PBW: DisOriented

Walking in to town for lunch on Wednesday, I noticed a gaggle of the elderly struggling in vain to open the doors to the local post office. Normally I might have kept walking until they figured out that the post offices were closed in honor of the late President Ford, but something inspired me to speak up. Speaking up isn't in my nature, and a lifetime of embarrassment and ridicule has ensured that. But that isn't a healthy way to live, and perhaps in the spirit of the new year I was sparked to go against my instincts.

“IT'S CLOSED BECAUSE OF FOR--!!” was all I got out before one of the women got the door open, and they shuffled inside, comically getting jammed as one man cast bewildered looks back in my direction before adjusting to move on in single file. As one of my friends pointed out, the lobby was probably open so people could access P.O. boxes. The door really was just stuck.

I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

Of course last year I ended things on a much quieter note, deciding to spend the last day of 2006 with a long drive. My intention for the latest Photo Blog Wednesday was to play some tunes and roll East until I ran out of road. There I would shoot the Orient Point lighthouse and return to a place I had been years ago with my folks. I thought it would be good symmetry since I already had shot the Montauk Lighthouse a month prior. As it turns out, Long Island's South Eastern tip has the more impressive structure, and while I did capture the lighthouse, an arriving ferry, the moon, and a baffling mirage that seems to be a floating island, I was more thrilled by what I saw on the way out there. I'll elaborate in a moment. First, here are the Orient shots:









They are nice images; I'm not too modest to admit. But if it seems late in the day, it's because about halfway to my destination I glanced over and saw a fighter jet looming over me on the side of the road. I screeched to a halt on the shoulder, and backed up until I was lined up to enter the parking lot to the Grumman Memorial Park in Calverton. I had no idea it existed, it wasn't where I was planning to go that day, but suddenly I was walking around airplanes grinning like a child, which may have made the parents of the actual children there a little nervous. But I'll let the plane--yes, the plane--explain things:



Perhaps now it's clear why I was smiling, although I'm not sure why the plane sounded like High Pitch Eric. We may never know. Enjoy the rest of the photos!