In Praise of the low resolution JPEG

2012-03-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Davy Jones, lead singer of the fake pop group the Monkeys...

Davy Jones of the 1960’s prefabricated fake rock group the Monkeys, died last week. He was 66. I have an interesting story I wish to share with you about my mortality, it is about my genes. I have my dad’s genes. My dad had his first heart attack at 62, it was truly life changing for me watching him on his death bed... at Lynn general hospital... wondering if he was going to die. He did not die and lived another 11 years before heart attack number 10 got him. In-between there were many he had, sometimes I would find myself holding him like a baby in my arms waiting for the ambulance to arrive. My dad was a tough guy.

My dad had 10 heart attacks before it killed him...

No, Davy was different in that he was married to wife # 4. I believe she was 30 years younger that he and there has been all sorts of “Rattle” out there now Davy has bought the horse farm… the usual gossip and misinformation we get about that they were a bad match. Entertainment Tonight (whom we may always trust for the truth) said they fought frequently. The real bone of contention I have (no pun intended) was his 4 daughters for the longest time disagreed with where their dad was conducting recreational activity with his penis… and all this isn’t relative to this letter other then we don’t know how much time we have been given in this life… do we?

Stiffie medicine

The other night, Sunday night to be exact it was a warm out here in this part of the country with ultra clear skies. I accompanied my friends after a fine evening meal (and Single Malt for the men… ) out to their car, I looked up, and found the sky to be magnificent. It came upon me then the words of Joni Mitchell, “We are Star Dust, we are golden, and we have got to get ourselves back to the garden,” from the song “Woodstock,” another icon of my generation. At that moment my significance, though hopefully relevant to my family and friends, seemed insignificant when I gazed up towards the universe, which is endless.

Our planet sits in vast open space with nothing around us for millions of miles

Davey in passing said, “In five years you will be the age I was when I bought the farm.” DNA it seems as it regenerates each time within us… leaves a bit of itself off the tip of the cells regenerating; that is why we age. It takes time, but the aging eventually takes down the DNA, to a point where one day what it once was is not anymore. Jim Morrison of the Door’s said, “No one gets out of here alive!” My wife & I in recent weeks a have been talking about the quality of life we wish to celebrate… for whatever time it is we are graced being together in this life… for the remainder of our time on this planet… I think that is exciting, and relevant as well as important. Although in younger years those running for office seemed important… I am pleased to say I no longer have an interest in any of them, or the bullshit they are hocking at the American public.

Jim Morrison said, "No one get''s out f here alive!"

Davey's death says’ “You have only so much time!” I add, “Why waste it on stupid things?” I am confident some of this has crossed your mind if you are of my age group, near it, or just past it. I find in those who I know who are living longer years…. in general, they are positive in nature, happy with their assigned lot and grateful for their given days, and do not talk of it often.

I hope I don't die before I grow old!

My friend Monty sent this video attached at the end of this posting, which I think is relevant to the blather just written… which I recommended you do not watch if you think you will live forever, and if you are of the Davey Jones generation like I am… then please do watch.

Monty say's "Watch the Video!"

None of these photographs are mine

But... Click Here

http://www.wimp.com/astoundingfact/

Support Comes From...

2012-02-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

The good old days.

I can't remember when but there was a time when Public Radio and NPR news did not beg for money the way they beg for money now. I say this with some authority. The folks who run and manage Public Radio today, no matter where you live within the auspices of the United States of America, are all public employees. They may be a state employee, they may be a federal employee. As such they have a retirement plan, a medical plan, vacation days and if in management or news... they have expenses covered for them to travel on the public dime to where ever it is they have to go to do official business, be it work or conference or both. Why are they asking me for money when they already have money?

I do not care if they are listeners just like me.

Back when I first started to listen to public radio you just didn't hear commercials. I forget when that ended. There were fund drives... and that was the week I didn't turn on NPR. I am confident many today do the same thing I do when we hear "Support Comes From..." We either change the channel, lower the audio or shut the radio off. I speak for myself, "I do not care who supports you!' I do not care if they are listeners just like me.

You can build your own radio to listen to National Public Radio

I do know during the administration of President # 43 from (2001-2009) that National Public Radio was called on the carpet more than once... and directed to be more of an asset than a liability for mission control. I think that most likely is the reason why today NPR news sounds just like the same news programming one can find on the commercial radio stations. I think both are lousy.

Noam's listening...

I know this little posting will amount to nothing but it has allowed me to vent. Wishing NPR and Public Radio would go back to those non commercial days when it was fun to listen to... makes just about as much sense as my local commercial network news announcers reminding I can find more about a story by going to their website. I am not going to their website as I see enough of them on screen as it is. And... just like listening to NPR news... I am doing less of that these days.

Don't piss off old people

2012-01-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

This came to me in an e-mail... I love it, and if it is you'rs it's just great!

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

Remember: Don't make old People mad.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.

Our High Tech World... time to move on...

2012-01-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Have you gone Web 2.0?

Here we are living in the high tech 21st century of the Internet, phase 2.0 social media and all that! The world is still burning dirty Coal to power our "Planet." Now that's dumb assed!

Were you good this year?

If I remember correctly, if you were good, your Christmas stocking was full of sweets and little pressies. If you misbehaved that year, in your stocking that hung over the fireplace, Santa left you a lump of coal!

So how about that trip to China?

I am fully aware entire economic empires have been built from mining coal... I don't care... just because it is a cheap to harvest energy source...there is no justification any longer in this age of climate change and global warming... for human beings of good character and intelligence... to keep on burning that stuff... for we all know... and don't tell me you do not... of the negative harmful impact burning that shit has on the health of humanity and the animal and sea kingdoms on Earth..... we know all this. Cancer is the gift from breathing polluted air! We know this and it has to stop. I do not care how much money coal lobbiests throw at our politicians... we need to go renewable if we are to survive into the next century.

Makes you wonder?

I lived in Belgium, where on a winters night walking my dog I would smell burning coal, that deep sulpher stench that permeated the air in my village... I wooed my British wife in the UK... of which in the evening on a winters night I would smell the same deep stink of burning coal... and think of the health damage to the generations before ours.

It's time to move on from using "Industrial Age" energy resources to power our "High Tech" world of the 21st Century.

Snoopy Took One for the Gipper, "A short winter's tale!"

2011-12-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

Yule Time Crime Scene

When I first came upon it I thought, "BB Gun?" "Lead Pellet?" "Cat Claws on a boring afternoon?" We all know how a cat will torture a mouse or bird before maiming it beyond recovery and then leave it to expire out of boredom as there's a fresh bowl of Friskies just waiting after that first "Meow" at the back door. Cat's get away with things like that if you don't watch out. At my age... and please have no doubt... the mind wanders, paranoia creeps deep into a mind clouded by "Other than Worldly Thought's." This is the time of the "Winter Solstice," where one cannot help but conger images of naked Druids dancing wildly under a frozen December Full Moon at Stonehenge; it's not pretty remembering men and women my age dancing naked under the moonlight... thinking of sagging ashen gray flesh gravity has taken toll... I know... my baby sis would tell me I shouldn't let it make me so upset...

