Power to the People!! or not...

You know it’s not a good day when one of your streets looks like this:

And there are utility workers standing around conferring

And one of the close by intersections is crammed with more trucks

And, in fact there was trouble. On the way to the digs, there is a smallish hill at the bottom of which the road bears left. Most of the dwellers around here tend to “cut” it if there is no oncoming traffic. If there is, and you must stay in your lane (or do it anyway because it is the right thing to do) you need to be going fairly slowly. If, at the top of the hill, you closed your eyes (not recommended) you would go down the hill and drive straight into a power pole. I’ve always wondered about the placement of that pole, but they didn’t ask me. Well, yesterday for whatever reason, a car did essentially that. Was not there, but heard the SUV ended up on its roof, and the pole was sheared off. Don’t think anybody was injured, but about five minutes before MFO left for Wisconsin our power went off. That was about 8:30 or so. The road was closed at that intersection most all day, with power finally being restored about 3:30 in the afternoon. Fortunately, the weather was such that it was only an inconvenience. I have never seen so many trucks and equipment in one place.

In driving in and out, I chatted a bit with the person manning the pylons directing you onto another street. He told me that on top of everything else, when they bored the hole for the new pole, they bored straight through a water main, much to their surprise.

Funny thing about power outages, I can’t tell you how many times I flipped a switch yesterday. Anyway, things are fine today and we have a brand new pole standing proud

.........just waiting for the next time…




You’re On the Air….

This was going to be the headline today until the power incident pushed it off the front page. On Wednesday, a friend alerted me to a talk show on WAMU that was to be about food photography. Intriguing thought, photography on the radio. Our FM radio couldn’t do well with the airwaves, so I resorted to the “listen live” option. One of the talk show hosts there is a Kojo Nnamdi (another is the more renown Diane Rehm). His show that day was called: “Say Cheese” and featured phood photographer Rachel Tepper, and a food stylist Lisa Cherkasky. I suppose some find Mr. Nnamdi entertaining but I thought he was a bit unctuous. Anyway, they did talk about photographing food, some of the “tricks” used by the stylist, and the ethics of shooting food in restaurants. Apparently some restaurants are asking people not to (“it’s just food for God’s sake!), while others encourage it “take all you want and publish everywhere”. Two edged sword there, as bad pictures don’t do much for publicity. Ms. Tepper says she lugs along her big Canon and will take up to 20 shots of a dish. Not often, but she does do it. I don’t think I learned much, it was interesting but kind of shallow. I did find out she uses a macro lens.

But what really drove me nuts was the use of another of my pet peeve words (a la “yummy”, “you guys”, etc.) as they talked about restaurants and chefs. They repeatedly referred to them as “restauraNters”. Arrrrgh! By now the readers who have stuck around the Feeder long enough know the word is “restaurateur”; there is no N in the word. It is unfortunately used in its bastardized form enough that it is becoming common. But, it is my mission to stamp it out and use the correct form. Finally, I had enough! Although I am accused of “hiding behind my keyboard”, I actually sprang into action and dialed the “800” number. It was almost at the end of the show, but the screener answered and asked if I wanted to be on the air. Yes, I said, I have a question and a comment. What is it? And I told him I wanted to ask about the angles the lady used most for food, and then said I wished to point out the correct form of the word. Okay, he said, I’m not sure I can get you on, but we’ll see. While "on hold" you hear the show over the phone. To my amazement there was a click and Mr. Nnamdi said let’s hear from “Bill from California, Maryland”. With a non-quavering voice I said about the question and the comment, and then asked about angles she uses for food photography. She said she pretty much likes three quarters (there were some of her shots on the web), but also does vertical, kind of depends on the food. Good question! What’s your comment? I just wanted to point out there is no N in restaurateur. Oh yeah, I think that’s right. Thanks, Bill!

So I struck a blow for us!!!!  FIght the good fight!

Roadster

Last view yesterday of MFO and her MOMSTER  headed for Wisconsin

SITREPS from the road are that things are going well, although she did report that our usual RON spot in Richmond, Indiana which is about 45 miles from Indianapolis, charged 50 more bucks for the room. Wonder why that was??

First Friday tonight in Leonardtown, if you go

DFD