David R. Crews' Ramblings + Photos

A Cormorant Pops Up by Ft. Howard Park in Baltimore County, Maryland

2011-09-29T22:03:00.013-05:00

Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

A shallow creek by Fort Howard Park in Baltimore County, Md..

Photography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Photos Of Bands And Musicians Mostly Performing In Dundalk And Southeastern Baltimore City

2011-04-26T03:14:00.001-05:00

This is the link to a photo set of bands and musicians mostly performing in Dundalk and in Southeastern Baltimore City.

You'll see photographs taken at the Dundalk Heritage Fair, the Village Coffee & Tea Company, Earth Day Festival 2010, Frank Zappa Day - Zappa Plays Zappa - in Highlandtown, and more.

And here is a slideshow of those photographs:

Photography by David Robert Crews
a.k.a ursusdave

Baltimore, Md.'s Fireworks Grand Finale On New Years Eve 2010 - 2011

2011-01-01T02:29:00.002-05:00

Here is the final 55 seconds of Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor fireworks display held on New Year's Eve 2010 - 2011. I shot the video at about 4 miles from the barges the fireworks were shot off from. I was just inside southeastern Balto. City, about 200 yards from the western edge of Dundalk, Md..

Photography by David Robert Crews
a.k.a. ursusdave

Rafael Alvarez's Fourth Annual Highlandtown Literary Extravaganza

2010-12-30T03:11:00.008-05:00

On my Facebook profile, I just posted some photographs of Rafael Alvarez's Fourth Annual Highlandtown Literary Extravaganza, which was held at the Southeast Anchor Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library- in Baltimore, Maryland - on December 18, 2010. Rafael is a long-time, well known and respected Baltimore journalist, author and television producer and writer.

Here is the public link to that photo album on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089863&id=1053787981&l=f67b798ca3

Photography by David Robert Crews
a.k.a.ursusdave

Photographs Taken at Fort Howard Park in Baltimore County, Maryland

2010-11-13T13:38:00.015-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews
{a.k.a. ursusdave}

I have begun a set of photographs taken at Fort Howard Park, in Baltimore County, Maryland. The park is right where waters of the Chesapeake Bay merge with those of the Patapsco River. The park was a US Army coastal artillery installation, from 1896 to 1939, and most of the army structures still stand. From the park, you can look straight down the bay to see the Bay Bridge, and up the Patapsco River to see the Key Bridge. Here's a link to my Fort Howard Park photo set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ursusdave/sets/72157625132535377/

Maryland's Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons

2010-11-01T21:26:00.037-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews
{a.k.a. ursusdave}

Every October, on Friday and Saturday evenings, Maryland's Fort Howard Park is turned into the very scary, ever-thrilling-chilling and fright-fan fulfilling Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons.

Ft. Howard Park is a Baltimore County park that sets on the shoreline where the Chesapeake Bay merges with the Patapsco River. The park is heavily wooded, and is a former US Army coastal battery - it once had massive cannons and mortars that protected Baltimore City from attack by enemy naval vessels. From the park, you can look down the Bay to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and up the Patapsco River to see the Key Bridge. So, any ships coming up the Bay, to attack Baltimore, could be fired upon from Ft. Howard. Hence, Ft. Howard used to be "the Bulldog at Baltimore's gate."

In Ft. Howard Park, there are large, concrete, thick walled structures that once had huge cannons and mortars mounted upon them and cannon ammunition stored down inside the heavily fortified bowels of them. The "dungeons" were never actually dungeon cells where prisoners were kept, those were rooms for targeting equipment, electric generators and other military equipment plus cannon and mortar ammo that all needed protection from bombardment by enemy watercraft. Those structures and the wooded parkland around them are perfect for use as the Halloween style, scary, thrilling, chilling, but family friendly, Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons.

Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons is a series of short, scary skits - some have a slightly 'twisted' punch line and all are delivered with a good dose of horror movie humor. It is great performance art. Art performed by dedicated volunteers. Proceeds from the event go the Edgemere-Sparrows Point Rec Council.

I have created a set of photographs that I took at the 2010 Ft. Howard Haunted Dungeons. The photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ursusdave/sets/72157625070703149/with/5095457623/

Photography by David Robert Crews
{a.k.a. ursusdave}

Below is a slideshow of my set of Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons photographs. If you view this photo set in slide show format using full screen mode, it gives you a good idea of what it is like to take a tour of the Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons; but without the scary sound effects and experiencing the well conceived and presented performances of the volunteer actors all along the way. All together, the folks - of all ages - who make those haunted dungeons happen create a great piece of performance art, in Baltimore County, Md.'s Fort Howard Park.

Photography by David Robert Crews
{a.k.a. ursusdave}

I also have made some videos of Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons, and they are on my Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/ursusdave#!/profile.php?id=1053787981&v=app_2392950137

If you dare to wanna go to next year's Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons, get y'ur info at: http://haunteddungeons.com/forthoward.htm

Photographs, titles and descriptions are Copyright © David Robert Crews{a.k.a. ursusdave}, but are free for non-commercial, non-profit, use by the anyone connected to the Fort Howard Haunted Dungeons. That includes every volunteer who has ever worked there and any person who has toured the dungeons or any who want to share good information about the Haunted Dungeons.

The Best Photographs of Zappa Plays Zappa on Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore

2010-10-13T22:09:00.022-05:00

On Sunday, September 19, 2010, in Baltimore, Maryland, at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Conkling Street, in the Highlandtown neighborhood, in front of the Southeast Anchor Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, a sculptured bust of Frank Zappa was unveiled and dedicated. It was officially Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore, and the celebration took place on - newly named - Frank Zappa Way.

The statue is a replica of an original one that is located in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was created by artist Konstantinas Bogdanas. And was donated to Baltimore City by ZAPPART, a Lithuanian nonprofit organization - which includes Salius Paukstys, Saulius Pilikus and Arturas Baublys.

Frank Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, and passed on - to the other side - on December 4, 1993. He lived in Baltimore for his first five years.

After the dedication ceremony, Dweezil gave a free, two-hour concert of Zappa Plays Zappa - to all in attendance. And the man and his band play the music well.

Sunday, September 19, 2010 was a great day in Highlandtown. I was there, and I photographed as many others in the audience of Zappa Plays Zappa as I could. I took shots of every cool lookin' t-shirt in sight. And I got great shots of Dweezil and his band - as they Rocked and Rolled to their little ol' hearts' content; and us audience members were completely contented, in a solid Rockin' way.

