Saturday, February 7, 2009

Three New Leighton O'Connor Photographs Plus a Personal "Flick" for My TEXAS Friends




Howdy from Bob Duff,

A small group of  'headers attended a Leighton O'Connor photo exhibition last night in Beverly, Mass. We had fun despite FALSE claims expressed there by Beverly's Mayor, a Justice of the Peace and several others.  They boast that the U.S. Navy originated in Beverly when we all know that the navy started right here with General Glover and his men of Marblehead!

In my blog "movie" of January 23rd,  I used several of Leighton's still shots for reporting on a winning sailboat.  She was yacht RUN from Great Britain racing in Florida last month at KEY WEST 2009.  We ran that "flick" yesterday at Leighton's show where the mayor and his friends misspoke. 

I have used some of Leighton's great shots in the past.  Yesterday I purchased several new things from him.   The first at the top shows a small fleet of "frostbite" Sonar sailboats racing in the cold, cold winter water in Marblehead Harbor with the Corinthian Yacht Club in the foreground.  CYC is closed each fall and reopens in the Spring.

Following that, I show Leighton's picture of midshipman standing on spars all the way to the top of a square rigger.  We are fairly sure that this is the United States Coast Guard Ship EAGLE.  Notice the four jibs hoisted in place.  She was taken from the Germans as reparations after WW II. Serving as a midshipman training ship,  she sails here from time to time and will join a fleet of "TALL SHIPS" at Boston in the second week of July.  They will then leave to sail "down East" to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

That colorful picture is Redd's pond where ducks compete with racing model sailboats for "water rights" in the warmer months.  Originally, Redd's pond was the source of water for people without good wells.

Down below I sneak in a little flick of friends from a party "down home in TEXAS" this Christmas.  I tried sending this to friends via e-mail and am told that no one succeeded in opening the iMOVIE.  So, I am trying it here.  I extracted each person's head shot from digital "snap shots" created by several people.  My friend Maurice Tunnell and wife Liz hosted the wonderful party and sent a DVD of everyone's pictures to all of us.   Many thanks to the Tunnells.

Turn up your volume now to hear Tom Lehrer sing "MY HOME TOWN" for this is what the iMOVIE is about --sort-of.  Tom was teaching math at Harvard College when I found him there. He and his many funny "sarcastic" songs fit nicely with my old home town group.  Several of us studied high school math under "Brother" R. N. Smith who conducted classes like a Sunday School session with roll call and selections from "the blue book of happiness" (Trigonometry). He applied special names for each of us which appear in that small type in the movie.   His humor reminds me of Tom Lehrer.



Click the small triangle to play.  I had to click it a couple of times to make it go.  Turn up your speakers.  It can be replayed.

Pictured folks are associated in one way or other with the same graduating class at Adamson High School-Dallas, Texas in June 1947.  The guys were all in Junior ROTC starting at about age thirteen  and continuing until we got through with college.  I jokingly refer to us as "the Hitler Youth of the U.S.A."  because we were similar to what we read of the Germans being trained as "Hitler Youth" youngsters to kill the enemy, whoever that might be.  In retrospect,  it has been interesting to discover that none of these "cadets", with all that training in ROTC, will admit to ever having killed anybody. 

See you again soon,

Bob Robert Bobby Olin Junior Duff
US Junior ROTC-Cadet Colonel-commission dated April 1, 1947 

Friday, January 23, 2009

LEIGHTON O'CONNOR "FLICKS" of the 1st of many wins for Yacht RUN at Acura KEY WEST 2009 REGATTA with CATHERINE ZENNSTROM as Crew.

HOWDY FROM BOB DUFF,

The photo/"FLICKS"(sort-of) below show action pictures by LEIGHTON O'CONNOR from January 19th on the first day of  the KEY WEST 2009 REGATTA - Division 1, IRC-1. Shots feature the British yacht RAN, a TP52 owned by NIKLAS ZENNSTROM of Hamble, GBR.  She won in that first race and continued with high performances to win  her division after 10 races.

These plus many other stills may be viewed  on:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14355&l=ed13b&l=ed13b&id=1034710764


or     http://leightonoc.smugmug.com/sports/605075



RAN's owner had TIM POWELL on the helm, JEREMY ROBINSON doing tactics  and what looks like a total crew of twelve including  CATHERINE ZENNSTROM, the only woman.  She scrambles to the high rail among many male elbows during three O'CONNOR  pictures of a single tack.

