I went out
to Dorothy’s garden again to revisit the flowers in the rain. I held
the camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other to keep the camera
dry. I like the results.
And here’s one I didn’t see yesterday. It is going to be a beauty;
Today At John’s Shop
I had
an opportunity to stop by John’s violin shop today. He showed me some
of his latest work in progress. In this picture, (above), you see him
holding the neck he carved for the cello that he is currently creating.
We took
some pictures of one of his newest violins. It was glowing with the
latest development in John’s secret sauce finishes. This violin is
nearly ready to get its fittings fit, so it can be strung and played.
Later In The Evening
Patrick, John, Sayrah, and Phil.
John
can be seen, (in the above picture), taken at the blues Society jam,
adjusting the floor tom for drummer Sayrah Pappenheim. Sayrah is the
youngest of the drummers that play with the Phil Seymour Band.
Sayrah’s mom, Donee, took the pictures of John, Patrick, Sayrah, and me. Thanks.
Today’s Relative Song; An
older recording of So Strange. Featuring Mark Mlcoch on bass, John
Harrison on lead guitar, and me on guitar, keyboard, and vocal. I think
we recorded this in John’s shop about 3 years ago. I added the keyboard a
day or two later.
I sometimes
wish that there was such a thing as a smart cookie. It would help undo
many years of well orchestrated propaganda that has become ingrained
into the thinking process of the unsuspecting masses.
Last night
I slept a long time. I dreamed many entertaining and, in some cases,
instructive situation dreams. One of them that I recall, involved a time
warp that put me back with a small collection of old classmates.
This gets
interesting in my dreams because I’ve been educated in different
states, seven different schools and three different colleges. My
dreaming mind constructs classrooms, towns, and houses in which I lived,
or visited, based upon a collection of scenery mashed together from all
my memories.
I am pretty sure
that the pseudo-school, and house in one of the dreams, was based upon my
Texas experiences. Likely, I had the dream because yesterday, one of my
classmates from Alpine high school did not fact check the propaganda he
received in an e-mail before he posted it on our 60’s & 70’s high school
grads Facebook page.
There were several
of us in that group who quickly replied to his post with links to fact
checking Internet sites, that debunked the anti-Obama propaganda he
posted.
Imagine my surprise,
and I suppose the surprise of the other people who thought he had
understood that he is supposed to fact check the crazy stuff that you
get in e-mail before posting, when we saw that he posted another propaganda thing about U.S. government contracts and labor going to Chinese
companies.
It was baloney
of course, but the e-mail he got claimed that the information was from
ABC TV news, so I guess he didn’t feel the need to fact check another
obvious propaganda filled e-mail.
Why would someone believe the negative nonsense they read and hear about Obama? Why would somebody believe that it’s hard to quit smoking? Why would somebody believe that human caused global warming isn’t happening? Why would someone believe that Obama is a socialist, even though they themselves don’t know what a socialist is?
The answer to all these questions is; propaganda. Plain and simple repetitive misinformation until it becomes a part of one’s thought process.
We don’t hear people saying, “Smoking is a prison and I must escape.”
Instead, you hear about how hard it is to quit.
This is no accident.
This ‘quitting is so hard’ has been planted in people's minds over the
last 50 years by the tobacco companies using every possible media source
they could place their messages.
So,
people will go on damaging their lungs with every puff, while the
nicotine alters their brains into thinking this is a good thing.
It is a
good thing for the sociopaths that own the tobacco companies, because
it keeps their bank accounts growing, in spite of the damage they’re
doing to the health of the people who buy and use their product.
Here is how they do it;
A significant segment of the population, at least here in America, is afraid of silence.
They’re just as much afraid of silence as the dark, spiders, or whatever fear you want to name.
To cover
natural sounds, they leave the TV set on, (generally to cable news
stations like Fox), they listen to the radio while they sleep,
(generally to shows like coast-to-coast), and at work, or in their car,
they listen to talk radio.
For the past three years, these republican television and radio stations, have been saying at least twice an hour, 24 hours a day, that president Obama is a socialist.
That’s tens
of thousands of times that a person might hear
the same message from every announcer, newscaster, commentator, pundit,
and ‘talk-radio’ host. Is it any wonder that some people would think the
president is a socialist?
Socialism is basically government for the common good.
A system ofsocial organization that advocates the vesting of the ownershipandcontrol of the means of productionanddistribution,ofcapital, land, etc., in thecommunity as a whole.
We pledge allegiance to a country that swears to, “...liberty and justice for all.” Our constitution begins with, “We the people”.
This morning,
once I got out of bed, took a shower, started the coffee, and read the
daily word, I opened the curtains and saw white puffy clouds in a blue
sky. I quickly picked up my iPod, and took a picture of this rare and welcome event, here in Redding.
This sunshine allowed me to go out and take some pictures of the flowers growing in Dottie’s garden.
I tried
something new by attaching a tripod to the end of an old mop handle, so
I could put the camera up close to some of the flowers without having
to bend over and get in the flower bed. This works really good. I set
the camera control on macro, activate the self timer, and stick the
camera close to the flower.
It has been
quite a rainy March, but for some of my neighbors, it is not a
deterrent when it comes to getting out with the dog. I couldn’t resist
getting a picture of this doggy rain suit.
