imagination – An Adventure in Awesome

PLUVIOPHILE

(n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind from the rain.

There was a timid and slender soft-spoken teenager who was constantly bullied and preyed upon by others. One day he discovered that he could control the weather. And that rain brought him a profound sense of calm and relief from his abusive surroundings. He makes it rain every day and everywhere. From the first waking light in the morning to each long dark hour of the night, it’s nonstop rain. From Death Valley to the Sahara Desert, the rain fell endlessly for months. Rivers swelled far beyond record levels, new lakes and rivers form all over the world and the economic disruption eclipsed any previous calamity. His family and friends find out he is the cause and continually ask him to stop the rain. But to no avail. They reach out to various media outlets and start a global outcry for him to stop. Rain-soaked crowds demonstrate in front of his house, school and just about anywhere he goes. Always chanting “Stop the Rain! Stop the Rain! Stop the Rain!” Tragically, the years of constant bullying, abuse, and cruelty eroded his empathy toward others. As he peacefully walked away, he gives them the finger and absolutely refuses to stop the rain. Among the protesters is a classmate of his, a uniquely attractive young lady. She boldly stands in front of him and pleads with him. “You got to stop the rain. You’re hurting us” she says with sincerity and compassion. Unaffected by her stunning appearance and her plight, he instantly erupts with bitterness and discontent. “Why the Fuck should I? Nobody ever stepped in to help me. Heck, you and your friends make fun of me at every chance you get. On TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. From the way I dress, to where I live, and how poor my family is. You motherfuckers are relentless and shameless! No one stopped your boyfriend and his douche bag friends from kicking the shit out of me. Yeah, that’s right.” Revealing the cuts and bruises on his head, neck, and arms. “He did this!” She starts to see the true extent of the harm she along with many others has caused him. Realizing it is too late for any kind of reconciliation, tears uncontrollably trickle down her face as she softly repeats, “I didn’t know.” Unmoved by her tears, he nonchalantly turns away as if the rain spoke to him. Slowly looks up, the rain starts to intensify, and his sense of peace and calm washes down his bruised face. Still looking up, he pulls up the hood of his wore out raincoat over his head and starts to walk away. With the utmost calm and serene voice, he replies, “No, I will not stop. Go and enjoy the rain.”

You do not know what kind of problems people are facing. So just be kind to others. Until the next post,

Steven

The Zoo visit

While visiting the Detroit zoo, you suddenly discovered you have the ability to not only hear but understand all the animals around you. But to your dismay, they’re enthusiastically bitching about humans and how they’re carelessly destroying “Their” planet. As you curiously wonder around eavesdropping on Mother Nature ‘s confidential narrative, you hear hints of a coming calamity that they all seem to know about. And that this upcoming event would eliminate the human population and how joyful they are for it to happen. But just before you learn the details of how this extinction event will play out, you hear a tiger abruptly say with a fierce authority, “Shut up! That one can hear us”. All the animals fall silent, coldly turn towards you and stare at you with an unquestionable look of resentment and dissatisfaction. And as quickly as the Doctor Doolittle like ability came to be, it quickly fades. Disturbingly, the last thing you clearly recognize from them is a devilish laugh that quickly spreads from one enclosure to the next.

Tiger pic

Until next time,

Steven

Aviation Expo 2020

During all the years I traveled from one airshow to another, I’ve always played with the idea of a “Dream airshow”. If time didn’t matter, what would it look like? What aircraft, demos and jet teams would attend. 2020 is looking more and more like a year without airshows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, I decided to put together “Aviation Expo 2020”, a virtual airshow based on images from my photo archive. There’s aircraft I wish I could add to this, but I haven’t gotten around to shooting them yet. But after searching my vast archive, I did manage to round up a very impressive group of aircraft. Here’s my adventure from “Aviation Expo 2020”

After parking the rental car, I geared up and made my way to the staging area for the morning photo tour. The participants were hand pick and I was lucky enough to be selected. The tarmac was laid out perfectly. There were no tents, Porto potty’s, food vendors or anything around the aircraft to clutter up the background while shooting. Canopy covers were removed and everyone in the group was respectful, courteous and professional. Enjoying the spectacular morning light and the historic aircraft, time quickly passed, and the main gates were open and flying soon began.

Before the morning humidity burnt off, the flight activities started with a vapor contest. Each participating aircraft got 5 passes to make the most impressive vapor. Including prop and wingtip vertices and the showstopper, the full cone. The USN Super Hornet demo team with multiple cones, was the mornings clear winner.

Following the vapor contest, there was going to be only 4 heritage flights. But with so many qualified pilots and variety of aircraft, it quickly got out of hand with all the number of different combinations. But of all the amazing formations, we didn’t get to see a “Thunderbolt Flight” with a P-47 and a A-10.

After the heritage flight fiasco was over, it was time for the photo pass challenge. The challenge was split into two categories, single and two ship. Needless to say, Dale Snodgrass smashed his opponents with grace and style and Steve Hinton came in a very close second. The twin Thunderbolts from Tennessee easily won the two-ship class.

“Aviation Expo 2020” was the largest warbird gathering in history. Aircraft from World War Two to Vietnam was present and flying. The sound of all those historic Engines running at once was unforgettable. There were a few jet warbirds too and they didn’t disappoint. The show set a new world record for having the largest mass takeoff of warbirds since World War Two.

Now it was time for the show headliners. One by one, the jet teams took to the air and performed. The USAF Thunderbirds were up first. Followed by the RCAF Snowbirds, then the USN Blue Angels with Fat Albert doing a JETO takeoff. The Starfighters team got back together for this show. Flying from “across the pond” was the Breitling jet team and the RAF Red Arrows for the grand finale.

There was a short pause in the show come late afternoon. During this time everyone walk the static aircraft and got a bite to eat before the evening show.

As the sun made its slow journey toward the horizon, fuel tanks were topped off again, engines started up for the final performances of the day. It was amazing and the light was magical.