For all things there is a first time....

A pretty picture - click to view

This is an attempt to link to a YouTube video clicking on the title will open a You Tube video.

The same You Tube video has been imbedded in this view.  

Where is the Yellow Pencil???

I dropped a post on Facebook linking to this blog and in it I suggested readers make appropriate comments expressing interest such as, “This is really awful, give it up!” and to help in guiding the content for instance, “Where is this thing going, it is complete drivel.”  Well though comments can also show appreciation for a particularly amusing part these comments may take this form, “Zzzzzz!’ there may also be moments of deep spiritual meaning which moves the reader to comment thus, “Horse crap!”  Thus, you can understand the importance of commenting in order to improve the overall quality of your read by commenting, “Who gives a S**t.”

Ten years ago I started reading a blog  - Thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com - when the first post went up and have continued to read it weekly over all the intervening time.   Each and every post is archived and researching through it is very easy.  I use BlogSpot because it archives all the posts in chronological order which leaves something behind for my family when my time is fulfilled. 

The husband of a person in our church had years of hand typed journal entries when he died.  The family had them printed and bound to pass on to the following generations.  This blog, using slightly different technology, serves the same purpose for my family.

I have been posting each new Blog entry on Facebook until folks get used to looking here for ongoing stories.  In my Facebook post yesterday it never occurred to me that the comment capability of BlogSpot did not carried over to both tablet and smartphone, it seems it doesn’t.  So here is the deal – I will keep on posting to Facebook to let you know when I post to the blog.  You can comment there understanding said comments will get lost in the clutter.  If you have access to ancient technology such as a laptop or desktop you can log directly into this post and comment here.  Any comments here are saved and archived with the items I post while any of those on Facebook will be effectively lost in the clutter.

So if you are up to it, follow the arrow on this post to the little yellow pencil icon.  If you don’t see the  icon, your operating system doesn’t support comments.  After this, you are on your own.

Reading List...

"They treated me well but I am changing."

The Journey G and I have started this time is similar to getting a new job.  Routines change, people change, circumstances change, opportunities change, expectations change, unknowns change and rewards change.   

Through all this change, and there is a lot, stability is provided in taking time to read a good book this is my reading list for our trip and on into the autumn.

The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 - Lionel Shriver

The Harrows of Spring - James Howard Kunstler

The End of White Christian America – Robert Jones

An additional book is on order for later this year

Splinterlands – John Feffer

Two of the books won’t be here before we leave, "Jones" is being released next month and "Feffer" later this year; they will make good reading for the autumn.  Thanks to Paul for the "Jones" suggestion, "The Mandibles..." was reviewed on NPR, "Splinterlands" came through a reference at Tom Dispatch and the Kunstler novel is the completion of a four part series.  

Three are conjectures of the near future which are morality plays set in a disintegrating world and the fourth, Jones, is explained by its title. Jones, in particular, may be a good challenge for Paul's reading group.

Standing still....

Whistle signals below Cumbres Pass

Over time I have been lost at a small town in the midst of a sweeping prairie.   Shimmering in the summer heat obscure deep blue gray shadows appearing as a thin line of clouds on the horizon.  Lacking motor transport I am reduced to walking onward under the bright sun with the thin line of clouds on the horizon always moving away in the distance.  I know my destination but at my pace when will I arrive?

The last year I have been standing still in my journey.  Several projects were started, learning a new language, and were put aside overridden by the demands of everyday life and, in the spare time, study to prepare for the long walk ahead.      

The expense has been high and emotionally it has frequently been draining.  More than once I have doubted my ability to cope with the priorities and new experiences necessary to make the journey yet, the dream of the long walk always comes back.

I know my destination as I think of an azure sky with brilliant sunlight, the thin air near timberline and the sound of whistle signals echoing through the high valleys of the Rockies.

So here I am with only 8 days to go.  The study may be enough to achieve the goal but, in any event, the lessons will go on.  If this year works then next year, with a lot of work, I may be able to tell some simple stories in Spanish.  In the few years that follow the lessons and journey will continue until that day when G and I finally park the Chama Cabin at home to rest.

