Day 293 - Thursday Sept 1, 2016
Day 293 - Goodbye Old Friend.
There's a hurricane out in the Gulf. Hurricane Hermine, a lowly category 1 hurricane that will more than likely cause flooding to the east of us, from Panama City to Tampa. Hurricane cat 1 force winds will be barely larger than a tropical storm, and the first to hit the Sunshine state in 10 years. Luckily, we'll dodge this bullet.
One thing I've noticed over the years is that hurricanes in the distance suck the humidity out of the air and create absolutely beautiful skies--this was even before I got into photography. Tonight proved no different, however there was a different kind of sky.
Tonight there was a funeral for my good friend from South Williamsport, whom I grew up with, spent the night with, snuck downstairs to watch early versions of Fridays and Saturday Night live with, A boisterous and ballsy friend, whom I was glad to call my friend. I remember times with him--we used to walk across the market Street bridge to go skating. The same bridge that hovered over railroad tracks, where bully punks resided and would walk to get home. One day after coming home we were looking down on these 'tough guys' and they said "what?" We all looked over the edge of the railing (probably not so tough looking)--all gross weight of about 150 lbs between the 3 of us, and they said "fuck your mama" to us. Craig leaned over the edge and shouted "fuck YOUR mama" to em. I think the fight might have happened then, but I wouldn't know because my flight took over my fight, and I remember sprinting 4 blocks home before I even knew what happened. That's the kind of guy Craig was though--never stood down from a challenge: a guy that stood up for people; time in the Navy, with work at a Philadelphia hospital, among numerous other things.
I left PA in 1984 but somehow, some way, was always able to keep in touch with Craig through social media. I could always count on the "youre doing it wrong" posts, along with "there's people for that" when I'd vent my frustration during the fun facebook years, before facebook became a rehash of emails and nothing but memes and politics. Craig was a class act. He's sponsor AA people from the Navy, marrying young and having two beautiful (now grown) daughters of his own. I believe he was a new granddad when the Lord decided to take him suddenly in his sleep the night of August 28, 2016 by sending him a massive heart attack. Craig Shaffer was 45 years old. The same age as me. I guess part of growing up and growing wiser is learning you need to start taking care of yourself, and the signs around you sometimes show you that it's best to take care of yourself sooner than the pallbearers will have to.
We were in Craigs' hometown of Wellsboro this summer for our summer trip www.teamitchyfoot.blogspot.com with a stop at the Pa Grand Canyon. I remember telling my wife maybe I should try to get up with him--we're gonna be right there and I hadn't seen him in thirty years. Then stupidity took over and I thought--we'll be back to PA, maybe next time. Lesson learned.
Tonight I wept for Craig as his funeral was at 7:00 PM eastern time. It didn't start that way. I'd been thinking of him the past few days and reading his friend's condolences on FB (about the only that stupid thing is good for nowadays) and realized I'd lost a friend. I lost a distant friend, where time gets in the way of life sometimes. I wish I'dve seen him this summer, but now I can't go back.
The storms loomed near, so at (crazy enough) 5:30PM I decided I wanted to my favorite spot on Stanford Dr cul-de-sac to take some pictures. I had just bought a welder mask glass as my ND filter to try and get some cool shots during the daytime, but nothing was working the way I wanted it to. First I couldnt' find any rubber bands; secondly, I found some old bungee cords but they were a little 'too strong', and finally, as I went to head to the store (more than likely missing any decent sunset and making the ND filter useless) my neighbor came outside. My neighbor who worships the Lord like it's her last day on earth. I quickly asked her when she came out if she had any rubber bands. YES. She had two, so, she gave them to me, and I gladly thanked her and headed to my favorite spot to test things.
The skies were just as I said when there is a storm on the outskirts--wicked awesome--the cloudline was fluffy on the horizon and some rain was in the near distance. I quickly set up my tripod as the rain gently trickled in from the northeast. I took a few shots with the rigged ND filter of the palm trees and the condos on the canal, which I felt turned out pretty good.
Then I turned around. The rain started coming down a little bit harder now. I started worrying about my camera getting wet, so i had to act quickly. I made a couple of quick manual adjustments with the camera still on the tripod, then it just kind of 'appeared'.
There's a hurricane out in the Gulf. Hurricane Hermine, a lowly category 1 hurricane that will more than likely cause flooding to the east of us, from Panama City to Tampa. Hurricane cat 1 force winds will be barely larger than a tropical storm, and the first to hit the Sunshine state in 10 years. Luckily, we'll dodge this bullet.
One thing I've noticed over the years is that hurricanes in the distance suck the humidity out of the air and create absolutely beautiful skies--this was even before I got into photography. Tonight proved no different, however there was a different kind of sky.
Tonight there was a funeral for my good friend from South Williamsport, whom I grew up with, spent the night with, snuck downstairs to watch early versions of Fridays and Saturday Night live with, A boisterous and ballsy friend, whom I was glad to call my friend. I remember times with him--we used to walk across the market Street bridge to go skating. The same bridge that hovered over railroad tracks, where bully punks resided and would walk to get home. One day after coming home we were looking down on these 'tough guys' and they said "what?" We all looked over the edge of the railing (probably not so tough looking)--all gross weight of about 150 lbs between the 3 of us, and they said "fuck your mama" to us. Craig leaned over the edge and shouted "fuck YOUR mama" to em. I think the fight might have happened then, but I wouldn't know because my flight took over my fight, and I remember sprinting 4 blocks home before I even knew what happened. That's the kind of guy Craig was though--never stood down from a challenge: a guy that stood up for people; time in the Navy, with work at a Philadelphia hospital, among numerous other things.
