The Schnozring Trilogy is now available from Amazon as paperbacks or Kindle books and from Barnes and Noble as paperbacks. The first book of the Trilogy, The Schnoz of the Rings, is a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The second book, New Ring Rising, tells the story of Nostril, the great, great-grandson of the The Great and Powerful Schnoz, as he attempts to conquer Central Oith by forging a new ruling ring. The last book, Ring War, relates the return to Central Oith of the vastly more powerful Nostril at the head of an army bent on the subjugation of the free kingdoms.
The Schnozring Trilogy on Amazon – Paperbacks $14.99 ea
The Lady In Blue is Sister Maria de Jesus of Agreda, a Catholic nun who lived in Spain in the seventeenth century. She is known for bilocation between the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Agreda and the American west, where she ministered to the Jumano Indians of Central New Mexico, West Texas, and Tuscon. Although she never physically left her monastery, Maria reported that she was transported by the angels to the Jumano settlements. She was known as the Lady in Blue because of the blue habit of her order. I’ll provide some links at the end to Maria’s history and to the history of the statues. Mostly, I’m interested in the photography.
Here are some saguaro cacti in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in Tucson, Arizona. I took this shot during a trip to Tucson in 2019. Saguaros are native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, parts of southeast California, and the Mexican state of Sonora. They aren’t native to Texas. I live in San Angelo, which is near the center of Texas. San Angelo is likely 650 miles from the nearest Saguaro cactus (Unless some J. Fancy Richboy III, has imported some to decorate his manse…). For you northeasterners, that’s about the distance from Boston to Detroit. Saguaros are cool. But they don’t have anything to do with Texas.
The stories of the Schnozring Trilogy are set in the Central Oith Universe, a place and time both similar and distinct from our world and time. While writing the Schnozring Trilogy, I produced a fair amount of material that didn’t make it into the final books and some that might make it into the next books. I thought I’d present some of that material here, partially to get some of the stories out and partly to provide some color to the Central Oith Universe. Today I’m going to cover Roll Seven, a dice game that originated with the Dwarves. It was first mentioned in The Schnoz of the Rings, Book I of the Schnozring Trilogy, p. 126. The mention of Roll Seven came in a list of gaming opportunities at Barn Adoor, the Great Schnoz’s hotel and gambling casino in Soredoor.
My Leica M3 with the Leica 90mm TELE-ELMARIT-M f/2.8
In a recent post, Choosing a Leica, I talked about my personal journey to buying a Leica M3. At the time, I wrote that I would likely use a 50mm lens most of the time since I had been a “normal lens” kind of guy for most of my life. While writing the post, I never considered that I might have more than the 50mm lens for the Leica M3.
But of course, I couldn’t stop thinking “What if… .” (This is a bad case of GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome). So I looked at the 90mm lens options for Leica and finally decided that the Leica Tele-Elmarit f2.8 (the “skinny” model, made from 1974-1990) was just the ticket. Mostly, I liked that it is a very compact lens. The “tele” part of the name means that it is a true telephoto design and that the length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. I started looking on ebay.
Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day “is an international event created to promote and celebrate the art of pinhole photography.” It is held each year on the fourth Sunday in April. In 2022, that was April 17. The idea is to make a pinhole photograph on the appointed day and upload a digital version to the year’s gallery. This was my mission on April 17, 2022.
April 17 dawned a bleak and drizzly spring day in San Angelo. Kathryn and I set out to Angelo State Park thinking we could find some targets of opportunity. We knew the park had lots of trees, a lake, some streams, buffalo, longhorns, spring flowers and other potential subjects. So off we went and arrived just a few minutes after the gates opened.
The final product is the photograph above, “Spooky Trees, Angelo State Park.” To see my submission in the Worldwide Pinhole Day Gallery, click here. My submission was #678 and is the only one from San Angelo, Texas.
In August of 2021, the O Bros, David and John, went to Las Vegas. The occasion was a “boys trip” – the brothers without our wives. Of course, the first step was to get permission from said wives. My wife hates Vegas so she didn’t want to go but thought it might do me good to get away. David got permission, too, so off we go. This is a shot of the marquee of the the Golden Nugget casino in downtown Las Vegas. My brother and I have spent most of our Vegas time in downtown. It’s cheaper then the strip, the casinos are close together so we can easily walk between them, the odds in general are better, and the minimums are lower than on the strip. So it’s always been downtown for us. Our base of operations was, as you might have guessed, the Golden Nugget.
Here is another post dedicated to my brother, David. I hope he hasn’t tired of doors!
If you saw my previous post, Five Frames with a Leica M3 and Portra 400, you might recognize the chair from the frame, “Waiting Room”. This door is from Rusa’s Mexico on Oakes Street in San Angelo, my fair city, Texas.
If you read my previous post (warning: it’s a lot of waffle about buying a Leica!), you know there is a new camera in town. So, new camera, what to do? Photo expedition!
We often go to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art for exhibition openings and concerts. Along the route, I noticed several buildings that needed photographing. So off we went to break in the new camera…
First stop, a visit to the flamingos atop Hawaii’s Finest Shaved Ice on Ave N. They are multiplying. A couple of years ago, there was just one.
This post is a lot of waffle about choosing and using a Leica M camera. It is the sort of post about Leica cameras available by the hundreds on the internet. If you know all about Leicas already and/or don’t care about my personal drama, then skip this post and look at the pretty pictures in the next post. Remember, you have been warned…
