April 19, 2024

Still Life With Radio Tubes
Bozeman, Montana
2024

I recently had my grandfather’s old radio rebuilt so it would work again. (It sounds great.) I had sent it to a guy in Portland who restores old radios, and when he sent it back to me he included a bag filled with all the old parts, including two tubes,  that had been replaced. I thought the old tubes were actually quite attractive in a retro technology sort of way so didn’t want to just throw them away like I did all the uninteresting old wires, condensers, etc. Instead I thought I’d just set them aside and then maybe throw them away sometime later when one of the rare clutter reducing moods I get comes over me. (I can’t seem to stop collecting these sorts of “souvenirs.”) Looking for a safe spot to place these glass gems, I saw this bird nest sitting on the windowsill and thought it looked like a good place for them. That odd paring seemed worthy of a photograph and here it is.