Encore

I have to applaud ClearAyes for choosing a better car. After all, there is only so much oil in the ground!

There's only so much oil in the ground
Sooner or later there won't be much around
Tell that to your kids while your driving 'round downtown
That there's only so much oil in the ground

Can't cut loose without that juice
Can't cut loose without that juice
If we keep on like we doing things for sure
Will not be cool - It's a fact
We just ain't got sufficient fuel

There's only so much oil in the ground
Sooner or later there won't be none around
Alternate sources of power must be found
Cause there's only so much oil in the ground

There's only so much oil in the earth
It's a fact of life - for what it's worth
Something every little boy and girl should know since birth
That there's only so much oil in the earth

There's no excuse for our abuse
No excuse for our abuse
We just assume that we will not
Exceed the oil supply
But soon enough the world will watch the wells run dry

Problem Solved

The world just needs more groovy $#@!

LONDON

Greetings from this side of the pond :)

I am pleased with this shot I got around midnight at Piccadilly Circus. I am unsure of whether this was the second or the third night that I had the pleasure of wondering around London lit. Regardless, I have the folks in Amsterdam to thank!
The sign said it was 18 euros for three. I was caught off guard when the vendor presented me with a choice of White Willow or something else. I was feeling rushed and did not wish to opt for some bud that would kick my ass, so I opted for the White Willow, figuring it to be the mellower. Well, the last night in London, I wound up tossing the final portion of the last 'J' into the Thames. It was this past Saturday night, the place was hopping down along the Embankment and I was reeling. While I think I have finally paid off my sleep debt, yesterday was a slog. Upon getting back home I was greeted with a notice that I had been summoned for jury duty. I spent the whole day yesterday going through that thing like some rat in a lab.

Anyway, I did manage to get to the Borough market, WM. It was wonderful. It would not have helped if you had told me about it earlier. At least I don't think so. According to my Eyewitness Guide to London, the market (which has been in existence since 1276) it is still only open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays. Rich and I had lunch at a nice little restaurant under the tracks there called FISH. They had it set up so that you could see everything that went on in the cooking area. I always like that. Even if one is not a "foodie", it is nice that they set it up so that it is open to scrutiny by anyone. Truth be told though, I had previous read about a pub that Dickens mentioned in one of his works called The Anchor.












I had thought about visiting it a day or two before but it didn't fit our plans for that day. It turns out it was right in the vicinity of the Borough Market. I could not have anticipated this since I was not at all sure we would get to the market either. Had I realized it, I would probably have steered us there instead of FISH. Ah well. FISH was good and they have a great philosophy. They are big into buying local. They get all of their dairy products from Neal's Yard Dairy, which I believe you mentioned WM.











The trip was so fascinating. I learned so much. For example, while down around the Borough Market area, we ran across this museum.
I had always heard the expression 'getting tossed in the clink'. However, I had no idea that there was actually a jail called The Clink. Who knew?

London

Greetings from London,
I am sorry I haven't been able to keep you all up-to-date since leaving Poland, but Internet access aboard the ship was horrible. After wasting the afternoon running all over Copenhagen looking for a suitable WiFi, I decided that I was just going to enjoy the remainder of the trip and not waste anymore time chasing after Internet access.
Unfortunately, the auspicious start to our trip, with the lovely weather in Stockholm, did not bode well for our journey. Although they initially told us that the weather should improve in the next day or two, they abandoned that line fairly early into the cruise. Not only did the weather not improve, it got steadily worse as the cruise progressed. While we did get a sunny day in Tallin, Estonia, the wind was strong and cold(to make matters worse, I was not feeling well that particular day, so the wind really had me concerned and I was not in the best of spirits.) The wind was not as strong in Gdansk and it was not quite as cold, but it was windy and we had no sun and some rain. I liked Copenhagen a lot and actually enjoyed the hunt for the WiFi, but the highlight of the afternoon was the young blond who served me at Café Norden. He exhibited the confident friendliness and ease that only the very young and beautiful do. I gave him a nice tip; five Euros for not doing anything much other than smiling at me and letting me enjoy his baby-blue eyes. Berlin was a long trip by bus and the weather, again, was not good, more wind and rain. The excursion was 12 hours long. It was a three hour ride into Berlin and a three hour return trip. On the return, as we drew nearer to the coast, the wind really started howling. Not long after reboarding, the Captain fired up the engine and we began to push off to begin the next leg of the cruise, a passage through Germany's Kiel Canal. Well, about a half-hour later, we notice that there is a tug boat apparently push the ship's stern against the dock. We were trying to figure out why he was doing this when we shortly received an announcement from the Captain that, due to the bad weather, our departure would be delayed. When I woke up at 6:00am the following morning, we were still at the dock in Warnnemünde. This had me concerned. However, we launched shortly thereafter. Then, a couple of hour later we got the bad news. Due to the storm, there had been an inferno at the mouth of the Kiel Canal. Apparently, they keep large containers of paraffin store near the entry/exit. One or more of those had caught fire and they had to close the canal. Therefore, we were informed, the Captain had no alternative but to sail all the way around Denmark, putting us a day behind schedule.
As a result, we would arrive in Amsterdam a day late and, following our visit there, sail directly for Dover missing Bruges altogether. What luck!
Well, it has been a long strange trip, but it wasn't all bad. It was still fascinating to see all the great places. I DID walk around Amsterdam pretty well stoned all Sunday afternoon. I had not figured I would actually buy any weed or eat any of the baked goods, but there I was Sunday morning eating one of their famous pot muffins. "Space Muffins" they call them. They had "Space Muffins", "Space Brownies", "Space This", "Space That". They even have shops that blatantly advertise that they sell magic mushrooms. I passed on those. If I had had more time ....
I just had the best meal I have had in a long time, too. I had the good sense to ask the concierge for a recommendation for a good place to get curry and he made us a reservation at a place called Tamarai. If you ever come to London and you want curry, you must eat at this place. It was fantastic.

Gdansk

Greetings from Gdansk, Poland,

Sorry for so few posts so far , the shipboard Internet is a joke.

The stops have been nice and I have some good pictures. I only have a few minutes now so this will be short. I will have more time tomorrow in Copenhagen so I will try to catch up then.

