Gravityquest

Recently while on vacation in the High Sierra with my hot girlfriend we came upon this ancient artifact. The workmanship, though rudimentary, is superb. Clearly this totem wielded much power and the craftsman* responsible for spent hours laboring over it’s every detail. I can only wonder what sort of ritual it was used in.

*The craftsman was some sort of bug. This really is just a piece of wood I found on my sister’s wood pile while we stayed with her on vacation. The Sierras are absolutely amazing and you should definitely go see them if you ever have the opportunity.  This picture was taken and manipulated all entirely with my iPhone.

I hadn’t been to New York in a long time. I had never been there on a trip like this. I was there on a business trip for a very unique training opportunity. It afforded me a chance to live the Madison Avenue life for a couple of days.

I made this image on my first lunch break entirely on my iPhone. Considering the crowded sidewalks and misty rain I’m reasonably happy with how this turned out.

I really hope I can make another trip and have more time to spend just taking photographs. There is just so much to take in.

I don’t know if anyone is even following this blog anymore. The site has been down for a pretty good long while following an error on my part which jacked things up. I let it slide for a while because I have been busy living life and honestly just did not know how to fix the problem. Well, I figured it out and *poof* we’re back. Live and learn.

I hope to be putting more content here regularly, also check out www.morethansmoke.com if you have not been over there. That site will be about booze, food, cigars and anything else that gets consumed, craved or enjoyed. I intend to do some more regular posting there as well. I am also starting things up on Google+ if you haven’t had enough of me already.

Tonight I met a wonderful old Merchant Marine. He was a crusty old guy with salt water in his veins and the weathered, ruddy skin of a waterman. Out of his well worn wallet he shared pictures of the things he prized most. His kids, his wife and the fifteen foot, nine hundred and fifty-seven pound shark he caught in North Carolina.

We swapped stories of time spent on the water and laughed at each others corny jokes. Truthfully, he did not remind me directly of my father, but he did make me think of him by being of a similar breed. Jovial, Southern and raised on salt water. There is redneck, there is Southern and there is waterman. They all collide somewhere but they are all different. I am happy to have a bit of each in my blood but the waterman seems to run the deepest.

The bumble bees were out in force today patrolling my mother’s flower beds. They were working at an industrial level. They didn’t even notice me shoving the lens in their faces. It was a great day for me not to be so busy for a change.

I am still working on the site. I am moving away from just putting up photography and will be making blog posts and also putting up some poetry on occasion, in case you hadn’t noticed. I have added a page link at the top (called photos) that will go to galleries. No pictures are there yet but that should be changing soon. Please check back or subscribe for updates. I have also enabled commenting. I am using a new system for this and I am not very familiar with it so please let me know if you have trouble or if anything seems broken. You can email me directly by using my first name (Michael) followed by the @ symbol and the name of this website to do so. Sorry if that seems a bit cryptic but it should help prevent me from getting tons of email from all of the robots out there.

Please feel free to follow me (GravityQuest) on Twitter. If you do, please take a moment to let me know how you found me there. That would be another way to let me know if you see something here that you like or if something here is broken.

Thank you for taking the time to look around. I hope to have things straightened out here soon but this site always seems to be a bit of a work in progress. I guess that is what makes it fun.

I lay here naked and exposed
The storm doing to me what it will
Rain beating my chest
Lightning blinding my eyes
Thunder deafening my ears
I am without defense
And without care
My senses dulled
My memories fading
Save one

I lay here naked and exposed
The day doing to me what it will
Sun beating my chest
Light blinding my eyes
Wind deafening my ears
I am without defense
And without care
My senses dulled
My memories fade
Save one

I remember the man I used to be
The thoughts doing to me what they will
Past beating my chest
Dreams blinding my eyes
Heart deafening my ears
I am without defense
And without care
My senses dulled
My memories fade
Save none

My recent fascination with cigars actually has it’s roots deep in my past. My first cigar was purchased when I was about 17 years old. A friend and I took a trip to New York City. This was my first significant trip without my family. It was my first trip on an airplane and the first time I went to NYC.

We thought we were very grown-up and mature. My friend and I roamed around the city and took in a few sites. We ended up at the Dunhill store on Madison Avenue. I’m not sure you can get further away from Lynchburg, Virginia. In we strode, two teenage boys from “down south” trying to look sophisticated enough to be where we were. I am sure that, try as we might, we stood out like the bumpkin tourist kids we were.

I remember not having much money but desperately wanting to seem like I did. I had learned earlier in another swank store that asking how much something costs was a sure way to blow our cover. “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it!”, my slightly older and more worldly friend had hissed as he jabbed me in the ribs. With that knowledge I was a bit disheartened to find that there were no visible price tags in the glass display case that I had wandered up to.

The case was full of various tobacco products and paraphernalia. I lusted over a couple of solid gold lighters as I fondled my own (t)rusty zippo. I knew better than to even dream of asking to see one of those. I am sure the sticker shock would have sent me running into the street. I was soon approached by a very distinguished older gentleman. He was only a bit aloof and his perfectly groomed handlebar mustache was completely intimidating if a bit amusing. However, he was patient enough to assist me and soon guided me towards a small tin of Macanudo Ascot cigars. I don’t recall the price but the tin was very luxurious in my eyes. Gold and white with medals surely touting what a fine purchase I was making. The package was such a sharp contrast to the packs of Marlboro’s and pouches of chewing tobacco that were so very prevalent amongst my peers back home. With rumpled bills I paid the man who bid me “Good day sir.” as I collected a pitifully small amount of change. My friend and I were on our way.

Back on the sidewalk I was anxious to smoke one of these treasures. Of course no one had taught me how to go about doing it. After pulling one from the tin I bit one end off and lit the other with little ceremony. A couple of puffs and of course I inhaled just as I would one of those plebeian Marlboro’s. Needless to say as mild and smooth a cigar as those Macanudos probably were, I learned the hard way that inhaling was not the way to go. Once the spasmodic coughing had ceased I proceeded to smoke the rest of the little cigar much more cautiously while trying to recover my dignity.

I can’t say that I was hooked on cigars at that point. I don’t think that I ever finished that tin. Our trip was over and we made the journey back home the following day. There really is no place for a teenager desperately trying to fit in with his classmates to smoke cigars. Anything other than good old American tobacco, whether smoked or chewed, would do back home south of the Mason-Dixon line. However, the experience of walking into that store, the elegance of everything involved in that process planted a seed. That purchase, and that trip, were some of my first experience as an adult.

Now, years later, I have learned so much more about luxury. I have developed a palate and acquired a taste for finer things from art to wine and spirits and yes, cigars. I have learned that it isn’t about consuming the product or making the purchase. Although there can be reward there as well, it is typically fleeting. Luxury is about savoring the experience. Whether you enjoy a good cigar or not I hope that you can appreciate all that goes into creating these masterpieces. There is culture, politics, art, hard labor and family all rolled into them. The story of each brand and even each blend can be a rich tapestry. “What is so special about cigars?”, you may ask. If you don’t ask, they won’t afford it.

This is a photo a took today at the Chateau O’Brien winery in Markham. They make great wines and it is a beautiful property. If you have the chance you should check them out.

I was having little or no luck getting YAPB to work again. I decided to chuck it at least for now and just try a different theme. It is not exactly what I want but it will work for now. I have not had much time to work on the site or photography lately. I will be moving soon and that will be taking up a lot of time for a while. I apologize if you are subscribed to the feed and have been getting spammed with update/changes today. I hope to make up for it soon with more for you to see.