I just finished watching an episode of American Chopper. The Paul Jr. Designs bike commemorating the World Trade Center Memorial was an awesome creation. It reminded me of the picture above. Continue reading Milwaukee Art Museum

I am going to spend the next few Sundays re-blogging some posts from my now inactive blog over at RedLetterLiving.net. I spent over five years there working through my faith journey.  I didn’t know it at the time but this was the last post I made there in April of last year. I think it is worth a second look as something encouraging in Christ’s church:   I’ve seen the light go out in people’s eyes when they decide it’s safer to embrace a doctrine or a policy that their gut tells them is wrong than it is to challenge those … Continue reading Conformity… In The Name of God??

I took this picture while walking my dog Beulah last winter. We have numerous mature oaks on the 2 1/2 acre homestead. Continue reading Snow in the Oaks…

Any guesses as to what this is? Continue reading Monolith…

You have two choices in life: You can disappear into the mainstream , or you can be true to yourself and swim against the current. One is a form of self-abandonment ; the other is an adventure into new worlds and dimensions. — from Life’s Secret Handbook… If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up way too much space. — Unknown wise person “It’s never too late,” concluded George Eliot, “to be what you might have been.” I n this regard, retirement gives you the time and freedom to become more than you have ever been. … Continue reading Insight 8 – You Have Choices…

New Charlie Hebdo Issue Sells Out Charlie Hebdo’s defiant new issue sold out around Paris on Wednesday, with scuffles over copies of the paper fronting the Prophet Muhammad. The issue hit newsstands just as the Yemen-based branch of al-Qaeda officially claimed responsibility for attack SOURCE: TIME – Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews. I gotta hand it to the French. They might be arrogant but they got hutzpah. They definitely fit the moniker that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. If what happened in France last week had happened here we would all most likely … Continue reading They Got Hutzpah….

Regardless of how much you want to immerse yourself in your major purpose or your most passionate pursuit in life, you should still learn how to enjoy other leisure activities. In the event that you are semi-retired, it’s wise to avoid being overly goal-oriented or judging yourself totally on work-related and materialistic accomplishments. The quality of each and every one of your retirement days should be evaluated , at least in part, by how much you relaxed, laughed, and played while immersed in activities other than your part-time job Consider each day you haven’t laughed, played, and celebrated your life … Continue reading Insight 7 — Its Not All About Purpose…

Always be true to yourself. Do not blindly believe what you are told about what brings happiness, even what is reported in this book. Find out for yourself what brings joy and contentment to your world. Your inner voice will tell you what will bring you peace of mind. Above all , ask yourself what would give you true happiness. Listen to your answers carefully. Then do what you have to do to attain it. You cannot afford not to. Many years from now you will regret the things that you didn’t do much more so than the ones you … Continue reading Insight 6 – Listen To Yourself…

This is one of my favorite edited pictures of Mamason our beloved pet from years ago. Continue reading Mamason

Somewhere in the Hinterland – Barn If Thomas Jefferson had his way we would still be a nation of farmers. He simply did not trust the monied interests in his time. Continue reading An Agrarian Country??

We found a few of these painted walls while visiting Quebec. You have to take a quick second look to make sure it is not real. I can only dream of having that kind of talent. Continue reading Quebec Wall

I’m going to get a little wordy with my Saturday picture post here to explain a new category that I will be using here. Editorial cartoons do a great service toward the goal of free speech throughout the world. To see a couple of nuts who proclaim, but in no way represent a muslim religion, murder some of these artists in Paris recently is a tragedy all of us should mourn. A picture is worth a thousand words is a very appropriate phrase for editorial cartoons. They often say things that others would not dare to put into words. One of … Continue reading Editorial Cartoons…

We came across this very creative advertising in Kentucky this Spring.  It reminds me of the 1960s :) Continue reading Hippies??

Ottawa Windows – Taken July 2011 There are many glass buildings such as this one in Ottawa. They are interspersed with centuries old building. I love the way the reflections of their neighbors and the sky play off on the window panes. Continue reading Windows

The end of each year is a time for reflection for many of us. We like to look back on the year to see if we spent it as we hoped we would. Since this year was a milestone in many regards for me I took this period much more seriously than I have in many past years. My sense of my own mortality is creeping up on me. I certainly see that my days are numbered so to speak, but then again aren’t all our days numbered? It is a matter of how small the number is. I did something this year … Continue reading A Different Path?…

Being an old country boy I have not been exposed to too much graffiti in my life but we did visit some areas in our recent NYC trip where it was plentiful. Some of it was very lavish and sophisticated, some of it quite crude. That got me to thinking that isn’t graffiti just modern-day folk art? Maybe we should be preserving it instead of painting it over? I kind of think of graffiti as some young men’s (and I’m sure women’s) creative outlet. The big art studios and such won’t hire them because they don’t have a “proper” education … Continue reading Its Not Graffiti, Its Folk Art…