i'm back...sorta

the sorta is that there are no promises, no commitments to writing on a regular basis.

not that anyone has looked at this blog in years anyway...

the image is from brunch this morning, met a few friends for french toast and coffee.

the food was pretty good but the timing was perfect...as i sat there i saw several 'old' friends walk in and sit on the other side of the room. they didn't notice me. several minutes later in walked yet another former face that i had spent years looking at. still beautiful after all this time she joined the others.

my mind filled with memories of times and places that we had shared. gone were the 'bad' feelings that i had carried for so many years and that was such a relief, such a good thing.

my life has had 2 consistencies throughout, falling in love with the wrong women and creating images through photography.

it was a year ago today...

that i had a heart attack, just 3 days before my birthday.

i took this week off from work so i could quietly celebrate having lived another year.
today was a bit emotional for me at times.

i also painted my living room over the past few days. i hate painting and the job i did proves that pretty much.
but i did it, alone, and finished this morning, just about the same time they were hooking me up to a bunch of tubes last year.

i still get the odd email asking me how i'm doing and advising me to stay cool, eat right, listen to the doctors etc.
the support was appreciated when it happened last year and still is appreciated today. this world can be cold and hard at times but some of the people in it are warm and wonderful.

anyway, i just wanted to mark the occasion...

joe

thinking there was a need for a small digital camera without shutter lag in my camera bag, i sold my first little digital and bought another. this one is a small canon a620 and strangely enough, i bought it from the same person who sold me my first.
i quite like it despite having it only for a day or so. i took it out today to breakfast with my saturday morning group and for a walk along whyte avenue and into the farmer's market.


here a few quick snaps...

another new lens; i can't help myself

and then some camera porn...

one more shot

some new photos very few words

a few shots taken recently.

so far behind...

every time i think about writing something i turn tail and run as i am so far behind here that it's hard to know where to begin.

i have a few photos to post tonight, all taken with my new set up.

i was blessed enough to be given a brand new zeiss ikon camera along with a 35/2 zeiss lens.

this kit so impressed me that i sold off some of my canon rangefinder collection just to buy another new lens for it.
these shots were taken with that new lens, a zm 25/2.8.



saturday morning coffee




snow man on whyte avenue




linda




veggie man at the market





i have more photos that need editing, scanning and some processing that will follow...soon ;)

as promised, a few summer photos







and some old fashioned camera porn...this is my $10. goodwill olympus 35rc, redone in black paint and genuine black leather. it's a greyhoundman original.

it's all in the timing

four days after my last blog entry i had a heart attack.
it was three days before my 55th birthday.

there had been a small but important plan in mind for this particular birthday.
on the agenda?
the drinking of a not too smooth scotch and the smoking of a very fine cigar.

this was to be a treat for being ‘so good’.

i had quit smoking about fifteen months prior and can’t even remember the last drink i had.

oh, it was a fine plan...

three days after my cardiac event, on my birthday, i had convinced the doctor that i should go home and start my recovery from the comfort of my own bed.
he wisely agreed.

that same birthday afternoon found me crying in the condiment aisle of my local safeway store, completely overwhelmed at the enormity of a healthy shopping experience.
i had foolishly thought that i was strong enough to get to a bank, make contact with my pharmacy and get all those damn prescriptions filled plus do some food shopping, all on the way home from the hospital.

at this point i was not allowed to drive so my good friend and protector was also designated driver and witness to my minor meltdown.

praise the powers that be for good friends.

what followed was four weeks of not doing much of anything.
no lifting, not even my arms above my head.
no cleaning and a strong warning to stay away from the evil vacuum cleaner.
those things are killers, apparently.

i was allowed three five minute walks a day for the first week.
i think i took only one as i had convinced myself that i would be found dead on the sidewalk, crawling towards my front door as my faithful dog slept on my corpse and the neighbors stepped over my lifeless body.

ok, so the fear level was a tad heightened. hey, i just had a heart attack!

the worst time for me were the nights, just before drifting off to sleep.
especially that first night home.
there were no nurses, doctors or lines running into or out of my body and no monitors of any kind.

how would anyone know if i died in my sleep?
what if i did die in my sleep?
i would miss the whole rest of my life!
thoughts like that only pop up occasionally now.

after four weeks the doctor said i could once again drive and go back to work.
i was overjoyed and scared silly all over again.

my first day back was eventful to say the least.
i was given the warmest welcome back ever and a layoff notice.
and i thought i had mental health problems before...

but was it just a horrible misunderstanding? no, not really.
it was just the absolute worst job of communication, plain and simple.

the next day i was offered any job i wanted in one of our new programs.

it’s true what they say...it’s all in the timing!

and now?
well, i’m taking it easy, i see my doctor ever few weeks and occasionally go into the lab for a test or two.

and i should be starting in that new program any day now.

more photos will be coming, i promise.
as a tease I’ll post a couple soon, maybe tomorrow...