Hope you all are doing well.

Ciao!

White Nights

WOW! Check out the view from our cabin veranda!

Wouldn't you know it? The sky finally has cleared as we depart St. Petersburg.
Isn't that sky stunning? I am listening to the title track from Charles Lloyd's Jumping The Creek. He is a semi-legendary jazz musician who records for a German label that has produced some very cutting-edge jazz and classical recordings over the years.

Kirov Rejects and a Jog Through the Hermitage

Hello from St.Petersburg.

I know I said I would try again to post the night before last night, but we back to the ship rather late and I was too tired. Same last night. We have been rather busy since getting here with two excursion per day.

The ballet was alright for a bunch of Kirov rejects. I overheard one woman say that she would have liked to go see the Kirov, but the tickets were $600. For that price I think I should get my way with my choice of ballerina.

Clear Ayes,
What was the name of that all male Ballet troupe from Monte Carlo? Was it Trocadero? They are from Monte Carlo, right?

We went to the Hermitage yesterday morning it was just the kind of museum visit I hate. Although it was three hours, the place is so big, that if we had set any quicker pace we would have been jogging. I was astounded when we stopped in a room that held Caravaggio's 'The Lute Player' and the guide was not going to bother even mentioning it. It caught my attention and after I took a look at it, a woman in our group asked the guide about it. The guide was very blasé. She said something to the effect of , "Oh yeah, there is a painting by Caravaggio over there." Then she quickly led everyone out of the room leaving no time for people to take a good look at it; which was pretty much the way it went the whole tour. Sigh. Ah well, I did take the time get get a good look at a few nice paintings, a Michelangelo sculpture and a couple by Rodan.

Last night we went to the Place of Catherine the Great for an imperial Evening of the Tsars. It was fun! We had the whole place to ourselves.

Scandinavian Skies

[Place picture holder here]

Well, the weather turned on us yesterday and we spent our last day in Stockholm under gray skies with moderate wind and rain. While it put a bit of a damper on things, it did not deter us altogether. Thankfully, we were scheduled for a bus tour so we were not out in it much at all. Unfortunately, the bad weather has affected the entire region and we had more of the same all the way to Helsinki. Consequently, we didn't get to enjoy seeing the Fins have fun in the sun the way we did the Swedes. Never-the-less, our day in Helsinki was terrific. Not only did we get to see the Orthodox church that I posted a picture of five or six weeks ago, but we also got to visit the monument erected in memory of Jean Sibelius.
The weather is supposed to be the same tomorrow and we have two tours; The Highlights of St. Petersburg in the morning and An Evening of Russian Ballet (Swan Lake). The first one is by bus and the other is indoors, so the weather will not impact them. I just would like a little sun so that I can take better pictures. We will be getting back fairly late, but I will try to post. I do not want to put it off until the next day because we have two excursions that day as well: The Hermitage in the morning and A Grand Imperial Evening of the Tsars. Saturday morning we go to visit the Grand Palace of Peter The Great - Peterhof. So, I am going to be quite busy until Saturday afternoon. Like I said, I will do my best to post nightly.

Sorry no picture. I will try again tomorrow, but this slow ship connection is just eating up my minutes trying to post the picture.

Regards,
PMT

Good Luck, Bad Luck and Mandelpotatis

Residents and guests of Stockholm enjoy the nice weather during the 2009 Stockholm Marathon.

Last night, I decided we must have brunch at this gay restaurant that I read about, named Intakt. On Sundays they serve a late brunch, so it sounded perfect. I even read their menu on their website and knew just what I planned to order: Herring with Lingonberries and potatoes. I wanted this because it seemed particularly Swedish.
Well, I had already figured out the Metro enough to know the way to the vicinity of the restaurang (that's the Swedish spelling, btw) and figured I could just ask someone once we were close. Wouldn't you know it, of the many people I asked who were working in the area, nobody had heard of it. After about 45-minutes of wandering around I finally found it right within sight of the main street ... and they were closed. Apparently they are in the midst of moving to a new location nearby. Since I was in the mood for fisk (again Swedish spelling) we decided not to eat at some other restaurang in the area and headed back to eat in the restaurang at our hotel. We had eaten there the night before and it was quite tasty. They also had fried herrings with lingonberries and potato puree on the menu, so at least I got what I wanted to eat for lunch. Well, no luck on the gay restaraung, but good luck on the meal. Also, at the start of the hunt for Intakt, the first person I asked about it (a young woman cashier at the Espress0 House) asked if we were tourists and then informed us that we were quite lucky to come when we did since the weather was so nice. Apparently, it was very cold here just last week. I am very happy that our timing was auspicious. It would be a totally different experience if it was really cold out.
Our mixed luck, continued with dinner. Once again, I was determined to eat at either a gay or gay-friendly restaurang. I picked this place on Gamla Stan that has been in existence since 1922 called Cattelins. Once again, I consulted their menu online and knew what I wanted to have for dinner. I was planning to start with Carpaccio of Elk with Parmesan, Ruccola, Olive Oil and then, since we ate lunch so late, Rich and I were going to split an order of Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes served with Cream Ridge/ Lingon Berry Jam. Having decided all that I then noticed that their website said they were closed on Sundays :(
Ah, but then I noticed that the site was out of date and that it had their winter hours listed. So I gave them a call and sure enough they were open. They guy told me we did not need a reservation, we could just come on over. Well, once we stepped out of the Metro station nearest the restaurang, we saw a another restaurang flying a gay flag, so we asked a gentleman sitting out front if he knew where Cattelins was. He did. Thankfully, unlike our hunt for the late brunch place, we found Cattelins, fairly soon. But wouldn't you know it, THEY WERE CLOSED. The guy there told us that the chef had a family emergency and had to leave. The restaurang thang was just not happening today.
It worked out okay, though. We just headed backed to the place where we asked the guy for directions. It is called Torget. Rich had what they called a Seafood Casserole, but was actually a stew and I had a lovely Lightly Salted Cod with Potatoes.

