David

Or, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

One of the stops I made while in Memphis, was the Gibson guitar factory and retail store. All I can say is..........  Oh, my....... I've played Gibsons since I was a lad and it was most interesting and exciting to be able to see them manufactured. The biggest disappointment during our tour was this. Here we were in a factory producing state-of-the-art musical instruments, while the factory tour guide (not our cute tour guide, you understand) was doing a Rudy Vallee ( http://www.rudyvallee.com/ ) impersonation with a 9" long megaphone as he spoke to about 30 people in a noisy factory. Here then are a few shots from my stop at the Gibson factory and store.

Gibson Sides

Gibsons Glued and Clamped 

One of the Guitar Luthiers (A luthier is one one who makes stringed musical instruments (as violins or guitars)

Gibson Bodies Glued and Tied 

Caps and Gibsons 

Gibsons Galore This is when I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed strumming on one of the Gibsons from the wall - a beautiful Hummingbird flat top. Mmmmm Mmmmm Nice, indeed.

Last week I took one of my most memorable trips  ever. I went to Memphis, Tennessee, the home of the Delta Blues sound. While there, one of the places I visited was the Brooks Art Museum. Although no pictures may be taken inside, I did find a few photo ops outside. Here, take a look.

Brooks Art Museum Steps to the Door 

Brooks Art Museum Door  

Brooks Art Museum Planter (This is my 1,400th image on Photographica.)

Brooks Art Museum Switchback Railings  

(And talk about cute travel guides. Let me tell you!)

 

Last April, smalltown05 (smalls or smally to some, but certainly not all) threw out a challenge to our friend Jeffrey. She posted two pictures, this door andthese rocks. She then asked Jeffrey to write a story based them. He did a wonderful job. You may find his story here.
http://www.photographica.org/story/comments/2007/4/10/15259/6151
 
After reading Jeffrey’s story, I asked both him and smalls if either would mind if I gave it a whirl. They told me to go ahead and I wrote a story, once again based on the two pictures. You may find my story here.
http://www.photographica.org/story/comments/2007/4/14/10542/9211
 
So now this April, a new challenge has been made. Smalls asked me if I would write a poem based on one of her pictures. I accepted the challenge. And oh my.... What a picture she sent to me. You can see it in the thumb.

And now..... "A Certain Place"

...for those of us still buried under the snow.

Monarch Butterfly on Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Monarch Butterfly on Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflowers  

Horicon Marsh is a huge resting area for migratory birds as they travel north in the spring to their nesting and breeding areas and south in the autumn to their winter areas. The birds have stopped to rest here for thousands of years. These are some shots from April of 2007.

Two Canada geese checking out the ladies?

The ladies?

Another Canada goose looking for love

Horicon Marsh Cattail seed head

Hi! My name is Chester Cheesehead. And I’m a traveler. I have no control over it. I am just a traveling curd. I have traveled over 32,000 miles in my short life and want to travel more. I made a deal with the kind folks at Photographica. They said they would feed my need for travel. Pyro43 said it was okay with him if it was okay with me. So now I’m going to travel once again. My first trip is to some smalltown that is 1041 miles away from my home in Wisconsin. So as my home, the box, closes, I now bid adieu to Pyro  as he bids adieu to me. I will miss you Pyro. Please be here when I return.

And I will miss you, Chester. You will be in loving hands, I'm sure. With this, Chester leaves Wisconsin for parts unknown. Please pray that his travels are good and his return home is in the not too distant future.
 

Late in February, Buck celebrated his 85th birthday. He’s been a member of our fire department for many, many years. Let me give you a brief listing of his various positions with the department. In 1968, he was the lieutenant of Squad 2, which is responsible for supplying water to the attack squad. Buck later became, in turn, lieutenant and then captain of Squad 1 which is the attack squad.  A definition of attack squad might be: Those foolish enough to enter a burning building when all the rats and mice are leaving. After that tenure, he was elected to the position of 1st Assistant Chief. One of the responsibilities of the person holding that position is to be sure fire inspections are done and recorded in a timely manner. Though no longer a chief, he continues to do the fire inspections.

A few of us had a birthday party for Buck on February 29th. I’d like to show you a few things that caught my eye.

Buck at 85 Years Young
Buck's Birthday Cake
Buck's Confetti
Buck's Happy Birthday Sign
Buck's Birthday Napkins
Buck's Forks
 

This past weekend was the first with clear sunny skies and near normal temperatures on both days since the weekend of November third and fourth. It gave me an opportunity to get out and shoot some pictures. I went to a fairly new park in the Town of Grafton called Lion's Den Park The park overlooks Lake Michigan and is situated on the bluffs some 200 feet or so above the lake.

Little Winter Stream 1

Red Twig Dogwood

Looking Over the Bluff

Looking Through the Staghorn Sumac

Birch Along the Trail

Little Winter Stream 2

Sit a Spell
 

This is a story about Chester Cheesehead the world traveler. He started his journey in northern Wisconsin as a geocaching travel bug. His goal was to travel from cache to cache all the way to Seattle, WA so he could eye the Space Needle and then travel back to Wisconsin to rejoin his pal Pyro43. It required a distance of 8,753 miles and several months, but he did it and had his picture taken there too. His trip had taken him through Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Nevada, California, Oregon and several other states, some of which he visited multiple times.

A few months later, Chester was invited to the home of our member Tomitake so he could visit Japan and have his picture taken there. Chester traveled the 6,237 miles to Japan and spent some good fun times with the gracious Tomi-san and his family. Chester didn’t know at the time that Tomi-san was originally from New Zealand. But he found out when Tomi-san took him for a visit. Chester was so happy, after 5,741 miles, to see New Zealand and have his picture taken there too.

Chester Cheesehead has returned home now and brought along a friend by the name of Maneki-neko that Tomi-san introduced him to.Chester Cheesehead & Maneki-neko have become fast friends.

All told, Chester Cheesehaead traveled 32,609 miles during his adventures.

If you’d like to read about Maneki-neko, go to this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_neko