Here is the link to my 4 pages of over 200 photos of:

Zappa Plays Zappa on Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore

Photography by David Robert Crews
a.k.a. ursusdave

Fantastic Bits of Baltimore in Photographs

2010-10-13T22:02:00.011-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews
a.k.a. ursusdave

I have a set of photographs on Flickr dot com titled - Fantastic Bits of Baltimore. And that is exactly what they are. Check 'um out - here's the link to fantastic photographs of Baltimore:

Fantastic Bits of Baltimore

Rafael Alvarez on A Tuesday Morning in Baltimore's Former Chinatown

2010-09-29T15:53:00.019-05:00

The first photo below is of Rafael Alvarez driving down a Baltimore City street. He is freakily adept at driving in city traffic; and the man easily gets away with making moves behind-the-wheel that would get most of us beeped at, bleeped at and angrily gestured at, by other drivers and their passengers. When he spotted that brown and tan colored, classic station wagon in great shape, which you can see the front right corner of next to him in the photo, he stopped his small pickup truck three car lengths back from the next vehicle up there in our lane waiting for a red light, so we could check out the classic wagon. He loves the size, solid build, shapes, body styles and big motors of them older kinds'a vehicles, and I do too. But I would have had trouble with other drivers, around me, for stopping in traffic where he did. He's just a born 'n' bred city fellow who seems to comfortably fit right in however he wants to on any Baltimore streets he drives on - no matter what he does. Me-own-self, as an old-time pro-driver, with well-honed driving skills, who once possessed a delivery/cab driver's intimate knowledge of the streets of Baltimore, I was duly, and pleasantly, impressed.

The photo below is Rafael standing and smiling at the corner of Baltimore's Park Avenue and Mulberry Street, in front of where (Abe) Sherman's Book Store used to be.

Below is Rafael in the doorway at 332 Park Ave, next to the front window of the former Sherman's Book Store.

Here are two photographs of Rafael meeting the owner of Bouillabaisse Cafe, at 316 Park Avenue.

Bouillabaisse Cafe
316 Park Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 244-8173 phone
Email : czardog1@verizon.net

Here are two photos of Rafael sitting at the table of a small eatery where we had breakfast. I never paid any attention to the name or exact location of the place.

Ralph gave me signed copies of two books he's written - Storyteller and The Wire.

Photography by David Robert Crews

Baltimore's Rafael Alvarez is a journalist, author and television producer and writer. Here is his official web site:

http://www.alvarezfiction.com/

Rafael Alvarez Encounters Morris Martick on Park Ave in Baltimore, Md.

2010-09-28T21:37:00.023-05:00

On Tuesday, 9/28/2010, well known Baltimore, Maryland writer Rafael Alvarez and I were walking up Mulberry Street, towards Park Avenue, in Baltimore, heading towards the location where Sherman's Book Store used to be - at the corner of Park and Mulberry. That morning, we had just met for the first time. We each had our own memories of the well known book store and its owner - infamously brusk Abe Sherman - and had each written about Abe and the store. Amongst other writing, Rafael wrote Abe's obituary for the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. I wrote a little story about my times as a teenage customer of Abe's - during the 1960s. Old Abe sold the first Rock and Roll band posters in Baltimore, and I bought a poster of the Rolling Stones from Abe - my first of many posters.

As Rafael and I walked up Mulberry, we stopped to take photos of and talk about the building where Martick's famous bar/eatery once operated. I never was in the place, being too young to go in when it was a bar, and not into spending time in the area when it was a French Restaurant. It is known as an old Beatnik joint to me, and that to Rafael too, but he had had the pleasure of eating many great meals there - when it was a Restaurant Francais.

We walked on up the half-a-block to the corner of Mulberry St. and Park Ave, where we took some photos of each other in front of the former Sherman's Book Store. As we walked on down Park Ave., low and behold here comes the owner of the now closed Matrick's, Morris Martick, strolling up the sidewalk towards us. 88-year-old Morris had been born in the building Matrick's had been in, and he has lived there most of his life. I had never seen the man before, but Rafael knew him well. So we stopped and spoke with him a bit. And I took some good photographs of Morris and Rafael, plus a damned great little video of them conversing.

Below is the building where Martick's was, and Morris Martick was born, has lived for most of his 88 years on This Good Earth, and he still owns the place.

Here are still photographs that I took of Rafael and Morris, with Rafael on the left and Morris on the right:

Morris Martick

And here is a video of some of the conversation between Rafael and Morris:

Photography by David Robert Crews

After Rafael and I parted company with Morris, Raf said that the conversation, photos and video are "gold". I believe they are gold to anyone who has any personal connection to Martick's, or anyone who is into really cool Baltimore history. Do a web search for "Morris Martick" and links to tons of really cool reading about Morris will be there for you to pursue and enjoy.

Here is an article in the magazine Urbanite where Morris speaks about his life: http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/speak-easy/Content?oid=1244887

Here is a Facebook page for former employees of Matrick's:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32947099191

Make sure you check out the discussion board on the Facebook pages. It's quite humorous.

Slide Show of the Big L Blast Furnace in Sparrows Point, Md.

2010-09-22T22:06:00.007-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Start the slide show, and a button with four arrows on it will appear in the bottom right corner of the black box. That button puts the slide show into FULL SCREEN mode.

Most of the photographs are of the Big L Blast Furnace in the steel mills of Sparrows Point, Maryland. Not just photos portraying what the Big L looks like, but how some of us feel about it all. Some of us who have had, or still have, our own long personal relationship with those former Bethlehem Steel Company mills and Sparrows Point .

The Big L can be seen from long distances and numerous-various angles of Southeastern Baltimore County and City, Northwestern Anne Arundel County, and the Chesapeake Bay and Patapsco River areas surrounding Sparrows Point. And the damned Big L also dwells somewheres in the minds, hearts and souls of multiples of thousands of us who possess fond - mixed with not at all fond - memories of being, visiting, living and/or working days of our lives, " Down the Point."

On Friday July 23, 2010, the new Russian owners of the old Bethlehem Steel Mills in Sparrows Point, Maryland shut down their only blast furnace - The Big L. That white cloud pouring up out of the top of the Big L is a result of work being done as part of the process to shut 'er down right, so she can be more easily started up again.

Some folks fear, while others hope, that it may never be started up again, though. Steel workers want it, but some ecologically minded folks and others want the entire mills with it's steel making process, heavy pollutions gone.

Big L will be down for at least 90-fugging-days. And it is the American Steel Workers who are getting screwed the worst. Basically, though, all Americans are being screwed over here.

That''s sho-nuff how I see's it - anyways.

I am who I am, owing my very existence to the Bethlehem Steel Company's long gone Town of Sparrows Point, Md.. That was where my life began, and I enjoyed spending a good deal of time there, especially visiting my grandparents several times every month, till the town was torn down, in 1973, when I was 23-years-old. My parents grew up there, our family went to church in Sparrows Point, and my father's parents were some of the last residents to move out of the rental housing in the family oriented, nearly crime free, company owned town, when Bethlehem Steel tore their town down to erect the Big L Blast Furnace.

