The Epitome of Calm / I am Armed to the Teeth

I've been away for awhile. Mainly in Maine. Possibly in Portsmouth. It was nice.














Just a bit of this made my hellish life of late seem worth living...
















and everything was right with the world.


















I'd like to live there someday.
















It was a truly calming experience.




















But I still hate that fuck who paints whales all over downtown...a plague on you Wyland.

















Did I mention that Jamie made lobster? Hell yes.















I even had a bit of time to squeeze in some Wilco down in Portland.
















It was good too...
















It managed to slip my mind how great they are live. I worked with them, not long ago, but it was long enough to forget many of the songs and great moments in the show.


















This was a great exchange between the band and the crowd...
















When the lights came on a few people really lost it. It was great to see a show outside of New York where people where really into the music, and yet managed to be courteous to one-another. It was a good night.
















In Portsmouth I purchased what is indisputably the greatest t-shirt ever made by human hands. At first I thought that the squirrel was holding a spatula, since it was being sold in a restaurant. I now know that I was mistaken. Whatever, that little guy is wearing a turtleneck. What more can I say?




















I modeled a few of these in a hunting store, but didn't actually buy any. I think they make my head look small, and I would never have occasion to look like any more of an ass than I do on a daily basis.


















I did like this one, though; Franco-Prussian in design, yet Scandinavian in its simplicity.


















The same store had maybe the largest collection of guns that I had ever seen in one place. It is an area where deer hunting tends to win out over volleyball or badminton as a weekend pastime.
















The gun on the right was some sort of 800-caliber hand-cannon. It was massive, and came with hooks to attach a shoulder strap, really. The gun to the left is a .44 magnum, and is dwarfed by the anti-aircraft pistol that shares its case.















I don't own guns, nor have I ever really wanted to for sport, recreation or protection. That said, were I to own a gun, it sure as shit would be a miniature, double-barreled, silver-plated shotgun. That is a fine instrument of death. I do think that some of the finer details would be lost on small game, but beauty is in the eye of the gun owner, as they say.