They took out Santa?

So there's always bored teenagers where ever you live, and Neighborhood Watch will do a good job of keeping an eye on them no doubt about that. But they do get playful even though you're not supposed to discharge a fire arm inside city or town limits! Over here in the good old USA we start em young learning to respect firearms. It's a fact by the time many of our "Western" boys are 14 years old they can place a well centered shot and put down an 8 point Elk at 300 yards no problem, factor that into hypothetically confronting an invading Army... coming our way to kill us off to use our farm land to feed their over population? You can easily see why campaigning to take firearms out of the hands of the American population is political suicide... something that life threatening... that freedom and democracy threatening... just isn't going to bear well for you "the anti firearms nut" come election time . And it's not just the boy's mind you who shoot with great accuracy! Heck my old ARMY buddy Gary who lives in Pendelton, his wife one year was third best shot with the Oregon State Police... now think about that... Right, this is a gal you don't want to piss off and she's not alone. Out here in the vast expanses of the Great American West, when things get "Iffy" on the homestead and you might find a need to call (911)... well being a crack shot while waiting for the Sheriff to get here levels the playing field when it's going to take the county Sheriff an hour to get out to where you live while escaped prisoner's convicted of murder and are heavily armed this time of year are poking about looking for safe haven... really you have to just love these women... you just do.

It just ain't right shooting at Frosty!

So you will have to admit the mind wanders during these moments. Our kids get into mischief, no doubt about that as all kids do, so as I walked about this fresh crime scene something just didn't seem right about it. Now you watch enough "NCIS," "NCIS-LA," "Bones," and "Castle..." and you will get a feel for these things, you just do. I just stood there over Frosty thinking to myself there has to be an explanation as this ain't right!


Snoopy took one for the Gipper...

By the time I reached the remains of "Snoopy" my head had cleared, the neighborhood kids were off the hook, crack shots or not... not one in our neighborhood was guilty of a Yule Time Drive-by... Look... Look closer, click on the image and what do you see? Right there... an electric air pump, my neighbor was simply saving electricity during the day while he or she (I don't know them) was at work. Yes, conservation, Christmas time conservation... I think while my head is clear I will had back now to the homestead... and pour a wee dram, a nice 15 year old... why not... humm let's see... which one of you delicious babies do we open first this afternoon... after all... it is the holiday season.... Santa is not dead... you know... one year when I was a kid... I saw a boot!

Happy Holidays from My Happy Eye

Pepper Spray, a "My Happy Eye Essay!"

2011-12-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Artist's around the world have had a go with this one to include the "Naughty Bits !"

I am a bit taken back...

I was not afforded the luxury of going to college as I so very much wish I had when I was the age of these students in the photo above. Not only am I old enough now to be their father, I am old enough to be their grandfather. Listen Kids, it may seem a bit of a challenge right now to your psyche as refugees of the instant gratification culture; the rules of engagement remain the same now as they did when I was your age; that is if you do not go to college and finish the requirements to graduate with a degree, you will live a life working menial jobs for low pay working for some asshole who hates you for your youth and later on your age and experience.

We could just scream

All those hours of sitting in class listening to a mentor, doing the academic research, writing papers, meeting scholastic milestones, that's what it is all about. On the other hand we all learn at a young age that life ain't fair, it's just fairer for others. So the ex Marine hired as an officer for the campus police force, who has been honored for his police work on campus, who pepper-sprayed a row of peaceful protesters at UC Davis last week, and who has been put on paid administrative leave for the time being, with multiple investigations certain to come... is the talk of the nation as we speak...

It's all Dark....

We have all been hit with a barrage of news about this incident that now a few weeks later seems to be buried behind other more important headlines like Lady Gaga's latest video where she's topless, nude and doing what highly talented sensationalists built like a brick shit house do best, that being attracting your attention away from the bad news that would and should piss you off; no pepper spray in this video... Or the more important story of Kim Kardashian who obviously has some junk in the trunk, in other words what ever the problem... her name is in the news and that's news that distracts us once again from the real news...

Wish I was "Runnin up that Hill..."

This UC Davis thing has disturbed me something just awful; if that was my kid being sprayed in the face at point blank range I would have a few things to say both to my kid, and then to Officer Pike.

This is getting out of hand

To my kid: A lot of good men have died in uniform fighting in God Awful shit hole places to preserve your right to protest, to say as an American what you want, the U.S. Marines being no exception. If you were not in that crowd you would not have been Pepper Sprayed, you know it and I know it, but you were and you could have lost your eyesight or worse.

Worse things have happened...

To Lt John Pike: Sir, that's my kid you sprayed at close range in his face with Pepper Spray, more commonly known as TEAR GAS! What were you thinking when you were doing that? I will admit he's always been a bit different, hey kids can be a pain in the ass. From the photo that went VIRAL he's not looking too much of a threat to you at the time... just sort of sitting there as you sprayed away, I might be wrong. See... his mother and I thought if we sent him off to college to earn an engineering degree we might be helping him along with helping our country. Sir, if you haven't been paying attention... the situation is so bad right now that we simply have to import foreign engineering students for the American workforce because we are not graduating enough of our own kids right here on American soil.

Self explanatory...

To my kid: Your mother and I have been deathly worried about your eyesight, the pepper spray was a direct hit to your face... at close range... right? I know now is not the time to talk to you about how much the two of us are paying to send you to Davis, but kid, you need to know, we took a second mortgage because we believe in you.

There are many sides to this story...

To Officer Pike: Sir, thank you for your service to our country as a United States Marine, "Semper Fi ! Why the close range Pepper Spray thing? Was my kid acting like an asshole? If he was we will have him apologize for showing disrespect to an officer of the law, we won't have any of that in our home, he wasn't raised that way! Did he mouth off with inappropriate remarks disrespectful of your uniform and position as an officer of the law?

It's true some people say inappropriate things at the wrong time... when it's not their turn...

The doctor said my boy should return to normal breathing in a few more weeks. The kid say's he still hasn't regained his sense of taste yet, and his left eye, the one you hit direct dead centre... still continually waters.

Look both of you, this is the greatest country in the world. People south of the border still walk hundreds of miles across hostile open desert to take a chance at making it here. It's worth it to them that much to be an American.

The times are changing

We are in an economic depression that for my money (no pun intended) isn't going to end anytime soon. We need to be showing decorum here. Kid, get that education, Officer Pike... what were you thinking? That's our kid... everyone's kid... America's kids...

I have added additional Pepper Spray Virals for your viewing pleasure...

Yes this is getting out of hand

You must be kidding

Poor Julie !

Yes... the naughty bits !

Not the Homeless too !

Not in the Sistine Chapel...

Not the Moon Landing...

Poor Stephen...

Oh Come now !

Planet of the Spray's...

Gone Lego...

More Naughty Bits

Now Stop it !

"Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)"

2011-11-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Eggs And Sausage

TOM WAITS

Nighthawks at the diner
of Emma's 49er, there's a rendezvous
of strangers around the coffee urn tonight

All the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs
now the paper's been read
now the waitress said

CHORUS

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
what kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade, a late shift masquerade
2 for a quarter, dime for a dance
with Woolworth rhinestone diamond
earrings, and a sideway's glance
and now the register rings
and now the waitress sings

Eggs & Sausage

The classified section offered no direction

it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
now the touch of your fingers
lingers burning in my memory

I've been 86ed from your scheme
I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair
as the lead pipe morning falls
and the waitress calls

Rumbustious female nudes

2011-10-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Rumbustious female nudes by Beryl Cook

This is a print I photographed in Wales back in 2007 when we stayed at Rhydlewis House, Llandysul, Ceredigion, situated in the farm lands near the middle west coast area of Wales. A super nice gal named Judith Russill is landlord, and I highly recommend if you travel to this part of the world that you do an overnight or two in this quiet Bed and Breakfast. If you are into gardening, the place is a visual delight for Judith is the consummate gardener.

As we settled our bill the next day, I couldn't help but stare at the print, I just loved it. Judith said it was by Beryl Cook who had recently passed away. Like many of Cook's fans I appreciated the celebration of the plump female figures. Cooks paintings and more about the artist can be found on the web.

Rhydlewis House
Rhydlewis, Llandysul
Ceredigion, Wales, UK
SA44 5PE
Phone: 0044 01239 851748

Beryl Cook Click Here

To Have and To Have Not...

2011-09-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945)

During the Great Depression in March of 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed our nation during a great time of need. He said, "I see one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." Folk's it's gettin' to be that way again.

The clincher from that speech Americans today can easily relate to is the current challenge today's President has proposed American citizens decide; the question is, "Do you as an American citizen agree that every American citizen, rich or poor, every company, every corporation, every bank conducting business on American soil, pay fair share in "Tax Revenue" collected each year?

Roosevelt warned, "the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Makes sense to me.

The Modest Sphinx Moth

2011-08-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Modest Sphinx Moth

We have a bat that has it's own route in our back yard. Most mights it will fly from one end of the yard to the other, reverse, fly back the other way, reverse, and repeat the entertainment for hours... that is if you want to sit and drink beer and watch, and some nights we do, other nights we don't. And the reason for that bat flying back and forth across our back yard just off the back porch is this tasty (to a bat) meal depicted above; The Modest Sphinx Moth. Now let's admit, that's a big moth! I did not not own a comprehensive guide to identifying North American moths, I even went to one of those web sights you can use to reference... or submit your moth photo to... and they wanted me to join, why? Ok, here's the deal, nice moth but I do not want to associate or be associated by proxy with people who are "Really" into moth's as that's a bit weird don't you think?

It was my good friend Ursala who wrote to say, it's "The Modest Sphinx Moth," and you have to admit it's a big ass moth!

My Happy Eye

A Kardashian Wedding

2011-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

I had the honor and privilege of attending a military style wedding this year for a friends son who married his high school sweetheart. He was back home from that shit hole of a deployment known to us all as Iraq. The young couple were married in a military base chapel, the one of the chaplains did the ceremony. The Honor Guard was free and it yes, it was fun to watch the brides rump be slapped with a traditional sword. The reception was on post at the NCO club, the cake had been baked by one of the mothers, the flowers were from another family's garden and arraigned by committee, some of the food was catered, some was brought in by the families, there were many relatives from both sides, the air conditioning wasn’t working all that well but no one seemed to notice; that day the sun baked everything to a nice 35 C or about 100 degrees F. One of the cousins was the DJ and one of the sisters was the photographer. I don’t think the wedding cost at the most $1,500.

This We Defend!

Now lets talk about how the other half live, actually the 1 % of Americans who can afford the following expenditures.

The Real Shinola !

American socialite, television personality, model, and actress Kim Kardashian is shortly to be married. Serious money is to be spent on her wedding day and it seems no expense will be spared. National Basket Ball Association player from the New Jersey Nets, Kris Humphries is the groom and he gave Ms. Kardashian a 20.5 carat engagement ring that is reported to be worth over $2 million dollars... it is said in total her wedding will cost over 20 million dollars US, as an example… her wedding cake alone is said to cost approximately $15,000 to $20,000! Now wait just a minute here!

Unemployment figures for the United States reached 9.1 percent in July of 2011. You can never really tell what these numbers mean but if you do a little research on the web you will get a more accurate picture. The share of the eligible population holding a job has declined to 58.1 percent, the lowest since July 1983. This means more jobs are to be lost. 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, by February 2009 3.6 million jobs had been lost, by April of the same year 5.1 million jobs had been lost to the recession, and by January 2011...are you ready? The work force was 11 million jobs below what would restore the nation to the pre-recession unemployment rate had been lost, but whose counting? We are in deep shit. There are looming budget cuts happening as you read this at the federal government, state and local levels for 2011.

1 out of every 611 housing units in the United States received a foreclosure filing in July 2011 … it is said foreclosure rates are slowly declining, well for those families losing their homes.. you could have fooled them. It is predicted the number of foreclosures will continue to grow through the rest of 2011. More than 1 million U.S. households have lost their homes to foreclosure since the end of 2008. Tell me... which one of the candidates running for national public office will promise to do something real for our fellow American citizens who lost their homes because they lost their job and then savings? Please tell me.

When you lose your home, does that mean you are homeless? The National Homeless statistics... you know... the statistics pertaining to those Americans we don’t talk about? Over the course of a year (October 2009-September 2010) 1,593,150 individuals experienced homelessness in the United States, and of this number 109,812 individuals have been chronically homeless. Figures are unavailable it this time for 2011, but we are safe to assume they are not in decline, and be thankful if this is not about you. For those homeless... I guess when you ain’t got nuthin... you got nuthin to lose.

Forking out 2 million dollars for a wedding in the United States, during these hard times? I don’t get it. How do you justify to the rest or the population of regular folks, that would be the other 99% of us... what is this couple saying? The bride is of half Armenian decent, I will bet you her relatives who immigrated to the USA to escape Ottoman genocide arrived here with their shirts on their back and not much else... like most of those seeking freedom who came here in that era. What can you say about the cost of a $2 million dollar wedding that makes any sense?

Well Cliff Harrison who is a Las Vegas Based Christian Charity Activist is saying something about these hard times, he’s feeding folks for 55 cents a meal. A lot of this selfless service to our fellow Americans, just like the young soldier whose wedding I attended who is serving in Iraq... is going on around the country... it’s a soup kitchen folks... and people don’t seem to take notice there are many these days... except for the hungry. I think it is simply criminal Americans are going hungry, how about you?

I know, let them eat cake! Kim Kardashian’s wedding cake is said to cost approximately $15,000 to $20,000! For $20,000 dollars for the cost of that cake Kim and her Hubby could feed at 55 cents a meal a lot of hungry Americans who are out of work and haven't the money to feed themselves. You have read "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald? History is repeating itself. Say you are not homeless but you are being thrifty... then you can find at hillbillyhousewife.com... a useful plan for feeding a family of 4 to 6, for about $45 dollars a week. That advice adds up to a thousands of American families out of work or worse, on the street... of 4 to 6 people... getting to eat a balanced diet for the amr money being thrown down for that wedding cake... and if you go to BTNET there’s an equally interesting article on feeding your family for $10 a day.

