The "The Bahamas in real time: Day 3"

 It was an ordinary day.  Final day of photographs from the vacation that Carol and I as well as our traveling companions Jerry and Just Sue just returned from in the Bahamas.  The random shots give you a miniature idea of what the islands of the Bahamas are like.  The weather was excellent, the water warm and inviting, the people extremely friendly and helpful, the food spicy, and the resort immaculate, but the sand was extremely soft for walking, the parking in Nassau impossible, and the party atmosphere too much for me.  I enjoy peace and quiet while on vacation!  What about a return trip?   ……. a big MAYBE!!  Enjoy the final edition!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A shark at the Atlantis aquarium.  Notice the landscape and sky above it. 

I realize I published this photo before when I wrote about the flamingos, but I get a good laugh every time I see it.

The Captain of our snorkel boat from Stuart's Cove.

Christopher Columbus in front of the Government House in Nassau.

School of fish at the Atlantis.

Dessert bar at the RIU buffet.

See that starfish?  It's sitting on our coffee table right now.  Great guy and salesman.

One of the few geckoes that we saw on the island.   Different because of the red head.  Too much sun?

Another aquarium shot of the fish, but with the Atlantis Resort in the background reflecting through the water.

Neat design or sculpture I saw on the side of a building in Nassau.  

A display at the Pirate Museum in downtown Nassau.  

Sharks attacking the chum bucket on our fishing boat.

Old boat house near Stuart's Cove.

Sign on top of a store in downtown Nassau.  Tells it all!

Self portraiture of the happy campers LDub and wife Carol.  

The "The Bahamas in real time: Day 2" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Posting my second edition of some of my favorite photographs I took during my recent vacation to the Bahamas.  We stayed on the island of New Providence which is one of the  700 plus islands in the Bahamas.  The capital of the island is Nassau and the small island we stayed on which is connected by bridge is Paradise Island.  Beautiful water, sand and people!  Hope you enjoy my second edition.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Footprints in the sand.  Are they below or above the sand?

Tilework around one of the buildings at the Atlantis Resort.   

Cigars imported to the Bahamas.  Most are $25 and are illegal to bring into the USA.  No problem for me since I don't smoke. 

Taken in the aquarium at the Atlantis.  The palm trees and landscape can be seen above the sharks. 

Young boy watching the fish at Atlantis.

A friendly Grouper passing by the window at the Atlantis. 

Not sure what type of fish these may be, but they seem to glow with their iridescence.

The world famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  This connecting suite goes for $25,000 a night.   Only stayed there 0 nights.

The Bahamian Flamingos are just gorgeous.  This is a closeup of their feathers.

My buddy!

Bark of a Bahamian tree on the right with the leaves of the tree on the left.

Fish-eye view from the rear of our snorkel boat.

Our constant friend while on the island.  Beautiful Bengal tiger markings.

You could tour the city of Nassau by this means of transportation.  There is a buggy terminal at the cruise ship terminal to make it easy for the cruise ship passengers to take a ride.  Didn't do this because Carol said the horses were malnourished and we didn't want to contribute to their decline.

"We Rushin'" is the title of this Bronze sculpture which celebrates the Bahamian Festival of Junkanoo.

The "The Bahamas in real time: Day 1" Story

  It was an ordinary day.  Just finished downloading my vacation photos from the Bahamas to my Apple desktop computer.  Had three different SD cards that totaled 2263 photographs!  Some were taken by setting my DSLR to rapid fire so I wouldn't miss a special event while others I took on the spur of the moment.  After downloading I went through and deleted my rejects and ended with a more manageable 1069.  Since photography is one of my passions along with family & friends, baseball, blogging and my wife, I naturally have to have a few days of showing you the results of my vacation.  Heck, this is the only way that I can get someone to look at them, since most shy away when I ask them if they want to see my slideshow on my computer.  So, sit back and enjoy what I already enjoyed a few weeks ago.  Wish you could have been there!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Super colors from the sun reflecting off the thick cloud cover above Hurricane Karen.   Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Our home base for the two weeks was the RIU Resort, a 14 story building protected by the two pigeons you see here.

Now what photos could be without a beautiful flower? 

This is the underground aquarium walkway at the Atlantis Resort.  At center left you can see a diver cleaning the glass.

The pool area at the RIU taken from the roof of the building.  Found an exit door onto the roof and …. well no one was looking so I went out and held on tight as I leaned over for this shot.  Check out the curvature of the earth in the background.

Buffet bar at the RIU.  The desserts were the best part.

Gift shop offerings in a multitude of colors.

Fish looking at me from the aquarium at the Atlantis.

One of the beach vendors on Cabbage Beach.

