The Camera Sitch

The three rechargeable batteries I've been using for my two identical, used Canon Powershot SD600 cameras, are in the terminus of life. I've been relying on my Android phone camera, and that's OK, but it's not entirely satisfactory. I just received a replacement battery that goes by the name Canon, but frankly, I'm questioning its paternity and thus its efficacy, so things are up in the air til I see how it performs. At which point I'll decide if I want to invest in another battery and therefore keep the two used cameras (that I bought for about 55 bucks apiece) or do I rev up the research engine and buy a new camera?

While this story unfolds, I present for you an article I first published in June 2012.   

5 Secrets of Great Travel Photography

Rustavi, Georgia. Rotting watermelon on landing. 

1.       Take your camera with you at all times, even if you're only walking to the corner market from your base. If you've got a big-buck camera that you hesitate to carry with you everywhere you go, fine, but in that case, also bring along a point-and-shoot that fits into a pocket.

Lost Creek, Missouri.

2.       Have your camera easily accessible. In other words, not at the bottom of your bag, making you think twice about taking an impulse shot.

Rustavi, Georgia. This woman gave me this loaf of bread. Just because.

3.      Have duplicate batteries, chargers, and SD cards in case of theft, loss, or sad demise. Carry an extra battery with you, always. It’s damn frustrating to run out of juice just before some potentially great shots present themselves.

San Francisco, California. Hayes Valley.

4.       Like the big fish that got away, your fantastic travel photographs didn’t happen if you never uploaded them to an external source (i.e., laptop, tablet, Facebook) before your camera got ripped off, dropped into the pit toilet, or was stepped on by an elephant. Upload photos regularly, by which I mean at least every 2 or 3 days.

Nazret, Ethiopia. English Alive Academy. 

5.       Set the review time for your camera to “off.” You want to be able to take photos as quickly as possible, not wait for interminable seconds before you can catch the next shot.

Travel Resolutions for 2015

Highway 3, New Mexico

Here is my tiny round-up of travel resolutions for 2013. Salt plays a prominent role.

An even tinier round-up of travel resolutions for 2014 is here. Greg Kohl's list remains solid.

A common theme for 2015 travel resolutions is to unplug. As is local travel, a model I've long espoused.

I especially like two of Pauline Frommer's 2015 resolutions: 

1. Connect with some of her social media's "friends of friends" on her travels - what a keen idea to arrange a meet-up with someone who is a stranger to you, but with whom you share a friend! 
2. Use an outlet multiplier at public venues so nearby strangers can still get plugged in. Open source in a  literal way - love it.

I also favored two of Wanderlust's resolutions for 2015: 

1. Remember to look up. The Wanderlust author refers to the heavens, and I agree. Looking up also applies to treetops, surrounding hills, ceilings, and rooftops. 
2. Call on local guides to get more local back-story. I have smiling memories of a local guide in Harar, Ethiopia, who took me to see the hyenas.  

After dipping in and out of dozens of lists, what I've got above is the best of the lot.

Revisiting My Portable Gear

It's been a few years since I bought some of my portable gear.

I took a look at my gear in 2012, and it's time for me to do it again.  

Jewelry bag

I bought this zippered jewelry bag in 2010 and I use it every day. I still wish it were a brighter color so it would stand out more clearly in a suitcase or offer better contrast against a dark-colored motel bedspread, but other than that, it still gets five stars from me.

zippered jewelry bag

Mini flashlight

Photo from onebag.com

I still love my flashlight.



Yeah, I know everyone's gone over to the headband thing, and I am sometimes tempted, but being able to tuck my light into a pocket, in a small bag, or hang it around my neck - all excellent qualities. I've lit up an entire room when the power has gone out in Ethiopia, in Caucasus Georgia, and I don't even remember where else.












Laptop

I bought my laptop in 2010. It's showing some age: 

• The fingerprint scanner doesn't work anymore; 
• The optical drive is cranky and unreliable; and
• I'm on my second battery - an after-market brand, as the HP replacement battery was prohibitively expensive. 

I know I'll have to replace it in the next year or two. Assuming I'm still working online, I'll replace it with another laptop (versus a tablet). And I'll still want various ports, although I may give the optical drive a pass.

  
Electronics case

Still use the red Ethiopian Airlines "case" to keep my small electronic paraphernalia.

Ethiopian Airlines case for my electronic paraphernalia

Ethiopian Airlines case for my electronic paraphernalia

Rain poncho 

I've got the rain poncho I bought while on a break from Caucasus Georgia, and I've used it on a few occasions since I bought it, but my earlier conclusion still holds - an umbrella is handier and lighter. I especially crave an umbrella on brutally sunny, hot days. Some day, when my decrepit black umbrella bites the dust, I'll replace it with a lighter-colored new umbrella (to offset the sun's hot rays). 
 
There's a good bit on umbrella v. ponchos on onebag.com here.


Kindle

I went with the basic Kindle in 2012.

I think I'm glad I made the choice I did, though I feel a little sad I don't have the paperwhite version. The basic Kindle does what I want it to do, even though it's rather clunky to get from some points A to some points B.

I've downloaded quite a few library books to the Kindle. Nice. 

