PHOTO LIFE - THE BLOG

Final Blog

2008-01-28T15:37:00.000-05:00

To all that have been reading the blog and providing support and comfort to Mark through these times, Mark passed away Sunday morning. I'm comforted by the fact that he is more comfortable now and in a better place.

Sue

Drifting & Disappoinyments

2007-12-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

To Ron and Photobabe, thanks for reading and your comments. As far as Porters goes, I still stop in every now and then but I haven't taken any photos in some time so have very little to contribute. My eyesight is still poor and with these new seziures I just don'y feel like doing much. I was in the emergency room twice this week (once via 911 and ambulance)

Sue and I did go to the show at the Pickneyville Community Center again this year. It was terrible! They had new organizers and it sucked. The price almost doubled,. Last year the vendors were given a goodie bag containing some candy and snacks and a Christmas ornament - this year nothing. The food service very limited, no fries only chips with main selections of a hotdog, chicken fingers (ice cold) and chili.

Traffic was nonexistent. No postcards were sent out this year advertising the event. I sold 2 matted prints, 2 note cards and a single postcard and those were to other vendors at the show! We will not go back next year and from what I was hearing neither will most of the others.

As for me, other than the seizures my rye sight seems to have gotten worse not better. Y am at a loss and it kills me just having bought all this new camera equipment and not being able to use it. I pray it will change, I miss taking`photos

Where Are We Now?

2007-11-14T06:22:00.000-05:00

Another long time between post again. When I first started this blog I posted daily sometimes twice a day but I've been worn down. I know my body is failing - more problems it seems like occur daily. If anyone still reads this I would be greatly surprised.

Most of the time now I either don't feel good enough to post or I cannot see well enough to write. (yes, the vision problem still exist - sometimes better or worse. No steady improvement.) My weeks are now filled with more bad days than good and now comes more problems - SEIZURES. More test, Cat scans, multiple MRI's and of course the blood test too.

I still haven't gained my balance and strength to get away from this damned wheelchair and it's been a year now. Part of it is my fault for not trying harder ut I can't seem to do it.

Sue has hired a caretaker to help out - she comes 5 times a week picks me up from dialysis at 10:30 & stays with me until 5 on Tue & Thur. On Mon. Wed. & Fri. it's 9 - 3:30. She is very nice and also does house work and errands. It's an attempt to give my Mom and Dad their life back but they're back right now because Sue is out of town for a couple of weeks and everyone doesn't want me to be alone for that long. Even I have to admit I couldn't get along without the help.

I haven't shot any photos in several months but I am hoping to do so soon. (Wishful thinking, maybe so, but it's all I have). I am reworking some photos into B&W's and that's working out well most of the time.

So, where are we now? Closer to the end, yes but I still can't see it.

If you're reading this - Thanks, it's therapy for me again. - Mark

Photo for today - Effie's Bridge, Stone Mountain Park, GA

Seems Like Forever!

2007-09-19T22:44:00.000-05:00

Poole's Mill Bridge

It does seem like forever since I last posted anything. i've been here, just unable to see to read and write until today. My eyesight has returned somewhat. Its still weak. I oftsn have to rest my eyes and anything outside in bright light is out of the question for now. The Doc says it may be 6 more months before we'll know if this new medicine is really working, so until then I've got my fingers crossed.

Still missing Miss Kitty. Both Sue & I sometimes "feel" her jump up on the bed at night or expect to see her tucked on the blanket on the sofa.

Sue is well - out of town as usual on business. She'll be goneb3out oe 4 weeks in October too. So much for less travel with this job.

My eyes are beginning to tire so this will be a short one.

Thanks as always for reading and sending your comments - Mark

General Update

2007-08-13T18:43:00.000-05:00

Just a general update to let you know what is going on. It has been several weeks since I have let you know what is going on, this is primarily due to eyesight troubles. Swelling & dryness have made it nearly impossible for me to read or write.

First I want to thank everyone for their sentiments about Miss Kitty. She wasn't very noisy but the house sure seems quiet without her. I miss her fuzzy face and her snoring in my ear.

Entered 2 more photos in the jurored art show. It seems to be more of a popularity contest, but I will keep trying and it is good exposure. I recieved good interest from the last 2 I entered.

Hopefully I will be back more regularly when my eyesight improves. In the meantime, I will dictate updates to Sue.

IN MEMORY

2007-07-20T00:28:00.000-05:00

MISS KITTY 1987 -2007

It is with a heavy heart I write this post. many people may never understand why others can become so attached to a pet. To us, Sue and I, Miss Kitty was more like our child.

Everyone that meet Miss Kitty liked her and also treated her like a full member of our family.

Sue brought Miss Kitty home after we played cards at a friend's house. Miss Kitty and her brothers and sisters were there, all Tennessee barn cats. They were just small kittens but this one kept coming over to Sue and untying her shoe. After the third time, Sue knew she had to take her home. This one was so cute and playful. (at the time we didn't realize it was Miss Kitty picking us out to go home with.) She was the runt of the litter but the most curious and active. You could fit her in one hand at this time.

She was the sweetest cat always wanting to take care of us too. The day I fell down the stairs and broke my hip I was lying on the floor by the front door and Sue had gone to call 911. Miss Kitty had been sitting on the stairs watching what was going on. Miss Kitty came over to me and sat down right up against me and gently put her paw on my hand and held it there until the firemen arrived. when the firemen got there she moved back to the stairs to watch. I was in such pain that when they tried to roll me over I screamed and Miss Kitty came bounding down the stairs screeching at the firemen to stop hurting me.

When ever Sue didn't feel well it was the same thing. Miss Kitty would sit with her holding that tiny paw on her. Miss Kitty would stay like that until she thought Sue was feeling better. Miss kitty would even ignore food until she was sure Sue was better she just stayed by her side.

We got to where we called her Baby kitty, I was Daddy kitty and Sue was Momma kitty. My parents also fell in love with Miss Kitty bringing her all sorts of gifts - play toys and home-made catnip sewn into hand-made mice,candy canes,turkey legs and a whole host of other shapes.

We all loved Miss Kitty and she loved us too. She was the best cat she never once bit or nipped at us or anyone never scratch anybody. She was always friendly warm and happy to see you.

Miss Kitty had recently eaten some of the tainted Menu pet food and gotten very sick. We had taken her to the vet close to a dozen times in the last couple of months trying to get her well and we thought she was improving. She seemed like she was back to her old sele. She was playing with Sue like she did when she was a kitten and eating well but I guess the taint food and her advanced kept her from a full recovery.

Please join with us and say a final prayer for our child, our friend, our Miss Kitty.

Thank you - Mark & Sue

The Clock Strikes Midnightand Death is Cheated Again

2007-06-20T18:35:00.000-05:00

The morning started the same as it has for the past year or so. It's 5:30 and Sue is up and in the shower getting ready for another commute into work. I'm awake and getting ready for another day at the dialysis clinic. I test my blood sugar and find a little high at 203 so I take 3 units of novolog insulin. I've done the same thing many times before in the 36 years of having diabetes.

This morning something was not the same, what we're still not sure. I felt like my blood pressure might be low. Sue helped me check it and it was normal but I still had an uneasy, light-headed feeling. That's the last thing I remember before "my dream"

I thought I was dreaming and it wasn't a pleasant one. I said Oh Damn, I'm in the hospital again! It was the sounds and smells that flooded my head. I could feel people lifting my arms and yelling my name. I couldn't move, open my eyes or speak no matter how hard I tried.

The sounds were those of Sue and the first responder firemen that arrived a minute before the paramedics. For some reason my blood sugar had dropped to 20 in a little over 15 minutes and I had gone from having seizures to slipping into a coma-like state.

I remember my tongue and lips feeling thick and heavy. It was the " instant glucose" the firemen had put in my mouth and all over my lips. It's a jelly-like substance used to combat low blood sugar in a unconscious person. It wasn't having much of an effect in this case. When the EMT's arrived they started an IV and started giving me D-50 (intravenous glucose). I felt myself put into a wheelchair and moved to the door. I still couldn't move, speak or open my eyes at this time. I felt myself being loaded into the ambulance and starting the ride to the hospital.

While on the way to the hospital I began to come to. I could open my eyes only to have them slam shut again. As the minutes passed I was able to hold them open longer and speak a little. I was now fully aware of what had happened and what was going on around me.

Over the next few hours in the hospital my blood sugar would continue to drop and I would get more D-50. This went on for what seemed like forever. Finally my sugar stabilized and I was released to go to dialysis.

Since then all I've wanted to do is sleep. I've been exhausted from the seizures and lack of eating anything for a day and a half. Lunch today was my first real meal but I still feel tired and weak.

Of course Sue was with me throughout all this. The EMT's said her calling so quickly had saved my life. She had to go to MN today for work and my parents are here until she gets back on Friday. I miss her so much. She has to leave again on Monday for the entire week she'll be in Belgium and return on Saturday. After that she's taking a week off to be with me and we'll be together.

Thanks for reading -Mark

Photo - An Old Homestead ( and how I feel)

The Clock is Ticking

2007-06-13T16:23:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED 6/07

It seems like it is always about time. It's not the right time or we don't have enough time. The doctors have given me a 50% chance of two more years. More than two years will be bonus time. I look forward to beating those odds and making it to at least 55 and taht's SEVEN more years.

My eyes are still giving me fits. Some day are OK, others are abysmal and now come with migraine-like headaches the likes I've never experienced before. Miss Kitty and I are much alike. We are both holding our own having both some good days and more often so-so days with occasional BAD days.

My dialysis time has changed again so they can accommodate new people. It's a little later, from 7 to 11 am on Tue, Thur & Sat. I have finally graduated to their largest needles which means more blood can be cleaned during my four hours. During my last treatment they cleaned 107 liters of my blood. This will hopefully lead to better numbers and eventually shorter times.

I got two photos into a jurried show at a small local art gallery last week - nothing big but at least it's some exposure. I've been working on getting things ready for the upcoming sale at the antique market this weekend ( Fri, Sat & Sun) but still have a way to go. I have some new images and replaced the few that sold last time. I'm hoping this time we'll do better.

It's been great! Sue has been home for two weeks straight. It's so good to be with her. Next week she's on the go again but she (as of now) has no out of town plans in August. I think we'll try to take a couple of 2 to 3 day outings to places we've been wanting to see. ( Mainly the Blue Ridge Parkway and Galloway Gardens).

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Photo - Just something I saw.

Depression? Who.... Me/

2007-05-25T22:27:00.001-05:00

North Georgia Images at Lakewood 400

Am I depressed? I think I am sometimes but I think we all get depressed at times. I have some good days ever now and then. I have really bad days more often it seems. These are days that I feel physically bad and yes, that in itself can be depressing but that feeling doesn't last but a day or two. One of my docs thinks I should be taking something for it and wrote me an Rx for Paxcil but I haven't filled it. I really don't think I need another medication of any kind.

My sight problems still are giving me fits and I wonder if I should continue to spend time, effort and money on photography. - another reason to be depressed. That and the 50% two-year survival rate I was told I am facing is another reason. Even with all these new unpleasant things I struggle forward. Yes, I've thought about taking my favorite pistol and using it to end my life and stop the misery I cannot yet do this.

It's the love for my wife and my love of creating photographic art that keeps me going. Sue is my support. She is much stronger than I and she is always there for me. I only hope I can be there for her too.

We did attempt to sell some framed photos at an antique market last weekend but the traffic there was very slow. Even the regular vendors said it was much less traffic there than normal. We sold a photo-canvas and several sets of note cards on Friday but had no sales the rest of the weekend. I made just enough to pay for the space and the food we ate.

We have decided to give it another try in June and maybe again in the Fall so we'll see how it goes. We did have people asking if we would be there next month - go figure what that means.

The photos are of our little booth at the Lakewood 400 Antique Market. This coming month of June we will be in space B-52 (hope that doesn't mean we'll bomb) It's the 3rd weekend of the month so come visit if you're near by and have the time

HE{P

2007-05-13T12:26:00.000-05:00

PLEASE TAKE NOTE

This is from a friend's site in the UK and is an important notice. Please be on the lookout for Madeleine whever you live - Thank you.
Madeleine
This is the latest photo released of Madeleine. It shows a distinctive discoloration in her right eye. This obviously could help further to identify Madeleine, should any of us see a little girl who looks 'a bit like her' but who leaves us unsure.Today, 12th May, is Madeleine's 4th birthday.'Happy Birthday' is not appropriate at all, but we are thinking of you Madeleine and are doing all we can to get you home.I am filing constant updates and accounts of news reports in the comments box here for readers' information; I know that some countries are not fully covering the story.British Madeleine McCann, aged 3, was abducted from Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3rd May 2007. Her parents were dining at a restaurant, leaving her and her twin 2 -year old siblings alone in their apartment.Madeleine, of course, could be anywhere in the world now. If you see her or know anything, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or 0044 1883 731 336 for outside UK.I have decided to show Madeleine's picture here on Cheltenham Daily Photo, which i will leave for two days as the current photo, to help publicise this terrible event and circulate her photo so that everyone can look out for her. Her family and Sky News are asking people to circulate a poster/photo for this reason. Let's all pray that this beautiful little girl will be returned safe and well.I feel compelled to say, however, that I would never, ever have left my own sons alone in a room while dining at a restaurant. Not even for five minutes. It's wrong. It's illegal. It's unsafe. Wouldn't have even entered my head. When you have young children, the choice is; pay a trusted babysitter or eat at home with them. Simple. I may sound harsh but i feel very strongly about it. I've spent many holidays abroad with my young sons. That was never an option in my mind. That act, by her parents, who i still feel desperately for of course, i will never understand. What do you think?BBC Report with site map of restaurant and apartment complexRewards of £1 million - from a UK businessman and £10,000 - from The Portugal News - have been offered for info. leading to arrest.New reward of £1.5 million from British newspaper News Of The World

Good news not so good really

2007-05-12T20:06:00.000-05:00

Photographed 5/07

This is just an update on the tests that I had last week. Week before last I had a stress, this last Tues I had an echo cardiogram. The technician informed me that she did not see any changes from the one done last year and my stress test showed no blockages so everything looked good - they would probably be seeing me again in 6 months. I was so happy about this that I called Sue when I got home and gave her the good news. We felt we had dodged a problem for once since everything seemed okay.

Thursday, this week was the first day this week I was not scheduled for dialysis or a Dr's visit - my first free day in probably a month. So while working on my computer that morning, about 11:00 am I had a phone call from my cardiologist office. They called to tell me they had the results from my stress test - I told them I already had the results and that everything looked good...the lady on the phone informed me, however, that there was a significant change in the stress test and the Dr. wanted to talk to me about it....She said that although it was short notice, the Dr. had an opening at 12:15 and if I could make it, he would like to see me as soon as possible (this doesn't sound good).

I go to see the Dr. The Dr and one of his assistants come in - it is unusual for 2 people to come in. He breaks the news to me that my ejection rate - the amount of blood pumped from my heart as the heart beats has fallen to a new lower level of only 28%. He tells me this has put me into a category of people that should have internal defibrillators installed. He explains that this is a device that will shock the heart should it stop suddenly or should it go into arrhythmia. He went on to tell me that statistically, w/o intervention, the 2 year survival rate would be only 50% - 5 yr survival rate around 20%. This was quite a difference from a couple days ago when I thought everything was okay. Now I'm faced w/ a decision - do I have this device installed which might prolong my life should this sudden death syndrome occur or do I not install the device and let nature take it's course?

Installing the device will not make me feel any better now nor keep me from feeling sick to my stomach several times a week as I do now or cure my eye problems or restore my balance. The only thing it could do, might be extend my life if I had a problem so I would continue to suffer w/ these other problems. So is it worth installing to continue this kind of a life?

I have not yet decided. I need to ask a few more questions. But, to me letting the natural course of events take place may be a better option. It seems that my heart is growing weaker but this device won't help that. Sue and I both have a lot to think about and I'll guess I'll make a decision this week. Sue said she will support whatever decision I make.

On other notes, I am going to take a space at the antique market this weekend to try to sell some framed photos. I think I have some nice work and would like folks to be able to enjoy it.
Will let you know later how things turn out. Sue is home all week this week and will be helping w/ the sale this weekend. I've missed her - she was gone all last week - but I'm so happy she's back now. As a matter of fact, she's writing this for me tonight because my eyesight is giving me trouble again. This is why I have not posted much lately. I do have an appointment w/ the eye Dr. this Wed to hopefully get the correct contacts to help this problem and maybe prevent it from happening again.

Miss Kitty had to go back to the vet this week. She, like me, seems to be having problems each week. We have a few good days and some bad days. She is holding her own and seems to be very happy for several days and then has few days she's not doing too well and is sick. And, she too is much happier when Sue is home.

Thank you all for reading. Mark

Photo for the day - another spring flower as I try to improve my macro flower taking capabilities.

Flowers for Susan

2007-05-03T12:44:00.000-05:00

Today's post is very simple. May 3rd is our 21st wedding anniversary.

It's been a wonderful trip and I hope it will go on forever.

The flowers are for you, your favorite - Lilies
All my love -Mark

Now You See 'Em... Now You Don't

2007-04-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED 4/07

Yes, once again I've had the same vision problems again. Things seemed to be getting better as my vision had improved to nearly normal (for almost a week) when it was lost again. I've been unable to read or write without much trouble for some time now. This is the 1st time I've attempted to write in a couple of weeks. This episode came just before my 48th birthday and was not a welcome gift. Sue has been out of town all but 4 days the last two weeks and has been reading most of my e-mail to me until recently. This is the reason for a lack of post and responses on my part, sorry.

It seems this condition is prone to repeating itself quite often and without warning - one moment you can see - the next the world's a blur. The solution is to get contacts to protect the outer layers of the cornea from sticking to the eyelids. I get the first trial pair this week if all continues to go well. these are contacts you wear for a couple of weeks then dispose of for a new set. I can only hope this takes care of the problem.

My other birthday surprise was a trip via ambulance to the emergency room for a possible heart attack last Friday. All in all, quite a weekend. I went today for a nuclear stress test. (no results yet) I go Tuesday for an echo-stress test. Maybe then we'll know what happened and what's going on inside.

Sue comes home tomorrow night and leaves again very early Monday morning but gets back Wednesday afternoon. She is taking that Friday off and we are having a yard sale that weekend (lots of stuff to get rid of).

Miss Kitty is holding her own. She is still having some trouble but overall seems improved. She is eating more like a horse than a cat, begging for food at every meal and of course - she gets what she wants!

Thanks for reading

-Mark

Photo for Today - Some Spring flowers I was testing a new lens here. The full size looks really nice

Like a Kid's Game......Maybe I Shouldn't Play

2007-04-17T00:51:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED - 03/07
By - FPG

Just when things seem to be going better- WHAM! – It hits you and knocks you back down. I guess it might also compare to playing a children’s board game. You roil the dice and get a six only to land on move back three spaces but this isn’t a game – it’s real life, my life.
This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t my eye- sight again.

The last few days have been too blurry to read or write anything. Sue has had to help me by reading things and writing the bills. I’m writing this now using Word with 16 pt type and thick Coke bottle type glasses. (Does anyone remember Coke-cola in bottles?) I guess I’m showing a little age there. That’s another thing to deal with this week-age. I’m going to add another year to my old, tired, worn-out body. For some reason I just don’t feel much like celebration. My ability to walk without a walker still eludes me and so far my PT sessions haven’t helped much, actually just the opposite; I now have a wound area on my right stump where my artificial limb rubbed. I’m showing my age again as I was corrected in PT – they’re now called “residual limbs” Funny because it still looks and feels like a stump to me.

Sue will be getting up in a few hours around 4:30 this morning so she can catch her flight to Minneapolis for a meeting. It’s only for one night so she’ll be home in time for my birthday. That’s the only bright spot.

