Cover Page for Ireland Book
I also just posted 2 new articles from my Dad in View From Right Field – check them out!
I got the sad news yesterday after teaching a workshop at my college. I checked my e-mail before going to lunch and noticed a short note from my old High School buddy Gordon Sherland. “Harry is Dead.” What? Harry Bickmann! The guy I hitch hiked through Canada with in 1970 after graduating Holy Family High School and sunk a canoe with while paddling like a mad man down Skinner’s falls trying to save a cooler full of beer. The High School football star, the guy I cut school with, smoked cigarettes with in the bathroom between classes, played softball with those hot summer evenings in St. James (he could really kill that ball) and the guy I rode motorcycles with cross country from Long Island to L.A. in 1974. I also went to Las Vegas with Harry and lost all my money in 3 days playing Black Jack. Harry and I went to the same college in Old Westbury, New York. He was the big fraternity guy at New York Tech and I was the long haired hippi learning film and photography. 
Once he got involved in fraternity activities I didn’t see him much. We always had a special connection and I hate that he died at such a young age. Man…so many of my childhood friends are gone. It’s a reminder for all of us to live life to the fullest and try not let the little stuff get us down. I heard he was going through a divorce. I just wish I had a chance to talk with him before he passed – he posted to the blog a few times during the elections to my surprise – he loved this country and was a great guy and friend. I am posting a story I wrote about High School days on my Story Page and dedicating it to Harry. The following is an excerpt from that story – to read the entire story click here.
“Catholic High School was a whole new world for me. Students wore uniforms and stern looking nuns in long black habits roamed the shiny locker lined corridors in search of any infractions of the school rules. If a girl had her plaid dress hiked even slightly above the knee it was first a stern warning and then off to the Principle’s office if it happened again. Guys absolutely could not let their hair grow over their shirt collars although with long hair the style of the decade, we kept the nuns very busy – busting us for long hair on a daily basis. It got to the point where they softened their stand on the hair rule.
The bus trip to Huntington was more of a daily excursion – taking as long as an hour to get to school some days. I started to make new friends during those long bus rides. Friends that eventually pulled me away from my rougher neighborhood crowd. At first I kept to myself because I quickly noticed that many of the kids on the bus knew each other from other neighborhoods or had attended Catholic primary school together. I didn’t know anyone except Michael Scriber who lived behind me on Maple Avenue. He was a brainy geek who sat in the front of the bus so he didn’t count. I soon got acquainted with a few kids from the ‘dumb’ class who also rode my bus.
We took our role as dumb kids seriously and wore it like a badge of honor. Harry Bickmann and Pat Coyle were both in Group Sixteen and neither wanted to attend Catholic school either, but were in the same boat as I – they were given no other option. I quickly developed friendships with Harry and Pat who in turn introduced me to some of the other kids from their respective neighborhoods. There was Gordon Sherland, Eddie Warren, Linda Draghi, Liz Biccina, Kathy Hershe and Jim Morressy who all attended Catholic primary together. It wasn’t long before I was included in the silly antics on the back of the bus. The back of the bus was where the action was – where the cool kids sat and devious plans were hatched. We even sneaked smokes by lighting up under the seat, taking big drags and quickly blowing smoke out the window when the bus driver wasn’t looking. It actually got to be fun riding the bus to school. . In fact…it was one of the best parts of my day. There was always enthusiastic talk about the latest bands, songs and singers. All the girls were crazy about the Beatles – especially Paul McCartney. The guys liked John Lennon, George or Ringo, The Dave Clark Five, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.”
Glenn Beck read this letter (linked below) on his show last night and it blew me away. I was working out at the local Sports Center reading the closed captioning at the bottom of the screen on the TV suspended from the ceiling and I almost screamed out YES!!!