It is said, "an education is the first step on the way out of poverty." These days for your kid to attend a two-year college, the average cost for tuition and fees is $2,713... you will find that statistic at collegeboard.com. At the other end of the spectrum a 4 year college degree can run... across the nation anywhere from $20,000 per year on up to $80,000. Looks like an education if you think about it... can put you on the road to poverty... at those prices. How many college educations can we provide American youth who cannot afford college for $20 million dollars?

You do the math.

Cliff Harrison: Click Here
Feed a family of 4 to 6 for $45 a week: Click Here
Feed a family of 4 on $10 a day: Click Here

The cats of American author James Mace

2011-08-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

When your cat say's, "I love you!"

From the home front: About a year or so ago my wife and I decided we had had just about enough of the spider webs all about the eaves of the house, wasps nesting wherever opportunity presented itself, creepy crawlies in the crawl space under our home and yes, there were signs unwanted guests may be wintering down there as well. Over the Internet I found "Phil the Bug Man," and that Spring he took combat measures to remedy the situation of which we are completely satisfied.

More then lumber was harboured here

This past Saturday my domestic Diva and I did a major cleaning out in the garage where it was that when I came to lift a pile of lumber to straighten it out, and lifted a particular board... there was a fat little grey mouse, and he wasn't moving, I smacked him with a stick and he somewhat made a move for a place (quite slowly) where I could not smack him again. It was obvious he had eaten one of the slow killing bait traps "Phil the Bug Man," had placed about our garage. Two days later, it being in the 100's out here in the Great American West, and certainly hotter in the garage, did we first notice a rather vile waft of something dead smell, my Domestic Diva suggested I go searching for the mouse, where upon short order I located the still flexible carcass and disposed of it in a sanitary manner for collection by the bin man.

an annoying grasshopper

I had lunch today with James Mace, author of the "Soldier of Rome Series" of historical fiction, where on the cover of volume three, "Heir to the Rebellion," is where you will find me dead in a pool of blood on the streets of Rome. James has just returned from the Lollapaloza Concert at Grant Park, held this past weekend in Chicago. James was especially surprised that he actually liked Cee Lo after the artist got down to playing some serious Gun's & Roses. James is new to the Arctic Monkeys but thoroughly recommends them, and he confessed he enjoyed the Hell out of the Foo Fighters, who are David Letterman's favorite band. James confessed he too jumped into the Mosh Pit during "Death from Above 1979" and yes, there was body surfing and yes everyone was civil... if such can be found in today's modern Mosh Pit. I mentioned the mouse in the garage this weekend...

Is this why James likes the Arctic Monkeys ?

James said that while he had been in Chicago this past weekend his two cat's totally trashed his home; they knocked over their "Cat" water cooler which is really a "Dog" size water cooler, and that might be part of the reason for the violence, and had viciously tore open one side of a 10 pound bag of cat food. What disturbed him most was one of the toys James had given them to share while he was gone... it had been filled with Catnip and was found savaged by the front door... trust the Catnip filler was no where to be found.

"a sign of affection"

James went on to mention that one recent morning as he was leaving for work... he approached the kitchen counter to retrieve his keys and wallet... to find "Fresh Kill" waiting by his wallet; a present from one of the cats. He e-mailed me the photo today...

I replied, I think it's very nice to be loved !"

The Home Page of James Mace: Click Here

Amazon Books for Soldier of Rome, "Heir to the Rebellion": Click Here

"Why Cats leave the gift of Mice": Click Here

The Line Up @ Lollapaloza 2011: Click Here

Italy: Voltarra

2011-06-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

Late afternoon mid-winter in Volterra 2000

Before the Romans were the Etruscan's, today the region is called Tuscany... there is a similarity... after all these centuries... between the old word "Etruscan"... and the new word "Tuscan."

Traveling about Italy the year we lived north of Pisa was a treat. It would have been nice to have lived there longer to see more of the country, such not was the story. Italy is a strange place to live. I think it's a very masculine country. I think if you are not Italian you do not count. I think it is fair to expect that and to ignore it for you don't need to be Italian to get about and enjoy the country.

I wish I had shot more photos in high resolution 35mm. My job was such a dog I was mostly not in the mood. The low resolution jpeg Sony Mavica was one of those aim and shoot cameras''' you could instantly see results... low resolution results... and I didn't think of it then... and I do so very much think of it now, it was the perfect web camera.

Volterra is an ancient to medieval era village that has retained it's original charm, unadulterated by the modern world... It sits high up on alabaster cliffs, and is a gated village... perfect on any day to visit and you must not be in a hurry and you must not expect anything in a hurry. The Etruscan museum is a must.

Welcome to Volterra: Click Here

Common Sense: PBR on a Saturday Night!

2011-06-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

PBR... it used to be that way...

My better half is out tonight with the girls... it's Saturday night and local TV programming as usual is a dog. No I don't want to watch a movie... I do want to couch potato with a good book... and more to the "pint..." I stopped by the local super market, found myself appalled at the prices for the imported beers... I figure this... unless it's an exceptional beer don't buy it here... go over to the UK or Europe where your dollar is worth so much less these days, want a beer, go buy the real thing there. As for here in the states... on a night like tonight... it's got to be a PBR and unsalted peanuts... a balanced meal if there ever was one!

Now for the book I'm reading... it's Tim Ferriss's ... "Four Hour Workweek." Right on Tim, you don't need my advertising so I will just say thank you for not being full of shit. Your book is just what the doctor ordered for these crazy times.... a real positive look at how to stop wasting my time... the filters prescribed are magic... highly recommended reading if you are tired of being a work-a-holic and know you are on your way to a stroke! The "Four Hour Workweek" is common sense... like a PBR on a Saturday night!

PBR Wiki
Amazon link for the 4Hr Work Week

Last day in the UK: A Screaming Snail

2011-05-16T21:06:00.000-07:00


A Snail that woke me up screaming !

I thought I could hear wailing... was I dreaming? Had to be... for I was in a Volkswagen Beetle back in the 1960’s on my way to a Beatles concert and for some reason I was asleep at the wheel and couldn’t steer the VW... but it was still moving all on it’s own… I couldn't find the gas pedal as I didn’t want to accelerate so the "Bug" was on it’s way to the concert under it's own power and direction and what do you do at moments like this? I was prisoner... and the VW was spinning about out of control... I was thrown to the left and then to the right in a swirling motion... and then I heard clearly... screaming coming from the bedroom window. I got up and walked over to the window to have a look. There was a snail stuck to the glass looking right at me... and screaming... I grabbed my camera as no one was going to believe me about this.

The scream was annoying...

