Against the current, ceaselessly

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."
The Great Gatsby

It's F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday (see here for novelist Leslie Pietrzyk's tribute & a bathtub gin recipe); he's buried not too far away. It's sad beyond measure. I resist dipping into an abundance of photographs--personal & otherwise--to illustrate reckless, careless people. I do possess some common sense, no matter what I've written (or allowed to be quoted publicly--in print--for crying out loud) the past several years.

Instead, I will be at the new farmer's market near the White House. (Thank you, Michelle Obama., I love you.) While I'm riding the rails, I will muse on a newly-acquired phobia (& how to exorcise it). I'm convinced that my much-anticipated, first laptop will connect itself, without my assent, to the neighbor's wireless service. Before it has its configuration day spa outing at the local Office Depot. "It" has already indicated a willingness, nay, an eagerness to zip over & grab the hot spot. I will have a cow & kittens if this happens.

Friends have queried, why isn't the DSL working yet? Why not the wireless? Have you even turned the freaking laptop on after spending months researching it & driving us crazy with questions? Well, OK, man, geez. This, this...thing was delivered on September 3. It is September 24. The evening of the 19th, after 4 hours of looking at it (not full-time!) on the coffee table, I turned it on. It fully charged & the mess called "Vista" loaded. I activated the anti-everything -bad programs. Then I turned it off & Julie the Cat returned to lounging upon it. I feel this was a major success but have been told otherwise.

I am reminded that...I was unaccountably afraid of a chainsaw in my Washington, DC garage. (If an inanimate object can be accused of lurking, it lurked. This is why I avoid horror films, books.) Friends thought it hilarious then & still do. This is not helpful, people. You want me to communicate faster, better, watch those YouTube thingies...& even do things for you (ahem) that require resolution of this problem. So maybe razzing me--no matter how amusing--isn't the way to go. (No, these are not careless & reckless creatures...though they've re-enacted my in vino veritas chainsaw confession to others. For which I will never forgive them. OK, I will.)

Photographs are from a series by Frenchman Yannick Vigouroux. He's part of a cellphone photography (photophonie) group. Eh, bricolage. Yannick's project is called Au coeur des pixels. Which I love. I stress that these Parisiennes-on-the-Métro are not careless (insofar as I know).

Session over; carry on.

Blue Window

Literally. Well, there's more. According to photographer Yannick Vigouroux, it is Window # 1047, Blue Still-Movie, Oct. 2008. Link to From My Window set. Yes, I'm back to blue & windows & French stuff. Sorry. Lots of great blogs in the right sidebar. You can even go put a bid on something over at Made4Aid. I put the link in about three places on the page here & a few over at Giulia Geranium.

Italian bloggers were on strike today (14 July 2009). I wasn't keeping up with news & so can't honestly claim no Bastille Day post as an excuse; that would've been a nifty (Italian) move. No, not Italian but simpatico. Go to Bleeding Espresso blog under writers or wait & I'll see how it went. (Censorship legislation for Italian internet, etc.) I'm sure if nothing else, it was a fantastic operatic spectacle. That's a compliment. Would that I had been in Piazza Navona today, literally muzzling self along with Italian bloggers. YouTube videos out there but I can't access them with this bleeping machine (soon, soon) & therefore can't screen it for delicate eyes & ears. Irony. Or something like it.

Merci, Yannick...

Crossing the Street

Paris, rue de Rivoli, 30 juin 2009 by Yannick Vigouroux

I'll add to this later. But it's already July? Yes, everywhere on Earth. Patterns, unfortunate: my shriek of surprise when it's a new hour, a new day, a new month.

Crossing the street is something I do several times a day & almost always it is fraught with danger most would associate with life in....well, elsewhere. I adhere strictly to proper ped behavior--89% of drivers at the closest intersections in my neighborhood do not. (Yes, I stand out there & conduct surveys.) Family & friends have been instructed time & again: you know that I always follow the rules. Therefore, sue like there's no tomorrow if I get hit by a car & I can't do so myself. Then have huge party. Or something. This is a way of steeling myself to once again, go out there.

And yes, I'm running behind on both blogs. And everything else.

This photograph is with kind permission of Yannick Vigouroux (in Paris); an all-round terrific guy who is now taking photos with his phone & playing around with distortion & so on. It was perfect for today. Plus I love stripes, les rayures & it would be oh-so predictable of me to post gorgeous photos of those patterns in clothing, interiors. Not that I won't revert to predictability any time now.

Happy Canada Day to my friends up north. Had a devil of a time procuring meaningful-ish photographs for your day (in time). Unless I scan a red maple leaf (on a board to my right) & post that, I can do little honor you today. I have low standards at times, I know, but that would be truly disgraceful.

[Thanks to cher Yannick as always, go here for his varied flickr sets]

L'heure bleue, Paris window

For later, writing project. Another l'heure bleue photograph & as a bonus it includes my window fixation. This is by a terrific guy in Paris, Yannick Vigouroux who has been very helpful with photographs, the color blue, & the French poetry scene. You just never know when you write to someone for permission what will happen. Sometimes, it's just "sure." And that's fine. And then sometimes it's a lot more. I'll be out & about the rest of the week & the computer is edgy. So I'm going to set photos to run through Friday. Just in case. Ciao & thanks, Yannick!