I did manage to finish my taxes on time because I did most of them before the latest eye troubles. It was a break-even deal, no huge refunds here! We must be doing something wrong.
On a final and unhappy note, Miss Kitty is once again not doing well and has appointment this afternoon with the vet. Poor little thing, she was doing so much better then like me three spaces back.(Oh, I’m know as Daddy Kitty and Sue is Mama Kitty - MK is Baby Kitty). I’ll let you know how things go there

As always, thanks for reading.

-Mark

PHOTO TODAY - This is a guest photo. This is a beautiful North Carolina sunrise he shot and e-mailed me.

To All Readers & What's Happening

2007-04-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED - 4/07

I want to thank all of you that stop by and take the time to read my blog. There are a few who have been reading for quite a while now and a few new readers too. Many thanks to Pat – she has brought several new readers to my blog and she has a special understanding of my situation. She also shares a love for photography too. Talj and Anna, are two new readers that Pat introduced – thanks for reading.

Talj, I’m sorry to read of all your foot problems and I hope things will improve for you soon.

Gudi and Wendella have been pretty long-time readers and friends. Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. Ours was quiet and happy even though the air conditioner in the house went out and we have to replace it ($$$) and the new lawn mower quit too, hey what’s a long weekend for anyway. Sue did have a 4-day weekend and we got to enjoy each other’s company for 4 uninterrupted days. That was the best part of my weekend.

Today is my Mom’s birthday. She’s 75 today and we’ve got her flowers, a cake and a gift that we’ll have after dinner tonight. She laughs and says she’s officially “old” now. That’s funny because she gets around much better than I do.

That brings up something else. I started a PT program at the hospital this morning. It should help to strength my legs and entire body so I can get up and walking (better) again. My legs are weak and my balance is not so good right now. I go there on Tuesdays and Thursdays for hour-long sessions. This along with dialysis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday pretty much fill up my week now.

Miss Kitty seems to be back to her ole self, so we are quite happy about that. We’ve also learned she has a love for pork bar-b-que from North Carolina. At least when she isn’t eating my chicken salad!

Just a little of what’s happening here. Thanks for reading.
-Mark

Today's Photo - This was taken with my new camera with the ISO set at 1000 (forgot to set it back after taking indoor shots w/o using a flash) You'll notice some noise but not too much considering.

The Night That Wouldn't End.

2007-04-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

IT MUST HAVE BEEN A FULL MOON

I had quite a night last night or should I say nightmare. This was the second night I've suffered several unexplained extreme episodes of low blood sugar. I took my normal amount of insulin and ate a regular meal and tested my blood before going to bed. I left it slightly high (168) after thr previous nights attack. This didn't seem to make any difference though. I went to bed early because I was tired from dialysis and the blood sugar incidents from the night before.

The first wave was around 11:30. I woke up hot and sweating - I knew what was happening and checked my blood sugar: it was 63. I drank a non diet drink - a sunkist orange - they have twice the amount of sugar as a Coke and no phosphorus (kidney diet requirement). I also downed 6 or 7 sugar cubes and a ate a cup of cereal for a lasting effect.My blood sugar was now 183 so I should have been safe until morning.

It was 2:30 when it hit again. This time worse than before, my sugar was 52 and I was very hot and my t-shirt was soaked. I was having trouble concentrating. Sue had to help me. I had yet another drink (which isn't good because of the fluid restrictions - dialysis remember) more sugar cubes, so not to drink so much and some cookies.

This happened over the weekend also, so much so I took no insulin on Sunday at all. These incidents will lead to comma and even death if not treated promptly. So for me it's become a choice of fluid overload (not good) or comma/death (worse yet).

These episodes always leave you feeling tired and totally wiped out and they're very stressful on your entire body.

The only thing we can figure out that might be causing this condition is a new med I was put on to help balance the thyroid and aid in the intake of vitamin D. It's the only thing that has changed and the onset occurred with the beginning of this medication.

I have a call in to the doctor about this and hopefully will get the answer soon.

Thanks for reading,
-Mark

Miss Kitty & SPRING

2007-03-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED - 3/07

REWORKED in PS - 3/07

Well, this should be the last update on Miss Kitty for a while. (we hope) She seems to be back to her old self, even playing around with Sue as though she was truly still a kitten not a twenty year-old cat. She’s eating well, very well my 2nd batch of chicken is disappearing faster than I’m eating it again. Everyone it seems is a soft-touch when it comes to M K.

This tainted pet food thing continues to grow. I saw on the news tonight that some dry pet food are involved now too. So it might be a good idea to check to see if you might have any of the suspect food for your pets. We were lucky, others haven’t been so lucky.

This was another full day here and the weather was cloudy and threatened rain all day. The high today here was only 58. That’s quite a change from yesterday’s 84 and abundant sunshine. Tomorrow is predicted to be nice, sunny and a high in the mid 70’s. That would make it a perfect Spring day.

Wishing everyone a GREAT weekend! & Thanks for reading,
-Mark

TODAY’S PHOTO – Yes it’s the same as yesterdays but with yet another treatment – a more painterly approach. I’ll call it a “Painter’s Bridge”

Miss Kitty - UPDATE #2

2007-03-30T00:45:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED 3/07

Just a quick note on Miss Kitty. She went to the vet again today and got her last treatment.(we hope) Her white count is back to normal and all her kidney functions are wthin the normal range for a cat her age except her B U N. It was 40 - a little high but that's down from 72 after just a few treatments. The vet thinks that too will be normal in a week or two. She will have to go back in a month for blood work to make sure everything did return to normal.

My Mom made another batch of chicken salad this evening but I'm not sure if it's for me (I did ask for another) or Miss Kitty. I'm sure she'll get more yhan her fair share again!

It's 2:01 right now and I'm up blogging because once again sleep evades me. We went to bed a little after 19 tonight but I was back up by 1:15 tossing and turning so I got up and ended up here as always in front of the computer. I thoufgt I might work on updating my web site some. It's beenquite a while since I did much on it. Not being able to see really puts a dampper on things you need to do. I didn't do much though, just updated the featured photo page. I'll have to get back to it this weekend if the weather isn't all that good.

I did manage to take my first photos with my new camera but haven;t downloaded them into the computer yet. I'll wait untill I have more to download.

It's been very warm here lately about 17F above the norm and the pollen count is the highest it's ever been according to the TV weather people. It has not rained here in more than a month and this early pollen has coated everything sitting outside. My nose has been dripping for the last two days and this doesn't usually happen to me. Sue's watery eyes are about over because the Bradford Pears have just about finished blooming here.

That's all for now and thanks for stopping by

-Mark

Photo Today - Another shot and treatment of the covered bridge at Stone Mountain. The bridge was also known as Effie's Bridge when it originally located in Clark Co, GA, It was built in 1891 is 151 feet long and spanned the Oconee River near Athens.

Tamron Lens Photo

2007-03-28T03:42:00.000-05:00

Covered Bridge at Stone Mountain Park

PHOTOGRAPHED 3/07

This is a recent photo taken with the TAMRON 11-18mm at 18mm(approx. 28mm on the 5D) about 75 feet away. I'm sure she would like it even better with the Alpha.

Early morning here, it's 4am and I couldn't sleep so I;m blogging. Today will hopefully be Miss Kitty's last trip to the vet for a while. She has to go today for blood work to see how effective her treatments have been. It's a dialysis day for me this morning so I;ll take her to the vet around 2pm just after I get back and eat some lunch. After we get back from the vet it's off to see the eye doctor for me at 4pm. Things in that area seem to still be improving. Maybe this too will be my last visit for some time.

I could use a break and the extra time to work on my taxes this year. April 17th is coming up very quickly for me.(that's right we get 2 extra days this year!)I guess I'll go and get the coffee ready to brew for everyone else. I love the smell of fresh coffee but hate the taste of coffee. I'm a tea drinker myself - maybe a cup of Prince of Wales this morning.

Thanks for stopping by

-Mark

PHOTO - This is for Anna to see the TAMRON 11mm-18mm sample.

UPDATE - Miss Kitty & More

2007-03-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

Miss Kitty sends her thanks to everyone who is thinking about her and sent her well wishes. After another trip to the vet today she seems even more like the kitty we know and love. She ate an entire batch of homemade chicken salad (intended for me) over a two-day period. (I got 2 sandwiches out of it) Everyone was so generous giving out my chicken salad (including me) that I ended up with very little. I’ll have to ask Mom to make another batch – hers is the best!

Miss Kitty is very alert and playful now which is a dramatic change from just a few days ago. I wish it were that way with me too. I’ve been feeling really lousy the past few days. My old friend (NOT) diarrhea has been paying me a visit every couple of days. I know this is not a pretty subject and may be crossing the line of good decorum but I know I’m not the only one on dialysis who struggles with this issue.

To me this is the most humiliating thing to happen. It seems to have a mind of it’s own coming on without or very little warning. Usually I can make it to the proper facilities but sometimes not as yesterday in the truck on the way home from the store. (Thank God I made it out of the store) Here I am, a grown man and I shit myself. It’s the worst feeling – like I said earlier humiliating and depressing. The doctors have giving me something like Rx-Imodium but it only works about half the time. I’ll go a few days and I’m fine and then there will be a couple of days that I’m afraid to leave the house for fear of an “incident”. That really SUCKS!

On a happier note I gave myself an early birthday gift this week. With Sue’s blessing I bought some new camera equipment. A Nikon D80 –10.2 mega-pixel camera and three fast f2.8 lenses. A 18mm- 50mm macro zoom, a 50mm -150 mm zoom and a 70mm dedicated macro.
This will help with my style of photography and produce a finer quality file size for really large photos. Now I have just to sell the Minolta 5D and its lenses (Tamron 11mm -18mm zoom, Tamron 70mm - 300mm zoom and Sigma 50mm macro) and all the other accessories. If anybody out there is interested drop me a line. There were only used about 7 months.

Thanks for reading and praying for Miss Kitty,
-Mark & Sue

Photo - What we had for dinner tonight grilled with onions, garlic, yellow squash, zucchini with beef and pork strips.

Miss Kitty UPDATE

2007-03-25T00:18:00.000-05:00

This is an update on Miss Kitty. As some of you know, Miss Kitty our 20 year old child-like friend has been a very sick little cat for almost a month now. We had taken her to the vet several times this month and they were stumped. They felt she had some type of infection but coulg figure out what it was. They knew it was some sort of kidnry infection because of her numbers from her blood work so they were treating with a broad spectrum of antibotics.

Friday evening a e-mail from our local Pets Mart informed us, we had purchased some of the pet food tainted with rat posion.

Ms Kitty, being the people-food lover she is only ingested a few dinners of the food so only got very very sick and did not die. She goes to the vet daily to have her kidneys flushed out (like a kitty dialysis). This wed. she'll get blood work done to see how effective the treatment has been. She has suffered both kidney and liver damage from this. She seems much better today and is eating again. I guess time will tell.

I'm not sure I like this "new" blogger. The other day I had written a long reply to several of your comments and when I tried to post it Blogger ate it and hasn't spit it back out yet. Sorry your replies have been delayed. I type so slow now it's hard for ne to rewrite everything but I'll try to get at it tomorrow.

ALL the photo of Miss Kitty are from last year. She wanted me to wait until she looked and felt better before posing in front of the camera again.

Thanks for reading.
-Mark

THE LOST POST

2007-03-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHED 3/07

Last night I was unfortunate to type a long blog post only to have it vanish into the cyber dumpster. I was unable to recover it so now all entries will be done on word first then copied to Blogger. I’m not a good or fast typist so losing a lengthy blog is somewhat disheartening. I know I will not remember all that I wrote as it was a free-flowing jumble of thoughts but here it goes….

Some questions were asked about my dialysis and diet – here are the answers,

I am on hem dialysis now, I had used both CCPD & CAPD for a year before an infection render my body unable to filter well enough to keep using it. I go to a dialysis center three days a week. Each treatment runs for 4 hours each plus the time to hook up and disconnect. (about 15 minutes each way)

My diet is somewhat restricted in that it’s both a diabetic and renal. The renal part is by far the worst of the two diets. Anything that might be considered good to eat is restricted.

In this diet you need to avoid all dairy products. That means – Milk, cheese, ice cream, puddings, whole grain foods, nuts, chocolate even beans like in chili and baked beans are out.

Fluid intake is severely restricted. It is the equal vent of 4 – 12oz cans of drink a day. That includes the water used to make the Jell-O and soup you might consume. Even the water content of a large salad must be considered.
It could be worse so I guess I shouldn’t gripe about it. The other day I had one of my favorite foods – homemade macaroni and cheese – for the first time in two years. Ahhh… It was sooo good and later I was sooo sick. It seems that going without or very little dairy products you lose the ability to digest them. Yogurt will help you regain this micro flora BUT, IT YOO IS A FOOD TO AVOID!
You know I don’t fear death itself. It might even be a relief for me and everyone else who’s involved with me. What I do fear is being without Sue. I don’t want to leave her. Right before this happened our life was really good. Sure we are far from rich money-wise. There are lots of things we want, a few we need but all in all we’re happy – THAT’S WHAT I DON’T I WANT TO LEAVE BEHIND.

Well, this one got longer than I intended too. Thanks for listening to my meandering thoughts tonight.

-Mark
PS – Photo for today The covered bridge at Stone Mountain Park in B&W

What's On My Mind

2007-03-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

Photogaphed 3/07

What’s on my mind…. I don’t really have much to say tonight. I just wanted to get back into the habit of posting on a regular basis.

I did say I didn’t much to say but that didn’t mean I had nothing important to relay to you. While I’ve been writing thps blog I’ve made many friends who have followed along and encouraged me. I thank all of you. It’s been your kind words and thoughts that have brightened my day and helped me carry on.
I want to say hello to a new and very special friend, Pat.

Pat wrote to me the other night and shared her story with me. Pat knows first-hand what it’s like to have ESRD from the point of view of a caregiver. You’ll note I said CAREGIVER not CARE-TAKER that’s because it takes such a special person to give this kind of care. My wife,Sue is this person for me. Pat was this person for her husband Jack.

Now, Pat has reached out to me to share her story and let me use her as another sounding-board for my thoughts and feelings. I am grateful that people such as Pat and Susan exist. I am very grateful for all of you who have written me or read my story.

I have met others who suffer the same fate as I and hope to continue to keep in touch with them although that’s been hard lately given the circumstances on my end. I hope they will not give up.

--- Mark

PS - Photo for today. The bird is some sort of sparrow I think. I have not been able to find it in my books. Any ideas?

OUT OF THE DARKNES

2007-03-07T01:27:00.000-05:00

Photographed - 3/07

To my friends, if you still stop by to read - THANK YOU! It has been some time since I last wrote anything here but now that I'm starting to regain my sight, I plan to have regular entries again.

Most of you may not know bot about three months ago I had a vision episode I wish never again to repeat. One day several months ago I fell asleep during a dialysis treatment. Upon wakening it was vry painful to open my eyes and when I did so my vision was a little blurry. I thought they might have dried me out just too much. Drops cleared things up and took care of most of the blur,

That night everything seemed fine but the next morning I had the same trouble and even greater pain upon opening my eyes, They were both blood red and my vision was quite poor. I had been fighting an infection before this and feared it had somehow moved into my eyes.

I made an appointment with an eye doctor for a couple of days later ( the soonest I could get in). By then my sight had improved and most of the redness had vanished. I was told maybe it was the dialysis or my eyes were overworked and tired. Use a tear drop solution like "Natural Tears" to help and things should be better.

That sounded great but it didn't work. I was at my regular doctor a few days later and this problem had flared up again. When he saw it he thought eye infection and sent me that afternoon back to the eye doctor so he could see the rediness. The eye guy sent me down the hall to see a cornea doctor who happened to be in the office that day.

She was very good and found the source of the trouble straight away. There was no infection, which was good news. The bad news was my eyes had dried out for some reason to the point that when I opened them the outer layers of my corneas were stuck to my eyelids. When I opened my eyes I was tearinr off the outer layers of my cornea thus the blurr and vision decrease.

It got so bad that I could not see to read, write or even watch TV. My sight went from 20/30 to 20/400+ That's legally blind and it stayed like that until just days ago. With lots of medicine and a protective contact lens my vision is slowly returning/ 20/70 at my last check last week. I go back later today and am hope fo the best.

So for the past three months plus my life has been at a standstill, no blogging, no work on my web, no photography business ( I was just starting to get some sales)
not much of anything.

So now I hope things will get back on track. More thoughys and feelings on these past few months later. I've got so much to catch-up on.

Mark

The picture is we think a Painted Bunting (my first in what seems like forever)

UPDATE

2006-12-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

Tree in the Fog

Hello friends – just an update to let you know what’s going on…I’m still doing the blog…Sue is typing this one for me and may be typing the next few because my eyesight has become blurred…we think this is due to medication I am taking …but I cannot see to type ….will be going to the Ophthalmologist on Tuesday – hope and pray things work out okay…

We had a nice Christmas….Sue’s parents came before the holiday for her birthday – we had a nice visit – Sue was happy to get to see them. My parents came after the holidays and some old friends we haven’t seen in over 7 years dropped in…it was nice to see how their children had grown. They now operate and own a nursery in Greeneville, TN.

Other than eyesight, things are improving. I’ve got the shrinking down in my leg so that I can wear my prosthetic. I’m having a new pair made and hopefully will have them by the end of Jan. I’m learning to walk again!

I want to thank you all for keeping up and reading my blog. I know I haven’t been visiting your sites very often – things have kept me busy and now w/ my limited eyesight – I have not been able to visit. Hopefully soon I will be back at it.

Wishing you the best for 2007….

ON THE RISE

2006-12-16T02:18:00.000-05:00

Hawk

PHOTOGRAPHED 12/06

To all my friends, for the next month or so I will only up-date my blog about every week. This is due to the healing process of my hand. I do have some good news there. It is healing well and the bandaging is less
The down side to this is I’m forced to look at it more. In all honesty it wouldn’t look all that bad (if it were someone else hand we were talking about). I know in time I’ll get used to it however. . I want to thank you all for your comments and support. It helps to keep me going.

CRAFT SHOW UPDATE

I attended my 1st craft show Dec 2nd. The location was very nice and the set-up people were very friendly. This show was put on by the parks & recreation center of Gwinnett Co. It lasted from 10 am to 4 pm and the turn out was small. Many vendors had very few or no sales. I did manage to sale 4 framed prints and a set of note cards – not bad for a start I guess. I did learn a few things too so it was a good learning tool. I have gotten 3 Internet orders since the show – 2 for note cards 6 sets and 8 sets. Here was also an order for 13 small prints and one 6x8.

Sue just finished jetting around the North America in the company’s corporate jet. When I asked her how it was she said it was nice to see how the big guys lived but it was still a plane. Sue has come to really dislike flying. It stresses her out.

We had her birthday Dec 12th; her parents came up for a few days from Orlando to visit. She enjoyed getting to see them and we had a really nice visit with them.

That’s about all for now. I saw this hawk at the entrance to the subdivision the other day. It was sitting in a small tree only about 8 feet off the ground and 15 or 20 feet from the road so I snapped this from the truck window. It’s not the greatest photo but I was afraid to get closer or use a fill flash and spook him. It’s really unusual to see one perched this low to the ground.

BLOG STATUS

2006-12-04T01:53:00.000-05:00

Barn in Forsyth Co

THE BLOG HAS NOT ENDED!

To my friends and readers, I am not ending my blog. I must apologize for any misunderstanding. I very much appreciate your comments and interest in my blog and photos.

I was taking an extended break while my hand has time to heal. Recently I had to have a couple of the fingers of my left hand amputated. The whole left hand was bandaged to look something like a catchers mitt. THIS makes typing nearly impossible. I'm down to One finger, one hand keyboarding. It's very slow and thus the need for a break. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

For the short time I will continue to post photos and very short text post. Again THANK YOU ALL for your interest my friends. - Mark

A FAREWELL TO FRIENDS

2006-11-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

An Orchid for My Friends

Photographed 11/06

Time has come and I must say farewell to good friends. As the earthly bonds are slipped, never again to feel the warmth of a sunny day, the cool wetness of the lake or the bitter cold of a snowy morning I am at peace with this. It’s with the deepest sadness I bid you farewell not to be reunited in this lifetime. I leave you an orchid in remembrance.

