The wedding invite says to dress fancy casual. I’m wearing a suit… without a tie. A scandal!
Also… I’m wearing… sneakers.
Blasphemy!!!
Author: robertjames1971
I'm wicked tall.
Miracle!
I got a parking spot on the street in downtown Bar Harbor!
Weather and Wedding
The reason we’ve traveled up to Bar Harbor, ME is to go to a wedding. The wedding is late this afternoon. Right now it’s 8:40am and I’ve been up for three hours. Jen and Bellana are still asleep. I showered, had my morning vitamins, had my breakfast protein bars, and have watched a couple of Doctor Who episodes (new series, season eight, episodes nine and 10, and 11 is running as I type this).
We’re more or less shit out of luck for touristy things today. It’s raining out. Lots of rain. Serious rain. No Acadia National Park sight seeing today. No wandering around downtown today. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, apart from getting ready for the wedding and all that fun. It’s going to be a good time tonight, but until then it might be a little on the extra low-key side.
weather be damned, it’s going to be a good day.
My Shop
I have never really considered this question before. Most of the shops I would like to open are part of a dead industry now and would be guaranteed to fail within days of launching. Book stores? Dead. Record stores? Dead. Used record stores might be able to hang on for a while but new release stuff? No way, dead and dead. Musical instruments stores? Dead. Hell, even Guitar Center, the biggest of the big chains is dying on the vine as we speak. Maybe I could do a vintage guitar shop, but I would never have the zillions of dollars that would be needed as up front capital to stock a whole shop with vintage guitars. That’s sort of how the used instrument economy has played out in recent years. Even shitty old guitars are worth a ton of money, just for being old.
So if I were going to open a shop of my own, what would it be? I guess I could try to go with a Stephen King’s Needful Things kinda place. You know, a curiosity/antique shop where all of the items are cursed and pre-destined for each customer so that they can suffer their own specific trauma? Something like that.
No, that wouldn’t be it. I’ll tell you what I would open. Hey customer, have you had Gastric Bypass surgery? Do you have Type 2 Diabetes and are you struggling to keep your numbers under control? Well come to my shop where we sell nothing but Sugar Free Candy.
Boom. Million, dare I say billion, dollar business plan. Sign me up, babie!
Summit Views
Views from the summit of Cadillac Mountain. Digital version. There will be 2-3 film shots someday in the distance future.
This one was from the hotel restaurant where we had breakfast. The four mast sailing ship is the Margarette Todd. I wish I had a huge zoom lens, don’t you?
The Difference Between Film and Digital Photography
So there we were on the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest elevation in the state of Maine, looking out across Bar Harbor toward the Atlantic Ocean. The view was spectacular.
I had my Nikon Z5 out and I was snapping away left and right. You get a photo, you get a photo, you get a photo, BAM BAM BAM photos of everything! Oh, some other visitor stepped in front of me while I was pressing the shutter? No problem! Just line up the shot and take it again. Life is good!
Then I switched to my Nikon FG-20, loaded with Fuji Superia Xtra. I carefully line up a shot. Check the light meter, check the aperture, check the shutter speed, focus and refocus repeatedly. Snap. Wind the film to the next frame. Line up a second shot. Check the light meter, check the aperture, check the shutter speed, focus and refocus repeatedly. Snap, but just as a depress the shutter release button some numbnutz walks in front of me. MUTHAFUCKA YOU JUST COST ME ONE FRAME OF FILM! Quietly fantasize about throwing said numbnutz off the side of the mountain. Then line up the shot again and…
Yeah, that’s the difference. It’s a subtle difference, but it’s there.
Cadillac Mountain
Say Cheese
Balcony View
This is the view from our hotel room’s balcony. I didn’t realize until a few minutes ago (around 9:00am) that our room sort of faces East. I’ll see about the view at sunrise tomorrow morning.
Look at that puppy over there! She’s HUGE!
We’re going to Acadia National Park today, including a visit to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. Expect lots of pictures in the future. Film and digital. On the film side, expect color and black and white. I’m out of control!
Must Have Items
Daily writing prompt
What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Adam Sandler answered this question at some point in the past. It’s a three pronged answer: Phone, Wallet, Keys.
Since the start of the pandemic, when our household was sustained via multiple, nearly daily, Amazon package deliveries I added a pocket knife to my must-have-with-me-at-all-times list. I started with a cheap little thing I bought at a gift shop somewhere in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but at Christmas 2021 I bought nice Swiss Army Knives for me, my wife, and my step step kids. My Swiss Army Knife is in my jeans pocket right now as I type this. It’s always either on my person or close by.
There is another answer to this question that is infinitely more important than phone/wallet/keys/pocket knife. It’s not a tool. It’s not a gadget. It’s a symbol and I am never, ever without it.
My wedding ring.
Inside the Red Head's Head 