More Good Things

From A Positive Viewpoint

Light, shadow, shapes and color

I went out to check the Saturday mail around 5:00 in the afternoon. It was a hundred and something in the shade, but that didn’t stop the bluejay from chasing the baby crow. They seem to enjoy the game and ‘play’ it often.

Sun singed petals

I suppose I should stop calling the crow a baby. It’s a year or two old now. I am not even sure it’s a crow. It could be a raven. It does both crow and raven sounds and behaviors.

Crepe myrtle blooming

I guess I think of it as a baby crow because it still calls for it’s mother to come feed it, and she still does. Maybe that’s the way it is. This awareness of my surroundings is somewhat new to me. I used to be so fully engaged in civilization based behavior that I only gave the natural world a cursory examination.

A mushroom pops up in the heat

I was a visitor, a tourist. I went camping and pursued other outdoor recreational entertainments. But lately I feel more like an inhabitant of this world.

A bit warm out there

I no longer see animals just as pets, or food, but as a community. Wild, tame, large or tiny, I feel a sense of kinship, or shared participation in living on earth. This is opening a whole world of amazing sensations and enhanced consciousness. I have a newfound respect for all life, including this living being we travel on called planet earth.

And they smell good, too

I want to add my congratulations and thanks to Wendy Davis and the 600 fine Texas women who prevented the tea party republicans from passing another piece of legislation against women.

Nature and art merge gloriously

It is so exciting to be developing awareness and appreciation at a scale that I hadn’t conceived of, or imagined possible. Knowing that there is so much more to life is liberating. Life is good.

And now, a liberated harmonica player...

Today’s Harmonious Video;

Breathing Music

It's Warming Up

I Can Put Away My Mittens

Mount Shasta from 109˚ Redding

It was a good day for ice cream, if you have a freezer. I do, and I am thankful.

Resting in the shade

Air conditioning is working wonderfully, and that is delightful. There are a few things that I really enjoy about living in Redding; The heat - I love hot dry weather.

Protected in the bush

The mountains, lakes, and rivers - I love being close to nature.

By the office window

And, I feel really good about the Treehouse Apartments, where I can come in from the nice 100+ weather and enjoy my cool, refreshing, 78 degree apartment. Perfect.

In the spotlight

The weather is about to get hot and stay that way, for awhile. I think I am prepared.

Today’s Refreshing Video;

Walk Through Rain Without Getting Wet | Rain Room at MoMA from The Creators Project on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo

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Be Cool To Thy Neighbor

Whaddayaknow?

Or, I Didn’t Know That

Rose in dappled sunlight

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released a list of car theft occurrences by the cities where most took place during 2012. Here are the top 10, and where they were before, on last year’s list.

Agapanthus in the evening sun

10. Redding, Calif. (40)

9. Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash. (4)

8. Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. (9)

7. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. (20)

6. San Francisco/Oakland/Hayward, Calif. (6)

5. Yakima, Wash. (5)

4. Stockton, Calif. (7)

3. Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. (3)

2. Fresno, Calif. (1)

1. Modesto, Calif. (2)

Soaking up sun

Yay! Redding made the top ten...no, wait! Going from number 40 on this list to number 10 means insurance rates will be higher this year. Sometimes reaching the top of the list isn’t such a fabulous achievement.

Today’s Video;

Mosteiro de Santa Clara from daniel silva on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo

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Listing To Starboard

June Rain

Visits Redding

The Sacramento river

Today, Tuesday June 25th, was the perfect day to go down by the river to contemplate, appreciate, and commune with this wonderful world of life and spirit.

Benton bridge, AKA; Court Street bridge

Layers upon layers of perceptions and natural visual effects made for unlimited meditative possibilities. The sound of the rain varied in intensity and instrumentation as I listened from under trees, open spaces, and on the banks of the river.

Fog flows under the Sundial Bridge

There were unique opportunities to film the rain, the river, and some geese that seemed to follow me around. It was a good day. It will take some time to edit and produce ‘little movies’ from the footage, but it will be well worth the time. Coming soon.

Another thing I did today, was to experiment with a short ‘videoblog’ filmed with the iPod Touch. It was a quick and easy way to submit a report, or observation. I include it here as...

Today’s Video;

Incorporated In My Being

Long Day

National Music Day

Wild canaries between songs

I would not have known about National Music Day, had I not received an email from Guitar Center that advertized National Music Day specials.

Canary colored Daylily

It seems that there are scheduled and spontaneous live music events happening all around the country today. We, musical types, are encouraged to get out and share the gift of music in backyards, stages, and streets, on this longest day of the year.

