The Four Stages of Life

Deep Fried Coke

Though I have never been to the Texas State Fair, every year I hear about the frying of some new food. Not okra or squash, but things you wouldn't normally think of eating deep fried. Last year it was a Snicker's bar. This year it was deep fried Coca Cola. Kind of hard to picture, huh? Evidently they took balls of Coke syrup, possibly frozen, rolled them in batter and deep friend them. Not sure if I would have the guts to have tried it or not. Now that my gall bladder is gone, I literally don't have the guts to do it!

SONG LEADER REVOLUTION

No, it's not a rebellion of musical types to overthrow the preacher types,....Get your X-Boxes ready.

This parody is hilarious. I think you have to be of a certain religious persuasion to fully get it. Enjoy. http://youtube.com/watch?v=9qzrkUnjtRU

Tired of Telemarketers?

A friend sent this link to me. It's a guy who found a clever and hilarious way to get rid of one of those pesky telemarketers. Click the link and listen. http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

Another Rocker

Holden loaned this picture to me last night. Another Rocker. Maybe he's working on a series? He shows some serious artistic potential, not that this is ready for hanging in the Kimbell, but I do see a good grasp of perspectives and and eye for detail(see his skater shoes). He has good shading and good contrast, too. This young rocker is not striking a typical pose either. With head down, this, like the previous sketch, is another working rocker portrait, not so much a posed as it is a slice of life.

I felt bad last night and today, cause I had really ridden him about his seeming lack of effort in studying for his Integrated Physics and Chemistry(IPC) class. Then, this morning there were other incidents that pointed to his difficulty in handling responsibility. I was in a funk all morning, I hope I didn't put him in one. However, this is life. It's not always a three ring circus and a bed of roses. We must all deal with the consequences of our actions and sometimes the actions of those around us, especially if they are our own flesh and blood. This is a lesson he should learn sooner than later. And maybe I could stand a refresher course.

Beatlesque Drawing

Early Monday morning we had a leak around our chimney flashing from a significant amount of rain that we received and needed badly. Well, it got some books and papers wet which were in a basket on our hearth. Among them was this sketch my 14 year old drew recently(maybe in church). He was bummed and just threw it away,...but I salvaged it and let it dry and kept it cause I like it. I like the very stylized look of the hair.

My son didn't tell me it was a Beatle,...but aside from him being right handed, he sort of looks like a young Paul,...so maybe this is John? That was my first impression, anyway. He has had some Beatle exposure. We did go to England last summer and we did take a Beatles Walking Tour in London and a lot of photos,..and I did buy an Abbey Road poster for his room,....so those factors might have slightly influenced or inspired him in this sketch.

One other thing I like about Holden's picture of this rocker is his look of teen angst. With gritted teeth, no eye expression is given or needed to let us know he's serious. His angry, intense mouth also compliments his "in motion"right hand/arm, rapidly grinding his axe. The guitar is nice too. I am not sure why he took out the left arm/hand/shoulder,...though, personally(as his father), I find that it lends the work a certain Venus de Milo quality.

Vintage Postcard Website

A friend recently sent me a link to a great website with vintage postcards from the USA, arranged by state and county. This is one from Tarrant County, Texas. It's the old Stock Exchange building and the old coliseum on the north side of Fort Worth, where the cattle drives ended and where cattle was traded and where they held the annual Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. I have a small collection of vintage postcards and am attracted to them for their ideal, hand tinted look and because they give a glimpse into a seemingly simpler time, which I find myself longing for more often, especially after I watch the evening news. There are some great cards there, even some from tiny, out-of-the-way towns. Check them out at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html .

The Simple, Forgiving Amish

I read a letter to the editor today that made me want to cry. It was about the tragic murders committed in the Amish community in Pennsylvania. It wasn't tears of anger and hatred for the senseless taking of innocent lives that I had,...nor was it tears of grief and sorrow for the loss of those families,....though both were feelings that had coarsed through my veins at one time or another while contemplating this horrible event. My tears were for my sorry, selfish, idea of Christianity. I realized when I completed reading this editorial that I have made my faith, MY faith,....not the faith that Jesus, the Christ taught. I have watered down and approved my American Rights! "Christian" feelings for violence and vengence against the forces of evil and darkness in our world. Things Jesus NEVER taught. I was so humbled by this editorial in today's Fort Worth Star Telegram. I pray that I may have so great a faith to preach more with my actions than my words, as the Amish do.


I wonder if what happened in Lancaster County, Pa., has really been noticed by the American public? Something amazing happened in that bucolic place, so shattered by the murders of its most innocent. It seems that we all could learn something from the people who live there, shunning the modern world to follow their faith.