They are very big on potatoes here in Sweden. Late last night, I raided the mini bar and discovered these wonderful potato chips that are made from little potatoes called, 'Mandelpotatis'. The name literally means, 'Almond Potatoes'. They grow them in the northernmost county of Seden called Norrbotten. The extreme cold from the long winters keeps them free from harmful bacteria and the midnight sun during the summer matures them to perfection. I asked my waiter if all the potatoes that they serve at the restaurants in Stockholm come from Norrbotten and he said "no". That they grow them all over Sweden. He didn't really seem very well informed about the 'Mandelpotatis'in particular.

Logga In

Apparently here in Sweden, one does not merely 'log in', one must LOGGA IN. It also appears that a password is called a Lösenord. That sounds like something which might entail a scary visit to the doctor's office.

Speaking of scary, either late tonight or early tomorrow, our luggage is supposed to arrive. Damn I hate Delta.

It turns out that we happen to have arrived on the day of the Stockholm Marathon. So naturally all the riff-raff (and, perhaps, even a few of the landed gentry) have turned out to egg them on. Being the suspicious bastard that I am, I cannot help but wonder who amongst the crowd are laying odds that freckled-dick Björn is going to be the first one to drop.

Ground Control to (Pilot) Major Tom(PMT)...Commencing countdown, engines on....4...3...2...1...Earth below you...

Now is the time for the excitement to build...ours along with yours. The day of leaving is upon us and I wanted to send you off properly. Have a wonderful, exciting, fun, stimulating, tasty and visually inspiring time...blog us some photos if you can as we eagerly await a share in your fun.

Busy times

It looks like we've all been busy with "real life" around here. Just enough time to check in for a few minutes here and there around the corner, but not enough time to do any real thinking for this blog.

I don't know about you, but a break from "pondering" can often be a welcome relief. Thought provoking stuff will come up tomorrow or the next day.

Our first concert last night went well. Since it was a Thursday evening, the attendance was not as good as our Sunday concert will be. Although it is undoubtedly not PC, my favorite song in the program is "Waitin' For The Robert E. Lee". It is very harmonious, peppy and syncopated. Our director is a lovely lady who apparently has no conception of the political history of the song. She just loves to play it on the piano and the way it sounds when we sing it.

WM, I see you are being prayed for. I hope our positive thoughts and good wishes will work as well. Venting here will at least help to get your frustrations off your chest. When you have time, let us know how it is going.

PMT, Just a few more days until you are "up, up and away". It will please us greatly if you have a few minutes here and there to post and let us know where you are and what you are up to. You spend the money and we'll get in on the fun. Sounds like a winner to me.

WH, Is the hay harvest done yet? It seems to me I have seen paintings and heard old "Hey, nonnie, nonnie" type songs about the frolicking that goes on when folks are a-haying. Any truth to the bucolic image, as shown in Summer, Haying at Jones Inn, by George Henry Durrie?

BIG Slussen project

Thanks for the info guys. It is good to hear that C.C. is not quitting her blog or having any serious health issues.

WH,
That is correct. We have nine days remaining. Rich and I leave a week from this Friday and we will arrive in Stockholm the following Saturday. We will be there for two nights before boarding our ship. We are very excited about it. Now, if we can just get the little blind dog to stop tearing all of her hair out. We had a blood test done and found that she is allergic to many things that we had been feeding her. At first that appeared to solve her problem, but then she started up again. It is a good thing our baby sitter is a nurse.

Clear Ayes,
I guess you must be familiar with the Slussen area of Stockholm. Had you heard about this project to redo it. It sounds like a massive undertaking. Hopefully it will not turn out to be their version of the Big Dig.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Is David Bowie the only one singing about changes? What did I miss....or did I? Just because a person is private and doesn't want to talk about their personal business does that mean that a change is necessarily bad? I'm so confused.

Strange Days

I promised you an interesting story and here it is. It is a little long for one post, so I'll finish it up in the comments section.

In early 1953 my parents sat me down and made an announcement. We were going to move to Canada. They tried to make it sound like it would be a wonderful adventure, but I could tell that they were unhappy and worried. I was just 10 years old and they kept so much from me, but here is what I knew at the time. It is about what can happen to people who were a little too naive and trusting of the government….of course, it couldn’t happen now….yeah, right!

My mother was born in Canada and moved to Chicago as a young girl. Because her father was a naturalized American citizen she always assumed that she was a citizen too. When she was old enough, she voted...Democrat, of course! Being from a long line of community activists, she, along with her brothers and sister, was involved in liberal labor organizations in the late 1930's. There was nothing illegal about the clubs and groups that she was interested in. Later on, in about 1950, after they were living in California both Mom and her sister found out from their brother who had been in the Navy, that they were actually not American citizens. They wanted to correct this and applied for citizenship.

As you may remember, there was something else going on in the United States at this time. The Senate Committee on Government Operations, headed by that lovable dickens, Senator Joseph McCarthy, was in full swing. The Congress was equally busy with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Now we can look back in amazement (or not..Hang ‘em WM!) that McCarthy in the Senate, and his associates on the House committee, subpoenaed hundreds of people and, on threat of loosing their jobs or being imprisoned, they were questioned about whether or not they associated with anyone who was a Communist AND they were required to name names. It was a frightening time and many people turned against their friends and neighbors to protect themselves.

Mysterious Sonic Landscape

"CA: Was that an inside joke between you and PMT? Stop packing what? (I'm trying to draw him out.)"
"I hope you can pull off the travelogue thing on the blog during your trip and allow us to accompany you vicariously. If you happen to be feeling rich during the trip, pictures of that are optional."
WH, you are incorrigible! Well, it worked .. if only for the moment.
Is the jacket you are wearing in your picture made from the fleece of your own sheep?

"I just have a feeling that PMT is very careful when choosing his vacation wardrobe."
Yep. Strictly leather teddies for me. Honestly, I don't know shit about fashion. Frankly, I have always felt the fashion industry was rather jive. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing the next fall lineup of 'Commando-Wear'.

