[I started writing this entry on February 1st, 2010 and I have gone through multiple revisions and rewrites and title changes. I have passed the point of this post being topical in any way, but oh well. This one's for you, Bobby ...]
Mr. Bobby would often come into The Store with the latest version of the novel that he was writing. It was a thick, ponderous tale that was loosely “based on” his experiences with the upper crust of southern high society and he had been working on this novel for many years, hoping to get it published one day. I found out, shortly thereafter, that this crazy little old man with the glazed expression and faint odor of alcohol was once the mayor of our little southern town … and that he was one of the pillars of the local historic foundation … which was why it was so meaningful that he appeared in the tourism advertisements, as “that southern gentleman in the white suit”:
The first time that I discussed this commercial with Bobby, my first question was “who was that drunk homeless man in the white suit?” followed by “I guess if someone is going to be sitting up at 4 in the morning on a bench downtown, it WOULD be you.” And Bobby laughed and laughed and almost fell over. The good humor continued when we would discuss his novel (the one that he eventually published) and the film adaptation (a grand, uhm, experiment in moviemaking). I am sure that Bobby would like to be remembered for the former, and probably not the latter.
As represented by the novel, Bobby was all about the stories, for he had a wealth of them. He was devoted to his historical research, tracking down every bit of information on his family as well as the local historic community. Every conversation with Bobby would include a tale, something that he either experienced himself or had learned over the years, a piece of a story that would tie it all together. I had the privilege of working with him on a number of projects, from restoring crummy copies of a genealogical text to making prints of a painting of the riverbank that he had created at the age of 15. It seems oddly appropriate that the last job that I did for him was his prayer cards.
Bobby passed away on January 31st after an illness, quite sudden and unexpected. We always thought that when Bobby went, it would be in a blaze of glory, with scandal and headlines and multiple conflicting accounts. Ah, Bobby, how you disappointed us. But we are sure that wherever you are, you are enjoying a refreshing beverage in one hand while pouring over some old letters with the other. Godspeed, you fancy bastard!
I was reading a new graphic novel/comic book/sequentially-illustrated story. It involved some kids in college — a guy, his obnoxious roommate, a girl that was the object of his affection, and some other ancillary characters. There was an incident at the beginning of the story in which the main character guy knocks his roommate off of the roof (don’t know why the roommate was on the roof) but the roommate doesn’t know that he did it, and this little secret is pushed into the background and mostly forgotten until the end of the story, when the guy is about to connect with the girl, and then she reveals that she knew all along that he had knocked the roommate off of the roof, and so their relationship fizzles out before it begins. In between, there’s some drama, some wacky antics, some college hilarity. There’s also a scene in the cafeteria with a cameo appearance by Jedi Knight Plo Koon, facemask and all.
Here’s the thing: the story and the art — I did it. Wrote it, drew it. In the dream, that is. And the art was a completely different style than what I am capable … in fact, the art was completely competent. I don’t know how I drew it, but in the dream, I drew it.
The story made a lot more sense in the dream as well, so much that I really wish I had written down the specifics. Ah, well …
The last time I visited New Orleans in January of 2009, it took a year to get those pictures up on Flickr. For my most recent visit, two weekends ago, it took a week to get the last of those photos up on Flickr. Here’s the set. I may do a blog entry about this visit at some point. Maybe.
Having visited the Audubon Insectarium on two separate occasions, I decided to collect all of those images and place them into one set, with the two visits merged together and ordered as if one were walking through the exhibit. The second visit also have me the opportunity to re-shoot a number of images that did not quite come out the first time. Here’s the set.
All of the Flickr sets that were taken in New Orleans can also be found in the New Orleans Collection (just because I needed somewhere to stash the Insectarium set).
Finally, I took a number of new photos for my Food Pr0n set. Here are some samples of their deliciousness:
The following was scheduled to be the Image of the Week for Monday, February 15, 2010, in celebration of Valentine’s Day which occurred the day before (which would be today). However, due to the snowfall of the previous week, this is no longer the case. And so, this image goes to the outtakes file, but not without one day in the spotlight:
This display of some cute and cuddly stuffed bears with a Valentine’s theme goes HORRIBLY WRONG
when you realize that they are strung up on the pegs BY THEIR NECKS …
The TOTAL amount of snow that the northwestern Louisiana area had received over the past ten years was a little less than an inch, and that’s counting the half an inch that blanketed the parish on New Year’s Day, 2000. In other words, we don’t get much snow down in these parts.
The weather forecast for Thursday, February 11, 2010 called for a 100% chance of frozen precipitation as the temperature hovered above freezing for most of the daylight hours, followed by freezing temps overnight as the snow would continue into the early morning hours of Friday, February 12, 2010. Expected accumulation was predicted to be four to six inches … that’s SIX inches. A Winter Storm Warning was declared for the entire area.
At about 9:50am, the snow showers began (look around the top of the image):
About an hour later, the real snow flurries began:
The temperature remained at around 35 degrees, so there was no accumulation on the ground, and no icing of the roads, although the roads were plenty wet and the ground was getting nice and saturated with cold moisture. It was enough of a sign of things to come, and so the local schools canceled classes at 1:30pm and the university shut down at 2:00pm, and officially declared that they would be closed the following day — although one might suspect that this was all a ploy to get a five-day weekend out of the deal, with President’s Day on Monday and Mardi Gras on Tuesday. Nonetheless, there was a run on the grocery stores, as the panic flared up among the general populace and supplies were stocked (in spite of the fact that the forecast for the next couple of days after the storm was clear with high temperatures above freezing).
The snow flurries tapered off a little after 1:00pm but sleet and frozen rain persisted throughout the rest of the afternoon. The temperature dropped below freezing in the evening hours. I wasn’t keeping track of the storm for the next few hours, and just so happened to look out the window at around 9:00pm:
(Can’t see the video? Are you reading this on Facebook? Click on “View Original Post” at the end of this entry for the video goodness that FB somehow cannot import …)
Snow was a’comin’ down — big, fat, wet, sloppy flakes of the good stuff. And sticking. And accumulating. Thickest snow I’d ever seen in this part of the country …
As much as I loathe the flash on a digital camera, I discovered that the flash was essential in capturing snow at night. Compare and contrast the following two images, taken seconds apart: the first without the flash, and the second with the flash.
Twelve hours later …
The roads were mostly iced over and almost everything in the city was shut down. The Store declared a snow day, the first one I have ever had. Power went out for about four hours after a tree fell onto a power line about three miles away. Neighborhood kids got to build their first-ever snowman. And state police reported working about 150 accidents from yesterday evening until this morning.
The back yard, 9:00am, Friday, November 12, 2010:
The back yard, 4:00pm, Friday, November 12, 2010:
And thus endeth the Northwest Louisiana Snowpocalypse of 2010.