Only hours after the murders, elders of the Amish community went to the home of the killer to meet with his wife. And what did they say to the wife of the man who had inflicted so much pain on their community? Did they place blame? Did they condemn her to hell? Did they seek revenge? No, they were there to forgive, to offer their support in her time of need and despair. They were there to make real the true message of Christ: forgiveness.

I recall this message of forgiveness from my early life in the church, but during the past 20 years this message has been lost. It's been replaced by those who seek power instead of moral authority.

You know them. They bark at you from television and radio and in the voting guides they place in your churches. They claim moral authority, but in their angry message of hate and nonforgiveness, they seek to place blame instead of promoting healing in the world. They are, without a doubt, demagogues in the public forum, but, more important, they're "demigods" in their own minds.

I wonder if the Revs. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson would have been so "Christian" as the Amish? One needs only to recall Falwell's assertion after 9-11 that God was taking revenge on America with that horrible event because of the "gay agenda" and abortion.

In rural Pennsylvania, in the light of a cool fall day, in the fullness of the harvest, and in the midst of horror, true Christianity was shown to us all. Forgiveness, love, hope and charity -- all the things I was taught about my "faith" and all the things my "religion" has forgotten.

We should all humble ourselves before this true Christianity. The Christian right needs to take note of what it really means to follow the message of Christ and, as Americans, we should all learn a great deal from this event. The Christian in me hopes so. The realist has many doubts.

Dwight G. Hartwick, Fort Worth

Another Surgery

Looks kind of like a stuffed poblano pepper at El Chico's, doesn't it? Well,...it's a gall bladder full of stones. Yesterday, I had this removed from my body. This isn't mine,...however it could have been. They punched 5 holes in me and took it out around 1PM,....then I went home about 6PM. This is amazing and near miraculous. Anytime you can opt for minimally invasive surgery,....do it! I am in a little pain,....however not significant,....and have hydracodone to assist me with that. Some of my friends who had the same surgery said that they actually enjoyed the surgery. Though that seems an extreme exaggeration,....I could honestly say that it was enjoyable compared to my appendectomy; a walk in the park in comparison.

I registered in the lobby(like checking into a fine hotel), paid my portion of the surgery,...10% of about $5K,....which I could say was the most painful part of the whole deal,...but getting the IV started was $500 stressful to me,...ironically the burning pain medication they shoot you with to numb the spot where they start the IV is the largest source of the pain in that process.

Once they got my IV started they gave me something that felt like about three martinis and I got fuzzy and drifted off. I had to wait for my surgical time slot to roll around. I guess things were backed up because my original 11:15 spot,....turned into a 1:15 start time. The surgical holding room was crowded with about five beds on each wall with 3 feet between them, all the surgical holding nurses, all of the anesthesiologist and CRNA's and surgeons, all of the surgical nurses,....I thought a medical version of waiting in line to ride the Titan at Six Flags. Some folks would get there after me and then be whisked away to their appointment with the knife,....unlike Six Flags, I wasn't too upset that they cut line. The nurse told me it was even more crowded in the early morning.

I had a nice sunset scene gel covering the florescent light panel above me. The nurse I had was very conversational, which was better than laying there in silence conjuring up worst case scenarios. I guess that's why they gave me the nice cocktail before to allow me to sleep.

Then the time came and three Anesthesia guys came in and two surgical nurses wheeled me down to the OR. It was freezing cold in there,....it looked like every OR you have seen in the movies or on TV. They put an oxygen mask on me,....and then I remember waking up in recovery,....not really wanting to, cause the sleep was so good. The first two questions I asked were, did they complete the surgery with a scope(minimally invasive) or did they have to cut me,....thank goodness it was the scope! Then the other question I asked was did they have to catheter me. Again, the answer I wanted,...NO CATHETER! I was hungry,...I was sitting in a reclining chair,....which I barely remember crawling into with my groggy self. They had a small TV I could bring close enough to be in my face. I had a sumptuous meal of water, Shasta cola(where'd they dig that up?)a regular saltine and a graham cracker. The big moment they were waiting for in order to release me was for me to pee. I thought it would be a piece of cake,...I felt the urge,..however was unable to produce the first two times,....we walked for a little while and I came back and peed ever so slightly and they asked if I wanted to go home. Again, a response I was longing to hear.

I feel fine, though I look like the victim of a drive by, with five, taped up, bloody holes in my gut. I got my drugs,...I can doze as I wish today and recover in peace, so I can go to work Monday.

The Goat Profiles,...these photos were taken in a rural community two hours southwest of Fort Worth.

