Railroad Earth In Concert in Birmingham

Mark Twain Says it Again - Almost 100 years ago

"And now the whole nation--pulpit and all--will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."

- Mark Twain "The Mysterious Stranger" (1910)

Thanks to Tim Carbone, of Railroad Earth & Kings in Disguise for publishing part of this quote

Railroad Earth: Birmingham

Birmingham Railroad through the center of town, between Powell and Morris avenues. Daylight shot, indigo shot, and white out shot.

Celebrating the arrival of RAILROAD EARTH this coming week in Birmingham Alabama: http://www.railroadearth.com/high_band/home/

On the way to Charlie's Bunion: 30 years of time travel

It was a chilly day for sure, the picture of my better half hiking companion, Debbie, reveals how cold she was. We had hiked over from Newfound Gap and were enjoying the day when we stopped to take photos of each other. I appear asleep here....who knows maybe sleep walking :) There are few photos that show the Baxter State parka, made by LL Bean, that was purchased in Freeport, ME, during the summer trips of 1976. It was the first of several parkas worn (out) over the last 32 years. The boots were Vasque, and they did not last too many years longer. But man, they saw some trails and peaks !

Debbie showed the love of fibers that continues to this day by her preference for a beautiful multi colored yarn sweater.

Our gear was rather basic....but the hiking sticks were superb! Hand carved from fallen trees, or perhaps, I fell the trees and then carved them. Ah, it is so hard to get those kind of facts straight these days.

And the view, the trail, the rocks, the moss, the shafts of sunlight penetrating the leaves and needles and stirring fantastic shapes on the trail. It was a GREAT Day to be together and be Alive !

Arwen Congratulates Debbie On Her Passing The Jury

Debbie passed the jury to be come a juried member of the ADC. Arwen shows her approval by becoming closely attached to a piece of felting that Debbie had done earlier :)

See The Sea anemone

Tonight Debbie became a juried member of the Alabama Designer Craftsman (ADC)! This is a great accomplishment and reflects a huge commitment to her art. Her art that was used for the judging was "felting". The creation and artistic work in taking wool and turning it into felt. The piece photographed here, "Sea Anemone" will be used in the special preview show leading up to the annual show held at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Congratulations Debbie !!

With old friends you just pick up where you left off

David and his daugher Tess were at a meeting in Alabama back in March of this year. We connected at the Cracker Barrel in Gardendale while they were on their way back to Ledbetter, KY. It was great to see them again!

It is rather amazing, but proven many times in my experience: with old friends you just pick up the conversation you left off with the last time you met. This we were able to do without any effort.

Love and Peace,

Rod

This picture is worth a thousand words. It is a chart showing the high and low temperatures at my weather station for the past month. Without expanding the picture one story is obvious, it is getting warmer as you move from left to right. What is personally interesting is what you see in the last six day's data: the high is over 100 degrees for six days in a row. In 35+ years of being an amateur meteorologist, I've never experienced six days in a row where the high temperature exceeded 100 degrees.

Wow, that is HOT !

Photographic Proof of What Happened

During June 1974 I flew down to Miami, FL to visit my girlfriend, Debbie, who was to later become my wife. This photo was taken the day we visited Vizcaya http://www.vizcayamuseum.com/ . Well, standing on the stone dock I lost my balance and here you see the photographic evidence of what happened.

A Red, Red Rose

A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns


O my luve's like a red, red rose.
That's newly sprung in June;
O my luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my Dear,
Till a'the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o'life shall run.

And fare thee weel my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

Recumbent At Last

Well, it took about 5 years to get here, but now I'm riding in comfort. 12-13 years of back issues prevented me from getting upon an upright bike, but my physical therapist said that a recumbent bike would work.

I've only ridden about 25 miles in the last 3 weeks but they have been a lot of fun.

Perhaps I'll see you on the road. Be sure and wave!

Hijinks at Thanksgiving!

My nephew up to some hijinks at the Thanksgiving day gathering of the Scott clan :)

Working Backwards in Time

Sorry for the time confusion- we need Dr. Who to straighten us out. The picture here is from the last trip to the North Carolina mountains, way back in October. For the first time we travelled during peak leaf peeping season (say that 10 times really fast). Here is a small sample of the coloration we saw. Those of you who are more awake than I am now, will note there are no mountains in this photo. True! However, had the photographer turned the camera 180 then a picture of the "front range" of the North Carolina mountains would have covered the horizon. This photo was taken on I-40 just after driving out of the mountains.