When seeing Catherine performing this way, I recalled the 1966 CHICAGO to MACKINAC race years ago when my young bride, DEBORAH COLLINS DUFF,  joined us on JACK KEARN's yacht KAREN  as the ONLY WOMEN CREW in a very big fleet. We thought nothing of it until the CHICAGO TRIBUNE  grabbed the story  for a combined society page/sports page spread. DEBBIE was a sailor but had formerly been a Chicago Debutante which seemed to interest the news people.  

This did not end with that one story!  A week or so later after sailing home from a great race, a call came from the adoption agency saying that a new infant son had been born for us.  The TRIB printed a routine birth announcement for DEBBIE and me leaving some readers to ponder how we managed the birth on a yacht racing far out on Lake Michigan.  Thus,  I always notice women racing yachts as does my grown son ROB III.  Perhaps all men do!

This is my very first  attempt at an IMOVIE (that's APPLE talk) in this DUFFSTUFF blog.  Many surprises came my way.   If  I do not find a bigger picture than what shows now in "edit mode" before "publishing", I will never try it again.  However, some folks say "never say never".  I started this over 10 days ago and the first movie "compile" took over 3 days before ending abnormally.  It got much faster when I was taught a few of the tricks by APPLE "Geniuses" in One to One training sessions.

I have bought an adapter from APPLE to hook this MacBook Pro to my ancient TV which should give me a somewhat larger view.  It cost about 20 bucks at APPLE plus $10 or so for cables at Radio Shack.  Even if I never publish another tiny slide-show/movie, I will have some fun playing with the "hugh" TV slave display for my computer.  I may talk about that in future blogs.  However, it is now late Sunday evening and the TV refuses to "mirror" my MAC as promised.  I am scheduled for another one to one session at APPLE tomorrow.  I have confidence---hope! 


Saturday, November 1, 2008

"THE DEDICATION, or One of those Moments that makes Marblehead a very special town." -- THE MARBLEHEAD REPORTER story by Bob Triplett - May 27, 1976



Howdy from Bob Duff,

Marked pages 1 & 2 of this e-mail copy belong down behind the Thornton Clark picture from the newspaper micro film before its marked pages 3 & 4 .  This blog software keeps doing strange things to me.  SORRY!



This has been a  special week for me bringing forth happy little artifacts from past times with the International One Design yachts in Marblehead.  This article by Bob Triplett from the MARBLEHEAD REPORTER - May 1976 says it all quite nicely. 

THE EDWARD ADAMS DIXEY JUNIOR MEMORIAL TREE  belongs to Jill and Tom Hoffman of Franklin Street Marblehead.  Without them there would be no story. 

Click on the clipping to get bigger type.  You can almost recognize me in the dark picture leading the "ragtag parade" with my bagpipes and "the Guest of Honor, Ed Dixey (sic Dixie?) as Triplett wrote.  This and several other photos are dark with the ancient micro film technology of 30+ years ago.  I can send some better copies to you by e-mail, but they are dark.  Just write rduff19@comcast.net.




                             The microfilm is from Marblehead Abbott Public Library where the librarian Chris Evans was fantastic aiding my quest. I wrote the e-mail below (blog software has forced it ABOVE and then BELOW) late last night after we "found" the missing brass plaque.  My recollections were not too far off from what Bob Triplett wrote years ago.

I hasten to point out that I was NOT a "pie eyed piper" as Triplett implied; and though not a great bagpipe player as Tripett says "of questionable talent" , I was the best one around for the parade.  That is the story of my extensive bagpiping life.







































ADDED NOTE IN GREEN
 of 11/05/2008---

I just learned from the MARBLEHEAD CEMETERY  DEPARTMENT at WATERSIDE CEMETERY  that Edward Adams Dixey Junior died on June 26, 2000.  Consequently, I am marking my 2009 calender for a REDEDICATION CEREMONY near that ninth anniversary of Ed's death and the thirty-third anniversary of the initial dedication of THE EDWARD ADAMS DIXEY JUNIOR MEMORIAL TREE  by The Little Harbor Historical Society.  