Day Lilies Bloom

Don't know why,...but they did. They are in an out of the way spot in our backyard and we hardly ever see them until it's too late. Amy cut them and put them on the table for our maximum enjoyment. I think they're kind of exotic looking. Not your run of the mill lily.

Krystal's is HERE!

It seems that all of the wishes that I made since we arrived in the Dallas area are coming to true. All of these wishes center around food that's not really good for you(or anyone else), that I experienced growing up in the southeast. The first acquisition we got in town was Memphis style pork BBQ at a Red, Hot and Blue restaurant. Second, we got a Krispy Kreme,...thank goodness the lines have subsided. Now to complete the hat trick, Krystal's opened a few weeks ago. I have had a Krystal burger once a week since I found out they were in town. Initially my son told me, and I refused to believe the truthfulness of his statement,....not that my son would lie about something as serious as Krystal's, but he could easily be mistaken as 8th graders are so prone to be. It wasn't until our youth minister, who is also from the southeast and familiar with Krystal's, broke the good news unto me that I finally saw the light and believed. I did not walk the aisle to express my faith in his statement that Krystal's had truly come into the metroplex, I just trusted his words and drove to the place that he had told me he had seen the light and smelled the grease. By faith I drove there as soon as we drove back into town from a youth retreat weekend. I partook and I was saved. BTW, those aren't Krystal hamburgers in the photo,.....they are way too thick to be Krystal's,...they should be paper thin patties and we should see a hint of yellow mustard and grilled onion jibblets. I just remembered,...they are open 24 hours! I wish I had not.

The Hoyts

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs. ``He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an institution.''But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told.``There's nothing going on in his brain.''"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.''Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore for two weeks.''That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says.Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.''So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad would sit in the chair and I would push him once.''Here's the video....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryCTIigaloQ

Fake Ticket

You don't have to miss any concert with this handy ticket maker. Since I never saw The King,...I thought I would like to see just what one of those stubbs would look like. The web address is at the bottom of the ticket,...but for you far sight folks it's: www.says-it.com/concertticket/ . Have fun! Great for Birthdays too!

Lemon Drop

This is a very sweet and lemony drink that came into vogue during the 1970s in California. It is now a favorite drink of the West Coast. The drink was developed at a now defunct bar called Henry Africa's in San Francisco, a well-known singles bar. At Henry Africa's bar, they developed and pushed "girl drinks" - drinks that are potent, yet sweet enough to cover the taste of alcohol. Think of the lemon drop candies! After making and sampling many different recipes, my husband and I declared this recipe our favorite alcoholic drink!

1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce Triple Sec
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Ice cubes
Superfine sugar for dipping
Twisted peel of lemon

Mix the vodka, Triple Sec, sugar, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice; shake well (supposedly the cocktail is to be shaken 40 times to make sure the sugar is well blended). Pour strained liquor into sugar-rimmed martini glass and garnish with a twisted peel of lemon.
NOTE: To create a sugar-rimmed glass, take a lemon wedge and rub the drinking surface of the glass so it is barely moist. Dip the edge of the glass into sugar.

Makes 1 serving.

The reason I'm sneezing and wheezing,...my side of the bed!

Big Cherry Spoon

This is a work in the sculpture garden in Minneapolis taken in the wee small hours of the morning a few weeks ago. I have no idea what the name of this work is,....probably something very obvious, like "big cherry in an even bigger spoon", I don't know the artist,...but I remember it being in my college art appreciation book, so it was cool to see in person. There were some famous artists represented by their works in this jewel of a sculpture garden that the bartender in our hotel told us about(she also made us a couple of Lemon Drops that were excellent, see recipe above). It was cool in the mornings there,.....50's,....so it was nice to stop for coffee after a long walk.

A Screwtape Letter Parody for Today's Confidently Pious

My Dear Warmwould,

I would that you keep those so called devout "holier than thou" Christians enslaved to the law, for in that they become dependent upon themselves and their own works, and make less significant the power of the death, burial and resurrection that truly saves them. Then they will preach this and others will think that they can impact their salvation also! Then Jesus's sacrifice will be for naught. Though the sacred Christians will continue to speak good words about Him as though they need Him and trust in Him for their salvation, their actions will not be in sync with their words. They will work themselves into the fiery pits of Hell, with my colleagues and me.

Also, maintain their interest in keeping the law that was nailed to the cross and see that they continually make waves and cause rifts to form among Christians who don't do everything exactly like them and seem "less Christian" than they. This will divert their attention away from those who are TRULY lost because they have NEVER heard of Jesus, the Christ. And where these high and mighty Christians have preferences about worship and other issues, but no scriptural, God given laws, assist them in making up laws to enforce and bind on other believers. Convince them that they can keep the law perfectly, as Jesus did.