My only relative to work in the blast furnaces was my paternal grandfather. But other relatives worked in other departments Down the Point. Uncle Philip (Crews) and Uncle Lindsey (Hall) each worked there for around forty-five-years, till they retired. My father worked awhile in the Rod and Wire Mill, as an electrician. Uncle Nelson was a draftsman (?) there for some time. Aunt Donna (Crews/Walcott) and Aunt Martha (Thomas/Clarke) each worked in the main office for a bit. I gotta ask around the family in case others worked there too, and I forgot. Uncle Stanley (known as John Crews to some folks outside the family) was a volunteer firemen in the Sparrows Point Fire Department , but I don't recollect him working in the mills.

My Granddad Crews retired from "The Point" as foreman of the two largest, most powerful and toughest blast furnaces on The Point; - numbers 9 & 10. About ten years after his retirement, I went to work on the Blast Furnace Labor Gang. While there, older men would express to me their high regard of Granddad Crews, of his natural, big ol' West Virginia Mountain Boy strength, and how my Grandmom Crews used to make him great homemade meals for his lunches (each work shift, some men kept casserole dishes of homemade lunch warm on a blast furnace side rim). I also heard of Granddad's personal, even-keeled and thoroughly fair treatment of his blast furnace crew.

Every foremen on every blast furnace could do every single job on a furnace better than any man there - from pushing a broom, using the ever present-shovel, or driving the overhead crane - with it's dangling, oft partly molten hot, cargo being weaved past workers down on the blast furnace floor. I have Granddad Crews' white hardhat from The Point, and it has "Capt. Bob" hand painted with the quotation marks onto the front of the hardhat above the required presence of his name R.E. Crews, because blast furnace foremen are called Captains.

That has something to do with the blast furnace being controlled from a "wheel house", which has a large ship's like wheel (helm) which is spun round during the casting process - when the molten iron and slag are poured into railroad cars; and a blast furnace is something akin to a ship with a hard working crew - working hard at sailing through their work shifts with firm dedication and determination to make and deliver high quality loads of molten iron for various uses that support and enrich the world economy.

During 1973-74, before the Big L Monster ate the Town of Sparrows Point, when there were 10 smaller blast furnaces working Down the Point, I worked on the Blast Furnace Labor Gang. I loved the physical, mental, emotional challenges, safety-self-discipline-or-get-hurt-and-quite-possibly-die hard work; which requires intense common sense, plus a type of serious intelligence that cannot be acquired via any degree of college education. It broils my gizzards when formally educated individuals socially disregard, disrespect blue collar workers of the ilk I know of who work or worked dangerous, sometimes debilitatingly hot and nasty or cold and nasty, mills and factories of this world.

But, I'm more a former Maine Bear Hunting Guide, a current outdoorsman, photographer and writer than a worker in an Iron Ore black dirt and red dust, filthy, reputedly cancerous, steel mill.

But, oh man, it was often thrilling, death defying-hot-blooded-chilling and ever-so-satisfying to make it through a shift on the labor gang to go home knowing I had faced ordeals of steel mills and had helped to produce reliable product to be sold and used in making for a better, stronger, safer world we live in.

Myself, my family, my community here in, and surrounding, Dundalk, Maryland, once believed that those (now ailing, failing) steel mills would provide many people plenty of work forever. Once, tens of thousands of reliable hard workers held gainful employment in the mills. Now, it is down to two-thousand or so who hold jobs there.

The mill's barely working at all. The land it is on along with the water and air around it are terribly, dangerously, deadly polluted in places.

Unfortunately, the future of the steel mills of Sparrows, Point Maryland USA will be decided and delivered by some of America's former, deadly, communist enemies. Former Communists who are now extremely successful, cut-throat Capitalists of the highest order.

Nobody told me there'd be days like these.

North Point Road Going Into the Bethlehem Steel Mills at Sparrows Point, Maryland

2010-04-27T21:10:00.008-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Bethlehem Steel At Sparrows Point, Maryland`

2006-12-06T13:16:00.010-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

That huge structure dominating the skyline is the monster that ate the Town of Sparrows Point, Maryland. It is a modern blast furnace that replaced ten older blast furnaces, and the town had to be torn down to make room for it. In 1962, my Granddad Crews retired as foreman of numbers 9 + 10 blast furnaces, the biggest ones there at the time.

My paternal grandparents were some of the last residents to leave their rented home there, at 1014 F Street, in 1973. The Bethlehem Steel Company owned the town; they owned every house and store and the land that all the churches were on. But it was well run for the benefit of the residents, and was virtually crime free. There was a lot of dirt that fell from the mill onto everything, even the leaves of the hedges had red dust on the bottom of them, but that was about the only bad thing about living there. It was a true small town where most families knew one another. The schools were good, the stores well stocked and their goods were reasonably priced, and if there was any problem with the houses the company sent out repairmen right away. The houses were well maintained with regular painting and wall papering, etc..

I spent a lot of my youth down there at my grandparents' home, hanging out in the town with the other kids there, and we went to church down there too. I went there every holiday from the day I was born till the house was torn down. My cousins all lived close enough that they were there for every holiday too, plus many birthdays, and any day of the week we might go visit my grandparents. It was the best of homemade foods, real iced tea, big family card games--first it would be all ages card games then later in the evening the penny jars came out when the adults began to play poker for fun. It was a large home full of love.

Photography by David Robert Crews

This is the place I have visited most often in my dreams.

This is where my grandparents house was. I remember the elbow in that overhead steam line well from when I was playing in their back yard or talking to Grandmom as she hung up clothes to dry on the clothesline or in the alley talking to Granddad as he worked on his big car--he kept his Desoto, Dodge, or whatever big V8 motored Detroit yacht he owned that year all tuned up and running smooth, but with that throaty, low, powerful rumble those kinds of motors have.

David Robert Crews

bethlehem steel
sparrows point maryland
ursusdave
photography
baltimore
maryland

Bethlehem Steel As Seen From A Boat Near The Ore Docks

2006-12-05T20:35:00.002-05:00

Photographs by David Robert Crews

Left click on the bottom photo to enlarge it and you'll see how dirty that truck is. Everything "Down The Point" (Bethlehem Steel Mill at Sparrows Point, Maryland) was always getting dirty like that.

David Robert Crews
bethlehem steel
sparrows point maryland
ursusdave
photography
baltimore

Sunset Seen From Ft. Howard Veterans Hospital

2006-12-04T22:02:00.001-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Those strange things that look a bit like steamboats on the Patapsco River are Anne Arundel County shoreline buildings of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company.

I have seen several fantastic sunsets from this point of view, when I was a patient in the Ft. Howard, Maryland Veterans Administration Medical Center and was temporarily confined to a wheelchair. It is so safe there that I had no fear of being out there by myself while I was quite crippled up and mostly helpless for awhile.

I went back down there one evening, when I wasn't a patient, and took this photo. I'd sure like to photograph a few more sunsets from down there.

