On Just About Everything
During my travels across America, I have become fascinated with containers found in old-time general stores. This was probably the most complete store shelf I ever ran across. It was in The Museum of Appalachia near Norris, Tennessee. That is one of the top 10 places I have visited. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #121 – An Overdose of Containers
Mystic is simple mystical. It is perhaps the most beautiful place along the Atlantic seaboard. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #118 – Mystic, Connecticut
Even I, who frequently says that I get bored if things don’t change on a regular basis, sometimes get overwhelmed and ready to toss my Mac/streaming TV/cell phone out the window. When my Internet connects starts flashing yellow, my life stops in its tracks.
I built this birdhouse the first year at the homestead in 2000. I worked all summer to create the workshop of my dreams in a pole barn on the property. There was a lot of manure scooping and inside cribs removed. It would be my first sole proprietorship. I kept it for almost seven years before I had decided I sucked enough sawdust. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #113 Orange U Blue – I Am…
Everyone hates something or someone sometimes in their lives. But ingrained hatred is something that ruins lives because it is often so fixed into their brain, as to be almost impossible to conquer. The image above was taken at the “Brown vs Board of Education” National Historic Site in Topeka Kansas. The building is not a large one but contains many artifacts that will make you think about racial prejudice and particularly the Civil Rights era. Many of you probably recognize the picture as part of the Birmingham Alabama forced school integration. On September 10th, in 1963, twenty black students entered previously … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #130 Burning Hatred
One of the things I always did when I visited State Capitals, was to get a picture of the capital domes. I need to make a collage of all those images to make them a mosaic of mosaics for this site. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #131 – Capital Domes
I did something that I haven’t done for several years and that is I contributed a significant amount of money to a presidential campaign. One reason is that, given my genes, I likely won’t be around for the next one. The other is if the narcissist con-man is elected, it’s likely that our democracy will fail to exist shortly thereafter. Continue reading The Best President Money Can Buy…
I have been making some stupid mistakes lately! I have been putting two of my most personal characteristics in conflict with each other. Those two characteristics are:
“Simplify” & “Never Stop Learning” Continue reading I Need Projects…
Even though I knew I was different from almost everyone around me, I spent a good part of my life trying to be conventional. To hide my true self, I wore all the masks that society expected of me. It wasn’t until my retirement years that I began to live a life that was true to me. I threw off my masks, maybe too quickly, but that is as it is. Continue reading Don’t Spend Your Life Being Conventional
When I came across some info about the American Neon Sign Museum in Cincinnati a few years back, I knew I had to visit it. Cincinnati is only a couple of hours drive from my RetCom so it made a good weekend trip. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #129 – A Dying Art…
These last few weeks I have been doing some serious contemplations about the meaning of my current life. That’s nothing new, it has happened regularly all my life. But, this time it seems more serious than most of the previous episodes, and that kinda scares me. Continue reading A Happy Day
Anyone who has visited Seattle, Washington has likely been to the Pike Place Fish Company. After our Inner Passage boat trip to Alaska in 2006, we spent 4 days in the Seattle/Vancouver seeing the sites. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #110 – A Seattle Landmark
Every once in a while, I come across an article that jerks me in a different direction. This is one of those times. It is about the story that with his last words, Jesus tore down a wall between God and earth and how Christians have been building walls ever since to replace it. Continue reading Building Walls…
When we are “pre-old” we laugh at the idea of an old person spending hours in front of a TV. I am beginning to be able to shed a little light on that subject. Continue reading Old People & TV Shows
Now that yet another summer is soon to pass, I thought I would give you another look at our Homestead Flowers. The flower beds above and throughout the rest of the yard were my wife’s territory. The veggie gardens were mine. I didn’t mess with hers, and she didn’t mess with mine. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #105 – Homestead Flowers
I guess I should do some explaining before this goes much further. I assume that most of you probably know that “aurora borealis” is the technical term for “Northern Lights”. The second thing is that I am a huge fan of the TV series Northern Exposure. I just love the quirkiness of all the actors and how well they meshed together. Continue reading Aurora Borealis Causes Dream Transfers
One of my favorite parts of my 2011-month-long Eastern Canada trip was Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (PEI). They were full of history and classics. Anne of Green Gables has always been one of my favorite stories. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #126 – Anne Of Green Gables
I can’t tell you how many “Simplify” signs I have in my small one-bedroom apartment here at my RetCom. I have never been much of a collector, but the “Simplify” message has always attracted me. I have finally decided to simplify my blog presence. For the last two weeks I have spent hours and hours struggling with how I will go forward with my blogging. I initially thought it was necessary to start fresh and throw away all of my posts here at RJsCorner. After several attempts of doing that, I have decided that would only cause a lot of … Continue reading I’M BACK
Being a Bob Dylan fan, but only during his folk music years, I thought it appropriate to use his words for this post. I have been posting at RJsCorner for sixteen years now. It’s time to move on. With this post, I want to tell you why. A good part of my corporate world work life was spent fixing processes and building software tools to do that. It seems I never saw a process that I didn’t think could be made better. I was pretty successful at accomplishing that as I got some serious recognition for my work and a … Continue reading The Times, They Are a Changing…
The post shares reflections from Ottawa, Canada and memories of the dramatic reflections mosaic at the World Trade Center. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #114 – 911 Memorial Reflections
I have never been to London, but I have seen much of it when I watch “House Hunters International” while eating my daily lunch. And of course, I am currently watching the latest version of The Crown on Netflix. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #92 – Ottawa Parliament Building
Little did I know that when I took my wife to the “Windows on the World” restaurant for her birthday in 1999 that the building would not exist a couple of years later. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #117 – WTC 1999
I am a wordsmith who likes to learn a new word every day. It also makes me a picky writer, in that if I see a word that is just not quite right, I have to change it. Walt Whitman’s famous book entitled “Leaves of Grass” comes to mind in this regard. It was originally published in 1855, but he continuously changed/corrected it until his death about 35 years later. I will secretly admit that I do much the same for many of my 5000+ posts here on RJsCorner. When I see something that is just not “quite” right I … Continue reading Posterity?