You have always been by my side, ready to aid me at any time. You will never be replaced and forever missed. I will always think of you with the fondest of memories. It's so true that we never realize what we have until we have lost it. There is no sweetness in this parting, only sorrow.

What's Been Going On

2006-11-08T06:12:00.000-05:00

A Greeting Card

What's been going on lately? Well, here it is. I'm still confined to the wheelchair for four more weeks (not the news I was hoping for).

Sue was gone on business all last week but is home all this week. She seems to be averaging 2 to 3 days a week in Minnesota. This should cease by the end of the year once everything is decided and in place.
Another Card Front

As for me, I've been working on making things for the craft show I'm going to December 2nd. It' be my first time trying to sell my photos at something like this. I don't know what to expect but thought I'd give it a try. I'm taking a variety of prints some unmatted, some matted and some framed.

I've also printed some cards with different images I took (post, note and greeting cards). I think they will do well because they're inexpensive but then so are my photos. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Bird Note Card

As you can see I'm still shooting birds and local North Georgia barns and such. I'm working on a series of covered bridges in Georgia too. I'm trying to get them during the different seasons so I've got a long way to go on that one.

The remainder of my time is spent seeing doctors, getting over the flu, going to dialysis (now 4 days a week) and most of all loving Sue & Miss Kitty.

Forsyth Co. Barn

Just a great barn. I love the Fall-colored vine wrapped around the tree (you can see it better in the larger version). This place looks so peaceful to me.

Regards to all,
Mark

The Waves

2006-10-27T00:52:00.000-05:00

North Georgia Creek

Photographed 10/06

It's the waves. That's why I can't swim to safety on the warm beach. It's a rip tide! No matter how hard you swim, you just exhaust yourself. This is where I am now.

It's all the little things piling up to drag me under. I keep looking for something, a piece of wood, a discarded cooler, something t help me stay afloat. The waves are relentless just as life itself is.

Yes, this was the week we had planned to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway taking in the great fall colors and sites of the North Carolina and Virginia mountains. Sue had taken off from last Friday the 20th until the coming Monday. We had even reserved a mini-camper van for the drive. We were going to take our time and stop when and wherever something caught our eye. I was going to take hundreds of photographs but, this was not to be.

We ended up at home. Me, in a wheelchair and Sue taking care of me. Oh, that's right I forgot to mention I got a terrible case of the flu on Monday and have been in bed most of the week, We went for a short drive Sunday and I shot 8 photos. The one above is one of them.

Bear with me here but, I have to say this again. Sue is the greatest gift God could ever have given me. She is smart, strong, witty and forever beautiful to me. I will love her unwaveringly until the last passes from my body.

General Update - My 200th Post

2006-10-11T03:37:00.000-05:00

Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery - Conyers, GA

I got the results from the orthopedic surgeon the other day. The people in the emergency room were wrong. My leg is broken (the femur behind the kneecap).
No weight on it at all for 8 - 10 weeks. So I am in a wheelchair until then.

Another View in B&W

This means we will have to cancel our trip to drive and photograph the Blue Ridge Parkway in the NC & VA mountains. The mini motorhome will not accomadate a wheelchair. I'm very dissapointed as this would have been our first get-a-way in several years. We would have been there for the peak of the fall color too. We might be able to go sometime in December.

The Pond at the Monastery in B&W

I am going to my first attempt to sale some of my photographs at a craft show on December 2nd. I've got some of my North Georgia photos printed and matted and working to get others printed into note cards and post cards. I don't know if I sell anything but I should at least get some feedback as to what people like and want.

If you want take a look at my primative web site and let me know what you think might sell. I've got some better photos not on there yet I'm still working on. It's at www.northgeorgiaimages.4t.com Thanks for your help.

Regards to all,
Mark

The Ocean Voyage of Life

2006-10-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

My life is much the same as an ocean voyage. At one moment I'm riding on the crest of a wave, the nest slamming down into its trough. It a continuous cycle of momentary highs followed by body jarring lows. Somehow I've managed to stay afloat and keep my head just barely above the gritty salt-water.

THE CREST
This weekend I was atop one of those waves. I got to take my first real shower in NINE months. I didn't even realize it had been that long until I looked back to when this three foot long plastic tube was out into my chest. It was a real head to stump shower that lasted until the hot water gave way.

THE TROUGH
I came crashing down after realizing my knee injury wasn't getting better. I thought it was better but after the weekend my leg was so swollen I couldn't get my prosthesic leg on. I've been using a wheelchair since last week. As a mater of fact I'm The new owner of it.

I've got an appointment to see the guy who fixed my hip fracture about three years ago. He did a great job and I've never had trouble with it. I was lucky to get him too because it was by chance he was in the hospital when they brought me in. So, I guess I'll see what he thinks and go from there.

Some more birds from our feeder

#19

2006-09-23T04:14:00.000-05:00

"I managed to save all of them. Nobody thought that what I shot would be of any importance. It if isn't digital, or have a two foot lens nobody takes it seriously. You know I had the lens pointed to the reenactment not the parking lot. That reenactment was about half a mile from the parking lot.

And Bergheimer, I know about velocity and what wounds look like. I can tell the difference between a black powder wound and a high velocity wound from a modern weapon. Trust me we have both kinds of murders in Atlanta."

Berg didn't much care for her constant butchering of his name, but at the moment she had the wheels. He could probably disable her and steal the car, but that didn't seem necessary at that moment. Besides she was the one person who could prove he had nothing to do with the hit on Peter. It was in his best interest to stay close and protect her. She was also likely to have assets he could use.

"Bergerstien, I left my wagon back there in the exhibit area. I will have to go back for it or they will come looking for me. So do I need to stash you somewhere first, or will they not be all that interested."

"Oh they'll be interested okay," Berg replied.

"Then choose a place you want to spend a couple of hours. After I get the wagon we can go find a lab and a high resolution scanner for these negatives."

"Okay drop me at a coffee shop at one of these exits. I can have lunch while you load the wagon."

"Damn, you gonna' calmly eat lunch while they are looking all over for you, and I am working my butt off loading my stuff."

"That's pretty much the plan yeah."

"In that case, I'm going to find a place with a truck park. At least then, I'll be able to get the trailer in and out without too large a hassle."

The restaurant turned out to be a Shoney's. It had the required double length pull through parking spaces in a separate parking lot across the street. Sarah Lee dropped Berg in front of the building, then drove away.

As he watched her go Berg thought that she drove like a cop. Always either on the gas or the brakes. Ready to accelerate or to stop dead on a spit second's notice. He didn't like that style of driving, but he understood it. Convoy drivers did pretty much the same thing. Go like hell when you go, and stop at very short distances.

Berg had finished his lunch well before Sarah Lee made it back. He was sitting on one of the benches in the grass area beside the truck park when she pulled in. The very old land cruiser was hard to miss. Evidently she saw him as well, since she didn't park. Instead she pulled up several yards away and waited.

Berg looked around carefully before he moved to the twenty year old, beat up suv. He opened the door that complained with a groan. "Why the hell don't you oil those hinges," he asked.

"I usually sleep in a tent beside this thing. I'm a light sleeper," it was all she needed to say. For someone half asleep it would be a better alarm than a car horn. The bad guy would most likely still be trying to get the door open when he suddenly grew a 10mm Glock out of his ear. At least that's how he would have done it.

The Lab turned out to be in her dad's home. She had called ahead on her cell phone so he was waiting.

"And what the devil have you gotten yourself into now?" He asked as she moved to hug him. He talked to her and hugged her, but he never took his eyes off Berg.

"One of the park people got shot at the reenactment. I need to get a couple of drum scans of my negatives."

"You know where the lab is and how it works. By the way you going to introduce me to your friend."

"It's better you not know daddy," Sarah Lee said with finality in her voice. "We were never here, right?"

"Are you kidding, since when would a kid visit her father on anything like a regular basis?"

"I know, I know but I've been busy."

"Yeah, I can see that." He did smile when he said it.

"It isn't what you think or what you wish even."

"Speaking of not what I wish, the faggot and the dyke are looking for you."

"Daddy, I have asked you a dozen times to not call them that. Beside to be technically correct, she is a faghag." Sarah lee walked toward the small building in the rear of the house. She carried what appeared to be a small cloth cooler in her left hand. Sarah Lee seldom carried things in her right hand.

Bergstrom followed her into the building. The small unlocked building was cut up into four tiny rooms. One of the rooms was a small darkroom complete with a working sink with one of those in line water heaters. State of the art Berg guessed, as he looked about. Sarah left the bag there then showed him the other three rooms. The other small room held a mounting press and tiny frame shop. The frames were made up already. They resided in cubbyholes on the wall. There must have been a couple of thousand dollars worth. On closer examination they all showed signs of having been used.

Sarah Lee noticed his attention to the frames. "Saturday morning yard sales," she replied. Bergstrom nodded.

The last two doors were deceptive. One went into a very tiny room with a drum enlarger and a small table with computer on top. The other door led to a small but complete portrait studio. Not large enough to do anything larger they head and shoulders, or maybe waist to head things.

After the tour Sarah began to develop the film she had shot.

LE SURSIS A ACCORDE

2006-09-22T07:42:00.000-05:00

Hier un sursis de la guillotine a été accordé au Monsieur L. Pinky et sa bande. Le chirurgien dans la charge a dit qu'il peut être seulement temporaire. Plus de temps sera donné pour guérir.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION -

Yesterday a reprieve from the guillotine was granted to Mister L. Pinky and his gang. The surgeon in charge said it may only be temporary. More time will be given to heal.

# 18

2006-09-22T02:23:00.000-05:00

“Berg! What the hell are you doing in my truck and this is breaking and entering, you know.”

“Actually it would just be entering. It wasn’t locked.”

“Where have you been? The FBI and some big black CIA type have been looking for you.”

“Yeah, I was interview by a couple of the guys from the FBI and they were talking freak accident stemming from the live fire demo earlier this afternoon.”

“So much for the spare no assets investigation.”

“Sarah, we need to get away from here, now!”

“OK, where to Berg?” “Just drive. Hell, get on 285. It’s always crowded and goes no where from what I can tell.”

“Sarah, Did you see Peter’s head wound? It wasn’t made by any Civil War Musket that’s for sure. Even a 58 or 62 caliber musket wouldn’t do that kind of damage. Oh sure, he’d have a silver dollar-sized hole in the back of his head but he’d still have the back of his head.”

Sarah remembered Peter’s face with the almost perfect ½ inch hole just above his eye and that most of the back, a third of the side and all of his brains were gone.

“So what did it Berg? A magic gun.”

“Do you see this?”

Berg held out what looked like a small plastic yellow flower with four petals.

“Do you know what this is?”

Sarah thought the object looked familiar but couldn’t place it.
“It’s a sabot. They’re used to stabilize a projectile in a smooth bore gun. It’s just a miniature version of what’s used in the Abrams tank.”

“Sarah, I saw the big black man that was talking to you. Does he still go by Virgil? He liked that name.”

“Yes, but it was like pulling teeth to get a name from him. So you know this Virgil guy? That can’t be good can it?”

“Well I don’t consider him being here a coincidence if that’s what you mean. Virgil was one of the CIA’s top assassins the Middle East. We used him to make things easier with certain local warlords who wouldn’t come around to our thinking.”

“So, you think he did Peter but why?”

“No, but I’ll bet he was handling the shooter. He wouldn’t exactly blend in here now would he.”

“Sarah, were you able to save any of your photos? There might be some clues there.”

MY LIFE AS A MOVIE...Doctor's Visits

2006-09-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

THE GOOD

The good news is my brain is still working and I know my name, all three of us do.

The fistula in my left arm looks good and is now ready to use. I guess I start either this Friday or Monday depending on how long it takes the unit to set up for it.

Then in two weeks the cath will come out of my chest and full showers will again be possible.

THE BAD

The bad news is the problem the original fistula that caused the diminished blood flow to my hand has caused an unwanted result.

It seems now I'm going to lose only the non-essential fingers on that hand. No more pistol twirling with that hand and maybe a little slower on the draw too.

THE UGLY

The uglyeulogy news is I never was aware I had any non-essential fingers on either hand! Much less any desire to "lose" them.

I guess that means I'll get to keep my middle finger which is good. I think I may have much use for it in the future in communicating with a few of my doctors.

Doctor Visits... How many can you do in a day?

2006-09-14T03:37:00.000-05:00

Quarry Towers at Sunrise

Photographed 9/06

Have you ever tried to arrange more than one doctor's appointment for the same day? Thay in itself can be hard enough but ay times close to each other is impossible I have concluded. No matter how far in advance you plan it's not going to happen.

Can you guess where I'm going to do today? That's right, visit a couple of my docs.
First is the vascular surgeon at 9:30 am which means I leave the house at 7:45 to get there on time (Atlanta morning rush hour traffic.. It's a misnomer. It's really the Atlanta snail race.) Then sit in a waiting room for an hour or so.

The other is my neurologist. He's only in the next building but, hours away. I see him at 2:15 pm with a guaranteed hour plus waiting room time.

By the time we enter the afternoon's snail race, I will have shot my whole dialysis-free day. I hate that too. I really look forward to them and it seems a shame to have to waste it waiting around for routine appointments that last maybe ten minutes and the result is " come see me in six months, sooner if you have any problems and by the way. That'll be $250 for today's visit."

That's my vent for today.
Old Tractor

Photographed 8/06

Just a couple of recent photographs I thought were interesting. I liked the way the sunlight illuminated the towers in the first one against the early morning sky.

The old tractor I saw one day sitting along the roadside. It reminded me of how I feel - old and rusty but still working.

Regards to all - Mark

Miss Kitty

2006-09-06T02:31:00.000-05:00

Miss Kitty Pets Sue

In my last update we thought Miss Kitty was much better. a couple of days later we started to notice small blood droplets on the floor I took her again to the vet (Sue was out of town) The vet did an exam and found a mass she hadn't detected before. After X-rays provided no clue they had to sedate Miss Kitty and do an exploratory on her. The vet was worried about sedating her because of her age. They found she had an intestinal blockage which had caused the bleeding and her earlier problems.

for the first time in her life Miss Kitty had to stay overnight at the vet. They wanted to keep an eye on her because of the sedation - she was throwing up and not feeling well. By this time Sue had returned and she went and picked-up Miss Kitty at 7am to get her home. For the next few day MK just slept and didn't eat. Finally she started eating a very small amount.

Now, after a week she seems to be back to her old self. Not missing a meal, begging for turkey or chicken whenever we have it.

I on the other hand haven't felt good in some time now and I'm beginning to question is this worth it. It seems like I feel bad almost all the time. I think it may be time just to give up this battle. A few months back the hospital overdosed me with morphine and I went into arrest. I remember none of this. There was no pain, it didn't hurt. They brought me back- breaking a rib in the process (CPR). Sometimes I think it would have been better just to have let me slip away no more sickness, no pain.

# 17

2006-08-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

Sarah Lee didn't much like feds, even the ones who did cooperate. The new sense of cooperation after the massacre in New York was still pretty much an upward trail. Local PDs all over the country gathered grass roots information, then tossed it into the Federal maw. The feds chewed it over, digested it and now and then vomited some back.

If they were as quick to distribute information, as they were to rush in and make an arrest, which the local cops tipped them to in the first place, street cops might have thought more of them. A local cop, withholding information in a terror investigation, was as good as in jail with the people he put there. So nobody did it. Besides even if they didn't get the credit they all wanted to the same thing.

However a shooting at a civil war re enactment wasn't likely to be a terrorist plot. She doubted seriously that there were radical Muslim re enactors on the battlefield. She smiled as she wondered it there were crusader re enactments. She giggled like a school girl at the thought. She knew how much organization went into one of those re enactments. She doubted that the Christians and Muslims could work together that well. The reenactment might start with real battles over lunch at the Jerusalem holiday inn.

She was almost back at her wagon when the black suv pulled up along side her, took a good look then passed quickly. It was filled with men in suit pants, white shirts, ties, and wind breakers with FBI on the back. Sarah Lee grunted. She was really going to hate to leave with the first act of the circus still in progress. However, she just wasn't that curious about why somebody with so little imagination as her spook friend would be so quickly onto a shooting at a federal park.

Sarah was almost the only one in the encampment area. The others were either involved in or out rubber necking the battle. She quickly hid away her two exposures made just before the incident. No she wasn't withholding evidence. If there were anything of interest on them, she would turn them in to the Atlanta Pd to forward to the Fibbies. After the way the boy G-man had handled her blank film, she doubted that any would survive. Yes, the holders she turned over to the Fibbies had not been exposed at that time. Sarah carried eight film holders but seldom used more than two.

Even though she thought she should be doing something constructive, she set up her camera for the re enactor's portrait shoot. They would be rushing in all filled with adrenaline and ready to beat their chest. None of them knew of the shooting on the hill. She intended to let the Fibbies or the newspaper inform them.

Sarah Lee had fudged again. She had driven her old land cruiser to the mini mart outside the park before breakfast to fill her cooler with ice. So while the others were sweating in their wool uniforms, Sarah was sitting in her cotton period style, but not authentic, summer dress drinking powdered lemonade, with ice no less. She was mulling over the what ifs, when the out of place black pickup truck arrived. The park pickups were allowed to go anywhere and everywhere.

"Hi there, you are that Atlanta Police Detective aren't you?"

"Yes that's me," Sarah replied. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Not really, I'm just shook up a little and wanted to talk to someone. The word is not to discuss what happened with anyone, but I don't think that means you. I mean you do know what's happening." It was at that moment that Sarah caught the vibe. The park ranger was trying hard to be what she thought lesbians were like. She had obviously pegged Sarah as a lesbian and hoped to buddy up to her. Sarah almost told her that she was barking up the wrong tree, but decided not to do that just yet. When people tried to pry information from a cop, they always gave up some to start the ball rolling.

Sarah had spotted the ruse because she was used to it. People were always mistaking her for a lesbian. She was first of all not all that attractive, and she had a commanding presence. Put those to together and it just scream lesbian to some people. Hell Sarah didn't even like golf. she chuckled at the last. It was so obvious that the park ranger looked at her curiously.

"I was just thinking how you boss would react if he knew?"

"Knew what?" Just then it hit Sarah that Peter was her boss. There was something terribly wrong here, she thought.

She tried desperately to piece together what she knew. She did that before she began to even think about the ranger girl.

Peter got him self shot.
The FBI and some shadow guy show up much too fast.
They try to limit the involvement of the local cops.
Then ranger girl shows up trying to be her 'friend'.

It smelled of conspiracies up and down the line. More than one going on at the same time.

Ranger girl put her hand on Sarah's arm as she spoke. Sarah resisted the urge to slap hell out of her. Sarah had done that before and gotten away with it. She had no idea if she could with a park ranger at that particular moment. Besides she wanted information not to defend her sexual preferences.

"So detective what happened?" Bold little hussy, Sarah thought.

"You boss is dead, that's about all I know. The super cops aren't talking to us peons." She let that sink in then asked, "So what kind of man was Peter."

"Well I really shouldn't say." The little ranger tried to stand. Sarah took her arm and forced her back onto the campstool.

"Sweetie, you come here looking for information, now the super cops are going to find that noteworthy. I got no interest in doing their job, but now you started this so tell me about Peter. Hell you can lie if you want, but you damn sure better start talking.

# 16

2006-08-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

“Lt Poole, is it? I’m special Agent Johnson of the FBI and I’m in charge of this investigation*.

“Yeah, I’m Lt Poole – APD.”

“Well Poole, thanks I heard you secured the scene for us but we’ll take it from here.”

“If you say so.”

“I insist on it. The FBI is more than capable of handling a matter such as this.”

“I’d hope so considering the number of people you’ve got out here. You must have twenty-five agents running around trampling everywhere. How many people you got out here? Twenty-five or so.”

