Jul 222014
 

dg & dog2DG (right) and Lucy (left) on the farm (art shot — yes, I know it’s annoying).

DG and Lucy were just on the farm in Ontario, you know, for a brief visit, a drug intervention with his mother, a fight with a young gun investment advisor trying to get his hands on his mother’s cash, a movie with Jonah (we went to see the latest Planet of the Apes extravaganza; very funny since he is moving to San Francisco in the fall and dg would keep saying, See, there’s your BART station and there’s your apartment without a roof), flea bombing the tenant house, and dinner with a dear old friend who had a heart attack a month ago and was put in an induced coma and quick frozen, apparently, with no ill effects. (The part about the drug intervention is a joke. Do I have to tell you everything?)

Jean w the girlsJean communing with her hens.

He found a treasure trove of old negatives and discovered that you can make pictures from old out-size negatives by using a laptop screen as a light box and taking a picture of the negative. Then he used photo software to invert the negative to a black and white photo. You should be impressed with his ingenuity.

So….

Jean at beach from negativeJean somewhat earlier in life.

The nearest town is Waterford, where dg went to high school, about two miles from the farm.

DSCF8150Alice Street, Waterford, rush hour. DG’s bank since childhood on your immediate right.

Here’s one of the town appliance stores. What’s interesting is that this used to be a movie theater. You can tell by the shape of the building. DG saw his first ever movie here, a documentary about Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. The fact that this was the first movie he ever saw and that it is burned into his memory tells you a lot about what is wrong with him.

DSCF8129-001

After it was a movie theater, it was a pool hall, den of sin (according to Jean). Nothing but failed individuals and juvenile delinquents frequented pool halls. Then it was a lunch restaurant where farmers used to convene to drink coffee and talk about bad weather. DG can remember going there with his father and having hot turkey sandwiches with french fries and chocolate milkshakes. No better food has been invented since (he avers, nostalgically).

DSCF8133-002The old movie theater.

Another major landmark, sign of long gone industrial prosperity, is the old knitting mill (underwear factory), now given over to antiques.

Old Knitting Factory

Alice Street runs east-west. The movie theater was at the east end and the knitting mill was at the west end hard by the train station. The train from New York to Detroit used to run through Waterford parallel to Alice Street behind the bank and the theater. Now the former rail line is a hiking trail, and next to it is a rather peaceful series of ponds and lakes.

DSCF8156About 100 yards from the knitting mill.

While dg was taking pictures he ran into a nice, depleted young man in a black leather pants, a Harley t-shirt and a black leather vest who opened up the conversation by saying he had a brain tumor but that his life had turned around recently when he began seeing UFOs. Apparently, crowds have gathered to watch the fiery lights go up and down the Grand River in Paris, Ontario, a nearby town. But even Waterford has had its visitations. (DG has always had a suspicion that he is not of this world. They are sending ships back for him.)

Capture3A recent local sighting.

New word learned on this trip: earthing. It means to walk barefoot.

tomatoesField of tomatoes on the farm.

DSCF8284 cropped twice bwOne of the chickens, looking a bit like an alien.

Lucy2 w curvesLucy.

DSCF8187Tomatoes.

more dg among the chickensDG with the chickens (photo by Jean; this is her first photo credit, a milestone at 93).

—dg

  10 Responses to “Out & Back: DG on the Farm, Episode 893 — The Adventure Continues”

  1. This is great, DG. Brilliant way to save old negatives. Technology that makes stuff obsolete can also save it. Sort of like poison is a medicine. Speaking of drugs, I am glad Jean didn’t need an intervention.

    • Course I found it on an forum when I googled light boxes. I am getting a light box for better results. But it has been so frustrating having these boxes of negatives lying around.

  2. Between Jean and Lucy you’re a lucky man, DG. Or says the best evidence–black and white photographs. Was your old friend’s hand freezing cold when you shook it?

  3. I love these posts.

  4. Ah, yes, as in the Meredith Willson song: Trouble–with a capital T, and that rhymes with P, and that stands for Pool. 🙂

    Thanks for the pix, DG. I enjoyed them. Your mom was a looker.

  5. Love this, dg. So many fine shots! And congrats to Jean on her first photo credit!

  6. I love how the shot of you and your mom echo one another, both of you stooping to feed the chickens, almost the same posture iteration upon iteration. Your mother’s apparent excellent health portends yours, Douglas, don’t you think? Happily, It appears that you have many years of chicken feeding and art shots ahead of you.

    • I don’t know about genes. I was heavily lobbied to have this picture taken. I look at those chickens and keep thinking they were once dinosaurs. The thought keeps me endlessly entertained.

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