Cobalt skies and mountain meadows beckon.  The journey is ending as it started – a long trek across the sweeping prairie and as we travel closer the mist at the horizon finally reveals its true nature, the Rocky Mountains rising above the steppe.  

The Evil Weed....

"I don't think the properties of that particular plant are any more of a surprise to God than the results of fermenting grape juice."

             

                A Quote from a Friend

A story:   

A jingle sung by school children:

Not Miss Allen

Miss Allen had a steamboat,

The steamboat had a bell

The steamboat went to heaven

Miss Allen went to…….

Miss Allen disguised as Bette Davis

Miss Allen was a fearful woman.  Whatever she said was a command, not a comment or question.  She wore orthopedic shoes and dresses fit for a mature woman in the 1950’s.  Miss Allen was a spinster teacher of advanced years, at least 45.  We shivered in our seats as she towered above us warning of the wages of sin.   Her room was always hot from the heat radiating out of the steam register under the window.  She carried dainty embroidered hankies to lightly mop the glow on the forehead or to address the result of a chronic sinus condition.  The steam register was always festooned with neatly placed hankies drying in the heat. 

Isolated between towering mountains to the west and a vast inland steppe to the east, Denver was an overgrown cow town in the early 1950’s.  Our “family” was an oddball in a solidly conservative and Republican community.  Though my parent and two older sisters were minions of that conservatism we were cast-offs of a sort as my mother, who was divorced and proud, was raising three children in near poverty.  Not well churched, lessons on morality were learned from family stories or authority figures. 

So it was the wages of evil were passed on through Miss Allen to the willing minds of young supplicants.  One of the great lessons took the form of a Motion Picture, one of the greats from 1936.  

After watching it I lived in fear for my very being.  Would I succumb to the evil weed?  Did I have the strength to resist?

I had to rely on my family heritage – 5 generations of staunch Presbyterians.  They would show me the way….  But then there is the issue of my Great Grandfather who abandoned his family.  Well, that doesn’t count.  Then there is my father – NO, we really don’t want to talk about that one.  They didn’t go to church, I am certain of that.  So I am safe from the evil temptation.

Colorado has changed a lot since my youth.  Denver is now a trendy place of over 1.5 million people and the evil weed is LEGAL!  I am in trouble, we are going to Colorado – now an old man in his dotage - how will I ever resist?

---------------------------------------------------------

You realize this story is a complete fabrication.

Chairs and table......

So much for the panic – this is getting to be a regular thing – we went to Wally World and found a complete set on sale for $75.  Four folding chairs a glass table and an umbrella.  We took the chairs for the Cabin and gave the table and umbrella to Curt – at our place this is like giving a gift to yourself.  Curt says he has a plan for them somewhere in the five eating places and three kitchens scattered among the buildings.  We also bought a small folding glass table to go with the folding chairs. 

Now we can sit outside with visitors and enjoy the evening breeze, the babbling river and maybe some of that stuff they sell just a few miles away in Colorado…?

Old Couple somewhere else.

Presbyterian Couple having a laugh

Didn’t do it in college it wasn't proper then and certainly isn't  so

it just wouldn’t be proper because we are Presbyterian and you know what the means, don't you?  Then again, the Presbyterians are getting a bit more tolerant – so, maybe we can recapture the life we wanted then but were too up-tight to go for?  How about it Paul?

Naah, this life is better.

Panic time....

"You think we can make it work?

Over the years we have purchased cabin tents and all the associated camping gear which we packed in the back of our VW Beetle.  We moved on and went to high tech, for 50 years ago, back packing equipment and then the family arrived.  Everything was scrapped for a palomino tent camper we pulled behind a Chevy Chevette.  Later it was a pontoon boat with full camping cover and then, because we were now two again, it became a little mazda with some lightweight nylon folding chairs and Holiday Inn Express as our camp site.

Here we are again at a transition and we sorted through the 50 years of stuff and it was all a mess. Now in panic mode we are again buying a couple canvas folding chairs and a table to set-up outside under the awning.

It just wouldn't be right not to have a nice place to enjoy Irish Coffee while taking in the sights and sounds of the Rockies as the sun sets. The problem now is whether Amazon can get it to us on time but, there is Wally World -- hmmm.