Optimism is...complicated

This sign was located by a railroad bridge across the Wisconsin River, on Water Street, just south of Sauk City, Wisconsin.  It was intended in part to discourage people from using the bridge as a platform to jump or dive into the river.

(That was years ago  - perhaps the early 1990s.  The sign is long gone. Now, there is simply a large gate across the tracks, making it impossible to get out on the bridge.)

I never knew much about the Optimist Club. I always just assumed that they were unremittingly cheerful folks who enjoyed getting together and encouraging one another to believe that everything would turn out alright.  Obviously, that was an uninformed and simplistic view. Something more complex and nuanced must be going on.

Don't drink and post...

Man, this blogging is like work.  Ya haveta find stuff to post and then justify it to the entire fucking universe.  Except for the fact that no one is actually watching.  Okay, that makes it easy. You're not watching, are you?  I am truly a tree falling in the forest here, right?  That was the plan, anyway....

Butterfly

I was cleaning up after having done some tree-trimming, when I happened to notice this butterfly clinging to a leaf laying on the driveway.

(I don't know butterflies, but I did some on-line research, and I think this is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Even when I got in close and stuck a camera in its face (okay, the thing that serves as a "face" for a butterfly), it didn't even twitch.

I guessed that it had been injured by the big lummox who had been chopping off branches and throwing them to the ground.

Then the cat approached.

It looked as if it might end badly -- but then she walked right by, oblivious. If something doesn't move, it's usually not interesting to her.

I clumsily tried to move the butterfly from the torn leaf it was clinging to, onto a purple coneflower in a nearby flower box.  It resisted being dislodged from its perch.  After more efforts, which undoubtedly seemed like brutality to the bug, it finally made the jump and perched on the flower.


And there it sat, still unmoving, apart from the occasional flap. I had chores yet to do, and went off to do them.

Later, I checked back, and the butterfly was gone. Taken by another creature, or left on its own power? Uncertain, like life.

Somewhere on El Camino Real

"Somewhere on El Camino Real."

Really, now.  That is lazy captioning.  Especially with Google available.

Let's try this:

Tacos Los Gemelos, 1630 El Camino Real, Redwood City, California.

Around 11 o'clock on a Memorial Day morning, 2012.

On a walk, while Bets does a laundry at a busy laundromat down the street.

Vehicular traffic light, pedestrian traffic even lighter.

The tube-guy, looking more like a tamale than a taco, is one of the few things moving.

Madagascar Mifohaza

Madagascar  Mifohaza (in Malagasy, "Wake Up Madagascar") is a "supergroup" of Malagasy musical acts.  
 
It features Charles Kely, Eusèbe Jaojoby, Saramba, and Razia Said.

The group was organized by Said to promote awareness of the issue of illegal logging (particularly for rosewood) in the rain forests of Madagascar.
 
They are on a U.S. tour this summer, and they played at La Fête de Marquette in Madison on Saturday evening, July 14.

The captivating dancer here (in the yellow skirt) is Jaojoby's youngest daughter.

Virtuoso guitarist Charles Kely  ("little Charles," in Malagasy) was incredible. Also terrific was the groups' second guitarist, and a really excellent bass player; they can both be seen in the first shot above.

Also in that shot is Claudine, Jaojoby's wife and the organizer of the group Saramba.

Here's a great video about Madagascar  Mifohaza.

Hot night

This week's heat made me think about this shot, also taken at the Louisiana International Music Festival last April.  A hot, hot night; a bunch of hot kids;  a fountain.

Old compadres

Flaco Jiménez and Augie Meyers, of the Texas Tornados, at the Louisiana International Music Festival, April 28, 2012.

I know the leaning-on-the-shoulder thing is probably a shtick they do at all their shows.  I don't care. It got me.  Flaco and Augie, both looking pretty road-worn, just seemed a couple of old compadres.