Polaroid of a barber shop in Manchester, Connecticut. Taken yesterday, using an old Polaroid Land Camera 250.

South Beach, Florida.

Working on the set of On A Scary Scary Street for Walter Wick's book On A Scary Scary Night, artist Randy Gilman is placing a prop. Walter's books are beautiful constructs of imagination and wonder, and each year millions of fans all over the world are eagerly awaiting his latest dreamscapes, follow Seymour's adventures, and always have their minds boggled. My kids grew up with the I Spy books, and now we all cheer for every new Can You See What I See adventure. Thank you, Walter, and Happy Birthday to my best friend. http://www.walterwick.com/cys_sn_street_bts.htm

Nara, Japan. Before you enter the Great Buddha Hall at Todai-ji, you can pay respects to Pindola Bharadvaja (in Japan called Binzuru), one of the four Arhats (disciples) asked by Buddha to propagate Dharma, the Buddhist law. Over the centuries the number of Arhats increased to sixteen. In Japan, Binzuru is one of the most popular of all Arhats, and he is revered for his magic and occult powers. Wooden sculptures of Binzuru are always burnished and worn from touch, as it is custom to rub the part of his body to the corresponding sick part part of your own body which will subsequently heal.

Grain Growers, Inc., Montana.

An old man is walking down a street in Segovia, Spain. This is what I love about Spain, France, Italy, things happen on a human scale and pace. Wherever you are in the Mediterranean, you will see people stroll down a boulevard, have ice cream in a plaza, or discuss soccer and politics while walking down a Calle, or meeting for coffee in the piazza. Towns and cities are built for people to live and walk in them, and were only later adapted for cars. Where the car takes over as the prevalent mode of transport, human interaction suffers. We cannot all live in Venice, but I sometimes do dream of the days without cars, either in the past, or the future.

Florida. Everyone stops at what they're doing to look at the little old lady walking to the store.

A Chevy in the driveway and a Dodge in the backyard, this old house in Multnomah County, Oregon, is a beauty.

Wentworth Chevytown in Portland, Oregon.

Across the street, the dealership still looms large, casting its shadow in large letters.

One of the most beautifully rendered hands in the history of art is depicted in this detail from a painting by Orazio Riminaldi (1586-1631, born in Pisa) Daedalus and Icarus. Of course I am biased, as the painting is housed at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut -my workplace, and furthermore, I have cleaned and restored the work a few years ago. The painting is currently on exhibition in Rimini, Italy, together with other Baroque masterpieces from our collections, among them Caravaggio's St. Francis in Ecstasy. Riminaldi -like so many other painters in the 1600s- was very much influenced by Caravaggio, and he emulated Caravaggio's chiaroscuro beautifully and successfully. Extremely close to Caravaggio in style and technique, he painted nevertheless in his own distinct manner.

Towne Storage Building, Portland, OR.

When I read The Royal Palm Hotel, I immediately think of blue sky, palm trees, turquoise water, and a Mojito in a hammock. The good people in Chinatown in Portland, Oregon must have had something like that in mind when they named their hotel, but somehow the connection to the South Seas got lost in translation...

Postcards from a cross-country truck trip.
First stop, albeit only for a change of planes, is Denver. After that, Portland, Oregon will be the point departure for the mother of all travel adventures: 3 days and 3 nights nonstop on a huge truck, 2 drivers, fast food at the Flying J, Pilot, TA, one shower, and sightseeing from the cabin or at truck stops. Out of necessity, most of the pictures posted will be from Portland, OR, when my brain had not turned to mush, yet.