Jodie Ponto Photography

St. What’s Basilica?  Leaning Tower of Where?  Anne Who’s House?   Spending 4 weeks getting intimate & interactive with the rest stops, service stations, driving conditions, and road rules of Europe was not exactly what my 18 year old self had in mind when she first set out across the Atlantic all those years ago with her Mountain Equipment Co-op backpack, Eurorail pass, and quick-dry travel pants.

This is what the Autobahn, Autosnelweg, Autoroute, and Autostrada look like through the windshield of Miss Quincy & The Showdown‘s English rental van:

Calais, France

Autosnelweg Windmills, the Netherlands

Autobahn Ausfahrt, Germany

Autostrada Porn, Italy

Country Road, the Netherlands

Rainy Autostrada, Italy

Autostrada Tunnel, Italy

Autostrada Alps, Italy

Autoroute Canola Fields, France

Autoroute Sunset, France

Let me tell you, there’s nothing like an afternoon spent at the gravel pit hunting dilapidated dishwashers & mufflers with gunman extraordinaire Lew Bates.

Lew Bates, The Showdown’s guardian gun angel.

Lew Bates protects his ears from the blast of Holly’s big gun.

Lew Bates, Cooper, and Darby give the muffler a 100 yard head start before The Showdown opens fire.

Defying my weak-wristed reputation by filling the dishwasher full of lead with a .22 long rifle.

Holly & Miss Quincy look on proudly as Shari prepares to make her first kill.

Shari sets her sights on killing the dishwasher …

… While Miss Quincy poses with her vintage shotgun.

Miss Quincy & The Showdown’s Guns & Ammo magazine centerfold.

We’ve been living it up R&R style this past week at Miss Quincy‘s farm on the banks of the Peace River in Northern BC.  I’m talking 3am dawns, thunderstorms you can watch like TV, popcorn & movies, walks by the river, leather conditioning boots (my secret personal favorite), shooting guns (to see photos of girls & guns at the gravel pit click here), and lazy days spent in the longest days of the year sun drinking beer & jamming.

The Vangina watches a thunderstorm roll in.

Miss Quincy & The Showdown rehearse in Miss Q’s cabin.

Mildred the turkey & Willamina the wolf like what they hear.

Miss Q shows off her hipneck hula-hooping skills by drinking a beer while doing it.

Travis from The Party on High Street.

Front porch cabin jams.

This is 97th Street in Taylor, BC.  Also known as the street I grew up on.

Supposedly it’s the first day of Spring.

Personally, I see no signs of the elusive season … which can only mean I have returned to Canada, my home & native snowglobe.

However, this blizzard also means that in the following days my dear old neglected phlog should return to its former over-active glory and be filled with all sorts of photos from my recent adventures in Euroland. So keep warm & stay tuned!

I’m not going to lie, when I looked out the window this morning I screamed bloody murder.

That’s because Mother Nature was out there smothering the life out of everything with her snow blanket. On the verge of hysterically calling 911 to report the massacre I was witnessing,  Robert Plant convinced me otherwise.

As he sang, “Apple like a cherry, cherry like a rose”, I noticed some tiny red crab-apples glowing like roses and generally paying no attention to the white death coming from the sky. Seeing no reason to be upset about it if they weren’t, I put on my mittens and boots and went outside to photograph all the still living things I could find.

I keep swearing that I will no longer allow myself to be seduced by Fall’s philandering charms, because in the end that fleeting bastard always skips town and leaves my poor little heart in a frozen mess.  But every year, without fail, Fall comes rolling back into my life and whispers golden dreams in my ears until I crumble into its bed of colours and before I know it my heart’s re-lit on fire with its flaming beauty.

The lovely Miss Quincy and her Mother Hen have been kind enough to let me stay in their wee cabin whilst she (Miss Q) is off in the Yukon wilds destroying grizzlies with her bare hands, or whatever else it is folks do up there.

Tonight I invited Henry David Thoreau and Górecki over and we had a hot date next to the wood stove.

Photos from the Sweetwater 905 music & arts festival on the Mattson’s farm in Rolla, BC (Sept 3-5, 2010).

Mamaguroove

Naughtlia

Navaz

Party on High Street

Rachelle van Zanten

The Resurrect Christ Foundation