“Detective Poole let me assure the FBI will use as many people as it takes to resolve this incident.”

Sarah was beginning to doubt that agent Johnson was really in charge. His answers were just a little too canned as lf already scripted. Her doubts were confirmed moments later when another man walked up. Sarah could tell agent Johnson was a little nervous in this man’s company.

“”Are you detective Poole?”

“Yes, I’m detective Poole, Atlanta PD”

“Ms Poole, I heard there might be a photograph of the shooting. Do you have it?”

Sarah’s mind was churning. Ok, who is this new prick? He had purposely addresses as Ms Poole there by cutting her rank and stature from her.

“You’ve been misinformed then, Mr. Ah…” Sarah had decided to push back some. The man saw this but didn’t give an inch. Bingo! It clicked in Sarah’s mind. The dress, lack of manners, this guy was a Spook for somebody CIA, NSI or some other Washington anachronism.

“Well Ms Poole, you can call me Virgil.”

“Then as I was saying Virgil, what I said originally was that someone was about to take a photo of the ridgeline charge and saw the park ranger fall in his viewfinder”

Sarah didn’t like this Virgil but she hadn’t directly lied. There was no photograph, at least not yet. It was still just an image on Berg’s compact flash card and he did see Peter fall. She just omitted the fact they both knew Peter and the more important fact about the laser sight dot on Peter’s forehead.

“Who is this person and where is this person?”

Agent Johnson was quick to supply Virgil with the who.

“The guy’s name is John Sandberg”

Sarah helped out. “Last I saw of him, he was down there being interviewed by another one of the FBI jocks.”

“Thank you Ms Poole, you’ve been a great help. By the way, I’m having Agent Johnson here collect all the film you’ve shot today. It’ll be returned to you as soon as possible.”

Without time to protest Virgil was down the hill in the direction Sarah had pointed out although it would do him no good. Sarah knew berg wasn’t there.

The ever-dutiful Agent Johnson followed an expletive fuming Sarah back down the hill to her set-up.

Sarah reached down and handed Johnson a large duffle bag.

“What’s this? Where are the photographs? This is just a bag o some kind of cases.”

“You’re looking at them Mr. FBI.”

Johnson began fumbling with one of the film holders.

“NO! Those are film holders and there loaded with undeveloped 4x5 film. Your were about to expose it.”

Agent Johnson’s face reddened over his lack of knowledge and his almost destroying of evidence. “Thanks detective” With that he scurried off towards one of the FBI vans.

Sarah turned her attention to her camera and saw she had remembered to place the lens cap no the camera even with all the excitement. There was still film inside too. She packed her wagon and glanced around to see if she saw Berg but he wasn’t in sight.

UPDATE & PHOTOS

2006-08-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

Female House Finch

Photographed 8/06

Miss Kitty took her last dose of antibiotics today and she seems to be back to her old self. She is very playful and once again a food vacuum. She's got one more trip to the vet to check her blood work.

Female Northern Cardinal

Photographed 8/06

Sue is here all this week. No travel but, lots of meetings and people coming here. So for her it's late nights and several dinners out with her people. At least she'll be sleeping at home.

For me it's a doctor's appointment Monday then dialysis on Monday. I'm still working on test for Emory. I'm also filling forms to get on the transplant for UAB. That's where I had my first transplant 16 years ago. They're really good there. Maybe not as much BS to go through as with Emory.
Male Northern Cardinal

Photographed 8/06

The bird photos are for my cousin. I've been told she likes the bird images. I thought a few I took yesterday would be nice for her. The ugly red bird is a Northern Cardinal. It looks bad because an infestation of mites has caused them to molt early this year in our area.

PHOTOS OF ARKANSAS

2006-08-17T23:58:00.000-05:00

Rice Field Just South of Stuttgart, AR

These are some photos of parts of south Arkansas I made on my commute from Stuttgart to Little Rock. They were all made about 13 years ago with my Minolta X-700 and scanned from the printed photos. These are for my friends from Little Rock.

Regards,
Mark

Arkansas River Bottom at Rebsman Park

NIGHT SKY - Leading into Scott, AR

Riceland's Grain Elevators in Stuttgart, Ar

Rice Field North of England, AR

WEEKEND UPDATE

2006-08-13T19:43:00.000-05:00

Barn XXXII

Photographed 8/06

Miss Kitty is still improving and doing well. She still has one more visit to the vet for blood work to check kidney function. She seems to back to her playful old self.

Sue is away in Minnesota for a couple of days again this week. Had to leave about four hours early to get through the baggage check-in and added security at the airport.

The thought that these nuts would blow up 10 -12 airliners over the Atlantic is chilling. The world needs to get rid of these people at any cost. They will keep trying until they are successful or all dead, I hope for the latter.

Photographed 8/06

Me, I feel like I'm stuck in an endless cycle. It's get up, eat and get ready for dialysis. Go to dialysis and come home, eat dinner then go to bed. Wake up around 2 am because I can't sleep. Sit up until about 5 in the morning and then try for a couple of hours of sleep. Then the cycle starts all over again. To go with it there's the avalanche of doctor, hospital bills and EOB's from the insurance company.

We did manage a short ride this morning where I found a few barns and other things to photograph. These are a couple of them.

Regards to all,
Mark

# 15

2006-08-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

"Okay guys, I'm detective Lt. Poole Atlanta PD and you are all going to help me secure this crime scene. I want you to stand around in a circle looking out. Nobody comes into this area unless they are a cop or I clear them in. So spread out an stick together," Sarah said it in a loud commanding voice.

It took a little more doing but she got the scene surrounded after just a couple of minutes. What she did was to secure the scene from being trampled over, also kept all of the people who arrived early to remain so that they could be interviewed. Sarah was a good cop, there was no doubt about it. Even Sandberg had to admit that she took command and knew just what to do.

"Now you," she said to Mary, who had recovered a bit. "Get your wits about you the, cops are going to be asking you a lot of questions." She turned to John Sandberg again. "Try to shoot pictures of everyone you see around here till the cops arrive."

A woman dressed in the park ranger green uniform arrived soon after the scene had been secured. The man who was blocking her way seemed to be having strong words with the ranger.

"I'm Detective Lt Poole. I am here on vacation and to make some pictures of the reenactment. This is a crime scene, unless you are going to be investigating the shooting of the park manager you need to stay back."

"Sally, stay back,” the voice came from over Sarah's shoulder. It belonged to Mary the asst park manager. "Go to the office and call the park police main number in DC. Tell them the superintendent has been killed. Have them notify the proper authorities.

The uniformed ranger gave Sarah Lee a very nasty look, but she turned and left the area. Before Sarah could do much of anything the medical team arrived. They couldn't do much of anything until the police came. The local police called the FBI field office. The response from the duty office was that agents were on their way. He demanded that nothing be done until the agents arrived. The officer simply said of course, then began asking people questions.

As a courtesy since Sarah had secured their crime scene they allowed her to listen in on the initial interviews. There would be more in depth ones to follow. As an act of good faith she informed the officer of Berg's photograph. Since Berg had disappeared, Sarah didn't have to listen to the cop’s demands, and Berg's refusal to turn over the camera and card. Yes she knew that he would refuse.

Sarah listened while Mary tried to explain to the local cops where she and Peter had stood in that final second. The best Sarah could tell, Mary had Peter turned about 35 degrees from the direction he had been facing. The only thing of any importance was that she was putting the shooter in a far different place.

"Detective Rush, I think you should check that little rise over there. The best I could tell the shot came from that direction." Sarah said looking directly into Mary's suddenly dry eyes.

"That isn't what this lady says," Rush informed her.

"Well, I think she is a little excited, but why not check both places."

"That makes sense," the detective said looking almost lost.

A couple of the local cops were gone about ten minutes when the FBI showed up. They arrived like a Mafia hit squad. Cars full of agents just descended from all directions. It was very dramatic but totally unnecessary.

"I told you not to do anything until we got here," the agent in charge reminded the local police detective.

"Frankly, we had no idea how long it was going to take you. We did the initial interviews just in case someone got lost. You can have the notes."

"No thanks we will just do then again." The 'do them right' was there, just not said openly.

The FBI agent in charge gave us a look that dismissed us all. "I hate those ass holes," the local detective said. "This is government land and a government employee. This case will be solved only if the government wants it solved."

"Yeah can you say, Vince Foster?" Sarah asked it smiling.

"Yeah that kind of thing. Say Poole you wanna' get a drink?"

"I got some camera things to do, but can I get a rain check for the drink"

"Sure anytime you want. By the way where do I find that man with the camera."

"Try the Pakistan west motel in town,” Sarah suggested. Sarah was not a bigot nor a Clinton hater but she could read people, and the cop standing beside her was both. Ultra right-winger. Some cops were actually moderately liberal, some were moderately conservative, and some stood right of Attila the Hun. Sarah was anti political period. She had stopped voting shortly after her first time.

The only vote she had cast in years was at the point of a gun, not quite but almost. Sarah's father had gone to the old rundown garage in the rear of his small semi rural piece of land. He had spent two days getting his old pickup truck running, and then he drove to the Satellite police station. There he parked his truck and himself until she finished her shift.

It wasn't a vote cast for anyone, he explained. It was a vote cast against a presidential candidate. "You just don't paint all those men, who are dying to keep you free, as baby killers. At least not so you can have a career as a politician. At that point her dad spit in the parking lot. He made sure people heard him and saw just who he was.

One of the things her dad taught her was that if you make a decision, you should have the conviction to stand up to it. If you can't defend how you feel, you better take a second look at why you feel as you do. "A man who will step on his brothers for political gain, is a man ain't fit to be president." It was his only argument period.

No she hadn't seen some of her dad in the bigot cop, what she had seen wasn't even the flip side of her dad's coin. But it had reminded her that there were politicians, like it or not, and that they come at all levels and can be more dangerous than any kid with a Saturday night special.

# 14

2006-08-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

“Well, look who’s back. I thought you might have called it quits by now.”

“If you really did, then you have way underestimated me Sarah. I don’t quit on any job till it’s finished.”

“Berg you do tend to amaze at times, not always for the better though.”

“Sarah, how hard do you work at this or does being a bitch just come naturally to you.” Sarah bristled at Berg’s remark but eased back a bit. She knew she had it coming.

“Sarah Lee, you really should think of putting away that wooden box and come into the modern world.”

“John, look out there. What you’re seeing isn’t the modern world. It’s the mid 19th century and to accurately capture that you need the tools of that time. I’ll stick with my old wooden box.”

Berg and Sarah were both setting up for the final engagement of the day before the cookout and nighttime fireworks. There would be a lot of action as the Union troops rallied to route the outnumbered Confederate defenders. If it were the real deal, many of the soldiers who began the day in fear, would die in agony and terror.

Berg was set up to the left and just down hill of Sarah giving her a slightly higher position to compensate for her lack of mobility.

Within half an hour it began. The Union had brought into place a couple of six pounders and were firing grape shot rounds onto the Confederate lines forcing them to break and run up the hill towards the ridge The air was filled with a thick gun-smoke fog as the Union troops began to form a skirmish in the wooded creek bed at the bottom of the hill.

Berg looked at the crowd watching the last battle. Peter had been right. This, the cookout and fireworks that would follow had really brought out the crowd. There were at least 7500 people and more would show up, as the time for the fireworks grew closer.

Berg saw Peter atop the ridge with his assistant near by watching the reenactment’s final charge. Berg heard the sounds escalate as the Union infantry emerged from the woods. He changed to his Canon Rebel to get a shot of Peter on the ridge for old times sake. As he focused on Peter he froze, his blood turned cold with what he saw.

“P-E-T-E-R-!” Berg was moving forward up the hill knocking Sarah down in the process.

“Sonovabitch! Berg, What the hell are you doing?”

Berg didn’t hear her. He knew it was already too late. The red dot had disappeared and all he saw was Peter’s body crumple to the ground. Suddenly everything was in slow motion, The Union line moving up the hill, Mary’s blood and brain splattered ranger’s uniform and her gaping mouth’s silent scream as she looked at Peter’s body on the ground. Very few others even noticed. One or two, who were near, had come to see what had happened.

Berg reached his friend and saw the devastation to his body. There was an almost perfect half-inch hole just above his left eye but the entire upper left backside of Peter’s head was gone. Mary was wearing a good bit of Peter’s missing brain.

Sarah followed Berg up the hill cursing him all the way. She wasn’t as close behind as she might have been. She had stopped to make her two shots before she climbed the hill.

“Oh shit! Peter. Some idiot must have left his gun loaded from the live fire demonstration from this afternoon but Berg how did you know?”

“Sarah, he was assassinated! Here look at this.”

Berg handed over the Canon Rebel and Sarah look at the LCD display. It was the frame Berg was taking when he charged over her. Berg had zoomed in on his friend. She saw the tale-tale crimson dot of a laser sight just like she had used on the police SWAT team and knew Berg was right on the money but, why Peter?

The reenactment was winding down. One of the spectators had already used his cell phone to call 911. Emergency medical services would respond even though Peter was beyond help, they might do something for Mary. It’s not every day your boss’s head explodes in front of you.

‘The police will be here soon”

”I know Sarah and then the FBI”

Sarah thought, that’s right. It’s Federal land, so the FBI will lead.

UPDATE - Miss Kitty & Things

2006-08-09T02:06:00.000-05:00

We took Miss Kitty in today for a follow-up visit at the vet. She is much improved and back to her normal routine, much to our and the carpet's hopes. She will go back in two weeks to make sure her kidney function is back to normal too.

Disappointment for me. The motorhome van (Roadtrek 170P) I wanted to get is too tall to fit through our garage door opening, The header is too low. I had hoped to get it so I could take some longer than a few hour trips. Not going to happen. Sue refuses to let it be parked it in the driveway.

I have almost finished a new web site. I consider you my friends and would like your honest opinions and suggestions on it. Its www.northgeorgiaimages.4t.com please take a look if you can. Thanks

Regards to all,
Mark

# 13

2006-08-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

"Tell me honestly do you mean that or is it just a story you tell in bars to get laid."

"What do you mean?" Sandberg asked angrily.

"You really believe all that Hollywood crap you just told me?" Sarah Lee looked amazed.

"Every f'n word was the truth," Sandberg replied.

"I'm sure it is. Never mind no sense picking a fight with you. You are what you are, and will be until you figure it out."

"Figure what out?" Sandberg was livid. He didn't like being questioned. As a matter of fact it happened so seldom that it was almost unheard of. Not being questioned like the cops and all those army CID types. It was Poole, she made it sound like he was a little boy somehow. "I want to know what the hell you are talking about and I want to know now."

"And if I don't tell you, exactly what do you plan to do. Are you planning to shoot me or are we going to start swinging cameras. If we are, then you are way under armed."

"No, I'm going to just leave here and forget all about you."

"Well Sandberg, I can't say it was fun but it was an experience."

Sandberg turned and stormed from the room. With a little luck I won't have to see that jerk again, Sarah thought to herself. She looked at the negative laying on the head ranger's desk. It wasn't just good like Sandberg thought, it was THE battle shot. All the rest of the shots that Sandberg and the other people with camera's made were just circular file fodder.

You couldn't explain it to people with 35mm cameras; you couldn't even hope to get a digital camera person to even listen. When they just shot and shot and shot hoping to get the right moment, they almost always missed it. Why? They were working a millisecond behind. They couldn't recognize the defining moment, because they were shooting the moment before and the moment after. Even worse, when they shot it, they didn't know it. They had so many pictures the defining moment got lost in all the mediocrity. Sandberg would learn or not, but she certainly wouldn't be the one to teach him about the art of photography. Somebody already had taught him just enough of the science to get him into trouble. He had no business being at the reenactment, he had no feel for it at all. Photo Journalist, she thought it while looking for a place to spit the bad taste from her mouth.

Even more than to learn about photography the right way, John Sandberg needed to learn how to live. What he didn't get, and she would never explain, was that at the waffle house, he didn't have the other patron's permission to put their lives in danger. Not just so that he could be a hero again. Even a rookie cop knows to let the man go, then get him outside. A confrontation inside a bank, restaurant, or convenience store, just puts everyone in danger. Sandberg didn't think because he hadn't learned to be a civilian yet. Sandberg was still playing soldier and before long it would cause him a ton of grief.

Someone needed to teach him about himself, but it wouldn't be Sarah Lee Poole. No by God it would not be Sarah who explained that he was a control freak. If it hadn't been for the Army, he would most likely have been a serial killer. He missed the killing, it was written all over him. For some people killing is like crack cocaine. Sarah wondered where he kept his trophies. They all took them.

Her dad had a picture of himself wearing a necklace of human ears. The difference between her Dad and Sandberg? She wasn't quite sure, but there surely were differences. Her dad wouldn't have bothered with the kid in the restaurant. It wasn't his money, and he didn't know any of the people.

"Now if the idiot had tried to take his money, then god only knows what would have happened." Sarah mumbled that to herself as she started down the path to her wagon. Sarah's father lost himself in photography after he got home. He wouldn't even own a gun after the war.

In her little town there were about a dozen really bad men. Men who would go into a biker bar and lock the door so nobody could run away. The cops feared them, but fought them anyway. When Sarah was a rookie, she and her trainer went into one of the biker bars just to show the badge, as it was called.

"Hey we got ourselves a split tail cop," one of the younger men, said. Sarah and her partner turned to the sound. She was terrified of course and her partner didn't look all that much better.

"Y'all just go one about your business officers. I'll take care of this." The voice came from one of those truly bad men. Sarah nodded because she understood. Her partner didn't of course.

"What was that all about?" he asked once they were safely outside.

"Nuthin', Uncle Melvin is gonna' have a talk with the young man."

"You mean Melvin Roberts is your uncle?" The partner was shocked. Melvin had done a little time for assault with intent to kill.

"Gun Jammed." was all Melvin ever said about the incident.

"No not really, we just called him that. He and my dad used to drink together now and then. I'm surprised he even remembers me."

RESULTS???? - not hardly!

2006-08-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Fort Yargo

Photographed 7/06

I finally got an answer from Emory about my test! their answer (I should have guessed) was to call the surgeon's secretary to make an appointment to discuss the results and decide what further retesting may need to be done.

I'm beginning to really not like these #@*%#!@ people. They're either going to such all my money, time or both away. At this point I'm hardly any further along than I was Two years ago!
Elder's Mill Bridge

Photographed 7/06

Miss Kitty seems to be doing better. She got an injection and oral antibotics for a sever bladder infection. There's also a question about her kidney function due to the infection or her advanced age. We're hoping, due to the infection.

We took a ride saturday and found these two sites. the bridge is just south of Watkinsville, GA.

The fort, more of a block house was built in the 1820's as protection from the Creek and Cherokee indians. It's about 15 miles east of Watkinsville. Both are about an hour from our house.

# 12

2006-07-31T10:14:00.000-05:00

Berg had to admit the negative Sarah showed him looked flawless. He was ready to see a print of it.

“Sarah, do you have to take it home to your darkroom to print it?”

“Actually no Berg, that’s where the old methods stop and new technology takes over.” With that said Sarah pulled a backpack from the wagon and told Berg to follow her.

They were headed towards the park’s ranger station.

“I want to borrow a desk and some electricity. Then I can show you what I’ve been talking about”

“ Well Miss Sarah Lee, I can hardly wait to see this.

Inside the station Sarah and Berg saw Mary. Mary was a junior ranger who served as Peter’s assistant.

“Mary, Peter said I could borrow a desk and some juice for this thing.”

“Peter isn’t here; he’ll be gone for an hour or so but he’ll be back for the evening battle and fireworks. Why don’t you use his office?”

“Works for me, Mary”

“Oh, Mr. Sandberg I heard about what you did at the Waffle House and I wanted to tell you that was so brave”

“Or stupid” Sarah remarked as she went into Peter’s office.

“It’s something like what our government trained me to do. It really wasn’t that much.”

“Still that took balls. I’ll bet you’ve got a real set on you!”

Berg blushed. It was so unexpected coming from Mary who looked so young but apparently was more experienced than Berg first thought.

