ( Guitar ) Comes From New York
This was a great moment at Leslie & Lee's house one Sunday afternoon in 2009. " March 29th " Leslie just told me a bit earlier ...
I have had these sound and video clips now for almost a year now and am thrilled to have them here for you to finally see Leslie and Lee. It's great to see Gene here playing his beautiful music as his sound and vitality and love of playing are channeled so clearly and evocatively through his hands motions over strings here on his jazz guitar.
Gene comes all the way from New York to play every year at Lee and Leslie's beautiful home. They are generous enough to invite a select group of friends and people in the jazz business to come and listen and play as it is their turn or as the moment fits. I get the feeling each time that it is all very fluid, of-the-moment and serendipitous. That's why it all works so well : that's why everyone feels both so much at home and so very welcome in their home. Leslie has been a dynamo for jazz here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and has clearly earned the admiration and complete support of many local as well as national jazz and international musicians. I only know a very little part of this story even though I am a long and dear friend of both Leslie and Lee that I met back around 1985 or so? I can't even remember the year exactly. I do remember where : at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits store years ago at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and M Streets N.W. Washington D.C. where I managed the California/American wine sections.
Leslie has for many years been ( jazz ) instrumental in keeping the Friday Night Jazz Evening at the Smithsonian Institute open and alive and thriving for many years. This is so vital and so important as it serves everyone in the community : both the musicians that need a paying platform to play and create and perfect as well as those of us that want to see jazz performed live and close-up and have a more hands-on and personal connection to the whole experience.
Here at their home this feeling is only strengthened and made even more personal and meaningful. I felt all of this as I went around getting close-ups of these talented musicians play together so well. I was so busy capturing all of this that it all went by largely in a whirl and so I am happy to finally have at least two of these snippets of the performances now for you all that are interested to see and listen to.
I, too am an artist but in this case a visual one and here I am using my artsy approach at filming Gene's playing and paying as much attention to the strings and the neck of the guitar, as well as his hands as well as the intensity of his gaze and that concentration, too followed by brief facial smile flowerings of his as people clap and as he knows things have gone well and that he as well as the other musicians feel appreciated for the wonderful jazz sounds that they have just offered and delivered-up to those of us lucky enough to be there in a warm home with plenty of excellent food and wine to enjoy as we all gathered around and soaked up these jazzy sounds as well as our eyes drank-in the visuals of man and woman and both their hand-held instruments as well as those of their trained and free voices ...
I am sure that I may add more later here but more likely I with the help of my friend Karen will add more of these many sound snippets that I took this afternoon.
This would not have been possible for me to do without Karen's help yesterday as she came to my wine store. We got to talking as we always do and one thing led to another and she wanted to show me her movie/video that she had just taken of this snow storm last Saturday, February 6th, 2010 in Washington D.C. that has now been billed as the snow-storm of the century. I liked it very much. She makes a living with her photography and has an excellent web page and is free to listen to any and all requests to work with you out there in need of her fine-tuned talents. Yes, I chose the words " fine-tuned " as many of you reading this and looking at the clips may need her services and you all have to fine-tune either your instruments or voices or both ...
Thanks to all you musicians, to Leslie and Lee and to you Karen for helping me to finally get this project off the ground and on the road so to speak. Cheers, Happy Valentine's Day ( that's today, Sunday February 14th, 2010 here at home in northern Virginia where we are all still largely blanketed and surrounded by white snow that just like our winter coats that we wear has a small space for our faces as these blankets have for our homes and cars that have been finally released from their white covers ...
I hope you enjoy this clip of Gene playing with the three other talented musicians here. The bass player has been a customer of mine over the years and when I saw him at the first Sunday Afternoon Jazz Event ( I have taken only pictures of that and have included them here already either on this blog or under my other blog spot called : chatart@blogspot.com ) I said quickly : " I know you! ". He smiled and we began our conversation.
I have also already blogged about this event and mounted some of the pictures that I took which I now have in draft form but will shortly post. Stay-tuned for more.
