panhandlin'

Jerry's Drive In

2008-05-12T22:12:53Z

The sign in front of Jerry's Drive In. A greasy, deep fried, delicious, Pensacola tradition.

She Blinded Me

2008-05-03T22:23:24Z

We drove over to Mobile today to explore the Exploreum and to see the showcase exhibit, Our Body: The Universe Within. (no pics allowed in the exhibit but there are plenty on the site) An awesome exhibit and a very cool place all around. This is J3 mixing chemicals in the science lab. We all had a blast. (meaning we had a great time, not that we blew up the lab) What else is going on or has been going on? -We saw High School Musical on Ice last week at the Civic Center. It was a good time. -Big changes at work. We're going 3D or HD or Double D or something like that. I'm not sure what's going on but it's all very exciting. -Reading Stuart: A Life Backwards. May be the funniest bio of a mentally unstable, homeless drug addict I've ever read. -Instead of downloading, I bought a couple of actual CDs with a birthday giftcard from Best Buy. The new REM is outstanding. The soundtrack to the Rolling Stones movie I talked about a while back has it's moments but I want to see the film. And a Dave Matthews double live album and DVD that I didn't own, I now own. It rocketh. -Eye doctor last week tells me I need reading glasses. 'It's perfectly normal for someone your age' she says. I don't want to talk about it. -There was one other thing I was going to mention but now I can't remember what it was. I guess that's perfectly normal for someone my age. Have a great one.

Sweet Baby J

2008-04-27T20:57:47Z

And now one from the way-back machine. I took this shot of J1 and the newborn J3 over eight years ago while they were still in the hospital. It sits on our dresser in the bedroom and I've always loved it. The girls couldn't have asked for a more loving mom. I'm in the middle of an NYC mood right now. I'm about half way through the 17 hour Ric Burns series New York: A Documentary Film. Wonderful so far. I'm reading The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead. This guy makes words dance and play and sing and the city bounces off the page and falls into your lap. As the quote from Publishers Weekly puts it, 'This 13-part lyric symphony is like E.B. White's 'Here Is New York' set to the beat of Ellington or Cage.' I may finish it tonight but there are a couple of parts I'll definitely revisit. And Sex and the City the movie comes out next month. We're Big fans. Last time we were in the city was just before the last season of the series and we stumbled across a filming of an episode of the show at Barney's. J1 got Sarah Jessica Parker's autograph outside and then we went in to watch them film a scene in the shoe department. Pretty darn cool. We'll be back up for a while next month and I can't wait. I love that place.

Portofino View

2008-04-20T23:32:52Z

Another angle of Portofino. What a beautiful day at the beach. We all got to go fishing off the Pensacola Beach Pier for the first time this morning as part of a Scout trip. It was fun for a while but we are not really fisherpeople and we didn't catch anything, so interest was quickly lost. More evidence of a lack of outdoorsyness. (**See Backyard Camping) Really glad we did it though. After the morning on the pier, we started more traditional Butler family beach activities. We hit Alvin's Island for a little beachy shopping. Then we walked up and down the boardwalk to see what's new. Crawfish Fest was going on but we chowed down on fried shrimp baskets at the Boardwalk Cafe instead. Just as yummy and not as much work :-). Back to the beach for some sunshine and wave jumping. J3 and I braved the still quite chilly water while the other J's stretched out on the sand. Then it was time for ice cream cones at the new snack bar on the pier and one more lap to see and be seen. What a cool day. We will sleep well tonight. I watched a crazy cool movie last night called Protagonist. Every life is a story but not all reach the level of Greek tragedy. Check the link to learn a little more. I gotta' say, I really want a Kindle but can't really justify it right now. And by 'justify' I mean I can't convince J1 that an electronic book reader is way better than a plain old paper book. "It's just soooo cool" has been my main argument so far but it' doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps a cost/benefit analysis is in order. Or an environmental angle. Saving trees for our children. The Lorax approach I'll call it. I mean it's for the children and the environment. She would have to have a hard heart to say no to that. Anyway, anybody out there have first hand experience with a Kindle? Have a great week.

Portofino Towers

2008-04-18T22:02:46Z

Portofino after sunset on Pensacola Beach. Have a great weekend.

