Althouse: At the Frozen Creek Alehouse.

February 6, 2009

At the Frozen Creek Alehouse.

Make footprints with Althouse.

Talk to me!

71 comments:

Simon said...: Mint ice cream and a glass of red wine. Happy friday, all. :); 2/6/09, 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Played scrabble and boggle with a new romantic interest. He won at both, which inflates his ego and mine -- his for winning, and me for dating a winner. (Plus, I got points for more elegant words, even if they weren't point-winners, so we feel like nobody lost.) Really the ideal Friday evening for me.; 2/6/09, 9:43 PM
Chet said...: “I love Updike’s writing so much I can barely read it. My eye falls on a sentence. My mood has already improved. I slam the book shut. Another sentence may do me in. Still, I read on, and my mood goes vaulting upward yet again. This isn’t reading; this is drinking. I read him in order to become ebullient. Those extra words he plunks into his sentences, the unusual images, the way that everything seems to shimmer, his habit of dissolving each new visible thing into microscopic radiant glints of God knows what—every last over-the-top element of Updike’s prose has the effect of lighting me up.” —Paul Berman; 2/6/09, 9:44 PM
RLB_IV said...: Reminds me of Midwest winters long ago... the only thing missing is the footprints of a woman's high heel shoes in the snow... holding her sable coat in her hand as it brushes the ground... the movement of her hips in that little black dress. Memory is a wonderful thing...; 2/6/09, 9:45 PM
Hazy Dave said...: The ice will be getting thinner again, tomorrow. Thankfully.

I started watching "No Country For Old Men" tonight, but stopped after the first 50 minutes or so. Not in the mood for a movie that makes me tense and releases adrenaline. "Slumdog Millionaire" was slightly adrenal, but also somewhat cartoony, so much less stressful. I may try to watch the rest of it in daylight hours without all the surround sound...; 2/6/09, 9:54 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: I saw the movie Coraline. It had a steady stream of parents walking out with their children during the entire showing. I think what did it was the spider/demon/woman that kidnapped children, then gouged out their eyes and sewed buttons over the holes.; 2/6/09, 10:02 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I almost watched "No Country for Old Men" tonight too. Instead, for some reason, I watched an episode of "Autopsy," the one with JFK, OJ Simpson, the Romanovs, and Sid and Nancy -- a bizarre grab bag of celebrities. I was making soup at the same time as I was watching coroners explicate blood spatters.; 2/6/09, 10:11 PM
chickelit said...: Which creek:
(a) Wingra?
(b) Yahara?
(c) Pheasant Branch?
(d) Starkweather?
(e) Tenney Park Lagoon?
(f) none of the above.; 2/6/09, 10:12 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm listening to Weather Report.

Man were they something! I never cease to be amazed at how their music hangs together.

With any lesser musicians it would stall and come flying apart.

If you're fooling around with iTunes tonight and you don't have any Weather Report, I recommend you start with anything on Heavy Weather or Black Market.; 2/6/09, 10:12 PM
chickelit said...: I'm listening to Weather Report.

Love The Pursuit of The Woman with the Feathered Hat

That just reminded me that that's another song about women and hats.; 2/6/09, 10:18 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I just happened to run across a blog post of mine from 2006 where I'm wearing those red shoes.; 2/6/09, 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Just poured a rum and cream soda (is there a name for that?), sat down, read the headlines on Yahoo and Drudge, then slipped over here. No ale for me, please, just rum, thank you. The Puritans called rum "God's good gift." Smart people, them Puritans were (are? are there any left who would label themselves such? Congregationalists?).

Haven't commented much the past month. Been swamped at work (that's a blessing these days, eh?). The collection thus far in the comments are Scrabble, dating, movies worth abandoning, Updike, and winter memories with a hint of sexuality...then I have to bring up work.; 2/6/09, 10:21 PM
chickelit said...: those red shoes

I'm sure you did a post with that exact looking down angle photo. I remember the orange socks and the carpet too.; 2/6/09, 10:23 PM
Anonymous said...: More topics appeared as I was typing. Weather Report...yes. When I got home, I went downstairs and played around with some Little Feat grooves on the piano before going on-line.; 2/6/09, 10:26 PM
Hazy Dave said...: I had to try another obamicon, having a fresh image to work with. The expression seemed to be quizzical, so that was just the first question that popped into my head. Well, the second, but that's just cuz I had been studying the old polaroid, too.