I have ordered TWO reproduction sets of the brass plaques.  One set will be re-placed on the tree exactly like the originals at the re-dedication ceremony.  The other set, along with the historic originals, will be presented to the Hoffman's friend, Judy Anderson,  for a proposed permanent display at THE MARBLEHEAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.  Judy will be invited to attend the celebration to accept these treasures.   

 I  am asking here and will do so again in person, that THE REPORTER  newspaper cover this late May/early June 2009 event with a special re-printing of that May 27, 1976 article shown (poorly) above.  I would hope that, as a minimum, they could at least reprint the two pictures of Bob Duff that did not reproduce very well from micro film.   THE REPORTER should cover this re-dedication ceremony.  Maybe we should also invite some other North Shore papers to attend and report.  THE BOSTON GLOBE?  Perhaps these papers could invite the general public to this great occasion! 

 I am certain that Jill and Tom Hoffman will attend since they own the tree.  I will encourage Thornton and Pat Clark to journey to Marblehead from home in Alabama for this important occasion.  I promise dinner for them at the Eastern Yacht Club. 

 I will try to track down Dave Smith and Charlie Hamlin who both made memorable speeches that day.   Current owners of IOD #16 TANGO, Rachel and Ian Morrison and Mickael Best MUST be there so it cannot be on a race day.  Though it has eluded me so far, I will either find the old one or try to write anew the "epic poem" which Bob Tiplett seemed to like and which was received so enthusiastically on that wonderful day in 1976.  


CAVEAT LECTOR!   See you next week.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

BRAD MARVIN'S 80th BIRTHDAY PARTY & A VERY LITTLE BIT OF GOP POLITICS - October 26, 2008

                                                                

 Howdy from Bob Duff,   
                                    
The above is a rare smiling look at Bradford Marvin - 1928 - present - on the occasion of his 80th birthday celebration.  Most of this blog deals with that party.


I  published this Sunday night with some documents included toward the end.  I checked it today (Monday) and found that blog software had dumped them into cyberspace.  Here I am again reconstructing yesterday's masterpiece.  Hold your applause - please!

This first document ,"NORMAL POSITION - THE FINISH LINE",  will brief you on the racing rule or  the total absence of a current rule, and will outline my position versus my good friend and RC colleague Brad Marvin.  There is another RC member who persisted with him for some time.  They have both gone silent of late.  Click on this and any other image for an expanded view of a rather insignificant old argument.  RC members could see this at the celebration.





This  printed card with the "IC"was on the back of Brad Marvin's birthday portrait shown above.


Another (missing) piece of  "NORMAL POSITION" printing was on the back of  the beautiful glossy photo below of four International One Design yachts flying chutes on a downwind leg during the 2008 Marblehead NOOD Regatta.  It is the same Leighton O'Connor photograph shown above on the first document near Brad's portrait.  Their spinnaker poles are in "Normal Position"which is the whole point of this little exercise. 



 My friend Brad and another colleague objected to a winning IODs performance  because his/her SPINNAKER TACK WAS NOT IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE FITTING ON THE END OF THE IOD POLE.  I immediately contested their stand.  They persisted in this argument for several weeks every time an IOD finished.  Fortunately, no "official protest action" was taken because they were both dead wrong.   These  documents present facts for this  esoteric dispute.  

As we approach election day it seems appropriate to note a little of that stuff endured here in Marblehead.  A good example happened just after Brad Marvin's part last night.  I had discussed some of those party plans with you last week.

You might understand  that we seldom talk politics at the Eastern Yacht Club. There would be no reason for such talk among yacht race friends! Along with several things for this celebration,  I printed 25  cards for each of the 25 dinner guests.  I planned on our playing  the little Japanese "business card"  game taught to us\by Alex Dearborn.  However, a very crowded table and much flowing wine made the game inappropriate for this lively bunch.

 I cautioned all party guests to hang onto their cards since I refuse to print more for Brad's 90th celebration.   Last night the rare smiling picture had been printed of this MIDDLE  CLASS (1950-ha! ha!) HARVARD COLLEGE GRADUATE  with "1928 - 2008" for the eighty years.  Brad pointed out immediately that this format is for a "tombstone" and not for a "living" eighty year old's portrait.  The proper syntax is "1928 to Present".  If  known,  I could have printed yesterday's portrait correctly and then used it again for Brad's ninetieth.  Anyway, the party was a great success for 25 dinner guests topped off by a big sparkler on a vanilla birthday cake. Wish you could all have been there!  