Portofino Pool Reflection

2008-04-16T20:55:46Z

The indoor pool at Portofino. My brother and his family are down visiting for the week so we spent some time out at the condo with them catching up and letting the girls all play together. It was still pretty chilly outside so the indoor pool was nice. This was before the splashing began. I took this other Portofino Pool shot a couple of years ago and it brings back fond memories. A member of the now defunct Weekly Shot saw that image and invited me to join the fun because of it. Good times.

Backyard Camping

2008-04-13T22:19:40Z

The girls have a Girl Scout camping trip coming up, so we cracked open our tents this weekend to make sure they were still in good shape*. Since the work part was done, we decided it would be a good idea to camp out in the back yard overnight**. Roasting marshmallows and everything***. J1 joined us for the smores but decided since she'll be camping soon enough with the Scouts, she would sleep in her nice warm bed while me and the younger J's braved the suburban wilderness****. It was a blast*****. *Lest anyone get the idea we are outdoorsy people, the tents have been packed away for almost eight years. A camping trip to Ft. Pickens when J3 was a baby was the last time we had them out. **It really was a good idea and we did have fun even if these astricies make it seem otherwise. ***Everything meaning marshmallows and sleeping. No ghost stories though. They creep me out. Seriously. ****Actually, I was going to let them sleep out there alone. Two sisters having fun in the great outdoors. But J1 and her mom (Nana J) had visions of rabid foxes and ax wielding psychopaths invading our back yard so I 'chose' to camp too. *****More like a blast of cold air. Temps around 50 degrees in mid April in Florida. What's up with that? Did I mention we're not really outdoorsy people. I mean we love being outside and playing and biking and beaching. But when it's time to sleep, a bed is nice. Is it wrong for a grown man to admit he's more Eva Gabor than Eddie Albert. ****** ******From Green Acres in case you haven't wasted countless hours of your life watching TV re-runs like I have and are unaware of the great 'Fresh Air' vs 'Times Square' debate. The page I link to will tell you about it and you get an American Gothic parody to boot.

Chicago River at Night 2

2008-04-10T21:11:17Z

Just for fun I tried to duplicate my Chicago River at Night shot from a couple of years ago while I was up last month. Taken a little while after the Chicago Theatre at Night shot. A couple of shout outs for this post. Eddie Martin's new EP is now available on CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/martineddie and Dig Station: http://www.digstation.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumID=ALB000017341 There's a very cool write up on CD Baby with the album so check it out and then buy the music. It will be available on iTunes soon but why wait. Shout out number 2. Jack over at gainingFocus has this image of his on the cover of this week's Independent News. They're available all over town so pick one up. It's very cool. I just finished reading and highly recommend The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Really wonderful stuff. The lecture itself and the Diane Sawyer story about him are linked from the website.

