A Passel of Puns

It's been said that the pun is either the highest form of humor, or the lowest.

You make the call:

1) I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger---then it hit me.

2) Police were called to a daycare center where an unruly child was resisting a rest.

3) Did you hear about the guy whose entire left side was cut off by a buzzsaw? He's all right now.

4) The roundest knight at King Arthur's table was Sir Cumference.

5) Trying to write with a dull pencil is pointless.

6) When fish are in schools they often take debate.

7) Did you hear about the midget fortune teller who escaped from prison? Now she's a short medium at large.

8) A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

9) And the one who fell into wet cement? He's now a hardened criminal.

10) The math Professor went crazy at the blackboard... he really did a number on it.

11) When you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

Meet Mini-HaHa...Our New Mascot

Mini is a dedicated individual, as you can plainly see from this picture. Whether at rest or at work, Mini BOLDLY goes where no HaHa has gone before... sometimes by inadvertently taking a snooze on the keyboard!! When Gail isn't around, he can get up to some strange antics, and we sometimes suspect that most of the typos you find in EinP have something to do with that. We're not trying to place blame, here but...

Anyhow, we welcome Mini-HaHa to the gang.

Photo: Gail Slaughter

Questions? Comments? Questions? Comments?

"NOVA" Experiments

All of these renditions were derived from one photo source original, and processed with Picasa to achieve all the varied effects seen.

You could go on by retinting the maze and blowing the image up farther.....MS

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Top: "JUPITER C"

2nd: "NOVA I"

3rd: "NOVA II"

4th: "SUNSKIN"

5th: "MAZE of NORAD"

Two Mad Hatters

Mary Stebbins Taitt and Gail Slaughter, at the Mad Hatter Tea Shoppe in California.

A cup of Tea and Me

This my close friend Gail Slaughter, who sadly moved away to California. Well, she didn't move sadly, we're just sad she's out there and not here. You know what I mean. Gail keeps in touch with lots of pictures and funny jokes.

St. Nick?

This is Keith Taitt, Photographer, getting his own photo snapped by his wife Mary.

"Old Schoolhouse"...a picture by Mary Stebbins Taitt

"Arcata in Sepia"

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Sepia work: Michael Serafin

"Sky King"

Detail of Photo by: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Earth 2809"

Original Photography: Gail Slaughter

Colorization and effects: Michael Serafin

"Trinidad Detail 801"

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects: Michael Serafin

"Downtown Venus"

Digital Distortion

"painting" by Michael Serafin

"Purple Target 722"

Photo: Gail Slaughter (michigan)

Effects: Michael Serafin

"Land, Sea, or Air?"

Photo by: Gail Slaughter (michigan)

Rendered by: Michael Serafin

"Greybeach Inferno"

Photo Origin: Mary Stebbins Taitt

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Fossil 548"

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Sunset in Fog"

"Sunset in Fog" was created by photographer, computer artist and writer Mary Stebbins Taitt and sent to me for my "collection" here.

"Sun King"

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Color Enhancement by: Michael Serafin

"Foolin"

Original Photo by: Gail Slaughter (california)

Color Enhancement by: Michael Serafin

"SunSet"

Original Photography by: David Pierce

(I use it as my desktop background, in case you're that curious.)

"Warm Winter Villa"

Original Photo by: Mary Stebbins Taitt...........Enhanced by Michael Serafin

"Jackstraws in Winter"

Original Photo by: Mary Stebbins Tait.........Enhanced by Michael Serafin

"Sunset Red Vertical"

Original Photo by: Gail Slaughter

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Sunset in Black and White..."

Photographed by Gail Slaughter and rendered in B & W by Michael Serafin

Old postal card...the "Michigan Union"...I lived in West Quad, behind and attached at the left...

Old postal card...Jackson, Michigan as it was...

Old postal card...the "Engine Arch"...I attended classes here in 1969...University of Michigan

Old postal card...the Rose Garden at Ella Sharp Park

Old postal card...City Hall...now sadly gone

Old postal card...Cascades Falls...Jackson, MI

Old stomping grounds...University of Michigan

Mary as a "slightly" younger woman

Blue Beach Rider

A shot sent me by my good friend, Mary Stebbins Taitt. It gives the feeling of adventure, promise, wider horizons, new beginnings, new hope. That's about all you can ask for from life!

ALBERT EINSTEIN: "Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?"

DESCARTES: "How do we know if there ever WAS a road, or if the chicken was really crossing?"

SIGMUND FREUD: "The chicken clearly dreamed the whole thing up."

DR. SEUSS: "Did the chicken cross the road? Yes, he crossed it with a toad. What he got, so I've been told, was green and black and striped in gold."

