Shaking my head with resignation masquerading as wisdom
It is amazing how long I’ve left updating this blog. Ugh. Well, my life in Sweden has been full of diapers and lego and less with photography and pens. Even though it’s easier to post pictures than to write coherent text I’ve still not done even that. So, here’s some images from 2016 and I hope you enjoy them.
It’s hard to believe that I moved to Sverige in January of this year. I’ve now worked my way through a few seasons here and am staring down winter. While I’ve been lax in updating this blog I’ve not been remiss in taking photographs. Here’s a variety of them from this year.
The title of this post is just put together from the names of the three events I attended recently. I’m too lazy to come up with one that works any better and it does sound kind of important.
The weekend of June 15 this year was a big one for those in the Detroit area who like to bake under the son looking at rare, expensive cars they have no hope of ever owning. If you have stamina, and I just fake that, you could have seen three displays such.
The largest is the weekend-long Motor Muster at the Henry Ford Museum. It’s help all over (was there an inch of open space left?) the Greenfield Village portion of that institution. Hundreds of cars among the examples of old U.S. architecture and life. It was like a parking lot of history. This show really will tired you out if you spend the hours necessary to get a good look at ever car, motorcycle, bus, motor home, military vehicle, and bike there. My feet still hurt.
In serene, green, and wealthy Grosse Pointe Shores is the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House museum. The house and grounds are astounding but for one day they are matched by find examples of important vehicles for Eyes on Design. Its goal is for “members of the transportation design community, collectors, and the general public to celebrate and reflect on design.” Proceeds benefit the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology.
Tied in to the above event is the throwing open of the doors to a private garage. The Lingenfelter Collection is the cars of a wealthy automotive specialty business owner. A lot of rare Italian rolling stock was here to see as well as a nice collection of modern and vintage four wheeled friends.
So, here area few detail shots from my tiring weekend. Now for a foot bath.
You fought hard and you saved and learned,
but all of it’s going to burn.
And your mind, your tiny mind,
you know you’ve really been so blind.
Now’s your time burn your mind.
You’re falling far too far behind.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, you gonna burn!
Fire, to destroy all you’ve done.
Fire, to end all you’ve become.
-Arthur Brown, Fire
Ignore the reference to an obscure psychedelic musician, this has nothing to do with music. I just like the song and, well, the theme of this post is fire.
Back in my youth when TR was president, that newfangled internal combustion engine would never make an impact, and women wore corsets I actually was a volunteer fireman. Thus I have a little firsthand knowledge of what people who fight what nature wants to ignite risk. To this day dim feelings of how combustible so much around us can be in the right circumstances flickers over my awareness. I make sure to keep all levels of alcohol in my home low even if I have to imbibe it myself.
Ypsilanti, Michigan has a lovely firehouse museum full of restored rolling stock, historic equipment, and a Victorian fire hall you can get a glimpse of the past in. It’s a lot of fun for the meager $5 entry fee. Well, fun for an odd man with a camera and monopod at least. As usual here’s some pictures of what I hovered around.
I’ve accumulated some more photos from disparate sources. Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada has its share of hyphens. Despite that it is a rather large tourist attraction hosting some of the best vineyards in the Great White North. Besides the trodden grapes the area has a great deal of history including action during the war of 1812 (when it was the capital of Upper Canada) and before. If you want to see Niagara Falls do yourself a favor and take a day trip there while making this quaint town your home base.
Closer to home (mine, at least) is the Yankee Air museum. It’s a non-profit organization that restores and flies vintage WWII aircraft. When you take into consideration the vast, and I mean vast, quantity of military aircraft made under the stars and stripes for the great war (part deux) it is mind boggling how few survive. It’s a good thing that some groups preserve this heritage.
So, here are some pictures captured at the above.
Walter P. Chrysler rescued automobile manufacturers before creating his own eponymous dynasty. During his reign Chrysler was known as the “engineer’s automobile”. Often stodgy in style they just as often led the industry in mechanical innovations. Like all long-lived companies there is a lot of history and lore which can be drawn upon to illustrate the path taken in time.
I have a soft spot for Chrysler vehicles since my fond memories of my best friend’s ’69 Roadrunner or my lust for a ’70 Dodge Dart 340 Swinger doesn’t fade away. Now that I live close to the Motor City I was happy to know that the Walter P. Chrysler museum was not far. The reason I learned of this museum was due to the fact it was to close. With that in mind I rushed out to the grounds of the headquarters of Chrysler Corp. to visit before the end came.
My usual batch of close detail photos follow. It really is a nice, small museum that doesn’t overwhelm and entertains even the least car knowledgeable person. Sad to see it go.
I’ve taken a lot of photos since my blog has gone silent. So….RANDOM PHOTO TIME!
The site is running reasonably well again so I’ll celebrate with a link to an article on fountain pens from a Manila paper. If you read closely you may see a familiar name.
Just click here.
So my blog is broken. I’ve not posted anything in so long maybe it decided to commit suicide or at least invite the grim specter of death to come a knockin’ early. I have managed to get things functioning OK but the plugin I use for displaying images still refuses to load. ‘Tis a wasteland of empty posts with no images on this blog. Well, it’s not like people read the old stuff anyway but I do hate it when shit happens.
As a placeholder till I get things running well again and put up a post with some information in it (yes, I’ve been working on one so stop snickering) here are some pictures. These were taken on a Caribbean cruise over Christmas to the ports of St. Thomas; San Juan; and a brief stop in Savannah, GA. You may notice I went crazy over the forts of San Cristobal and San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico since they have an unfair share of images. In my defense they are stunning.
Hershey, PA is the land of chocolate or something. Well, not really since nothing seemed to be built with cocoa anywhere within the city limits. I expected something a bit more like this. Still, it was founded on and continues to subsist on the tasty, tasty slopes of chocolate kisses (among other diversified products).
As you can see I’m trying to hide that this post involves more pictures of automobiles by first tempting you with sweets. In fact I attended the very, very large AACA Eastern Division auto show in Hershey. It’s probably the biggest show I’ve ever been to with a dizzying array of autos displayed, for sale, and vendors of automobilia, Of course I got there just late enough to see the procession of cars driving past me on their way home. Still, my tardiness at least allowed me to buck the crowds as I ran about trying to see it all before it vaporized in a plume of blue exhaust.
From brass era to the mediocre cars of the 80s it was all there. You will not be surprised I took some pictures.
