Haunting Images

I'm sure I've seen other images that made me feel sad or alarmed, or both, in the past, but I can't think of any right now. The pictures of pelicans covered in oil come to mind many times in a day, with no effort, no provocation. Those images just pop up, never to be forgotten.

And, after the sadness over the suffering of beautiful and innocent creatures, comes the frustration. I ask, "How much oil must there be, in order to coat and kill a brown pelican?" I figure there's a lot and more coming every day, enough to fill up your entire house, no matter how big it is, in a matter of minutes and destroy eveything in it and render it useless and unable to be lived in ever again.

How long can the oil flow? In the backs of our minds we figure somehow someone will figure out a way to stop it. If we didn't hold on to that hope, we wouldn't sleep. But, what if it isn't stopped in a few weeks, or another month. How will we feel then? Some of us will have to quit thinking about it, in an attempt to stop feeling so helpless. Some of us will write checks, offer to volunteer, hoping that our generosity does more than curb our guilt.

I can't help think that back in the 70's, while I waited in line at the gas station, someone knew of the potential for the kind of disaster that is fouling the water in Gulf Of Mexico, killing and possibly causing the extinction of native plants and animals, putting people out of work and making them sick.

CF

Spring Has Sprung

Okay, I finally decided that I needed a weblog, which sounds much nicer than blog, but everyone seems to have skipped over weblog and just uses blog. So, in the future, just to make sure everyone knows what I'm talking about, I too will refer to it as my blog.

Spring has sprung and with that I feel like stretching out, exploring some new avenues, flexing.

A year or so ago, someone asked me what I did. I figured we had a few minutes, so I started telling all the things I do - playing music (tenor sax, electric and classical guitar, keyboard, bass), recording music (arrangements of tunes I like and original compositions), writing (short stories, accounts of travels and experiences, fiction and non-fiction). photography (mostly artistic, still life, travel, some commercial work).

At that point, even though I wasn't finished, I could feel he needed a moment to let it sink in.
"Wow!" he said. "You're a modern day Renaissance Man."
I took it as a great compliment.

I will share some of what I create here.

CF