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Note: I linked fairly large files . . . give them a chance to load. You should see […]
Some might recall the issue I had with using the Poll Block (HERE) Anyway, they’ve been working on […]
Eraldo “Tony” C. Antonini January 1964 — January 2020
I often have an occasion or need to search an old post for something or other. Invariably, I come across comments from people who have left us.
It’s weird . . . I can look at a photo of my brother and others who have died (some much too young) and have an awareness that they are gone. There is an emptiness where their place used to be, sadness for their absence, and gladness for having known them.
I see their smiling faces in photos or videos and I know they are gone, and I miss them, and I hurt.
The comments on the blog are a different kind of gut-punch . . . I almost want to say it’s worse even though there’s no gradation in sorrow . . . but it is different.
It’s different because the comments (and private emails) of people were and are — and here’s where words fail to describe fully what I mean — part of an ongoing conversation. The words are somehow more dynamic in a way that a photo and a video can never be, and reading them today feels like we’re still conversing.
The photo may bring up memories, often obscured and dulled by time, but the words are clear . . . I can read them and the essence of the person shines through.
Understand, I don’t mean to disparage or minimize memories of loved ones . . . but isn’t a letter from a loved one just a little more precious than a photo?
There are exceptions, of course. For instance, memories of my brother are still vivid, and photos of him emotionally powerful . . . but I think a letter would be more so.
Why am I mentioning this?
Once again, I’m busy.
And, of course, the Block Editor chooses this moment to mess with me. It took me four tries before I was able to upload the above photo, and that’s only after killing the browser window, reopening it up, delete the draft, and create a new draft.
It’s late and I’m tired . . . and we’ve gone the whole day without Internet service.
Apparently, a contractor cut a fiberoptic cable . . . it must have been a pretty big cable for it to be out most of the night and all day . . . wait . . . I don’t think contractors work at night. I’m guessing Mediacom has got other issues and are blaming it on some hapless contractor.
I’d love to add phot or two, but the wonderful WordPress App is not showing me the Media Library. Rather, it shows the library as a bunch of blank files.
I want to make it clear I have no financial, personal, or other interest in Serif and their software.
That said, I want to alert readers who are interested in photography and playing with photos about the Affinity sale and free trial that is ending soon (click the image to go to their store). From their email:
In response to the pandemic last year and as a way to lend some support to the creative community, we made a 90-day free trial available for the Mac and Windows versions of the whole Affinity suite, while also cutting the price of all of our apps by 50%.
Overall, we’ve given out an incredible 1.5 million trials across all apps. To know how many people have found the extended free trial useful is extremely humbling and we’re grateful to have been able to help out.
We wanted to let you know the 90-day free trial and half-price offers (on all apps and content in our store) will end on the 30th of June, so please take advantage if you haven’t already before time runs out.
Here’s the thing … I subscribe to Adobe’s Photographer’s plan ($9.99/month, $119.88/year) which gives me access to Photoshop and Lightroom. Some people object to subscription plans, and some think they are too expensive, but would like access to something like Photoshop. Well, read on.
For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.
For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the bottom-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).
If you want the full experience, keep reading.
As stated in the last post, I’m sharing Note 20 Ultra photos. Most, like the above, have been processed with Lightroom CC. Most, unlike the above, are photos of flowers from the garden centers of places like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wal-Mart. The above photo was taken with the camera set at 10x as I was sitting in my car in a parking lot across the street from that establishment. That’s one of the photos they had on their facade, and yes, it’s an automotive supplies place
As usual, clicking on single images will open a larger version of the image in a new tab or window.
Some people might know I’ve been busy with stuff, and especially busy migrating from my 2012 PC to a new PC. I’ll be doing a proper update soon, but for now I can just say . . .
“WAIT!”
What?
“Disperser — if that indeed is your name, why buy a new PC when the old one still works perfectly fine?”
Well, Bob — that indeed is your name, there are a few reasons, but before I explain them, let me say that it is indeed a luxury but one I can afford. I could have “made do” with what I have for a while yet, but . . .
For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.
For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the bottom-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).
If you want the full experience, keep reading.
As stated in the last post, I’m sharing Note 20 Ultra photos. Most, like the above, have been processed with Lightroom CC. Most, unlike the above, are photos of flowers from the garden centers of places like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wal-Mart.
As usual, clicking on single images will open a larger version of the image in a new tab or window.
I’ve not been very active either writing or reading blogs . . . here’s a bit about why.
First — sadly — Lawrence S. Ford passed away in mid-March (Lawrence Ford Obituary). He was Melisa’s dad and he passed away from complications from an unavoidable surgery. He was 96, and had been declining in health for a number of months before.
Aside from being with him for his last few days, Melisa and her siblings were — and still are — involved in finalizing his affairs after his passing.
We held a memorial in early April, for which I made one of the boards recounting parts of his early life and the parts of his life he shared with us.
The polls for the”Z” Stories are now closed . . . and the Alphabet Challenge has ended. Hard to believe it began last January 22nd . . . 443 days from the start date to the end date. Or 1 year, 2 months, 18 days. Or 14 months, 17 days.
Want more numbers? . . . 10,632 hours, or 637,920 minutes, or 38,275,200 seconds (assuming whole days). Rounding down, it was 63 weeks, which means we averaged a story roughly every 2.5 weeks. I’m talking stories that ran anywhere from 2,000 to as much as 6,000 words (I think one was 8,000 words).
I know, I know . . . you want to know the results of the voting. You can check them HERE<<link, but since few people click on links, here are the results.
Here’s a photo before I continue . . .
It’s Devils Tower treated to Topaz Impression 2.0 and framed using Topaz Studio 1.0. (If you want to see a post about it, click this LINK).
The polls for the”Y” Stories are now closed.
You can check the results of the voting HERE<<link. Since few people click on links, here are the results.
Here’s a photo before I continue . . .
I’m busy with various things, so I’m recycling a few photos from sometime in 2014.
Disperser Tracks 