Afternoon Coffee - the 4th of july edtion

Afternoon Coffee

Attended the "famous" Fourth of July Parade in Bristol, RI. Probably my eigth, nineth, tenth time. Hurricane Arthur also made an appearance. The parade went on as usual ( is what they do ). i had considered bringing my camera but opted not to. Rain showers were predicted for the morning leading into heavy rain for the afternoon. As predicted the showers persisted on and off preceding Arthur's arrival, throughout the entire parade. The last marching band was out of Connecticut with the nickname Hurricane on their banner. As if they were Arthur's fanfare, it then began to rain with more intensity and lasted for the rest of the day. A town close to my own received nearly 8" of rain yesterday. Yikes! Certainly a 4th of July to remember.

After the parade an afternoon coffee was enjoyed as Arthur rained down upon our region.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Fourth_of_July_Parade

Outdoor June Wedding pt. 2

Veiled Altar

Outdoor June Wedding

Along the Way To I Do

Judging A Building By Its Exterior

What's Inside

dElEtE

 K Does Her Nails

j takes pictures.

A Tale of Two Computers

This was written and photographed 12 Jan 2012 as part of a 365 project:

Dueling Laptops

In reality there's about a dozen stories that could originate from this pic. First and foremost...Day 12/365. second, It's a day of heavy rain for my corner of the world. Not really a problem, as we haven't had a lot rain of late. Just means it's a play inside day. Next would have to be the old drop front desk that i recently converted to my computer workstation. My brother runs a landscaping business and along with that does other side jobs such as cleaning out people's junk/treasure when the need arises. He's always coming up with some artifact that somebody didn't want. (One man gathers what another man spills. ~ Grateful Dead) He called me the other day and said "Hey brother, you should take a ride with me over to my shop and see what I got."... i did. Amoungst a bunch of old tools and miscellaneous other things was this Danner desk. I fell in love instantly. I sort of lean towards old antiquey things, especially if they can sort of be converted to some modern day use. My home is filled with odd, old pieces of furniture and what not. so he knew i would fall for this. Anyway, it's nothing spectacular but so quaint. The craftsmanship is run of the mill, but it has a few warming style points about it. And another point on the agenda, which is probably the main point, is the side-by-side laptops. I bought the one on the right several years back and she has performed pretty much flawlessly for me all this time. She is starting to get a tad bit slow, with all these heavily loaded website pages on the ever burgeoning internet. But as of the moment she's a keeper. On the left is her almost identical twin. It's a model older but nearly the same exact package. Slightly slower but still clicking. A friend of mine had her and was getting ready to upgrade to a new computer. She asked if i wanted it. Supposedly there was some issues with it. I did a factory restore of the software, and found it to be quite functional. Only problem is the pc card slot seems to be non-functional which renders the wireless capability useless. So to keep true to the course of not spending money on it, i just run a lan cable to her and she surfs alongside her younger sister. I have a couple of web based thingies that i do, so it makes for a very fuctional set-up. And for the final point in this tale...on the right screen is the greatest modern day funny car pilot, John 'Brute' Force. Always been a big fan. Long, long time ago he used to drive a car called the Skoal Bandit. Once, while they were racing in Epping New Hampshire, my friends and i watched him beat the top speed record for funny cars. I bought a t-shirt that day. He has since broken many records and won about 15 NHRA championships. He has always done autograph signings at local Ford dealerships around the nation. One year myself and my daughter went and stood in line to see him. He and his other team driver Tony Pedregon were to be there. I wore my t-shirt from what was his younger days. I remember he came walking into the car showroom making his way up the long line of fans, on his way to the desk where he and Tony were to sit and sign for the next several hours. As he walked by us he gave a friendly 'hey, how's it going?' and then reached out and rustled the hair on top of my daughter's head. We both smiled. We made our way up to the podium and he commented on my t-shirt and smiled warmly in rememberence of his younger days. I then asked if he would sign it to which he of course agreed. I turned my back and leaned over to allow him access to my shoulder. He wrote his signature onto the shirt whilst i wore it -- too cool. Then we get to Tony's side of the table and engaged in a bit of light chatter. He asked my daughter, "Are you a fan?" to which she replied, "I like your brother better." He laughed loudly and said "At least your a fan of the sport." On the left is Tony Pedregon. Son of racing icon Flamin' Frank Pedregon and brother to Cruz, my daughter's favorite.

