Give us those nice bright colors

You are too late, as of December 30th, 2010 Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons Kansas has stopped processing Kodachrome film. Go somewhere else you say? – impossible – Dwayne’s was the last photo shop on this big blue planet processing the iconic film more than worthy of it’s own song.

Develop it at home you say? – impossible – Kodachrome can’t be developed at home. Unlike other color films, the magic in Kodachrome is that the colors are added to the film at the time of processing. Kodachrome starts as black and white film, then through processing the color dyes are added to it, thus giving us those nice bright colors.

To get your fix of those deeply saturated colors, visit the The Kodacrhome Project: http://www.kodachromeproject.com/ or the Kodak Tribute to Kodachrome: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/cpq/features/kodachrome.jhtml?pq-path=15415 (I love the snowman photo).

At Dwayne’s they have been receiving about 700 roles of undeveloped film in each week, mailed from all over the world. The lab only has enough of the Kodachrome chemicals to last through the close of this week.

The inspiration of this Friday’s Note came from Sunday Morning – a wonderful show of light news, art, nature, characters and good old fashion story telling that I’ve enjoyed since the Eighth grade. It’s just easier to enjoy now through the DVR.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/26/sunday/main7185884.shtml

Kodachrome, lyrics by Paul Simon
When I think back
On all that crap I learned in High School
It’s a wonder
I can think at all
And through my lack of education
Hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
My sweet imagination
And everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome
Mama, don't take my Kodachrome
Mama, don't take my Kodachrome (away)

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome
Mama, don't take my Kodachrome
Mama, don't take my Kodachrome (away)

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome
(Leave your boy so far from home)
Mama, don't take my Kodachrome (away)

Now we are just left with external harddrives full of nearly identical shots we have taken without regard to the conservation of snap shots that film provided to us.

Your little friends are wrong

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The beautifully crafted response of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus." Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?" VIRGINIA O'HANLON."115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.


My Christmas wish for you this year is that Santa is alive and well in your home, hearth and heart. Please enjoy the following to further enjoy the season.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101215/ap_on_re_us/us_secret_santa

First Friday

The traditional foundation that our Christmas holiday schedule has been built upon shifted this year. The first Friday of each December always meant a journey to downtown Dallas and volunteering for Christmas Parade.

It all started back in ’91 when Jill volunteered for the parade which benefits Children’s Medical Center. Jill worked as the Parade Central Coordinator (the Maureen O’Hara role in Miracle on 34th Street). Her service for all of those years is represented by the individual volunteer pins showcasing each year’s parade.



Fyi – if anyone happens to see a 2004 parade pin (the one shaped like a TV) laying on the streets of Dallas it’s mine. It fell off as I was helping an oversized character onto an old fire truck.
As we started to date, Jill recruited me and our friends to join this annual behind the scenes gang and so started our family tradition of working the character and celebrity coordination in the hectic, controlled chaos time at the staging of the parade.

So, after a couple decades of volunteer coordination the organizers decided to outsource our efforts to a professional service company. Hmmmm – I guess our track record of never missing a beat for a couple decades wasn’t strong enough.

As a driver – our job was to get the characters and celebrities and some celebrities who were characters from the staging area to the individual car or float they were to ride in. Sounds simple enough, but toss in a dozen or so marching bands, half dozen large helium balloons and their handlers and 80 or so vehicles spread across 3 or 4 parallel blocks and the task becomes one of interpretive navigation - Especially when the parade starts and the ‘delivery locations’ are now on the move as we transport our character cargo just-in-time. Mix in 300k people walking around trying to get to their spot to view the parade and the driving was challenging.




Here are some things that I learned during my time working Parade Central.

* If you wear red sweatpants, a white sweatshirt and a Santa hat many random people ask you questions.
* Workers at McDonald’s love it when a golf cart comes through the drive thru getting coffee and hot cocoa.
* Old guys in classic cars love showing off their vehicles.
* It is possible to fit 6 Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and me into a single golf cart.
* The Adolphus elevator on the left side is the smallest, oddest elevator I've ever ridden.
* My friend Dave looks very pasty in December when sitting next to Miss America.
* There are many, many people who love volunteering to stage a parade in order to put a smile on a child.

As our family grew, our girls attended the parade with their Aunt and Grandmother as we continued to work the parade staging. Of course Jill would occasionally work in a private visit with key celebrities for the girls when possible. We even called on the big guy for a special visit.

One of my favorite stories was a few years back, while we were waiting for the madness to start. Batman was just hanging out with us when Doug pulled up in his golf cart and asked, ‘You want an ego boost?’, Batman jumped on the back of the cart and Doug raced through the side streets of Dallas with kids screaming for Batman everywhere he drove.

Part of the whole tradition was the maddening schedule that occurred the day before the parade including me hurrying from work and getting to the Adolphus Hotel (parade epicenter) the night before. I’ll certianly miss the door man at the Adolphus, a bear of a man in a top coat with the world’s biggest smile and a handshake that engulfs you. He simply knows me as ‘Jill’s Husband’. After getting settled in and taking the traditional Christmas card picture in front of the Adolphus tree, the girls and I would have dinner at the Rodeo Bar and Grill. They loved the fact they were allowed and even encouraged to toss peanut shells on the floor. Of course I had to instruct them that meant after opening the shells not before.

Our Parade Central gang would wrap up each year with our pilgrimage to Chuy’s to celebrate another successful year. A dozen or so folks all dressed in coordinating sweat suits chowing on TexMex always garnered interesting looks.

After all of my thinking of the parade and the traditions that have changed for us, I have found one benefit. My yearly, ‘what have I done with those red sweats and white sweatshirt’ search is over. No more last minute panic, tearing the house upside down, swearing that next year will be different – I’ll be organized next year. Nope, it’s this year that’s different.


It's silly but I believe, It’s silly but I believe, It’s silly but I believe ...