t’s that time of year again. County fairs are springing up across the country. I spent 21 years living in a very small rural county in Indiana, and the county fair was the highlight of the year. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #120 – Training Wheels
Sometimes I think that my bouts of depression are only a recent things. But I came across an entry from 9 years ago today in my personal journal and it got me to thinking: Continue reading Nine Years Ago… My Purpose In Life
The picture above is one of the few I have of myself during my college years. It was taken in my Sophomore year in 1966 outside my Quonset hut type dormitory at Purdue University. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #57 – The College Years – Part 1 Paying For It
I have this thing for brick walls. They are quickly becoming a thing of the past, as most remodels seem to dictate that they be hidden with paint. The same thing seems to also go with varnished wood. Oak cabinets and kitchens have to be covered with paint or it will be deemed “my grandma’s kitchen”. Everything must be synthetic and painted over now. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #65 Just A Wall – Pen & Ink, Texture
This pen & ink drawing captures Beulah, a beloved rescue pet who brought joy as a loyal “shadow”. After gaining weight, she showered affection and lived for two more years before succumbing to cancer. She is deeply missed. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #82 – Beulah
I know that in primordial times we were part of the food chain. We killed beasts for food, and a few did likewise to us.
I think it’s time we started synthesizing our food, instead of killing it. Continue reading It’s Time To Move On Beyond Food Chain Mentality
In 2018, I fulfilled a long-standing desire to visit Ft. Bridger, the first fur traders rendezvous in the U.S. After encountering challenges driving through the Rocky Mountains, I found solace in the serene landscape of Flaming Gorge, Utah. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #63 – Flaming Gorge, Utah
I have been doing quite a bit of reading lately about the future, and I am quite excited about what will come in the years ahead. Despite what all the popular movies that predict the future of gloom and doom, the reality is that the future will see advances like no other in human history. Continue reading I Was Wrong, I Wasn’t Born 20 Yrs Too Early…
Happy 4th of July to all my U.S. viewers. Hopefully, we will have another “Independence Day” next year. Continue reading Happy 4th of July
Self-doubt has always been an issue in my life, and I expect it is in many of you. From an early age I just didn’t think I was capable of doing anything worthwhile. I know now, that was a problem because of my much later discovery of my Autism. I basically saw the world as a different place than most around me. Continue reading About Self-Doubt…
Sometimes, especially for us retired folks, need a reason to jump out of bed in the mornings. Our 9-5 job did the trick during our working years, but when they are gone there needs to be something that replaces them. Something that rouses us from our slumber. I know, as a 78 year-old guy living in a retirement home, the days seem to blend together. If it weren’t for my Apple Watch buzzing me throughout the day reminding me to do this or that, I wouldn’t likely know one day from the next. Continue reading We All Need Something That Makes Us Jump Out Of Bed In The Morning.
The author appreciates the variety of plants in an Indiana University greenhouse and enjoys the artistic aspect of photography, expressing uncertainty about specific plant names and appreciating the presence of infrastructure. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #84 – Medussa or Dead?
The Industrial Revolution started a little over 150 years ago. For centuries before that time 80% of the world’s population were farmers. A hundred years later it was 3% and now it is around 1%. We can safely conclude that that major era in world history is over. But, what comes next? We are on the cusp of another major upheaval. With the exponential growth of technology it seems pretty obvious that robots are taking over jobs as quickly as Industrial Revolution took over farmers. So, I think we can safely say “We are living in a time between times. … Continue reading We Are Living In A Time Between Times
The mosaic titled “Manhattan Skyline” paradoxically lacks a skyline. Despite initial discomfort with city living, the creator now adjusts to an urban view from their three-story RetCom. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #112 – Skyline?
I am coming to believe that sometimes the most beautiful things are the simplest and smallest things. The subtle colors above draw me in Continue reading Mosaic of Life #116 – Simplicity 3
There is so much negative energy in the world today. It seems always to be one group of people pitted against another. Except in the Sci Fi world, I don’t think that there is such a thing as negative energy, but the idea does do a good job of explaining turmoil today. Up until now, I have always been an optimist who thinks we will always work our way out of our troubles of the day. But I, like Mark Twain, I am getting more pessimistic as my final years pass. Twain got downright ugly in this final years, I … Continue reading Absorbing Negative Energy
According to some myths, 6,000 years ago Adam and Eve’s primary purpose was to propagate the species. The earth was a big blank place back then but, of course, no one realized that until a few thousand years later. Populating the earth had to be important. But, then again, after so many years, God supposedly killed everything off, except for a boat filled with animals and a few people, to start again. According to the text, after he did that, he discovered that was a mistake and promised never to do that again. Ok, now that I got all the … Continue reading Propagating The Species
The “Cityscapes (Pen & Ink)” category at RJsMosaic features historic buildings and infrastructure, capturing the area’s character. Albany, NY, as New York’s capital, offers an intriguing contrast to NYC. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #115 – Cityscapes Pen & Ink…
It’s amazing that this knowledge has been around for thousands of years and still not commonly accepted. Continue reading How We Learn According To Socrates