Oh Henry

The Pipes Are Calling

Yes indeed Henry, the pipes are calling. The 2" chromed tubular steel kind, that is. Ya know, the ones that hang out from the bottom of say a 428 big block powered V8 Mustang...

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs

If A Bird's Nest 

“If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: / But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.”

Our Star Rises Over Our Foggy Planet

Foggy Star Rise

Fog or no, the star will rise.

Easter Goodness

Ten and a Half Pounds of Fresh Baked Happiness

So much could be said of the representation of this picture. To most viewers it will be ho hum just another shot of a ham. To certain specific viewers it goes far beyond. Almost like the days of pleasure this ten and a half pound pan full of happiness will bring...

Hope everybody had a Happy Easter.

Lying In Wait

Foo Dogs - the Fighters of Foo

Guardian

Chinese guardian lions or Imperial guardian lion, traditionally known in Chinese simply as Shi (Chinese: 獅; pinyin: shī; literally "lion"), and often called "Foo Dogs" in the West, are a common representation of thelion in pre-modern China. Statues of guardian lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, Imperial tombs, government offices, temples, and the homes of government officials and the wealthy, from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), and were believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits. They are also used in other artistic contexts, for example on door-knockers, and in pottery. Pairs of guardian lion statues are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other structures, with one sitting on each side of the entrance, in China and in other places around the world where the Chinese people have immigrated and settled, especially in local Chinatowns.

The lions are usually depicted in pairs. When used as statuory, the pair would consist of a male resting his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture).

Etymology

Guardian lions are referred to numerous manner depending on language and context. In Chinese they are traditionally called simply shi (獅, Pinyin: shī) meaning lion, and the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word šer.^[2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and by the sixth century AD they were already popularly depicted as guardian figures.^[3] Today the guardian lions are more usually specified by reference to the medium or material, for example:

• Stone lion (石獅, Pinyin: Shíshī): for a stone sculpture; or
• Bronze lion (銅獅, Pinyin: Tóngshī): for a bronze sculpture

and less commonly:

• Auspicious lion (瑞獅, Pinyin: Ruìshī): respecting reference to the Tibetan Snow Lion or with context to good fortune
• Fortuitous lion (福獅, Pinyin: fúshī)^{[citation needed]}: reference in context to good fortune
• Buddha's or Buddhist lion (佛獅, Pinyin: fóshī)^{[citation needed]}: reference in a religious context to the lion as protector of Buddha

In Asian cultures:

• In Japan: the lion figures are known as Komainu (狛犬・高麗犬, lit Korea dogs)^{[citation needed]} possibly due to their introduction to Japan through Korea.
• In Myanmar: called Chinthe and gave their name to the World War IIChindit soldiers.
• In Okinawa: similar lion formed statuettes are known as Shisa.
• In Tibet: known as a Snow Lion

Western names

In English and several Western languages, the guardian lions are often referred in a multitude of name such as: "Fu Dogs", "Foo Dogs", "Fu Lions", "Fo Lions", and "Lion Dogs". The term "Fo" or "Fu" may betransliterations to the words 佛 (pinyin: fó) or 福 (pinyin: fú), which means "buddha" or "prosperity" in Chinese, respectively. However, Chinese reference to the guardians lion are seldom prefixed with 佛 or 福, and more importantly never referred to as "dogs".

Reference to guardian lions as dogs in Western cultures may be due to the Japanese reference to them as "Korean dogs" (狛犬・高麗犬) due to their transmission from China through Korea into Japan. It may also be due to the misidentification of the guardian lion figures as representing certain Chinese dog breeds such as the Chow Chow (鬆獅犬, Pinyin: sōngshī quǎn, lit. "puffy-lion dog") or Shih Tzu (獅子狗; Pinyin: Shīzi Gǒu, lit. "lion dog").

