Well, here we are on a Vivacation in the land of sky blue waters, mosquitoes the size of small aircraft, Northern lights, and bongos! It’s a big sundry assortment here. Let’s go!

Close-up

The technology we can hold in our hands! Here’s Greg, a member of the Wolf Bay Lodge Brothers playing bongos Tuesday night in a photo taken with my phone.

Greg – Wolf Bay Lodge Brother
playing bongos.

Take a step back

Context is everything.

Wolf Bay Lodge was hopping, the dance floor was not full but it was busy, and the bongos were staged between a well-lit exit sign and the women’s bathroom.

Women’s room to the right.
Exit behind the band.

Poetry in motion.

Or maybe the music is in motion and the technology we hold in our hands is the pure poetry? Context is everything.

In my lifetime photography has gone from camera-lens-film to cellphone-lens-billions-of–zeroes-and-ones-stored-in-an-itty-bitty-space. Albums, cassette tape, VHS are technologies that have come and gone and are even coming back! And I’m looking at you, albums. Now I can hold a communications-camera-sound-recording-gaming-you-name-the-app device in the palm of my hand and from way up here almost within shouting distance of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, I can load a clip of some music in motion from me-to-you using that technology:

Wolf Bay Lodge Brothers
Greg on bongos.

Poetry isn’t for everyone.

I like to try out different features of the camera on my phone. Photos can be taken using filters for coloration, portraiture settings can mimic different f-stop settings on ye cameras of olde, panoramas can rotate a full circle; videos record in real-time, slow-motion, or time-lapse. It’s a cornucopia of creative choice. Here’s a clip of bongos jacked on time-lapse:

Wolf Bay Lodge Brothers
Greg on bongos.
Time-lapse. Wow.

Score!

“Little Ely”- Background photographic evidence suggests fishing is happening.
It’s a long way to Ely, MN from here.

One of the in-demand, hot little numbers in the Northwoods is the “Little Ely” water tower. Who knew? I scored one from a cousin who is certain she can procure another one even though I’m not so sure.

“Little Ely,” an artifact of technological advancement beyond what I imagined in my lifetime. It is not the photograph of the little reproduction water tower taken with my phone that is to amaze. It is the creation of “Little Ely.” It was printed on a 3-d printer. To which we say ‘whoa!’ For those of us who remember the smell of mimeograph paper, 3-D printing is beyond.

Take another step back.

I don’t have a photo of The Diva, but for the record, the Wolf Bay Lodge Brothers were joined by a Diva of The Divas who did Janis Joplin proud with a cutting rendition of “Me & Bobby McGee.”

Mueller testified this week. Democrats continue to dance around and dither about STARTING impeachment hearings to remove a foreign asset from office. The GOP is a faithless, feckless cult.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

-lyrics “Me & Bobby McGee,” Kris Kristofferson & Fred Foster

I wonder, as our democracy dies, what’s left? Are we there yet?

-Viva E., July 2019