I’m looking for a vintage Sheaffer Triumph fountain pen.  I used to have one and it was a wonderful pen to write with – beautiful nib with a great feel.  Could find anything on ebay lately, but I’ll keep hunting.

Do any of you use a fountain pen?  If you don’t, you should try one – you’ll find it’s a great experience.

This advertisement is from 1954.

And you thought vodka was for drinking only…

1. To remove a bandage painlessly, saturate the bandage with vodka. The stuff dissolves adhesive. (Really? – one for the bandage one for me!!)

2. To clean the caulking around bathtubs and showers, fill a trigger-spray bottle with vodka, spray the caulking, let set five minutes and wash clean. The alcohol in the vodka kills mold and mildew. (Fill the spray bottle, spray onto the bathtubs showers, caulking etc. and then spray some in your mouth while you are waiting the 5 minutes).

3. To clean your eyeglasses, simply wipe the lenses with a soft, clean cloth dampened with vodka. The alcohol in the vodka cleans the glass and kills germs. (Try this at the office!)

4. Prolong the life of razors by filling a cup with vodka and letting your safety razor blade soak in the alcohol after shaving. The vodka disinfects the blade and prevents rusting.  (Also makes for an interesting morning!).

5. Spray vodka on wine stains, scrub with a brush, and then blot dry.  (Suck up both the wine and vodka with a straw and have the party all over again!)

6. Using a cotton ball, apply vodka to your face as an astringent to cleanse the skin and tighten pores.  (I also apply it to my throat with ice in a nice bar glass)

7. Add a jigger of vodka to a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo. The alcohol cleanses the scalp,removes toxins from hair, and stimulates the growth of healthy hair. (To Hell with Rogaine!)

8. Fill a sixteen-ounce trigger-spray bottle with vodka and spray bees or wasps to kill them.  (The bees will appreciate the effort and will not sting you – but ask for more)

9. Pour one-half cup vodka and one-half cup water into a Ziploc freezer bag and freeze for a slushy, refreshing ice pack for aches, pain or black eyes.  (Add lime-aide and you have a refreshing after-school drink)

10. Fill a clean, used mayonnaise jar with freshly packed lavender flowers, fill the jar with vodka, seal the lid tightly and set in the sun for three days. Strain liquid through a coffee filter, then apply the tincture to aches and pains.  (Shit, just drink the vodka and aches/pains will subside)

11. To relieve a fever, use a washcloth to rub vodka on your chest and back as a liniment.  (See #10)

12. To cure foot odor, wash your feet with vodka. (Whiskey/Tango/Foxtrot!!)

13 Vodka will disinfect and alleviate a jellyfish sting.  (If only the beach patrol in Volusia County FL understood this!!!)

14. Pour vodka over an area affected with poison ivy to remove the urushiol oil from your skin.  (Ahh – yes, the dreaded urushiol oil – Drink the vodka and scream with pain, I say!  Someone will come and piss on your leg – ((uric acid)) )

15. Swish a shot of vodka over an aching tooth. Allow your gums to absorb some of the alcohol to numb the pain.  (Repeat every ten minutes til the tooth dissolves)

For any of the above – in these times –  I wouldn’t reach to the top-shelf stuff.  I do believe and I spend time when I’m in the liquor store – looking for vodka that is made from potatoes.  If its from GRAIN – of any sort – its just grain alcohol! and is as good as SU2000!

Working with some additional features of Adobe Elements that I hadn’t pursued before.  This was originally a silver Corvette – now I’ve created something different.  Looks a bit more luxurious I think.

Happy Halloween!

In the early morning rain, with a dollar in my hand
With an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand
I’m a long way from home, and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with no place to go

Out on runway number nine, big 707 set to go
But I’m stuck here on the ground where the cold winds blow
Well the liquor tasted good and the women were all fast
There she goes my friend, o she’s rolling now at last

Here the mighty engines roar, see the silver bird on high
She’s away and westward bound, high above the clouds she’ll fly
Where the early rain don’t fall and the sun always shines
She’ll be flying o’er my home in about three hours time

This old airport’s got me down, it’s no earthly use to me
Cause I’m stuck here on the ground, cold and drunk as I might be
You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain

Still working with some post-processes.  I took this photo at The Village in FL in 2008.  Just playing around with some of the Adobe techniques.  These two guys look like they’re reliving their youth a bit.

This is the Rod and Reel pier on Anna Maria Island.  Snapped this past August and then I played around with HDR technique.

The temperature here in Florida is beginning to come down just a bit.  It was around 85 degrees this afternoon.  This photo was taken this summer on Anna Maria Island – these two chairs – gazing out over the beautiful water toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

For reference, these two chairs are on the very sandy tip at the bottom of the island in the photo below.  As you can see, this is a magical place.  Skip Disney and come visit sometime – you won’t regret it.

I’ve been practicing some post-processes on selected photos lately.  Getting instruction from all the fine folks out there who take award-winning shots of just about anything.  I made some mods to the vintage Porsche that I post a few weeks ago.  I think I got some decent results.  But I need to get rid of the car in the background.  As ADG would say — Onward!

I love The Fresh Market.  I took some photos there a month or so ago and the manager asked me kindly to stop.  So I did.  But I was able to work some post process techniques on some of the goods.

I’m doing a photo assignment at Scott Thomas’ blog http://stphoto.wordpress.com/ .  The topic is WATER.

I chose this photo because I thought (ready for this) the water was wetter!  If you can imagine such a thing.  I hope the photo shows what I mean.

I had my  camera out today and went cruising around the city of Winter Park.  Stopped in a few places, had some lunch.  This one particular spot gave me pause.  I snapped quite a few photos in the area.

How many faces can you find in the trunk of this tree?

How many faces in the tree?

The neighborhood

Do you supposed some spirits got stuck in the tree and never made it to heaven?  How do we get them unstuck from the tree???