Also, my reasoning about not wanting to feel too much of a financial loss if it were lost or stolen remains valid.



 

Trekking poles

A great purchase in 2012! They collapse into a size that fits into my backpack. So lightweight. I love to have them on trails with uneven surfaces, just for the balance.

 








Portable speaker

Yup, I still use this! I attach it to my laptop for better sound. I hook it up to my mp3 player. To my Android phone. To my voice recorder for playback.





My "puppy"

I bought an Android in July, 2014. Glad I bought it. In addition to serving as a backup to my online work in the event to a wifi or laptop failure, I find it a quality-of-life enhancement. I have not introduced it to social media or games, and I don't intend to do so.

The Creative Life: Brain Space

Mmmm, brains a-sizzlin'. Kutaisi, Georgia.

Years ago, the Atlantic Monthly (before it devolved into the pseudo-intellectual organ it is now) ran a riveting article about how religious faith and ethics are two entirely different biological operations. An individual might have both in spades, or neither, or be rich in one and poor in the other.

I bring this up because the same idea is probably apt for the creative process. That is, a person's vision is separate from the discipline one needs to give light to the vision - to give birth to it.

There is a lot of raw creative material in my head or, in the case of photos, in my hard drive awaiting distillation. I'm not at all happy that 2014, especially the second half, saw so little creative output, notwithstanding tremendous amounts of input. 

It seems that my brain can focus on only so many things at once. My year in South Louisiana was filled with new things - both good and not-so-good - that sucked great swaths of brain energy. Learning to dance! Starting a new job! Car troubles! A wretched bout with backache. And more, some of which is none of your beeswax.

If I now know that I can only barely chew gum and walk at the same time, what does this mean to me and my creative life?

What it means is that if I want to push stuff out, then I have to set up the physical time and the brain space to produce. To effect the latter, I've got to divert my brain-energy flow to creative thinking from distracted thinking. Otherwise my creativity is just the snap and crackle without the pop.

A Doozy of a Makina

and I climbed down from the gleaming spacecraft, and stood on solid ground - nay, literally the Earth - for the first time in more than six weeks. I waved goodbye, as per Pergelliac custom, with my forearm at a 90-degree angle from my upper arm, and my hand down and fingers flapping, to my rescuers, as they soared back into the heavens.

So much had happened since that night when I was snatched from my deep sleep and taken into The Cloud. But I don't want to bore you with the details.

Now where am I? Right, back in Missouri for a bit.   

Louisiana: Rayne Frog Festival

November 2014 Rayne Frog Festival

After 42 years, the Rayne Frog Festival is moving from November to May.

November 2014 Rayne Frog Festival. Chubby Carrier.

So the 2014 Rayne Frog Festival is the last one that will be held in November.

November 2014 Rayne Frog Festival. Chubby Carrier.

Probably a good idea.

Mzuri is cold at the Rayne Frog Festival in November 2014.

South Louisianans don't come to such things in cold weather.

November 2014 Rayne Frog Festival. Chubby Carrier.

 
Despite the wonderful music one would expect, there weren't many people present to enjoy it.

Rootless: Letting Go

November 24: What I have below is my first draft. Since I wrote it, I took back the hat. And some of the coozies. 



Getting ready for my move at the end of the month.

Letting go of some things are easy, like the saucepot I bought second-hand years ago, which takes forever to heat up its contents on an electric stove. Enough! Out you go.

The 20 coozies I've collected this year. Easy come, easy go. Plastic parade cups, ditto.

I tried to find a reason to keep some of my Mardi Gras bead collection, and I feel a little wrench about letting them go, but groups recycle beads here and I like the idea that my beads will get re-thrown and caught by another happy reveler.

Can you believe I've carted around a plug-in electric burner for longer than my daughter has been alive? I can't even think of when I've used it last. Time for it to go. Irrational, but this hurts a little.

I'm releasing a hat. 

 A couple of reference books will go.

I already donated back three of the chairs I bought from the local Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store.

A box of clothes for Goodwill stands by.


 

Louisiana: Plaisance: The Step-n-Strut Trail Ride

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

One of my goals for Louisiana was to go on (the term "go on" being open to interpretation) a trail ride. Not just any trail ride. A zydeco trail ride. A Creole trail ride.

I had my chance with the Step-n-Strut Trail Ride in Plaisance.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

To set the stage about the trail rides in Southwest Louisiana:  

Below is a lil diamond of a video about Creole riders by documentarian Tabitha Denholm:

TRAIL RIDERS & CREOLE COWBOYS from Tabitha Denholm on Vimeo.

A companion article she wrote is here.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

Cajun filmmaker Connie Castille created a lush documentary about the Cajun and Creole history with horses in her two-hour movie, T-Galop. You can watch the documentary in its entirety on Louisiana Public Television here.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

There was lots going on at the Step-n-Strut's home base


Food


Below is a man with a vertical griller/smoker that he made:

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

This man was cooking up some pork steaks early on, preparing for sale a little later.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

Pig tails. Squeak.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

Foot care

Look at this horse's beautiful tail:

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

There was more than one way to do the trail ride

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

Coming back


It was pretty to watch the tired riders and horses return as the sun was sinking. The light and the dust made a lovely backdrop.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

2014 Step-n-Strut Trail Ride, Plaisance, Louisiana.

Videos

I took several videos. I really like this one because it has everything in a short piece - pretty horses, cantering horses, dancing, good music, a trailer with not only a port-a-potty but a full-size grill and a big sound system.

