last fire of the season

Martin Prothero

Martin Prothero does these.

crab

hedgehog

frog

cricket

centipede

worm

about his process:
"The materials are carbon and glass. The glass surface is coated with thin layer of carbon (from a flame) and time and care is taken to make sure this is uniform over the entire surface. ... Then, keeping a close eye on the weather (rain, frost, wind and dew can all ruin the delicate carbon surface) I choose a good time to lay the plates out, normally over night, in the hope of recording some tracks.The animals’ feet lift off this extremely sensitive layer of carbon as they come in to contact with it. This leaves the finest details traced in the opaque carbon, which is then revealed when the glass is backlit using daylight or a lightbox."

and here's a link to his gallery, where there are some cool pinhole photos too.

residential snirt heaps

related: toward a new geology, trash vortex

one-channel television lures hangarful of Amish into 21st century. others still holding out for flatscreens, digital, smarter cars, colder fusion

once the Quakers started making Vanilla Yogurt Crunch cereal, something like this was only a matter of time. the Heat Surge electric fireplace is what comes of merging Chinese engineering, Amish craftsmanship and the cleverness of the American businessman. and the best thing about bringing these rubes on as board members is they accept as fair barter the placard from last season’s trade expo kiosk.
“yes, Amos. that’s correct. it’s one’a those giant checks.”

OK, I see how posting this in mid March makes me the old retired couple who leaves the Christmas stuff up well into tulip season. but I’m a sucker for fire on the TV. old man Barnum doesn’t even need to trot out the elephants and I’m already on my feet waving my $547 cash in the air. so, to those with links to fish without faces, my apologies for bringing down everyone’s property value.

this sort of thing has been on my mind more than usual lately, probably since I went to hear Wendell Berry when he was in town a couple weeks ago. also, last month Kevin Kelly posted some great observations on Amish hacking on his blog The Technium. of course you can always visit youtube for more fire on TV, then go full screen.

month of Sundays

good Lord, if there were ever a day
to lose an hour then it’s today.
maybe yesterday: a dumb, mute post
where I’m still trying to tie the other end
of this long long hammock. laundryline.
prayerflags. a fine mess, actually.

let the worm gear skip
the waterclock sputter
popping cinders, and a carousel of tinctures
and oils. ounces, inches, cartoon octopi
he
mat
o
crit

I’ll tell you now. how it all went down, a siphon
one hundred gallons of warm, dawn-colored water.
over this concrete threshold, these steps, and into the brown
leaves, to thaw and awaken the crocus and the chives.