Category: Blog Entries

This past weekend was University of West Florida’s Festival on the Green. And we participated in it with a booth for our One Shoe Diaries stuff. The first day was alright, it threatened to rain all day but it held off. I met many wonderful people. Names escape me, I apologize. The nice woman on my left with her hand made purses and other items, including a cool onesie, never thought I would know what a onesie is 🙂 She also had the most well behaved adorable little girl. And most admirable was the fact she was adopting a four year old boy from Africa into her family.
 
Others were the girls selling wind chimes, who bless their hearts had a rough inaugural festival experience. The people selling the soap with the boy who hated to hear “Fire in the Hole!” (explanation to come) A woman selling jellies and jams who makes a darn good peach salsa I hear, the tye-dye girls, the jewelry lady and last but not least the necklace girl on my right. Who I found out through the course of the day was a premie that was born weighing only a pound and a half. Amazing how tough a small baby can be.
 
Since Sharon could not be with me on friday I was on my own and had taken the puggles with me. They were great, I was impressed how well-behaved they can be in those situations. Although Jinny did get a little scared of the gunfire. A military history display a few booths away was complete with rifles and cannons which they repeatedly fired blanks from scaring the crap out of everyone. But sometimes they did give the now infamous yell “Fire in the Hole” before blasting off a round, but sometimes they forgot the warning. This was the first year they fired weapons and hopefully the last.
 
The next day Sharon and I woke up to huge thunderstorms rolling through. We tried to make a go of it and set up. We toughed it out for a bit. I thought for sure it was going to clear up. But it never did, so we packed back up and headed home. But not before hearing some really great news. Come to find out the night before they had an awards ceremony that we did not attend and we had won 1st Place in the best arts and crafts vendor category!! Even thought we did not sell a thing we still made our money back, and as most of you know, we need every penny we can get 🙂

Lately the One Shoe Diaries has really gotten attention. From media outlets to people’s personal blogs. The CNN segment featuring it even replayed this weekend! I just found a site this morning where a creative writing resources page posted this:

Creative Writing Assignment- Excellent to use an opening or closing activity!
“One Shoe Diary”

Visit: www.oneshoediaries.com .
Click on the CNN Headline News link: “News to Me” and view the brief video segment relating to the photography project.

After viewing the video, students will use their laptops to search the website. Students will select a shoe from the photo gallery. Based on the photograph, students will compose a creative story. Using Pages, students can easily drag the photographs from the website and drop the image onto a template.

It blew me away. I cannot believe that my little project born out of boredom on the highway has spawned into this. But for me it gets better with these stories that were shared with me as a result of being on CNN…

I live in El Paso, Texas and I was watching CNN when I saw the piece about the one shoe, so I went to the website.  Sad to say I have never been to any of the places that were featured in blog.  I have always wanted to go to White Sands and explore.  It made me realize after looking at your pictures that I need to take my kids and experience the sands.  So with that said, we are loading up today and heading that way.  Thanks for the beatiful pictures and inspiring to get off the couch and just GO

and this one which really touched me the most out of any so far…

“The Third World Shoe Tree”
My Daughter ( Joni) and I went to Roatan Honduras,  in 2002, She Started to notice all the lost flip flops on the beach, so she hung them on a tree by the ocean. Thinking someone would claim them. The island children thought it was so  neat, they all began to add to the tree. And spent many hours contributing to it.   It’s a very poor country, so every once in awhile they would find two similar shoes that might would fit. Even if they didn’t match. And would wear them home proudly. She keep this up for the entire time we were there. Thirty three days. After we returned home, my daughter was killed in a horrendous murder. Which to this day has remained unresolved. She was only forty two. I just wanted to thank you for helping a heart broken Mother remember happier times, by viewing your web site. Joni would have thought it was the neatest thing for someone to do..she too was a free spirit. And saw life as you see it through such artistic eyes! A mom, who’s heart is touched by your insight.

It was so hard to find the words to reply to this mother. I am so honored she shared her story with me, while making me sad and angry. It also has an uplifting spirit to it, which is what seems to carry on with me now. And now through me she has insured her daughters legacy be known and live on as I will always remember and retell her story.