If you’ve not heard it I suggest you check it out! I think a lot of American’s feel her frustration and would agree with her. I mean…its all common sense. Something Washington is seriously lacking. Sure…there are a bunch of left wing radical leftists who wouldn’t, BUT what would you expect. She has me fired up! I don’t know about you, but I want my country back and it’s not going to be an easy fight pulling it out of the power hungry hands of the socialists that now run Washington. I’m talking both Democrats and Republicans. I don’t trust any of these spend and tax us to death politicians. Republicans in my opinion are worse than Democrats. They have no courage. No guts! In fact…in my opinion most Republicans in Washington are absolutely spineless. I’m sick and tired of the politics of appeasement. I want the freakin government out of my pocket and business. The people are going to have to throw them all out of office and start with a fresh slate of representatives who understand (and will govern by) the CONSTITUTION of the United States.
Click here to read the letter – comments welcome. Yea…liberal socialists too.
2. Be aware that your dollar in Europe is worth about 63 cents after you convert to euro and pay the conversion fee. You need to budget this harsh reality into your trip. Click here for converter.
3. If you have a digital camera or any other electronics (hair dryers) make sure you buy a converter for that particular country at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. If you don’t you will not be able to recharge your camera batteries or dry your hair.
4. Bring your bank debit card. Cash machines are plentiful throughout Europe and it’s the best and cheapest way to get euros. I suggest taking out more than less to limit your transaction fees.
5. Make an effort, no matter how feeble to learn a few words (greetings) of the language in the country you are visiting. Ireland and England are easy because they speak English, but if you visit Spain, Greece, France or Italy the people truly appreciate it when American’s make an effort to communicate in their language. It makes a difference in how people treat you.
6. Travel as light as you possibly can and if at all possible DON’T check baggage on planes – try and carry it on your back or with 1 medium sized carry on luggage. This will save you time, money and frustration if your luggage gets lost and also enables you to bypass baggage claim.
7. Always be aware of your surroundings as you travel – professional thieves and pick pockets are always on the prowl for unsuspecting tourists. Keep your wallet and passport in a safe place (front pockets better than back) and don’t go anywhere without your passport on you at all times. Make sure you make a copy of your passport and hide it somewhere in your luggage in case you do lose it.
8. Make an effort to sample the local foods when you travel. There are Burger Kings and McDonald’s all over the world 
now, but part of an enriching travel experience is tasting local foods.
9. Make an effort to explore the “out of the way places” where ever you are traveling. Every country has its tourists centers like Dublin in Ireland or Paris in France – the best photographs are found “off the beaten path” – away from all the tourists and crowds.
10. Bring plenty of extra film, batteries and/or memory cards with you. There is nothing worse than finding yourself in some beautiful foreign location and not being able to photograph because your memory card is full or your camera battery died.
Bonus Tip! Beer is always more expensive in the big cities and tourist centers throughout Europe. In fact…beer prices can fluctuate over 2 Euro’s depending on where you are. For example, at Temple Bar (Irish Music Hub) in Dublin a pint will cost you 6 Euro’s (you do the conversion) and that same pint of Carlsburg Beer in a village called Eyeries (Southwestern
Ireland) is 3.40 Euro’s. I don’t know about you, but this fact dictates many of my travel destinations throughout Europe. Same goes for England France and Spain.
Happy Traveling!!!
It seems like another lifetime when Andei was born. In many ways it was. Below is my journal entry from that day exactly 17 years ago – they grow up SO FAST! You blink and 20 years go by. Its so important to savor those times we have with our children. The older I get the more I realize this. One minute I’m holding her in my arms - fast forward and we are traveling around Ireland together. That’s why its so important to live life to the fullest and enjoy the journey, because in many ways it is the destination.
You just don’t think about your health until you have a health issue to deal with. Being forced to seriously “slow down” and rest this past week got me thinking about all the incredible blessings I have in this world. It’s amazing how we take our health and bodies for granted. Losing the use of my right arm after rotator cuff surgery has been an eye opening experience. It’s forced me stop and think just how lucky I am to have relatively good health at 56 years old. Just brushing my teeth with my left hand is a chore or putting on socks, taking a shower, buttoning my shirt and eating a bowl of cereal takes so much more concentration and effort. When you are going 90 miles an hour working, traveling and living life in fast forward you don’t think about the “little things” like what its like to lose the use of a limb or being in constant pain, terminally ill or bed ridden. Being confined to my recliner all week got me thinking about all the other things in life that I tend to take for granted. I have a great and challenging job teaching art and photography and running a distance learning program at Carteret Community College at time when a lot of people are out of work. My parents are still alive and kicking up on Long Island, I have a decent home, great friends who have reached out to help me this past week and 2 great children (Adam and Andei) who I love dearly and am so very proud of.
