Another day…
I have always found this image fascinating. Gentlemen all posed for a moment during their work day. Over my years, I have seen many similar images. Men posed, stopped for a moment, paused in their labors.
A moment in time. Captured at Crows Landing, California, sometime in the year 1904.
The locomotive engineer reading his orders. The locomotive fireman atop the boiler, sitting next to the sand dome. If I had to guess, probably the rest of the train crew, conductor standing next to the cylinder and brakemen sitting on the pilot. And the gentlemen holding on to the cab hand rail, probably a station agent.
All captured by the photographer for this brief moment. After which, they all went back to the task at hand. Moving the train on to the next station stop.
The print I have of the photograph does not credit whomever captured the image. Nor can I explain how it ended up among other photographs in the collection of my great grandfather. As far as I know, he had no family near Birds Landing, nor did he work on this particular route of the Southern Pacific. At that time, he was a fireman, working between Carlin and Wadsworth in Nevada, along the original route of the Transcontinental railroad. It would not be until the end of 1906 that he would be promoted to locomotive engineer.
In this brief moment captured, there are tales to be told. I just lack the key that unlocks all the mysteries.
Looking back, looking forward
Ah, traditions…
2012 comes to a close, 2013 beckons with the promise of new adventures. Well, we hope, anyway.
As years go, this was one. Too many folks left us too soon. Many we will miss in more ways than we can count.
Some folks saw projects go well. Others? Again, 2013 offers the hope of new things. But isn’t this how we usually end the year?
On the whole, I do not have a lot to complain about. For me, 2012 had its up’s and down’s. Some things went as planned, others did not. I am still here and that always beats the alternative.
When I do take time to look back, I have to say that I have been very fortunate as the years go by. Plenty of great experiences with good people. Been to places and seen things that all have meaning in some form or another. Touched a few family memories and taken in the moments. And would love to go back for more.
That does not mean that I am done. Plenty of things I would love to experience. Places that I would enjoy exploring. And more than a few that would bring a circle to completion. One such would to be at Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary. As members of my family, including a great-great grandfather, saw the conflict from various points around the battlefield, to honor them by being there all these years later and remembering the sacrifices they made would be a privilege.
The list of things yet to come does not begin or end there. So much of my family history still to explore on all sides of the proverbial coin.
While I am at it, there are so many places and folks I would like to visit or revisit. Time or other restrictions may not allow all of them, but I think that somehow more than a few of them are still ahead.
Someone once said that it is not the years, but the miles that add up as we pass. I like to think that each one of them offers a moment worth remembering. Memories of the people who were there. And of those yet to be. Like a great vintage to be savored and enjoyed.
So, as 2012 sets sail into the sunset, may 2013 bring us all the hope and promise of things yet to be.
The magic isn’t gone just yet.
I get a kick out of reading the message boards of the major Disney theme park fan web sites. I really do.
Be it the misplaced sense of entitlement, outrage at the merest mention of change, descriptions of peeling paint and burned out light bulbs… all make for good entertainment. If you take the opinions expressed as such.
A couple of points that the denizens of these Internet spaces might do well to consider?
First and foremost, you are the minority. I know that may come as a shock, but on the whole, you don’t really add up to much. As demographics go, the folks who post on such boards are a pretty small group. Vocal maybe, but when it comes to being counted, not so big actually.
Second, whatever issues you may have, from that’s not what Walt would do to an unnatural love of churros or calling the parks your second home, you don’t do what really counts. That is, spend. Sure, you may buy the Southern California Select Annual Pass, and you may spend a good month a year in days inside the gates, but as a rule, you don’t part with more of the disposable income than the average tourist. A pin here and there does not add up to what the folks from Peoria spend during their once a year visit.
In other words, you are a bump, a very small blip on the radar.
Sorry to have to break this news to you.
Disney has always and will always rely more upon the good word spread by folks who visit the parks once a year. You know, the neighbors just back from that week long visit. Be it California or Florida, those people share what they brought home. Happy memories of a wonderful time. And they share it with others who probably will enjoy their own vacations. Merrily giving Disney all of that saved disposable income in return.
The folks who post pictures of the family trip on Facebook. Because unlike Las Vegas, no code of silence exists. Disney wants them to share. Makes it easy to do so, too. Let that Photopass album go to family and friends. Because the happy memories created will influence others to do likewise.