David Robert Crews
photography
ursusdave
fort howard maryland
maryland

North Point State Park

2006-12-02T13:27:00.003-05:00

Photographs by David Robert Crews

I love walking in the woods, being in the woods, seeing-hearing-smelling-feeling the woods all around me. For most people the saying 'we're not out of the woods yet' means they're in a bad place; for woodsmen like me (and woodswomen too) when we say "we're not out of the woods yet" means that we still have time to enjoy Mother Nature's wild wonders before we have to go back to the other stuff.

Look around and all up and down when you're out in the woods, I almost missed that cartoonish Lion face shaped knot on the tree, fortunately I stopped during my hike to take in my surroundings for a few seconds.

David Robert Crews
photography
millers island
maryland
ursusdave

The Millers Island Lighthouse

2006-11-30T21:29:00.000-05:00

Photographs by David Robert Crews

The photo at the top doesn’t have people in it but the bottom one does, because I always shoot a variety of shots for any scene. I never know what a potential photo buyer may want or need. In certain situations, having people in a photo used for commercial purposes means that I need a model’s release from them, and they may want to be paid for being in the shot. I also watched the boats moving out on the water very closely, so I could get various numbers of them in my shots, and they had to be in the right places around the lighthouse to make it a pleasingly composed and balanced photograph.

This is the pier at the bar and restaurant called Dock of the Bay, in Millers Island, Maryland. You can sit at an inside or outside table and have a fantastic view of the Chesapeake Bay. The food is good, the music is often live, and the staff and patrons are quite gregarious.

During Hurricane Isabel, and previous storms, the restaurant was flooded. Today if you were sitting where I took this shot from, you would see a breakwater out there in the middle of scene, which is made of large white boulders. The Dock of the Bay’s new newspaper add has a photo that is composed about the same as mine but with the breakwater in it. I like these photos without that obtrusive pile of rocks a lot better. The rocks are white so that they have high visibility for boaters, but it makes for a considerably less photogenic scene.

David Robert Crews
millers island
photography
ursusdave
maryland

Sunset At The End Of A Pier

2006-11-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

This photo was taken when the pier was owned by Pelican's Restaurant and Bar in Millers Island, Maryland. Then Hurricane Isabel came along and temporarily wiped out the business capabilities of this piece of property, and it did the same to some other business properties, and it destroyed or nearly destroyed many nice homes. I have to get down there to see if this restaurant is open again. If Pelican's hasn't been reopened, there are several other good eateries down there where I can get a delicious meal.

Oh, the wavy effects on the photo is from it being in small file JPEG format; that digital limitation does help prevent any worthwhile copyright infringement by a person who would take it and say it’s their own or use it for commercial purposes without paying me, but the print of this and the larger file of it look gorgeous. Let me know if you want to purchase a copy.

David Robert Crews
ursusdave
maryland
millers island
photography

Produce Wagon at Bauer's Farm

2006-11-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
millers island
photography
ursusdave
edgemere
maryland

Big Sky Over Todd's Inheritance

2006-11-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

This is the view from Old North Point Road, just outside of Ft. Howard, Maryland, out over Shallow Creek towards the Chesapeake Bay. It is a view of great historical importance, because it was from this area that early Americans spotted the British coming up the bay to attack Baltimore during the War of 1812, and the alarm was sent out to the mass of defenders making ready for battle in and around the City of Baltimore.

David Robert Crews
millers island
photography
ursusdave
edgemere
maryland
David Robert Crews
fort howard

Foggy Day In Gunpowder State Park

2006-11-29T20:59:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

I like being outdoors in all kinds of weather. This is freakin' magical out here in the fog. It's soft and comfortable if you dress warm and waterproof for it. All my senses respond with wonder and send signal pulses of pleasure to my brain in almost any kind of weather.

David Robert Crews
photography
ursusdave
maryland

Industrial White

2006-11-29T20:44:00.001-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

I don't know what it is I like about this photograph. Maybe it was just the challenge to shoot and print a mostly white subject with a white foreground and background, all very dull, weak looking whites. With spots of red and rust to deal with.

When I created this photograph, I was regular busy-bee in the Dundalk Community College photographic dark room, on a regular basis, and this shot tweaked my interest in seeing just who the hell I really was as a photographer at that point in life.

To me, the structure looks like an inspiration for an illustrator of science fiction comic books or video games or movies.

David Robert Crews
photography
ursusdave
maryland

2000-2001 New Years Eve Baltimore Fireworks

2006-11-29T19:27:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

These are the 2000-2001 New Years Eve fireworks in the Baltimore Harbor. There are plenty of fireworks photos in this world, consequently the ones I shoot usually have a local landmark in them so people can see where the photos were taken.

David Robert Crews
photography
ursusdave
fireworks
maryland
baltimore

Battling Knights At The Maryland Renaissance Festival

2006-11-29T14:17:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you left click on these images and enlarge them you will see that I caught the lances and the wooden swords breaking into pieces and flying up in the air. I managed to grab the action by squeezing my shutter in time with the sounds and not the visual cues.

David Robert Crews
photography
horses
equestrian photography
ursusdave
Maryland Renaissance Festival
maryland

Equestrian Photography

2006-11-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

All Photographs by David Robert Crews

I love animals and photographing them, both tame and wild.

Unfortunatetly, my disbilities keep me from making enough money to get a nice photography business going, which would include this type of lucrative photography. I can't take on any paid photo assignments, because I never know when my back and neck injuries are going to knock me to the floor again.

But if I was paid what's owed me by those who owe me, not just the money but also admission of the truth about what I did to earn the money and the respect I'm due for being a person who could accomplish such oft time quite dangerous and in all ways important tasks, then I could build my portfolio of stock photography up to a level where I could support my photography work with sales of stock photos. Stock photos are a collection and selection of photographs for sale as prints and for use in publications, including on web sites. With the money from stock photo sales, I could do a lot more of all the types of photography that I do so well, and many people enjoy seeing a whole lot. If this goal of mine should ever come to fruition, I'm sure that I could work off some of this damned depression that wears me down everyday and all night long when sleep comes in fitful bursts to me.

I may not be able to support myself and pay all my bills by doing my photography, that is why I recieve a monthy disability check from the Veterans Administration, but I have an innate drive to do all I can to make people feel something good and contribute to society by producing my great photographs for all to view, and/or own, and enjoy.

I have about a thousand unedited negatives which can yield me many excellent, professional photographs to add to my stock of photos, and I have about two dozen 8x10 prints, which I custom printed in Dundalk Community College's color photo lab, that need to be scanned into digital files so I can put them on my web sites.

An artist's grant of some kind would allow me to get this photography work moving at a much more productive pace. Got any positive ideas for me on this subject?

David Robert Crews
photography
horses
equestrian photography
ursusdave

Baltimore Blues Society Picnic

2006-11-27T18:35:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

The headline act at the Blues picnic was one of the Granddadies of electric Blues guitar, Hubert Sumlin. Here's a backstage view of local Maryland area Blues musicians backing up one of their heros and teachers, Hubert Sumlin. Hubert had just returned from playing at Mick Jagger's birthday party in Switzerland, he's one of The Rolling Stones' heros and teachers too.