Here is a 13+ minute video of the trail ride rolling out. It has drama and flair and flash. It shows the various ways one can participate on the ride. There's even a bit of an altercation.

Here is a short-short with a lot of drama. Some poor dude is missing his jeans. One can only wonder at the story there.

Rolling out #3 is pretty jumpy, but it's short and it gives a good idea at the huge number of horses and riders participating on the ride.

Rolling out #4 shows fun on both trailers and horses.



A slide show here:


#30



Oh, yeah, and there was live music, too. This is South Louisiana, after all.

Louisiana: Plaisance: 2635 at Sunset

2635 Highway 167, near Plaisance, Louisiana.

  

Just as the sun was preparing for setting, I drove by a cluster of irresistibly-picturesque buildings on Highway 167, outside of Plaisance.

Plaisance is in St. Landry Parish, northwest of Opelousas and southeast of Ville Platte. 

The feed store photos are here.

Today is about #2635, which is next to the feed store.

2635 Highway 167, near Plaisance, Louisiana.

A cultural informant told me that the giant numbers on these buildings are for emergency responders.

Put your shades on for this next pic. 

2635 Highway 167, near Plaisance, Louisiana.

Lafayette: Lafayette: Scenes from Festivals de Acadiens et Creoles, #4

I listened to Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys play. Watched the dancers. Tapped my toes. Slapped my hand on my thigh.

But then all of a sudden I heard the transcendent quality of the fiddle playing. Magnificent.

Here's a 2006 video of Kevin Wimmer (the fiddler in my video above) playing Fiddlesticks with another musician at a Roots festival in Tennesee: 

And here he is with his other band, Red Stick Ramblers, in a 2008 performance in Connecticut:

Speaking of Connecticut, I met an accordionist at the festival, Bill, who lives in Connecticut - who loves Cajun and Zydeco music, and who has been coming to the festival for eight years. He comes on the train.

Louisiana: Plaisance: The Feed Store

Allen Joubert's Feed Store, Plaisance, Louisiana

Driving on Highway 167, just outside Plaisance, as the sun was setting on the first day of standard time, I saw the feed store.

Allen Joubert's Feed Store, Plaisance, Louisiana

Felt good to get out of the car and take some snaps of a building like this. Very New Mexico-ish thing for me to do.

Allen Joubert's Feed Store, Plaisance, Louisiana

Allen Joubert's Feed Store, Plaisance, Louisiana

Lafayette: UL Homecoming Parade

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

November 1 was the UL Homecoming Parade. Oh, right, there was also a game and other stuff, but I'm all about the parade.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

Even the Pope was there.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

And, as always, Louisianans really know how to make a parade up nice.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

OK, well, I was standing in front of the UL Alumni Center.

Marching bands. My favorite part of a parade. 

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

 Here's a video from the Opelousas High School Marching Band:

And from the Franklin High School Band. It makes me smile to see how the drummer smiles at :34.

Oh, those drummers.

UL Homecoming Parade 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana.

A slide show:

#30



 

Louisiana: Opelousas: A Holy Ghost Party

Men of Vision, 2014 Holy Ghost Catholic Church Creole Festival, Opelousas, Louisiana

So. Halloween. Not being a trick-or-treater or wear-a-costume sort of gal, my annual strategy is to get out of the house on Halloween and hide out til the littles have completed their rounds.

In Lafayette, it being a party kind of place and Halloween being on a Friday this year, you would surmise correctly if you thought that most getaways included dressing up.

But then I saw the perfect place to go - the 22nd Annual Holy Ghost Catholic Church Creole Festival. The festival is the first weekend in November, beginning on Friday. Gospel music on Friday night.

Here's a video from St. Landry's Parish, focusing on Holy Ghost women making potato pies for the 2011 festival:

I got to hear different styles of gospel music at the church: 

• Rap
• Jazz
• Blues
• and I guess what I'd call the traditional gospel style

Here's a gospel rap song called "Having a Holy Ghost Party," performed at the concert Friday night:

 

And one of the songs from the Mount Olive Baptist Church Men's Chorus:

And from three women whose group name I forget:

There was even a performance of liturgical dance by the youth, and at first, I thought, aha, this is a new idea for me, but wait .... liturgical dance is just a fancy way of talking about sacred dance, which has been practiced in many cultures for eons.

2014 Holy Ghost Catholic Church Creole Festival, Opelousas, Louisiana

Sheesh, didn't I just spend a year in New Mexico, where traditions of sacred dance are carefully protected and handed down through the present generations?
 

2014 Holy Ghost Catholic Church Creole Festival, Opelousas, Louisiana

 
It was a perfect way to spend All Saints Eve.

Men of Vision, 2014 Holy Ghost Catholic Church Creole Festival, Opelousas, Louisiana