I prefer the New Year's Eve red shoe picture to the close-up version, which seems to demand socks with horizontal blue and yellow stripes, for some reason...; 2/6/09, 10:30 PM
Revenant said...: What's that white stuff on the ground? Is it ash? Has there been a brush fire?

I'm so confused. :(; 2/6/09, 10:35 PM
Hazy Dave said...: Jaco Pastorius was not my favorite bassist, but his talent and influence were undeniable. Little Feat's "Long Distance Love" has some of the best-recorded bass guitar available. The stuff Phil Lesh played on David Crosby's "Cowboy Movie" is pretty amazing, too. ("A song, like a woman, needs a firm bottom end.") Jack Casady rules. Andy Fraser is underestimated, in Free, and especially the first Sharks album. Okay, can't ramble indefinitely, but John Entwistle must be mentioned, too, especially since I'm among the select few that know how to spell his name correctly.; 2/6/09, 10:39 PM
reader_iam said...: @Chet: Yes! Can't believe someone posted that grrr-eat passage. Personally, just for me, speaking for my own self, I DON'T read to become ebullient--but otherwise, and nevertheless that quibble, how marvelously connective, and connecting ... .

***
***

Also, while I'm here, and with regard to ANOTHER of your posts/comments threads (on in which you participated):

FWIW, Althouse, I saw those shoes and in much less than an instant thought due to the inexorable pull of familiarity of that previous photo 'n' etc.; 2/6/09, 10:45 PM
Anonymous said...: I've honestly never been a huge Jaco fan. The guy had talent oozing from everything he did, that's a given, but it just never clicked with me. Victor Lamont Wooten, on the other hand, wow that guy can play. Entwistle carried The Who. Moon was a maniac, but couldn't keep a steady beat. Everything bounced off John's groove.; 2/6/09, 10:47 PM
Hazy Dave said...: Equal to the lack of noise and hiss, the ability to reproduce bass with clarity and power is one of the great achievements of digital music media. There's a a series of albums by Renaissance where the bass guitar, classical influenced piano, and Annie Haslam's clear and beautiful voice blend into an amazing whole. (They even used to play Renaissance on the radio in Madison, Wisconsin!); 2/6/09, 10:54 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: @Althouse

I like the way that Flickr lists the make/model of camera you used for each picture. Is this on the level or is it some cruel joke on those that admire your photos?; 2/6/09, 11:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Bushman Why would it be a joke? That data is uploaded automatically. That's definitely the make and model of the camera.; 2/6/09, 11:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Phil Lesh is.....well....what can you say. The entire Crosby "If I could only remember my name" set is really great stuff, even today.

I agree with other bass references.

Rennasaunce: there are few voices like Annie's. Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill of The Bothy Band (Irish Folk) comes to mind, but not many others do.

Regarding bass players, and this may surprise you'all, but I have to say that I think Verdine White of Earth, Wind, and Fire was/is quite amazing in his genre.

Now listening to Dave Grisman Quintet (the first 1977 set). Still fresh.; 2/6/09, 11:22 PM
TitusGivesHugstoAll said...: I didn't care for No Country For Old Men. I rented it over Christmas and watched it with my parents-they did not like it.

They saw Gran Torino last week and liked it a lot. My mom said it had a lot of swearing.

I saw Juno tonight. I hadn't seen it before. I thought it was great. I absolutely loved it. Ellen Page was so good. Love her. I actually loved all the characters. The script writer was originally a blogger!; 2/6/09, 11:38 PM
JAL said...: The shoes travel.

http://tinyurl.com/theredshoe; 2/6/09, 11:38 PM
JAL said...: Or at least one of them has.; 2/6/09, 11:38 PM
Palladian said...: Hey! I photograph those shoes the first time I met Althouse in person!

"I like the way that Flickr lists the make/model of camera you used for each picture. Is this on the level or is it some cruel joke on those that admire your photos?"

Most digital cameras embed EXIF data in their images, and Flickr optionally displays EXIF data on photo pages. Here's the EXIF data for one of my photos. I usually turn the display of EXIF data off on Flickr.; 2/6/09, 11:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, that's a pretty expensive camera, Palladian.

I remember that old picture of our feet. Funny that I had those shoes on. And I'm glad to see them with the white socks, which is what I wear with them 90% of the time.

Taking pictures of feet is mainly just something you do when you feel like taking a picture. It's one of the first things you see.; 2/6/09, 11:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, that's a pretty expensive camera, Palladian.

I remember that old picture of our feet. Funny that I had those shoes on. And I'm glad to see them with the white socks, which is what I wear with them 90% of the time.

