Happy Halloween

Nobody wore any costumes today! Last year at work, lots of people dressed up, so I brought my camera to work this year and ... nothing. All I can give you is the above, which is probably bad of me.

I have to go back to work in a little bit for Friday night high school football scores, so maybe something interesting will be going on then.

 

Almost the end of October

Did some sepia toning Monday night, which is what you're looking at above. The first one is an almost-gone-by daffodil (in Mount Holly cemetery, where I take a lot of photos!), and the second one is an eagle on one side of the gate at the Old State House in downtown Little Rock.

Warm today--80s. And it's almost November!  Last week we broke the record for the latest in the year it's been 90 degrees or above. And to think, some of you have had snow already!

It's not normally this warm here this late in the year. And summer wasn't even as hot as usual, so it's not like we had much to cool down.

Talking about the weather. Nope, not much going on here today!

Well, nuts to you

Today, in the fun world of office work, Felicia threw an early birthday party for her husband, Jim. The first photo is of Jim getting his piece o' birthday cake, and looking none too thrilled at having his picture taken. The second photo is of Jim & Felicia, the last time she'll see him for two weeks.

Why? Because this afternoon he drove to Kansas City to cover the next in the exciting court adventures of Wayne DuMond, a character that only Arkansas could create. Well, actually, Maine is pretty good at creating characters like him, too.

The short version:

In the early 1970s, DuMond recieved immunity for admitting his part in a crime in Oklahoma--he and two other dudes used a 17-year-old girl to lure this guy into a park. DuMond beat the guy up, but said it was the other guys who ended up killing him. He got five years' probation.

A little bit later he accosted a teenage girl in Washington. Five years' probation again.

In 1985, Wayne DuMond was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl, who happened to be a distant cousin of future President Bill Clinton. His sentence was life-plus-20-years. Whatever that means.

Here's the good part--In 1985, before DuMond went to prison, two masked men supposedly beat him up and castrated him. The sheriff of St. Francis County had DuMond's testicles displayed in a jar in his office, for which DuMond sued him and won.

Anyway, he was released from prison in 1999, and while on parole in Missouri, less than a year later, allegedly killed another woman. That's the trial Jim gets to cover. Think this guy's got a problem maybe?

Tapwater, anyone?

Today's photos are of Sydney. The first one shows how she eats--with her hands. She eats everything this way--cat food, oatmeal, soup, whatever. I wish I could get her to use silverware instead.

The second photo shows her current annoying habit--she must, must drink water out of the bathroom tap. I give her nice, fresh, filtered water in a bowl everyday, which she shuns for icky bathroom tapwater. She's been doing this since I visited Mom in August.

See, Mom has a nice bathroom sink with a big counter around it, easily accessed from the toilet nearby. That's when Sydney discovered she could jump to the toilet, to the sink, and then play in the water.

At my home, I have a free-standing sink with no counter around it, and not within jumping distance of the toilet. So, having been spoiled during our brief visit to Tapwater Wonderland (a.k.a. Mom's house), she now goes into the bathroom and cries until I come in and lift her up, placing her carefully on the edge of the sink so she can lean over and get to the tapwater.

I've tried ignoring her, hoping she'd just go drink the water in her water bowl, but all she does is jump up on the toilet (the lid's closed) and sit there in the bathroom, in the dark, waiting. Everytime I walk by, I catch a glint of light reflecting off her eyes as she watches me, hoping I'll come in and pick her up to the sink. She never leaves. Eventually I have to pick her up, so I can actually use the toilet. Then she'll start crying again until she gets bathroom tapwater. It's just easier to do what she wants.

Will wonders never cease?

Well, I just found out that I can add an entry from work, even without having AOL here. Surprise, surprise. I don't have any photos with me, though, so I've added, for your viewing pleasure, a "funkified" photo I had loaded to AOL a year or so ago. It's of a former co-worker who would pull her hair out strand by strand, which is what she's doing here. I would try to stop her, but she'd only stop for about 30 seconds, then start up again. Trichotillomania.
Look it up.

I think now she's terrorizing reporters in Pittsburgh.

Another day in the dark

Spent the day in the darkroom at the Arkansas Arts Center, so a print is what you get today.

This one is a copy transfer: a print is copied on an old copy machine (the kind that has lots of toner), then the copy is transfered to 140# hot-pressed watercolor paper by putting it face-down on the watercolor paper and rubbing lacquer thinner over the back of the copy until it's transferred. The final effect is cool, if you don't pass out from the thinner fumes. And don't forget the rubber gloves!

The original photo is of a statue from Mount Holly Cemetery, on Broadway in downtown Little Rock. You can see some more photos (not mine) of this historic cemetery here.

There will be NO entry tomorrow--class right after work, and I won't get back until really late. I don't want to hear any whining. (This means you, Mom!)

 

What it's all about

I've started this journal really just to motivate myself to actaully bring my camera with me everyday, and take at least ONE picture. I tend to spend more time in the darkroom working on older stuff, and less time using my cameras. This will mostly show digital photos, though.

The other reason for this journal is to assure my friends and family back home that Arkansas is not the poorest, saddest state in the Union. That's what Mississippi's for. :) We do have electricity, and television (yes, even cable) art museums, theater, and shoes. There are some, um, characteristics though, that are truly Arkansan in nature, so the stereotypes are not all wrong. Just exaggerated. But know this: Arkansas usually comes in 48th or 49th in the rankings, so there are one or two states out there that are worse.