This project has taken on such a life of its own now. So many people are touched and connected by these lost soles out there, I did not imagine the response we have gotten. Someone asked us the other day if we were making a fortune of the idea. I paused for a second… it depends on what you call wealth. If it is money and objects? Then no, i am not making a fortune by any means. If it is connecting with people and sharing life experiences that enrich our lives, then by all means YES! We have gained an immense wealth from this project. My wife and I gained a bond that will carry us with love and respect for each other the rest of our lives, we have been blessed with a son, who through our wisdom and experience gained will be raised to be a good soul. We are wealthy in ways money cannot buy.

Recently I had my good friend Randy, or Big Randy as we call him since he is around 6’8” and close to a muscley 300lbs! When in town he was on a vacation for himself, away from the stresses of raising 3 kids and being self employed. So to live it up a bit he decided to rent a nice car for the week. He settled on a super shiny, black BMW 528i. It was beautiful and had so many luxury features it would take a month to find them all.

So after driving in it for a few days we noticed a scratch and then really noticed that after looking the scratch was all the way down the side and then looked and saw another scratch just like it on the other side. Someone had KEYED IT! They dug so deep metal was exposed. I could not believe it happened in front of our house. We felt so bad, like we brought him to stay in the ghetto or something! This did not help him ease into a relaxing vacation and on top of that he worked the whole day before while down here because he had brought his laptop and a client had to have something asap.

Eventually after a day or two of relaxing with beers and sunshine he calmed down and really de-stressed. Just in time to be loaded into a plane at 4:00 am and shipped back to freezing temps and gray skies. Poor guy, I hope he at least had fun for a bit down here.

One thing that was cracking us up while he was here, at least it did me 🙂 Was I kept taking pics of him when he wasnt looking from my camera phone and sending them to him. Every time he heard the chime indicating a new message he just cringed because he knew what it was. And they were very rarely a flattering shot! I am laughing just thinking about the last shot I got of him bending over at the airport setting his luggage down with his underwear showing!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Seems every where we have traveled we have been followed by a train. I know it is not the same train, but you know what I mean 🙂 As we went across the country to California it seemed we were always listening to a train at night. Sometimes just a subtle train whistle in the distance, or at point the trains were so close they shook the entire coach and the light from the engine lit up the motor home!

As we traveled along I-10 occasionally it seemed we were racing side by side a long winding train, which due to the fact of no trees in the desert, you could see the entire length of the train. I am always amazed how the engines are able to pull all that weight. It just seems like so much back there, tons and tons of freight!

We even stopped at the ghost town of Steins which was created and abandoned because of the railroad. Once a booming town selling distilled water to fuel the steam engines out in the middle of New Mexico it eventually was abandoned over night as the diesel engines were introduced.

Westward we went, seemingly following a railroad line the whole way. And then back on our eastward trek home we had the crawl up the famous Tehachapi Pass along side a train that seemed to be moving faster than we were. But once out of that valley we had level ground to traverse back to Florida.

Back at my hometown of Cincinnati during Christmas I even made Sharon go with me to see the huge train display they put up every year that my dad would take me to when I was young. I always loved model trains. My parents never had the space or the money to create a big setup like I wanted. I had a few small ones here and there. I loved building the little towns, complete with mountain passes, little trees, buildings, park benches and little people.

Even lately as we stayed out in Milton in the motor home for a bit, we heard the rumbling and whistle of a train every night. In our current house in downtown Pensacola we were lying in bed one night and Sharon said “Can you believe it, we are still hearing that damn train?”

It was then I realized the sound for me was soothing. I liked hearing the train. It reminds me of my childhood in Loveland, Ohio lying in bed at night listening for the train and imagining what far off places it is headed. I fantasized Where would it take me if I just hopped on it one day. New York? Washington DC? Montana? The Wild West?

I remember when I first realized they no longer had cabooses on them. I was so bummed out. Like something had been taken away from me without even asking me 🙂 It just takes away the self-sufficient nature of the trains. That is another concept that I gravitate towards that is the subject of another story someday.