After it all,  I discovered this delightful bumper sticker on the trunk lid of my new golden VW convertible.  I would not have blemished that brand new finish myself, but I agree with its message.  I knew immediately that the lovely Mary Patricia "Pat" Ayer had done the deed. She had done the same for husband  Jim Ayer Readers know Jim's many photographs in my blogs and will recognize him as the maker of those remarkable wooden jigsaw puzzles mentioned here from time to time.

Pat sent a compatible political cartoon which defied my attempt to copy it to the blog.  Sorry about that.  Maybe I can figure out the process before election day when I may have some more TANGO memorabilia to share. 


The next piece of party art  was this lovely photo of 
my old International One Design TANGO #16 shown racing under red and white spinnaker with three others of her own kind.  I love this shot by Leighton O'Connor.  His web site is at the very top of my "FAVORITE YACHTING LINKS" above under Jim Ayer's photo of our race signal boat.  Take a look at Leighton's creative yachting photographs in that hyperlink, "AN EXCITING LOOK AT NOOD 2008.....". You cannot help but be amazed by the beauty which he captures.




Oh yes, I have almost forgotten Jim McCully's recommendation that I mark my writing with the warning CAVEAT LECTOR.   I have an old Texas friend now retired to Montana, Donald Lee Clark, who knows a bit about writing.  He tells me he feels the same  as Jim.

See you next week.














  

Monday, October 20, 2008

PREPARATION FOR BRAD MARVIN's 80th BIRTHDAY PARTY as of OCTOBER 20, 2008


Howdy from Bob Duff,   





He and "the car" are in this blog today because of a luncheon meeting we had recently where ALEX told us about a little Japanese game he knows.  It is wonderful! I plan to introduce you to that game now as I tell you about plans for BRAD MARVIN's  80th  birthday party coming up this Saturday.

We expect twenty people for dinner.  Many are Brad's relatives that Yacht Race Committee Comrades meet once a year at best.  Suffice it to say that names are sometimes a problem for some of us----that is where I often find myself.   ALEX and his Japanese friends have come to the rescue. This game requires just a little cooperation from most of BRAD's guests. Hopefully, enough will read this blog to get us started Saturday.


It seems that the Japanese ALWAYS present you with a business card at an introduction.  They expected you to return one of your own.  In meetings, when seated, they often place each new card in a circular array positioning  each in the direction of its owner.  This facilitates polite little glimpses  when needed to help "learn" names.  Pretty clever! Everyone wins!   
 

For BRAD's 80th party, I have prepared 20 special "business" cards for each of the 20 guest.  I have arranged seating so that a "place card/business card" packet defines the table.  Here below is a montage of these cards for your review.  You can actually click on the picture for a closer look at some of the identities.

NOTE--until published with this unfriendly software I did not realize how I chopped off the names of BRAD's two children.   If I try to fix it now the whole thing may explode!  AMANDA Elliot M. Terenzio is BRAD's only daughter married to PETER B.   Then, "TACK" Bradford Marvin Jr is BRAD's only son married to MARY PAT.

                       
Also included at each place is this lovely glossy 4 x 6" LEIGHTON O'CONNOR photograph showing my old IOD #16 TANGO with three other magnificent yachts FLYING THEIR SPINNAKERS WITH POLES IN THEIR NORMAL POSITION FOR RACING.  The reverse side of the photo has print explaining yet again for BRAD and SUSIE just what "NORMAL" position is on these racing yachts. 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD



Tuesday, October 14, 2008

AN IOD BEAUTY after TAKING A MOMENT WITH THE MOUNTAINS-October 14, 2008





Howdy from Bob Duff,




I am a bit late this week and here is a picture suggesting just why. This is a place called THE CATHEDRAL LEDGE near North Conway, New Hampshire.  I visited my son ROB III at his home there this past week with my youngest STEPHEN II.  We had a blast including my first time thrill of seeing THE  CATHEDRAL LEDGE.   I only skied  when coming here years ago and missed all this beauty which was under the snow.