Photography by David Robert Crews

The guy kneeling amongst the relaxing crowd at a Blues picnic is an old friend of mine from the 1960s, Dale Patton. Dale was the lead singer in a band called The Psychedelic Propeller, my neighbor, Austin O'Baker was the drummer in the band. I used to hang out with them and was dubbed their equipment manager, so I could get into their gigs that were in bars. The band members were all under 21 years old at the time, the band did play a lot of gigs in Georgetown, Washington, DC, where the drinking age was only 18, but I was only 16-17, and I liked to dance with the girls and have a rockin' good time. I did help to carry the equipment in and set it up. Dale helped found the Baltimore Blues Society.

We were all some of the first music fans around Baltimore to buy record albums by Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, any Blues musician's, Country Joe and The Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa, The Cream, and we had those albums and knew the music on them well for many months before any of these musicians' records were played on any Baltimore radio stations.

David Robert Crews
photography
baltimore
blues
ursusdave
baltimore blues society

Fort McHenry In Baltimore

2006-11-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
photography
baltimore
ursusdave
maryland
ft mchenry
fort mchenry

Fireworks In Baltimore's Inner Harbor

2006-11-27T14:18:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
photography
baltimore
ursusdave
fireworks
domino sugar sign
maryland

Fells Point Landmark

2006-11-26T15:46:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

The only Vote Against Prohibition sign left in the country.

David Robert Crews
ursusdave
fells point
baltimore
maryland

Stormy Day In Fells Point and Baltimore Harbor

2006-11-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Hurricane Floyd's left arm sweeps over Baltimore. I love to photograph rough weather.

David Robert Crews
photography
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland

Great Little Fells Point Vignette

2006-11-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

,

David Robert Crews
baltimore
maryland
fells point
ursusdave

A Shop For Skateboarders Type Lifestyle That Used Be In Fells Point

2006-11-26T15:05:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

This is a shop where I would have been a regular customer if I was a whole lot younger.

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Catfish Hodge At Fells Fest 2000

2006-11-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Blues Man Catfish Hodge started playing the Blues about the same time I started listening to them, I guess that makes me an Old Blues Man too.

David Robert Crews
photography
fells point
baltimore
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland

Selling Plants And Flowers At The Fells Point Festival 2000

2006-11-24T21:25:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you click on the photo and enlarge it you'll see that the big smiling face in the background is a tugboat smokestack, then there's a tall sailing ship behind it, all to make the day more interesting and fun.

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Fells Fest 2000

2006-11-24T21:05:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Coblestone streets, kids in strollers, venders in the background having a good time, and a whimsical dummy, all part of the scene at Baltimore's Fells Point Festival. I shot several negatives of this scene. One neg has the button on the dummy's chest in perfect focus. I did that because I hope to learn all the techniques of some digital photo shop program one day and then I can take the in focus button and put it on the dummy in this shot with the crowd and the background in focus. You wouldn't happen to know where I can get a good, used, unwanted Pentium 4 would ya? I'm a disabled veteran living on a small VA Pension, and I work as hard as I can on my photography and writing, just look around on my blogs/poorman's web sites and see for yourself.

Photography by David Robert Crews

Right in the middle of all that family fun I run into this pink dog with an attitude. This is Fells Point after all.

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Dancing In The Street

2006-11-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Dancing to the Salsa Music in front of the Spanish stage on Baltimore's Broadway during Fells Fest 2000.

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Spanish Dancers Fells Fest 2000

2006-11-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Photgraphy by David Robert Crews

A little bit of work in Adobe Photoshop would take that traffic light off her head. But I have to learn how to do that. And get a good enough computer to do it on---poverty sucks. Anybody wanna help a starving artist? I need a grant.

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Spanish Stage At Fells Fest 2000

2006-11-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Fells Point Antique Dealers Association

2006-11-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Outdoor antique sale on The Square in Baltimore's Fells Point.

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

Fells Point Antique Sales On The Square

2006-11-24T20:15:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

A Fells Point Halloween

2006-10-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

The following three photographs are straight from 35MM negatives and were created by some experimental camera handling. I took the shots with a flash on, the shutter speed on 1 sec, instead of the normal 1/60 sec exposures for flash, and had a let 'er rip not knowing what the hell might show up on my negatives.

See the guy with an 8 Ball for a head, them bodacious babes must have blown his mind. Look in the darkness on the right side, there's a mini-skirted girl there with seperate top and bottom halves to her body, it looks like the top of her body floated off its lower half towards the left.

Photography by David Robert Crews

Ahem!. Did somebody slip something psychedelic in that guy's drink?

Photography by David Robert Crews

Notice the fleet of flying saucers coming in at tree top level in a loose V Formation. They seem to doing some kind of shake up on the crowd; maybe I caught some kinda soul/brain/personality swapp and all them smiling, innocent, drunken, stoned, horny, some nearly pukin', people are being turned into space aliens deep down inside them somewhere, where it can be called to action to take over its 'host' body and raise hell on a future Halloween. Maybe not, but they do look like flyin' saucers don't they?

David Robert Crews
fells point
ursusdave
baltimore
maryland
photography

My comments to blog postings by Chad Botting of Patten Maine

2006-10-17T19:37:00.000-05:00

Here is my comment to a blog posting by Chad Botting of Patten Maine.
His blog posting is at:
http://downinit.blogspot.com/2006/10/support-details-examples.html
This is a good story about an unusual individual who lives in a small town, but people like him live in every type of populated or even unpopulated geographical area.
I used to live in the Patten area, I know the way it is up there. Not any real different than most places, just less bad stuff like crime, less of the good stuff like steady jobs though, but those who are fortunate enough to live there generally have good, healthy lives.
I wish I could give you enough advice to help you understand this guy, but I think you’ll have to live longer for that to come to you as you mature. Talk to someone older in your family about what makes people like that strange store customer of yours tick, or find someone in town who knows the guy well and can explain his life to you.
What you have written here shows that you’re likely to understand that fat, greasy, unshaven guy some day when you’re older. It also shows that you have good ideas on what to write about.
I started writing seriously about 7 years ago. It was at a local community college which has a half decent writing lab. The first things I wrote about are from my days living in Patten, actually ten miles north of there at Katahdin Lodge and Camps. I had told my wild and crazy Maine stories verbally so many times that I thought it was going to be easy to write them out, but it isn’t that way at all. I had to write then rewrite then get some intense coaching at the writing lab then rewrite and get it critiqued by a writing coach then take their suggestions and corrections then rewrite for days till I got it somewhere close to what it needed to be. It ain’t easy!
By the way, I found this story of yours when I blog searched for Patten Maine.
What I have done here for you in the following reprint of your story is like what the college writing coaches did for me. College English teachers can only do so much for us fledgling writers, we need writing lab type coaching, and that is not easy to find way up there in the North Maine Woods where you live. I have corrected some things I’m sure about, others are a guess, and I can’t get all the punctuation correct on my own stuff so I did my best with yours.
You really should sit down and do these suggested corrections to see how it feels to go one step further with the rewriting process; all writers write-rewrite-rewrite-on and on till they get something that their (see, this is my second rewrite on this and I just realized that it is they’re not their) comfortable enough with to send to an editor, and then the editor will probly order some changes and corrections. It ain’t easy!
And use the Spell Check feature on your computer, I have to use it over and over as I write.
Now, listen to some old time stories from old time story tellers whom you encounter around town, they have a great tradition of it up there. Ofcourse, the modern days with satellite TV and the Internet surfing and video games have trimmed down the times spent swappin’ lies and telling mostly true tall tales around campfires or during Cribbage Games, but you have some chance up there of learning certain old time, tried and true, truly entertaining story telling techniques from your family, friends, neighbors, and store customers. Techniques which are ancient communications skills that are long lost in the rest of America.
To verify that I am any kind of a readable writer myself, go to Magic-City-News.com (out of Millinocket Maine) and look down the left hand column till you see DR Crews, then click on that. I have some of the same Patten stories, plus old Patten photos, at www.maineoutdoorstoday.com/DavidCrews/index.html
Well, here’s what I can figure needs to be fixed on your excellent story, but it isn’t the best coaching or editing you can get. I may not be a top notch, world famous professional writer yet, but I am passing on to you help that was given to me to get my written stuff published on four important, widely read, Maine Internet publications.
I hope that you write more about 2006 Patten Maine and publish it on your blog.

