Unpacking a suitcase or knapsack I like to be fast;  unpacking my head after a trip I like to be slow.   The foto (doubleclick enlarges) below I took Christmas morning 7:57 am . . . Hiwassee River under I-75 . . . it was so moody, so unwelcoming of Christmas scenes that I stopped the car on the shoulder just beyond the bridge and ran back to get this foto.  I know you’re not supposed to do that, but  . . .

Notice that I’ve added many new fotos to the Flickr show on the left side of this page, all taken at Old Car City in White, Georgia, a place of ghosts like this one of Hernando de Soto.  His face here looks as disoriented as I felt walking through the

4000 cars haunting this woods.  The image below is interactive.

Obviously I saw cars here, in various states of degradation, but I also saw people from my past.  No . . . I’m  not really a lunatic, but seeing a De Soto I think of the great-uncle who sponsored my father to this country.  Seeing a Hudson I remember Ernie, the farmer from across the valley who drove one unless he was sitting on his Minneapolis Moline face flushed from a combination of sun and hard cider he made himself.

My parents drove me home from my birthplace/hospital in a Plymouth.

Cadillacs and almst all the cars of my youth were  massive, chromeplated, and evocative of greatness with their artdeco decorations.  I could go on, but check the Flickr shots.

I’ve said before . . . Wilmington is a place I’ll go back to next December if not sooner.   Meet Log Dog, launched 1953, (ex-D. E. 51) and

Isco . . . Here’s a foto of Isco from the bank of Eagle Island.

Pelicans . . . I still need to get a foto of a squadron of these guys wingtips skimming the water.  Help me out here:  I recall someone telling me of a pelican sighted on Jamaica Bay last summer.  Anyone see it or hear of it?

Last ones . . .  my March 2011 shots of Vinalines Queen has been getting lots of views the past few weeks.

I’m not sure why, but here are a few I hadn’t published.  I’d love to hear from you.

So  . . . the unpacking continues.  Hope you enjoy the new Flickr shots.