Frying Bacon Photo for Walts Family Party

 I was frying bacon this morning for a potato salad when I snapped this photo. It's what caught my eye. 

Frying bacon. It's what caught my eye today. photo copyright Gary Walts 2025

The potato salad I made was for tomorrow's Walts Family & Friends party at brother Ron's place in Natural Bridge. It's become an annual summer event. After the salad I grilled some chicken marinated in Salamida's Spiedie Sauce. Pretty much whole day was spent prepping for the bash. 

I have so much I could be sharing on this blog but I have gotten out of the habit and but by the end of the day I am often too tired to bother. 

A few recent things I want to cover is my brother Al's recent 10 day hospitalization for kidney problems.

The passing of my high school sweetheart and ex wife Vicky Walts. 

Comments abut recent guitar gigs, particularly one last Saturday at Wrights Marina in Oswego, NY. It was for the annual Oswego PaddleFest. I arrived there with all my sound equipment, backup equipment, everything. EXCEPT MY GUITAR! I left it home. NEVER did that before. 

Total Solar Eclipse Photos in Chaumont, NY.

 

Total solar eclipse in Chaumont, NY. photo by Gary Walts.
Sony a6000 camera and Minolta 500mm f8 mirror lens.

Yesterday, April 8, 2024 we experienced a total solar eclipse here in Northern NY. Personally I and a few family members witnessed it from our backyard in the village of Chaumont.

We grilled some smoked sausages, had some salt potatoes and Cole slaw. We had a nice wood fire going in the fire cauldron and lit some tiki torches to add a little ambience to the transition from light to darkness. 

One f the most notable things that happened was a large number of mosquitos swarming about  when the darkness came on. There was also a distinct rapid drop in the temperature. It dropped from almost 60 degrees down to 52 degrees. 

For the most part the sky remained clear throughout. A small amount of clouds were about, but the view remained good. We had a wonderful and memorable day. We were all quite amazed by the experience. 

View looking toward my neighbors place during the eclipse, Chaumont, NY 2024

Smoked sausages on the grill. Cheddar bacon and cheddar jalapeño flavored. 

This is a composite of two photos. I'm not sure I really like it it or
did it quite well enough.

Eclipse day food. Smoked sausage sandwiches, oil and vinegar based Cole slaw, and salt potatoes.

We got a fire going well before it got dark. (This is a fire cauldron created by artists Will Salisbury and Greg Lago, two good friends who are no longer with us. I miss them.)

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Family members view the eclipse in Chaumont, NY

Conversations: A photo lesson on fore ground and back ground subject matter

We are on our way home from a visit to the Better Half's family in the Cleveland, Ohio area. While she is driving I decided to poat a photo from our visit. These are members of her family. I like this photo because it shows the interaction between people. Something we can all relate to. I also like how the photo has activity in the fore ground and the back ground. Paying attention to the relationship of the fore ground to the back ground can make your photos more interesting.

In the 2nd version of the photo I cropped out the back ground man. Notice how the "story" has changed by altering the fore ground / back ground relationship.

The photo lesson here is that an every day situation can make an interesting photo and the fore ground back ground relationship can alter what the viewer thinks or perceives about the subject matter in the photo. 

Death in the Family: Sunday October 12, 2014 my brother Thomas Walts died

Death in the Family: Sunday October 12, 2014 my brother Thomas Walts died.

I didn't sleep last night.
Tonight I drank most of a bottle of Zinfandel. I may sleep a bit better.

Tom was the 7th of 10 children born to Aubrey & Margaret Walts.

I am the 2nd son and second eldest.

Alan is the eldest and first son.

All told I have seven brothers and two sisters.

My father was 56 when he died in 1987.

My brother Tom was 52, though he was only 4 days away from his 53rd birthday.

My heart is heavy.

My Father, My Brother, My Heart.

My, my, my,

It appears it is all about me.

The hood from one of Tom Cat's race cars. It sits outside the garage he built at my mother's house in Calcium, NY.

Tom was married to Cathy Dean. Tom and Cathy. Tom Cat.

Number 3 son Melvin will be here Friday from Dallas, TX.

Number 8 son Bruce will be coming from Alabama.

Bruce is the youngest of the tribe, 12 years younger than I.

Suzy and Carol roll in from Tucson, AZ. 

Tom's daughter Sierra is 15 years old. One day she will be 20. Then 25. 30, 40, and 50 years of age will arrive for her. 35 years will have passed by the time she is 50. By then Tom will be a faded memory. For her, for me, for us all.  