Appearance

The lions are traditionally carved from decorative stone, such as marble and granite or cast in bronze or iron. Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families. Indeed, a traditional symbol of a family's wealth or social status was the placement of guardian lions in front of the family home. However, in modern times less expensive lions, mass-produced in concrete and resin, have become available and their use is therefore no longer restricted to the elite.

The lions are always presented in pairs, a manifestation of yin and yang, the female representing yin and the male yang. The male lion has its right front paw on an embroidered ball called a "xiù qiú" (绣球), which is sometimes carved with a geometric pattern resembling the figure called "Flower of Life" in the New Age movement. The female is essentially identical, but has a cub under the closer (left) paw to the male, representing the cycle of life. Symbolically, the female fu lion protects those dwelling inside, while the male guards the structure. Sometimes the female has her mouth closed, and the male open. This symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word "om". However, Japanese adaptions state that the male is inhaling, representing life, while the female exhales, representing death. Other styles have both lions with a single large pearl in each of their partially opened mouths. The pearl is carved so that it can roll about in the lion's mouth but sized just large enough so that it can never be removed.

According to feng shui, correct placement of the lions is important to ensure their beneficial effect. When looking out of a building through the entrance to be guarded, looking in the same direction as the lions, the male is placed on the left and the female on the right. So when looking at the entrance from outside the building, facing the lions, the male lion with the ball is on the right, and the female with the cub is on the left.

Chinese lions are intended to reflect the emotion of the animal as opposed to the reality of the lion. This is in distinct opposition to the traditional English lion which is a lifelike dipection of the animal. The claws, teeth and eyes of the Chinese lion represent power. Few if any muscles are visible in the Chinese lion whereas the English lion shows its power through its life like characteristics rather than through stylized representation.

History

The Asiatic lions were once quite common throughout its historic range inSouthwest and Central Asia and are believed to be the ones depicted by the guardian lions in Chinese culture. With increased trade during the Han dynasty and cultural exchanges through the Silk road, lions were introduced into China from the ancient states of Central Asia by peoples of Sogdiana,Samarkand, and the Yuezhi (月氏) in the form of pelts and live tribute, along with stories about them from Buddhist priests and travelers of the time. This exchange can be seen in that the Chinese word for lion is "Shi" (師, later 獅/狮), which shares the same etymological roots as "Shiar" (شیر), the Persian language name for the animal.

Several instances of lions as imperial tributes from Central Asia was recorded in the document Book of the Later Han (後漢書) written from 25-220 CE. On one particular event, on the eleventh lunar month of 87 CE, "... an envoy from Parthia offered as tribute a lion and an ostrich" to the Han court. Indeed the lion was associated by the Han Chinese to earlier venerated creatures of the ancient Chinese, most notably by the monk Huilin (慧琳) who stated that "the mythic suanni (狻猊) is actually the lion, coming from the Western Regions" (狻猊即狮子也，出西域).

The Buddhist version of the Lion was originally introduced to Han China as the protector of dharma and these lions have been found in religious art as early as 208 BC. Gradually they were incorporated as guardians of the Chinese Imperial dharm. Lions seemed appropriately regal beasts to guard the emperor's gates and have been used as such since. There are various styles of guardian lions reflecting influences from different time periods, imperial dynasties, and regions of China. These styles vary in their artistic detail and adornment as well as in the depiction of the lions from fierce to serene.

Although the form of the Chinese guardian lion was quite varied during its early history in China, the appearance, pose, and accessories of the lions eventually became standardized and formalized during the Ming and Qing dynasties into more or less its present form.

Currently, there are about 800 African lions in captive in china.

Text and below images from Wikipedia

Right side Chinese lion statue representYin force, female,negative, take, carry a cub.Sanggar AgungTemple,Surabaya,Indonesia.

Left side Chinese lion statue representYang force, male,positive, bring, carry a ball.Sanggar AgungTemple,Surabaya,Indonesia.

Only The Marvelous

Power Over Me

“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”  ~ Anais Nin

Restart-level Button

Life Boat

 How many do overs do you get in life? How many chances does a person get to start again? Thinking in terms of a video game my mind wanders to the restart-level button almost inherent in every game made. A chance to start the level (the game) again. The option to abandon the progress you have fought to achieve and go back to a previously saved checkpoint and, begin again. The need to begin again is of course a direct result of meeting an insurmountable obstacle on your path. Failure and the feeling that if you started again you would be able to make it to point past this point and achieve far greater forward progress. It would seem the number of times possible would be infinite dependent upon how much effort you choose to devote to finishing that particular game. And how much are you willing to give up of the forward progress you have already made. Sometimes it involves not much of a backward motion. Other times it is a complete restart of the game. Everything gained previous, lost.

