Monday. Up just after six and off to breakfast, back now to finish sorting out the Carnaval images and get whatever I find I like up on artandlife. Hup! Hup! There is a real aspect of that - hup! hup! stuff - in all this. Keeps the motor running, the attitude in shape.

It's overcast this morning, haven't checked the weather report. Nice light for photographs at least, the somewhat harsh lighting of yesterday's parade leads to pictures less perfect than they otherwise might. That and I'd guess I don't quite yet know how to handle high contrast in Photoshop, although I experiment. There's only so much that can be done in both the shooting (exposure) and the manipulation (in Photoshop). I'm realizing the skill set required to do all this isn't learned overnight.

So, let's see. Into the rest of the photographs today, see how they turned out.

Later. Going through the photographs I've realized two things: my wondering about quality may be an aspect of my eye changing. I'm thinking, worrying, wondering about photographs I wouldn't have necessarily notice earlier and now realize they're an expansion in my overall vision of what I'm shooting and second, boy howdy did I take a lot of photographs, many of which given these thoughts, have turned out fine. I said it would take a few days to go through these, thinking when I said it I'd have them done today, but now realize with the number a few days really are needed.

And this is your wisdom of the moment or will you change your mind in another ten minutes as you've often done in the past?

We'll play a little guitar and clear the head. Be nice about the changing of the mind thing, we're just a young boy starting out with much to learn with less and less time to do it.

Later still. I took a walk mid afternoon after working on the Carnaval photographs, getting back to take a nap, thinking as I was going out I'd get something to eat if I were hungry. I passed the Grand Lake theater on my way and noticed the marquee. Rude to call a President and his Vice-President war criminals. Not so much so around here, not a lot of sympathy for the Iraq war, our Congresswoman having voted against the invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq. I don't even remember if she had a Republican run against here in the last election (obviously she did), but whomever he or she may have been, he/she was creamed.

But that's not the general attitude nationwide. Most people, if the polls are correct, are now against the Iraq war and, with Al-Qaeda out of the country and bin-Laden dead, Afghanistan as well, but it's still far from politically correct to call Bush and Cheney war criminals. We only use that term for other national leaders who don't follow our dictates.

Still, remembering how Vietnam clouded my generation, how it put all of us off on a different path, I wouldn't mind a little sharper discussion of what we're doing, get beyond you're a terrorist and a traitor if you don't support the current (fill in the blank) war or suggest our current wholesale erosion of civil liberties is other than necessary to keep us from the (fill in the blank). But it's a sunny Memorial Day afternoon and, although there's no sake for the moment in the system or in the wind, I'm feeling relaxed. Let it slide. What's a few hundred thousand dead when the temperature's nice?

But you ran the picture of the theater marquee instead of the Carnaval queen you'd originally selected anyway.

Had to, you know. I can afford little truth on a day of remembrance if a theater owner looking for customers can run that. I did wear the uniform once, had some friends who wore it too who wouldn't have otherwise and didn't make it back.

Later still again. Done with the photographs now at ten. There's a bunch of them. We'll sort them out tomorrow. A day like many, the head following along today in its more funky state, a bit of this, a bit of that. Only a bit of guitar, I'm afraid, we'll make up for it tomorrow. I'm allowed a slow day totaling but an hour.