I left PA in 1984 but somehow, some way, was always able to keep in touch with Craig through social media. I could always count on the "youre doing it wrong" posts, along with "there's people for that" when I'd vent my frustration during the fun facebook years, before facebook became a rehash of emails and nothing but memes and politics. Craig was a class act. He's sponsor AA people from the Navy, marrying young and having two beautiful (now grown) daughters of his own. I believe he was a new granddad when the Lord decided to take him suddenly in his sleep the night of August 28, 2016 by sending him a massive heart attack. Craig Shaffer was 45 years old. The same age as me. I guess part of growing up and growing wiser is learning you need to start taking care of yourself, and the signs around you sometimes show you that it's best to take care of yourself sooner than the pallbearers will have to.
We were in Craigs' hometown of Wellsboro this summer for our summer trip www.teamitchyfoot.blogspot.com with a stop at the Pa Grand Canyon. I remember telling my wife maybe I should try to get up with him--we're gonna be right there and I hadn't seen him in thirty years. Then stupidity took over and I thought--we'll be back to PA, maybe next time. Lesson learned.
Tonight I wept for Craig as his funeral was at 7:00 PM eastern time. It didn't start that way. I'd been thinking of him the past few days and reading his friend's condolences on FB (about the only that stupid thing is good for nowadays) and realized I'd lost a friend. I lost a distant friend, where time gets in the way of life sometimes. I wish I'dve seen him this summer, but now I can't go back.
The storms loomed near, so at (crazy enough) 5:30PM I decided I wanted to my favorite spot on Stanford Dr cul-de-sac to take some pictures. I had just bought a welder mask glass as my ND filter to try and get some cool shots during the daytime, but nothing was working the way I wanted it to. First I couldnt' find any rubber bands; secondly, I found some old bungee cords but they were a little 'too strong', and finally, as I went to head to the store (more than likely missing any decent sunset and making the ND filter useless) my neighbor came outside. My neighbor who worships the Lord like it's her last day on earth. I quickly asked her when she came out if she had any rubber bands. YES. She had two, so, she gave them to me, and I gladly thanked her and headed to my favorite spot to test things.
The skies were just as I said when there is a storm on the outskirts--wicked awesome--the cloudline was fluffy on the horizon and some rain was in the near distance. I quickly set up my tripod as the rain gently trickled in from the northeast. I took a few shots with the rigged ND filter of the palm trees and the condos on the canal, which I felt turned out pretty good.
 |
| Canon 11mm 7.1 30sec daytime exposure (welding glass rig) edited with Nik Silver |
Then I turned around. The rain started coming down a little bit harder now. I started worrying about my camera getting wet, so i had to act quickly. I made a couple of quick manual adjustments with the camera still on the tripod, then it just kind of 'appeared'.
The first end to end rainbow I had ever seen. I quickly snapped three shots. The rain came down harder. It was time to head back to the car as I had a decent walk to get to the car. I covered the camera as best I could and made it back. This picture was taken at 5:52 PM CST.
I didn't think much of it when I got home--was just amazed that I caught my first beautiful rainbow. Not long after, I went to pick up my son from football practice. When we returned home I did some very quick editing in LR and posted it to Instagram. When I posted this pic, I remembered I hadnt' looked at facebook today, and knowing today was Craig's funeral, I hit the page.
 |
| Craigs Rainbow 11mm F7.1 1/80 ISO100 |
I didn't think much of it when I got home--was just amazed that I caught my first beautiful rainbow. Not long after, I went to pick up my son from football practice. When we returned home I did some very quick editing in LR and posted it to Instagram. When I posted this pic, I remembered I hadnt' looked at facebook today, and knowing today was Craig's funeral, I hit the page.
That's when it dawned on me. After reading all the condolences, viewing the pics, and realizing they buried my childhood friend, I decided to check the time of the photo.
Now I'll admit I haven't exactly been a church goer on a regular basis over the past 8 months, but I suddenly realized that God works in mysterious beautiful ways. Eight minutes before my friends funeral and he sends me this absolute beauty.
We listened to Moreland tonight as I uploaded this post to Craigs page stating that I thought this was a sign and Craig is probably doing all right.
That's when the waves of emotion hit me.
I wept silently at first for about 30 minutes, tears rolling down my face, later turning to sobs. I stepped outside when Jen asked what I was doing and told her that I was reading Craig's page. As soon as I hit the courtyard I wailed--partially grief-stricken, partially glory stricken about the moment that had happened three hours earlier.
Fifteen minutes later, I decided after calming down, to kiss my kids goodnight, tell them I loved them, and went outside on the porch with the wife to have a cigar and a beer--choosing to remember the good times.
Rest easy Craig. Until we meet again, but I think we already did.
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