"I think I mentioned before that although it is spelled temari, it is pronounced te-ma-di"
It did not occur to me until just the other day that I actually made one of those balls. It was at a tea ceremony in Seoul. Obviously, it was not just a tea ceremony.
For the part of it that was a tea ceremony, the nuns explained the details regarding how they prepare the tea. They made a point of not pouring boiling hot water onto the tea leaves. It should be very hot, but not boiling. They poured enough water over the leaves to wet them well, but not drown them. Then they let them sit for a couple of minutes to allow the leaves to respond by giving off their natural oils. Finally, they poured the bulk of the water over them and let them steep. I have since brewed my tea in the same manner. As I said, though, it was not simply a tea ceremony.
We had a Q&A session with a monk regarding the nature of Buddhism, as practiced at that monastery, and we also made those decorative balls. However, it is only fair to say that ours were nowhere near as fancy as the ones in the pictures that Clear Ayes linked. In fact, to say that ours were anything beyond basic would be to exaggerate. Never-the-less, the damned things adorned the ship on the way back to China.

"Yet, they don't seem to get it, that the virus has evolved/mutated from an older strain."
My better half (who is a retired Special Agent with the FBI, no less) has said that I am the most cynical person that he has ever known. Perhaps this is why I don't trust Bill Maher. However, I do agree with him on several issues. One of which is the 'dis-ease' maintenance industry. Never-the-less, he seems to be straddling the fence in terms of what corporate America wants. Whenever I hear anything that any pundit has to say, I cannot help but ask ... who is paying for this verbiage? And just what is their agenda?

WM,
I am sorry to hear about the complications regarding your mother. I hope things can be resolved in the best way possible for all concerned.

New California Tax Base?

Here is something fun to discuss...The Governator is seriously considering decriminalizing the silly weed Ca. and controlling and taxing it. It could, apparently, raise upwards of 1billion $$$ in taxes for us. It would also clear out a lot of space in ourprisons for peoplethat actually commit serious crimes. I'm thinking that if this passes, a recent poll showed 56% of Californians favor this move, then OR and WA may follow. It could begin a move to pull out vineyards up and down the coast to make room for "mari-joe-juana"'...all very interesting. It seems that the major part of the drug issues with Mexico is the M weed and that legalizing it could seriously cut down on the border crime wave. Good ole Ca. Now if we can just clear up that same sex marriage issue we could become a very cool state to live in...oh yeah...and that smog thing, the traffic gridlock, the wildfires in the summer, the drought issue, the winter mudslides and the earthquake thing...okay...maybe I need to rethink this Golden State thing...Fog...fog is good...

The Invisible Woman

This is going to be me for a bit. I just got a call from my mother's surgeon that there is a compli-

cation that will postpone her surgery for another 1-2 months...I now have to call and let her know this.

After her recent outbursts in the Dr.'s office, the Dr. doesn't want to be the one to tell her. It falls to me, this evening.

My life is going to get more complicated in the next few months and I doubt that I will have much posting time, although it just might be a good place to let off steam...you know...that hang 'em high stuff.

SO...wishing PMT a lovely vacation...CA...keep drawing...WH...keep being you and do stop in here...I really don't know, at the moment, how things will work out. WM

You Say Tomato And I Say Te-ma-di

I think I mentioned before that although it is spelled temari, it is pronounced te-ma-di. At least I have it on the authority of a traditional temari instructor, who is a stickler for correctness in all things temari. This photo is of my first effort and I am planning on taking one more class. There are several how-to books available online, so after that? Besides, aren't we in an economic crisis? Husband and I aren't in a super-squeezed position...yet, but who knows what the future will bring. Spending $50.00 for a class to learn how to wind thread around and "needled through" a rice husk ball seems a little extravagant to me. Did I tell you that one skein of imported silk temari thread is $5.00? Three colors are a minimum, so if I did the math, which BTW I try not to, (if God wanted us to do math, he wouldn't have allowed calculators to be invented!) that would be $15.00 just for thread. But I did have fun making the darn thing. I was thinking that I could utilize a few temari balls as Christmas tree ornaments. On the other hand, I really don't need more "stuff". I quail at the thought of winding up like my brother-in-law who has thirty-plus boxes of handblown imported ornaments and has to have two Christmas trees in order to display them all. That wouldn't be so bad, but he is 65 years old and it is getting more difficult for a guy with arthritis to crawl around the attic rounding up boxes of decorations he should probably never have collected in the first place . At least temari balls aren't breakable.

Speaking of God (Yes, I was.) I was watching Bill Maher the other night and he made what I thought was a interesting point. He was talking about H1N1, formerly Swine Flu and now to be called heinie (?) His point was that anti-evolutionary creationists are as much in favor of new strain flu meds like Tamiflu as the non-believers. Yet, they don't seem to get it, that the virus has evolved/mutated from an older strain. I guess they believe that God just created a new virus out of thin air.

Pining For The Fjords / Scarcity

One month from today I will be leaving for Northern Europe. This means that I have a lot of things to take care of between now and then. Therefore, I will be spending less and less time both here and around the corner. Though it doesn't have to, this blog can remain idle. Do not feel obliged to post. However, you are all free to post to your heart's desire, if that is your wish. I intend to take a good camera and my notebook with me so that, while there, I can do my best to turn NextWordCorner into a 'travelblog', at least in part. I make no promises, however, since I cannot be sure of the quality or dependability of the technology to which I will have access.

Warm Bodies

Joe Locke and Trio Da Paz (Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, Duduka Da Fonseca), live at JazzBaltica, Germany - July 01, 2007.

" American jazz, while I'm sure it is still popular in Europe doesn't have the cachet it once did."
Jazz doesn't have the cachet it once did in Europe? Au contraire, jazz is still immensely popular all over the world (with the shameful exception of its birthplace). I give the Europeans much more credit than that. This little gem proves it.

Is This a Lot of Bull?

Since we had recently talked about the art of Lascaux I thought that this was an interesting adjunct. The impressive fellow in the top photo is a "Heck" bull, a herd of which has just recently been brought to England for study. They are the closest living creature to the Aurochs that are painted on the walls of Lascaux. Aurochs, as a breed died out centuries ago, and these animals are apparently a result of "back-breeding" with the most ancient cattle breeds in Europe...the kicker is that this was a pursuit initiated by Hermann Goering(pardon any spelling mistakes there) who wanted to re-create some Aryan Eden. Two brothers by the name of Heck were hired to scour Europe for the most ancient breeds they could find...including the lovely, shaggy red Highland coo(cow). There is also quite a bit that is still unkown , or at least in question, about the techniques that they used to ultimately re-create this breed. But, decades later, here is now the closest living relative to the animals, long dead, who were painted in the caves of Lascaux.

