August Pictures

$6.00 with tax.

cleeeean 1950 Merc

down the street just yesterday 

Zooey !!

I took this photo this past weekend in DC

took this 2 weeks ago. My apocalypse prep kit.

two weeks ago - East coast boardwalk -- Wildwod, New Jersey

loaded for bear 

I can remember going to Wildwood as a kid, the giant Gorilla freaked me out and gave me nightmares 

^ wow, that's something

also from our Wash DC trip:

Amish quilt

Hiya, hiya, hiya kidz!

I do lurk, but haven't posted in a long time, and this is always such a cool thread. I was at those '74 Philly shows up there, and they really brought back some great memories of a MUCH different time. I think Jerry shaved his beard for that short window around then. 

Anyway, that prompted me to wanna say hey to all, and it's good to "see" some of the old-schooler's around that I used to interact with a bit way back in the PZ days, like MarkD, Jaz, Judit, Fabes and others. Really glad everyone seems well!

I'm turning 71 shortly, btw. Dude- that's the definition of every day's a blesssing/miracle. ;-)

Hey now Earl! Good to see you here. Good to see your still around.  How's the health?   We're getting up there.

I'm doing as well as possible, thanks, Mark. Still riding my bike all over town, hitting the gym a bit, and doing beach yoga once a week- all in the context of being an old fart.

Still squeeze in some some smokin', drinkin' and cussin'...

PS Tampa Bay has an excellent GD cover band that has a "residency" a couple miles from my house on Thursday nights, and I usually hit that- bug fun and good vibes.

Sorry- double post- I'm a bit rusty here.

jenny lake wy

Hi Earl, good to see you.

Love the quilt, Alan.

Grand Mesa Colorado

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Beautiful, Jaz. Is that a Cooper's Hawk?

I don't know  , Mike.  It was just sitting on the bird bath. It's a young hawk.

Looks like a Sharp Shinned Hawk

It's difficult to tell the difference between a Coopers and a Sharp Shinned unless they are side by side.

Yea he indicated it was small which is usually the way I've understood the primary difference 

maybe not a virtuoso, but certainly a pop culture legend, my daughter and I were invited to watch Ace Frehley from the stage last night. We had a great time and it was an interesting view hanging with the bands friends and family. The band was very generous to my ten year old daughter 

^^^Ace Frehley (lead guitar) is a fucking legend. Glad to hear the guitarist with 'flash and balls' treated you and your family so well!

coming back from Pucallpa Wednesday....

12 high dose ceremonies in 14 days. First group Maestro Gaspar has done this with ....ever.  Normally only performs 10 ceremonies in that same time span.  16 day journey of a lifetime. 

Will be doing this annually for the forseeable future.  My two teachers - pictured here at the end of ceremony #12 around 1 am -  are nothing but Light and Love. I feel so blessed to have found them.  I contacted my teacher, Mark, on far left, 2 days after he posted his church on Safeceremonies. I was the first person to contact him. Simply Meant to Be. Gaspar is in the middle. Pucallpa is recognized as the regional birthplace of the Shipibo Tribe.  He is pure Light and love. Just a phenomenally kind and beautiful man. 

Reckless Love -  Bethel Music, ory Ashbury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPxIgI46xQg

Cerrado Pineapple

Heliconia bahai - Orange Lobster Claw Two......hummingbirds love this plant

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Kinda late. Good to see you ,Earl.

from my Son's wedding reception in Mexico last night, ended with 1/3 of the people at the wedding reception jumping in the pool at the end, 30/90 My sister got this shot of my wife going in.

Nice form there, mrs. fabes.

one of the many shops in Pucallpa....Peruvian speed ball.  Coca leaves were for sale in many of the open air shops, but they weren't dieta friendly, so no bueno :(

The Happiest Family on Earth. Shipibo style.

Gaspar and his wife's home. Not kidding. This is it. No electricity, no running water, no hand well, no kitchen, no bathroom at all (they use the jungle behind them), nothing, you're looking at all of it. Bedding is a thin mattress on the wooden plank floor with mosquito netting around it at night. no doors, no windows.  He always told us, "I Love you all so very much. I'm available day and night if you have any questions or problems. Just come on over and ring the bell."

The Family Kitchen...ALL meals were cooked right here, just like this for the 15 days we were here....2 meals per day consisting of chicken or fish with boiled white rice, veggies and plantains.

The first day, i made the mistake of not eating all my food. When i took my plate back to them, the daughter looked at me with a smile, then she saw my plate and her smile went away. I didn't realize it was offensive to not finish your food.  Cooking is an act of Love for them. i finished my plate from that point on. 

If you think it's hot and humid where you live.....I have news for you ;).  The Amazon sets the bar pretty high.   Most nights were high dose ayahuasca ceremonies that ended around 4am. Going to bed around 4:30 to 5 am. I actually got used to sleeping with not even so much as a fan, and with the exception of one windy night, the night air was very still, and the dew point was ridiculously high, but having a very strong dose of dmt coursing through your body helped substantially :)  No blanket most nights. The open casitas were quite comfortable.

The accommodations....all casitas had no doors on them. I shared this casita with our translator, Miguel, a wonderful man from Iquitos, who stayed with us fro the two weeks. 