Where there are passages about freedoms and liberty in Christ, make them skip those and avoid those verses in their precious Bibles at all costs! Don't let them read First Corinthians 10:23-30 nor Galations 5:2-15. If they read it, make them think that it doesn't mean what it really says. Keep them enslaved to the law! Assist them in finding more and more laws to take the burden that Jesus bore for them and to place it back upon humanity, so that they are woefully in control of their salvation as they were before Jesus came. They couldn't do it then, but help them to think that they can do it now!

Continue to entice them to make mountains out of mole hills. Again, these type of issues, water down the sacrifice of Jesus and keep their attention on matters that will not, do not, and cannot save them. It diverts their attention from the Cross. They will diligently preach these trivial matters and NOT preach about that which saves. This fits exactly into my plan of divide and conquer. Never allow them to see that they are united in the cross of Jesus. Keep their attention on anything but their unity! If they unite under the Banner of Jesus as the Messiah, they will do much damage to the work I have accomplished and set in place!

Keep those Christians believing that they "have arrived". Deceive them into believing that they are really good people and can keep the law and contribute to their salvation. Again this will divert their attention away from what actually saves them and they will convert others to their way of thinking that their righteousness is actually of value to God,...and that they can actually help the Omnipotent One and that God really needs them, instead of them needing God. Also remember that their pious attitudes will also serve our purposes in "running off" those who are truly interested in Jesus. Some will also go away because they fear that they cannot keep the law as perfectly as these pious "brothers" have portrayed that they keep the law. Prevent these true seekers from actually seeing the fallible and frail humanity of these pious Christians so they will STAY FAR AWAY from the Gospel of Jesus!

These are the exact tactics that you took with the Pharisees, and it worked lovely on them! Lull them into an attitude of self confident piety. Make them feel that they are the sole bearers and protectors of the Truth. Again, it worked on the Pharisees,...and it seems to be working on these self righteous fellows who say they follow Jesus. In utilizing this old strategy you will not have to re-invent the wheel,...for you know that time is of the essence! So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Continue to use that tactic in this age, as you did in the past, but don't allow these "holier than thou" Christians to actually see their own image in the Pharisees. Disguise their images in their mirrors so they will be blinded to what they really are. Help them to see the good in the Pharisees and help them to believe that the Pharisees weren't all that bad.

Let's continue to divide believers in Christ with those ultra pious believers. Then let's sit back and watch effective Christians spin their wheels, as we conquer those who don't know Jesus and will not know Him because the Christians are too busy with in-fighting and trying to convert people to their way of thinking rather than converting them to Jesus, the Christ. They will continue in their dogmatism and their frivolous activities and quarrels and arguments over issues of no importance. Keep up the good work with those Saints who believe they have it all right! We could really use them up there to get more down here.

Until next time, I am affectionately,

Your Uncle Shrewtape

Read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Pointless Photo

Stray Cat

Last Wednesday evening, I was in the Minneapolis airport 2 hours ahead of my flight departure, as requested,...had no gells or liquids to get rid of before taking off. We were in a good airport to kill time,...the Minneapolis airport is one big mall. We had several selections for food and were having a difficult time deciding,....my two colleagues and I. I really wasn't that hungry. We finally decided on Wolfgang Puck Express. Then we had to find it. Looked at the map, went to where we thought the map directed us but there was only a small bar with many businessmen tanking up for the flight home. So we decided to just find something else, and as soon as we said that, there it was. As we walked into the restaurant I noticed someone that I thought I knew from my college days,....not a student at a conservative Christian college, he was too cool for that. This guy had his "hair piled high and his baby looked so right",....yes it was Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats of the early 80's. It could not have happened at a more opportune moment, since I had my digital camera easily accessible in my jacket pocket,...I had a pen for an authograph,...he was just waiting for a beer at the bar,....all was set for me to get all the normal fan paraphenailia,....but I chickened out. I thought I didn't want to disturb him, call attention to him, ruin his privacy. My colleagues assured me that he probably would be glad for someone to remember him and notice him. He might get a thrill if I would say something. Well,...I let him finish his beer and then I let he and his companion walk out. He was less than a foot from me. That cool rockabilly hip cat from my college era. The Rock This Town Stray Cat Struted right out of there and presumably to his flight to Los Angles. I was content and just greatful to have seen an 80's icon,...and a pretty good guitarist. I was satisfied. No regrets. Hey, I'm no groupie! Now had it been Belinda Carlisle,...I might have slipped on my drool,...depending on how far GONE that GO GO was.

