Flying
I also shot some track for Thom on Sunday. Sometimes athletes are just amazing.
Dog
I shot UMASS women’s lacrosse for my friend Thom Kendall on Sunday as he was tied up with the A10 track meet. It was fun and I even got this nice shot of a fan with his dog.
Bulbs
Cris and I planted bulbs in the garden 5 or 6 years ago. The daffodils continue to come up in droves, but this year only one tulip bloomed. I remember reading that tulips don’t last for more than a few years, but we had a pretty good run with them.
I have been keeping an eye on the tulip which initially bloomed about 2 weeks ago. I think the weather conditions this year have been almost perfect for the longevity of all of our flowers. About a week ago I noticed that one petal of our tulip started dropping and today it looked as if it was ready to fall off. It offered a perfect view of the important reproductive bits. I was never good at science in school, but the two words “stamen and pistil” come to mind. Am I even close?
Rewards
I am pretty close to mailing the first of the Kickstarter rewards. So for those of you who backed the project at the $10.00 level, watch your mailbox. These are the first prints I have made of this work, and I am thrilled to finally see them on paper. Each print is signed and so the process is a bit slow; tonight I will start addressing the envelopes. You might notice the beautiful Yard-O-Led pencil in the bottom of the photo. It was a gift from my great friend John Wilson and it is the perfect writing instrument for signing the prints. It makes me so happy to be using it.
Pia and Flying Angel Seafarers Club
I spent a fantastic couple of hours with Pia Massie walking around the completely non-touristy parts of Vancouver. We started in Gastown and went to the area that is mostly inhabited by addicts and street people. She really knows her way around and it was fascinating. Her latest work is a documentary about Canadians of Japanese descent who were forcibly moved from the area just after Pearl Harbor. Everything was taken from them and they and have never returned as a community. There are still remnants of their lives if you know where to look, as in the name underneath a doormat at the entrance to this building.
We ended up at the Flying Angel Seafarers Club, which is as close as one can get to the port without encountering pretty heavy security. Unless you knew it was here, you might never find it. An amazingly beautiful building and since there was a sign on the front that said open, we went in. A volunteer named Frank gave us the grand tour and we learned a ton. Here is a link. I was especially taken by this book which is in a glass case at the front of the building.
Here is a description of its purpose.
Very touching. / We fly home tomorrow. Thanks Pia for the tour. It was great fun.
Stanley Park
It is grey and cool here today but the past three days have been sunny and pleasant. I’m just as happy with the grey as with the sun. Yesterday we walked around the perimeter of Stanley Park. The water in English Bay was clear and calm and loads of people were out enjoying the day.
Vancouver reminds me of San Francisco with all the water and bridges. / This morning I am going to meet up with Pia Massie whom I met through Kickstarter. Check out her project here. It is really interesting. She lives here and will give me a quick tour of the waterfront.
Crow
Cris and I are in Vancouver. She is here for the AERA conference and I am just tagging along. This is a most remarkable city. I am happy that there are lots of crows about. They seem to have displaced the usual pigeons that often dominate cities. There is water everywhere and lots of seagulls but it is the crows that are the most fun to watch. / The weather has been lovely; lots of sun and in the mid to upper 50s which is perfect for walking in Stanely Park.
I was in London a month ago and the magnolia trees were just starting to bloom. Now they are at the same stage here in Vancouver. Everything is popping out. Flowers are everywhere in the city and I am overwhelmed with how beautiful this place is.
Moon
I saw an amazing moonrise as I was driving home from the Museum last night. Huge and orange; more like a harvest moon. I have always wanted to get a night-time picture of the Gulf station at the Lee travel plaza so here it is. You can see the moon just to the left of the flag, but it looks so tiny! Much more dramatic in “real life”.
Willard Suitcase #14
This case was very interesting to me on a lot of levels. It belonged to Peter L.
It was almost completely flattened and I decided to shoot it from above until Peg figured out how to have it stand up on its own.
This type of bag has always been one of my favorites. I have one very similar to it that was given to me a long time ago by a friend.
It looks like there is a burn from a cigarette on the wooden shaving soap box.
You see this color green often in the UK.
I found my self hoping that Peterson’s Ointment was indeed soothing to Peter L.
The small labels that the Willard staff affixed to the cases tells quite a bit about the patients.
I have again obscured the last part of Peter’s name here. What is interesting about this tag is the date of his admission.
You can see by the date on this Syracuse Herald-Journal that he bought the paper just days before he arrived at Willard.
My mom’s name was Vera and my son’s name is Peter and when I see connections in these items I can’t help but to personalize this whole process. It is one of the reasons that I feel able to convey some sense of intimacy through the photographs.
It also helps to remember that while the individuals who owned the cases were experiencing monumental changes in their lives, the larger world around them was also in turmoil.
I will be in Albany Monday, Tuesday, and probably Friday. Early in the week I’ll be meeting with Dr. Karen Miller and a wonderful person from the West Coast museum that (fingers crossed) will be using some of this work in a major exhibit a year from now. As soon as details are finalized, I let everyone know what’s going on. And on Friday I’ll hope to shoot a bunch more cases.
Home
Peter and I flew home yesterday. It was an amazing trip and has solidified his wish to live in London, which I really hope he can do someday. Saturday was a big day for us with lots of travel on the tube and walking. As we were heading into central London from Heathrow we had a lovely exchange with a very nice woman who seemed to be about my age. P and I were talking about where to stop off to wander around and get a bite to eat, and she was apparently over-hearing our discussion. As she was leaving the train at her stop she said, “English people aren’t meant to speak to people on trains, but Gloucester Road is a bit dire. You might want to go on to South Kensington”. England has changed a ton since I started going there, but I am occasionally reminded of why I love it so much.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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