The facilities...toilet and "shower"...lol. The shower and flush water is in the blue barrel., It was filled daily with water from a local river.  The shower is the bucket hanging on the wall. Dip the bucket in the barrel and pour it over yourself. Soap up and rinse. The only time this was a bit unnerving was when Aya would force you to the toilet with diarrhea at around 4am while you're still trripping quite hard.....lol.

All in all,  I'll be going back here annually. The Shipibo are so loving and caring, and they don't live any differently than we did.  They are 100% genuine.  I went barefoot most of the time when we were at the refuge, which Gaspar and his family found humorous. Not sure why, but i was glad to be able to make them smile. 

What happens when it rains?  Everything is open.

Hi, Mark. Hope you've been well, friend. Thanks for all you do for others!!

>>>What happens when it rains?  Everything is open.

If it comes straight down, no problem. Steep pitches to the roof, runs right off. 

If it blows, well, then things get wet, but from one direction, so beds just get moved. 

Also, notice that the casitas are elevated. This is because the Ucayali river that is about a mile away floods during the rainy season (winter) all the way back to their property. So there are weeks out of the year where they get around in a handmade wooden canoe. Not kidding. They do have a grill sized propane tank for cooking when their property floods and they can't cook on the ground as they are used to doing. I will be doing a layout in Cosmic sometime soon. Many, many pictures. Many stories.  Best two weeks of my life. No modern conveniences whatsoever. And no fucking WiFi!!!!  Phones were only good for taking videos and pics.   LOVED IT!!!  Disconnected!!!!

Mango trees grow around the casitas, and monkeys come in at night, climb the trees, pick the fruit and jump on the metal roofs and hit the mangos on the roof to open the fruit up. Never had more than 3 hours of sleep per night.  40 species of poisonous snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, all with open casitas. And, yes, sometimes the snakes came in. I never put my shorts, shoes or shirts on without a strong shake or twelve to make sure nothing was inhabiting them.  The Shipibo live like this 24/7. 

We have it made, brother, but I'm also seriously considering retiring there. Incredibly happy and kind, loving people with almost no material possessions.   Pretty cheap to live in Pucallpa, but it is a major drug route city. Nighttime is for the traffickers. No one is out wandering around at night fro a stroll in the moonlight.  We were told that anyone carrying a backpack on a motorcycle during the day to not make eye contact or do any American "road rage" behavior. We were told that that will not "end well". Other than that, beautiful people in a very impoverished area.  For those who enjoy coke, it's a shame they don't get to see this end of it. 

non poisonous tree climber right outside my casita....day one

few days later, i went to get something out of my backpack..... we were told to be sure to zip and seal all backpacks and containers all the time.

An amazingly underrated guitar player(Buck Dharma/BOC) and some schmuck....

^ Nicely done.

ga north, mondegreen 

from our spot

juicy juicy

weedy weedy

^ is that the nazi guy from raiders of the lost ark?

Bss, what's that growing next to the weed?

Strawberries mark

I put up about 60 lbs of them this year, not including what we ate, and they're still going

i have the low hoops on there for bird netting and also shade cloth when it's really scorching

just harvested potatoes in the one you can see the other corner of

Yum. And those strawberries look really nice too.

Also, yes on the Nazi guy.

Joe, I see you made it to Peru. Hope you watched out for the Red Belly Piranha on the Amazon. Care to share what that boat trip was like!

^^Hi Jaz,  it was going to be a 4hr canoe ride up river to see the Nayo Rao tree, with the possibility of having to sleep overnight with no assurances of housing or mosquito netting, so as a group we chose to go to a closer lake for the day.

Hey man, bet that lake has fish with teeth.   

Don't piss in the lake either because of the parasite that swims upstream? Heard about that somewhere .

  ;)     Wild!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0953985991712990

Candirú is a tiny Amazonian parasitic catfish reported to swim into urethral and other body openings of unprotected bathers. It is also known as canero, carnero, and urethra fish, and is a member of the genus Vandellia. When it swims into the urethra, it can be difficult to pull out by its tail because the umbrella-like spines near its head may extend and prevent its removal. Forced extraction may cause lacerations of the urethral mucus membranes, which has caused death by exsanguination. Remedies have ranged from penile amputation and suprapubic cystostomy to application of a native herb that softens the spines of the candirú, so it can be removed relatively atraumatically. A tight bathing suit can prevent entry of the fish into the human urethra. Megadose vitamin C therapy may aid in removal of the fish.

Wilder. 

No, there was no swimming.  The lake we were on is called Anaconda Lake for a good reason, so.....no swimming..lol. And pihrana exist in the rivers. 

Well that about covers that Joe and it's probably ab9ut time for this thread to die. Been up all night.  1/2 dose.  

Think I'll make a day of it for a while. 

can anyone guess who this is?

Hint: he is a musician

Good job BSS. I won't show you a pic of my pitiful strawberries this yr.  Something ate my Zucchini plants and beans. Grapes were a disaster this yr. I think that heat wave in July did them in. Hoping they recover for next yr.  Same with the blueberries. Grew a lot of peppers and tomatoes but all the fruit was very small. Got a lot of very nice garlic and the corn that I replaced the garlic with is growing great. 3 little pot plants that were almost dead when I transplanted are still alive and budding. All in all not my most successful yr.