“Berg, You coming?”

Berg walked into Peter’s office and saw Sarah already had her laptop out and a small flatbed scanner connected. As berg sat down in front of the desk, Sarah produced a bright hand-held light.

“What are you gonna do with that?”
“Watch Berg and learn. I’m going to scan the negative into my computer with this light. Done, now I can open it in my Photo Shop program and do any necessary work it might need.”

“Isn’t that kinda cheating.”

“Oh berg, it’s the negative made the old way that makes the picture. I’d be in the darkroom for a solid week if I did it that way and I’d never mare any money at it.”

“Look for yourself.”

Berg walked around the desk to view the image. Sarah had added a sepia-tone effect and what Berg saw was an photograph that looked like it was taken a almost hundred and fifty years ago and perfectly preserved.

“Damn, that’s good!” Sarah smiled.

“Of course it is. You were expecting anything less? I’ll develop the rest and print them when I get back home”

“I guess that ole wooden shoe box camera is pretty good after all.”

“As good or better than those plastic toys hanging around your neck.”

“Hey, there not plastic! They’ve got titanium bodies and are top of the line.”

“That one maybe but not this battered one here. Hell, I only saw you take one shot with it” Sarah was pointing to the old beat -up digital Canon Rebel.

“That shot was for Billy. The Rebel belonged to him. He was a friend of mine who was killed by an IED in Iran. I had borrowed the week before and he was coming to pick it up.”

“You mean an improvised explosive device – a roadside bomb.”

“Yes, it became our worst fear over there. They’re hard to detect and those bastards plant them by the hundreds.” Berg took the camera from around his neck and closed his eyes and could see Billy’s torn and twisted body lying beside the burning humvee knowing his friend died coming to see him.

“It was Billy who got me interested in photography and all the digital stuff. Sarah, you might say that camera is the reason I am where I’m at today.”

“So that’s why you’re here today as a photographer.”

“Why I’m now a photographer, yes. Why I’m here now, No. That’s of my own doing.”

Berg thought I’ve gong this far I might as well tell her the rest of the story about the camera and how it played into his retirement from the Army.

William Roberts III - Billy was from Arkansas. His family owned a farm there and he loved that place but he wasn’t a farmer. He dreamed of being a pilot and flying a jet fighter. Billy’s lanky six foot four inch frame changed his plans. To big for fighters or other warbirds he became a supply pilot.

“I met Billy on an R and R in Germany and we became friends. That’s when he showed me about how to use this camera. A few months after that Billy came to visit while his cargo was being off loaded and showed me some photos he took while he was home. It was the usual stuff but the one of his dad standing in a hog pen on the family farm caught my eye.

I had used his camera to take some shots of a safe house that had been hit by a 500 lb. LGM. One of the bad guys had been decapitated and his head was photographed for an ID.

I told Billy what I wanted to do and he said it’d be a snap. He put the head of the terrorist on his dad’s body. Now I had a photo of a dead high level terrorist standing there in the middle of a pigpen surrounded by about fifty pigs.

All I had to do is show this picture to those who weren’t showing the right amount of cooperation and threaten them with the same fate. I always got my answers after that.

Some Bozo news guy caught wind about it and concluded my torture of POW’s needed to be investigated. The Army didn’t give a shit how I got my Information but with other mounting scandals retired me.

So Sarah, that’s how I come to be here”.

UPDATE

2006-07-27T01:45:00.000-05:00

Fishing at Cape Hatteras,NC - Happier Days

This is just an update on things. Guess what, after three calls still no test results or word from Emory. I feel they must be holding not so good results for me.

Much else is the same for us. Nothing really new for Sue and me. She is out of town for the next couple of days with business.

Miss Kitty

Our baby, Miss Kitty (almost twenty now) is sick and I have to take her to the vet so she can look at her. Miss Kitty hates going there and it breaks my heart to have to take her. Hopefully she will not have to stay overnight. She will get turkey rewards when she gets home.

P.S. Thats a legal size flounder there 16 inches and it was great lightly pan fried. : )

Our Baby

# 11

2006-07-22T20:51:00.000-05:00

Sarah Lee refused the offer from Sandberg to carry her camera. She had never allowed anyone to touch that camera. It wasn't because the camera was especially valuable. It probably had no value to anyone but her; still it was priceless to Sarah. You see that plain old wooden box camera had been built lovingly by her father. She could remember as a teenager watching him work on the camera.

Sarah's father was a photographer, not a woodworker, so it lacked the finesse of a cabinetmaker. The wood was scavenged from an antique table, so the pieces didn't match perfectly. In order to focus, the lens assembly slipped in an out like a spyglass. The lens was very old and from France. The shutter was a simple thing with only two speeds, I and B. I was for instant most likely about a 40th of a second. The B just opened the shutter and held it open until the photographer released the switch. Sarah's only repair had been to replace the squeeze bulb which tripped the shutter.

To control the light the front element of the lens could be removed. There were five disks with various size holes that could be inserted behind the front element. These fixed apertures were chosen for the amount of light that day. Sarah had a tiny light meter from the 1940s that she used to judge the light. She never told anyone about that. It was old but not old enough to be used in a civil war setting.

Sarah's father had bought that particular lens because the barrel was wide enough to throw light in what would be the equivalent to an f3.5 in today's terms. If there was no aperture installed it could be focused easily on the ground glass at the rear of the box. The aperture Sarah and her father had used for portraits was f64. It gave a good depth of field which allowed Sarah not spend much time focusing the camera. The wooden box had three viewfinders. Each was brass and set for a fixed distance. Sarah just chose the one closest to what she needed then slipped it into the brass holder.

The first thing Sarah did upon returning to her wagon was to replace the landscape viewfinder in the small velvet lined wooden box. Then she removed the f22 aperture ring for storage on the lower level of the same wooden box. Only then did she unpack the two film holders.

"So how many exposures did you fire?" Sandberg asked.

"Four," she replied simply.

"How the hell could you capture the battle with four shots," Sandberg asked. He obviously thought that he had answered it himself. It was a simple answer she couldn't have, he thought.

"How could you need more?" Sarah asked it with a smile. Unlike Sandberg she had been through the same discussion a hundred times. First with her father, at which time she held Sandberg's position, and afterwards with more all the time. Digital cameras had not only increased the number of photographers, it had increased the number of shots it took them to be satisfied that they had a good one. Their coverage was almost a movie, since the shots came so close together. No matter how well the digital cameras captured the scene and no matter how qualified the photographer, they always lacked something. THe something was the feel of the place and time. The digital image at a reenactment was as out of place as the sound of that siren wafting across the black powder fill air.

"Before we start with the who did what, I want to see your four cute little images." Sandberg was intentionally being an ass, but Sarah caught it and didn't rise to the bait. Instead she opened an old wooden steamer trunk circa 1900. From it she removed a black film-changing bag that resided atop her change of clothes. She closed the truck and latched it before she pushed it to the side. From what looked like an old wooden nail keg she removed a folded canvas water bag.

"Why don't you go fill this, the faucet is just about twenty yards in that direction?" Sarah said it while pointing toward the bathhouse.

By the time Berg returned she had the first negative loaded into the film tank made from a peanut butter jar. The canvas bag, which Berg lugged back to the wagon, held exactly three gallons of water.

"Now John, I am going to do my one frame to make sure I have something, then I'm going to wait till I get home to do the rest. I always process a negative from each shoot to make sure the camera is working so that I can make any adjustments for the next shoot, should I need to.

Sarah quickly mixed four ounces of developer.

"You can't fill the tank with a thimble full of chemicals."

"Your lack of photographic knowledge amazes me," Sarah said it with a fake look of disgust. She knew how little modern photographers knew of primitive techniques. She poured the four ounces of chemicals into the sixteen ounce jar then quickly turned it on its side. She also began rotating it. What she had done was to form a long thin puddle of chemicals on the side of the jar. As he rotated the jar, the chemicals covered the film. By rotating it before the film had time to dry it was back in the 'soup' again. "Actually I only need 2 oz but it is easier to make four," she said smugly.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Berg said it but he knew when he had been beaten. Sarah obviously knew more about his new profession than he did. Well more about the history and the old ways. He doubted that she could make all that primitive crap shoot a decent set of images of a road race or arena football game. He could shoot a battle with the digital camera and then go shoot a circus inside the tent an hour later. He doubted she could do that.

Sarah dumped, added and rotated more chemicals. Finally she declared it complete. She removed the lid to view a perfectly exposed and developed 4x5 negative. She ran some water over it quickly then showed it to John Sandberg.

# 10

2006-07-22T09:39:00.000-05:00

Berg thought the sound of the siren out of place. It brought him out of the 19th century haze he had fallen into. It turned out to be a case of heat exhaustion on the part of one of the re-enactors. It was no wonder as the temperatures had climbed into the mid 90’s in the metro Atlanta area. It wasn’t a dry heat either. No it was more like the “I’ve spilt warm dishwater all over myself” type of heat. The re-enactors, most in their wool reproduction uniforms and heavy equipment were taking the brunt of it. Berg mused to himself, Sherman must have been in Atlanta on a day like this when he said, “War is hell” because it was sure hot enough to be

“Sarah, while we have this break, I’m going to get something cold to drink. can I bring you something?”

“No, I brought water. You should have too!”

“I did but it’s warm now and I want something cold.”

“In that case Berg, bring me one of those frozen lemonaides.”

“You know that sounds pretty good to me too. I’ll make it two.”

At that Berg trotted down the backside of the hill towards the park concession to pick up the cold treats. As Berg got closer he saw Peter there and he wasn’t looking happy.

“ What gives, Peter? You thinking the park gonna get sued for not having medical personnel on stand by because of this heat?”

Peter just stared at Berg for a moment. “Yeah, something like that!”

Berg saw Peter had other thing on his mind and moved on to the stand to get the drinks. Berg was going to stop and tell peter how well he thought the shoot was going: when he turned to go back he saw Peter was in an unpleasant discussion with one of the re-enactors. No doubt about the heat and the lack of an on-site medical team for such a large event.

Berg was calculating the numbers in his head on his way back up the hill. There were about 250 Confederate actors and 175 Union plus all the vendors, spectators and behind the scenes type who helped put it all together. He estimated that all together it was close to 1500 involved in this event. Berg felt the crowd would swell to 5,000 or more in the evening because of the fireworks display set for tonight.

“Here you go Sarah, they’re still mostly frozen.”

“Thanks, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me.”
“So how’d your shoebox shots turn out?”

Berg couldn’t resist the jab at Sarah’s old wooden boxed view camera.

“Berg, I wouldn’t know yet. If you wee a real photographer you’d know there’s a thing called negatives and I haven’t processed them yet. I’m sure they’ll beat anything that Mattel camera of yours made”

Berg grimaced at her remark. Sarah could take it and dish it out double. Berg pushed on.

“Well take a look at these” Berg handed over his camera. “Just look at the little LCD screen in the b…”

Sarah cut him short. “Berg, I’m not an idiot. I know how to use one of these damn cameras. I just prefer not to.”

Berg was silent. He was beginning to think of Sarah as a landmine: you just never knew how much pressure it would take to set her off.

Sarah had to admit Berg’s shots were good, really good. They were well composed and detailed. Some of his close-ups had even captured the look of anguish on the faces of the soldiers in smoke and chaos of battle.

“Berg, these are nice. Your camera did a good job.” For some reason Sarah couldn’t resist the jab. She knew the camera was just a tool. It took someone with a vision to turn out work like she had just seen.

Berg caught the dig but no protest. He just looked a little hurt. How could this be from a man like him, Sarah thought. Sarah began to feel a bit guilty about the remark.

“Hey Berg, I’m going back to the wagon to process these negatives before this evenings session. Why don’t you come along and see what this old shoe box can do.”

“I thought you had to take them to a lab to be done.”

“No, I process the film in a daylight canister after loading in a changing bag”

TEST RESULTS - Ha

2006-07-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

A pair of Chipping Sparrows at work

Test results, we don't have no stinkin test results. That's right nothing yet. I called today and have not received that infamous "call back" that so often never comes.

I did get yesterday the paperwork to fill out to be placed on UAB's transplant list. I'll be working on that and getting the labs they need over the next few days. It's good not to have all your eggs in one basket.

I picked up my Pathfinder from the shop this morning. The folks there are really nice and their work is great. This last problem was from the wreck but could not have been easily found by anyone. I expect this to be my last visit there.

Sue is well. She has a trip next week for a few days.

Me, I've had better weeks but seem better this week.

I took only a few photos this past weekend. I didn't feel too well.

Thanks again for stopping in.

Regards to all,
Mark

# 10

2006-07-18T13:14:00.000-05:00

Funny how your loyalties can change so quickly, Sarah Lee thought. Twenty minutes before she had thought that Sandberb was a jerk. Hell he was still a jerk, but he was one of her jerks now. Sarah was not impressed with his story; cops did that kind of thing everyday. Not the same cop everyday, but somewhere in the world a cop acted, when others stood and watched. She wasn't even impressed with the medal thing, brave deeds were done by men couldn't find it in themselves to run away. That was the fine line. Some people could lie and await their fate, and others had to do something. The ones who ran were the flip side of the hero, not the ones who cowered in a hole.

No, what she was drawn to was the fact that someone attacked him for something every cop has done to a lesser extent. If you don't think a child rapist and murderer is tortured, try watching them being interrogated. The cops will go just as far as the bosses will allow. If the heat comes down it is the detective’s ass, but they don't even think about that.

Sarah gave the TV guys a quick glance then said, "If you are going to shoot the battle, you need to set that Buck Rogers shit up over there, she pointed to the down side of the hill. Otherwise you need to leave, you are in my way."

The newsies looked hard but didn't plan to spend the morning taping a bunch of fat re enactors. Sarah walked back to her wooden tripod topped by a wooden box camera. It was set up for infinity and as large an aperture as the lens had. The exposures would be slow speed but not as slow as her portraits.

She didn't even look at Sandberg as she went to her camera. All the adjustments had been made and remade a dozen times. She noticed with some satisfaction that Sandberg looked a little lost. She couldn't decide whether to give him the order of battle or watch him trying to do everything at once. She decided that if he ask, she would talk, if not screw him. She giggled then whispered to herself, "like hell."

The Yanks entered the field from the north side, the success hid behind the rail fence and in the gully. The blue bellies were going to get slaughtered. Suddenly the fife and drum could be heard rolling again over the Georgia countryside. The Yanks came from the woods and then formed into a skirmish line. Sarah had her spot picked out. Sandberg was looking a bit lost as he changed lenses on his camera. Sarah had no idea what he had expected, but the battle had begun.

"You okay over there?" Sarah asked it with what was almost an audible giggle, but she managed to suppressed it.

"You are enjoying this aren't you." Sandberg said it as he fumbled with the pieces of his camera.

"Of course I am. Do you have a matching Mickey Mouse watch." At that point Sarah could not contain her laughter.

"I think I finally figured out who you are," Sandberg said it without any humor at all. He didn't like appearing inept at anything.

"Oh?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah you aren't the cookie lady, you're the Cookie Monster." Sandberg didn't know what he had expected. What he had not expected was for her to break up in laughter.

"You better hurry hero, they are about to charge." Those were the words that managed to make it out between fits of laughter. The laughter was nervous, but Sandberg didn't know that.

So he thinks I'm a monster, Sarah found that amusing. Those who really knew her, wondered how the soft-spoken, church going, lady could be a tough cop. Sarah was a true chameleon. She changed when she changed clothes. If she hadn't learned to cope, she would have been diagnosed as mpd, multiple personality disorder. She might still slip over the line at any moment.

Sandberg finally got it all together. Sarah's attention returned to the battle. He had been distracting to her on more than one level. His trouble with the press interested her, but she wasn't interested enough to ask. Things would reveal themselves without an interrogation. At least that was her belief at the time.

The yanks were moving toward the reb lines when she had the right angle for her shot. She had ignored all the clicking coming from beside her. At least Sandberg didn't move in front of her camera. After the shot she pulled then reinserted her film holder. She pulled the dark slide so that she was ready when the hand-to-hand melee began. The rebs began to fire and the yanks began to fall. They didn't stop though, they just kept on moving forward.

"Stupid bastards," Sandberg said as he clicked away. "What a waste."

"Different times Sandberg," Sarah said as she waited for the men in gray to rush out. When they did, she fired the shutter then switched the film holders and did it again two more times.

The men disengaged and the battle lulled. Suddenly the cannons roared and the groups came together again. It took over an hour for both skirmishes to end. While Sarah was packing away her camera, she heard the siren. It sent a chill down her spine. It was out of place on a day like that, but with all the death, even fake death, it seemed somehow appropriate.

# 9

2006-07-17T03:01:00.000-05:00

Berg was finally back in his room at the Cannon Ball. The interviews had lasted more than two hours with the promise of more to come. Berg got out his gear and sorted out his equipment for the morning shots. He had decided to take the smallest of camera bags with him this morning.

Berg packed his Canon 1Ds and two lenses, a wide angle Canon EF 24 – 70 mm f/2.8 and Canon EF 70 – 200mm f/2.8L Is USM. “Oh. This is good glass.” Beg then picked up a beat up Canon Digital Rebel XT with its original 18 –75 mm AF lens.

Berg thought back to his friend Billy and how his camera had started it all and ultimately finished things. He had made a promise to himself to always take a shot with it where ever he was for Billy. It could serve as a back up if need be.

Well, look what the cat dragged in.

Morn’in to you too Sarah Lee. Sleep well?

Berg was prodding Sarah some this morning. He was tired after all the questions by the cops. The same questions had been asked and answers fifty times at least. Berg had grown weary after the third set.

Better than you by the looks of things. I was getting worried you weren’t going to show and they would ask me to use one of those Mattel cameras to do your job.

Sarah, you really know how to turn on that southern charm, don’t you.

I got a little tied up at a Waffle House this morning but I don’t have all that crap to set up like you do with that shoe box you call a camera. I’m ready and mobile on the battlefield.

Couldn’t quite get your grits down, could ya.

Yeah, something like that.

Well shit, more latecomers to get in my way and muck up things. There’s even a TV crew with ‘em too. These re-enactments haven’t been this popular before.

Berg looked over to see what appeared to be a small throng of reporter types heading up to their location.

Captain Sandberg, Captain John Sandberg - It was the one leading the pack up the hill.

Sarah was now confused. They wanted Berg. What the hell gives?

Yeah, I’m Sandberg.

Mark Bolton, AJC. The ranger in charge said we all had to come in a group because your time was limited and you were about to start work. This is Jim Messer, Fox 5 News and Julie Bass, channel 2 Action News

Linda Storm Kennesaw Gazette, pleasure to meet you Captain.

Please call me John. I’m not in service any more.

Well, we all would like to hear your account of how you single-handedly managed to disarm and subdue the armed robber this morning at the Waffle House.

What, what is this? Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Berg quickly related his story of the robbery attempt to the cameras and print people.

Then it came, it was that little snot, the Fox reporter Jim.

Your are the same captain Sandberg awarded the Medal of Honor by the president who was latter linked to the mental torture of prisoners under your charge, right? You were “retired” from the Army after that incident. Is that correct?

Sarah was think, as well as the others – What an asshole.
Berg just turned and walked away, leaving Messer to stand there looking like an enormous prick.

Weekend Update

2006-07-10T02:59:00.000-05:00

Indian Burial Mound

Photographed - 7/06

Just a little update on what's going on here.
It was pretty much a normal weekend for us, nothing outstanding.

We took one of our rides into the North Georgia mountains in search of photo ops. I was looking for another covered bridge (The Blind Susie Bridge in Lula, GA) but was unable to find it.

We grilled out and did some bird watching. We saw what we think is an Orange Taninger. Of course no camera handy, so we'll keep looking for it to show up again.

Cows - White Co.

Photographed - 7/06

Recently we had purchased a large bag of dry cat food for Miss Kitty and put it in our pantry. We found out Sunday morning it was infested with moths. a good part of the day was spent emptying and cleaning the pantry. Then it was to the store to buy all the food items we had to discard.

