Incredible Black & White Photos

I StumbledUpon this blog and saw some eye-popping photography, lots of surrealist suggestion, and definitely some digitally enhanced images by Chema Madoz.  I'd love to have all of these hanging on my walls, but seeing as how I only really have 8 of those, and they are covered in books, the Internets will have to do.

Poetry Alive and Well in Greensboro

My husband, Budd Wilkins, took these photos last night at the poetry reading hosted by Jordan Green of Yes! Weekly.  We had a wonderful time, and Budd also read an excerpt from his latest short story, Plush Life.  Clement Mallory and Ron Whitehead were mesmerizing and performed for an appreciative crowd.  The Blogsboro Team hopes to host some events like this in the near future, so stay tuned!  We would like to personally thank Jordan for his hospitality, and his wonderful poem.

Listeners 

Clement Mallory

Billy Jones reciting Carrot on a Stick

Our very own Billy Jones
Clement Mallory's amazing performance

Having a good time!
The "In-to Poetry" Crowd
Danny on guitar
Jordan reading his poem
Ron Whitehead
Ron Whitehead 

© Herbert L. Vaughn (click to see larger version)

What's The Best Present You've Ever Given?

One of the best presents I ever gave to someone was a digital camera, given to my former husband and dear friend, Herbert Vaughn.  Herb is a true, true nature lover, and a fantastic gardener, and he has used his digital camera to take innumerable pictures around his yard, and around my beloved grandmother's yard.  My grandmother was also an avid gardener, former president of her garden club, and she and Herb shared a great love of flowers.  When my grandmother was a resident at Moses Cone Extended Care, Herb would go to her house and pick flowers out of her garden to bring to her, which brought my grandmother so much joy in her final years.  He would arrange the flowers in vases or in wreaths, and he would photograph other flowers.  He found a way to transfer his digital photographs into a video slide show, and set it to some of my grandmother's favorite music, which was a sheer delight to her.  I remember so many of the nurses and aides at Moses Cone Extended Care who wanted Herb to become a florist for his flower-arranging abilities, and he would even make little floral wreaths for the staff, as he visited my grandmother nearly every day at a time when I lived out of town and couldn't always get to see her.  His love and care of my grandmother even after our divorce is one of the main reasons we have remained the dearest of friends. 

On this cold, cold day, I thought I would post two lovely pictures that he took in my grandmother's yard.  Above is a pink peony, and here is a wild rose that has grown from a bush that is at least 30 years old.

© Herbert L. Vaughn (click to enlarge picture)

When I count my many blessings, I always count Herb for his love of my family, his eye for beauty, his artistic abilities, and his kind heart.  And I'm so glad I gave him that digital camera.  You'll be seeing more of his beautiful photography here from time to time.

© Tom McDonaldPbase Photography Database - Let's Get Lost!

I discovered Pbase a little while back when I was researching some of my old antique cameras that I was selling on Ebay.  It's a giant maze of photographs, uploaded by anyone, and categorized into galleries.  One that I particularly like is from a gentleman who lives in North Carolina named Tom McDonald.  He shot some great photos of a bobcat in his backyard in Mills River.  Here's a link to his gallery. 

Each time you land on the front page of Pbase, a subject and a country are featured.  When you are visiting Pbase, you can also click on the "Popular Galleries" which sorts the galleries voted the most popular for the last 7 days, 90 days or all time.  One of the all-time most popular galleries is "Throughout Iran" by Ali Majdfar.  It is absolutely stunning.  Here's the link to that gallery - well worth a look if your impression of Iran is simply what you see on the news.

Pbase is a site where you can spend hours, days or nearly a lifetime looking at marvelous images.  Be sure to check out some of the macro photography that many people are doing.  My favorite thing to do is to surf through the Popular Galleries of all time section and vote for my favorites. 

Thanks to Tom McDonald for the great photo of his backyard bobcat above, found in his gallery.

Geese at Sunset in Greensboro © Herbert L. VaughnCanadian Geese flying over Holden Farms neighborhood at Sunset as photographed by my good friend and former husband, Herbert Vaughn.  I'll be posting more of his photography here.