So once again Happy Valentine's Day to one and to all. Cheers, TONY
I have had these sound and video clips now for almost a year now and am thrilled to have them here for you to finally see Leslie and Lee. It's great to see Gene here playing his beautiful music as his sound and vitality and love of playing are channeled so clearly and evocatively through his hands motions over strings here on his jazz guitar.
Gene comes all the way from New York to play every year at Lee and Leslie's beautiful home. They are generous enough to invite a select group of friends and people in the jazz business to come and listen and play as it is their turn or as the moment fits. I get the feeling each time that it is all very fluid, of-the-moment and serendipitous. That's why it all works so well : that's why everyone feels both so much at home and so very welcome in their home. Leslie has been a dynamo for jazz here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and has clearly earned the admiration and complete support of many local as well as national jazz and international musicians. I only know a very little part of this story even though I am a long and dear friend of both Leslie and Lee that I met back around 1985 or so? I can't even remember the year exactly. I do remember where : at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits store years ago at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and M Streets N.W. Washington D.C. where I managed the California/American wine sections.
Leslie has for many years been ( jazz ) instrumental in keeping the Friday Night Jazz Evening at the Smithsonian Institute open and alive and thriving for many years. This is so vital and so important as it serves everyone in the community : both the musicians that need a paying platform to play and create and perfect as well as those of us that want to see jazz performed live and close-up and have a more hands-on and personal connection to the whole experience.
Here at their home this feeling is only strengthened and made even more personal and meaningful. I felt all of this as I went around getting close-ups of these talented musicians play together so well. I was so busy capturing all of this that it all went by largely in a whirl and so I am happy to finally have at least two of these snippets of the performances now for you all that are interested to see and listen to.
I, too am an artist but in this case a visual one and here I am using my artsy approach at filming Gene's playing and paying as much attention to the strings and the neck of the guitar, as well as his hands as well as the intensity of his gaze and that concentration, too followed by brief facial smile flowerings of his as people clap and as he knows things have gone well and that he as well as the other musicians feel appreciated for the wonderful jazz sounds that they have just offered and delivered-up to those of us lucky enough to be there in a warm home with plenty of excellent food and wine to enjoy as we all gathered around and soaked up these jazzy sounds as well as our eyes drank-in the visuals of man and woman and both their hand-held instruments as well as those of their trained and free voices ...
I am sure that I may add more later here but more likely I with the help of my friend Karen will add more of these many sound snippets that I took this afternoon.
This would not have been possible for me to do without Karen's help yesterday as she came to my wine store. We got to talking as we always do and one thing led to another and she wanted to show me her movie/video that she had just taken of this snow storm last Saturday, February 6th, 2010 in Washington D.C. that has now been billed as the snow-storm of the century. I liked it very much. She makes a living with her photography and has an excellent web page and is free to listen to any and all requests to work with you out there in need of her fine-tuned talents. Yes, I chose the words " fine-tuned " as many of you reading this and looking at the clips may need her services and you all have to fine-tune either your instruments or voices or both ...
Thanks to all you musicians, to Leslie and Lee and to you Karen for helping me to finally get this project off the ground and on the road so to speak. Cheers, Happy Valentine's Day ( that's today, Sunday February 14th, 2010 here at home in northern Virginia where we are all still largely blanketed and surrounded by white snow that just like our winter coats that we wear has a small space for our faces as these blankets have for our homes and cars that have been finally released from their white covers ...
I hope you enjoy this clip of Gene playing with the three other talented musicians here. The bass player has been a customer of mine over the years and when I saw him at the first Sunday Afternoon Jazz Event ( I have taken only pictures of that and have included them here already either on this blog or under my other blog spot called : chatart@blogspot.com ) I said quickly : " I know you! ". He smiled and we began our conversation.
I have also already blogged about this event and mounted some of the pictures that I took which I now have in draft form but will shortly post. Stay-tuned for more.
So once again Happy Valentine's Day to one and to all. Cheers, TONY
Friday, February 12, 2010
Snow Thoughts Febuary 2010
I've got lots to say here and more photos to post but for the meantime enjoy these as it looks as if now, Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 may be the end of our snowstorm of the centruy here in the D.C. metropolitan area. Now all that has to happen is for all these mountains and hills of craggly white snow and brown earth and salt is for them to melt gradually as to avoid all the possible flooding that can and does often happen.