Tomorrow I return to Emory for more testing to see if I still could get a transplant. It's something that I both look forward to and dread at the same time. I could be OK'ed for a transplant or told I can no longer be considered for a transplant.

Hay Bales - White Co

Photographed - 7/06

Photos - These are three different fields in White Co. Near Helen, GA. The first is said to contain the remains of a Cherokee Indian princesses who leapt to her death from near by Mt Yonah.

# 8

2006-07-09T06:21:00.000-05:00

Sarah Lee Poole awoke not with a start but with reality slipping in like a fog. Reality had a nasty habit of pushing pleasant dreams aside. Sarah didn't exactly remember the dream, but she knew it did not include John Sandberg. He came to her reality as she moved her camera box aside. The Box reminded her that Sandberg would be on the small rise beside her as she shot a couple of exposures of the troops.

She hadn't planned to spend much time on the battle, since nobody would be paying her for that part of the day. Unlike Sandberg and half the others with cameras, Sarah had little interest in the battle itself. He profit would be from the walk around camp candid shots, and the formal portraits she would be shooting at her wagon.

Everything in the wagon had been designed for the reenactment. From the plywood floor, that would double as a studio wall when attached to the side of the wagon, to the small folding benches lashed to the inside walls, the wagon was a portable studio. Sarah could even make a tintype if pressed. Not the real ones of course but a fairly convincing fake. She would have to do the actual work at home, but it was doable.

Her breakfast was from a freeze-dried package. She promised herself yet again that she would start eating better. Instead of real food, it was coffee and instant oatmeal again. The coffee made with boiling water from her teapot poured over a tea bag filled with coffee grounds. She spent at least a minute dunking the coffee bag up and down in the boiling water. She never cared for the ritual, but it beat the hell out of her dad's coffee making on the road.

Her dad would pour a hand full of coffee in a pot and just boil the hell out of it. When it was boiling to beat hell, he would strain it through cheese cloth. The straining removed about 95% of the coffee grounds, which seemed to be close enough for him. It was not close enough for Sarah.

After her miserable breakfast, she went about the camp site making pictures of the men who had begun to stir. Sarah Lee usually could scrounge up coffee to refill her cup as she went along. It was unusual but not unheard of, to see the park ranger's pickup in the camp area. They usually tried to stay out of sight during the reenactment. A 2005 Ford truck did a real number on the 'lost in time' feeling that the re enactors paid good money to experience.

Sarah never did see the ranger, the truck was just there one minute, and then twenty minutes later when she looked again, it was gone. Since it had no significance to the reenactment, it got only a passing thought. Sarah had bigger things on her mind. She had to change the film in her film holders. Sarah's day was starting out just like any other day at a reenactment.

The battle didn't start till 10am. Unlike the real battle this one had a schedule. It followed the events of the day pretty close but, there still had to be a schedule for the visitors. There also was a published program, after all you can't tell the players without a program.

Sarah lugged her heavy wooden tripod to the small rise set aside for her, and she supposed Sandberg as well as the local press photographers. The amount of plastic that would be on that mound would be a bit of a shock to a retro photographer.

Sarah knew exactly where everyone would be at any given time. She also had her shots planned to the tiniest detail. The four by five film holders would be a bitch to change quickly, so she planned when to do it. One shot of the field when the Yanks came from the woods line and one of the rebel's defense lines, then change the film holder before they met in the middle of the field. With the second film holder, a shot of the battle before it went medieval. Close combat with long muskets with fixed bayonet could hardly be called anything else. Then the last shot to show the confusion of hand to hand combat.

Now and then Sarah would remove the pocket watch from the men's suit vest she wore. She would first check the time, and then look off to the trail leading from the park ranger's office. Since Sarah had arrived early, there was still lots of time before the show began. She had set up early to secure the best possible position, at least she told herself that.

# 7

2006-07-09T06:08:00.000-05:00

Berg woke the instant the roach skittered across his face and slammed the little pest against the wall. He hadn’t had any sleep aid, nightcaps of Jack Daniels since he got the call about this job and his reaction time was returning

“Shit” It was only 5 am. Berg hadn’t been up this early in months. At least not since he had been “retired” from the Rangers. Berg got out of his not so clean bed and headed to the shower.

He flipped on the light and was happily surprised not to see more roaches scurrying from the light. He got into the phone booth of a shower and stood under the hot water, eyes closed as it ran over his scared torso.

It was 5:25 am now. Berg fully dressed, had only one thought, coffee. The mom and pop place wouldn’t open until eight. So berg hopped into his jeep in search of the nearest Waffle House. Finding a Waffle House in Georgia wasn’t hard at all – even a blind could find one. It seems there is one on every corner. As a matter of fact the one he choose was only about ¾ of a mile away, right by I-75. If for some reason he didn’t like this first one, there was another just on the other side of the underpass. They were in view of each other.

Berg walked in and sat at the counter. Right away a waitress plopped down a steaming cup of coffee.

Coffees free for service men. What’ll ya have.

Berg thought a moment about correcting her but let it pass.

Can I get two eggs over easy with bacon, toast, grits and a large O J?

Sure thing, hun

With that the waitress hurried off with the order and Berg took a look around the place. It was busy for the time but its location next to the interstate explained that.

Here you go hun. Can I warm up that cup?

Yes, thanks

Berg chowed down on the food. It was really good and cheaper than mom and pops place.

Berg was just finishing up some of the best grits he’d ever eaten when the hairs on the back of his neck started to tingle. He sensed it before he saw it. Berg shifted his gaze to the right to see a man fidgeting in front of the register. He saw the man’s coat pocket and knew what was in it and what was about to happen.

Berg’s waitress was coming to the register to ask the robber for his order. Before he had the pistol level with the counter, Berg had delivered a blow across the young robbers windpipe and twisted the pistol from the falling man.

The waitress was screaming and a dozen cell phones were trying to dial 911. Berg stood holding the pistol on the robber who was just now realizing what had happened.

Berg thought the weapon was unusual for a person like this to be using. It wasn’t some cheap piece of crap but, a Browning Hi-Power 9mm. If the scum on the floor had started shooting it could have become ugly. The Browning holds 13 rounds – lots of victims.

Suddenly everyone in the place started clapping. The manager walked up but not to close

Mister, anytime you eat here it’s on the house!

Just then the first two police cars arrived. Berg raised his hands holding the barrel of the weapon while one foot stood on the would be robber's neck

Even the Best Laid Plans....

2006-07-04T23:14:00.000-05:00

Sunrise on White County Farm

Photographed - 7/4/06

An update on what’s been going on here. I thought the long weekend was going to be very good. Sue took Friday off after being gone the last nine days for work. She had to make about a 45 minute conference call about noon - PLAN.

REALITY -After the FIVE + HOUR call we still had time to grill out a nice mixed grill and watch a rental movie. It was Firewall with Harrison Ford – not a bad flick – very worth a rental.

PLAN – get truck Fri. afternoon at five

REALITY - My answering machine had a message that my Pathfinder was ready if I could come pick it up before 5:30. The time 6:15 – dialysis ran over by almost an hour because of a storm and power outage.
If I can’t pick it up it says I’ll have to wait until after the holidays – i.e. Wed. morning.

I have a really nice Saturday. Spend all day with Sue catching up on sleep, talking and having fun.

PLAN – get up very early Monday and go to the N. GA mountains to take some photographs. Come home, cook out and later go to the local fireworks. (City of Cumming’s on the 3rd)
Stovall Mill Bridge - White Co., GA

Photographed - 7/04/06

Reality – Wake up sick as a dog. My day scrubbed. Sue does necessary grocery shopping. We watch another movie. The remake of The Pink Panther – with Steve Martin – almost as good as Peter Sellers version – another good rental.

Today’s PLAN – Get up early. Go to the mountains and take some photos. Cook out later and go see the fireworks.

REALITY – Don’t get up as early as plan calls for. Do get to mountains and take some photos. J Have nice cookout too. J
Go early to fireworks to get good vantage for photographing show.
Hour to go Fireworks drowned by rain – washed out. L

I’m sure you have noticed I have let my original intent of my blog slip a bit. This is due in part because of the crappy outcome of my transplant adventure a few weeks ago. I just haven’t felt up to it.

The other reason is I some how became so deluded as to think I might be able to sell some of my photos at local festivals and arts and craft shows. It might help pay for this hobby.

So, I’ve been spending some time choosing photos to print and mat.
Also I’ve been working on a web site for this purpose. Still lots of details to work out there.

I’m sure you also have noticed the short pulp fiction story I’m playing with. My Uncle and I take turns writing a page or two and try to cobble them together to make sense. It’s really kind of fun.

Regards to All,

Mark

6

2006-07-03T21:07:00.000-05:00

Since the family hadn't netted any information of value, Sarah decided to reach out to her partner. She hated to see her cell phone bill for the month, but she could always write if off as a business expense. Well a part time business expense to be more accurate.

"Eddie what the hell are you doing home," Sarah had known that her, almost ready for retirement, partner would be home. Eddie Macon did not work weekends for anyone. He was too damn close to pricking the balloon.

"You know me cupcake, always looking for an escape ladder. What you want cookie?"

"Eddie if you don't stop with the desert cracks you are going to get more than a sugar high."

"Yeah for the last ten years I been trying to get the damn wrapper open."

"Well here's your chance for me to owe you one."

"Sarah you owe me about two hundred and it still hasn't gotten me a night in a cheap motel."

"Eddie you know at you age you would have to just watch."

"Watch my ass, Okay what is it you need my little twinkie?"

"You know I'm in Georgia working that re enactment?"

"Sure, only woman I know takes vacation to wear old clothes and sit by a campfire with a bunch of old men in rags. No wait, that's a bag lady or an undercover cop." Macon burst into laughter. Macon was fond of his own jokes, as well as the sound of his own voice.

"Listen up Eddie, I ran into an old special forces type guy. Something about him ain't right. How about slipping into the national crime computer and telling me who he killed lately."

"Is he that bad cupcake?"

"I'm not sure Eddie, if he isn't being looked at now, we might be one day soon. He has that Texas Bell tower look about him."

"You keep your distance cookie."

"I can't, so get on this as soon as you can."

"Alright but you be damn careful."

Sarah gave him all the vitals on Sandberg. As was the case when cops played cops neither said goodbye, the line just went dead.

Sarah threw off the blanket, then she sat upright. She heard the far away sound of banjos and guitars. "Oh hell why not?" she said aloud.

The vendor area of the re enactment was about half a mile from the grassy amphitheater. As she approached the music got louder. There were even several eerie glows coming from the grassy bowl. Kerosene lamps glowed as re enactor families clapped their hand and danced a hoedown to the music.

Everyone was still in costume. Sarah was glad that she had worn her masculine get up. Sarah was dressed as one of the women who had fought in the war as men. It was a well known fact that every army in the war on both sides had women pretending to be young men. When a woman fired a shot that saved a man's life, he usually didn't care much about her plumbing arrangement.

Sarah was quickly surrounded by men and woman from the encampment. Just as in the war the Yanks tended to hang together and the Rebs did the same. As was her habit, Sarah fell into her male role easily. She even danced with a few of the daughters of the old south. It was great fun and since no one actually danced close, no one knew. Well a few who had their pictures made before might have had a suspicion, but none knew for sure.

It was after midnight when the dance ended. Sarah got waylaid by a Yank who had a little too much corn liquor. He argued the merits of the war and of course Sarah argued back. She refused to back down. Her father's motto, which she had adopted at work and in her personal life was, "Make your stand, then never give an inch."

The half drunk Yank was lucky that it was just words. Sarah had turned sideways to him to protect her vital organs. It he came out with anything, she was ready to break a bone or two. It was hard to say if he sensed it or just got tired of hearing himself talk. For whatever reason he gave up the argument with one parting shot. "We could whop you again reb."

Sarah mumbled under her breath, "So you say Yank, so you say."

She was stumbling around in the dark trying to find her way back to her wagon. She couldn't walk well in the dark, since she was a city girl. She also lost her way. Before she knew it she was in the parking lot where the re enactors had parked their cars. It was a half mile east of the vendor area. It could have been worse.

She found the gravel trail that lead to the encampment area. Before she set a single foot on it, she heard loud voices. At first she thought the drunken Yank had found someone else to argue with. She thought one of the voices sounded familiar but wasn't sure.

Sarah knew in here heart of hearts that she should just walk away. She didn't of course. Instead she turned walk as quietly as she could toward the voices. One more loud burst of shouts and then the starting of an engine.

Sarah stepped quickly into the shadows as first a black sedan and then a park ranger truck roared off into the night. "Some drunk giving the night ranger a problem," she said under her breath. Since the argument had moved on, she couldn't do a thing to help. Sarah had a feeling something was going to come of it later, so she made a mental note to file all the details away.

While making the mental notes she walked up the path toward her wagon.

5

2006-07-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

Sarah Lee decided to enlist some help in finding out about John Sandberg. She called her cousin, R.L. Poole, who worked for the NCBI.(North Carolina Bureau of Investigation)

Sarah’s cell began playing “Dixie” an appropriate tune for her location.
Hello, this is Sarah Poole. Oh, Robert – thanks for getting back to me so soon. No, no I’m not involved with the man, just working on a project with him.

Thirty-five minutes Sarah switched off her cell phone. Sarah had been right ‘bout Berg being dangerous. He had killed men, lots of men. Some of them had played a part it his winning the Medal of Honor. Sarah knew very few men who won the Medal, lived to wear it. Since its establishment in the Civil War on July 12th 1862, most were presented to the wives and children.

Sarah’s cousin had a hard time getting information on one Army Captain Sandberg, John A. It seems that anti-terrorism/ national security BS prevented releasing information, even to the people on the same side.

Sarah was thinking, was Berg still working? No, that didn’t seem possible. He wouldn’t be out doing this kind of thing. Still, he was too young to just retire. So, what was it? Sarah told herself she was more interested in Berg’s story, than she was in Berg.

Sarah felt the hard wooden floor of the wagon on her back and cursed it for keeping her awake. She knew in the back of her mind that it was more than the floor. In large part it was Berg, the iceberg. She was thinking it would be nice to melt through him, then find out his real story, and just maybe defuse the bomb ticking inside him.

Peter met Berg for dinner at a small Mom and Pop type diner where the food was good and the portions large. The only down side was that the selection was limited.

“Peter, just who is this Sarah Lee? She seems to pick up on everything and hold her ground.”

“I don’t know a hell of a lot bout her, she’s a cop or ex-cop something like that. Met her a couple of years ago when she filled in for her dad as the photographer at another re-enactment. Why all the interest Berg?”

“Just wanted to know a little about who I’m working with, that’s all.”

“Technically you aren’t working with her. All I know is she’s damn good at what she does and the service wants to use a series of her images from the other battlefields as well as this one.”

“Why do you need me then?”

“It’s two different beasts, Berg. Yours are very good and easy for printing the park brochures. Hers have a completely different feel to them. Like an image straight from the 1800’s. You’ll just have to wait and see it for yourself.” Peter paused a moment then went on, “Sorry Berg, I’ve got to run. I’ve got a meeting I need to get to.”

“A meeting, isn’t it a little late for a meeting Pete?”

“Oh Berg, the park service never sleeps!”

Twenty minutes later Berg found himself back at The Cannonball Motel. The aptly named tourist sleeping spot was small and family run. It looked old enough to have housed the original Confederate troops who had really fought there. At least it was clean. It wasn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination. The price doubled during the re-enactment days. It did have beds, soft beds . That beat the hell out of the ground or the bed of a wagon.

# 4

2006-07-02T12:45:00.000-05:00

Sarah walked away thinking that John Sandberg bore all the classic signs of
a 'going postal' killer. He had that intense look that her experience told her was dangerous. "So how do you know Peter?" She asked it as they walked across the meadow.

"We served together in a couple of places," Sandberg Suggested.

"Well he must not have been a very good soldier, he should have known the sun would be in your eyes from that point." It was a direct criticism of Peter and also the Military. Sarah had busted her share of G.I.s. Some while she worked as a beat cop, and even a few while she worked the gang squad. She respected the military without holding it in awe.

"He wasn't thinking about the sun being an issue since he knows nothing about photography. Hell I come to it late myself."

"So, what made you decide to join in the legacy of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston?"

"After I retired I needed something to keep my mind occupied. I didn't think I had all that many alternatives." John left the main reason tucked away. He didn’t want the emotions to boil to the surface

"Yeah, I can't see you punching a clock. The boss maybe but definitely not a clock."

Berg was at a loss for words, something that usually didn't happen to him. She continued walking until she reached the eastern side of the meadow. "The Yanks will come from that direction, she said it pointing to the north end of the field. The rebs will be waiting for them over there." At the mention of the Rebs she pointed to the gully that ran across the Southern end of the field.

"So it's a classic ambush."

"Not sure you could call it that, the Yanks know they are there. Won't be no surprise when they start taking fire. The Rebs have a couple of two inch guns that should be interesting to see shoot."

"You gonna' do the shots with that old camera?"

"Yep, it's what I do John."

"I have a bag full of zoom lenses, you don't mind if I do close ups of the soldiers do you?"

"Why would I mind?"

"My shots well most likely show you up a bit." He said it knowing that it sounded arrogant as hell. He knew how it sounded but he really didn't care.

"Oh don't worry about me. I just make one shot of the battle. I leave the rest of the crap shots to tourist with plastic cameras."

"This plastic camera is state of the art," Sandberg said angrily. He felt the need to defend himself. For some reason he had taken the remark personally. He had never been a tourist anywhere.

"Did they throw in a little talent and experience along with the warrantee?" Bug was beginning to play dirty.

"Why don't you wait and see how the shots look before you judge?" he asked.

"Oh I know how they are going to look. They are going to look like little plastic soldiers, in a little plastic frame." Sarah smiled at John Sandberg just to let him know she wasn't going to back down.

"Well we will see what is what tomorrow," He suggested.

"Yes we will. So Sandberg where are you staying tonight? Did they find you a comfortable motel?"

"Tell me you aren't going to make fun of me sleeping in a motel bed, while you rough it in the back of a wagon. I'll have you know I have slept in the rain without so much as a tent. I have slept while sitting against a tree. I might add that it was so hot and humid that you could ring water from the air."

"Then I suppose you have earned the Pakistani West Plaza." She was of course referring to the local mom and pop motel that would be filled with the families of re enactors. Not everyone was interested in sleeping on the ground. The camp followers for sure would be off to sleep in comfortable beds.
"So you are camping out with the other camp followers?" Sarah asked with a smirk. Sarah enjoyed putting Sandberg on the defense. It was an old cop trick to keep him off guard. Though she had no idea why she felt the need to keep him from digging in. She had an instinctive feeling that Sandberg was dangerous to her but she wasn't sure on what level.

#3

2006-07-02T00:28:00.000-05:00

Peter and John were walking over the areas he felt John would be able to use for some panoramic shots of the battlefield when Sarah walked up.

Peter, what the hell is this. The park service has doubled the vendor charges over last year’s price. The price I quote in our contract for the service’s photos was based on last year’s fees – it’s in the contract. I guess my photo’s prices have just tripled.

Calm down Sarah it’s a mistake on our part. You’ll get the same fee structure as last year.

John was mildly amused how this woman had just handled his old friend. Berg wondered what else Sarah could handle.

Peter noticed the look on John’s face and not to be out done. “Sarah” I’d like you to meet Berg. John shot Peter a look that would have shredded most. Err, I should say John Sandberg Peter corrected himself.

Sarah sensed Berg was a man who bore watching for sure. He seemed to be a man about to explode. Sarah Lee knew she wanted to be far away if that happened. Oh she might have to pick up the pieces, but she would just as soon it not be too soon after the explosion.

Nice to meet you Mr. Sandberg. I guess Berg is short for Sandberg Sarah said with a slight smile.

Oh no Peter was laughing – nothing like that. John’s men gave him that one because of the way he dealt with the enemy –Cold as an iceberg.