Ironically, when I arrived at the Dallas airport that evening, I saw a REAL stray cat. I was riding the bus to the remote parking lot and we were picking up passengers in terminal E, when the bus driver sharply applied his brakes, I looked up in time to see a beautifully patterned cat darting in front of the bus, then wildly leaping for a pidgeon. He missed and strutted back across the street in front of us. The bus driver laughed appreciating that cat's beauty, prowess and spunk, as I did also. I saw two stray cats strutting in one day. Both were ultra cool cats.

IMOGEN HEAP

I was listening to chillout music on Yahoo Launchcast this afternoon and I heard a sound, a song that really struck me as interesting and significant. Imogen Heap is the artist. The name of the song is "Hide and Seek",....really nice melody. Cool techno voice box modulator(at least that's my description of what I think is going on,...though I am sure there's a more accurate layman's term for the device,...all I know is it sounds really cool). I always notice the music first,...and while doing that, I have no idea what the lyrics say,....I just pray they aren't saying "go sacrifice a goat to your grandmother" or worse. I don't think the lyrics of this song say that, though(they are below). I went to her website: www.imogenheap.co.uk and then went to the You Tube site, which was linked, and watched some of her other videos. There was one of girl playing her song Hide and Seek on the piano, and she is/was definitely worthy of a listen. After listening to that, it kind of drove home the point to me about just how haunting the melody of this song is. Now I guess I should read the lyrics. Check it out! You can listen to her complete latest album, which includes her song "Hide and Seek" at: http://www.imogenheapmedia.co.uk/audio/player/player.html

'Hide and Seek'

Where are we?
what the hell is going on?
the dust has only
just begun to fall
Crop circles in the carpet
Sinking feeling
Spin me round again
and rub my eyes
this can't be happening
when busy streets a mess with people
would stop to hold their heads heavy
Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines
All those years
They were here first
oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before
the takeover
the sweeping insensitivity
of this
still life
Hide and seek
trains and sewing machines
Blood and tears
They were here first
mm what d'ya say?
that you only meant well, well of course you did
this it's all for the best, of course it is
that it's just what we need, you decided this?
what did you say?
Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
Mid sweet talk newspaper word cut outs
Speak no feeling no I don't believe you
you don't care a bit

The Beatles in London Walking Tour

We took a walking tour in London that featured spots in London where the Beatles had once been. We met at Marylebone Station Tube stop. The station is where the opening credits of the Beatles' movie, "Hard Days Night" was filmed, with the Fab Four being chased all about the station(well, Paul was just sitting on a bench reading a newspaper in the station disguised with a mustache and goatee). In that neighborhood and the St. John Woods neighborhood, one tube stop away, we saw some early apartments of the Beatles, their short lived Apple store and of course the famous Abbey Road crosswalk and recording studios(St. John Woods stop). The story goes that the Beatles next album was going to be titled, "Everest", which was the Beatles' favorite cigarettes. The art director for the recording company wanted them to fly to Mount Everest to shoot the cover photo. John Lennon said No, he didn't want to fly a long distance to some cold mountain to take one shot for the cover, so he took the photographers outside the studios to the Abbey Road crosswalk, shot the photo and changed the name of the album to "Abbey Road".

This is a photo my 13 year old took on our evening cruise down the Seine in early June. We were freezing cold that evening. It was cool and the boat's speed seemed to drop the temperature even more. My photos that evening were ca ca. Glad Holden got this one.

At the Movies

I didn't see this film on the big screen, I rented the DVD. (I wonder if it's proper to still call it a film if you watch the DVD version?) Anyway, I watched two movies a couple of weeks ago and they both left an impression with me, but I can't seem to forget especially one of them. The movie was rated R for language and was titled, Grizzly Man,...no, it was not about the mascot of the Memphis NBA franchise, but is a documentary about a man who spent 13 summers living amony grizzly bears in Alaska,....unarmed. He documented his time there and his experiences with his handheld video cam. There was only a couple of places where he used foul language, but in one segment he was angry at the EPA and was dropping the "F- bomb" everywhere. My son got up and walked out. The guy eventually was killed by the grizzlies, or just one. They found his arm, with his watch still on it,....still ticking. John Cameron Swazzie would have a field day with that one were he alive and were he wearing a Timex. I didn't lose interest in the movie. Maybe because I knew he might be getting killed at any moment. There were no gorey, or grizzly(excuse the pun)scenes,...no footage of his death, though I think it was at least partially captured,...they discussed his final words on the recording. In the end, I thought the guy was a nut. But it is a dvd worth watching,...some even worth watching with your kids,...but limited. Choose some segments and preface them with "This guy is a lunatic,....don't EVER believe you can live with a wild animal without him chewing your arm off!"