This is not necessarily by way of opening any particular discussion...I just thought that we were in need of a new place to start and this article caught my imagination...art imitating life imitating art...kind of cool.

Make of it what you will...off to paint.

My turn?

Good news! The crisis seems to be ebbing. Now all that remains is a few days of existential questioning that could be summed up (and possibly expedited) in asking, "and just why the fuck do I do this?", and then a dash of the "healing effect of time", and a tablespoon or two of " it could be worse", and I'll be good as new. Except I'm a week older.

Before I begin, a couple of housekeeping items.

PMT: I asked you a question on the previous thread.

To all, esp. WM & CA:
After several weeks, I finally got you. My "art" question earlier was a bit of a joke, a gentle poke at the earnestness of the high vs. Crude discussion. Your answers were pretty much what I expected, but naturally, disappointing for a voyeuristic SOB such as I am. So there.

The Wendell Berry thing failed to fire or is still incubating. No problem. I have a couple of pieces of suggested reading I'd like to direct you to.
The first is related to some questions and observations I have made re: religion and culture, especially political culture. A question I have been trying to illuminate for several years and concentrating on in my reading is why religious people behave as they do, which is to say in exact opposition to the ideals they profess. There was an essay in Sunday's paper by David Brooks (NYT columnist). It's probably headlined differently in local papers, but the first sentence is : Socrates talked. Try to find and read it.

Second, there is a book review in the April 15 New Republic titled The Collector. It contains some interesting ideas that are relevant to both your art discussion and my frustrating pursuit of a life of the mind integrated with a peasant vocation.

Could we return to our roots for a while? My head needs feeding.
I hope this looks better (in terms of formatting) on the blog than it does to me. I'm still unschooled.
Windhover, looking to the light.

Talk About Smart

Sky Choi, 12, reacts to a correct answer as he finishes his homework in the library at Florida International University before class.

(Lou Toman, Sun Sentinel / April 13, 2009)

Stumped by your daily crossword puzzle? Feeling sub-par in the intelligence category? Well, if you are not feeling bad enough already, here's a little item that will make you feel downright dumb.
...............................................................................................

Miami - Dana Choi drops off her 12-year-old son, Sky Choi, at school every morning, but is not allowed to set foot on campus for fear of embarrassing him.

The curb is the dividing line. On one side is Sky, the kid from Pembroke Pines who loves video games, tae kwon do and pingpong. On the other side is Sky Choi, the Florida International University physics and math major who started a nonprofit organization to send care packages to Iraqi immigrant children.

"I'm not allowed to step on campus," Dana Choi, an attorney, explains from just beyond the curb.

"Yeah. Bye," Sky retorts.

Sky is considered profoundly gifted, meaning he scores higher than 99.9 percent of the population on IQ and achievement tests. He tested and displayed an IQ higher than the 160 maximum on most accepted intelligence tests. [more]

Where Am I?

Where am I? Or maybe it is, where are you?

It is easy to get lost on this eclectic blog. Either everyone is posting all at once, or we get busy (or sleepy) in real life and don't show up for a while.

As to which thread or entry to post on, the easiest solution, and the one I'm going to use, is to just to post on the latest entry. Even if I am going to respond to a subject that was brought up a few days ago, I'll use the entry at the top of the page to have my say. So, when PMT makes another comment about "truth in art" (you know he will!), he won't go back to the original entry, he'll just post at the most current one, with maybe a reference to what he is expanding on or responding to. Then again maybe he will just post with a new heading and THAT one will become the most current. Are we confused yet?

Anyway, that seems to be the easiest way to keep current without bouncing back and forth between headings. If anybody is around, you can check in at the latest entry and maybe you'll get a response. But then again, maybe not, at least for a while.

Assholes

Can you believe these fucking assholes? Incredible! I'd like to be able to email this clip to Obama while he's meeting with the Latin American leaders down in Trinidad this weekend. If these protesters love Mexico so much, why the hell don't they go back there? GRRRrrrrrrrrrrr

OK, now that I got that off my chest, here is what I was originally going to post:

"I have a top 40 ( which is probably in reality about a top 110) that spans 50 years, and I know who did it and who wrote it and what other bands they were in, ad nauseum."
I hear you there, man. When I was a teenager and first getting into jazz in a real way, I quickly became aware that in jazz, it wasn't about band like it was in rock and roll. Sure there were great jazz bands back in the day and there were a few during my teenage years, as there are now. But it was still markedly different. Over the remaining days of my secondary schooling, I turned myself onto so much great stuff just by picking up recordings by people I had never heard of simply because there was someone else playing on the album that I knew was a great musician. Case in point: The debut album by Spyro Gyra. Unbeknownst to me, these guys were monsters musicians. I only bought their LP because I saw that the Brecker Brothers were on it. While, granted, these guys were hired guns out of NYC, I still figured that anybody willing to pay triple-union-scale for their services must recognize their value and, more importantly, must actually need players of their caliber for the work at hand. Check out the Brecker Bros. playing Funky Sea, Funky Dew at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Be sure to read the comments. They are hilarious regarding bass player Neil Jason's garb. This was one tough jam. Be sure to check out part two, it's the real $#@!
WH, use the YouTube App on your iPhone to search for "Brecker Brothers - Funky Sea, Funky Dew (Part 1)". Afterward, search for Part 2.

"If you're 63, curious, and a decent memory, such as 564-3416, my high school girlfriend's #, I haven't seen her since 1973, you're going to have stories"
WH, should we be concerned about you?

Atkins had some serious chops (somewhat of an exception amongst the Nashville scene, Boots Randolph being another) Clapton and Hendrix are both vastly over-rated. Clapton, at least, has lived long enough to be afforded the opportunity to candidly admit that he was, ".... just trying to imitate BB King". I once burned a hooter on Jimi's grave with some friends ... shhhh!

