Sunday, 4/18/10 - Seeds (and nuts)

My sincere apologies for yesterday's ramblings. There really was a coherent thought there - at least there was one in my head, anyway.

The purpose of this blog is to act as a scratch pad for ideas and to discipline myself to photograph and to write every day. Because of time constraints, these posts are just seeds for larger works (and I may just be nuts).

So, here, have a few seeds.





And while you are nibbling on those, I want to share an experience from my drive home today.

It was a nice enough day; a lot of clouds but the temperature and humidity were fine. I was driving along as I usually do: windows down, cruise control on and the radio off.

As I started up an overpass I heard a scraping noise. It was a hollow sound like someone's canoe had fallen out of their truck and was being pulled along behind them.

It kept getting louder.

I looked in my mirrors for another vehicle but there was no one around.

Being on the up side of an overpass I assumed that the noise was on the road below and it was just gettng louder as I approached.

But something was wrong. If Doppler was right then whatever was making that noise was coming at me mighty fast...

... and there it is...

... was ...

... gone!

In a split second a jet appeared alongside my truck and then was gone.

This thing was inches over the treetops and running right beside the road.

When I tell you that he was close to the ground and close to the road you might be thinking that I am taking liberties to make this post more interesting. If I tell you that they were close enough that I could tell that the pilot needed a manicure would you believe me?

With the noise subsiding and my heartbeat getting back to normal I settled in for the remaining hour of the trip.

Then, there it was again, that hollow sound. That sucker was coming back!

I start fumbling for the camera and swiveling my head to try to locate the source of the sound. The camera was in the case and I would not be able to get it out in time.

It didn't take long but this time there were four - in perfect formation. They flew a little higher than the first jet but along the same route. About a half mile ahead of me they flipped on their smoke machines and were leaving trails when they pulled up into a wide, graceful arc. Four parallel lines curving up and away.

The approaching exit was marked "airport exit" so there must have been an airshow going on.

I dislike war and all things war related but what these people were doing with these machines was art and it was beautiful! There was no time in my schedule for me to stop but it did pique my interest and I will watch for upcoming air shows and make plans to attend - with my camera, of course.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.