If I am still alive I will be 95. 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

I love you Lord.

I love, I love, I love.

My Mother goes shopping today

My sisters C & S  are visiting from Tucson AZ. Today they and the Better Half are taking my mother shopping. She is 80 years old and this is just the first recreational outing she has taken since she nalmost died a year ago March first. I have been taking her to her doctor visits and each month she has an easier time getting in and out of my van and going up and down the stairs at her house. It is incredible because a year ago we were told she had six month at best to live and that she would never walk again. Amazing.
The photo I am inserting here was made with an iPhone, snapped through a dirty windhsield at sunset. The Better Half was driving while I snapped the photo. I used instagram to add some effects.

Sunset on RT 12E, Limerick NY, snapped with iPhone and filtered with instagram. Photo by Gary walts

We were returning home after a fun day at my mother's home in Calcium. We had a surprise 50th birthday for sister S from AZ.

Home From The Hospital

There was a hail storm accompanied with tremendous thunder & lightning last night in Chaumont, NY. Everything was soaking wet this morning. But by mid morning the Sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful.



My mother came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Hospice arrived earlier in the day with a bed, oxygen equipment and some other odd & ends. We quickly discovered that we needed to add an electrical outlet in the living room to accomodate it all. So brother Ron set about installing that. My celebrity brother went to the hospital to oversee Mom's discharge and transport home. She was transferred by ambulance as the accompanying photo shows. Meanwhile I went shopping for linen for the hospital bed. Not knowing what to expect I bought numerous flat sheets & fitted sheets as well as a mattress cover. When that mission was completed I set about making the bed. So, the three of us were busy prepping for her arrival and brother T was missing in action. (But he has his own things happening with a son that needs heart surgery). She arrived just as I completed the bed. Fifteen minutes later I had to head to Syracuse area to photograph a job for the Post-Standard. The following photo came from that shoot. It was taken at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School Observatory.

My Mother In The Hospital

My Mother is 79 years old and quite ill. She was admitted to the hospital a week ago today. She has congestive heart failure. Yesterday she was very chipper, talkative, appeared to be in much better condition than the previous days. However, last night she had more fluid build up in her lungs. Her heart is weak and her heart rate fell off. She was given more oxygen, more drugs, got stabalized and her heart rate was brought back up. I suspect that it's only a matter of time before her heart simply gives out all together. Is it days, weeks or months? I don't know. Three years ago she had a heart valve replacement. At this point, based upon my Google research, I think her only hope would be a heart transplant, and at her age and level of frailty, that simply isn't going to happen.

Day 271: My Two Aunts

Photo of my two aunts by my cousin Bill Fish

Today is Sunday. It is 11:00pm. There is snow on the ground here in Chaumont, NY, and that is OK. Thanksgfiving is behind us and Christmas is on it's way. I for one have had a blessed life over all. There have been some trying moments that still infuse me with guilt should I give the past too much reflection. Those are moments I am not proud of of so am reluctant to share with the world at large. They are also events that when I do reflect upon them cause me to wonder how God can bless such a sinner as I. Occassionally I become reminded of other things that I have somehow overlooked. Case in point: I am perusing faceBook and see that one of my cousins posted a photograph of my father's two sisters taken during this past Thanksgiving Day. It was taken by my cousin, Bill Fish. His mother is on the left. She happens to be fighting breast cancer at this point in time. These two women are my father's sisters. All that are left from his family. I love this photo. They are two sweet women, my father's siblings whom I know, but not as intimately as I should. As I looked at this photo it dawned upon me that I do not think I have ever told them directly the I love them. But I do. I just have never come out and said it. I must rectify that at some point in the near future.
I am somewhat sentimental and melencholy at the moment. I think there are several reasin for my immediate state of mind. eight or nine days ago a 20 year old woman in Liverpool NY was reported missing. She was home from school for the Thanksgiving holiday. She vanished. Yesterday her body was discovered and her 21 year old ex-boyfriend charged with her murder. Today I heard of a report from Syracuse were a 1 and 1/2 year old boy was shot and killed. Syracuse has lately seen many shooting incidents. I work in Syracuse a few days a week as a newspaper photographer. I know the city well. So, here we are at the start of the holiday season and these poor families are experiencing tragedies. I think back about my father's suicide 20 years ago, my Aunt's current situation with cancer, the events in the news and ... well, what more can I say? I just must let my aunts and all of my family and friends know that I love them.