Why DID the chicken cross the road? Leave a comment so WE know...

Ready to Take Off?

This is Gail...dressed to impress and rarin' to go! I call this shot "the Snooty Flying Nun", but that's the way it is in church productions aimed at the younger set---don't give an inch or they'll run you down! Gail spent years in Jackson, MI, my home town, as a sort of performance roustabout: when I first laid eyes on her she was on stage giving a "tribute to Spring".

A mistress of disguise, Gail also sang parodies about the computer age with a group that called themselves "Nerd Perfect". They let me be a fan, but that's about all, so I started calling myself the "Imperfect Nerd". Such is show business...

Now Gail sends me stuff from near Eureka, CA, and it winds up on the blog, as you have . If you wander on in further, you'll see that among her many varied talents, Gail shoots a mean picture but still claims she "doesn't want to be a photographer". Too bad, Gail... it's too late---you are!

New View in Blue

Photograpghy by: Gail Slaughter

Enhancement by: Michael Serafin

Title: "Arcata Marsh #2"

Date: 01/27/08

Her Brand new World

Gail Slaughter, our intrepid Californian, picked these up along the beach and emailed them in. (Not the actual stuff, guys and gals, the picture!) We hope she's having some fun. We hear she's taking up Mosaics next, and, after that, probably skydiving, for all We know!

Thanks, Gail...and have a good day!

Piran Alley Detail 2

These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google. Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/

NOTE::::: DETAIL of an ORIGINAL Work by Mary Stebbins Taitt

Piran Alley Detail 1

NOTE:::::DETAIL of an ORIGINAL work by Mary Stebbins Taitt

Warmth and Comfort

Photo: MST-------------Enhanced: MAS




Winter in Michigan is a time for warm fires and warm hearts. And frozen door locks, dead batteries, ice on the windshield, and two feet of snow. The two feet of snow comes when the snowplow passes your (just shoveled) driveway and dumps a new batch right where you left off. It's a frozen form of perpetual motion, and they should give out a patent for it.

Here Come da Sun King

Here's a cool one hot off the presses called Sunset Pic #2

Photo:..................... Gail Slaughter

Enhancement:...............MS

Foolin'

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles.. that is, until the fog closes in! Gail Slaughter is my very close friend. She sends me stuff. I fool around with it sometimes just to see what's what. This shot is called "Arcata Marsh #2", and was created from a regular shot of the ocean.

(enhanced on Picasa...........MS)

Dance With Death

Photo: MST------Enhanced: MAS

Darkness descends. Night comes on. And so do the streetlamps, and so do the winds, and snow, and sleet, until you wonder if you're mistaken in your life. You've made a wrong turn. It was back there someplace when you lost sight of your destination. The same destination we all have, sooner or later. Look forward to Death? Why not? He's coming, ready or not, ollie ollie outs in free. Now, I'm not ready to shake His hand quite yet, thank you, but I've brushed by Him a few times, and He's not such big stuff. Just a messenger bringing notice of your eviction, that's all. But I think I've got Him taken care of. I'm thinking smart, thinking ahead, and you know what? I'm one prepared Boy Scout. When Death comes to visit, I'm outa here. He can take his eviction notice and.....
Photo: Mary Stebbins Taitt

You Just Know

You know it's true.
Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, sometimes we're playing against a stacked deck! But SOMETIMES, even in the dead of winter, we imagine life and hope and prosperity, if not just around the corner, has at least got our address, and the check is in the mail. We're not demented; we're not fooling ourselves. In the spring, there comes a rose. And without any help from us!
Photo: Mary Stebbins Tate

When I'm Alone at Night Like This

It was not so cold tonight...kind of mushy-mooshy. Out there driving, though you slipt and slid and lunged at lampposts, if you kept both hands on the wheel and gave 'er the gun, you fishtailed through OK.

This is assuming these maneuvers were made with certain allowances. In such situations here in Michigan, if you don't bother giving yourself the elbow room, you take out signs and trees and expensive government property.

But this was a good night. A good night to challenge the world, take it head-on, peddle the metal, go for broke, drive on, soldier, drive on: you're Good to Go.

We love these things in our State. It's like Roller Derby. It's like All-Pro Wrestling on TV (in black and white). It's like a good, short snort of Uncle Andy's Anti-Freeze. It's what you live up Northway for:

to feel Free...............................M

Two Good Shots

My favorite paintings by Duane Keiser of Richmond, Virginia

"Montreau Sunset"

Sometimes, oftentimes, you find something you need to share. Even if there are barriers: language...space...time... you still feel the need to reach across the distance, whatever it is, and connect with another human mind, eye, hand, or heart. It's not a weakness. It's the world.