"a Bourbon and water"
I once read something on a bar bathroom wall just south of Havre, MT that started, "You know you're in Montana when ..." One of the prerequisites was, "When someone orders a ditch."
A ditch is whiskey (most likely Bourbon) and water.

I guess I am sorry about your neighbor. But mostly I am sorry for you having to deal with that $#@!

I just had an epiphany: Rock and Roll is a well (or, not-so-well) conceived blend of polyphony and cacophony. Figure that one out!

"tiny keyboard in the iPhone will often "suggest" a word in place of the word you have typed. If you do not reject the suggestion, it will make the substitution."
Yes, it does and I think that it is designed backwards in that respect. You should have to tell it to make the substitution.

Jeannie,
I tried to figure out a way to make this blog more manageable. My first thought was that it would be good to have a daily post that could provide some structure. I realized, though, that this was not like C.C's blog. Her blog has a 'de facto' structure to it. There is one LAT XW each day, she posts her comment regarding it and that is the only post for that day. All the others are 'comments'. When I created this blog I knew nothing about Blogger.com. I conceived of it as a place where anybody from over there could come to elaborate upon any discussions that took place over there. I had hoped that this would be a totally open forum for those who wished to make use of it. Unfortunately, this is not like a 'threaded' BBS. On threaded bulletin board systems, topic can potentially be started by anyone and whichever topic gets the most recent response gets 'bumped' back to the top of the discussion list. The popular topics rise to the top, the unpopular ones fall out of sight. Due to the nature of the blogging format I am afraid I cannot offer a solution to the confusion problem other than to say what has already been said: Just post you message to one of the most current topics (quoting people, if necessary).

Oh, BTW, your recipe sounds delicious. I wonder, though, why hide the crumbled bacon? It seems to me that I would drape the poached eggs over the asparagus and then sprinkle on the the shredded Parmesan followed by the crumbled bacon.

Clear Ayes,
"I think the art discussion has pretty much been covered."
HAHAHAHAHA
You said that and then went on to cover it some more ... this subject is never dead.
"If what you see soothes, amuses, provokes thought, makes you cry or makes you angry, then it IS art."
Precisely. Again, let me remind everyone that my response to Lemonade was not an attempt to define 'What is art?'
BTW, how are the hives?

Jeannie, the horse affair sounds enviable.
How do you re-paint Lolita's bottom? I assume you haul her and I'm sure you don't do it without her mast being stepped. Do you have someone to help you with that? I was on this boat for 11 days last April.

Quiverfull

Time to start a new entry.

Windhover mentioned a subject that is another of my "What the @#%* are they thinking" pet peeves. Well, it is more than a peeve, it comes close to horror...not quite, but close.

Psalm 127, 3-5

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Many of us have seen the ultimate example of a Quiverfull family on TLC with the show 18 and Counting, starring the fruitful Duggar Family

My peeve isn't so much with the Duggars, or others of their viewpoint, although the notion of raising as many little evangelical Christians as possible, so that they might take over the world is not something I am comfortable with. But that is on another level than my gripe here. What really bothers me now is that TLC has the Duggar show, plus two or three other "isn't having a huge number of children wonderful" shows. With the state of the world where it is now, running short of resources, I don't understand how any television network could promote these shows with a clear conscience. Well, of course I have answered my own question. There is no conscience involved, only money. TLC presents these families as charming and wholesome, just the way we all want our families to be. They get money from advertisers and pay the families, what I assume is a nice chunk of change, for appearing on their shows. The money paid to the Duggars enables them to go on having as many little conservative anti-evolution, anti-feminism, evangelicals as Momma's uterus can nurture. In the case of Jon and Kate Plus 8, it allows Daddy to get a hair transplant and Mommy to get a tummy tuck. So irresponsible.

I can feel it ...

Where's my spanking? Damnit! There's gonna be some hell to pay around here.

Clear Ayes,
Since you enjoyed the other Live tune, I thought I would plug this one. It is very poignant. In a moment of synchronicity, I just happened to be listening to this song very late one night when, unbeknownst to me, my niece was delivering her first child.

Here are the words to Lightning Crashes

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door

Lightning crashes, an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now, to the baby down the hall

Oh now feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris,
Presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide, hide

Quandry

Yes, that's right, I am in a quandry. Whatever will I wear for National Tea Bagging Day? I wonder if it's too late to get hold of one of those cute little French Maid outfits. Well, if worse comes to worse, I can just wear my birthday suit!

FYI: If you didn't already know, this is 'tea bagging'.

Art? Beauty? Ugliness? Who the f#@! knows?

While all the 'good' people went to church today and mingled with their addle-brained peers, I was busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian. How'd you spend your day?

I like this little ditty!
.......................................................

"I talk of freedom
You talk of the flag
I talk of revolution
You'd much rather brag
And as the decibels of this disenchanting
Discourse continue to dampen the day

The coin flips again and again and again
And again as our sanity walks away

All this discussion
Though politically correct
Is dead beyond destruction
Though it leaves me quite erect
And as the final sunset rolls behind the earth
And the clock is finally dead
I'll look at you and you'll look at me
And we'll cry a lot
But this will be what we said

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Look where all this talking got us baby.

A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden. He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes. Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention. He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating. 'Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?' she asked. 'They're mating,' her father replied. 'What do you call the spider on top?' she asked. 'That's a Daddy Longlegs,' her father answered. 'So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?' the little girl asked. As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied, 'No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.' The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment, then lifted her foot and stomped them flat. 'Well, we're not having any of that gay shit in our garden,' she said.

More Than Rememberance

Wow! Remember this? Talk about a blast from the past. Boy, those were the days. I just love nostalgia. Why can't we all just go back to yesterday? It was so much better then.

WM,
You'd better get your anarchist, paint-slatherin' booty back over here or else I'm gonna start dissun' ya around the corner. You just about took over this blog not too long ago and I, for one, miss you. You should know that I still have my eye out for that Abbaye de Belloc. Word has it that it keeps 'spooks' at bay. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. I can turn off the video surveillance cameras and indulge in a little 'Menage a Trois' while munching on the latest offering from those Pyrenees shepherd boys. Ahh, the life!