Closer examination revealed the snail was really upset... but with me? Why? And what was I supposed to do? Escargot is real big across the channel in Europe, it's a dish considered a delicacy and I have had it before, a long time ago on the Belgian - French border in a little cafe' run by this French family who served the most bitchen red wine and played music from the radio over cheap speakers... commercials and all... in French. We were there for the ambiance and it just doesn't get much better on the border. This was way back in the 1980's and the Escargot was so good... served in the shell... about 8 of them... all hot buttered with the scent of strong garlic. I supposed when war ravaged and all the meat had been confiscated by conquering armies, a man had to feed his family and here was this protein for the asking all over the garden... but not now... not before breakfast... not before I had used the loo... this was the United Kingdom where people are refined and do not eat Snails... well the regular folk... and never mind in the morning as that's just not going to happen... we all know they just don't do that sort of thing... do they?

A Magpie was just above my head walking back and forth in the rain gutter while looking at me in anger.

I opened the window to have a closer look as I wanted to settle this screaming thing before breakfast. There was a tapping above my head in the rain gutter and I thought it might be little feet... I was right... I looked up to see one of the Queen's Magpies giving me the once over... and then it was looking to the snail... and then back to me... and then back to the snail... it came to me the the snail was about to become breakfast. I decided not mess with Mother Nature, it was that or chance the Magpie tearing one of my eyes out from it's socket in anger... better to let them sort things out as I have a plane to catch! I closed the window and made my way to the loo...

The Sky is not falling... and the Mayan Calander

2011-04-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

On occasion I find a gem worth comment, and thought for independent thinking people like you, the attached jpeg might make good sense during these trying times.

As I began to age gracefully after my mid 50's I found myself at night listening to AM talk radio in order to fall asleep. You see one of us in this household on occasion keeps the other up at night making it impossible at times to reach REM... the radio was a noise filter granted a poor one since replaced. I found at the time my desire since I was listening (I used an earphone) was for a better understanding of the world and thus found myself on more than one occasion listening to Arizona - Las Vegas based "AM Coast to Coast" talk Show Host Art Bell for a while. Eventually he remarried a Filipino gal, moved to the Philippines where the DLS service didn't work so well and his corporate bosses put George Norie in Art's place back here in the US of A as Art was dumping out all the time during his show. I guess Art just wasn't bribing the right phone company officials over there on that little hot bed of an island... which is a very cruel thing for me to insinuate as I have no evidence to back that claim up... but it is in my humble opinion and life's experience "Money talks" and I suspect he didn't pay so they said fuck him. I don't know... but DSL is no big deal and losing a DSL connection all the time... well you do the math.

Art's and George's shows attract the ignorant, the lost, the socially unacceptable uneducated segments of our society as the show is supported by interview of guests from a wide arena of the pseudo science crowd and on some nights the bullshit is quite entertaining... and Ed... I laid there many a night after the show fearing abduction by aliens or being raped by a Sasquatch with a huge dick as according to the highly esteemed guests on the show this really happens to those who might leave a bedroom window open at night... and they should know!

On a sad note: I once had lunch (I paid) with a retired friend of mine where over burgers and fries (which I no longer order for health reasons) he looked me cold in the eye and said he did not have a worry in the world. I thought hey, this is good, I need to find out why? So I asked and in a very calm manner with an almost beatific look upon his mug he said, "the Earth is going to be hit by a comet on 21 December 2012." I asked why he was so convinced? He replied the Mayan calendar ended on that day and then went into discussing all about how their civilization just one day up and vanished off the face of the Earth never taking into consideration their might have been exploratory pre-Columbus and Cortez trips European navigators made to the New World not fully explained in the limited histories we read about that tragedy. The Maya could very well have been "Cold and Flu'ed" to death centuries before Columbus arrived... it's a theory being investigated as we speak.

I wanted to tell him all about Small Pox blankets and that the native populations were in the millions at that time but had no resistance to the common cold and flu and Bubonic Plague as he wouldn't listen to that sort of reason anyway as he was a big late night George and Art fan... and the fact millions did die from these afflictions mattered little in comparison to his fear of the whole world being wiped out by an asteroid or rogue planet smacking us right out of orbit, and he should know...

Then one night on the Intenet I found this Cartoon which for a reasonable man of reasonable intelligence and good measure of skepticism, this says it all.

So as you can see I have blogged all this for your entertainment asking you FWD to those... especially to those who you know for certain fail to check their facts with www.snopes.com before clicking "SEND."

It's just so... "All about you!"

2011-03-26T10:14:00.000-07:00


Have you ever felt you were being watched?

My good friend Ralphy who lives in the Great State of Maine in splendid retirement... a former broadcaster public affairs kind of guy, wrote me recently all huffed and puffed up about Cell Phone tracking, that is to say where ever you go your carrier is with you. I say it's nice to not feel along at my age. Not to say that's any kind of carrier abuse as their argument will be they have to keep finding a good tower for your connection. Still... say you have to go to the loo? (Click Here) but do click back for the rest of this article !

My friend Mike who lives in the Great State of Missouri in splendid retirement... a former broadcaster public affairs kind of guy, wrote me recently all huffed and puffed up about "Data Mining"... you know... all that gathering of your shopping habits, what colours you like, what religious interests if any you might lean towards or if your a dreaded "Darwinist and read Richard Dawkins as if it were the Bible!" Certainly there are those who will get a twist in the knickers all worried about what "They" might know about "Us"? I say "Not to Worry they know everything," and to stop being concerned as moaning about it will not stop it... it just isn't going to change... why worry... and here's the clincher... “you have to hand over your personal privacy to be part of the 21st century.” Dr. Alvin Toffler way back in 1979... when he wrote "Future Shock" said, "If you are not connected you will be irrelevant," so shut up... your connected and your being mined and what's your problem... really. (Click Here) but do click back to finish this article !

What is to be found? Most folks like Ralphy, Mike, me and you? Well folks my age are conservative, and patriotic with a deep love of country, we go to church... we like to go Bowling or do something like that on weekends. We are known to shop weekly at a local supermarket for food and soft drinks... some of us no names mentioned stop by the local liquor store now and then. We all have to stop at the filling station to fuel up... all of us are faithful to our better half. We are such ordinary people.

There's many big fish out there for "Them" to catch.. and it ain't you... pick up a copy and read "Future Shock."

Jaffa Cakes... "Biscuit or Cake?"

2011-03-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

A British Tradition but is it a Cake or a Biscuit?

From Charles of Germany:

Dear My Happy Eye...I've taken to consuming Jaffa Cakes. How I adore the orange jellied sponge with the chewy base supported by a layer of chocolate. When I began sharing them in the office, we had a British visitor. He said, "Thanks for the biscuit" I replied, it is not a biscuit, it is a cake.

He replied, no it is a biscuit. After going back and forth, I said, "Let's take this outside". The ensuing duck-fit caught the attention of several passers-by. Hoping to avoid mass hysteria, we calmly asked them their thoughts. Most agreed it is a cake. Then the man's wife showed up and exclaimed it's a digestive. I think they are seeking a divorce over this, but I cannot be sure. What thoughts do you and your wife have about this argument? I really would like for you to side with me, because this vile, obsessive man insists on meeting me in the woods for a duel. If, in fact, I am shot, I would like to part this Earth with a smug smile on my face, knowing that Jaffa Cakes, are in fact, cakes.

