the halloween/all saints day holiday fell on a weekend this year, which is good because the workaday world doesn't slow down just because it's the high holy days for the spirit world....it is, to the spirits, as homecoming day is to the alumni office. and i'll be the first to admit i have no idea whether such things as ghosts, goblins, angels, spirits, etc. are real and i think it's probably better that way (that we know so little)...but, rather than going from there to assume they don't, i've decided to take this weekend holiday, this stunning weather, late october & all, to assume they do, assume they're both good & bad, assume they appreciate what little respect we offer them; assume that this stunning color, this beautiful blue sky, excited children, tons of candies, people in attempts at costumes, etc., is all in its own pitiful way a kind of homecoming parade. this town has always had a thing for halloween anyway, and now that the bars are closed, and the police are all over, the students have tried to drink it up and get rowdy the entire month; at the same time the pure sobriety of it, once it finally rolls around, comes when the stunning weather breaks through; the holiday itself, with bars closed and all, really should be saints day. nobody knows much about saints day, nor dia de los muertos, nor sadie hawkins day, guy fawkes day, or any of the rest. this year election day is thrown in there just for the good/bad contrast, the accusations flying about "socialist redistribution of the wealth" not two weeks after a $300 billion bailout to the world's greediest ceo's...this is all comic relief to the spirits, i'm sure, as they don't have to live with the results of thrown elections, twisted appeals to fear, etc., yet presumably glide in and out of the barbed-wire fence that separates the kamakura walkway and the construction area where they're preparing the new library grand opening. took my camera again; finally documenting what i consider amazing and subtle color and shape relationships of my favorite territory, this no-man's land back behind kamakura, where the construction kind of moved out the center-of-campus feeling and made it more of a haiku feeling. seventeen syllables and yer outta here. the pulliam carillon might gong down atcha anytime. so i snapped some pictures, and made them into pop art; i've been grading too much, and haven't had much time to think about anything else really useful.

have ongoing problems, though, with blogger online storage hazing up digital camera photos- maybe the world is not ready for stark clarity, on the free photo-storage market; but, if i keep moving, i'll find a system, and get the photos on track & up where they can be seen. i'm into sculptures like the iron dragon and the kamak behind it these days, as you can see, but i also like the 'here' sculpture, which i used to call salukihenge, over on the other side of library construction, where i saw a guy today, in a stark black and white mime-type costume, just resting in the fall colors. he'd a made a great photo, with his black & white mimeness, and beautiful fall leaves & sun & blue sky all over, mo-libe construction in the background, but i wasn't shooting people, only wanted the sculpture itself. still life pop art. he of course was still too, but was relieved, i think, that i didn't take pictures of him; in fact neither of us really wanted to talk at all. maybe he really was a mime. next time for the mime, i guess. a happy saints day cusp to all; stay sober, and watch the clear crisp afternoon blue-sky fresh air crinkle up the fallen leaf. it is, after all, a holiday.