Chad's interesting written piece, with my corrections added:

I work in a grocery store, that is on main street in the small town of Patten Maine. Patten has a population of about 1,200 people. Because of this I see many of the same faces every day. I know about people ( people’s ) lives because I hear them talking to each other, just the normal small town gossip. But some people are just not with the program. I am going to tell you about someone that (who ) I see often in town. It ( is ) a strange thing(,) I see this guy all the time and I don't know his name.
He is a fat, greasy and never shaves ( a fat greasy what ? or remove the a). When every (ever) he come(s) in the store(,) it is like he has to talk to every one ( everyone ) that even looks at him. He tells every one ( everyone ) what is going on in his life, not that it is all that entrusting ( interesting ) . When he is working on something(,) he is always in a hurry, he talks really fast and acts as if he in (is) under a lot of stress, but he is not employed so I don't now where the stress is coming from. He always pays for his food with a food stamp card, but never has enough money on it to buy every thing ( everything ). So when this happens(,) I have ( to ) help him go thought (through) his bags and tell him what he bought so that he can pick out what he does not want. I don't remember one single time he has come in shopping and this has not happed ( happened ) . It also also (take out 2nd also ) happens in the middle of the day with every one ( everyone ) watch ( watching ) when all the normal town(‘)s ( or say Patten People? , nah, townsfolk is better ) people ( are ) in the store and are ( it’s possible to take out this are ) waiting in line behind him. It is really a very sad sight.
But this man's embarrassment does not end their ( there ). Some times when a customer buy ( buys ) lots of stuff I help them take it out to there ( their ) car. I remember once when I did this for this man. It was terrible, I almost felt bad for him, the whole time I was thinking ( that ) this guy needs to relax. ( I remember once when I did this for the man, it was terrible, I almost felt bad for him; the whole time I was thinking, this guy needs to relax.) He drove some kind of an old hatch back ( hatchback ) , very dirty, dusty, and beat up looking. There was lots of junk in the inside, and ( a )small sick, dirty, smelly dog, ( ; ) I think it was some kind of a poodle. When he opened the door the dog would try and run out of the car. It was a strange transition, in side ( inside ) the store it was like he was trying to be nice to every one ( everyone ) , the other customers and the employees. ( , but when ) When the dog try ( tried ) the get out of the car ( , the man ) hit it back words ( backwards ) , and started to yell very loud ( ly ) and the dog would just try and get out again and he would ( be ) yelling at it, this when ( went ) on the whole time I was helping him. ( new paragraph? ) He also bought way to much food for the free space he had in his car ( , ) because there was so much other junk. I really did not want to deal with it ( , ) so I just handed him the stuff and waited for it to be over with. Since there ( was ) no free room, the dog keep ( kept ) get ( getting ) on top of the food as he was putting it in the car, so he keep ( kept ) yelling at the dog and pushing it off the pile of food. So the dog ended up the front drivers seat. I ( am ) not really sure how he ever drove home this way, it does not seem like it would have been safe. ( new paragraph? ) As ( I ) walked back into the store ( , ) I thought to my self ( myself ) how come ( could ) any one ( anyone ) ever end up like that? If he would just clean out his car and plan how much food for ( , the amount of food stamps left on his card, that he ) was going to buy ( , ) every thing ( then everything ) would be so much better an ( and ) easier on every one ( everyone ), including that poor little dog.
The next time I remember helping this same guy ( , he was ) out was ( remove 2nd was ) about two weeks latter. He did the same thing with buying more food than he had money for again. This time one of my coworkers, Richard, asked him how his knee was doing. At first he did no ( didn’t know ) what Richard was talking about, but then he remember ( ed ) that if did hurry ( he did hurt ) his knee a while ago, and he thought he would need to have it operated on, but it turns out it healed on its own. He could not remember what Richard was talking about at first ( , ) because he has so much wrong with him he can't keep track of it all. This time he was park ( ed ) across the road in the hardware store's parking lot. This time he must have been riding with a friend because he did ( didn’t ) have his car, he had a small black pickup truck. This time it was not quite as funny, but there was a crowd of people next to ( the ) truck and as we approached all but one teenaged ( teenage ) kid -walked off. When we got there ( , ) the kid said ( , ) "Next time you see him coming just run". While he said this the ( poor, old, greasy grocery store patron or poor old guy ) guy just had a blank ( , ) unhappy look on his face and stared straight ahead.
After that I wounded if maybe this guy had been made fun of his entire life. Maybe that was his problem. ( ; ) I guess I might never know. I often wounder ( wonder ) what is going on inside some ( people’s head’s like this guy’s ) like this guys head. It is true he probably is not that smart. ( It is probably true that he is not that smart. ) I am very smart ( , ) but the job I do does not require me too be. In fact there are many jobs that don't, so why does he not work? Beside ( besides ) that ( , ) I think his biggest problem is that he cares what other people think ( , ) for some reason, ( . ) I don't understand why he even tries to hang out with all the people from the hardware store and why does he try and talk to all the people in the ( grocery ) store? I don't get it? What is he expecting from these people? One reason that I chose to write about this guy is because this is the kind of person that really bugs me. It would be much better if every one ( everyone ) that live ( who lived ) in town was ( were ) rich and normal . The first person that comes to mind is the local pharmacist's wife, we don't have much in common ( , ) but she is easy to talk ( to ), and we ( when ) she come ( comes ) in the ( grocery ) store is ( it’s ) not a chore to work with her. No one runs off when she comes.(end of Chad's written piece)

