What Will You Do During the Plague Year?

[JoeKitchen]

I was once told a boat is nothing but a hole in the water you throw money into. 

After knowing a couple people who had one, I cant say I disagree with it. 

[Craig Lamson]

Many years ago, I amused myself one summer by travelling to and photographing every lock on the Trent-Severn river system, which is a major recreational boatway from Trenton, Ontario to Port Severn on Georgian Bay. At one of the locks I met a couple in a fairly large sailboat from Ann Arbor, Michigan. They had spent the summer travelling by boat, not sure of their departure point, but they made their up Lake Michigan, across Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, down the Trent-Severn to Trenton, then across Lake Ontario to the Rideau River system locks all the way to Ottawa and were on their way back home via the same route. Wouldn't 2020 be a perfect summer for that kind of voyage, gas is cheap, probably less congestion at the locks, etc.

Yes it would be a great time to do this if you had the boat, time and money. 

[Craig Lamson]

I was once told a boat is nothing but a hole in the water you throw money into. 

After knowing a couple people who had one, I cant say I disagree with it.

If I had a place in the Keys ( I love Islamorada) or something similar a boat would be a great thing to have.  Lots of places to go and a long boating season.  One of my favorite boating dreams would be a trip from Key West to the Dry Tortugas, staying on the boat or camping on the island.  But alas its but a pipe dream.  No boats in my future, but maybe a trip to the Dry Toutugas. 

[JoeKitchen]

Okay, brownie points to anyone who can tell me the brand and model! 

[JoeKitchen]

FYI, if you ever shoot golf clubs, shoot them before you use them.  You're spend much less time in Photoshop. 

[Craig Lamson]

FYI, if you ever shoot golf clubs, shoot them before you use that.  You're spend much less time in Photoshop.

Pretty much the case with everything. Even out of the box stuff can look pretty bad.  Never mind dust.

[Rob C]

How big of a boat?   I used to photograph lots of cruisers, up to 40 feet.   I always thought having one would be great, moored on Lake Michigan, just an hour from the city where we had the studio.   Then we thought about it.  Only 4 months of weather good enough to make being on it pleasant, dock fees, storage fees, fuel costs if you actually took it out, maintaining it....well you know the picture.   

Then the 08 crash ended the marine business and I  was no longer tempted whenever a nice big cruiser came into the studio.   Luck me😂

Most of our cruising in the Med was on a 25m (82ft.) Italian boat - Wild B - built at Cantieri Navali in Fregene, the coastal town near Rome, which also featured as location for the final villa party in La Dolce Vita.

When our friends sold that one, they bought an even larger one - a ninety-something feet motor sailer which was going to go to South America and up the Amazon a ways. Cancer ended that ambition for him, and a couple of years she was gone too. That sailing one was called Giriz 2.

Rob

[Craig Lamson]

Most of our cruising in the Med was on a 25m (82ft.) Italian boat - Wild B - built at Cantieri Navali in Fregene, the coastal town near Rome, which also featured as location for the final villa party in La Dolce Vita.

When our friends sold that one, they bought an even larger one - a ninety-something feet motor sailer which was going to go to South America and up the Amazon a ways. Cancer ended that ambition for him, and a couple of years she was gone too. That sailing one was called Giriz 2.

Rob

Those are some wonderful boats Rob.  I’m sure there are some fond memories, despite’s the demise of your friends.  You lived quite a life😎

[armand]

With too much time on my hands I got convinced by my wife to give the dog a haircut (first time ever). Let's say I will have another pass tomorrow.

[LesPalenik]

With too much time on my hands I got convinced by my wife to give the dog a haircut (first time ever). Let's say I will have another pass tomorrow.

I used to shave my Bouviers every spring and fall right to the skin, leaving the hair just on their heads, so for a few weeks they looked like lions.

[BernardLanguillier]

Well, work has been very busy, mostly from home.

Then, since I have a child in school away from school, a lot of time is spent with her also.

Having just redone my home studio I spend a bit of time here trying out a couple of things I hadn't had time to do, such as testing the Depth of Field stacking capability of the GFX-100, planning better camera profiling, complaining about the sub-par performance of the new Mac Pro with C1 Pro,...

Cheers,
Bernard

[Rob C]

Those are some wonderful boats Rob.  I’m sure there are some fond memories, despite’s the demise of your friends.  You lived quite a life😎

Indeed, there were some very happy years of paid photographic travel (I think we went to every place we wanted to go and a couple we would rather have avoided), lotus-eating and thinking life would never change. Worse, it all became taken for granted, along with everything else.  I achieved my life dreams of getting into Vogue and into calendars; before any of that happened I got the buzz of photographing BB who had been my fantasy. My wife and I had each other, we were in love since schooldays, and we always managed to have enough money to live decent lives, have a car or two and pay the bills with a few pennies in the bank for our old-age. Little did we suspect that one day the banks would decide to stop paying visible interest, that in retirement, stock Kodachromes would become worthless, and relationships with the banks become a matter of withdrawls and redundant pay-in booklets. Then worst of all, she found cancer and in four years was no more.