Distant Lassen peaks through close-up leaves

I brought my guitar over to John’s violin shop and we worked on our latest song project for an hour or 2. I might take my guitar to the river, a creek, or a lake to celebrate the solstice and National Music Day around sunset and moon rise. That sounds good to me, at the moment.

Agapanthus geometric melody

There is an Old City Hall chamber music concert this evening at 7:00pm. I will be out enjoying Mother Nature’s spectacular moon rising and sun setting event occurring around the same time. I will catch the performers at one of their other performances this summer.

Bright colored Gladiolus

It’s 5:30 pm.  I had better get my cameras ready, and pack up my guitar. There are only a few hours of light left.

Hatchet ridge wind turbines

Happy Music Day everybody.

Today’s Video;

On The Wings Of Song

Catch Phrases

Bait?

Healthy Start

At certain times of my life, I wrote ‘Catch Phrases’ as part of radio and television commercials, and printed advertisements. I wrote catch phrases for products, companies, city and state governments, individuals, and events.

Private dining with a view

There was one time that I felt I was working for the ‘bad guys’. It was in 1967, and a ultra conservative group paid me to draw anti-union cartoons. That made me feel dirty until I did some much better work for peace and freedom organizations to redeem myself.

Dottie’s ‘glad’

The object is to capture your attention. At least that’s the meaning that I feel best describes ‘catch phrase’. It’s like the ‘hook’ in a song that makes it a catchy tune, ( I write them, too ).

Yellow

The tricky thing about catch phrases, for me, is to be sure that I am setting loose a benign spirit that does no more harm than manipulating someone to buy a particular jar of pickles. Whatever awards and accolades I got for television, radio, and print advertizing, were because my messages made people feel good about what they were persuaded to do.

Casting on the airwaves

At some point in the 70’s, there began a concerted effort to turn the power of the catch phrase into a cudgel to bash ones competitors. The positive messages were still moving products like coke and junk food, but the right wing industrialists were having success in getting their people elected to political offices by besmirching the other candidates.

Those writers evidently did not feel they were blackening their souls with rampant negative catchphrase creation.

Happy in the sunlight

So, here we are, 40 years later; We now have 24 hour television and radio networks broadcasting lies, outrageous disrespect for the president, and negative catchphrases designed to persuade people to give up civility and social responsibilities.

June Moon

Okay then. I can see that it’s still good to spread some sunshine, and positive messages, wherever, and whenever the spirit moves me. It is what I do.

I must remember not to criticize or correct those who have been caught in the net of negativity. They really think the bulls..t that they are being served on radio and cable news is tasty patriotic burgers and beer. They feel threatened by anyone who would suggest otherwise.

Today’s Video;

A Singer Of Note

Highway Morning

And Breakfast Buffet

Dinner

Because I had breakfast at the Rolling Hills Casino buffet down in Corning with Marian and Jimmie, I decided to have cereal and fruit for dinner, tonight.

Lavender, I presume

I got up bright and early on Fathers Day so I could drive down to Corning to see Marian before she and Jimmie headed back to Richmond. They were there through the weekend for Jimmie’s annual family picnic on Saturday.

Kathern’s fence roses

It was good to visit. The drive from Redding to Corning usually takes less than an hour, and I arrived there promptly at 9:00 am.

White agapanthus

There was a substantial line of people wanting to eat buffet style for Fathers Day, but it didn’t take too long before we were seated. If I ever go there again, (maybe next year), I will try to have some pennies in my pocket to feed the penny slots that we were lined up along. They might provide some cheap entertainment while we inched along toward the buffet.

Dean’s rosebush has a rose

I dealt myself a plate from one of the stacks and loaded it up with a small spanish omelette, an egg Benedict, and some home-fried smashed potatoes. It was dangerous up there by the food. One must be careful not to get between the large people and the buffet or you run the risk getting trampled.

Sunday sunset

I got back to Redding in the afternoon with plenty of time to spare before playing at the Jefferson State Blues Society Sunday Jam at Johnny’s, (Say the title of that event, rapidly, three times in a row).

Later, I took pictures of the sunset. When I looked up in the sky above me, there was the moon. I could see craters very clearly, and so did the Lumix FZ. When I looked at the image later, I noticed what appears to be a Moon pixie playing in the shadow.

Sunday evening moon    Pixie credit - squidoo.com

What a fun filled magical world this is. I am happy I get the opportunity to experience this wonderful life I have been given.

Today’s Video;

All Over The World