That is why at park opening families from around the world can be found waiting in line to enter the Parks. They come to share the Disney magic that others have told them about. And they experience it for themselves. This may be the only time they ever do so.
Smiles aplenty. Memories to be treasured. Still available every day of the year.
Worked for Walt and still does for plenty of folks all these years later.
Count me in, too.
There and Back Again
Well… I have taken the plunge, so to speak.
Into the era that is 48 frames per second.
Yes, I saw The Hobbit the other night. Only one of two people in the theater for a late afternoon viewing.
Being a fan of the novel and having enjoyed the extended versions of all three Lord of the Rings films, it was inevitable that I would do so. And I will undoubtedly see it again.
On the whole, I enjoyed it. But the whole 48 fps thing? It only stood out a few times. Only really grabbed my attention once or twice. I guess I will need to see the other two episodes of the story to decide if it really works. And of course, the extended versions of those films as well. I know of at least a few scenes we didn’t see that were before the camera. Especially about Hobbiton and the Shire.
Technology always keeps changing. As digital film making continues to march on, I suspect as audiences we will see and experience something new and interesting. At least, that is my hope. But a good story? It always wins out before new technology. Give me a tale that I can be engrossed in. Characters I can empathize with. If I can be transported elsewhere and forget world outside the theater, technology can be a help in that process but not the total package.
Folks have taken Peter Jackson to task for dragging out an amusing tale into three long films. Yes, the story is there and I am one willing to plant my butt in a chair to sit through it. Sure, I know how it ends. Would not miss it, however.
The problem, if there is one, lies in exposition. For those of us who are familiar with the story, we already know what to expect. We know the world in which the tale lies. For those who do not, the world must be created and explored. To leave this undone is more of a disservice than the time it takes to tell of it.
There are plenty of good stories I already know. Take for example, Mr. Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. Must have seen it on film/television a couple hundred times in all it’s various incarnations. The classic Alastair Sims performance. The biting cold of George C. Scott. Or the lively Patrick Stewart. Yet tonight, I am off to a reading of the story. Looking forward to the sharing of the tale. Expecting to be entertained by those taking up the challenge. And that is what it really is all about.
The Hobbit has much of the same for me. It is a comfortable tale. In the end, we all know that Bilbo ends up safe and warm, back at Bag End. The dragon defeated and dwarves again under the mountains. Since I was first introduced to the tale in high school (as have so many been) I have read the story many times. Each time I manage to find something new to enjoy. To me, that may be the best that can be said of any good story.
Count me in for the next two chapters of The Hobbit.
The Dickens you say…
Photo by Howard Gold, courtesy The Great Dickens Chrstmas Fair
2012 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of author Charles Dickens.
Known for many works, the best loved tale told by Mister Dickens is “A Christmas Carol“. From Wikipedia:
“A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens, first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge‘s ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation resulting from supernatural visits from Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim.
The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was both strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions and an initiation of new practices such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens’s sources for the tale appear to be many and varied but are principally the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.”
Friend Jim Hill took a look at many of the tellings of this tale in media that stir memories of Christmases past for many of us. This “Scrooge U” was an amusing look back at some favorites as well as some “undisgested bits” as the man himself might have described them.
San Francisco may seem an odd place to have a strong connection to Dickens tale. Yet since 1970, the Bay Area has been home to a bit of London as brought to life in the pages of this story. Over the years, a number of venues have taken on the spirits of the season. San Francisco’s Cow Palace has been the latest in these, with London visiting on the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party is a wonderful way to take a break and step back into the pages of Mister Dickens work.
Okay, so these livestock barns may be more than 5000 miles away from London and many years beyond those of the early Victorian era. But to the folks who call them London during the festivities, it is as much home as the holidays can be. Everyone from the many actors to merchants in shops to guests who choose to dress in their period finery all have a wonderful time here. And if you are in for a bit of holiday cheer, then you will find your self in the right place, too.
Don’t take my word for it. Come see for yourself! With two weekends still left to enjoy the Fair, there is plenty of time to discover all of the diversions that await.
And who knows what you will discover along the way? Meet Father Christmas or encounter Ebeneezer Scrooge. All in the pursuit of the good tidings of the season.