Taking pictures of feet is mainly just something you do when you feel like taking a picture. It's one of the first things you see.; 2/6/09, 11:58 PM
JAL said...: See Palladian, someone does look at your photos.

Maggie was really sweet in the head shot (and looked snug - not coo--ooo--ld -- in her towel.)

And you had some other nice stuff too.

And of course --

an Althouse shoe.; 2/7/09, 12:01 AM
chickelit said...: I found the earlier red shoe post I was trying to remember.

Wheew.; 2/7/09, 12:01 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: I like using my iPhone to take pictures. It's great for portraits and nature shots. Close ups, like pictures of food don't come in well, but I can geotag them, which is useful.; 2/7/09, 12:06 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: When you upload photos to Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, etc., without running them through some kind of post processing and re-saving them, the exif file is preserved. However, if you re-size the photo or adjust it otherwise, exposure, contrast, saturation, etc, in Photoshop and then re-save it using Photoshop's "save for web" feature Instead of the clickety click regular save, then the exif file is forfeited.

Macs have built-in exif viewers. Drag 'n drop the image file to the desktop, ctrl/click on image, select "get info" from drop down menu, select "more info" for information about camera, color space, focal length, ets., if that information has been preserved.

It always makes me a little sad when the information is not preserved, because how's a guy supposed to learn about lenses and focal length without it? Trial and error, that's how.

PC uses can download Opanda for an exif viewer to work with Internet Explorer, also FireFox has an add-on exif viewer.

Presently I'm torn about what my next lens is going to be. I'm awfully partial to macro and Nikon has an excellent one. Owners rave. They're especially impressed with the Bokeh effect associated with 105 f2.8G VR, (the gentle blurring of the edges around the subject in sharp focus). I really like that short focal depth.

Then there's the ultrawide, another favorite. So impressive that Canon owners bought adaptors to use this Nikon lens. Its cost is prohibitive for anybody but serious photographers. Twice the cost of the camera, and three to four times that of the macro. Do you realize how many times I'd have to sell by bod on Capitol Hill for that?; 2/7/09, 12:14 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Palladian, I love your Flickr photostream.; 2/7/09, 12:26 AM
Palladian said...: Chip, I use the 60mm Micro Nikkor AF f/2.8D for macro (and other) photography. It's wonderful. The 105mm f/2.8G VR... eh, I don't need VR.; 2/7/09, 12:29 AM
Palladian said...: "Palladian, I love your Flickr photostream."

Thanks Chip. I think you'll love the food and kitchen photographs I'm going to upload soon :) I have over 40 thousand photographs in my archive (both digital and film). I need to step up my uploading.; 2/7/09, 12:31 AM
Palladian said...: I really want a macro lens for my Leica M8, but the Leica 90mm f/4 Macro-Elmar, together with the necessary adapter and angle viewfinder is $3295. Sigh. Leica has 4 price points: 2000 dollars, 3500 dollars, 6000 dollars and $∞.; 2/7/09, 12:38 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: I like how snow cleans things. First when it falls and hides everything, then when it melts and you can see how it's crushed everything that's old and dead. Soon new growth is everywhere and you really feel like the entire world is getting a fresh start.; 2/7/09, 12:48 AM
Beth said...: Last night I covered my porch plants with sheets because of a light freeze. Tonight it's in the 50s, and rising. It should be wonderful parade weather for the start of Carnival.

The good mood made me splurge at the grocery and I bought a pound of jumbo lump, blue crab meat, from the Gulf of Mexico. We had it on a bed of mache, shaved fennel, and romaine, with chunks of celery, green onions and tomato. I made a remoulade for dressing.

The pound of crab meat cost $25! But it was buttery and cold and chunky; just perfect. A treat.; 2/7/09, 12:55 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Beth,

That salad sounds good all by itself! Now I want fennel.; 2/7/09, 1:02 AM
Beth said...: Jason, I had forgotten all about fennel, for years, and just decided to try it again. Now I put it in salads all the time. It helps to have a mandoline to cut it thin. I have a plastic, cheap one I got years ago at a dollar store, and it's one of my favorite things.; 2/7/09, 1:05 AM
Hector Owen said...: For some unknowable reason, I have always remembered the lyrics of "Footprints in the Snow" as being about Annie. Now that I look around at the recordings, I find it was Nellie all the time. Oh well. Clarity of lyrics: McLain Family Band. Bluegrass classic: Bill Monroe and the Blugrass Boys. Protostar: Buddy and Bob, Buddy being Buddy Holly at age 16. It's an old man's song, as you can tell by the third verse. So that makes it a question: Did Buddy and Bob never make it to the third verse because they were young? Or because their home recording machine ran out of media before they were done? A home recording in those days would have been made on a disk-cutting machine.; 2/7/09, 1:06 AM
Beth said...: Palladian,

I followed your flickring and I'm in love with Maggie.; 2/7/09, 1:14 AM
blake said...: James Bond's wrecked another car.