I just thought this would be an appropriate commentary on the reality of gas prices for the most of us. But, do you know one reason why DC politicians don't care how much gas prices effect our daily lives? Because they don't have to pay for their gas to and from DC,....WE(the taxpayers)pay for it! We pay for a car service to pick them up and drop them off and take them back home. They don't feel the pinch like the common man. This is just another way they separate themselves from the realities within our country, which, then is reflected in the policies they pass to govern us. It's time that part of their gravy train was cut off!

Hey,....I tried this Texas vodka called Tito's recently and it is soooo smooooth. This guy has an interesting story too. So much so that the Discovery Channel did a piece on him. You may view it at: www.titos-vodka.com .

We are heading to England, Scotland and France for a three week trip this summer. Kind of excited about England and Scotland, but really have some anxiety about France. Heard too many bad comments about Parisians, whom we will be dealing with since we are only going to Paris. We will only be there for two nights and three days, so we should be able to handle it. Just fear the language barrier. I know we won't be the first or the last people to visit who do not speak French. I bought a French phrase book/dictionary, as if I could really decipher what someone speaking French in a normal pace would be saying. I can see me flipping through the tiny pages maniacally trying to catch a word or two and then pretending to understand them to save face. Saying "thank you" in really good French since I will have practiced that phrase over and over, and then starting the process all over again with the next kind face we think we see. This will be a good test of our intuition and our abilities to accurately read personalities by faces or very surface signs of human nature. I guess we will just have to rely on the mercy of the French we encounter and pray for a good experience. I can say,....it WILL be an experience for us,...whether good or bad.

Cooking with Rachel Ray

I have become a big Rachel Ray fan. She's on the food network and her claim to fame is 30 minute meals. I like her cooking style cause it's not pretentious, yet not ultra common either. It's for the novice chef,....definitely my catagory. I have three of her cookbooks. The earlier ones have more recipes,....the newer ones have photos of her and the dishes she cooks. I have found that I like having a photo of what the meal will look like,...it draws me in to want to cook. Speaking of dishes,.....this photo is from a pin-up layout that FHM magazine did of R.R. Very well done, yet not overdone, and quite saucy!

Bought a CD at Pier 1 called "Rainy Day",...a compilation of a variety of genres of slow music fit for a rainy day(of course). The first song on the disc was from Blue Merle, a band based in Nashville. Initially, I didn't care for the song, "Burning in the Sun",...but I was just interested in getting to a couple of chillout tunes I had been looking for,...Telepopmusick playing the song "Breathe" and Nightmares on Wax doing "Les Nuits"(both really good and highly recommended by me to lower your blood pressure at least 5 points). After I listened to "Burning" a few times, I started thinking about who the vocalist reminded me of,...it was the vocalist for Counting Crows, then I thought that he had a Coldplay sound. The band is hard to label with a particular muscial genre. They have a fiddle and a mandolin in the background, behind a good rock electric guitar,...when they give the fiddle and mandolin their spotlight on the stage, one might easily think that this is a pseudo bluegrass band, like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, or Bruce Hornsby who sang "That's just the way it is",...but then when they feature the guitarist or the drummer,...it seems the antithesis of bluegrass. Anyway,...it's worth a listen, go to www.bluemerle.com and you can freely download a concert they gave in Birmingham, AL and burn it to CD. Worth a listen.

I'M BACK, AND HAVE MUSIC!

well,...it's been a while since i blogged. i think i just got burned out. needed a break, sabbatical. many times i thought of something interesting to write, but just couldn't get the energy. i think i was making it my job,....i just need to enjoy this as an outlet to express myself,...nothing else.

the last post was about my quandry between satellite or i pod. i chose satellite. i really have enjoyed it too! since i signed on with xm, they have added several genres to their line up. one was chill out,...which seems to be my default music choice now. can't really hear it on commercial,...only on yahoo launch radio or satellite(i can listen to xm satellite online also). my receiver is the delphi "my fi" that has a memory so you can record up to 5 hours of music. i use this during work outs and my work outs NEVER come close to running past 5 hours,.....4:30, but not 5. i have an antenna for my car and my home. i pick up the signal on an unused radio channel at home. i use the little cassette adapter to play it thru my vehicle speakers. signal is strong, tho sometimes the signal is cut off by wide overpasses,...but it is only momentary. overall,....it has been a nice experience. i have found it to be a worthy investment. i have not fully lewis and clarked all the stations yet,...so there's still intrigue about what all this little unit has to offer.

i will be writing more,....but i have another job that pays the bills. a blog nerd i am not, nor do i think i will be. life's too short. so many satellite channels to hear,....so little time.