How many chances does a person get to start again? A difficult question to answer at first thought. Certainly after some pondering it becomes rather obvious that it is at the heart of it, a very simple answer. As many as you desire. Every second of every minute of very hour of every day, a person can choose to start again. Of course the effort to alter ones course is completely dependant upon the situation you find yourself in at that very moment of your life. Picture life being a great big ocean. Sometimes the life course you are on is akin to floating along in a rowboat on that ocean. Alone, with someone else, or with many. But lets speak in terms of one. You. Every stroke of the oar (or if you are lucky enough two oars) gives you a propel in a direction of your choosing. Almost at will an extension of your thoughts is directed to your arms, the paddle pushes against the resistance of the water and you move. Conversely a thought to stop your motion is as easily obtained, by means of not paddling or dragging the paddle in the water thus creating a braking condition. So in essence altering your course is as simple as making a thought to do so. Now let's take this concept and extrapolate it out to the size of an ocean liner. This being a metaphor for a much bigger involvement of a situation in your life. The same simplicity of changing your course is there. Just think it. Quite obviously the effort needed to carry out the same change of course would be so much greater. Think of a mighty ocean liner chugging along at top speed. You then decide to change course. The mechanics and physics involved and required are immensely greater. Yet it can still be done. Takes more time and effort but it can be done. Another choice in all of this is to just sit by and do nothing. So your boat just drifts. Wherever the waves take you. At times stuck between waves and just spinning in a circle. Say you are a passenger in that rowboat. Another person doing the rowing, choosing the direction, the speed, the course. You just passively ride along. To some this is the ideal type of life. The passenger. Never having to make decisions or put out effort. But to many being the passenger is an ultimately frustrating thing. Maybe at first it is fun because it is new, different from what you have experienced. In life the greatest thing you can find is another person ready, willing and able to sit beside you in that rowboat and man one of the oars. As great a concept of happiness that that may be it is also not the easiest shoe to fill. Regardless, you are a passenger in a rowboat with another rowing. Whether you had previous arrangements of a final destination or not you are moving in the same direction right at the moment. So maybe the best of intentions were made to continue in a particular direction but the ocean constantly pushed you off your course. As the passenger you sit and do nothing but live the life of a rider. As you ride you see things along the way. You observe the rower veering or straying off the supposed route. Sometimes you may witness another boat or boats flying by with what appears to be a much better time being had by the passengers on board, than the one of which you are travelling in. Based on things you see, you question whether the boat you are in is the right one. In time you may realize the boat you are on is going someplace that you wouldn't have chosen. Again, some don't care, they are just along for the ride. While others will stay the passive passenger and allow another to choose the course of their life. All the while feeling like something isn't right. Building resentment, a feeling of futile wasted energy in the wrong direction. In time a feeling comes for the need to change the direction of travel. This need builds and festers to the point it becomes overwhelming. This is where choices come into play. Stay the passenger and say or do nothing. Seemingly not a choice but in fact a definite choice. Next option would be something as simple as voicing your sentiments of the matter to the person manning the oars. The results of this would be tied directly to the persona's of the passenger and the oarsman. Could be very little effort required to make a change or could be something that leaves the boat still in the water, drifting whichever way the ocean currents take you while you hem and haw, argue about the direction and speed. Another choice somewhat more upsetting in nature would be grabbing the paddle(s) and overcoming the present direction and changing it to a course of your liking. Again this would have mixed results dependant upon the ideals of the characters involved, one unfortunate and not quite anticipated result could be the forced exit of one of the occupants from the boat. One other option would be to just jump the fuck out of the boat. Yeah that's pretty drastic, and most certainly not an easy choice to make. Giving up every bit of your dry, safe transport to enter into a wet, cold world of which you seemingly have nothing. Giving up all of your forward progress and going to a point previous in life, and starting again. History teaches that to abandon ship is like a last ditch effort to save yourself. The only possible remaining choice that one can make to alter their direction. Give up everything in the name of saving yourself. No guarantees that you will be saved or redirected to a better destination. At times feeling like a twig in a whirlpool. Nothing to stand on, just the hope that somebody will throw you a lifeline. A rescuer to come along that will pull you from the overwhelming feeling of being lost at sea. Be it the person from the boat of which you just jumped out of or another that may come drifting along and find you floating there. How strong must you be to refuse the helping hand of the person of which boat you just jumped from. Saying emphatically No! I will not get back into THAT boat. Cold alone in a vast ocean. Only the hope of another boat to come along. Maybe a big ocean liner or coast guard rescue boat, if it comes to that. The point is you do have a choice any second of any minute of any day to alter your course in this life. To think that for some, they would never have the will or desire to change anything. Just put up with the course in the name of not having to upset the balance in the boat or worst of all jumping into the water - giving up everything. To others the choice to always row alone. Never to have to worry about changing your course if you didn't want to. A lot more work to be sure. And lonely. For some a constant supply of partners to ride along with. Talk them into rowing with you then when you feel they can no longer be of use, throw them overboard and replace with a new fresh set of arms. This choice would at some point have undesired results as well. For when you finally get tired of rowing and would like to rely on another, none will want to get in your boat and assist. As mentioned earlier, the happiest arrangement is finding that one other person that you can sit beside and row through the ocean of life to a common destination with. Both people rowing together altering course as needed and desired as a team. Times when one just couldn't row the other picking up the slack. And if at times it gets to be too much for either rower to handle and they mistakenly jump overboard, to know that that boat would circle around and you would find that outstretched helping hand ready, willing and able to pull you back into the boat. And you wanting to be pulled in. How fucking awesome! The ocean in a sense becomes a stream. And you just rowing your boat gently down the stream.