Well kid, that fat old, hairy, greasy guy may be smarter than you know; he may be a good small engine mechanic or one of them people who never get lost out in the woods. Realize that his physical disabilities force him to survive on a much lower income than most of the working people in that low to moderate income area of the country have.
Just my perspective here, but, it wouldn’t be better if the only people around you everyday were all rich and normal. Everyone has their own particular problems; some rich people are sometimes mean and nasty and deceitful, you wouldn’t like that. Normal people can be boring, and they tend to not ever push society into a better, smarter future or create more progression in arts like writing. Normal people can be stagnant. The rich can be so self righteous that they screw everything up for everyone. Some rich, normal folks, like the pharmacist's wife, are very nice---they may be into and intimately knowledgeable about the newest, finest art, music, fashions, written work, and ways to live a healthier, fuller life and to raise their kids to be happy and successful, but many less educated, lower income people around rural areas like Patten Maine know more of just what the world is all about and how to live a good life and how to be the finest kind of family folks.
I remember one time when I was driving from Island Falls towards Patten with two bear hunters from suburban New Jersey in my truck and one looked over to the side of the road where a tarpapered shack of a home sat, with smoke coming out its chimney from the wood stove that the wife was cooking a big family dinner on, and he said, with a belittling smirk on his face, "I don’t know how the hell anybody can live like that?"
My friendly, smiling reply to that was, "Yeah? Well the man who owns that tarpapered house once said to me that he had been down to New Jersey once and couldn’t understand how the hell anybody could live in a bunch of houses that are crammed in so close together like that. Hey, look man, let me tell you something, you may have a steadier and much better paying job and nicer looking house than that guy does, but you ain’t no happier. You have a nice little yard to sit out in and relax, he has the whole goddamned woods here to roam around in, to harvest wild meat from and to enjoy himself in. He goes hunting and takes his boys when they’re old enough, he takes his whole family out fishing and berry picking to make sure that they have enough to eat, you two guys worked long hard hours at your jobs to pay for this hunting trip, you love it up here in the woods, you’re having a great time, and he lives that everyday. What’s better, having a good, steady job that gives ya’ excess money to spend on hunting trips and luxuries for your family, or low paid seasonal work that gives you lots of time to spend out in the woods, that you love, while you’re working, and when you’re off work you’re free to walk out your back door and into the woods to enjoy them with the people who you love the most? That family in that tarpapered home don’t want what you have no more than you want what they have."
The two New Jersey guys let lose with some friendly, understanding smiles and laughter, and the one who had made the belittling remark, which was based on the lack of aluminum or vinyl or painted wood siding on the outside walls of the tarpapered home, said, "You’re right! I believe it, never thought of it that way."
Trust me, living only with normal, and/or rich people around you could make your life a stagnant, boring, uninteresting, frustrating, pointless, affair.
I may not have been back there to Patten since 1979, but from what I see on the Internet about the town, it still has enough good in it to outweigh the bad---now if the job market would get better, more people could live there and enjoy those good points about the area.
Again, this is just my perspective.
Listen, I’ve been around and all up and down through this here world we all share and in my 56 years living on this earth, I have had interesting conversations with well educated, multi-millionaires and uneducated, homeless winos, and they all usually offered me something real and intelligent to help me through life with.
Find out all you can about that greasy guy and cut through those layers of grease to see who’s underneath---then write some more about him and publish it here on your blog. We readers of yours will be looking forward to it.

Here is another blog posting of Chad's, I am adding this to my blog on October 24.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

contrast
I work at the Ellis Family Market in Patten, Maine. The store is owned and operated by the two Ellis brothers, Jon and Peter. They have a schedule and work at the store just like every one else, in fact some days it is hard to tell that they are in charge at all. They are both very nice people, but have very different management styles and personality types. Because of this they are both fun to work for in there own way.
They both have different ways of dealing with employees. Peter is more of a goof ball, he is nice to every one. loves to help out, and enjoys a positive atmosphere. If you talk to him he always has some good ideas and advice to share. Jon on the other hand is a much quieter person. He says hello and good bye, and gives lots of smiles, but does not really just to engage a person in conversation very often. If he wants to know some thing in particular he will bring you in to his offer and be very direct and ask. He comes off as a very serious and on the ball kind of guy. On his launch break he goes running every day rain or shine, I don't think Peter does any excises at all, at least not that I know of. Jon comes off as the kind of guy you don't want to piss off, because he will have no problem taking action. Peter on the other hand seems like the kind of guy that would just avoid trouble, I think that he would hate dealing with it much more, and does not seem like the kind of person to get mad. At least I have never seen he mad.
The way that they present them selfs is also very different. Peter enjoys nice new things, he always drives a newer car or truck. Jon owns a new big green truck, but most of the time he drives an old station wagon car. Peter also wears new “hip” cloths, more often, unless he is having a bad day in which case he looks more like a customer than the owner. I think Jon must have “work clothes” because he was been wearing the same stuff since the first time I ever worked there in1998, a button up shirt and dress pants every day. Jon also often wears a cross on the out side of his cloths, he goes to church every Sunday, he once even asked me if I believe in god, which I was honest and told him I did. I am not sure if Peter is very religious or not, I have never seen him wearing a cross and his house is 40 miles away in Houlton, so I don't know if he goes to church. Peter also never wear the Red Hannaford apron that every one else does, but Jon always does.
Peter knows all about the computer world. He uses iTunes and Google and has a laptop. He knows what is new, and what is happening. Sometimes that serves as a source of conversation between us. He likes to deal with all the “high tech” stuff at work. Jon on the other hand does not even like to run the cash registers at work, and I can't picture him setting at one of the computers at work because I have never seen him do it. Even there choices in wives are different. Jon's wife is nice, I see her at least once a week every Saturday guarantied, She talk with just about every one that is working, and always has at least two of there three kids with her. She has a very soft inviting face, and she is the kind of sweet person you can not say no to. Peter has had two wives, he was married to his first wife before I ever worked for him and don't remember much about her other than see looked like see might be of Asian decent, and see had really big boobs, and she was also a teacher if I remember correctly. I have only seen his new wife a hand full of times, and only talked to her once. See came off as a very smart woman, she was a music major in college. And now is a music teacher at Houlton High School. Other than that I don't really know any thing about her.
Jon and Peter are both really great guys, and good to work for. I have had ten plus bosses in my life and I would have to say that are the top two. I am sure I will keep in touch and let them know what is going on after I move on to other things in life, who know in forty years I might be living in Patten Maine and still know them. That would be great!
posted by Chad Botting at 8:59 AM

Here is my comment to this posting:

Yep, that's a contrast in characters for sure. A damn good pair of guys to have for bosses, and they seem to balance out what needs to be done and done right in their store. Your gonna get teased somewhere here or there on that bit about Peter’s first wife’s big boobs. Ofcourse, Asian Women tend to be shorter and you were much younger and shorter back then, when she was around, so you probly got an in your eye full now and then when you went into Ellis’ Market as a kid. It sure is good to hear that Patten’s still got some fun local places to work and shop at. You should hope that they get to read this written piece of yours at the market, it is fair and complimentary, but not a touch of ‘buttering up the bosses’ that I could perceive, it looks real honest to me.
You do need to compose your writing using a Word program; use spell and grammar check; I use spell check all the time, but grammar only now and then, because it tends to cut any sentences in half that it can. Then you do a right click copy from the Word File and paste onto your blog. I do this a lot.
Between your writings about that greasy store customer and the Ellis brothers, you have the start of a good inside look at year 2006 Patten Maine . Thanks, I miss the place.