Notice the girl sitting at the far top left.  Then,  look for the two climbers hanging near the picture bottom. They are near the little trees which also cling to life.  They pulled themselves to these incredible heights from the valley floor.  My friend JOEL KINNEY  claims to climb here.  I seriously doubt that he or the others joining him have good sense.  JOEL once described me as "an elderly gentleman" while seeking sympathy in a legal dispute.  I will not put into print the thoughts I have about JOEL's actions in regard to THE CATHEDRAL LEDGDE.  Click on any picture to enlarge your view and solidify my opinion.



Initially  I was planning to include a couple of shots of STEVE performing surgery on a giant Elm tree at ROB's  house.  Alas, this blog of mine defeats me again.   None of those good shots will make it tonight.  STEVE was graduated in Landscape Architecture from URI and has special training and skills for tree work and climbing.  He fantasizes about every tall tree or steeple in New England.   When the steeplejacks rigged the tower on Marblehead's Old North Church  for painting, I feared it might take knotted ropes to keep STEVE from heading out back and doing some moonlight repelling.   


But at this point we were dealing with a great big tree.   This giant Elm next to ROB's house was inviting varmints such as squirrels, etc. into the attic causing a mess.  The Elm's great big limb also threatened winter damage to the house.  Solution?  Call in MACDUFF!  STEVE, that is! 


We were completely amazed at STEVE's performance.  He dressed with an array of equipment and ropes to make an astronaut blush.  Spurs adorned his feet like a fighting rooster.  He moved with grace and quiet confidence.  He whipped straight up the tree to a high fork for the leverage needed to control many small limbs and the big one which was about six inches in diameter.   It all came drifting (or banging) down for stacking  like firewood.  


I labeled him "ARBORIST", but STEVE says he must pass a rigorous examination before even his father is allowed to call him "ARBORIST".  Until he takes this examination making it appropriate to call STEPHEN BOVELLE DUFF II an "ARBORIST", please call STEVE anyway  at 1-781-631-0033 if you need tree work.  E-mail rduff19@comcast.net.  I will not tell anyone that he is not yet a licensed "ARBORIST"unless they ask!   Meanwhile, I may bring up this subject again in the future.   Also, trained Landscape Architects make rather nice plans if you find yourself interested in something other than an "ARBORIST". 

Saturday night we joined a raucous bunch of frustrated skiers at WILDCAT MOUNTAIN buying lift tickets for the winter and watching some outrageous "Hot Dog" ski movies.  ROB III claims he skis that way all the time.  I must tell you that he (and today's ski equipment) has come a long way since our first run together on ZOOMER CHAIR at CANNON MOUNTAIN when he was just two.  Here he is teaching skiing this winter at WILDCAT.  He must have had a pretty good instructor himself. 


Now that we have dealt with New Hampshire mountains,  here we have LEIGHTON  O'CONNOR's beautiful photograph of TERI & HERB MOTLEY's IOD #49 KUNGSORMEN.  With one of her crew concentrating on the spinnaker laundry,  HERB, TERI and the rest have her heading up wind.  There are blue and white chutes ranging down on her bow during this 2008 Marblehead NOOD Regatta race.  I trust that the red, white & blue chutes of  other International One Designs are far behind like they often were when I crewed #49 with "BIG DON" MACINTOSH in the good old days. 
  


# 49 showed a 6,7 & 8th in the NOOD scores I scanned.  A side issue for  MOTLEYS is the spelling of the yacht name.  MRA has it as "KUNGSORMEN" with an "M" where the NOOD  shows "KUNGSORNEN" with the "N".  LEIGHTON  O'CONNOR has picked up the "M" and it is shown that way in the IOD web site which erroneously shows TANGO as wood.  Is it "M" or "N",  TERI HERB?  


Check out some of LEIGHTON's sites to keep your sailing juices flowing as we plunge into winter:







I will be visiting LEIGHTON a great deal between now and Spring!  See you again next week!


Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Week-Long Job Trying to Join "IWEB" with BLOGGER Stuff - October 6, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff,
 
If you have followed earlier DUFFSTUFF, you may recall my problems with this software, particularly about inserting and placing photographs within text.   In my regular APPLE schooling I am learning "IWEB"  for "real" web sites similar to what the "big boys" do. 