John gave his friend a harder glare than before. Peter shut up. Sarah saw what she thought was a slight sign of fear on Peter’s face.

“Nice to meet you Sarah but, you’ll have to Pete here, he tends to get bouts of diarrhea mouth from time to time. Peter frowned, then laughed.

I was just showing Berg here some good places for some panoramic shots for the morning battle shots, Peter was enjoying the discomfort on John’s face at the use of his nickname.

I think Berg might actually be better off over in that area where I’m setting up, Sarah delighted in using the nick name – seeing that it cause a slight discomfort between the two men. Over here he’ll have to put up with the sun in his face – not a good thing for a photographer ya know.

Well, I’ll leave that up to you two to figure out. I’ve got to get back for another meeting. With that Peter headed back to the park’s office.

Iit’s Sarah is it.

Actually it’s Sarah Lee Poole.

Oh, the pie and cake lady. John’s attempt at humor fell flat as a pancake and stuck to the roof of his mouth as if it were coated in cane syurp.

I’ve heard them all before. Berg I expected something a little more original from a man like you.

What do you mean by that. John protested.

Well, judging by the hair and body you’ve got to be ex-military and a little too sure of your self and we know you guys can be such pricks in civilian life.

John was silent. She had read fairly well. There’s more to this pie lady than shows.

At the same moment Sarah was thinking I need to find out more about this man.

Experiment 2

2006-06-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

While the two men looked through the window of the park ranger's office, Sarah Lee Poole worked on her wagon. It would not only be her display backdrop it would be her home for the three day event. Even if they saw her working, they would assume that Sarah was a man. Most of the people who met her even socially thought that she was either a sissy or a dyke.

Sarah Lee was neither, but she probably could whip half the guys she knew. No she wasn't all that big 5'9", she weighed a respectable 170 pounds, she wasn't strong, and she didn't have a black belt in anything except her one good black dress. What she did have was ten years of street cop experience. She had worked the gang squads in her town as well as the major crimes division's swat team. Sarah Lee was the poster girl for female cops everywhere. She was every bit the better man at most things she tried.

Most things included her dad's business, she could have walked off the force and become a well-paid professional photographer anytime she wanted. Instead she had stayed a cop and found her own creative niche. Sarah Lee loved to shoot old civil war reproduction photographs. When she could swing a few days off, she would load her authentic civil war photographer's wagon onto the small trailer behind her old beat up Toyota land rover. The rover was famous for it's adaptability. Sarah Lee's rover had a small block Chevy V8 under the beat up hood. It was necessary for hauling the trailer with her wagon perched on top.

Since Sarah wasn't an official re enactor, she had to set up her wagon with the vender. She still managed to spend all her evenings, with the old wooden camera on a tripod bye her side while sitting around a cook fire in front of some tent. Sleeping in a tent wasn't for her but sleeping in the back of the wagon was only slightly better. Her father had insisted that she do it as authentically as possible. A blanket roll on the hard wooden floor was the required way to go. It did offer a little more security, which eased her cop's mind a little. Sarah loved her father and would never knowingly disappoint him.

She finally had the wagon set in place and tied down. She looked up to the ranger station far above the meadow where the encampment was set up. She didn't see the two men, and most likely they hadn't really noticed her. Sarah was thinking that they should have found a way to disguise the newer stone building so that it fit the period. Hard to imagine yourself in the 1860s with a view of the park rangers parking lot. Her Rover and trailer would be hidden behind a grove of trees half a mile away.

"Hey there Sarah, I got those cards. Wife and I had a grand old time writing our friends notes and sticking our pictures in them. Most of them weren't sure if they were my grandfather or me. Great fun girl, don't you stop doing that I want me some more from this battle."

"You still got my card?" She would have called him by name but she had no idea who he was.

"Yeah, I'll be looking for this set up there."

"Well give me at least a week."

"Can do girl, and you have yourself some fun to. Me and the wife will be by for a new portrait tomorrow or Sunday." He took about a dozen steps then turned back. "Why don't you come over to the camp tonight. We are gonna' have a dance, you might get yourself a beau,"

"I'll come over but the beau things is more likely after they get liquored up or desperate." Both Sarah Lee and the soldier laughed.

AN EXPERIMENT

2006-06-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

This is a little experiment in short fiction writing. In conjunction with the Mysteryscribe, I will write a small section of a story and post it here. he will read it, write the next section - email it to me for posting. We want to see if it's possible to achieve a good short story this way. So, here it goes.

John had grown to hate the sound of that piece o crap K-Mart alarm clock. He had overslept again. Berg had a lot of trouble sleeping lately. It was after ten already and he was supposed to be there to set up at noon. John Sandberg looked at himself in the mirror he was neither pleased nor displeased with what he saw. He didn’t give a shit really - it just wasn’t his nature.

When his friends saw John, they saw somewhat of an enigma the former Army Ranger Captain. Sure he still looked fit with his shorter than regulation cut and muscled 6 foot 2 frame but they knew of the booze and the toll it would eventually take.

Most of those who served with Capt Sandberg thought of him as a true hero. These were the men who had put their lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan just as he had. Others who didn’t have this shared knowledge saw a ruthless barbarian or worse. Yes, John had a reputation for getting answers from the enemy and fast.

It was when that reputation came to light, thanks to some scum of a liberal TV reporter that John’s life began to unravel. There were both official and unofficial inquires into his conduct. Some politicos back home who desperately wanted his head mounted on the walls of their campaign offices The Army saw it in a different light. They would not give up a man with two silver stars and a fist full of purple hearts. The President himself was the one to hang that Medal of Honor around Lt. John Sandberg’s neck as the nation watched on TV.

John could kick himself for being late. Peter Welch, a fellow Army ranger had joined and moved up in the National Park Service. He had called John with an offer of a paying job. The Park Service wanted some photographs to put in a brochure about its Civil War Reenactment Series it was holding at various battlefield sites. This one was just outside Atlanta at Kennesaw Mountain.

You’re late Berg.

Sorry Peter, had a rough night but, who the hell is that! Did you go out and hire someone else to do the job?

Peter had used John’s old nickname – Berg and it didn’t have anything to do with last name.

Missing in Minnesota

2006-06-25T00:13:00.000-05:00

Foggy Sunset

Photographed 6/06

Missing Sue once again, I find it hard to sleep. Sue was supposed to return from Minnesota early Thursday afternoon but Delta Airlines, With their slogan " We don't give a damn and it shows" screwed her and about 70 other passengers over. She had a flight out at 3 o'clock that got delayed due to weather. Delta informed everyone it would depart at 8 pm.

The 5 and 7 o'clock flights for Atlanta left on time. Come 8 o'clock they were all told the flight had now been canceled and the next flight would at 10:30 Friday morning. Thanks, Delta for making everyone wait at the airport for nothing! They gave no food or lodging vouchers, you were left on your own. The agent did tell Sue he had booked on the 10:30 flight. He just forgot to tell her it was with another airline.

She showed up to catch the flight and they couldn't find her name. Finally some looked and saw she was booked on Northwest (at the other end of the airport). Sue hustled down there but guess what - not in their computer either. It seems the Delta agent forgot to transfer the information. Of course this flight is overbooked but Sue's high flight miles pay off and she gets a seat. The Northwest people are very friendly and helpful. (and Delta wonders why they're struggling)

She finally gets home about 3 pm and I get to see her about 5:30 after I get out of dialysis. We eat dinner and she is worn out so we go to sleep.

Sue is up early this morning to pack for her trip for Orlando. She leaves the house at 11 o'clock. She has been home for 19 hours (about 10 of those asleep and two showering and packing for this trip). Wow, isn't travel fun!

So, I'm missing her and she's missing me and Miss Kitty. Hopefully she'll be back late Tuesday evening but She had to fly Delta again, so who knows!

DREAMS

2006-06-21T00:45:00.000-05:00

Fantasy Flight

We all have dreams and hopes, I have mine and you have yours. Do we ever achieve our dreams, perhaps in degrees we all do at one time or another. Right now my dream is to be healthy and grow old together with Susan, my wife. I believe through much effort and God's will this is possible.

To all of you who have read my blog, I thank you for your comments, messages of hope and encouragement - they have helped to sustain me through difficult times. My wish is that I could give to you what you have given me - HOPE. For this I cannot say thank you enough. We consider you all our dear friends.

Thank you,
Mark & Sue

Thoughts

2006-06-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

Rose IV

Photographed 6/06

While it has taken me several days to fully digest what happened this past weekend, I have come to the same conclusion many of you pointed out in various ways. That is, hope remains as long as you have a breath left in your body.

I therefore have no choice but to move forward and put this major disappointment behind me. Although I find a lifetime of dialysis repulsive to my spirit, I know others suffer this fate and continue on. If this is what my fate is then I must do the same and make the best of what I have

There will always be hope that things will improve and I just have to keep that in mind because if I don't, all is lost and there would be no point in going on.

I photographed this rose yesterday and while doing so realized that the world is full of beauty I have yet to see. Sometimes it's a simple thing such as this flower. Other times it's more complicated for us to comprehend in today's world. Such as God's love for each of us. I want to see all of this beauty and share it with others especially my wife and partner, Sue.

I want to thank all of you, my friends, who have sent me encouragement to stay strong and not give up. To look for hope and pray for guidance.

My heart felt thanks to all,
Mark

THE CALL

2006-06-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

Bloom of Hope

Photographed 4/06

About 12:30 am Saturday I got the "The Call". I wasn't ready for it even though I've been waiting for it for over a year, I still thought I had another year and a half to go. There was much excitement here and a lot of rushing around to get ready. I was on my way to receive my new transplanted kidney at Emory University Hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at just before 2 am and checked in at the 9 E nurse's station where they sent me to another floor due to a lack of bed space on that floor.

In my new room I went through all the routine - tons of questions, blood work and exams. My God, it's really happening - I'm going to get a part of my normal life back. I know there are still risks, all kinds of them, there listed on the consent forms I have to sign. The very first one listed and in bold type is death followed by a long list of unpleasant things.

I'm not really concerned by this. It's a standard thing here to list every possible thing that could happen to cover the liability issue. Its a risky operation and they don't want to be sued if anything goes wrong.

At 6 am the surgeon's assistant comes in - more questions and an exam - things are moving along. He tells us the donor organs are being=eing harvested at this time and will be tested to make sure every thing is clean and clear. Meanwhile they have put me on an IV insulin drip to control my blood sugar during the operation. I'm ready to go.

finally the surgeon comes in to see me. More questions, poking and probing. While he is here my sugar goes low (remember the insulin drip) Now he's worried. He leaves to review old test from my first evaluation almost two years ago.

About an hour later he returns and informs me that due to my still recovering from all the trauma I suffered earlier and my vascular condition the operation would be much longer than the normal 2 to 3 hours - possible as long as 6 to 8 hours and I might no longer be transplantable, They would like a new evaluation before going any further.

NO LONGER TRANSPLANTABLE - The words are numbing to us. Sue starts to cry. I feel empty. I can;t imagine to be on a life on dialysis until I die. He says there may still be some hope although small. That's why they want more test.

We're home now. Great hope dashed. Plans for the future changed forever. I don't really know how I feel now. I need more time and a vacation from this life.

What A Weekend - So Far

2006-06-11T00:36:00.000-05:00

Tufted Titmouse

Photographed 6/06

This little guy has the same hair style I had this morning,

On Friday I was so looking forward to this weekend. I had finally gotten over the vaccine thing and was feeling pretty good. I left early for my dialysis treatment in hopes of getting home a little sooner so I could get dinner started. Little did I know a string of mishaps and disappointments was about to befall me.

Less than a quarter of a mile from the center a nother driver turned left right in front of me causind an accident. Not the way to start my weekend. Luckily no one was injured. Just about $ 5,000 of damage to my Pathfinder. I had to sit out in the sun for over an hour waiting for the police to come and fill out the reports.(temps in the 90's)
Tufted Titmouse II

Photographed 6/06

I am now late for my dialysis. I'm not going to get out early to fix dinner, as a matter of fact Sue will be home before me. The other driver got two citations. The only solace I got from this whole experience - he was driving a Jag.

After leaving the clinic a little past 7 pm and getting home it was time to call my insurance company for the phone hassel (45 minutes) and his company's call still awaits me. (called today - only 35 minutes). I still have to go get the estimate for the repairs and then take it back when they can do the job. I've got to line up a rental too for the days mine will be in the shop.

After eating dinner, I check the phone messages and find out my Monday doctor's appointment has been cancled (been trying for a month to see him - this is my kidney doctor). They knew I was at dialysis even if I was home on time, it would be too late to get back to them. Oh, he has an office at the clinic.

Originally I was excited because I was getting ready for an arts & craft show next weekend. It ras gojng to be my first attempt to see if I could sell any of my photography. I went today to the state park where the show was to be and found out it was a terrible site. It was down a dusty dirt road with no parking and very uneven ground, not a place for a person with artifical legs to be. So, still looking for a place. A little disappointing but, it gives me more time to prepare - I was rushing a bit to make this one.
Tufted Titmouse III

Photographed 6/06

Sue is here this week so I'm happy. She'll be gone for a a several days next Saturday and again the Monday after that.

Sorry to be so long winded tonight.

Regards to all,
Mark

What's Good for You Isn't Always True

2006-06-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

Backyard Friend

Photographed 6/06

It's a curious thing when things don't go as they should. We spent all day Friday in the emergency room at St. Joseph's because I had a sever reaction to a hepatitis-B vaccine. It was supposed to be good for me but,alas good plans gone awry and yet another trip to the hospital.

I'm OK now after some medication to counter the effects. I missed my dialysis on Friday and had to make it up at 6:30 Saturday morning. Friday caused fear - I had all the symptoms of a Heart attack - fever, nausea, tight chest and shortness of breath.

Thank you all who sent notes of well wishes.
Regards,
Mark

Away

2006-06-02T07:35:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this post while waiting foe Sue to take me to the emergency room. I don't feel well and am having trouble getting a deep breath.Thanks to all for reading my post. Hopefully I shall return before long.
Regards,
Mark

American Heroes

2006-05-31T10:23:00.000-05:00

American Heroes

Photographed - 5/06
John - R Richard - L

I had an opportunity to photograph two very nice gentlemen at a local Memorial Day service this past Monday. John, the local commander of the American Legion and Richard who was there representing the VFW. These men were there to remember the men and women who were friends and comrades in arms that paid the ultimate price for their country.

These are the kind of men we should be proud of. They are true American heroes to me. They stand head and shoulders over any sports, TV, movie or music star. These men risked their lives and went into harms way so that we may live as free Americans today America is proud to have you as citizens and I am proud to have met you both

Humbly and rightfully so, John reminded me that the real heros are and I quote " Hero's today are those young American's taking the shots and blasts for us overseas so we don't have to endure it here at home."

Thank you, John and Richard

Best Regards,
Mark

2006-05-28T20:57:00.000-05:00

SUNSET SALUTE

Photographed 5/06

Memorial Day - A time to remember those who paid the ultimate price that we may live free and enjoy life as we do. We may not agree on every fight our country takes on but, men and women of our Armed Services were lost defending our way of life. Everyone, please stop for a moment to think about their sacrifice and what it really means to each and every one of us.

May each who has fallen rest in eternal peace.

It makes me a little sad that retailers have turned such a solemn occasion into just another excuse to have a sale there by downplaying the reverence that should accompany this day.

Faith

2006-05-24T20:09:00.000-05:00

Faith

Photographed 5/06

Faith, some people have it - some people don't - others have it in varying degrees. Still others in different things. Where is your faith placed? In a God, in your self, perhaps in mankind itself or nature.

I guess I have a dual faith. A faith in God although it may be beginning to wavier a bit and a faith in myself. I don't know if there is a simple correct path to follow. I wish there was a clear answer to this question.

Health wise, I'm still slowly improving. My hand seems to be healing ever so slowly although it remains somewhat painful. My dialysis "cleaning" numbers have gotten better over the last few reports. I no longer am using a walker at all and at times walking (ever so carefully) without a cane in the house. The pain in my hip and knee are gone. I just have to work on improving my strength and stamina now.

I think we'll try to grill out this weekend. I was thinking about bar-b-q baby back ribs and roasted sweet corn in the husk, with watermelon for dessert. It's been a while since we've done ribs, they should be good.

Sue returned home safely late last night. Her flight was delayed an hour and a half due to weather. She'll be home until the middle of June, then it's a couple more trips for her. It's so nice to have her home again.
Lily

Photographed 5/06

This is the one lily I planted from an almost dead plant five years ago. The photo shows about 2/3 of the plant. It seems to come bigger every year. It's close enough to the house that the deer don't bother it. I wish it were so with some of our other plants. Sue planted a beautiful water hyacinth in our little puddle one evening. The deer really enjoyed it. There was nothing left the next morning.

Regards to all.

Mark

The Climb

2006-05-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

Mt Yonah

Photographed 5/06

Life can be like a struggle to climb to the summit of a mountain. As you get closer to your goal the climb becomes steeper and more difficult. This is how I feel every day now. There are lots of people on my team helping me but, I'm not sure I've got the heart to make that climb. I will not give up but, not so sure I'll make it'

I'm still working on reading your blogs and making some progress in that direction. I read six this morning and it's just 5 AM here. Yeah, I'm having a little trouble sleeping - I'm missing Sue. I just e-mailed her to tell her that I & Miss Kitty love her and miss her.
Some Lilies From Our Front Yard

Photographed 5/06

The lilies are for Sue. Of course. I put one half dead plant under our front window five years ago and it's come back stronger every year since. This year it's got more than 70 blooms on it! I'll have to get a full photo of it for you soon. Until then be well and keep climbing the tops not far away.
Regards,
Mark

Old Values

2006-05-23T20:02:00.000-05:00

CLASSIC

Photographed 5/06

Sometimes older values and things are most beautiful. As with this 1930's Ford. I was always taught growing up to work hard, always do your best and be polite to all. I believe if everyone did these simple things the world would be better off. I can't get over how rude and inconsiderate people can be while driving. Hey, wake up, there's glass in your car. It's called windows and we can can see you! OK, enough of that!

I am making slow improvements with both my hand and spirit. We had a nice weekend. Sue did some yard work and I paid the bills. We went for a ride through the mountains and took a picnic lunch with us. We also looked at small RV with the thought it would allow me to travel on longer trips more comfortably but, their cost was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend on something we might not get the use out of.

Sue's away again. She is in Minnesota tonight and Ohio tomorrow and then home.
She left early this morning and I miss her not being home at dinner.

I'm going to try to get up early Monday morning before dialysis to photograph the small Memorial Day service they have here.

Other than that, I'm a little tired - so long for now.

PHOTO CONTEST SELECTIONS

2006-05-19T05:46:00.000-05:00

Chipping Sparrow - Cumming 8x8

Karen, as you can see I did get carried away. Many more photos than I originally planned on but, after reading the rules a second time, I added/deleted some. Probably will not hear from them anyway but worth a try.

Fall - Vogel State Park 6x8

Pecan Grove - Cumming 5x7

Confederate Cemetery I - Resaca 8x10

Mill Bridge I - Watson Mill State Park 8x10

Cherry in Morning Mist - Buford Dam 8x10

Confederate Cemetery II - Resaca 6x8

Fall - Vogel State Park 6x8

Mill Bridge II - Watson Mill State Park 5x7

Lily - Cumming 8x10

Basket Maker - Gwinnett History Days 8x10 Sepia

Learn to See

2006-05-19T00:41:00.000-05:00

Blue Iris

Photographed 5/06

Today wasn't the best day I've had in a while. I had two unexplained episodes of very low blood sugar. These are very stressful on the body and leave you feeling very washed out.

Then on the way to see the surgeon about my hand, I became so sick I had to turn around and come home. Overall not such a good day. Other than that I am improving. I'm back to using just a cane to walk and some limited driving too. Maybe two more weeks and I'll be back to where I was before this last setback.

Sue is well. She's got some more meetings in Minneapolis next week and the new company wants her to make a presentation in Cleveland next week too. So she is staying very busy right now.