A constant restart-level button or never the need for one. Depends how you look at it. Wherein as much as having a restart-level button in life seems like such a far fetched idea it would appear that it not be to far off from reality. As in the video game world they aren't found easily and certainly you have to make some amount of forward progress to see them. They are there disguised and hidden in the choices that we make. Every second of every minute of every day.

 Row row row your boat gently down the stream.

What's Missing

The Missing Piece

It's the same puzzle for everyone yet the piece that's missing is different.

The Pursuit of Redemption

this was written 13 September 2011 for a project:

Green

The Pursuit of Redemption 

me, I'm mostly green. Not that I go out of my way to be so. Just normal everyday things. Water conservation; when I'm running water, I actively think about if it's necessary to keep it running to accomplish the task at hand. Little things. Recycling. I recycle paper and such. A lot of it ends up being consumed in fires that I have from time to time. Maybe not the greenest way, but it's not piled up in a landfill somewhere. Also recycle bottle and cans, nothing to difficult about that. Just throwing the used container into a different bin. When it came to empty beer cans (ewe, don't like beer from a can) and bottles they would just go in the bin with the other glass and cans. Or if there was a bunch of them, like from a party, my brother would take them in and get the 5 cents deposit that is charged on each container. I've brought back beer bottles and cans in my younger days. Then the consumption level would make bringing back the emptys actually worth a few bucks. But lately I don't drink as much as I used to. Recently we had a rather large Labor Day party. The party was actually to celebrate a few things. My 50th day of life, my daughter's going off to college and a couple of other lesser things. Naturally there was a lot of trash afterward. In the trash was a considerable amount of empty beer bottles, enough to warrant a trip to the redemption center to cash them in and collect the deposit. I have to admit I haven't turned in a beer bottle for redemption of the deposit for some time now. I knew they had collection machines for cans and bottles but never really gave any thought to their operation. I guess it would make sense that these machines would somehow compact the empties to put a lot more into a smaller space. So it would just seem that the cans would be crushed allowing them to occupy about a tenth of the physical space they they originally had. Now the bottles, hmm, never really thought about them. Well I found the truth of the matter the other day. One of the local redemption centers is located in a liquor store, makes sense. So I pull up and bring my collection of assorted empty beer bottles into the redemption room. My first look around shows a bunch of machines, okay. Then further inspection tells there is a machine for cans, check. Another for plastic bottles, like soda pop and such. Then the third type is for glass beer bottles, that's me. I set myself up in front of the machine and prepare to begin the process. I'm not sure what to expect as I place my first bottle into this circular 5 inch hole that is closed off by spring shut doors. I push the bottle through the doors and a mechanism actually grabs the bottle from you and starts it on the way to its demise. Next you hear some whirring, I suppose the machine was checking the bar code to ensure that it is in fact a 5 cent deposit bottle. Everything so far clears in my mind as the way it would be. The next step is what took me and actually manifested into the reason for this post. Something in the machine takes and physically breaks the bottle. A clunk or two then you hear the sound of thousands of pieces of glass raining down. Whoa, how cool is that. Immediately a bunch of thoughts pass through my mind. First, now I understand how they compact the bottles for easier transport. Second, my penchant for the sound of breaking glass is on high alert. How great is this? So I put another in. The same process occurs. whir, click, clank, clunk....chink, chink, chink, chink. I'm elated. Ever since I was young I've had this thing for the sound of breaking glass. It stirs something inside of me. I'm not sure the exact reasons why. So for the next 20 minutes or so, my soul was abuzz with the pursuit of redemption.