Satellite Radio Quandry

Well, just when I thought I was on the cutting edge with an MP3 player,...satellite radio comes along. Now I am wondering whether to trade up to an Ipod or to go with a MYFI satellite receiver or the like of small hand held units that can go into your home or your car as well. It will record 5 hours of music so you can use it like an Ipod when exercising or running(otherwise you would be SOL since it needs some type of antenna facing south or you won't get anything under a roof, or so I hear). Not sure. A few months ago, Consumer Reports said that the technology would get better and they advised to wait a little longer since the hand held units pick up was spotty at times and bad at other times. Please advise some more!

IPOD-A-GO-GO

I needed some diversion for my run the other day. I saw Holden's i-pod laying there on the table, so I took it to the gym. I knew music would help time go by more quickly as I was placing myself on the implement of torture known as the treadmill. I was not ready for what I was about to hear or that it would give a whole new meaning to my idea of an implement of torture. There were no bad lyrics, and even some good ones,...some nice rythmns and beats and tunes and harmonies and bass lines,...etc. etc.,...but then there was screaming. Not the Beatles varitey of screaming in "Shake it up Baby" or even the Elvis Costello style of screaming, like in the beginning of "Man Out of Time" or even The Blind Boys of Alabama and their spiritual screaming in their early recordings from the 40's,....but this was blood curdling screaming of lyrics that had been so sweetly sung only a couple of measures previous. These formerly sane musicians had seemed to have lost the battle with their psycho evil sides and were now yelling at the tops of their lungs,....at me! It was a personal affront, I thought. I flashed back to junior high and bringing home a poor grade in algebra for my parents to sign and send back. But my parents didn't seem quite as furious as these musicians,...and my parents had every right to be that angry, but I don't even know this band,...what right do that have to be speaking to me in these tones? I really don't think my son has any right to claim that I ever yell at him,...the levels of volume and aggitation in my voice are no match for these young abusive boy musicians. Maybe this is one reason why kids have such attitudes and why it takes so much to break through their tough exoskeletons and really get to them. I think next time I am wanting to express myself to my son, I will pick up one of his guitars and grind and scream away,...and who knows? He may listen then.

P.S. Beware of Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein, two of my son's favorite screaming "teen angst" bands. If you see their LP drop on the turntable YOU run screaming from the room before they scream first!(sorry I'm listening to 70's music and went a little too retro, but you know what I mean,...before their file downloads get outa there!)

The Razor's Edge

Well, I am sporting a new fancy phone,...well, it's not new, it's used. It's in good shape, I know the previous owner,...it was my son. He had a much nicer phone than his parents, but he couldn't keep up with it. A few days ago there was a knock on the door and our house guest answered and a lady asked if anyone had lost a cell phone in our house. He said no, then thought to ask what kind of phone it was and asked to see it. The lady said it was a Motorola Razor(I know, I know, what kind of fool buys a Razor for his 13 year old,....an only child's parent, that's who), and Michael said, that's Holden's. She had found it sitting on the curb, where it had been for at least two days, possibly three. Well, I think I was more upset about it than Holden,...isn't that typical of kids today? But I guarantee, when I was a kid if it had been possible for me to lose something as valuable and cool as a cellphone, not to mention top of the line cellphone, I would have walked the streets every night all night long until I knew where it was. I would have worried myself into a record as the youngest person to have an MI. And I would have tried to cut a deal with my Mom and Dad to spare my life, if the MI didn't kill me. My son's reaction,...."Well, it only costs $30." I almost blacked out there was so much fury running thru my brain. I collected myslef and calmly explained, at the top of my lungs, how his phone on the black market in China probably costs more than $30. So, I had to do something. I had told him before that if he couldn't keep up with the phone that he would lose it either out right lose it himself somewhere or I would take it away. Well, we thought he had lost it for good, but when it turned up, I took it over, until he can prove that he can keep up with my bottom of the line, free with the plan phone. He was pretty decent about it. He told me where it was and proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't be too disappointed because the picture qualities on the phone were not that good, nor did it get good reception, nor was the sound quality very good. I told him that he should be happy because it sounded as if this wasn't a punishment nor teaching moment at all,...since he thinks he still has the superior phone(mine) because the razor was less than the cutting edge cellphone in his mind.