His insurance premiums must be dreadful.; 2/7/09, 1:40 AM
Hector Owen said...: Bond is a (British) government employee. If he can write it right on the expense account (and you know he can), it's all on the cuff.

Nobody lost any money on it, either: James Bond’s wrecked Aston Martin DBS bought for $350,000.

If we're thinking of the same car. Then, some people just don't know how to drive in snow.; 2/7/09, 2:58 AM
blake said...: This was a...hell, I don't know, a 1965 Aston-Martin? In truth, I think Auric Goldfinger would be liable.

But how many cars would you have to wreck before your explanations started to sound dubious?

"Look, Mr. Bond, we're going to need you to sign this rider about mad scientists and evil overlords."; 2/7/09, 3:52 AM
Hector Owen said...: The Goldfinger car was a DB5. A "5" looks a lot like an "S", especially when you're handcuffed to an "atomic device."

Considering that Bond saved the world every time, I'd be inclined to let him have as many cars as he could wreck. Still much more thrifty than this here "stimulus," or even Britain's regular defense budget. And Bond, you remember, is a man-sized package of stimulus all by himself.

An Aston Martin DBS, according to the article I linked before, costs about $233,000. An F-35B STOVL, the new Joint Strike Fighter, comes in at $122,000,000. Apiece! That's 533 and a fraction Aston Martins to one airplane. Bond wins on thrift! So Bond is saving money for the Queen the whole time, you see?; 2/7/09, 4:50 AM
blake said...: Hmmm. So you're saying we should drop missile defense and invest in suave secret agents?; 2/7/09, 4:57 AM
Hector Owen said...: If you want to save the world on a budget, heck yeah! Stealthy assassins, David vs Goliath, subtlety! Wasp tactics. Suavity not required for Wasp tactics, but, if there's a few shillings to spare, why not.

Depends on the nature of the foe and the existential toughness of the struggle. With Bond, the foe is always totally depraved, so everything short of killing the pretty girl will be all right. One, two, many Aston Martins, into the breach, God save the Queen.; 2/7/09, 5:18 AM
Hector Owen said...: More seriously: what CIA and NSA call HUMINT. HUman INTelligence, meaning people on the ground, in the place you want to know about, who speak the language, can mingle with the populace, bring back the real story. As opposed to SIGINT, ELINT, and IMINT. Bond's a HUMINT kind of guy. He gets close to the people he's interested in, rather than standing off at a distance and intercepting their messages or watching them through binoculars or satellites.

Sometimes he gets close enough to swipe their cars, and wreck them.; 2/7/09, 5:36 AM
blake said...: WASP tactics, you say?

So, biting, dry sarcasm and exclusion from our various clubs and parties?

That could indeed be devastating.

Also, somewhat more seriously, I wonder if the shifting of focus to a less civilized enemy reduces the level of interest in spying. I don't imagine one wears a lot of white suits and sips martinis while playing golf with supervillains in Tehran.; 2/7/09, 6:12 AM
ricpic said...: Suicide Creek

Wander down to suicide creek,
Walk its ice and snow;
Dream of finding what you seek
In the dark below.; 2/7/09, 6:13 AM
Ron said...: hmmm...I missed all the night strolling...What's for breakfast?; 2/7/09, 6:58 AM
Deb said...: Yeah, who's cooking the pancakes?
That picture reminds me:
A long time ago I lived in Alaska for a short time. I arrived in the middle of winter to a dark and frozen world. I had never experience anything like it, having been raised in the south. I had no idea. The winters are so desolate that the summers seem even more beautiful by comparison--if you can ignore mosquitoes as big as elephants. It was hard to leave because I thrived on the two extremes even though I was only there a short time. I came back home to suffer through heat and humidity and I still wonder, 30 years later, why I left (regardless of the killer mosquitoes).; 2/7/09, 7:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Using my expert detective skills I can determine from the photo that a man was walking his dog and the dog apparently was using a walking cane.; 2/7/09, 8:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Palladian "I have over 40 thousand photographs in my archive (both digital and film). I need to step up my uploading."