Your Pal,
Charles of Germany

By the way, what is your mailing address? I would like very much to send you some Jaffa Cakes. Cakes, being the key word.

"How I adore the orange jellied sponge with the chewy base supported by a layer of chocolate. said Charles."

My Happy Eye Replied:

Dear Charles of Germany... my beloved says “Cake!” That should settle it but I feel just to be certain this requires expert advice of which I swear concerning this matter "is totally out of my lane." But... and I do mean "But" Chuck... I have FWD this discussion to those I feel are subject matter experts... around the world, Ex Patriot British should be of some value, I have labeled this request for information URGENT... When is the duel? If URGENT won't due because of time constraints I will re-send labeled "EMERGENCY."

Concerning my part... as a good friend... and I do so take to heart if not cherish our conversations, the occasional ones... "quite" occasional for the matter... "occasional" being the operative word... you would think you would write all the time but like everyone else I e-mail... no... so busy... to busy... rushed life... kids are fighting again got to go no time to write... boyfriends at the door no time to write... loo is running water again got to fix it no time to write... got a flat tyre and that's a real excuse so stop expecting me to reply to your e-mails Mr. My Happy Eye!

Well, I do cherish the conversations... all of them, every single last one of them and I do not need a Cuppa and biscuit-cake International situation to cherish them either... I would say after 26 years of blissful marriage to an “Ex Pat” British beauty... and add to that a year more if you would... so that would be the first year that we were dating and that was for me a time to get to know the British culture before seriously considering endeavoring to make the UK a major part of my life... well Chuckerino... after 27 years of watching British TV, reading British newspapers... I would say now... due to my vast and your non experience concerning this matter... that we must lean towards “Cake" more so than biscuit. This may be confusing if not a bit disappointing for your friend the "Biscuit man..." to lean as I do in the general direction of Cake. Cake is something if I dare say in the UK to often be found in the form of a "Wedding Cake..." which to we Americans is sort of like a Fruit Cake in that it is one heavy thing to try and wash down the old esophagus with a Corona... it is just so chewy and full of fruit and booze... I guess that's what I like about British wedding cakes so much.. the booze... and then there is also the “Sponge,” of which it looks nothing like a Sponge and have you ever have a sponge cake Charles?

The beloved British Wedding Cake before the frosting or marzipan has been layered on top.

I just cherish discourse, conversation, exchanging thoughts using the written word ... oh do I cherish the words when they come... from anyone... yes, for I so do not Face Book and thus am left out of the "WALL." That damn "Wall" Charles... remember when they brought down the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989? I do... Mr. Gorbachev (or is it Goobercheve) "Tear Down This Wall...: Old Dutch said that... do you remember? I remember. Even if this conversation gets a little wild about of all things Jaffa Cakes... you must take into consideration we are not talking about Jammie Dodgers... no... nor Kerry Gold Butter or Hinze Salad Cream or sucking on a Cadbury's Crunchie Bar... nope nor quaffing down a Boddington’s which right now would do us rather well... nor of a Honey Mead... and what about not driving on the correct side of the Central Reservation and for God's sake please do not use the word "Fanny" loosely... please don't do that Charlie... for it is known as a sacred place held by real men in deep respect... very much so for we Veterans.

I first experienced a "Crunchie" at Christmas time in the UK.

I remember that night 20 some years ago with all those drunken Germans climbing up that damn Wall... the Russian soldiers holding their fire although I am certain a few of those Ruskie Boy's fluent in German said, “Hey, get into your German looking Civvies”, which were of equally poor manufacture as the East German ones... as everything if you remember over there was just a mess in all those stores so full of empty shelves because Communism just didn't work all that well now did it? And all those Commie kids ever wanted was Computers, Blue Jeans and Michael Jackson records... and maybe a brand new BMW... I would think though not so if they really knew all about Mr. Jacko... you know as I do all those clothing department stores on the Alexander Platz had nilch! The Russkies said, “Let's go over to West Berlin, get drunk and get laid, then we can come back or stay over there, or who cares... no one's gonna know the difference, and hey if we want to we can keep going on down to Frankfurt and try and get a job as news announcers for the American Forces Radio... even our beloved Commander just loves that noon time news report.

Can you spot the Ex-Stasi?

Charles... did you know the next king of England... well his name is Charles too... you can write to him now... he would also tell you "CAKE" not "Biscuit." Save yourself the embarrassment of an early morning dual, don't pull an Alexander Hamilton on us over pride... stuff your mouth full of crackers and repeat after me... "Aaron Burr..." "Aaron Burr..." "Aaron Burr..." "Aaron Burr..." Have a cuppa, just don't dunk the damn Jaffa Cake into your tea... my experience has been they soon dissolve into a gooey mess of jam with floating floury bits that eventually settle to the bottom only for you to have to look at them at your final sip... call me silly... it's just me Mr. My Happy Eye talking Charlie. Did this help? Look out for others writing back to you as I BCC'ed this message and they won't be as much in a fun mood concerning this Cake-Biscuit thing for they are British, they will take the lift, they will Knock you up... you just wait and see..

Fat Chance Mrs. Clinton will be dropping by with a $1.5 billion dollar relief check, wouldn't you say?

I spammed this debacle about the Globe, Phil in Christ Church NZ replied:

Thank you for including me in this important debate. It is a welcome distraction from the rattling of my entire city (we had a prolonged 5.1 aftershock last night which again sent the cat flying down the corridor to burrow under a duvet - fortunately there were no further reported casualties or additional damage, not that additional damage would be particularly noticeable in a place where it's been estimated that between 30% to 50% of the central business district will have to be demolished). For the benefit of Mr Gill (glad to make your acquaintance, by the way!) I should explain that I live in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Now: to the vexed issue of Jaffa Cakes. I am an ex-pat Brit and I haven't eaten one in over twenty years - however I well remember the taste sensation. I would always have considered them a biscuit but, reading your exchange, I gave it some thought and was leaning towards cake. But I then spoke with my partner, similarly of British descent, who, in a somewhat strident manner, assured me that a Jaffa Cake was a biscuit: while it is constructed of cake-like ingredients, it is sold in the biscuit isle of the supermarket and is shaped & behaved towards as a biscuit.
After this I consulted the mighty Google and was deeply amused that the question "is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit" already existed in the Google auto-complete.

Wikipedia reports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cakes):

Won't be long before some brilliant American Politician wants one for us too!

"In the UK, value added tax is payable on chocolate covered biscuits, but not on chocolate covered cakes. McVitties defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes in court, producing a 12" (30 cm) Jaffa Cake to illustrate that its Jaffa Cakes were simply miniature cakes. McVitties argued that a distinction between cakes and biscuits is, among other things, that biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes would normally be expected to go hard. It was demonstrated to the Tribunal that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale. Other factors taken into account by the Chairman, Potter QC, included the name, ingredients, texture, size, packaging, marketing, presentation, appeal to children, and manufacturing process. Potter ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake. McVitties therefore won the case and VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes in the UK.