As many of you know we are having a baby boy sometime in late July. I plan on using him as an excuse to start up a huge model train collection. I wonder if I can instill the fascination of trains in him, or will it be inherited naturally? Either way, he is destined to have a trains running through his life as well I believe. Maybe it has to do with the traveling spirit in me, or I was supposed to be hobo with just a napsack on a stick, but I love trains and everything about them?

After the segment about Sharon and i and our project the One Shoe Diaries aired on CNN Headline News’ “News to Me” over the weekend I got a lot of response from people who saw the segment and wanted to comment on the project. This is the best part. I love to hear from people and interact with people from around the U.S.

While most were just expressing the common bond of being intrigued with discovering solo shoes, one was about a reunion or sorts

A guy in California wrote me an email because shoe #132 was a shoe very special to him. Here is what he wrote to me…

“Shoe #132: Santa Margarita, California

That shoe belonged to my daughter, Siena. The shoe was purchased in London England. The shoe was hand made. We lost the shoe either in our move to Southern California or in one of our trips between the two areas, when her mother and I were in the process of divorce. That being said the picture has so much weight.

I always take the 101 in both directions, because I love the drive and it is my favorite way to get to Santa Cruz, San Jose, or San Francisco. I know it must be hers because I kept the other one, still in good condition, for some time, in hopes to find the lost one. Then once found I was going to give the pair away, but never could I find this lost shoe.

Eventually, I threw out the lonely one here, in Los Angeles. Its ironic to know all that I had to do was pay attention to the side of the 101. Now the shoe belongs to the road, and has a fitting and warming place in your collection.

Thank you… the emotions swelled in my heart when I saw this… Thank you”
— FUDSON

The story sounded legit, it just felt genuine. But being a bit of a skeptic I wanted to look at shoe #132 and see if it looked like a handmade shoe. Sure enough. The little details, uneven stitching in a few places (although the craftmanship is amazing) convinced me I was dealing with my first ever reunion, although it cannot truly be a reunion since both shoes are gone. It is more like closure, a question gone answered.

I sent him the hi res image of shoe #132 so he can get it printed out if he likes and will always have the memory of his little girl’s handmade shoe that was destined for art 🙂

Thanks FUDSON. You really added a great story to my One Shoe Diaries. I am going to add shoe #132 to my volume one book. It is too great to be left out of that journey.

And when I titled this blog entry “reunions” i had two in mind. Shoe #132 of course and one more happened over the weekend. Kind of a funny off tangent story.

Before Ivan I had bought a pretty nice modern looking glass and steel office set. Desk, Cabinet, and bookshelf unit. Since it did not have any cloth I was able to clean it and get the stench of hurricane Ivan of it and it was salvageable. So it was stuff into storage along with a few other items we saved. Well we left it unlocked for a short time by mistake, we did get a call from the storage company informing us of that fact and we locked it back asap when we got back to town. Not worrying that someone would have gotten in and stolen some things because it was in small town America right? Wrong!

They did not steal much, not even enough for us to be able to tell they stole anything until we started moving in to our new place and we began asking ourselves…”Where’s my telescope” … “what happened to my massage chair” and “where is my bookshelf unit!” That is when it hit us. That what little stuff we had left from Ivan, we had even less now thanks to a thief. The odd thing was they only took a couple odd things. A mean a massage therapy chair? A metal bookshelf and left the glass shelves and matching desk? My telescope was actually pretty useless because the salt water rusted and corroded it pretty bad.

So fast forward to this past weekend. Sharon and I love to garage sale and it was a perfect saturday to do so. We already had a few good buys under our belt when I spotted a shelf unit exactly like the one that was stolen from us. But it had shelves on it so I knew it was not my actual shelf unit. It had $10 on it, but as you always do, we offered less and paid $7 for it. It was in perfect shape, I paid originally $120 for it new. I now had a complete office set once again. Kinda weird how things just work out sometimes 🙂

Well the baby craze is starting to kick in for us. We are doing something I NEVER thought we would be doing…shopping for nursery items!