Shooting On the Red Line

took this yesterday:

Waiting on The Red Line

it was running late. i was bored and inspired by the scene before me. started shooting. was soon chastised by transit cop. he stated i am not allowed to take pictures in the tunnel. i knew he was wrong but i gave in and stopped shooting. when i got home i did some research. thinking now that i should have kept right on shooting...

Unlawful arrest for subway photography costs city $30k

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2010/02/10/unlawfuly-arrest-for-subway-photography-costs-city-30k/

Here Lyes

I have always felt myself as being grounded but this may be a bit too much...

Here Lyes

this was taken yesterday in the Old Granary Burial Ground Boston, Massachusetts, along with these:

Rebel With A Cause

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams

P. R.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere

Throwing Copper

this was written 28 November 2012 as part of a 365 project. top photo was taken then, bottom photo taken yesterday.

Throwing Copper

First off, let me state that i wouldn't consider myself rich; not sure that i would even want to be. i have written a bit about this previously so i won't go much into that aspect. i am comfortable enough, for me. Second point i would like to make is that i don't particularly like to carry loose change around with me, travel light and unjingly. In the older days of cash prominence, change would come back home with me but not typically make it back out of the house. It would sit in some type of collection vessel. Sometimes years. Then one day when the vessel was about to spill over or i was a bit short of the paper stuff i would undertake the task of sorting and rolling then cashing in. i really have no use for pennies. It still bewilders me that as a society we couldn't have come to some type of ruling that items for sale would have to be rounded to the nickel therefore eliminating the need for the penny altogether. It costs the government something like 2.5 cents to make a one cent penny. i don't believe many businesses would stay afloat using that ratio in manufacturing costs. But rounding up or down to the nickel would surely leave somebody somewhere feeling cheated. Which is what is i suppose the real point of all these words is about, greed.

Everyday we hear about deficit this or debt that. So prominent in the news today is the looming Fiscal Cliff (a created deadline brought about by the lack of culpability of our past elected officials) and how both sides won't budge on what they feel is unfair taking of their monies and entitlements. Why should i have to help them. How come they don't pay the same as us. To me it is sickening, as it simply boils down to pure greed. Listen to the news reports today, on all the top hype networks, and you will hear about the record Powerball jackpot that is hoped to be won tonight. People are spending simply ridiculous amounts of money for a 1 in 175,000,000 chance of winning. Something like $300,000,000 was spent in the past week. (yeah, i bought one. 1) Somebody put it as: take 175,000,000 pennies and place them in a line from coast to coast with one of them having an X drawn on it. Then drive to anywhere along the line, stop and turn one over. Black Friday sales figures are at record breaking levels, for the past four years. Something like a billion dollars was spent over the past weekend. All of that for necessities, i'm sure. With these amounts constantly thrown about, a penny seems like an absolute trivial trinket.

