End of September

Symbols of Faith

I just realized how long it has been since I have written anything here. Don't know where the time goes.

September has been pretty busy. One activity has been preparation for the Magazine Committee meeting in Tampa - pulling together statistics on page counts, advertising, etc. Another activity has been preparing for the Manuscript Central meeting. That's going to be critical since we have to move ahead, and to do that we need to make some decisions. And the history thing has finally come to a decision point - Tony has decided that he can't continue. I have asked someone to think about stepping in as his replacement, and in the meantime we are using articles from guest authors.

Linda and I have taken a few day trips. One outing was to the Crane's Museum in Dalton, MA. Its a very small place, and doesn't take much more than an hour to see everything that it has to offer. We also drove up to Crown Point on Lake Champlain. That was a nice trip - we discovered a neat little chapel in a cemetary just outside Ticonderoga where I made some pictures that I think are going to be especially nice. The objective of the trip was to go to the ruins of the old English fort at Crown Point - we got there, and I was able to expose one sheet of film, before we had to run to the car to avoid a vicious thunderstorm. But by the time we got back down to Lake George, everything was calm again. Stopped for a late lunch/dinner at the Algonquin.

Tomorrow we are going to drive up to Lake Placid. The last time we were there must be at least 20 years go. The colors are starting to change in the north country, so that will be a nice trip.

Today was my once-every-three-year "adventure in fiber optics". Obviously, we have to wait for results from the biopsy, but the doctor is optimistic that everything is continuing to be OK. I really dislike the process, but I don't know which is worse - the preparatory work the night before, or probing for a vein for the IV.

Also, GE has asked me to come back on a part-time basis as a consultant in a quasi-Chief Engineer role for the projects business. I sat through a design review or an SSR filter project a couple of days last week, and am expecting to review the design report next week. And I have an e-mail requesting comments on the design of a synchronous condenser project that I need to respond to. I've tried to make it clear that I want to make a contribution where I can, but I don't want a full-time job. Time will tell how that works out.

This is another Pt/Pd print. This one is on Crane's 90# Cover - Natural, and was done with warm potassium oxalate developer. The scan can't begin to show the tonal range in these prints. I still haven't found a place to buy the paper short of ordering it from Crane's. Fortunately, when we were at the Crane's Museum in Dalton, they gave us a couple of writing tablets that happen to be 32# Kid Finish - Pearl. So for now, I have that to work with, and it works quite well.