The fun thing about naming our baby boy Noah is he comes with a built in theme of Noah’s Ark. We have found that there is Noah’s Ark everything! Crib sets, pacifiers, clothes, lamps, mobiles, strollers, hats, blankets, and lots more that I cant remember. It was Ark overload!

And while searching I decided I had to see what the latest evidence was to the existence of Noah’s Ark was. They still have yet to find conclusive evidence. There are differing photos and theories. Some think it is buried frozen below a glacier on Turkey’s Mt Ararat. There are as many theories to this as there are bigfoot and Loch Ness monster. It was very entertaining to get caught up in, I even almost started to believe. But to think of two of EVERY animal being loaded onto one ship and then propogating the entire earth from one spot is a little too far-fetched for my brain. Which I believe most of everything is in the old testament. But that is a can o worms I am not going to open at this time.

And as I looked over all of the locations where the ark is supposedly laid to rest I cannot help but day dream of maybe someday climbing to the top of one of those mountains with my son Noah.

So if anyone out there has any Noah’s Ark articles we would love to see if we could work out a trade or buy it from you. Just shoot us an email. I think it will be fun to see what people find out there. And remember we are into recycling so gently used is just fine with us 😉

Wow, things are really starting to take off as far as exposure. Book sales, now thats a different story, but this sure is fun. I love how many people I have been meeting from my One Shoe Diaries Project! So many new and interesting folks. I just love to share travel stories, and stories about life in general. I think I have become to be a really good story teller, or least I think I am, especially after a beer or two 🙂

But I digress, back to talking about press exposure. It was such a surprise to walk into a store today and see Sharon and I’s picture big on the front cover of Snowbirds Gulf Coast publication! I heard that we might be on there, but I was thinking a small pic, not the whole cover!

Here is a link to the publication online with the picture and on the inside is an article I wrote on being young snowbirders.

And as you know just a few weeks back I was blessed with a feature article in The Pelican (A local entertainment publication) and I also was on the cover of that.

Now my best coverage yet is coming on tomorrow. My project the One Shoe Diaries is going to be featured on CNN’s News To Me. I am very excited, yet nervous. Because although it does not seem like it, I prefer to be behind the camera and not in front 🙂 I just hope I do not look like an idiot or really dorky. Once it airs I will post a link here for everyone to check out as long as I look cool in it 🙂 🙂 🙂

Since I have started to promote my project the One Shoe Diaries I have had a great response from people about it. They have ranged from people who have seen those solo shoes out there and we always curious to how it got there. As many of you know also, that JulieAnn Shapiro, an author in San Diego, even wrote a novel about the solo shoes out there. She and I have since kept in contact since meeting over the phone and are trying to help each other gain exposure.

Many people I have met have gotten what I call “One Shoe Fever”. They begin seeing them everywhere, them email me photos of them, they tell me where I can find one. It is this interaction that I love about this project. This project just seems to connect with people. SOmething about finding something unexpected, and never knowing when the next shoe with show itself that makes it so addictive. The mystery and intrigue of the story that is behind the discarded shoe is very compelling for me.

At a my exhibitions I love to watch the reaction the viewer’s have to the shoes printed in large format. Some shoes evoke laughter. A few have been described as creepy, as if maybe foul play was part of the shoe’s history. I even had one woman break down and cry after seeing shoe #2, as the boot in the photo reminded her of her grandfather who recently passed away. There is nothing more satisfying than to have people emotionally connect with his or hers art.

And of course I have people who love to point out they thought of the idea of cataloging lost shoes before I did. And they just may well have, just never did anything with the idea. It is easy to come up with ideas for art, but following through is the hard part. The part very few people have the time and dedication to do. Everyday life seems to get in the way of many great ideas. I have come across websites involving solo lost shoes, even people thinking of creating a book someday. Ever since my art school days I have always known that there are no original ideas. Everything has pretty much been thought of, just not executed 🙂

I met some ladies last night that have been obsessed with the one lost shoe phenomenon for some time now. I could tell they felt they were beat to the punch. They wanted to make sure they let me know, they thought of it first, or at least before me. But they did it in a very subtle and friendly manner so that’s cool with me. I just do not ever like people insinuating that I stole an idea from someone. But my project is not just about finding the shoes, it is about the journey behind discovering those shoes, and helping these lost shoes continue to try and tell their stories to people willing to slow down and take the time to analyze what they are seeing.