Chad rewrote his contrast story, and here are my comments on contrast 2.

ursusdave said...
You sure make it easy to picture Peter and Jon in my head, and I can hear their Northern Maine accent too. Man o’ day, it’s great to know that Patten is still a nice place for a few lucky folks to find good employment.
I’d say that you seem like an all round good employee, and with the way that you see the individual strengths of your bosses, you might make a decent boss yourself someday.
I don’t know if you read my comment on the first version of this contrast piece of yours, but you would write better with the help of your computer’s Spell and Grammar Check features. Just about everyone has Microsoft Word, but all Word programs have Spell and Grammar Check. Take two words that may be used separate or together, like every + one, combine them into everyone, see if Spell Check underlines it in red, if not it may be the way to use it in your sentence. I use Spell Check constantly, and often for the same word many times, but I’m getting older, and I burnt out a bit back in my wilder days. Then ya’ gotta’ do what all writers do, read your work through and rewrite it, then rewrite it again. That is the hardest lesson I had to give into, when I began writing seriously about seven years ago.
All ya’ gotta’ do is web search my full name in quotes, “David Robert Crews” to see what I have on the Internet. I hope you read some of my Patten Maine stories; my story Walkin’ Nellie, on Magic-City-News.com (under DR Crews), is like your story about the greasy guy who never has enough food stamp money on his card. My Patten stories all have people in them that you may be related to.
You have a good attitude about work and employer-employee relationships. I’ve heard many a person complain about a boss, then they were worse bosses when they got promoted.
You have a good chance of writing some interesting stuff that will speak for many in your small town, it will bring back warm memories for them some day, and you know that you are one of the rare young people in Patten who want to stay there and live and get to. Most kids from that area have to go find work or to school out of state after they graduate high school. The better you write, then the more likely it is for your stories to be around and read or decades to come.
I swear to ya’ that your story helps me to imagine seeing and hearing them two hard working brothers walking down the frozen food isle of Ellis’ Market in Patten Maine while talkin’ business and being friendly to their staff and customers, but I doubt that I ever met ‘um in person.

Here is my second comment added to Chad's contrast 2 blog posting. I also emailed him this.

Hello there Chad.

I was trying to remember if I knew any families around Patten with the last name of Botting, this morning it struck me that your name may be pronounced Bottin’, like hunting is pronounced huntin’. In that case Walkin’ Nellie is probly a relative of yours. I can’t remember what her last name was, but I believe she was called Walkin’ Nellie Bottin’ by the locals.

After my story about her was published, I received several emails from Patten area residents who knew her, but I haven’t heard from anyone who knew her and her family well.

What is in my story about Nellie you will have to read there, if you’re interested in some local history, but I will tell you what I have learned about her since then. She was walking down the road with her little girl by her side, south from Patten I believe it was, when a car leaving town sped up then struck them both, killing the little child. After that Nellie sorta’ just kept walking, day after day after year for decades.

From your writing I can tell that you haven’t been through enough to understand this obsession of hers; I may be able to understand, from an offset point of view, why she had to keep walking, but I can’t seem to find the words to express this clearly. It has to do with the worst kind of pain, emotional turmoil, and undeserved guilt. Most likely undeserved, I don’t know, I wasn’t there to see the accident, but I doubt that she was at fought in anyway; Nellie must have been an attentive, loving mother, because she loved her little daughter so much that the child’s accidental death was so devastating to her motherly instincts, cares, and concerns that she went off the deep end away from the natural comforts of the rest of society. Years after my story about her took place, Nellie drowned herself in a bathroom sink at Patten’s old age home.

Several Patten residents took offense to my story about Nellie, the same as some people might about your story of the old greasy store customer whom you have had to help so many times.

But we only tell the truth in these writings of ours.

You never sided with the guys who make fun of the old greasy guy, but you can’t understand their cruelty to the old guy or the old guy’s way of handling it and coming back into town to socialize with them again on a regular basis, even though it means he’ll be the victim of more mistreatment by them other guys. That shows that you have the inclination to want to understand odd situations in life better. If you continue to write about this stuff, you have a much better chance of finding some answers to the questions you have about everyday people like the old greasy guy.

But don’t make this mistake that I made: Although I tried as hard as I could not to convey a false impression that I approve of people hassling a person who ain’t quite in with the rest of society anymore, I have failed to convince all my readers that I am not an immature man making fun of Nellie all these years later. My written story seems to me to make fun of my youthful actions more than anything else. But, that’s why we writers put out our best stuff if we have editors to help us see how our readers may perceive our stories. I didn’t have an editor for most of my stories, you best write all you can while you have an English instructor to help you realize how your stuff comes across.

If you find out about Nellie’s life and family, please straighten me about it by email, or, do your own Walkin’ Nellie story for an English assignment. At least find out for yourself if she’s related to you your family, it may help you to better understand everyday people like that greasy guy who’s name you don’t know. Write about them both in detail, it is good reading. You live in a writer’s gold mine of a small town, take advantage of it.

Here is a link to Walkin’ Nellie:

http://magic-city-news.com/article_4370.shtml
All, frig-it, I’ll take a chance that ya’ might really wanna’ read what some of what I write, here’s the wild ride I went on right after that VW Bug Trip:

http://jpri.org/publications/occasionalpapers/op36.html

patten
maine

david robert crews

Typical Dundalk Sunset

2006-10-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Sunnset over Dundalk Elementary School, taken from my front door. We have some beautiful sunsets here in Dundalk, Maryland.

David Robert Crews
ursusdave
dundalk maryland
baltimore
maryland

Self Portrait From 1999

2006-10-15T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a self portrait of me from a 1999 black and white photography class at Dundalk Community College. It's from the sixth negative in the series, and my face is so serious because I happened to git a bit too involved in the book's dramatic photos of devastatingly impoverished American women and their families during The Great Depression of the 1930's Dust Bowl Days.

Posting tests

2006-10-14T18:33:00.000-05:00

I gotta check out some of the features on this new blog site, so this will be a test posting. I gotta wing it, because I ain't got some young blogger expert around to coach me on this stuff. Hold on for the real important stuff, I think I might come up with some, so hold on it's comin'.

david robert crews