I’m going back to work today after being laid up for a week. It was good to take it easy recuperating all week. To contemplate those “little things” in life that we tend to take for granted. Sometimes it’s important to just STOP and count our blessings. Take a deep breath and remember how lucky we Americans are to live in a free country. We can’t take our freedom for granted either – it is something that could be lost if we are not diligent – something I thing many Americans do take for granted and if we don’t speak out against legislation that errodes those freedoms we will blink and they will be gone. Take a moment today to just breathe and contemplate all those blessings you have in your life. We tend to dwell on the bad stuff – I think it’s important to focus on the good as well – whether that be our families, friends, children, careers and our health. Ok…gotta go to work now.
I’ve been recuperating since Tuesday from rotator cuff surgery. 30+ years of intense competitive racquetball basically wore out my shoulder – it didn’t help things when I kept playing after I tore it. I go in for my follow up appointment this morning and soon I’ll begin physical therapy. My goal is to be playing some golf in about 4 months. I will most likely quit racquetball for good, although I’ve learned never say never. Keeping this post short. Difficult to type with my left hand only.
I’m enjoying Andei being here with me this summer. She started a job as hostess at a local restaurant “Ruddy Ducks” this week and seems to really like it. Its great having a light teaching and work load this summer. I want to get back to my book projects as soon as I get out of this sling. There are also a lot of issues on the political front that trouble me and I’d like to address, however for now I am leaving politics alone – my blood pressure has been high and that is one way for it to spike through the roof. This summer is for healing, working on some personal photography and book projects and basically rejuvenate my creative spirit. When things get weird and scary always remember…God is in Control. Oh…I know – it isn’t politically correct to say that these days.
cheers!
I’ve been back from Ireland a week now and have been enjoying my “light” teaching load this semester. I’ve been able to get some writing done and in fact the local paper (Carteret News-Times) published my article with photos about our recent Ireland adventures yesterday. James Minor did a great job picking the photos that best went with my article and journals, in addition to a super layout job. Check out this past Sunday’s paper – feature section to see it.
I got a lot done on my Ireland Photo Book this weekend as well. Just about got half (100+) of the photos sized and laid out using a variety of creative templates the “Blurb” online publishing company provides. Blurb is an excellent and cost effective way to publish your own book. Once I get the Ireland trip with Andei done I plan on doing another one of just all my travel images over the past 10 years. It’s a great way to put a very professional body of work together and even make it available for sale on the Blurb web site.
I go in for out patient shoulder surgery tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to it, but can’t put it off any longer. Its just going to continue to get worse if I don’t get the tear in my shoulder and bone spurs repaired. Hopefully I’ll be playing golf again in 4 months or so. At least that is what the doctor said if I am diligent with my physical therapy. May not be able to keep the blog up for a week or so – all depends on how much use I will have in my right arm and hand.
I developed my last roll of Diana camera film the other day. Here are a couple more B&W images I liked from that last roll. You never know what to expect when shooting and printing plastic camera images. These were some pleasant surprises. Two were taken in my front yard and the other 2 in Kildare, Ireland and the Japanese Gardens. I need to pour myself another cup of coffee and start getting ready for work. I have a lecture this afternoon on video editing and have lots to do to prepare for this surgery. Uhhg!
Andei Standing on Bridge at Japanese Gardens, Ireland - Love the Light on Her
Pin Hole Photograph of Small Waterfall at Japanese Gardens, Ireland
My Front Yard Late Afternoon - It was the Dappled Light that Caught my Eye on this Shot
The Image has a Weird - Ethereal quality to It
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