Cheers, it's time for me to rush off into Washington D.C. to my work as I start on Tuesdays and go through Saturdays ...
Oh, the news is saying that today may in fact be one of the three worst traffic jam-delay days in our Washington D.C. history, too. I hope not as I have lots to do before I sleep ... TONY
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Looking Back @ 2009 : Driving Home From Work In Washington D.C. / 45 Minutes Peace / I Return Home
I love crossing over the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge that spans the Potomac River.
Look at all that field of blue sky in the picture above. I love that. I love the peace and the quiet that is completely mine as I leave work in Washington D.C. and have approximately 45 minutes all to myself to drive in pretty much complete peace. I am often very tired and my left knee acts up at this time as I am finally able to relax or start the long process of relaxing until I get up the next morning.
THree streets lamps above for Rosslyn ..
I love starting this process of relaxing and yet if I have my Canon camera handy I also love taking pictures of the things that I see as I drive home that inspire/fire and motivate and fill me with the energy that I need or will soon need to keep my fires internally ( as well as externally ) completely stoked. Music does this, too : but nothing more than Nature : I'm constantly falling in love with Nature pretty much any time that I am in it's presence outside.
Looking out my windows as I drive at the bounty of so much Nature in all it's colors and shades and textures and forms and varying lights is breath-taking. I'm sunk every time that I am witness to it : any of it. I don't even really have to make the time for it : it seeps into me - it deluges me, it washes over me - it calls and sings and blows and rattles me. I love it. I say many times during these drives to and from work that I am lucky to be alive and an active witness to all of this glory and splendor that I can be inspired by and share in. I never own any of it. It's not for sale. It's there to those of us that are able to avail ourselves, our senses , our time to actually look and smell, taste, hold ... not hard, but it does take some involvement on our parts.
Now only one street lamp for Rosslyn ...
This may be a Thursday evening? I am not sure. The light is still with us though it is now quickly bidding it's adieu. So I snap my Canon camera feverishly here and hope for the best. I can't really focus much on what I am doing with the camera : I have to just turn it to where I want to record/preserve an image, try and aim it so that I get something of what I want and which triggered my initial desire to take the picture in the first place.
Again, only one street lamp for all of Rosslyn?
These are all split-second decisions on my part. I don't have any time. I must act immediately! I must simply trust and move along and be safe and sound in my car and arrive home to my family that I love and which is expecting me home soon in one solid, sane piece ...
So I snap and click away and often have no idea what the camera's eye will actually see and be able to preserve? That's part of the real beauty in all of this : it's a completely collaborative effort on the three of us : Nature, the camera's eye and me. What will we three conjure finally?!?
No more street lamps here on Route 50 : at least in this picture ...
The dark is now setting in and yet in this reverie and love of the moment , of Nature and being finally off and free completely for 45 minutes I want to continue in my artistic license. It's like my driver's licence : I need both : and both work together here with me as I drive home and try to be witness to ; as well as to appreciate all that I see and which triggers me to want to utilize my artistic bent and to cry and sing and draw and create and take pictures of all of this!
It's so immediate! It's like something that sweeps me up, takes me strongly or gently into it's grip and moves me along with it. Like the wind it will drop or settle me - leave me definitely sometime and probably quite soon. Yet I am a willing slave to all of this. Use me please ; force me - forcefully, tenderly, gingerly, without care at all for me as you go about your business. Just let me be a part of it and witness to it. I will compose. I will lose all composure. I will not steel myself. Rather I will open myself completely to whatever/ whichever/whenever ... I love you Nature and I draw most all of my inspiration along with that of the grounding love and home and sense of my place with my family.
I love composing pictures and here I have some nice ones with the added color from the car lights on Route 50 here in northern Virginia.
I love the darkness of the trees and the white wispy cloud formations on a light baby blue sky background that is quickly changing as the sun's light vanishes behind the horizon ...
Above in the center here of the photo it almost looks like the sun's setting here but in fact it's the bright headlights of one or more cars heading in my direction. Now the headlights when lit will have to serve as many minuscule suns for us until sunrise tomorrow.