i have always been in the habit of viewing the change in my hand as i walk out of a store after having made a purchase. Any pennies that didn't stand out as being old or a key date would get tossed to the ground. i harken back to the days of being a little boy and finding a penny or two on the ground. What a thrill. My hope is that some child walking into the store with their parent would see my dropped pieces of copper and get the same thrill. Of course in this day and age the thrill has probably lost most of its luster. Give  a kid a penny and watch the look they give you. But i still do it. Also of course, these days i typically don't deal with cash much more. How long before we become a completely cashless society? My point in all of this is if each person living in the world would give up one penny, it would equate to something like $70,000,000. Imagine if we could talk people into giving one dollar? Easy to say. 326/365

Bowl of Rain

Look out of any window

any morning, any evening, any day

Maybe the sun is shining

birds are winging or

rain is falling from a heavy sky -

What do you want me to do,

to do for you to see you through?

this is all a dream we dreamed

one afternoon long ago

Walk out of any doorway

feel your way, feel your way

like the day before

Maybe you'll find direction

around some corner

where it's been waiting to meet you -

What do you want me to do,

to watch for you while you're sleeping?

Well please don't be surprised

when you find me dreaming too

Look into any eyes

you find by you, you can see

clear through to another day

I know it's been seen before

through other eyes on other days

while going home -

What do you want me to do,

to do for you to see you through?

It's all a dream we dreamed

one afternoon long ago

Walk into splintered sunlight

Inch your way through dead dreams

to another land

Maybe you're tired and broken

Your tongue is twisted

with words half spoken

and thoughts unclear

What do you want me to do

to do for you to see you through

A a box of rain will ease the pain

and love will see you through

Just a box of rain -

wind and water -

Believe it if you need it,

if you don't just pass it on

Sun and shower -

Wind and rain -

in and out the window

like a moth before a flame

It's just a box of rain

I don't know who put it there

Believe it if you need it

or leave it if you dare

But it's just a box of rain

or a ribbon for your hair

Such a long long time to be gone

and a short time to be there

Oh The Wind

Oh The Winds

Oh the winds.

at times they blow so favorably

sail us across lakes, oceans

push us up mountains or above

blow out the dust and dirt that gathers

part the clouds

bring the sun

allow us to see away down the road

Oh the winds.

sometimes they change so suddenly

upend your mighty ship

tear tall buildings down

they bring in more filth and debris

make you stumble

let you fall

bring clouds so dark you think it's the end

Oh the winds.

other times they don't blow at all

leave us in peace, calm

let things settle out

in time the air can grow stuffy, stale

bring the breeze

blow the wind

then they come and blow your world away

Oh the winds.

a wish to harness their mighty power

have them work for us

let them hold, support you

propel you up and over things that block 

push you forward

hold you aloft

so you wouldn't trip on the shit in the road

Oh the winds.

history teaches there is strength in numbers

you stand together

two stronger than one

strong enough to brace, embrace any ill winds

let them blow

as they will

we laugh as they blow, safe inside together as one

Oh the winds.

over time they will never stop blowing

in our ships ever on we sail

together, alone, floating on

all of us trying to reach a port, a home

avoiding the bad

seeking the good

to find the sure steady wind we can ride into forever

~ mr_j Alexander

4/24/2001

It seems like yesterday

But it was long ago

Janey was lovely, she was the queen of my nights

There in the darkness with the radio playlng low

And the secrets that we shared

The mountains that we moved

Caught like a wildfire out of control

Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove

And I remember what she said to me

How she swore that it never would end

I remember how she held me oh so tight

Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Against the wind

We were runnin' against the wind

We were young and strong, we were runnin'

Against the wind

And the years rolled slowly past

And I found myself alone

Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends

I found myself further and further from my home

And I guess I lost my way

There were oh so many roads

I was living to run and running to live

Never worried about paying or even how much I owed

Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time

Breaking all of the rules that would bend

I began to find myself searchin'

Searchin' for shelter again and again

Against the wind

A little something against the wind

I found myself seeking shelter against the wind

Well those drifters days are past me now

I've got so much more to think about

Deadlines and commitments

What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind

I'm still runnin' against the wind

I'm older now but still running

Against the wind

Well I'm older now and still running

Against the wind