I attempted this week to bring together that IWEB software and the stuff I have used to date in BLOGSPOT.  I began with one yacht photo followed by three nice pictures of Marblehead's Old North Church Steeple taken by Ulrike Welsch.

  Click this hyperlink for information about Uli's book:

         http://www.amazon.com/Marblehead-Ulrike-Welsch/dp/1889833169

The IWEB software marriage did not work!  To recover,  I have loaded the three steeple pictures by Uli in the old "unfriendly" way.  I then included my own steeple shot plus the yacht photo.  It sequenced  last when I wanted it first.  I just cannot go back tonight to figure a revised approach.

Above is the tower in the dead of Winter.   Next left below is Fall with the beautiful golden leaves. Next is a Summer shot of the steeple from Gerry Island in Little Harbor.  It shows a bit of  Ted Hood's former boat yard.  The expensive homes in the background sit on land where Ted built fancy racing yachts.  He allowed us "charity cases" to store our racing yachts there in the winter.   He named us that because we do-it-yourself boaters generated very little revenue for the yard.

I took the last tower shot for early Autumn from an attic window about four stories above our back yard.  Clearly, we live adjacent to gardens in the back area of the church and steeple.  If you look closely at that photo, you will see the steeplejack preparing everything for the frigid blasts of winter coming soon.  Click on the picture for an enlarged view.

My son Stephen Duff trained in college as a Landscape Architect, but he loves to climb things like big trees, towers and steeples.  He worked happily for a time as a steeplejack climbing many  old steeples all around New England.  He says that this man painting on Old North would be insulted if I called him a "painter" even though that is what he does while repelling himself on the steeple.  Per Steve, that would be like calling a "rag shaker" (sailor) a "stink potter" (motor boater).  It is just not done
  
The steeple built in 1824/5  by members of the Goodwin family, rings its big bell each Sunday morning to summon 'Headers to Congregational Church services.  It also tolls loud and long on July 4th and on George Washington's "real" birthday February 22nd.  That makes "sleeping-in" a little troublesome for folks here in the area called "down town"!  We "foreigners" (not born in Marblehead for several generations) are prone to call it simply "old town".

George Washington spent time in Marblehead in those early days of the U.S.  Saint Michael's Episcopal Church nearby claims that George worshiped there in what is now my church built 1714.

One wag suggests that if he worshipped at St. Michael's, it is possible that George Washington slept there during the sermon!



By some miracle I can begin typing here next to the steeple pictures.

It is time for talk of yachts and the very exciting one-design J105s.

We had seventeen of these beauties racing with us in the July 2008 Marblehead Race Week and NOOD Regatta.  Leighton O'Connor got this great NOOD picture of my very own orthopedic surgeon Dr. Steven Hollis and crew on his J-105 SIROCCO.  I hope my DOC will be pleased that Leighton did not show them NUDE in the NOOD!  Ugggh!
Knowing that I am  on the race committee Signal Boat, Dr. Hollis always cautions me with "SIROCCO IS NOT OVER  EARLY AT THE START! " We did not catch him a single time in the few J-105  starts we ran for them.


To see many many more of Leighton's pictures click:

http://leightonoc.smugmug.com/gallery/
56900614_WMR98/16/351115864_DM3RX#351115864
_DM3RX

Try copy/paste to your browser if you have the same problem as I have today. Call if you need coaching at 781/631-0033.  I'll try!  Also let me know about any problems.   I can send this or other links to you via e-mail.  

The following is a special link just for SIROCCO interests:

http://leightonoc.smugmug.com/search/
index.mg?searchWords=SIROCCO&searchType=InUser&Nick
Name=leightonoc&x=7&y=6

Looking closely there, you will see Ward Blogget, Peter Frisch and their crew sneaking into the J-105 limelight by virtue of their matching SIROCCO yacht name.  Protest anyone?

Or you can go to the link below and do a search by any boat name....

http://leightonoc.smugmug.com/


Consider coming back to DUFFSTUFF again soon.  Sometime in the future,  I will publish a great IOD spinnaker picture from Leighton.  It shows my beloved IOD TANGO #16 with POMPANO #45 and ELECTRA #2.  It could settle an old argument  about a racing rules which keeps cropping up on the ETO.  Brad Marvin is my somewhat stubborn adversary.  He could abandon his position based upon evidence in that photograph.