Last Saturday we went for a ride in the North Georgia mountains. That's where this photo was made. It was a single blue iris in front of a large stone building at Neel Gap along the Appalachian Trail. I used to hike this section quite often. The building is rather like a large lodge. It was built by the CCC in the early 1930's and is quite charming' It serves as a hikers rest point along the trail with bathrooms,showers and a small store for supplies.

It just goes to shown you beauty can be found everywhere, you just have to strive to find it.

JUST FLOATING

2006-05-16T20:33:00.000-05:00

It's been 10 days since my last post and I'm still feeling very lethargic. I just can't seem to shake this feeling I have been in. I'm having trouble doing anything meaningful. Not that writing in this blog is any great work. I've forced myself to sit down and write something to break out of this mode and hopefully recover.

Please accept my apology, my friends for not visiting your blogs in the past week or so. I will try to do better in the coming weeks, I have been worthless as of late.

Transplantation for me appears still to be about two years away. I'm beginning to question if I'll make the distance.

Aftermath

2006-05-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

Chipping Sparrow

Photographed 5/06

Well, I'm trying to break out of a depression. I just haven't felt like doing much lately. Today it's sunny and I'm not feeling sick, I think the flu is finally done with me.

Sue decorated the table with very colorful balloons on Wednesday while I was at dialysis. It was a beautiful, festive sight to come home to. It was such a nice touch and a great surprise.

Chipping Sparrow

Photographed 5/06

I think I got depressed later, after realizing how much we used to be able to do and now how I've limited us. I miss being able to go walking in the mountains or go along with Sue on some of her trips. Often she would take days off after a meeting and we would visit sights near by. All that's out right now. No more trips to the beach, no surf fishing. I guess it's so hard because I used to be so active and I have been reduced to this.

I keep hoping things will improve but, I know things will never be the same or close to what they were. I try to adapt but, it's getting harder with each new setback. I so much want Sue to be happy and have a good time in life. I should have done something about this a long time ago.
Tufted Titmouse

Photographed 5/06

The photos are of birds at the feeder I got as a birthday gift from my parents. It is very busy in the mid morning and around dinner time.

ANNIVERSARY

2006-05-03T01:43:00.000-05:00

A Lily For Sue

Photographed 2/06

Today Sue and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Like I've said before, it seems like only yesterday in some ways. In others it's like I've known Sue all my life. Many times she could complete my thoughts and I hers. She is my best friend and partner for life. I love her with all my heart and soul can give. I miss her when she's away and feel empty until her return.

I bought her roses today, not red because yellow is her favorite.(photos tomorrow)
Also I made eclairs today with the real custard not that creme stuff you get at most of the bakeries now days. They're a favorite of both of us.
Sunset Lilies for Sue

Photographed 3/06

Sue has taken today off from work to relax but, I have to go to dialysis today so it puts off any trips today. I think we might try for something this weekend if all goes well.

Thanks for stopping in,
Mark & Sue

CITY PHOTO - Midway, GA

2006-05-01T20:51:00.000-05:00

The Midway Meal House

When I started writing this post I found out something interesting. I had always thought Midway was a very small town. I mean there's Midway Elementary, Community Bank of Midway and all sorts of things with Midway in their titles but it's not incorporated as such.

Anyway, The meal house has been in the same spot since the 1920's. This structure in the photo is a new copy of the old house which was destroyed in a fire year before last. The same family has run the business for quite some time, The food is very good, nothing fancy here. The cost is very reasonable. I love to sit out on the porch and eat. They have the greatest Black Walnut Cake I've ever tasted. It's worth the trip alone!

Fresh Fruit

2006-04-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

Sue's First Strawberry

Photographed 4/06

Sue harvested her first strawberries Saturday evening. Not many, only three but they were very sweet - a good variety.

I'm sorry for not posting as much to all of your blogs lately. I've had a return bout with the flu and for a few days could not bring myself to the computer. To top that off I added a new and rather large graphics program and had software and memory issues. I think these have now been solved, so I hope to be more timely with my post. I tried to catch up on everyone's today, sorry if I missed yours.

I'm still having to use a walker to get about but, there's improvement and I hope to be back to just a cane by this Friday. I look forward to that because the walker takes both hands making it hard to do much else. You cannot carry anything including anything to eat or drink.

Sue is in town all this week but, she has a business dinner Monday night and super early meeting the next morning. She'll have to be up and going at 5am to be there on time. She is taking Wednesday off. It's our 20th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe its been that long. I can still picture her standing in front of the priest with her bright lilies looking so beautiful. I wish you could have seen the smile on my face!
Wild Rose

Photographed 4/06

The last photo is a wild rose that was growing by the roadside. I saw it on a recent drive. I think it was once an old home site.

CITY PHOTO - The Buford Hatchery

2006-04-30T00:50:00.000-05:00

The Street Sign

Photographed 4/06

A street sign lets you know you're at the Buford Trout hatchery. The Buford hatchery is one of several through out the state run by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources). There function is to stock the public lakes and waterways with fish for anglers to enjoy.
Information Board

Photographed 4/06

The Buford Hatchery sits on 38 acres adjacent to the Chattahoochee River about a mile downstream from the dam on Lake Lanier. The hatchery grounds are open to the public and tours are given every Sunday at 1 pm.
The Trout Runs

Photographed 4/06

This is one of the trout runs. The hatchery raises about one million trout per cycle. These fish range in size from fingerling to legal sized keepers and even a few of the trophy size (10 lbs) for release into the Trout Waters of Georgia.

Electric Fences Surrounding the Runs

Photographed 4/06

The trout runs have electric fences around them to discourage raccoons and opossums from turning them into open fish markets.

The Trout

Photographed 4/06

The type of trout raised by this hatchery are Rainbow, Brown and Brook. The brown are the only trout thought to be native to Georgia streams. The Rainbow and to a lesser extent the Brown have flourished in the colder Trout Waters of Georgia. Freshly caught trout make a great meal.
Wildlife Observation Areas

Photographed 4/06

With its location next to the river and the Family Fishing Pond, which is a beaver built pond, there are many chances to spot local wildlife and migratory birds. It's a favorite location for hawks in the area. There are several walking trails on the property for visitors to enjoy.

Fly Home

2006-04-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

American Goldfinch

Photographed 4/06

Well, The doctor says my hand appears to be healing. A couple of more months should do the trick. That's good news, even if the whole reason I made the hour long drive to this office was to tied up for me to use. Now I have to go back again in two weeks but, he assures me they will have time for the test then. It just kills 3-4 hours of my time in the middle of the day,

Blue Grosbeak (female)

Photographed 4/06

More good news, Sue's trip to Minneapolis got put off until a later date. She'll be home in time for dinner tomorrow night. That's much better than late Friday night. I'll have to come up with some special for dinner for her and flowers of course. Lilies are getting to be hard to find around here. When we were first dating and lived in Athens, GA there was a place called Blooms of Holland. It was a great place to get fresh flowers. They had all kinds of lilies and other Dutch flowers. The last time we were there they now sell only to weddings - guess that's where the big money is,

My hip is better today, not as painful. I still need the walker to get around. It looks as if I was a little optimistic in thinking I would be back to just a cane by week's end. It's more like next week's end. They've decided to give the fistula a couple of more weeks before using it. Most likely for my hands sake.

My cleaning numbers have not been as good as they would like to see. This means I have to be hooked up to the machine at dialysis 30-40 minutes longer each time. Now it's a little more than 4 hours at a time.

Thanks for dropping by.
Mark

Fly Away

2006-04-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

Carolina Chickadee

Photographed 4/06

Yes, Sue has flown to Phoenix on business. She left about 1 pm our time and just called me about thirty minutes ago to say she got there and had no trouble.

It sad because I'm already missing her. My dinner was not the same without her here to talk with. I occupied my time this afternoon shooting birds at our new feeder. It was one of my birthday gifts from my parents.
House Finch

Photographed 4/06

The birds found it in no time flat! I thought it would take at least a few days for them to see it.
Tuesday I go to the surgeon for an update on my hand and the fistula. Sorry about the lack of post lately. I had a return of my flu friend, complete with a fever, chills and upset stomach. I was just dragging and couldn't bring myself to get on the computer. I'm feeling much improved today other than the hole in my heart that opens up when Sue is away on a long trip.

Cheers to all!
Mark

CITY PHOTO - Dahlonega, Georgia

2006-04-23T15:04:00.000-05:00

Dahlonega's Country Music Festival

Photographed 4/06

Dahlonega is a small town about 15 minutes north of my house or about 45 minutes north of Atlanta. It sits in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and is now the home to many artist. Their works can be found in the many shops and galleries that surround the downtown square.
The Country Music Fest

Photographed 4/06

Dahlonega's was first known as Licklog as it was an area where deer came to drink.

The word dahlonega means gold in the Cherokee language who were the native inhabitants of the area.

Benjamin Parks was hunting deer here in 1828 when he stumbled on the purest vein of gold in the world. The cry of Gold! brought fortune hunter from all over.
Country Music Fest

Photographed 4/06

In 1832, the U. S. Began plans for a mint. By the time the mint was completed in 1838 the gold rush was mostly over. Over the next 100 years men would continue to search the hills and streams for gold but, no commercial quantities of gold would be found again.

Country Music Fest

Photographed 4/06

Dahlonega Has many bed and breakfast inns close by and is just minutes away from many scenic mountain views. It has become a favorite with tourist from Atlanta, all over Georgia, the U.S. and even the world. There are many fine restaurants to enjoy there as well.

Lily for My Friends

2006-04-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

Photographer 2/06

This photo is for all with a love for lilies and flowers. They were illuminated by the natural light of a late winter sunset.

Together

2006-04-22T05:18:00.000-05:00

Mr & Mrs Cardinal

Sue and I have seen this pair of birds for about two years now. In the photo he watch out for her as she takes a bath. She had done the same for him moments earlier. I do believe these birds mate for life.

Both our parents had their 50th wedding anniversaries in the past month. Sue and I will have our 20th anniversary May 3rd and if Sue and I live long enough we too will celebrate our 50th in 30 years too.

I'm not saying divorce is a bad thing, It could be the best thing to ever happen, although it may seem like it at first. No one should stay in a bad marriage if there is no hope it will change. Absolutely not if there is ANY physical harm or mental abuse.

It's not to say we never have some disagreements, we do. We always manage to work them out and move forward together.

As I'm typing this with my one finger method, Sue is preping for her trip to Phoenix on Sunday and Minneapolis Tuesday evening. Isn't work travel fun? - NOT! I'm already starting to miss her and she doesn't leave until tomorrow around noon.

Just as the birds in the photos, I watch over her and she over me. We are a team together for ever. When we both were single we wondered if we would ever meet the "right' person. We were not looking at the time. It was an accidental meeting of chance but, things grew from there.

Field of Dreams

2006-04-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

Arkansas Rice Field

When we lived in Stuttgart, AR I had a 60 mile one way commute three day each week to Little Rock. I would pass these fields and be inspired by their stark beauty and wonder whose field of dreams this was? The farmer who planted and nurtured his crop. His children who would hopefully benefit from his labors. The company who would buy, mill and sell the rice to other businesses or was it just me, the one who got to see the beauty in these fields. I guess it was everyone's who came in contact with the field. Each could take away a part of the field in their dreams.

I think it's this way with many people. One may plant the seeds for his dream but others may also enjoy the fields that grow from these seeds.

I am making a new effort to see and enjoy the beauty of the simple in life. Hopefully I can capture some of this in my photos and share his with others while I still can.

I know I'm never going to have millions of dollars or invent some fantastic creation. I know I'll never be a professional photographer but I can share what I think represents simple beauty.

Life - Is It Ever Fair

2006-04-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

A Barn in North Georgia

Photographed 4/06

Life, is it ever really fair? I sit here this morning typing with one finger due to my recent hand troubles. My view is through a large triple window unit overlooking our deck and back yard. It's a beautiful sunny day outside. Tomorrow is my birthday. Things should be good or getting better.
Another Barn

Photographed 4/06

I'm sitting here waiting to go to the emergency room at the local hospital. Early this morning I fell on the hip I fractured two years ago. At that time they drilled into the shaft of the leg bone and put a pin in my hip to repair it. It was a great job and I suffered no loss in my range of movement.

It's about four hours later and I'm back from the hospital. Some good news, no new fractures just a large deep bruise at the crux of my pelvis. The treatment is ice packs for two days and try not to put weight on it for the next five days, This plus a supply of pain medication should help I'm told.
Still Another Barn

Photographed 4/06

Sue had to be at work this morning because a group of "big wigs" from the new company,Cargil, were coming to meet with her today and tomorrow. She has dinner with them tonight too so it was important for her to be there.

My Mom and Dad were going on a short trip but instead came here to help out again. I feel really bad about having to ask them to come here again. They have been so good about helping us out but, I can't seem to do anything for them. It's not fair to them that they have to keep spending their time here.

These barns are from a very recent drive near my house. They were on a side road I pass by quite often but had never been down. We decided to take it last Sunday to see what was on it and that's where I found these.

CITY PHOTO

2006-04-17T20:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no City Photo for today. Blogger isn't uploading my photos again. This is becoming tiresome. I'll try again tomorrow.

Mark

Our Easter Day At Home

2006-04-16T19:20:00.000-05:00

Arizona Blazing Sun

Photographed 4/06

These are some of the plants Sue set out yesterday. I love the colors of the Arizona Blazing Sun. It caught my eye in the garden store because it was so colorful.

Georgia Blue

Photographed 4/06

It was Sue who noticed the Georgia Blue. Its a ground cover that should remain an evergreen in our area. If not the leaves should turn a bronze in the late fall/winter. It looks so delicate but you should be able to walk on it without damage to it.

Sue's Strawberry Pot

Photographed 4/06

I bought this strawberry pot for Sue last year but then we could find no strawberries to plant. We took no chances this year and purchased the strawberries as soon as they were out.

Strawberry Blossom

Photographed 4/06

Our plants already had some blooms and several small berries on them. WE got quite a few berries 2 years ago. There's nothing better on a weekend breakfast than home made waffles with whipped cream and fresh picked strawberries.

This is how we spent our Easter at home. Dinner was grilled steak and onions with rice and salad. Sue surprised me with an egg custard pie for dessert. It's one of my favorites that I can't indulge in very often.

All in all it was avery nice way to spend the day.

Have a good day.
Mark

EASTER

2006-04-15T14:34:00.000-05:00

Sacrifice

Photographed 8/05

I thought it proper to post this image at Easter. I hope this does not offend anyone. It was once censored at another site by the moderator because it offended his Jewish background. This is however a Christian holiday and therefore this post reflects that. If you are offended, I'm sorry that you have so little tolerance but, too bad. The world is full of things we may not like. Hopefully we learn to deal with them in a positive way.
Spring Flowers I

Photographed 4/06

Sue bought some flowers to plant in our deck boxes and some strawberries for her strawberry pot this morning after we went to the post office. Tomorrow she'll plant them.

it's almost time to update my bio with my new age. I can't believe I've made it to 47. When I was younger all I hoped to do was make it to 35. That was easy. I was still in good health then with all my body parts. Now, I don't know if reaching 47 is a blessing or a curse.

Spring Flowers II

Photographed 4/06

Easter is a time of hope and that's all I have and need. Here are some more spring flower photos.

Taxes II

2006-04-14T21:19:00.000-05:00

Peanuts Drinking Water

Photographed 4/06

This is peanuts one of our pets. We call him that because of his love for peanuts. He will eat a whole bowl in one sitting. He's a thirsty little fellow. Kind of like the Federal Government drinking from my pocket it never seems to get enough!

Yes, the taxes are finally done and this year they want more. It's the first time in 10 years we owe them. I can't believe we owe them more than we've already paid but after reviewing it several times the answer was the same. We'll get back several hundred dollars from the state. This isn't a good birthday gift. Last year we got back a little more than $1,600 and I had planned to use this years refund to buy a Nikon D200. I guess it will wait until next year now. Oh well, I guess the government can use the money for the school systems to teach classes in Spanish so children don't have to learn English.

We didn't dye ant Easter eggs this year - a first. We usually always dye eggs and hide them around the house. We've both been either too tired or busy to get to it this year. Maybe tomorrow we might still get a chance to dye a few.

We now have several hummingbirds using our feeder. They're a little skidish so far this year. Last year I could stand by the feeder and they would come right up to it. They most likely will again as time goes by.

The hand hurts more now. I don't know if that's good or bad but, it is getting more blood flow to it. I can't believe I'm still suffering effects of the flu. I'm getting periods of low fevers, occasional chills and aches quite often.

Tomorrow is going to be beautiful with much sunshine and temps in the low 80's again. We'll take a short drive somewhere, maybe to the mountains or even south of Atlanta. We'll just let the truck decide where to take us.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND

CITY PHOTO - A Sight from Doraville, GA

2006-04-13T15:54:00.000-05:00

King Kong Motors

Photographed 4/06

I know this is not a great or even good "city photo", but when I saw it I knew I had to get a photo of it. It's just so silly.
When I first saw this I laughed. Why King Kong would endorse used cars I do not know. I don't think I would purchase one from him. lol

HAPPY EASTER

2006-04-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

Fresh Flowers for Sue

Photographed 4/06

I'm looking forward to the long Holiday weekend. The weather is going to be great with lots of sunshine and temps in the low 80's. That's just perfect for an Easter holiday.

Sue will get back into town tonight about 8 pm and it'll be wonderful to have her home again. I still have not completed our tax returns yet. I've got a few small items to go over but I'll make the Monday midnight deadline.

Sorry for the lack of post lately, I just haven't felt up to the task. I feel a little better today. I slept very soundly last night. I think that had to do with the pain medication I took just before going to bed. My arm was hurting so much I finally gave in and took some. During the day I can keep my mind busy and control the pain that way but at night my brain tends to dwell on it, so the pills are helpful.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Easter.
Regards - Mark

Surgical Update

2006-04-11T17:29:00.000-05:00

Phlox in Our Yard

Photographed 4/06

Other than starting two hours late my surgery today seemed to go very well. It will be another two to three weeks before they can evaluate the final results. At the present I can't tell any difference. I think my hand feels warmer but, I think that's just hopeful thinking on my part. My arm does definitely hurt at the moment, They gave me an Rx for some pain medication. I'll try to wait until bed time before taking any. Bed time is fast in coming tonight as I am very tired at the present time.

Sue arrived home safely about 7;00 pm this evening and leaves again tomorrow afternoon. So she will be here to sleep next to me and that's a very comforting thing.

Lots of things to do tomorrow - Get my truck inspected and then get new tags for it. This is a process they can take up to several hours depending on how long the lines are. Because we live in a metro Atlanta county emissions testing is required before the county will issue the tags. I see it as just another way to collect a fee from us.

CITY PNOTO - Decatur Pt II

2006-04-11T16:39:00.000-05:00

View into the City

Photographed 4/06

The city of Decatur was founded in 1823. It is the second oldest municipality in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the seat of DeKalb County. There are 18,000 residents of Decatur and during the day about 24,000 people are in Decatur to work.

The courthouse square in downtown Decatur is located on a rise of land where two Indian trails once crossed.

Decatur was incorporated December 10, 1823, and named after Stephen Decatur, a Revolutionary War naval hero.
New Condos in the City

Photographed 4/06

Early residents rejected a proposal by the Western and Atlantic Railroad to make Decatur a major stop on its new line in the 1830s. The citizens did not want the noise, smoke and confusion, and turned the railroad down. The railroad thus moved seven miles west to a small settlement called Terminus. Which later became Atlanta.

Steve's House

Photographed 4/06

Housing prices in Decatur have risen dramatically in the last ten years. Prices for the new condo units pictured above start at $235,000USD for a one bedroom unit. My friend Steve's house is typical of those in Decatur and now run about $325,000 for a two bedroom to around 675,000 for a four bed two bath dwelling. The county has the second highest tax rate in Georgia. While a very trendy place to live, it's expensive.