Be certain to check out Page 3

"However, in 1999, the Sun newspaper published a poll which suggested that the majority of its readers thought of the Jaffa Cake as a biscuit." So in Law, they are a cake (though clearly just a tax avoidance scheme - no doubt McVitties are based in the Cayman Islands) but in the hearts of the British (and you don't get much more British than a Sun reader, which is one of the main reasons why I don't live there), they are a biscuit.

I hope this is of assistance to you.

Now I would like to pose two questions in reply: Is a Ritz Cheese Sandwich a biscuit or a sandwich? And why can they not be found in UK supermarkets these days and only in odd locations such as Singapore Airport and LAX?

Best of luck,
Phil

My Happy Eye replies to Charles of Germany and Phil of Christ Church:

Phil, my heart goes out to your family and countrymen. 5.1 after shocks and you take the time to set Charlie straight. You would like the old Sod yes you would. He has been known on occasion to arrive for dinner sporting two different socks only to defend himself citing there was another pair just like this pair back home... we thought then and still agree (my beloved and I) it was a weak defense, but we love the guy all the same. This Jaffa Cake thing could get a bit out of hand but there is no argument with McVitties defense, of which my good brother in law Roger once was a major player in that corporation, and we all know that a corporation would never go out of it's way to save money by spending millions in court to not pay taxes and that American corporations would never duck paying their fair share of tax either.

Charlie... think of it this way... you can have your Cake and eat it too!

My Happy Eye will post all comments received about this mess... but if you are an evil spammer... I will ridicule you.

A visit to the Bass Pro Shop

2011-03-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

A peaceful afternoon along a river in the Pacific Northwest

I do not fish, that is to say sport fish. Back in the late 90's I once attended a conference at the Gaylord Opryland outside Nashville, TN, of which the nearby Pro Bass Shop was a "real must" distraction for many of my colleagues attending. The conference was like all the other Government conferences I have attended over the years. Opening remarks with "Vision Statement... hours of "Death by Power Point" briefings... those must attend long winded lunches with "Don't I just Love Myself" executives as host... and then away from the maddening crowd quiet drinks at night with the real people who just like me hated having to be here.

Another great river they tell me.. at one time was over run with Salmon

The Gaylord was hot, humid, noisy and sold to us us as someplace really special. I call a $25.00 breakfast special... a $50 lunch and a $90.00 supper, per day special... yes I do... special in that I did not have a car so I couldn't leave to go find a nearby Kroger's, where folks on my budget could afford a takeout from the deli... this was before Google map, cell phone apps and affordable consumer grade GPS's. No way was I going out for "Catfish..." with the guy's... did that once in Little Rock... never again!


I have friends who fish and this is a painting I did one one of them.

I have friends who are fish heads... that is to say nothin"... I mean nothing in this precious American life of ours is of a far greater experience to them then goin' fishin'... and as I have explained... for me... "boring!" The following story... which was forwarded to me via e-mail unsolicited... is all about a visit a lady customer recently made to the Bass Pro Shop. It's a true story ... honest!

A woman visited the "Bass Pro Shop" to buy a rod and reel for her grandson's birthday. Not knowing which one to get she randomly selected one and then went to the check out counter to pay for it.

A Bass Pro Shop sales associate was standing there wearing dark sun glasses. The woman said, "Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me anything about this rod and reel?"

He said, "Ma'am, I'm completely blind; but if you'll just drop that rod on the counter, I will tell you everything about it just from the sound it makes."

She didn't believe him but dropped it on the counter anyway.

He said, "Ma'am, that's a six-foot Shakespeare graphite rod with a Zebco 404 reel and 10-LB. test line. It's a good all around combination on sale this week for only $20.00."

The woman replied, "I find it amazing that you can distinguish all that simply by the sound of it dropping on the counter. I'll take it!" She opened her purse and accidentally dropped her credit card on the floor.

"Oh, Ma'am... that sounds like a Master Card," he said... and as she bent down to pick it up... she accidentally farted.

At first the woman was embarrassed, but then realized there was no way the blind clerk could tell it was she who cut the cheese. He being blind and all... he wouldn't know... that she was the only person at the check out.

The blind sales associate totaled up the sale and said, "That'll be $34.50 Ma'am."

The woman was totally confused..., "Didn't you tell me the rod and reel were on sale for $20.00? How did you arrive at a total of $34.50?"

He replied, "Yes, Ma'am. The rod and reel is $20.00, and the Duck Call is $11.00...the Bear Repellent another $3.50."

Gout is a genetic disease

2011-02-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

the cause is uric acid

If you have ever experienced an attack of Gout then you know real pain. If new to Gout all you notice at first is slight pain in your joints... some mistake it for arthritis, some say it is a form of arthritis, some have told me it comes along with pneumonia... and some have told me it is genetic which by the way "D" all of the above. There's nothing you can do about it as it creeps up over time to make your feet sore. I thought it was running too much. My undiagnosed gout got worse until one night when holy cow... my big toe joint "screamed for more..." next thing you know I found myself in hospital to find out I had gout. There is no need for you to to confuse yourself listening to the non-medical types preaching myth as to the cause... the cause is uric acid and the build up of it in your body that is no longer processing it out of your system properly... most likely caused by you consuming too much of a good thing or too many bad things...

soft drinks to include diet

I just found out processed foods containing high-fructose corn syrup are also a "leading cause" of gout. Many baked goods, tomato-based sauces, breakfast cereals, soft drinks to include diet, fruit drinks, processed meats, salad dressings and many brands of low fat yogurt all contain high-fructose corn syrup which your body doesn't digest like real sugar and doesn't tell your brain you are "full" and do not need to eat any more for now. Booze is also a great source for the sugars that cause gout, as is red meat for some reason.

heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes

All this sugar in our food and drink is taking a toll on our health... those sweetened beverages are also a cause of high uric acid levels... and contribute to our bodies storing excess fat... all that fat is directly related to causing heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes... that is to say high-fructose corn syrup contributes to high uric acid levels and I ain't getting any younger so I have made up my mind to change what I eat and drink as I now that I know the cause of Gout... it's a simple thing to fix. Wish me luck as I refuse to be average anymore... that is to say consume more than 30 five pound bags of sugar as will the "Average American" this year. The sad thing is I am going to have to cut back on my Ale consumption... now that will be the real challenge.

This blog thing...

2011-01-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

The disappearing English Phone Box

As I work with this blog thing I think back to the words of my friend Pauline who lives in Sydney... that I should publish a book of my writing and photographs.

Great work if you can get it!

Finally years later I got off my duff and gave it a shot. After 3 years at this I find I need keep my subject areas that I blog separate, more for me than for you, thus the two new blogs I started this year make good sense to me... and help with keeping my thinking straight. I write and publish them for me first, I also write them “to” my friends as Bob Runda who was my voice and diction teacher at DINFOS in the 80’s advised, “Talk to one person,” that is to say when on air with that microphone in your face... talk to your mother, your wife, your best friend, imagine you are talking to only one person when announcing... the rule applies to writing equally as well.

fashion Show at Neiman Marcus San Fransisco

E-mail is now passe' to the under 30's... and has been since the advent of Face Book. I use my blogs to connect with my friends first socially... Blogging is a sort of Social Networking thing... it too has become passe'. I am aware unless you want to take time to read, of which most do not... we all have busy lives. Most folks joined Face Book for good reason. It is effortless now to peek about private lives without commitment or acknowledging you had a look. I appreciate Face Book for what it is... and Twitter.

