Thought For Season

Wondering Where Christmas Went

When did
Christmas
Become Xmas?

I have been
Running in circles
Trying to get
Everything right!

Where is the peace?

Rememberance

Hello Father...
It is your birthday,
Born in winter,
Lived for 73 years,
Died in Summer.

I hope all is well
With your spirit and
Perhaps you are
With us one more.
Peace be with you.

One Of My Favorite Houses in London

First of 4 or 5 Sections Poured

Oh Bother!

Work on a new concrete driveway started just before winter descended upon us. I am hoping for a thaw sometime in January that will last long enough to get the excavated area finished. The rest of the driveway can wait until spring!

Unattributed Poem at a Funeral Today

      I wanted a perfect ending.
    Now I've learned, the hard way,
that poems don't rhyme, and some stories
      don't have a clear beginning,
            middle, and end.
        Life is about not knowing,
   having to change, taking the moment,
        and making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen.
          Delicious ambiguity.  

November 22, 1963

I was studying in my room at 714 E University Ave in Ann Arbor waiting for my parents to arrive for the Michigan - Ohio State football game the next day. I had no TV and did not pay attention to news at all. My Engineering classes gave me all I wanted. My parents brought the news with them. They were all football and partying and I did not really connect with any of the angst surrounding that event. The only thing that shocked me was one of my parent's friends said that he was glad Kennedy was dead because his brother Teddy was presiding over the senate that day. I could not understand that! But that mentality certainly fits into our political climate today. I want no part of any of that, then or now. I am tired of it.

View From Deer Creek Bridge In December

Posted on Deer Creek Bridge on Roberts Pass Trail

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be
I go lie down where the wood drake
Rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds
I come into the peace of wild things
Who do not tax their lives with fore thought
Of grief. I come into the presence of still waters
And I feel above me the day blind stars
Waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

note: My brother's great friend, Yance, found this, copied it and replaced it on the bridge protected by some plastic. It is still readable a month later.

Kitchen Table

November Moon

The Largest Ginko Tree in London

This tree lost all its leaves after the early morning snow storm today. I did not know we had a ginko tree this large in our town.

Backyard Rose

London

Naked Ladies Are Out!

My Blood Pressure Adventures

I have always had high blood pressure. It runs in the family. And I have been on meds for it for a long time.So imagine my surprise to find myself with low blood pressure with a dystolic pressure as low as 49. When I left a note with my cardiologist, I learned that he would not be back in the office for 2 weeks, Too long to wait for his phone call, so I cut my blood pressure medicine, Lisinopril, back to 20 mg. It had been raised to 40 mg after my heart attack in early '12. That didn't help enough and when Doc C called me, he dropped the dose to 10 mg. I never expected that to happen.

The question now was why is this happening.. Last February, I started using my Nordic Track again. I used a heart monitor to make sure I did not exceed my aerobic heart rate. I did the calculation (85% of 220 - my age) and the answer was an appalling 127. Even worse news was that with my old settings I could not go very fast and I could not use my hands at all. I walk a lot and I ride a bike a lot. But neither of those really gave me a good cardio workout. After 4 months I was able to up my speed and use my arms. I was making good progress on my cardio workout.

But I had a hard time understanding why I went from 40 mg to 10 mg in a very short time. My friend Bryant pointed out that the L - Arginine supplement I take increases blood flow by enlarging my blood vessels. But I have been taking that for nearly 10 years. But his comment led me to the Plavix that I have been taking since the heart attack. It is a blood thinner. And I continue to take an 81 gr aspirin as suggested by my doctors. I believe that my cardio workouts (12 minutes 3 days a week) in conjunction with two blood thinners (Plavix and aspirin) plus the L - Arginine supplement have combined to bring my blood pressure down significantly. A typical resting pressure is now 110/62.

I am also hopeful that this will help reduce damage from my diabetes. And more will be revealed later.

day lilies

Sunday Evening

July 4th, 2013 Photo Essay

Heron Nests In Tile Ponds

Meditation for today

Meditation from A Year Of Living Your Yoga: Chocolate is one of the sacraments.

Landyn and Gavin's Excellent Adventure

Ethan Diving for a Line Drive

Ethan's Game on 6/14/13

Ethan hit a single that drove in a run. He stole second on a bad pitch and then scored on another hit. Those were the only runs scored in the game.

Glacier Bay

Utah Photo Workshop

Photo by Nora W.

Reading The Gate Thief

Today, I realized that Danny North is the latest incarnation of Ender Wiggen. I am bummed. More often than not these days, I start reading fiction, and 50 pages or so into I link it to something I have already read. And then I stop reading the book. In this case I will probably finish this book. I like Danny. But I'm am still bummed.

Spring

Emma's Family in Watercolor

From the left: Dad, Mom, Emma, Grandma, Landyn, Ethan and Grandpa.

Crowfoot's Death Speach

The Blackfoot elder said "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in winter. It is the little shadow that runs through the grass and loses itself in the sunset." That we could all be so eloquent.

March Snow

Havana Dance Class

Hovenweep or Canyon of the Ancients?

5 Cuba Pictures for the Wrap Show

For Feb.

My heart is whole, not symmetric, scratched, worn and polished by time.

London Sky @ 5:40 PM

Cuba and Karma

Yesterday I read all the information about my upcoming trip to Cuba including recommendations of places to eat. I was astonished to learn that La Bodeguita del Medio was on this list. It was one of Hemmingway's favorite haunts in Havana. Yesterday was the 42nd year after my brother's death. He parked his car on Interstate 75 near London, KY and jumped to his death, 10 years after Hemmingway took his life. Reading about the 'accidental' death while cleaning a shotgun, I knew instantly that it was no accident. That does not happen to someone who has been hunting for at least 50 years.

Since learning about the concept of karma, I have wondered if I had terminated some previous life. I have personally known of more than 15 suicides, knowing either the person or someone very close. This is an excessive number for someone living the sheltered life I have led.

While I am in Havana, I will eat dinner at La Bodeguita and honor Hemmingway's life. Perhaps this life can unwind some of that karma. And it may even be possible to do this in January 26th, my brother's birthday.

Turlough in Burrin

Bette Ann Sark at a tender age