The countdown's on ...

... Self-Portrait ... January, a year ago, almost ... Tripod: Kristie Stiles ...

Ghosts of New Year's Past ...

... 2009, to be exact ...

The Setting: A honky-tonk bar in Conroe, Texas ... around Christmas time ...

"... some drunk's idea of a joke!? Somebody! Please! ... Remove the 'dang' red thing from my snout!"

In Texas size matters ...

"I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people." - Rodney Dangerfield

Waltz across Texas with you ...

"When we dance together my world's in disguise it's a fairyland tale that come true
And when you look at me with those stars in your eyes
I could waltz across Texas with you ..."

"Swarovski couch" - Christmas 2008, Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, Transylvania

Laced with 14K gold leaf (some) and Swarovski Crystals, these couches give a new meaning to the word “overdone”.  They will not only make you look like a porno star from the 80s, they will set you back $20,000+ ...

Copşa Mică, TX USA

A Houston White Christmas

Santa will climb down this chimney tonight

Spotted ... In Bushwick, Brooklyn ... One fugitive colonel, Muammar el-Qaddafi

Must have eluded U.S. Passport Control checkpoints, the TSA, the INS, NYPD, CIA, the Feds ...

Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA

... so, yet again, I am a bit behind ... struggling with Chronos because he "... Waits for No One,"and other things happen, and I photograph voraciously ... and so on, and so forth ... Enough!!! ... Let's pick it up from where I left it ... on my way to Richmond, VA ... 

It must have been the heat ... They own and run "Major Heat League" there in July ... and the heat can do funny things when steam rises from the asphalt, infiltrates one's nostrils, and reaches the brain ... As I was saying, we're in Richmond, VA, on a very, very hot day ... and so it happened that we stumbled onto Monument Avenue, and a big guy, on a big horse, at a major intersection ... I looked up and what I saw was straight out of the rabbit hunting scene in "Sexy Beast" ...

Driving South to Richmond from Johns Hopkins ...

... Outside: 101 degrees!!! ... Measured! - on the hood of the rental ... Abandoned 95 South at Exit 161 for US1 (billed as a Historic Drive on road signs ... Strip malls and housing developments as far as the eye can see ... Rivals the drive to Teterboro from Manhattan, sans condos built on battle fields) ... Heavy rush hour traffic, so inched by street signs with names like "Confederate Court" this, and "Confederate Circle" that ... ha, ha ... We stayed focused, though, looking for an ice cream parlor, or a Dairy Queen on the right side of the rod (we redrew the Mason-Dixon Line ... new coordinates: North-South ... No U-turns, or left turns) ... By the time we finally found gratification we were "Vis a Vis Exit 148" ...

Summer travels are ephemeral. So many summers, so little time, ...

... but for copious encounters with folk who tell a story of hope: "Young Couple in Front of Their First Home, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., DC, July 17, 2011" ... a bit of Grant Wood, Gothic not ...

Muammar Muresanu Muhammad Marius al-Gaddafi ...

... would like an exit strategy ... Tucson, Arizona would provide anonymity ... A tenured professorship at U of A ... "Political Coercion 101" (fall semester) ... "Political Conversion 102" (spring semester) ... Relocation from desert to desert, basically ... "Guest Starring" on In Plain Site could also work, as well as relocating to Albuquerque ... There's a university there, too ...

P.S. Muammar Muresanu Muhammad Marius al-Gaddafi would like to thank Mr. Dracole Sr. for telling Mr. Dracole Jr. to tell Mr. Muresanu Sr. to start blogging again ...

"Snuff Movie Night" ...

... last Saturday of every month at the White House ...

photo: "by whoever was not watching the movie this past Saturday"

Recovered

MarBlogo has been dark for a while because I needed to recover ... after going to a "Texas wedding" ...

The weekend kickoff: My favorite 80s "New York wedding" joke:

What are the three biggest lies about a New York wedding?
1. The church is air conditioned.
2. The bride never looked better.
3. Money doesn't matter.

Let's go backwards:

"Money doesn't matter."

The End

"The road goes on forever, and the party never ends."

On to the After-Party ...

And then it was time to go ...

Everything all of a sudden was very funny ...

... or Intense!

The booze began to flow ...

... more booze ...

I was thirsty ...

I got busy ...

The bride got into it ...

... She really got into it ...

The bride's dog was unruly.

The church was air conditioned.

The bride never looked better.

It's spring in San Francisco ... meanwhile in NYC Raul is showing his fall collection ...