Category Archives: Typecasting

To Fix a Car

I currently own a 1997 Mercedes that I bought from an old lady ten years ago. The car has 110,000 kms on it, which is nothing for a car of this quality, or so one might assume. I figured we’d drive the car into the ground, which could take another 50 years at the rate we use it. But wait, it has now become next to impossible to find a mechanic willing and able to work on that “old” model of Mercedes. One mechanic advised me to scrap the car. Mechanics say this is an old car, but I suspect that the problem is that they have been trained to repair modern cars, which requires the reading of codes to diagnose problems, as opposed to the days when a mechanic had to actually think. The job of a mechanic used to require problem solving, which modern training seems to have rendered obsolete. Truly a metaphor for the modern age!

1973 MGB – so easy to repair!

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Filed under Poetry, Technology, Typecasting, Uncategorized, Vintage cars

Dusty Old Farmer

Is there such a thing as a Farmer Poet?

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RV Park, Tillamook

Dairy cows, Tillamook, Oregon

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Yellowstone Memories

1000 miles away and long ago we visited Yellowstone National Park, but the memory of the place is indelible. If it wasn’t so damned far away I’d go more often.

A genuine Yellowstone bison

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Filed under Painting, Poetry, Travel, Typecasting, Uncategorized, Wildlife

Water, Falling

Myra Falls, Strathcona Park, BC

Water, Falling is a pun that appeals to architects… Here are couple of old waterfall photos from my archives.

Niagara Fall 1961, Kodak Brownie Starmite
Yosemite Falls 1983 (a pair of architects)

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Filed under Great Hikes, Painting, Poetry, Typecasting, Uncategorized

On the Road, 2023

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Filed under Poetry, Sketching, Typecasting, Uncategorized, VW Vans

On the Road, 1970

Painted a couple of days ago – acrylic on 16″ x 12″ canvas board. I have a vague memory of my father painting this same scene 50 years ago. I guess he thought it was picturesque, too.

We scramble up to the top of Mt Temple and wrote our names on a slip of paper that we found inside a small metal box jammed under a rock. I took a few pictures and we left in a hurry as there was a big dark cloud coming our way.

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Hot Day at the Swimming Dock

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Meet You in St Louis

St Louis Square, Montreal, from a photo taken in October 2000. St Louis was a common name for places in Quebec; I once lived on St Louis Street, near Lake St Louis. King Louis IX was a pious and relatively enlightened King of France who abolished trial by ordeal, expanded the Inquisition, and persecuted Jews, thus making himself eligible for sainthood. A model Christian king.

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Filed under History, Painting, Poetry, Typecasting, Uncategorized

The Flying Florentine

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Filed under Painting, Photography, Poetry, Typecasting, Uncategorized, VW Vans