Sign in a window in the capital city of Nassau.

Atlantis display of Jellyfish.  Just beautiful!

Panoramic shot of the Digs located at the Atlantis.  Notice the aquarium windows at the bottom that show a reproduction of the lost city of Atlantis. 

Another fish gliding by the window. 

A beautiful Peacock at the Ardastra Zoo.

One of my favorites!  I'm standing at the edge of a dock looking into the water and the clouds and trees are reflecting in the water below me.

The ".918 Club" Story

Heritage Press Museum on N. Queen Street

It was an ordinary day.  Just delivered a few of my altered Polaroids to Wayne at Strawberry & Co. in downtown Lancaster and decided to visit the Heritage Museum across the street and see what the new print shop looked like.  Wasn't there, but the kind lady reading her Kindle at the desk told me they had moved to the 300 block of North Queen St.  "They are run by some group that has a number for their name," she said.  "Would it be .918?" I asked her.  She looked in amazement at me and said, "That's exactly what it is.  How did you know that?"  I responded, "That's the height of a piece of hand-set type and I imagine that most old-time printers would know that number."  I thanked her and headed north on Queen St.  The narrow building is tucked nicely between two other stores with a sign in front that says "OPEN."  Along with that is a sign that proclaims "Heritage Press Museum."  I entered …... and walked back in time.  The print shop is meant to resemble a shop in the 1920s which was geared towards letterpress printing.  Letterpress printing was the standard means of printing books from the 1450s until the 1950s. In letterpress printing a technique of relief (printing from a raised surface) printing uses a platen printing press.  A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type to the paper.  Simple as that!  And, it really is simple compared to today's digital printing presses.  Frank and Mike were busy working on printing Christmas Cards that are for sale to visitors of the printing museum.  Back in the late '70s I taught letterpress printing to high school students in my graphic arts classes.  After letterpress fell by the wayside, a victim of new printing technology, I had the school donate most of the equipment.  Perhaps Frank and Mike may have used some of my old printing pieces to create their cards.  

Both of them are members of the .918 Club of Lancaster.  Their website says: The club brings together the volunteers of the Heritage Press Museum to share ideas and suggestions concerning the educational demonstration. They provide an outlet for anyone who might have an interest in letterpress printing or interested in learning about the trade.  For me, standing there, watching Mike hand-feed the paper into the press, the rollers passing over the red ink disc and closing onto the paper brought back many happy memories.  When I was first hired to do the in-house printing over the summer at the high school where I taught, I did it all on the letterpress.  Envelope after envelope was hand-fed into the press and restacked back in the box.  Time consuming to say the least.  To print a box of 500 return addresses on the envelopes might have taken close to a half-hour.  Today I still do the same jobs, but the envelopes now take less than four minutes for the same box. I talked with the two volunteers for nearly an hour while inhaling the magic smell of printer's ink.  Wow!  I know I said it before, but what memories!  Took some photos to share with you and if you happen to be in Lancaster, PA and want to experience life as it was in the past, stop in the "Heritage Press Museum."  I told them I might have to consider joining their club and getting back to work on some of my old equipment.  You never forget how to set type or …… the smell of the ink.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Mike printing Christmas Cards on the letterpress.

The California Job Case where individual metal letter are housed for type setting.  You can see where each letter is placed as well as the numbers and punctuation.  Capitals are on the right side.  They are placed in this position based of usage.  Printer's job cases didn't have the hand written letters in them as you see here, since you had to memorize the case for speed.

These are type drawers marked with the style of the face of the type on it.  The number refers to the actual size with 72 pt. being letters 1" high.  36 pt. would therefore be 1/2".

The type is hand-set in this metal device called a job stick or composing stick.  Everything is upside down and backwards to the typesetter.

The hand-set type is then "locked-up" in a metal chase or frame using quoins or tightening devices.  This is all done on what is known as the imposing stone which may be an actual piece of stone or a machined metal top.

It is then placed in the platen press (letterpress) as you see here. It is referred to as a platen press, since the paper is held in place on a metal table called the platen.   This is Mike's verse that he is printing inside the Christmas Card.  Notice the red ink rollers going over the letters.

Engravings can be added if you want a drawing.  This engraving was done by hand cutting it into a wooden block using the tools that lay next to the block.  The final result is at the top of the engraving.  Everything has to be cut in reverse. I used to have my classes cut linoleum blocks which are type high and could be run on the letterpress.   Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This is Frank who was the master engraver who made the wood engraving you see here.  Master engravers were talented individual who had quite a bit of artistic talent, as Frank does.

This is a guillotine paper cutter used for trimming the cards.  Any scoring, perforating, or folding could be done on the letterpress.