pictures of Stuckey's

It was late September 1999. My usual route south to my mom's was washed out courtesy Hurricane Floyd. So I took I-64 east toward Williamsburg VA to a back route I knew to the Jamestown Ferry.

Along the way, there was a Stuckey's.

Angels sang. Pralines were purchased. That's more or less how it was in those days . . .



No interior pics, but I seem to recall wood beam rafters and wood paneling. (Might've been praline-induced reveries . . .)

I've just sent these pics along to Stuck on Stuckey's, a cornucopia of info on the once great roadside chain.

[UPDATE Nov. 2008: SOS has since gone offline. But like many other old sites, it has an archived version now available on the Wayback Machine. The dead link's been fixed.]

Haven't been back since--no idea if the building stands now or what. I only know it's not listed at the Stuckey's official site.

Aunt Mimi on the road

And in the front yard.

A homespun video I shot this afternoon of Steve Malatesta (right) & Derm Whittaker (left). Together they're called Aunt Mimi and they're caught in medias res singing the Buck Owens tune "I Don't Care".

gathering light

Long exposure photos of the trumpet player at the Maria McNeil Group show last night.



Why just the trumpet player/trumpet? Two words, in mock caveman tones: trumpet shiny . . .

(And let me add, in Stone Age syntax: trumpet player good, band good . . . )



Shiny indeed--lit up like Xmas.







Pics of the whole band on unterkayness.

termite control

A favorite bit of neon from the MA Route 9 strip.

Hard not to imagine banks of equipment and serious folk in lab coats exerting their radio command over vast termite populations.

Or maybe it's the termites at the helm? (Watch out Georgia-Pacific . . .)

If that's so, like Kent Brockman, I welcome our new (?) insect overlords.

If not, please await further instructions from CONELRAD.

turkey hen & chicks

Prevailing with the woodchucks is this hen with her three chicks.

Not the clearest pictures, but below you might pick out the third chick on the far side of the hen.


And here the hen spreads her wings.

rolling in clover

Neighbor Dave in the midst of his mowing the field next door left a patch of clover standing. Closeups below:






and pushing up daisies--here are some of the daisies Dave left up:





And folks here are all in favor of the dandelion:

Eyeballs & Eels

Video of parlor rockers The Loved Ones live at the Middle East upstairs, Cambridge MA, 6 May 1993. Part of a telecast hosted by the Wrong Hero.

Performing here without a safety net (or PA):

Dale Kutyna--singing & strumming

Greg Binns--snare & ride

yrs truly--eelectric guitar

More Loved Ones here and here and here and here. And here.

On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_65wbxxzyg

Originally posted on unterkayness.

Egypt Lane, alt version

Yes, another version of my homebrew music video.

What's different?

Changes made in the video in verse three ("Sun's shining down on the bay . . ."). A shot inserted to break up the long shot there.

Originally posted on unterkayness.

On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcp0PKdCufE

Chucky prevails

Our resident woodchuck, Chucky, had a bit of a close call couple days ago with a coyote. My wife noticed the coyote stalking Chucky, and not pausing for a photo opp. (i.e. no pics of said coyote), we chased him off.

Later that day, I noticed Chucky was walking the stone retaining wall out back as if to the strains of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" or the theme from Exodus.

The next day, yesterday, I saw that Chucky had bigger reasons to celebrate, two little Chuckies. One is scampering with the elder chuck in the silent video above. You'll find some glimpse of both of them in the photo below:



UPDATE: There are indeed not two but four little Chuckies. Video below of the foursome and the elder hanging out:

Figaro, regal cat with the common touch

As my brother put it: Figaro, beloved friend and Maine Coon cat, died.

Figgy, Big Fig--he went by many names--shared a house with my niece, my sister-in-law & my brother. Fig was 18 years old. A lordly but sweet fellow who'll be missed by many.





[Originally posted on unterkayness.]

recent view of Egypt Lane

The footage of Egypt Lane seen in my homebrew music video is Super-8 film shot about 10 years ago. The video above I shot yesterday.

The demolition of the Atlas Tack factory, the excavated soil and such are all part of an ongoing Superfund cleanup. While things may not look the same as 10 years ago, hopefully the project will make this a cleaner and healthier environment.

Franz Kline cornstalks & other flora

Franz Kline who? More images from VA visit back in May.


Kinda Kline-ish below . . .


Other flora . . .