Like a lot
of people who use the internet, I am included in high school, college,
hometown, and music Facebook groups. Sometimes a person in one of these
groups gets an email that rings a bell for them and they just have to
post it.
Usually
the email is political. Sometimes it’s important information, but
sometimes it’s a load of baloney. One such email was posted today on the
Alpine, Texas high school grads site by someone who was mislead into
believing one of the many anti-Obama malicious missives.
Some of us
in that group were quick to direct the misled member to various fact
checking sites that debunked the erroneous email. But, I think the best explanation as to when one really should check the facts came from Dennis L Williams.
He wrote;
“I
try to follow this rule about political emails: If the email confirms
in every detail my deepest, most heartfelt beliefs about the politicians
or political party that I currently disagree with, making me feel
deeply the "rightness" of my views on America, God, and apple
pie......then that email is 99% likely to be a) MISLEADING, or b)
FALSE.”
Dennis L Williams
Spring Egg Hunt
I got upbright and
early this morning. My neighbor Linda and I had a plan. We would go check out
the eggs and hens at an organic egg source that I saw posted on
craigslist. If the hens still had their beaks and a yard to scratch
around in, this could replace Trader Joe’s as the place I get organic
eggs. (March 3 blog)
The craigslist ad
indicated that the hens were being fed organic feed, so that was
encouraging. Still I would like to see the feed bags to make sure they
didn’t say “Monsanto certified” organic. “Monsanto and organic” would be
as spurious as Fox News stating they are “Fair and Balanced”.
What we
still needed to begin the journey to the happy hens, was the address.
The person selling the eggs sent me a message suggesting I call, or
text, in the morning to get directions.
I texted,(that
word ‘texted’ just doesn’t seem right), and received a text with the
address, and a message that she would be home around 4:30. So much for
the early riser gets the good eggs approach.
So I had a delicious bowl of fruit and milk, with some pumpkin raisin crunch organic cereal.
Here At The Treehouse
We met
a new neighbor named Carol who is an artist. She came to the Monday
Afternoon Treehouse Cabaret and Poetry Hour and brought one of her
latest creations.
We may
have to put a couple of easels up on Monday afternoons so our resident
artists can display some of their work. It would be nice if more people
could see and enjoy some of the beautiful artwork that our neighbors
produce.
The Treehouse Cabaret, Gallery, and Poetry Hour Band
Back To The Egg-O-Sphere
Eggs be here
Around 4:15, my neighbor and I headed out in the storm, seeking the elusive organic eggs from happy, healthy chickens.
We arrived
at a nice house on a cul de sac near the Sacramento river, about 4:30.
We were greeted at the door and invited in out of the rain. The nice
lady had a container of eggs in hand. We asked where the chickens were.
The lady
explained that the chickens were in a backyard coop from which they
were regularly released to hunt and peck around the yard. Her two
children were quietly playing in the living room with a laptop and a
tablet, while we examined eggs and asked questions.
I placed 12 of the eggs into the empty carton I had brought with me. My neighbor bought another dozen. Everyone was happy.
After all
the rain that has been washing the flowers, an hour of sunlight gave
them an opportunity to gleam and shine in all their brilliant colors.
The tulips
shone like polished satin. The daffodils displayed their variety of
colors from white, two tone, and dazzling variegated varieties.
I couldn’t resist taking pictures of the tiny purple flowers that play so big in my mind’s eye view.
Just about everything was happy to have some sunlight, including this little beetle walking along the border of the garden.
The brief
but very welcome sunshine was just the eye opener I needed to remind me
to focus on the beauty and magic of this world in which I am a living
participant.
This petal that curled off of one of the tulips, makes it look like a whirling dervish.
The birds were singing their little hearts out with colorful songs of love.
And so
I can share another beautiful day with you here on my blog thanks to an
hour of sunshine, and a few modern, technical, and artistic application
doodads.
Horsemen
take part in a goat-dragging competition as part of Navruz
celebrations, an ancient holiday marking the spring equinox, in the
Kyrgyz capital Bishkek Tuesday.
Now
that seems like a lot more fun than standing around Stonehenge,
chanting in the chilly rain. I wonder if I could leap off a horse to
catch a goat? I guess the next time I am in Bishkek on the vernal
equinox, I could give it a try.
Tiny Flower
I took this shot, (above), yesterday, but it wasn’t ready for posting until I played with it a bit, today.
Today is the vernal equinox. It came early on our Gregorian calendar, but in reality it is happening exactly when it always does.
The Chase
Behind
one of the second hand stores along the Sacramento river, is one of my
favorite spots to watch ducks feed under water. While there, today, I
saw what appears to be an otter.
I was
not the only creature that was curious about the swimming mammal. As
soon as this duck, (above), noticed the otter, it made a beeline to
intercept it. (I bet that’s the first time that duck got compared to a
bee).
Once
the duck got too close, the otter dove under and swam away. Otters can
stay under water, fishing and swimming, for as long as 4 minutes. I
didn’t stick around to time this one.
Today
I noticed a cluster(?) of grape hyacinth growing along the drive into
the Treehouse apartments. After I saw one of these a couple of weeks
ago, and a neighbor identified what it was, I have been seeing them
everywhere.
It reminds
me of mushroom hunting. At first you don’t see them, but once you spot
one you soon realize that you are surrounded by hundreds of them.