Art Institute of Chicago

2008-04-06T00:00:00Z

One of two big lions outside the The Art Institute of Chicago. They are indeed big but not quite as big as this image makes them seem. A bit of an optical illusion. This is where we spent most of the day that Sunday and most of that time we spent in the Edward Hopper exhibit. It was even better that I expected and even more better because of the biography I read before going up and even more betterer because I got to share it with someone who also had a thing for Hopper. It made for a richer experience all around. There were several rooms filled with his work and every time I turned around, I was face to face with a painting I had only known from books. Sounds kinda corny but there were a few times when I literally gasped. OMG, I'm standing in front of 'Chop Suey' or 'New York Movie' or 'Early Sunday Morning'. (This whole trip started because of my Early Saturday Morning and there we were in front of the inspiration.) I saw 'Nighthawks' last time we were in Chicago and it's still wonderful. Eddie and I talked about how when you see the paintings in person, the colors and light seem to jump off the canvas. 'Gas' was a prime example and we both loved it. There was a half hour documentary constantly running on a big screen in one of the rooms. It's narrated by art collector and Hopper fan Steve Martin. Two of my favorite parts of the mega bio on Hopper by Levin were two separate sections in the back. One was on Hopper's influence on visual arts and the other was about Hopper's influence on film. Hopper loved movies and filmmakers loved Hopper. The house in Hitchcock's Psycho was based on the Hopper painting 'House by the Railroad' and there are a ton of other examples. Pennies from Heaven starring Mr. Steve Martin goes so far as to create scenes tableau vivant (fancy French for 'living painting') from 'New York Movie' and 'Nighthawks'. I've never seen Pennies for Heaven so I may have to queue it up. We did spend some time in other parts of this great museum. It's cool to see Grant Woods' 'American Gothic' in person. Seeing something that has become better known in parody than in the original form is interesting. I guess the same could be said for 'Nighthawks' too though not to the extent of the famous pitchfork couple. Seurat's 'Sunday on La Grande Jatte' is another one of those that I've read about and sat through a lecture on in Art Appreciation class back in the day. Pointillism I believe was the point. But seeing this monster canvas in person is actually very cool. As was seeing a room full of Monet's, some Picasso, some van Gogh and so much more. I'm not an art scholar by any stretch. I've just kinda' go by what I like or what moves me in some way. I've always loved the Dutch masters and Rembrandt in particular. As a photographer, I love the way he captured light. The same could be said of Hopper and Hopper was a fan of Rembrandt for what it's worth. 'Old Man with a Gold Chain' may be my favorite work at the AIC. I would love to see 'Night Watch' but I'll have to get to Amsterdam to check it out in person. Once again, anybody want to go with me? The Hopper exhibit is paired with a Winslow Homer exhibit and while I didn't like it as well as Hopper, it was still pretty cool. I saw a Homer exhibit last year down in Homosassa Springs just north of Tampa. Apparently he summered there a few times so there's a connection. The AIC exhibit focused on his watercolors but my favorite though, is the oil that is on display all the time called The Herring Net. Beautiful. Next time on Panhandlin', well...I'm not sure. I may take a break from Chicago for a little bit and come back to it later. I still have a few more images to put up and some teases to clear up but I need a change of pace. We'll see.

Easter Morning in Chicago

2008-04-02T00:00:00Z

Easter morning I arose from a dead sleep before dawn to explore the city. We were out 'til after midnight the night before and it was well below freezing but look at the morning that greeted me. Snow still on the ground. Crisp, cold air off the lake. Beautiful. Makes you feel alive. Before we get started, a brief commercial. Eddie Martin (the chap with whom I made the Chicago trip) has a new EP out called 'When We Were Brave'. It's probably my favorite thing he's done and it's in heavy rotation on the ipod. Here's an article about it in the Times Daily. Right now the hard copy is for sale and if you're interested, drop me a line. It will be available on iTunes and CD Baby soon. I'll let you know when it is. Good stuff from a really good guy. (I also added a pick to my 'Panhandlin in Public' page because the CD uses a couple of my images. One for the back cover and one for the disc image.) Now back to the story. So after the Asian/Chicago crime syndicate stole our tickets to the musical, we had to find something else to do on a Saturday night in Chicago. We had options. I'm a bit of a stand-up comedy nut. Sketch comedy. Improve. Love it. Nothing feels quite as good as laughing until it hurts. But most of my exposure has been through television since good live shows are few and far between in small town USA. So seeing The Second City live was high on the list. But the current political craziness has been a boon for comedy and it turns out it's really hard to get tickets on short notice to the Second City's newest production, 'Between Barack and a Hard Place.' That, I would love to see. Maybe later. There should be plenty of time to parody him when he's President Obama. Another play we heard a lot of good things about was 'A Steady Rain'. A two man drama about a pair of Chicago cops. It's a home grown play that's gotten big and is apparently about to hit NYC and London. We could have gotten two tickets but they were near the back and the theater was not close so we decided to pass. We wanted music. We had two choices in mind. We chose Buddy Guy's for Saturday night because Sunday was Easter and the club would be closed. I told you about that night. Awesome. For Sunday we chose a movie. Well more than a movie. An IMAX movie. Well more than an IMAX movie. An IMAX 3D movie. But not just any old IMAX 3D movie. U2 in 3D at the IMAX on Navy Pier. It was the coolest thing. And sounded great. (my thoughts on U2 in case you missed them) We got so into it that we both said later that when a song ended, we felt like jumping up and screaming like we were actually at the show. It just rocked. There was a promo before the movie for an Rolling Stones IMAX film directed by Martin Scorsese. Coming soon. That I will need to see too. Anybody want to go with me? Next time on Panhandlin' I'll get to what was the catalyst for the trip. The Edward Hopper show at the Art Institute.