September 2010 - Difruscia Photography

Website: http://www.difrusciaphotography.com/

I would like to introduce to you Patrick and his wonderful photo gallery called Difruscia Photography. My friend Rick from Rick Cate Photography turned me on to Patricks site, I in turn had to share Patricks excellent work with you all. Please take a look at his work and let him know how much you enjoy his work. Now it is time for the story telling to begin.

The night seemed calm except for a light breeze and the smell of salty air. Off in the distance we could see the flashes of lightning as it lights up the tops of the clouds. The storm appears to be heading off to the north so we have no worries of bad seas. The captain calls down to get our rest for the night. I turn down the blanket and climb in bed, the rest of the crew is shuffling about as they to get ready for the night’s rest.

I’m awoke by the sudden urge that most men over 40 experience in the middle of the night. I stumble out of bed, put my feet on the cold metal floor, my body gives an uncontrollable shiver. I stumble mostly asleep to the head to relieve the pressure, arm resting on the wall as my head bobs trying to stay awake. I suddenly realize that I am not hearing a familiar sound, the constant steady hum of the powerful diesel engines are silent. I reach for the light switch, nothing happens as I try the lights.

A little more awake, I stumble in the darkness back to my bunk to get myself dressed. I open my squeaky locker door and fumble around for my flashlight, trying to not disturb the rest of the sleeping crew. Finding the flashlight, I point it to the floor and head topside to investigate the missing sound. I pass several bunks and notice that they all appear to be empty and neatly made with nothing out of place. My mind begins racing as I swing the light from bunk to bunk only find no one around and nothing out of place. Panic setting in, I run to the stair leading topside.

As I get to the top of the stairs I slowly poke my head above deck and look around, not a light to be seen, not even the bridge. There is a mist slowly drifting across the desk, reducing the visibility to 15 feet or so. I hear no sounds that would suggest any crew members were on deck. The only thing I can hear is water lapping at the side of the ship. I start to whisper names of the crew....Sergey.....Morgan.....Gill...Captain, no reply. I start to speak louder....MORGAN... CAPTAIN... still nothing. I emerge fully from the stairwell to walk the deck slowly, looking for signs of the crew, any sign of what might be happening.

I walk the length of the ship, checking the Bridge and the galley only to find I am alone. The life rafts are all intact, what happened to everyone, why am I the only one here, why are we adrift. I go back to the bridge to check the captains log to see if he left any clues as to the goings on. The logs showed our last position just prior to our lights out time, we were still 4 days from Crete. The cargo of food was still in tact, the anchor appears not even to have been attempted to be lowered. I am alone on the ship and have no idea what to do from here. I slowly sink into the captains chair and stare out the window at the thickening mist, I lay my head on the maps in front of me to think for a minute to forge a plan......I hear the sound of someone using the head, my head snaps back in the realization that its me using the head... whew that was weird, every one is in there bunks sleeping. I climb back on my bunk and drift off to sleep.

I suddenly slam forward from the captains chair and roll upon the desk catching myself before slamming into the windows of the bridge. We hit something, I shake my head as though trying to wake up. I open my eyes and look out over the deck, the mist is gone and the sun is shining brightly. The ships appears to be listing slightly starboard, the ship has run aground. There appears to be an Island a few hundred yards away, seems like paradise. The sea appears to move all in one motion over the rocks in a harmonious rhythm, not the crashing surf, it’s calming and even seems to be calling me to come ashore. Wake up I yell out loud, pinch my arm, bite my lip so that it bleeds, opening my eyes only to see Im still alone.

I check over the maps trying to find out our position, there is no power and from what I can tell from our last known position there is not a island for at least 2 days. I could not have been out that long. I have been to most every island in these parts and this island does not look like any I have seen before. I have seen no signs that the crew left the ship for the island. Through the binoculars, the sand on the shore seem to be undisturbed, my head is still spinning in frustration and fear of the unknown. I have not seen another ship pass by, I see no other land on the horizon. I have seen nor heard any aircraft, no signs of life at all, just myself.

I spend two more nights on the ship gathering supplies, watching the island for any sign of life or clue. I throw a pack of supplies in to a life raft and lower it down, then another. I decide that I should take two rafts with me incase something happens to one, so I can get back to the ship. I slowly row my way to the island, keeping an eye on the shore for clues or any signs of the crew. I reach the shore and slowly pull the raft up out of the water, securing each one to a log so they don’t float away. Before the investigation of the Island begins, I turn back to look at the ship from the shore... I see the photo of the Ghost Ship.