As a result, my life since then has been one of believing that I am still here for a purpose, but feeling absolutely unable to understand what the hell that purpose might be. Maybe in the end, it's just to create a natural balance of good times and not so good times.

As I might have mentioned before, photography without purpose doesn't quite seem to fit the bill, unless it's just to be the bunny whose battery lasts longest.

;-)

[JoeKitchen]

This week was a Double Creme Brie week. 

I made two wheels, weighing about 7 lb. total.  By fair the messiest cheese with the greatest chance to go awry.  I almost lost the first wheel down the drain; thankfully I saved 2/3s of the curds. 

Should be ready in two to three months.

Currently have roughly 18 lb of Gouda, 12 lb of Gruyere, 6 lb of Emmentaler, 16 lb Rochefort, 9 lb of English Stilton, and, now, 7 lb of Brie.  We should be good if shit goes south. 

[armand]

Interesting hobby. How long did it take to master it?

So far I only made yogurt, long time time, while in the dorms.

[chez]

Interesting hobby. How long did it take to master it?

So far I only made yogurt, long time time, while in the dorms.

I make kiefer on a schedule where I have enough every day to make a drink with greens, seeds, fruit and almond milk. My wife swears the drink helps her Parkinson's symptoms.

[Alan Klein]

I made Purell equivalent hand sanitizer.  1/3 Aloe to 2/3 91% isopropyl alcohol and 6 drops of lemon.  Stir  around in a bowl and pour into a pump dispenser.  That and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. By the way Joe, can you eat that much cheese only?  Wouldn't it do something to your digestive system?

[JoeKitchen]

Interesting hobby. How long did it take to master it?

So far I only made yogurt, long time time, while in the dorms.

Master?  I would never claim to be a master of anything but my specific profession, and even then there is always room for improvement. 

But anyway, I am very much of the mind set that things are fast or tedious, not difficult or easy.  So not to long to learn how to make the cheeses I like, namely the ones I listed.  With that said, there are many different cheeses out there all requiring different processes and cultures/molds, and the list is very long insofar as cultures and molds available to use.  Some are of no interest to me, like English Cheddar, and some are way to involved for such a little pay off, like fresh mozzarella. 

Plus I have always been into cooking and anything that involves flavors, and I don't get grossed out easily.  It can be a little off putting to long term age food at temperatures significantly above refrigeration while watching molds and bacterias grow all over them.  So being able to handle that mentally I think is important.

[JoeKitchen]

I make kiefer on a schedule where I have enough every day to make a drink with greens, seeds, fruit and almond milk. My wife swears the drink helps her Parkinson's symptoms.

What is kiefer?  (Sorry to hear about your wife's condition.) 

[armand]

By master I meant comfortable enough with the process that you get close to what you want.

[JoeKitchen]

I made Purell equivalent hand sanitizer.  1/3 Aloe to 2/3 91% isopropyl alcohol and 6 drops of lemon.  Stir  around in a bowl and pour into a pump dispenser.  That and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. By the way Joe, can you eat that much cheese only?  Wouldn't it do something to your digestive system?

Can I eat that much cheese only?  I would guess not, but cheese will stay good for pretty long so long as you have the right storage space.  The optimal storage for cheese is 52F and 84% RH, for most cheeses, and 98% RH for any mold ripened cheeses BTW.  Now how long is really dependent on the cheese and how it is processed.

Very dense cheeses, like Parm and Gruyere, will stay good for like 10 years.  Semi-hard cheeses will stay good for up to 4 years.  Plus, you can split the wheel and age half of it with the proper conditioning.  You will loose part of that half wheel due to a new rind developing, but it will still be good to age. 

Now mold ripened cheeses like Blue and Brie only last for 3 to 9 months.  Adding a mold to the cheese and processing it to be soft greatly accelerates oxygen flow and rot, so those cheeses will liquify pretty quickly.  Think of a pungent Camembert that oozes out at room temp; it is very close to being completely rotted.  By the time it reached your home, it probably had only two or three more weeks before it turns to just liquid.  Brie turns pretty fast.  My blues we will cut into around 10 weeks and then portion them, wrapped them in plastic (slowing aging a bit by reducing oxygen flow) and slowly eating them over a few months.  They will continually get sharper and sharper. 

Very soft cheeses will turn within a week after they are made. 

So it depends on the cheese.