Here in the picture above the car's light are really reminding me of the blaze and the sense of warmth that the sun brings whether one actually feels it or not. I love it : ablaze in full rage and full center stage glory of gold and light and fire's/bulbs rage! All on one page ...
Route 50 turns on it's lights here and so do many if not all the cars driving along with me or towards me on the many missions that are theirs and theirs alone ...
There's still plenty of blue sky infused with many white clouds moving slowly along the horizon. I'm hoping to see the very last of the sun before it goes behind the horizon. I know that just before I get to 7-Corners that they view is spectacular because of the height on the hill there. I may or may not see the sun : it may have already departed. And yet I drive quickly along Route 50 in hot pursuit of whatever the setting sun's rays may do for the various clouds and the baby blues of the skies that turn to grays and violets and many shades of purple and lavender and creamy whites, too. It's quite a show : the taking of the sun away from us as night takes it's place...
I've always liked the strong colors of red and greens in the traffic lights. They set off the skies behind them here and all that lovely creamy pink and salmon and light custard colors in and around the clouds in the skies...
And then it's finally dark and I am closer to home and I am enjoying all that is written on the side of the bus to my left : so much so that I have to take a picture of it. I also like the reflection in my side left mirror with the blaring yellow/golden orbs of light like small suns shining brightly/frightfully at me demanding that I go and not be stopped at the light as I am at Annandale Roads and Gallows Roads ...
I put this one in above because of it's almost complete darkness. What was there originally that I thought worth capturing on digital image?!?
I love the deep and darkened blues and whites and shades of such dark greens from the trees that almost envelope Annandale Road as one drives, winding one's way to Little River Turnpike ...
Ahhh, but one more picture of this bus with it's message of clean air as in clean gas emissions that it gives off when in use ...
And what person isn't stimulated to be a part of a revolution? Perhaps in this case a personal one to motivate one to do better at whatever ...
I love all the play with different colored lights in the dark of the night both on and off the road as my car winds it's way safely home.
As much as I love taking these pictures like this with a click and a quick snap of the finger I also love getting home safely. That's key : I have responsibilities to my family as well as I have to serving my various art muses.
This is all so dark outside in the picture above with the lights being framed by that upholstery of my Ford Taurus. What's that sitting on top of the upholstery? I will have to enlarge the picture here later to get a better idea as I have none now.
Traffic lights and car lights, oh boy! ...
Strings of white lights : our modern day wagon trains strung together these cars : following one another for safety? Or maybe just to get to their destinations as quickly as possible ... What's the big white box to the right here? It's acting like a mirror with a big flash of bright light as a reflection ...
I love how in this picture the clear image of the lights is in the thin band that's running parallel to the top of my dashboard in the car ... all the rest is a bit foggy/hazy ... as the skies and the trees and the road all melt into one it seems ...
I love these two bright car lights as they approach me : blinding me- mesmerizing me ...
I love these forty or so minutes that I have all to myself giving me a moment to relax and for thoughts to come to me finally that have been trying all day. It's also a moment to compose myself before I step into my other role as a husband and father and leave that of a worker and a bread-earner behind for the time-being ... cheers, and Happy New Year! TONY
Look at all that field of blue sky in the picture above. I love that. I love the peace and the quiet that is completely mine as I leave work in Washington D.C. and have approximately 45 minutes all to myself to drive in pretty much complete peace. I am often very tired and my left knee acts up at this time as I am finally able to relax or start the long process of relaxing until I get up the next morning.
THree streets lamps above for Rosslyn ..
I love starting this process of relaxing and yet if I have my Canon camera handy I also love taking pictures of the things that I see as I drive home that inspire/fire and motivate and fill me with the energy that I need or will soon need to keep my fires internally ( as well as externally ) completely stoked. Music does this, too : but nothing more than Nature : I'm constantly falling in love with Nature pretty much any time that I am in it's presence outside.