The other photo is of the Biltmore Mansion, in Asheville, NC. The statistics on this "home" are too stunning to recall. I just remember that it contained more bathrooms than a certain 16 story office building in downtown Birmingham.

The third photo is one taken of the view from Granfather Mountain. Here we are 5,000' above sea level. Just ignore the photographer on the left side of the picture.

I going to stop now.....especially since while previewing the photo's here the layout seems a bit askew. I'm really not sure how these pictures will correspond with the text. More photos next time!

A trip to the Farm (again)

How time does fly. My last post prior to the blistering heat of summer and now, Thanksgiving is past and Christmas approaches rapidly from the starboard bow. In an earlier post I told of the birth of a cria, to Paco and Rose, two llamas who live west of Columbus, MS. Three weeks ago, Shiloh, was born to the same proud parents. Shiloh is a thriving youngster who requires bottle feeding each day. Here is a picture of her tethered prior to her thrice weekly "training". These sessions last 10 minutes and are designed for Shiloh's benefit.

More later :)

Food for thought

Well, it is time to provide another provocative quotation worthy of thought.

From Theology Today, January 1964, comes a book review of Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy In Art, by Gerardus van der Leeuw, 357 pp. New York, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1963. $6.50. The reviewer is Joseph M. Kitagawa, from the University of Chicago. The book is discussed here:http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1964/v20-4-bookreview13.htm but the quotation that leaped across my desk to hit me between the eyes comes from van der Leeuw's book:

"It is the curse of theology always to forget that God is love, that is movement. The dance reminds us of it" (p. 74).

Now that is food for thought !

Laura Rebecca Scott, my eldest niece, graduated today magna cum laude from the University of Montevallo. Needless to say she was really excited. We, of course, as her aunt and uncle are really proud of her!

Today is our anniversary. We were gifted by a visit from a beautiful butterfly.

The sky today was a vivid shade of blue, similiar to that day we tied the knot. Wow, time sure goes by fast, and then again, it goes by slow too.

Love to Debbie !

My anniversary is coming up soon....and this is the beautiful girl I married those years ago. The most amazing thing about it all, is that we are closer and better friends today than we were then.

All my love to Debbie !

AAAAArrrrrrgggggggggg !

TAXES ! TAXES ! Arrrrrrggggg!
Every year we have an obligation as citizens to pay our legitimate taxes. Most of us in this country try to pay our fair share, but also want to take advantage of every possible legal deduction. Some of the more subtle parts of the tax code are lost on me, but, Hey! that is what tax software is for, right?

I've used tax software for more years than I can count...but my experience this year has left me a broken shell of my former self :). Intuit's, Turbo Tax Deluxe, recommended for those of us playing with capital gains and capital losses, is a software pile of junk. I've used Intuit for years and years and marvelled at how intuitive (pun intended) it seemed to be. This years distribution is a throwback to the worst software I've used in 10-15 years.

It is not intuitive, it is bull headed! It is not slick, it is gooey. It is not software, it is a headache. :)

Ok, I feel better now. After about 8 hours of tax work I completed my taxes. Last year it took between 3-4 hours. Over half of my time was spent in rebooting the PC due to frozen software, deleting files and re creating files, de-installing the entire application and reinstalling it. Then it took 9 separate attempts to transmit the returns.

Yep, feeling better and better now....the refund will be on its way in a week or two, and when the little bump happens in the account, I'll feel that it was almost worth it.

However, this blog will help me remember to never forget------------>> I'll not buy TURDO TAX again :)

Happy 80th Birthday, Dad !

Yesterday our family and Dad's friends celebrated his 80th birthday. The family gathered for a lunch around noon. The food was as fantastic as the fellowship. Then after lunch, plan B went into effect. This is where we kept Dad busy downstairs while his friends secretly arrived upstairs. When Dad was "allowed" back upstairs we had the huge surprise crowd singing "Happy Birthday!" Thanks to everyone who participated and assisted, and special thanks to my sister-in-law Donna who did the cake.