Sometimes when we go looking for adventure we often overlook our own backyards. This past weekend I was hungry to explore somewhere, to be somewhere that inspired and energized my soul.

Before hurricane Ivan I had gone out to Fort Pickens National Park on Pensacola Beach many many times. I loved to ride my bike on the seashell bike path and climb around on the fort and its bunkers. I also loved to kayak and fish in the Gulf there as is near the pass which is the hot spot for fishermen around Pensacola.

It was also an area that I frequently went out with my easel and canvas and painted the dunes. I loved to forgot about life for a bit and just become involved in my art therapy 🙂

Well I had not been back out there since the road was destroyed. And they have not repaired it but rather they left it as is for hikers and bikers to venture out on.

I decided to bike out to see what the area looked like now. The first stretch of road was pretty intact for around a mile then it was broken into oblivion. With piles of cracked black top lining where the road was. Fortunately the sand was pretty hard-packed and enabled my to ride, albeit very slowly, across to where the road continued again. Many people just walked their bikes and there were quite a few people making the trek.

The next break in the road came around 1/2 mile down, this time the sand was too deep to ride in so I had to trudge along pushing my bike. There we much fewer people making this crossing I noticed. And then after the next break about another 1/2 mile down there were only a handful to be seen as the going was pretty rough through that sand. But the work was well worth it, because the beach and water were beautiful and basically had it all to myself. I continued to ride and came upon one of the old bunkers where they housed the big cannons. Two huge iron doors had always been locked before as access inside was not allowed but apparently the storm surge from Ivan was too much and knocked them open for all to gain access to the dark inside of the bunker. This was just what I was looking for, some adventure to a place I had not been before. I wish i had better flashlight, but at least my cell phone has a flashlight built into it which proved to work pretty well once my eyes adjust from the bright sunlight outside.

The inside was just concrete walled rooms and hallways, with for some odd reason, toilets and sinks crushed and broken strewn about as if a giant in a rage destroyed the place. It was a little creepy in there, the bunker seemed much bigger than it appeared outside, and since I only had flip flops and a meager light I decided not to explore too much more.

But just that little bit of excitement felt great. I had a great ride back to the Jeep with a renewed enthusiasm for exploring our “backyard”. I began day dreaming of all the adventures that lie ahead with my yet born, baby boy Noah. I cannot wait to relive vicariously through him all the first experiences of life, spelling one’s name, the first day of school, riding a bike without training wheels, seeing all the beauty nature has to offer. I can only hope I can teach Noah to appreciate all that the world has to offer. To find the beauty and awe I found in mother nature.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I managed to discover and photograph 4 solo shoes while out there 🙂 And they were crusty hurricane deposited shoes I am sure.

Well it is official. We had our ultrasound today and we found out we are having a boy. Normally you cannot determine the sex for a baby until 20 weeks and he is at 15 weeks. Apparently he is well developed already…that’s my boy 😉 His name will be Noah Charles Hamilton. We thought it sounded but noble and earthy. I want him to love and embrace nature and all its creatures and what better name than Noah for him then. Plus Sharon, if we were having a girl, wanted to name her Nora after her great grandmother. So Noah sounded pretty close. And Charles is a family name on her pops side of the family. And since he gets my family’s last name I felt it only fair her family gets the first and middle name.

Up until this point we had been pretty level, not really excited, not exactly sure what to feel to be honest. Since it was such a shock to us. But when we actually saw him, and he now has a name it really hit us. We both nearly cried when we heard we were having a boy. The emotional feeling of seeing his little legs kicking in there and watching him wiggle was something that cannot be described in words.

That was the day I felt like we really were going to be parents. I must note that my friend, Big Randy, called the sex of the baby weeks ago. He told me it was a boy and he is now 8 for 8 when predicting the sex of babies. Very impressive