May I suggest that you set up a blog with a plan to post one (or at least on) photo a day? This way you'll have a motivation to proceed with the upload -- a task so bid it needs a one-day-at-a-time strategy. And it will be a really cool blog that we will all want to read. I want to link to it. Email me if there is any aspect of this you want to discuss.; 2/7/09, 8:27 AM
Meade said...: ricpic, man, you freak me out!; 2/7/09, 9:08 AM
ricpic said...: Thanks Meade for what I think is a compliment. Ya know I looked at that photograph and thought -- suicide. God knows why. Then to get to the final poem took about four false starts, but no ones supposed to know about the effort involved in an effortless poem.; 2/7/09, 9:17 AM
Meade said...: It was most definitely a compliment, ricpic.
And I am one who does know the effort it takes to achieve seeming effortlessness.
Thanks for making it.; 2/7/09, 9:36 AM
Ann Althouse said...: typos:

at least on = at least one

a task so bid = a task so big

Sorry.; 2/7/09, 10:16 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Do I need to remind everyone again: Don't kill yourself? You'll be sorry. Strike that. You'd be sorry if could be.; 2/7/09, 10:18 AM
chickelit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/7/09, 10:56 AM
Ron said...: Do I need to remind everyone again: Don't kill yourself? You'll be sorry. Strike that. You'd be sorry if could be.

Everyone overvalues you, if you place no value on yourself.; 2/7/09, 11:22 AM
George M. Spencer said...: James Whitmore, RIP

Tap dancing at 1:31

Spitting at 0:49; 2/7/09, 11:48 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: @Althouse and Palladian,

Thanks for the information on Flickr. I'm in the market for a new digital camera. I want to be ready when the spring flowers arrive. I noticed that Althouse uses several different cameras and I wanted to compare the image quality between the different models.; 2/7/09, 1:34 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Bushman I just have a small digital camera the size of a pack of cards, which I always have with me. Then I have a big SLR camera -- I could probably do with a better one -- that I carry when I expect to be taking photos. That's the difference for me. I've gradually been accumulating lenses for the big camera. I buy something that intrigues me and then I try to learn what it does by trial and error.; 2/7/09, 2:26 PM
Palladian said...: "That's the difference for me. I've gradually been accumulating lenses for the big camera. I buy something that intrigues me and then I try to learn what it does by trial and error."

Much better to invest in lenses than in a camera body. In the digital world, the camera body will be obsolete in about 2 years time but a good lens will last forever.

I just upgraded my digital Nikon from the D80 to the D90 and I'm extraordinarily satisfied with the body. It's a great improvement from the D80 and (perhaps of interest to Althouse) it takes High-Def movies– imagine the possibilities of a little video through your fish-eye lens.; 2/7/09, 2:56 PM
Palladian said...: Intriguing idea about starting photo blog project, Althouse. I'll be in touch for your advice :); 2/7/09, 2:58 PM
BJM said...: *Sigh*

My Gran wore Tabu and just seeing those photos brought back childhood memories being allowed to sit at her dressing table and cage a dab of perfume, or a poof of Coty face powder.

I haven't smelled Tabu for years, I guess it's gone out of fashion.

Thanks, Palladian.; 2/7/09, 3:00 PM
Palladian said...: "I haven't smelled Tabu for years, I guess it's gone out of fashion.

Thanks, Palladian."

Well the company that produces it, Dana, has just cheaped-up the formula so much that it's not quite the over-the-top oriental-type perfume it once was. But the good news is that because it was always inexpensive, it was enormously popular and therefore there are a lot of barely-used or never-used old bottles of it around. Find one at a flea market or on eBay that looks as old as mine, dip a thin strip of heavy paper in it, wait a few minutes for the probably damaged "top notes" to dissipate, then inhale and you can relive those memories.; 2/7/09, 3:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I just upgraded my digital Nikon from the D80 to the D90 and I'm extraordinarily satisfied with the body. It's a great improvement from the D80 and (perhaps of interest to Althouse) it takes High-Def movies– imagine the possibilities of a little video through your fish-eye lens."

I have been thinking about buying that ever since it came out. I've been contemplating buying a lens that is about the same price. I've been told the lenses will work much better -- that I'll get the full scope of the lens's view -- if I get a better body.

And I have been thinking about making film clips through the fisheye.; 2/7/09, 3:13 PM