Mark’s Notes On The Go

Fàilte!

Time is just flying by day by day, here.

Thanksgiving came and went. I felt like I spent a chunk of it back and forth between here and home. The photo show was Friday night. I would have loved to have been there, but it was fun to meet some new people and catch up with others both before and after the show.

I’m told there was a bit less traffic than the previous show. That was evident in the sales of the framed prints, 3 sold. In the last show, it was around a dozen. However, personally, I did much better than the last show. Had a number of matted prints sell, including some large ones. So, the event was a profitable one. I still wish I had been there, though! I came back up here Saturday to pick up my prints and went back home for the rest of the weekend.

The week since has been way busy. Work, work, work! But I still find time every day to check out the pyramid cams. Because, yes, it’s less than a month away now! And I know I’m still not ready! I have barely cracked my Egypt travel guide. Eek!

The funny thing is, I’m still stuck on my last trip. I spent the evening reading various websites devoted to learning Scots Gaelic. In ways, this is silly of me. There are so many languages that would be more helpful to me, and I read that in fact there are no Scots Gaelic only speakers left in Scotland. Kind of sad, no? Nothing says learn me like a language with 18 letters, which combine to form 18 vowels and 29 consonants! But I just say down and ordered an intro book that includes CDs for Scots Gaelic as well as a Scottish Gaelic - English dictionary.

It took me a bit to find a book that came with audio and audio that was something other than cassettes! I would have enjoyed a software package, but the one I found had not so hot reviews. I tried an online source, but it was just bewildering. Maybe better off with the books after all. Here’s hoping I can get my tongue around these vowels and consonants. Maybe I’ll puzzle people by taking the books with me to Egypt.

Flight Attendant (sees book): “Excuse me sir, are you sure you’re on the right plane?”

Me: “Ay!”

Forgotten Highways 

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I made an early start for home, like half of Atlanta that hadn’t already left.  I can drive forever, and emphasis should be on the word drive.  Sitting in gridlock traffic does not count as driving.  So, I decided to try something new and different, making the drive from Alpharetta, Georgia to Montezuma entirely on surface streets.  You know, those old highways that existed before the interstates.  I settled on US 19 because of its proximity to me and the opposite end of my trip.

Now, the Atlanta part as interesting.  I know the old US highway system was nowhere near a straight line, but I’m confident that between the interstates and Atlanta’s general growth, those streets have shifted a bit.  Add to that it was the most poorly marked highway I’ve ever seen.  There was a lot of guessing and turning around.  Ultimately, I found myself south of the city and as it tends to do in the winter, the sun was obviously heading down.  So, I decided to skip the rest of US 19 and took US 41 instead.  US 41 combined with US 341 comes very close to Macon County when compared to US 19.

As the sun had begun its retreat, I saw a road that my map said was “Old 341″ and it claimed to go through a town called Culloden, which was the site of the last battle for Scottish Independence.  I stood on that moor close to a year ago and had to see a town in Georgia that was named for it.  I’ve since checked and it appears that it was named for a Highlander from Scotland who lived in the area in the late 18th century.

This was just the type of place I was looking for. Not only bypassed by the interstates, even the now rural highway shifted away from this place.  It was filled with classic old homes, many well maintained, and in the heart of downtown, was this perfect old sign, recalling the days when the highway was the only way to get there.   This lovely long exposure was all I brought back from Culloden, but it was well worth it.

Print Available For Purchase On Redbubble

Hello all!

I’m participating in another show as part of the Atlanta Castleberry Hill art stroll this Friday night.  Unfortunately I will not be there myself as I will be with my folks over the weekend, but I helped with the set up for the show last night and there’s some truly great work in the show.   I don’t envision photos in B&W easily, but I love the results.  I struggled coming up with an entry, but submitted this:

There are over 30 artists participating with a total of around 60 works plus tons of matted prints for sale.  Perfect opportunity to shop for some art for holiday gifts or for yourself!
Here’s the website for the show, which includes a map.

http://www.atlphoto.org/

Nothing new to share for the moment.  Although two weekends ago, I spent a day in the mountains taking in the fall color.  I just haven’t had time to post any of it.  If you’re ever looking for some place truly beautiful for a day trip out of Atlanta, I now highly recommend Tallulah Gorge!

Happy Thanksgiving and take care!

Mark

Yearning

This photo is of my Mom’s cat, Tigger, and he is very much her cat if he is anyone’s.  He was abandoned near our home as a kitten and has a deep mistrust of people that we’ve never managed to break.  My Mom, and, ironically, the Vet, are the only people he has any trust in.  He has been an indoor cat almost all of his life, but like many will, he looks outside with a certain longing, which is what I managed to catch in this moment.  Lit naturally with late afternoon sun, we see his profile and a bit of the window he’s looking towards.

I think this would make a great “thinking of you” or “missing you” card.  And it’s also available as a print, which many cat lovers would enjoy.

Available on Redbubble 

I’ve mentioned several times how neat the redbubble is, and that I’m using them as my primary “print on demand service,” and just in time for your Christmas shopping, more reason to love them!

If you’ve been thinking how much you’d like to purchase a print or a card from redbubble, be it my work or otherwise, redbubble has free shipping this month!

November Deals

Free Shipping for November – Just enter ‘Novembershipping’ as your checkout code to get free shipping – also as a bonus any order over US$100 (AU$110, GBP50, EUR70) we’ll e-mail you a coupon after the order to the value of 10% of the transaction for your next purchase on RB.