Holding On: This photo totally reminds me of a song from Day of Fire called Rain Song

Bring rivers in this wasteland
Clouds into this sky
Bring springs of life into the wells that have been run dry

Rise up in this city
Gather in this light
Fall down on your people
Your glory and your life

Rain
Lord we thirst for water
Rain
We are desert Land
Rain
On your sons and daughters
Rain
Bring your rain again

Speak dreams into this water
And vision to this land
That oceans be divided
And bring forth life again

Rise up in this city
Gather in this light
Fall down on your people
Your glory and your life

Let the tide roll in
Washing over our lives
Let your water fall again

Bring rivers in this wasteland
Clouds into the sky

Bring your rain again
Let your water fall down
Bring your rain again now

Patrick,

You have been given a wonderful gift and  I certainly appreciate you sharing that gift with all of us. I am very impressed with your eye for detail and can appreciate the time that it takes to wait on the light to be perfect. You have spent many hours working on your photography, learning how to see light and capture it perfectly. Your work is truly a wonder.

Thank you again,

Thats all for now.. God Bless.

Freak Alley

Hello all,

Sorry I have not posted in while. Have not had much to say as of late.

The kitties are doing good, they still run when we come home from work. They seem to be doing pretty good other than that. There new thing is to wake Shawn up at 5 in the morning, ernie meows until she wakes up and pets him and Oscar will put his paw on her hand. We are both please that we got them. This photo is of them laying up on top of their cat tower. Oscar is the closer one, you can see that Ernie has his leg around Oscars neck. They both fall asleep like that a lot.

A few weeks ago, Shawn was out of a job for a few days. There was a big reorg at work that left her boss as a individual contributor with no need of an admin. Her boss reached out to another team’s boss to see if they needed an admin. Luckily they needed someone so Shawn was able to fill that position. She was a bit nervous there for a little bit, wondering he she had a job and even if the other boss was going to want her for the position. Luckily the new lady was already on board with shawn moving right in and working for her.

Rick joined Shawn and I at the Kuna day fireworks show. We both brought our cameras to try our hand at capturing some firework bursts. We parked right across the train tracks and had a splendid view of the fireworks. There were times that the fireworks spread out in the sky right over the top of our heads . We were to close at times to actually get the whole blast in the shot. But we both as it turns out got some great shots.

We were also joined by My friend Mark Owens. We have not hung out in a while so we got to catch up a little bit. Also there was Jake, Michelle, and Mark from our favorite breakfast place, the Griddle.  I really didn’t talk to much to anyone once the show started and the photo shoot began. One again Kuna put on one great firework show

Shawn and I have also been on a few shoots together. We took a trip to Idaho Falls to see the Air show. The Blue Angles were there, along with some pretty nice acrobatic aircraft. The Angels put on a pretty good show, the flew nice and tight groups and did what they do best, show off. There were some nice looking older WWII aircraft, like the P51. There were a lot of people there and that made it difficult to get any shots of the aircraft on the ground. I think my favorite plane there was the f16 because it is much louder and very maneuverable. I love the high speed flybys that just shake the ground, what a blast!

On the way home from Idaho Falls we stopped off in Arco Idaho to take a tour of the first nuclear power plant. Shawn read just about everything there was to read at the palace and can now tell you how nuclear power works. I took a lot of photos of while could, it got a little crowded once I started taking photos, funny how that works. We also stopped off in Mackey Idaho, an old mining town. We toured around a while and saw some pretty cool old buildings and got a few nice shots. Mackey is a place that we will have to go back to and take some more shots.

I will try and get back into the blog groove.

Thanks Shawn and Rick for the fun!

Well that is all for now. Until next time

God Bless

This Gallery is dedicated to the street art of Freak Alley in Boise Idaho.

Website: The Griddle in Merdian Idaho

We have had the very good fortune to meet almost everyone that works at the Meridian Griddle.  I think “wanna have a piece of pie” Sarah and Abe were the first two  we got to know and talk to.  Then came the always smiling Chelsea and the watch collector Jacob.  We got to meet and talk with the owner Dave and got to sample the ever so tasty imported vanilla malt.  I’m pretty sure we have met most of the masters behind the scenes, otherwise known as the chefs - Joe, Juan, and Arellio.   Chris, Meagan, Zach,  Gus, Nate and Danica are the rest of the friendly crew.  If I have left anyone out or misspelled a name, let me apologize in advance.  There is always something special about going to your favorite place to eat and an honor when you’re made to feel like part of the family.  We thank you all for taking the time to make us feel welcome.

The Griddle is a family owned and operated business. You can find the Griddle in Meridian and Eagle, Idaho, as well as Winnemucca, Nevada.  If you’re in the neighborhood I recommend you stop in for a bite.  Check out their website for more information and history.

“The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawarely enslave themselves.”

"A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic"

(Dresden James, Author)