Looking out my windows as I drive at the bounty of so much Nature in all it's colors and shades and textures and forms and varying lights is breath-taking. I'm sunk every time that I am witness to it : any of it. I don't even really have to make the time for it : it seeps into me - it deluges me, it washes over me - it calls and sings and blows and rattles me. I love it. I say many times during these drives to and from work that I am lucky to be alive and an active witness to all of this glory and splendor that I can be inspired by and share in. I never own any of it. It's not for sale. It's there to those of us that are able to avail ourselves, our senses , our time to actually look and smell, taste, hold ... not hard, but it does take some involvement on our parts.
Now only one street lamp for Rosslyn ...
This may be a Thursday evening? I am not sure. The light is still with us though it is now quickly bidding it's adieu. So I snap my Canon camera feverishly here and hope for the best. I can't really focus much on what I am doing with the camera : I have to just turn it to where I want to record/preserve an image, try and aim it so that I get something of what I want and which triggered my initial desire to take the picture in the first place.
Again, only one street lamp for all of Rosslyn?
These are all split-second decisions on my part. I don't have any time. I must act immediately! I must simply trust and move along and be safe and sound in my car and arrive home to my family that I love and which is expecting me home soon in one solid, sane piece ...
So I snap and click away and often have no idea what the camera's eye will actually see and be able to preserve? That's part of the real beauty in all of this : it's a completely collaborative effort on the three of us : Nature, the camera's eye and me. What will we three conjure finally?!?
No more street lamps here on Route 50 : at least in this picture ...
The dark is now setting in and yet in this reverie and love of the moment , of Nature and being finally off and free completely for 45 minutes I want to continue in my artistic license. It's like my driver's licence : I need both : and both work together here with me as I drive home and try to be witness to ; as well as to appreciate all that I see and which triggers me to want to utilize my artistic bent and to cry and sing and draw and create and take pictures of all of this!
It's so immediate! It's like something that sweeps me up, takes me strongly or gently into it's grip and moves me along with it. Like the wind it will drop or settle me - leave me definitely sometime and probably quite soon. Yet I am a willing slave to all of this. Use me please ; force me - forcefully, tenderly, gingerly, without care at all for me as you go about your business. Just let me be a part of it and witness to it. I will compose. I will lose all composure. I will not steel myself. Rather I will open myself completely to whatever/ whichever/whenever ... I love you Nature and I draw most all of my inspiration along with that of the grounding love and home and sense of my place with my family.
I love composing pictures and here I have some nice ones with the added color from the car lights on Route 50 here in northern Virginia.
I love the darkness of the trees and the white wispy cloud formations on a light baby blue sky background that is quickly changing as the sun's light vanishes behind the horizon ...
Above in the center here of the photo it almost looks like the sun's setting here but in fact it's the bright headlights of one or more cars heading in my direction. Now the headlights when lit will have to serve as many minuscule suns for us until sunrise tomorrow.
Here in the picture above the car's light are really reminding me of the blaze and the sense of warmth that the sun brings whether one actually feels it or not. I love it : ablaze in full rage and full center stage glory of gold and light and fire's/bulbs rage! All on one page ...
Route 50 turns on it's lights here and so do many if not all the cars driving along with me or towards me on the many missions that are theirs and theirs alone ...
There's still plenty of blue sky infused with many white clouds moving slowly along the horizon. I'm hoping to see the very last of the sun before it goes behind the horizon. I know that just before I get to 7-Corners that they view is spectacular because of the height on the hill there. I may or may not see the sun : it may have already departed. And yet I drive quickly along Route 50 in hot pursuit of whatever the setting sun's rays may do for the various clouds and the baby blues of the skies that turn to grays and violets and many shades of purple and lavender and creamy whites, too. It's quite a show : the taking of the sun away from us as night takes it's place...
I've always liked the strong colors of red and greens in the traffic lights. They set off the skies behind them here and all that lovely creamy pink and salmon and light custard colors in and around the clouds in the skies...
And then it's finally dark and I am closer to home and I am enjoying all that is written on the side of the bus to my left : so much so that I have to take a picture of it. I also like the reflection in my side left mirror with the blaring yellow/golden orbs of light like small suns shining brightly/frightfully at me demanding that I go and not be stopped at the light as I am at Annandale Roads and Gallows Roads ...
I put this one in above because of it's almost complete darkness. What was there originally that I thought worth capturing on digital image?!?