The Huron Carol

This is a new favorite Christmas Carol. I have heard it for years on a couple of Christmas CD's but have never paid attention to the lyrics. The composer placed the story of the birth of Jesus into their own locale, amongst the native French Canadians, Algonquin and Huron Indians(eh, you Hoser!). There's a great movie about missionaries to the Algonquin Indians of Canada, called The Black Robes. Algonquins were pretty fierce, according to that French Canadian film. Anyway, the tune is in minor key,...so it's not happy and cheerful sounding, which throws some folks off, but I think it really fits the lyrics and the area in which it was written. My attention was called to this song as an excellent choir at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Birmingham sang it at the Christmas Eve service my brother and I attended this year. As we left on that misty evening, the bells were pealing and I couldn't help but think that the bells were ringing in celebration and proclamation of the birth of our Savior, as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Definition:Gitchi Manitou (or Gichi-Manidoo), in traditional Algonquian First Nations culture, is the Great Spirit, the Creator of all things and the Giver of Life.

The "Huron Carol" (or "'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime") is a Christmas hymn, written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Christian missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia". The song's melody is a traditional French folk song, "Une Jeune Pucelle" ("A Young Maid").
The English version of the hymn, in place of the more traditional Nativity story, uses imagery familiar to North American aboriginal cultures of the time of composition: Jesus is born in a "lodge of broken bark", and wrapped in a "robe of rabbit skin". He is surrounded by hunters instead of shepherds, and the Magi bring him "fox and beaver pelts" instead of the more familiar gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The hymn also uses a traditional Huron name, Gitchi Manitou, for God. The original lyrics are now sometimes modified to use imagery more familiar to Christians who are not part of the Huron culture.
Brébeuf was martyred in 1649. He is one of the eight Canadian Martyrs.
English lyrics were written by Jesse Edgar Middleton in 1926. The song remains a common Christmas hymn in Canadian churches of many Christian denominations. Bruce Cockburn has also recorded a rendition of the song.

'Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters heard the hymn,
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found;
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round
But as the hunter braves drew nigh the angel song rang loud and high
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou
The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy who brings you beauty peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Link to Lyrics in the native language and an MP3 of native Canadians singing the song in their language. This is much more dissonant and stark than the version I heard Christmas Eve, but I imagine it is as close to the original composition as anything:

http://firstnationhelp.com/huron.html

Running Rural

I run. I try to run regularly. I'm only successful some of the time. I'm not a good runner. I have a huge mental block about just running. I can run without mental difficulties when there are other things to occupy my mind,....like some other guys kicking a football or dribbling a basketball or smackin a softball,...or a big junkyard dog chasing me,...but ONLY running is a big hurdle for me to get over. Music helps, or maybe thinking about political or religious issues which are passionate to me. I run best on the treadmill,...but there ain't no treadmills in rural Alabama,...none that I can use anyway. Over Christmas break I develop bad eating habits,...eating everything in sight. I have tried to counter that bad habit with a good habit,...running. Since I have no access to a treadmill,...I must take to the countryside of rural NE Alabama. My In-Laws live on a mountain, so in the winter the wind can cut you in half,...it wasn't windy,..but was pretty cold. I didn't really push myself,...maybe I should have, but I was just glad I was out there. Early morning Tuesday, December 27, there was a heavy frost. While stretching I heard Caroline Chickadees, Crows, Wrens, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, all urging me onward to my goal(they were probably just bitchin about how cold it was, like me). In the distance I heard the babbling of the creek and it grew more faint as I started my rural run. I had mapped out my route last year(I was an irregular runner then also). My brother, Richard, is a regular runner. He lives in NYC, and smells all the city smells,....bus diesel fumes, street vendors hot dogs, subways, human urine . There are country smells also. The cold stifled some of the smells,...but some are too strong to be put down by the cold. First I saw the chicken houses, then I heard them,...a cacauphony of farm noise(or maybe more like a ca"cackle"phony or ca"crow"phony),...but the smell,....whoa! The lady down the road from my in-laws raises fryers and layers for "Koch Farms". That was about 50 yards into my run. In the next quarter mile I was into a new dung smell,...cow. Not as disturbing as chicken,...but it ranks,...not quite as bad as pig, which is in the top 5,....and which I thankfully didn't run into on this route. There were other more pleasant odors,...pine,...smoke from wood burning fireplaces,...fresh air. I ran,...but I walked some too. I'm not a good runner,...but I figure I'm good enough for me. I won't be running a marathon, but maybe what little bad running I do will give me a marathon heart beat,...or the energizer heart beat that keeps going and going and going.