Greetings Citizens. I am out of here tomorrow morning.... bright & early. I have to get up and adjust the valves on Heidi before I leave. I'm getting ready to change the oil shortly.

I needed to go back down to Salem today to get my tent! (I forgot it yesterday). So I stopped by Steve's BMW for some 15 cent washers and a set of points. I think I'm ready.

I still need to pack but I am really traveling light this time. Some clothes, two Diana cameras (one for B&W and one for color), my digital camera (with Lensbaby & zone plate), my Rollei and my Lomo Minitar 1, 15 rolls of film, my iPod to download images into, and my toothbrush. Oh yeah, and coffee-making supplies.

Be back August 7, 2006.

Peace-out.

Greetings Citizens. This time Friday I should be in a different time zone hunkering down at a campsite somewhere near The Rockies. I can wait. I haven't been the happiest fellow on the planet lately and I know that I feel better being out traveling the back roads again.

I still think about her all the time. Each time the phone rings I hope it is her calling. It never is. I suppose it's all over. She wants to just be friends. Sorry, can't do it. I 'm hoping a lethal dose of fresh air will clear my head so that when I return this is what I'll hear:

Oh, when I was in love with you

Oh, when I was in love with you, Then I was clean and brave, And miles around the wonder grew How well did I behave. And now the fancy passes by, And nothing will remain, And miles around they'll say that I Am quite myself again. Alfred Edward Housman

That's what I am hoping for anyway.

Tomorrow I'm packing, getting some maps & washing Heidi. Oil's good, tires are good. I'm good!

Greetings Citizens. After my morning coffee, I went out to the Harmony campus to check out the digital facilities. Of course it's all PC's and that's a bummer. But outside of that, I think I'll manage. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Salem to get my camping gear and travel bag for my trip. I am really excited to be going and the change of scenery will do me good. For someone as unlucky as I am, my luck has been worse than usual. So getting out on the open road making some photographs is just what the doctor would order (if I had health benefits). I was counting back to the last time I went to the doctor last night; I was 29. That was a long time ago. So long, in fact, that I'd be scared to go now. God (who I don't believe in anymore) only knows what they'd find! I'm sure my next visit to the doctor's office will be the result of some nasty motorcycle accident. (Knock on wood)!!!

Greetings Citizens. Well things certainly are not going as expected. There's only one thing to do: take a road trip to Maine. I had planned on sticking around until the 19th. There's no reason, any more, to do that so I'm getting out of here for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll stay.

Greetings Citizens. For the second time in my life I've stopped believing in God. If I do still believe in Him, I hate Him!

Greetings Citizens. Jen & I took seven students, who knew nothing about Photography or Ceramics, and got them to make approximately twenty cameras and 40 images. We were both very proud of the work they made. Sorry there aren't images yet... I shot those on slide film. They may show up in the future. But you can see some of the cameras fresh out of the raku pit. Nice, huh?

So it looks pretty certain that I will go visit friends in Maine. And even though I have two classes here in the Fall, I'm going to the job service there to see what sort of jobs are available back there. I'm not happy with my life here. I can't compete for Photography jobs with the new faces and their command of digital. Both of my workshops involving alternative processes are cancelled due to a lack of interest. The type of Photography I like to make has no audience either. I'm not hip enough for the Rose City and perhaps I might do better in the back woods of Maine. Find a nice village and a Joe-job. Make my work, put it in a box and place it under my bed.

I had three students follow me to the bitter end at PCC. They took every class I taught and told me I taught them to love Photography. That's as good of a compliment I need and I can move on. I know that I contributed something to the medium and I can leave it... like Chauncey Hare.

Greetings Citizens. Here's a zone plate image of me & Jen's workshop students. They're holding their bisque fired cameras. They all managed to make a few good negatives today and get their cameras glazed. Tomorrow we'll raku them & make positives.

Yesterday I went over to R's after picking up some watches at the dollar store. (I needed the watches for the students to time their exposures). Anyway, I got to play with the dog and hang out for a while. Yesterday, actually, was one of the best days I've had in a long time. However, R seemed a little to eager for me to be on my way to Maine. I tried to get her to commit to a day where we could go out to the beach and make some images. But she always has too much on her plate. And so it goes.

Greetings Citizens. Dropped Brody off at R's yesterday. Enjoyed a slice of peach pie and a little conversation with her. Stopped by Lowe's for electrical tape and other supplies for the pinhole cameras. Went to PCC to prep a little for my part of the ceramic pinhole camera workshop but Smith's class was taking place. So I went to Citizen's Photo to buy some paper. But they've been waiting for Ilford to find a US distributor (which they have just done) and didn't have any paper. So, I'll go to Pro Photo today and get some. Then I'll make some pinhole negatives and a couple of positives (including one digital one).

France v Italy? Who saw that World Cup matchup coming? Certainly not me.

Greetings Citizens. Me and Brody watched a great futbol match between Italy and the homegrown favorites---Germany. The match went into extra time and it was looking like another shootout was immanent when Italy scored in the 119th minute. It was an exciting game and the a great goal. It wasn't a fluke, it wasn't scored because of a mistake. Just a great goal. Italy scored again minutes later on a counter attack.

After the match we went for a walk & when we finished that, I went grocery shopping.

I grilled some burger & then watched Capote. It was a good movie. I remember reading the book, In Cold Blood, once a long time ago. It was disturbing.

Now I'm finishing my blog listening to Tangled Up In Blue thinking of R.

Greetings Citizens. Well, I'm watching Brody overnight. R & the kids went out to Hood River to camp with her buddies. I guess they have a few acres out there and go out every Fourth of July.

After I picked Brody up, we went to the doggie park. It took him 5 minutes to empty the water dishes and wallow around in the mud. He made a total mess of himself. Stupid dog! So I had to leash him up and take him home for a bath. That was loads of fun! But now that he's all clean and fluffy, I can forgive him for his insubordination. Damned crazy puppy!

After Brody's bath, I was able to cook dinner: Teriyaki Pork, Kim Chee & sticky rice.

This is one of my images from yesterday's shoot. It's a scan from the positive. I have a Type 55 negative but it needs to be developed first.

Greetings Citizens. Me and Ji Soo decided to go out and photograph today. We really didn't know where we wanted to go and we eventually started heading toward Mt Hood. From there we took a great motorcycle road back to Estacada.

Ji took many more images than I did but I found a scene that made the trip worthwhile. I only took my Graflex & Polaroid back, so I didn't go on a crazy "digital shooting spree". The shots I made were at a scene where someone had died in a car crash. There were crosses and balloons. There were also American flags, including a full-sized on on a cliff face behind the crosses. There was also a modern day pictograph of three crosses that I liked a lot.

Now I'm making saffron rice and grilling a pork tenderloin for dinner. I'm also watching the Yankees post an eight-run inning against the Metropolitans. I hate the Yankees!

Greetings Citizens. So, there were only seven students in me & Jen's Ceramic Pinhole Camera Workshop but they are making some great cameras! The students don't know much about ceramics or Photography so they are willing to experiment with their own ideas and see what happens. Today we will be making cameras all day and I suspect there will be more questions and more great ideas. I, personally, can't wait to see what kind of images the students produce with the cameras.

Jen came over for a cup of tea after class. We gossiped and enjoyed ourselves for a while. After she left, I went and bought some vittles for dinner. I tried to get a hold of R to see if she wanted to see a movie but she was helping some friends move. I ended up watching the M's game with Big Mike's cat.