I love the deep and darkened blues and whites and shades of such dark greens from the trees that almost envelope Annandale Road as one drives, winding one's way to Little River Turnpike ...
Ahhh, but one more picture of this bus with it's message of clean air as in clean gas emissions that it gives off when in use ...
And what person isn't stimulated to be a part of a revolution? Perhaps in this case a personal one to motivate one to do better at whatever ...
I love all the play with different colored lights in the dark of the night both on and off the road as my car winds it's way safely home.
As much as I love taking these pictures like this with a click and a quick snap of the finger I also love getting home safely. That's key : I have responsibilities to my family as well as I have to serving my various art muses.
This is all so dark outside in the picture above with the lights being framed by that upholstery of my Ford Taurus. What's that sitting on top of the upholstery? I will have to enlarge the picture here later to get a better idea as I have none now.
Traffic lights and car lights, oh boy! ...
Strings of white lights : our modern day wagon trains strung together these cars : following one another for safety? Or maybe just to get to their destinations as quickly as possible ... What's the big white box to the right here? It's acting like a mirror with a big flash of bright light as a reflection ...
I love how in this picture the clear image of the lights is in the thin band that's running parallel to the top of my dashboard in the car ... all the rest is a bit foggy/hazy ... as the skies and the trees and the road all melt into one it seems ...
I love these two bright car lights as they approach me : blinding me- mesmerizing me ...
I love these forty or so minutes that I have all to myself giving me a moment to relax and for thoughts to come to me finally that have been trying all day. It's also a moment to compose myself before I step into my other role as a husband and father and leave that of a worker and a bread-earner behind for the time-being ... cheers, and Happy New Year! TONY
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Up On Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa With John Morrison, Early March, 2009 : Feeling Now 1/3/09 On Top Of The World!
The headline should read : 1/3/2010 and not 2009! Oops!!!! I'll get there.
John Morrison and me up on Table Mountain outside of Cape Town on a glorious day in early March of 2009. It was a Sunday I believe.
I asked the girl if I could take a picture of her rhinestone sandals as they were so big and I noticed them as we waited to take the car up at the bottom of the lift. I didn't think we would see her again. She was with her mother and brother and they I suppose thought my request was amusing. Cheers ... Oh, she took this picture I believe of John and me here. Thanks ...
Up on top of Table Mountain , Cape Town, South Africa back in early March of 2009 : what could be more inspiring to start this grand New Year 2010 I ask you?!?! Not much, I answer ... cheers ...
Enjoy these photos that reinforce my feeling now at 11:48 PM on Sunday night, January 3rd, 2010 of feeling " on top of the world " just as I was with John Morrison last March, 2009 when we walked along the top of Table Mountain on a beautiful day just outside of Cape Town in South Africa. Cheers and may this be a great year for all of us. I foresee great things for my family and I! I am enjoying as I load these pictures now a glass of the HINE " Antique " French cognac. I am also watching the wonderful movie " Out Of Africa " that is inspiring me and making me cry like a baby just now. TONY
John Morrison and me up on Table Mountain outside of Cape Town on a glorious day in early March of 2009. It was a Sunday I believe.
I asked the girl if I could take a picture of her rhinestone sandals as they were so big and I noticed them as we waited to take the car up at the bottom of the lift. I didn't think we would see her again. She was with her mother and brother and they I suppose thought my request was amusing. Cheers ... Oh, she took this picture I believe of John and me here. Thanks ...
Up on top of Table Mountain , Cape Town, South Africa back in early March of 2009 : what could be more inspiring to start this grand New Year 2010 I ask you?!?! Not much, I answer ... cheers ...
Enjoy these photos that reinforce my feeling now at 11:48 PM on Sunday night, January 3rd, 2010 of feeling " on top of the world " just as I was with John Morrison last March, 2009 when we walked along the top of Table Mountain on a beautiful day just outside of Cape Town in South Africa. Cheers and may this be a great year for all of us. I foresee great things for my family and I! I am enjoying as I load these pictures now a glass of the HINE " Antique " French cognac. I am also watching the wonderful movie " Out Of Africa " that is inspiring me and making me cry like a baby just now. TONY
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