Blog Archives
Different Years: a diptych
If you’ve been following along the last couple of days, you know that my collaborator suggested randomly pairing images from the same date but different years just to see what sort of diptych might emerge.
And here’s what I got when I selected One Day | One Image posts from October 17 in 2020 and 2013.
Oddly enough, this pairing works, I think – the peaks of the roof of the church building are echoed in the dancers’ arms.
Dusty, Washington
photographed 9.2.2020, posted 10.17.2020
Denver, Colorado
photographed 6.21.2008, posted 10.17.2013
Herds
And there were herds of various things, all in one viewfinder.
Dusty, Washington
photographed 9.2.2020
Mr. Machlied’s Cat
One of my main rules, especially when I’m photographing in a cemetery, is that I don’t touch or remove or rearrange anything.
But on September 2, 2020, I broke that rule.
When my dad was very old, living unhappily in an assisted living center, he prepared a list for me. It was titled Things I Want or Need or Both, and it included fourteen items. There were things he needed from the grocery store (“6. A box of some kind of crackers” and “7. 6 or 8 little ice cream cups”), a not-at-all subtle dig at the Affordable Care Act (“14. Do I really owe a sum of money to Covenant? Maybe this is my introduction to Obama’s ACA???”), the latest round in his ongoing battle with a nurse at the facility (“8. The return of my stolen Pill Minder”), and two things that absolutely broke my heart. The first one of these was “9. An answer to my daily morning prayer, ‘Dear God, please let this be the day you take me home.'”
And the second heart-breaking item was “4. A black and white kitten.”
And that’s why, when I saw this, I had to know whose grave was decorated with a cat.
It’s the final resting place of Lawrence Machlied (June 1, 1926 – April 17, 2003). Mr. Machlied, my dad, and black and white kittens were on my mind the rest of the day.
Dusty, Washington
photographed 9.2.2020
One Day | One Image 