Another Evening of Beautiful Music

I will be leaving in few minutes to go see these guys play.
It should be delightful :)

What Is Art?

A very interest subject popped up last night about "What is Art".

PromiseMeThis, in response to a question from Lemonade714 had some very definite opinions to deliver about what he considers to be the differences between "high art" vs "crude art".

"Lemonade,
"PMT, while you provided the picture, you did not comment on Mapplethorpe, do you like his work?"
Yes.

"No comments on Serrano? I did not link to offend, but to fill out the discussion. I personally was disgusted by what purports to be art, but do not believe in censorship. I also find many types of art and music unmoving, but I am not so arrogant as to think that it is not special to others. Like beauty, art in the eye of the beholder."

So what is art?
First and foremost, one must distinguish between crude art and 'High Art'. The litmus test, the question one must ask is, "Is the purported truth of the work, in fact, the 'actual truth'?"

A couple of examples are in order:

One of the most famous Baroque paintings is Peter Paul Rubens' The Disembarkation at Marseilles">. This painting while exhibiting a degree of craftsmanship is, never-the-less, nothing more than commercial art. The painting serves exactly the same purpose as television commercials do today .. to sell us something. It was commissioned by the Medici's to cause the average schmuck (in this case, many of them being supposedly educated nobleman) to swoon when they saw it and to welcome Catherine d'Medici with open arms as the new, semi-divine Queen of France. Either Rubens was a complete idiot, or he was a whore who took the job for the money.

Contrast that to Picasso's Guernica, an UGLY painting. Guernica is that quintessential picture that Ma and Pa Kettle inevitably encounter upon their arrival at the Prado. Upon which, old Pa turns to old Ma and says, "Wood ya look at that monstrosidy, Myrna! Li'l Jimmie cooda paintud sump'n better'n that." Picasso's work, unlike Ruben's, was not primarily economically determined. The man was expressing his outrage over the
atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War. He was not being commissioned to sell a lie. He was sincere, and that is what differentiates him from Paul Ruben.

So, is Mapplethorpe a whore?
Before you answer ... ask yourself, "Which does more harm, the image of someone willingly inserting something into there rectum, or someone shedding somebody else's blood, as is so often depicted on TV?

How pretty a work of art is, how well it adorns one's accoutrements is meaningless. The only question is whether or not the artist was sincere or merely a whore.

I just had a lot of questions.

PMT, So...An artist accepts a commission to paint a specific subject. He is not emotionally moved by the subject. He still sincerely does the best technical rendition he can because he owes it to the patron.

Are you saying that no matter how beautiful his execution might be, the product is merely "crude art"? Is what you call high art only to be determined by motive? Is the Sistine Chapel "crude" because an unwilling Michelangelo was waylaid by Pope Julius into the painting? Or did it become "high art" because of his personal religious convictions? What if that motive or sincerity cannot be determined? Are centuries of Church and royal commissions to be tossed aside as crude simply because we cannot know the mindset of the artist?"

I thought Wolfmom, as our resident pro, might want to weigh in on the subject. And of course, any other comments from PMT would be interesting.

Secrets

Red Cross says doctors helped CIA "torture"

Tue Apr 7, 2009 4:04pm EDT

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - Health workers violated medical ethics when they helped interrogate terrorism suspects who were tortured at secret CIA prisons overseas, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The medical workers, thought to be doctors and psychologists, monitored prisoners while they were mistreated at CIA prisons and advised interrogators whether to continue, adjust or halt the abuse, the ICRC said in a report based on interviews with 14 prisoners in 2007.

One prisoner alleged that medical personnel monitored his blood oxygen levels while he was subjected to waterboarding, a simulated drowning designed to induce panic and widely considered to be torture, the ICRC said.

Other prisoners said that as they stood shackled with their arms chained above their heads, a doctor regularly measured the swelling in their legs and signaled when they should be allowed to sit down.

The ICRC interviewed 14 men who had been held in secret CIA prisons overseas before being sent to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006.

The 14 are considered by the United States to be "high-value" al Qaeda suspects who plotted or carried out mass murders, including the September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. They had been held by the CIA, most for more than three years, in extreme isolation and had not been allowed contact with each other when the ICRC interviewed them at Guantanamo in November 2007.

The ICRC said their claims had credence because they gave similar accounts of their treatment, including the actions of medical monitors whose names they never learned.

The ICRC monitors compliance with the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of war captives and keeps its reports secret, sharing them only with the detaining government.

The report, written in 2007, was posted on the New York Review of Books website on Monday night by journalist Mark Danner, who has not said publicly how he obtained it.

"VIOLATED ETHICAL DUTY"

He first published excerpts last month, including a portion in which the ICRC concluded the al Qaeda captives' treatment in the CIA prisons "constituted torture" and violated international law.

The report alleges collars were placed around some prisoners' necks and used to slam their heads against the walls, and that they were forced to stand with their arms shackled above them for two or three days and left to urinate or defecate on themselves.

The prisoners told the ICRC they were beaten and kicked, left naked for long periods, subjected to sleep deprivation, loud music, cold temperatures, rape threats and forced shaving. Some said they were denied solid food unless they cooperated with interrogators and one said he was confined in a crouching position in a box too short to stand in.

A previously undisclosed portion of the report concluded that medical workers who monitored or took part in the interrogations had violated their ethical duty to do no harm, preserve dignity and act in patients' best interest.

The ICRC said "any interrogation process that requires a health professional to either pronounce on the subject's fitness to withstand such a procedure, or which requires a health professional to monitor the actual procedure, must have inherent health risks." [full article]

History Collapsed

(VINCENZO PINTO, AFP/Getty Images / April 6, 2009)





The dome of the Cathedral in the center of L'Aquila was damaged by an earthquake measuring 5.8-magnitude on the Richter scale. The death toll was rising steadily after many homes collapsed in the Abruzzo region.

