Pearl Harbor Day

Today is December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 , killing thousands, and bringing the United States into World War II.  There are very few veterans left who witnessed that event.  My father, who was drafted around 1944 and was sent to fight teeth in Okinawa (he was a dentist), would be 106 years old if he were alive today.  He is pictured in the photograph on the left along with my mother Mary and sister Susan, taken while mother and Susan were visiting him in Abilene, Texas, right before he was shipped off to Okinawa.  And no, I was not the one who took the photograph.  I was born much, much, much, much later, in a totally different era, known as the 1950s.  Which is why I am still a relatively young man, as opposed to my sister, who is - well, I won't say it.

The Parade Of Lights 2015

Yes.  I did go down to see the Parade of Lights last night, despite the cold. And for that matter, so did everyone else in the Denver area.  Denver - at last count - has a population of 2,700,000, and it is still a one event kind of town.  The People's Fair, the Taste of Colorado, the Parade of Lights, the National Western Stock Show, even every single damn Broncos game, everyone in town shows up for it.  I took the Light Rail train myself, and watched the thousands of cars entering downtown and trying to find a parking space.  Some probably still are. Most of the crowd seemed to really enjoy the event.

However, some did not, such as the poor homeless man trying to stay warm in the photograph on the right.  There was also a homeless young woman, looking very miserable, sitting next to her worldly possessions right behind the crowd watching the parade, a sign asking for handouts propped up beside her.  Denver has a large homeless population and there is still an ongoing debate about what to do about it, although I suspect it won't be much.  . If I was homeless, I would be on the road to Florida this very instant. As far as I am concerned, homeless and warm is a heck of a lot better than homeless and freezing.

Christmas Lights And The Parade Of Lights

The Christmas lights are up all over downtown Denver, and I must say, it really livens the place up.  All down the 16th Street Mall, the lights brighten up the street, and there is even an ice rink set for those who like to skate and don't mind the frigid temperatures.  And this Friday and Saturday is the Parade of Lights, an annual Denver tradition. I have attended this event a number of times, and no matter how mild the temperatures are predicted to be, it always feels about 10 below zero.  Nobody seems to mind, except me, who eventually says the hell with it all and heads home to where the heat is.  Does that make me a Scrooge? And if so, so what?

The Pioneer Woman Signs Books At The Tattered Cover

Ree Drumond, the "Pioneer Woman," (in the above photograph on the left) signed copies of her book - The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime - last night at the Tattered Cover.  Drumond is a Food Blogger, a photographer, a cookbook author, and Food Network Star, and hundreds of fans showed up to meet her and get an autographed copy of her book.  Personally, I never heard of her until yesterday, but as I understand it, she became famous as a Blogger sharing her recipes.  Which of course gives me a great idea - perhaps if I share my recipes on this Blog, I will become famous, too.  The Pioneer Guy Spices Up Ragu! Fame and fortune, here I come!

Alleys Are Cool, And Other Symptoms Of Eccentricity

I  have always thought alleys are great subjects for the camera.  Not only do they often have fire escapes, murals, and even alley houses that make for great photographs, but you can also usually photograph all manner of people walking down them.  Of course, in the suburbs there are no alleys, which is still another thing that I hate about them.  No wonder they are so sterile and boring.  I say what the suburbs need to do is to start putting alleys behind all those suburban ranches and spit levels in an effort to liven the place up.  And I would just love to be the one photographing the resident's  reactions for posterity.

Too Cold For The Lions...

I wanted to go to the Denver Zoo this past weekend, but it was so damn cold the animals had to stay inside. I can't blame them, of course.  I wasn't too crazy about going outside, either.  Therefore, I am featuring a photograph I took of one of the Denver Zoo's lions a number of months ago.  It is a great lion portrait (if I do say so myself), and I don't think I can improve on it.  And best of all, by using a photograph I took in the summer, I stay warm and the lion stays warm, too.  A classic win-win situation.

It's December!

Hard to believe that it is already December.  It seems to me I was just whining about all the rain we had this past spring, and now here I am whining about all the snow we've had already.  In honor of this blast of winter, I am featuring a photograph I took of my mother Mary in front of our house in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago back in March of 1962.  My mother is standing in front of our 1961 Pontiac Catalina, which my father traded in for a 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix that December.  He went to Jim Miller Pontiac to get the cigarette lighter fixed, and came back with that brand new car.  And my mother was not pleased.  Christmas of 1962 was not a happy time.  I know I'm starting to repeat these stories, but tough.