I don't know if you guys will recall it but, back on February there was a clue in the old TMS XW for which the answer was 'spruce'. Argyle, who guess blogged that puzzle commented that both the noun [spruce: any evergreen, coniferous tree of the genus Picea] and the verb [spruce: trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper] came from the same root, Prussia. I mentioned in my subsequent comment that I found that very interesting since I had never made a connection between the two homonyms, much less any connection to Prussia. I also commented that whenever I think of Prussia I always recall the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, specifically, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. So, you might ask, what does this have to do with the earthquake in central Italy? Well, in my comment I included the following quote from Wikipedia that points out Frederick II's contribution to poetry.

"He was patron of the Sicilian School of poetry. His royal court in Palermo, from around 1220 to his death, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school predates the use of the Tuscan idiom as the preferred language of the Italian peninsula by at least a century. The school and its poetry were well known to Dante and his peers and had a significant influence on the literary form of what was eventually to become the modern Italian language."

OK so, once again, what does this have to do with the earthquake in Italy? Well, apart from being a great patron of poets, he was also a patron of the other arts as well as architecture. He was the one who began the construction of the city of L'Aquila.
According to the story from the Associated Press, in the historic center of the city, a wall of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio church collapsed and the bell tower of the Renaissance San Bernadino church also fell. The 16th-century castle housing the Abruzzo National Museum was damaged. The story also mentioned that firefighters with dogs worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory where half a dozen university students were believed still inside. Castelnuovo, a hamlet of about 300 people 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of L'Aquila, appeared hard hit, and five were confirmed dead there. Another small town, Onno, was almost completely leveled. It is possible that the university buildings are quite old as are, no doubt, the buildings in those nearby towns. While many famous structures, such as the Ponte Vecchio, have been spared the ravages of time, many have not and it is always a shame to see this kind of thing happen.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed. I remember that one well. It was just a small town that lost so many of its children. Very sad.

The Florida Highwaymen

Fort Pierce-area artists celebrated
March 29th, 2009

The story of the Highwaymen seems improbable. The spark that ignited this celebrated African-American art movement was provided by A.E. "Beanie" Backus, a middle-aged white man and scion of a prominent Fort Pierce family. Alfred Hair, the Highwaymen's leading figure, was gunned down in a bar age 30. And most of the artists lacked formal training, let alone access to the established art market.

Yet, through their industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit, the Highwaymen were able to make considerable money peddling their paintings — often from the trunks of their cars as they traveled through Central Florida towns — at a time when employment options for black men and women were largely limited. (more)

Secrets

Anonymous said...

Hey most of you phony's I know who you are...go lurk on the other blog where you can dis people and share your high falutin' opinions in private. Sorry, probably spelled high falutin' rong. wat due eye no?

April 3, 2009 11:14 PM

Did any of you notice this comment posted around the corner the other night?
Just who the fuck is this dumbass?
Some god-damned coward for sure!
Oh, and BTW, shouldn't that be 'wut'?

The Quality of Life

My mother was a very practical woman. She and my father had a living will long before it was a well-known method to make your end of life wishes known. She was a believer in keeping things and people working until it no longer made any sense. My father had two heart attacks before the final one that sent his consciousness reeling into the stratosphere (or wherever). She was the one who kept him going for the additional 30 years.

After he died, she went sensibly on with her life for another two decades. At the age of 80, she gave up living alone and moved in with my youngest sister's family. One of the reason's she did so was that she had been having a lot of trouble with her balance and with pain in her hip. She had hip replacement surgery and expected to be able to go back to an improved quality of life. That didn't happen.

For some reason, her new hip didn't respond the way it should have and she was plagued by severe pain for the rest of her life. Her surgeon offered a free "re-do", but she decided that she didn't want to go through additional surgery without the prospect of a better outcome than she already had. She tried several different pain medications, but the only one that brought her any relief was morphine. Her doctor tried to dissuade her.

"Mrs. L. Don't you understand that morphine is highly addicting? You could very easily become dependent on it. You don't want that, do you?"

Mom's reply was, "So what. I'm 80 years old. If I'm an 81 year old morphine addict, who cares?"

She got her morphine prescription and was able to resume some of her activities.

A few years later, morphine wasn't taking care of her pain as well as it had. Her doctor refused to increase the amount to what she would have required and she came to me with a difficult request. She had read about a book titled, "Final Exit" , that detailed methods of suicide for the terminally ill. She was not terminal, but she was concerned that her pain was robbing her of an acceptable quality of life. In addition, even though she had never been a smoker, she suffered from advanced respiratory disease and couldn't breathe properly without the constant aid of supplementary oxygen. She wanted me to get a copy of the book for her. As it turned out, that visit was the last we had.

As you can imagine, this was an extremely difficult request for me to act on, but I did purchase the book for her. She had given me so much and had asked so little in return, that I felt I couldn't refuse her in what was her hour of need. I was spared having to give it to her, because she died of a massive stroke about a week after we had talked.

Would I have given the book to her? I have no doubt that I would have. I knew my mother well enough to know that this wasn't a frivolous request. Constant pain had invaded her life and she was no longer able to enjoy the things that gave her pleasure. She was worn down and exhausted by pain and no longer felt that her life was meaningful. Her life was still very meaningful to me, but it wasn't my choice to make.

The photo is of the hill at the top of our property. She loved the view from our patio. 1/3 of Mom's ashes are scattered there. The sisters have disposed of the other 2/3's in a couple of other world locations. Mom did love to travel.

Progressions #2

Good afternoon and evening...

I am posting this uncropped photo because I would like some critical input. It is a concept I came up with a few months back and have been sitting on it for a bit...I'm not sure if works, if it is boring or intriguing or bland. I often find that when I am away from an image for a while that I either really like it or feel somehow divorced from it...this is leaning toward the divorced, although I now think that I may have a better solution to the multiple image conept.

Appologies for the quality.

Blast away. If it s%*$s, then ok...

Possibly Shakespeare in the evening...

OLD TIME RELIGION

I did this as a starting point for Thursday...anything goes.

The heading is the title of the painting. Salisbury Cathedral on Salisbury Plain with Stonehenge...hence the title. It also an uncropped photo...sorry.

Made it large so you could see details...

CA...please post more of your lovely work.

PMT...it's your blog, so change or remove if you wish. I just thought that it is easier to have a starting point for each day to avoid confusion and this is "toot my horn" day...hope you like it. Now I have to go do more of that. WM