Wolverton UK

If "Face Book" were a nation it would be the 4th largest in the world with a population of 500 million. “Twitter" is Face Book lite... this past weekend it was the preferred tool for helping to overthrow the Egyptian government and because of that the Egyptian government shut down Internet access in that country. We have no doubt about the power of the Internet!

What has kept me from using Face Book, and my friend Scott says I eventually will... is I find it shallow, lightweight, non committal... I’m most likely way out in left field with this one and just don’t get it. I enjoy the intimacy of letter writing, when I BCC it’s normally to alert my friends about a new posting. From today I have stopped that practice as if they wish to read something I have said they know the URL’s.

Blogging is real world practice for writing and editing photographs in preparation for writing books. For now it's self publishing without making a dime. It's taken a few years to build up a readership as my friend Scot said would happen. For example, each month I clock on My Happy Eye about 500 visitors from every continent to include Egypt before that government shut off Internet access. Hopefully one day all this blogging will pay off with a readership who will transition to published hard copy... who knows? I do not want to be boring.

Most friends no longer reply to e-mail. Of those who do go to the Blogs... if it's a real long read... they dump out. Average time for a page visit is less than 15 seconds. That said, I have a high return rate of visitors so about half the traffic I generate comes back for more, thank you. From today on "My Happy Eye" will be meant to be funny lightweight reading full of good photographs, please provide attribution if you use them: “Photograph by My Happy Eye.”

I have two other blogs: "In Praise of the Low Resolution JPEG" is my web based grave yard for photos that I shot back in the 80's and 90's with a Nikon "35", a film camera with a fixed focus real junk lens and in the early 2000’s with a digital Sony Mavica that produced images in the kilobytes. I also scan artwork of interest.

The focus of "In Praise of Conservation and the use of Renewable Energy Resources" is meant for those like me fed up with burning coal and oil that puts filth in the air we breath. We purchase oil from some countries overseas who politically hate us... that's not good and is reason enough for us to manufacture the required technology right here in our own country... putting our own workers back to work, to then install that technology wherever applicable to generate electricity and we need to do that right now.

I appreciate your comments

The Art of Simon Drew

2011-01-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

Simon Drew is an English illustrator whose work I discovered 4 years ago in a window of a Seaton gift shop on the coast of Devon overlooking the English Channel. He's a cartoonist and is noted for quirky pen-and-ink style art with a very twisted sense of humor.

Right now I am taking a short pause from my other blog "MyHappyEye" as I gather information about Scotland, it's castles, Edinburgh and why it rains so much up there in November and at this time of year it's just a load of snow everywhere. My good friend Ralphy, who lives a splendid retirement way over on the East Coast up north in the great state of Maine where is snows this time of year just the dickens... Ralphy said to me, "it might have something to do with how close everything up there in Scotland is to the Arctic Circle." Ralphy sent me a true story I will share with you.

Farmer Brown lived on the family farm in Upton, Maine for all of his 83 years. One day, a fella from the State Government knocked on his door. "Farmer Brown," the state fella said, "It seems that when they surveyed the State boundary two hundred years ago a mistake was made. We've discovered that most of the land you own and all of your house is actually in the state of New Hampshire." Farmer Brown thought for a minute... "Thank God!" he said, "Now I won't have to go through another one of those damned Maine winters."

Naturally if you are enjoying a pint of real English ale at home, you would want to use a good coaster to put your pint on in order your better half not remind you what a thoughtless pig you really are... leaving a wet ring on her furniture. I couldn't agree more. Hence, when I looked at this set of coasters by Simon Drew I just had to go in and pay the ridiculous high tourist season special prices on offer for American tourists... of which I was at the time.

Since bringing those coasters home I have had endless hours of fun with friends who are serious Dan Brown fans... who have serious opinions pro and con about the Da Vinci Code. I think it's a great movie based on a load of imaginary "Boughy" (pronounced boo-we)... so my thoughts remain as to how could I go wrong with a set of Simon Drew coasters... as who in their right mind, want's the get serious about this stuff, "just give me an ale?"
See you soon on the Ale Trail.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

2011-01-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

My good friend Robert Barney who is much younger than I, reminded me before he deployed that concerning a photograph, "It all has to do with the light!" And it does. Whomever the marketing fool was or is that thought putting out the Christmas decorations in the stores starting just after Halloween was an idiot. In doing so, no the store didn't increase sales, not this year, not in this "Depression," and to the contrary customers are each year made (and this would also include my close friends and myself) uncomfortable with the phony chronic mass marketing bullshit that has been going on at least 20 years now since I remember they started to do this... that is to say the blatant commercialization of the Holiday season with little to no reverence that some folks consider this holy territory and are offended by this being done in store after store after store.

This beautifully lit Christmas decoration I photographed in my living room last night with the low winter sun sunlight blasting through the front window is at least 10 years old and it was not made in the United States, nope... the idea comes from the USA, but this little baby was manufactured by American jobs shipped overseas. That is to say the factory closed up stateside and moved to China.

So what's wrong with "Everyday Low Prices?" A lot really if you can stomach thinking about it. Unemployment figures last quarter topped 9.5 % in the USA. A lot of folks cannot find a job. That should trouble you when a guy loses his job at the factory. Money from his wages that he was circulating throughout his town is lost. Taxes from his wages at the factory are lost. Factory is not coming back. His kids are maturing and there's no job at the factory for them either. How was that a good move for Americans?

He suffers, his towns economy suffers, local schools & police & fire departments & emergency services suffer, but the store that's selling this stuff made overseas from the factory job he lost... you can bet they are making a profit because that's what it is all about, making a profit and to Hell with you. I can hear "Marie Antoinette" now, "Let them eat cake!" The company that moved overseas and is now manufacturing this stuff by low paid foreign workers is making a profit... all because when we were not paying attention... both the store and the factory owners gone and got married for "Everyday Low Prices."

The problem is this: again... the factory isn't coming back, the job isn't coming back... so NO MONEY!

"FLASHBACK:" I remember Julian Beck and Judith Malina of the Living Theater way back in the 60's, they had this crazy person in their troupe... one night when they were giving a performance of "Dionysus" at the 57th street theater in New York... the crazy kept shouting, "You can't live without Money!... You Can't live without Money!"

This year like last year (and maybe even next year) Americans who lost their jobs to foreign competition just don't have any money... The dream is fast becoming the "Ghost of Christmas Past!"

a "Mr. Beer Kit for Christmas"

2010-12-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

Over on My Happy Eye "the blog," I have been on the Ale Trail now for weeks....
Christmas Eve back here at home, well you want to talk about Wassailing... to say the least... I was "Chuff." Look at those beauties begging to be in my glass! A Spaten Optimater... whew, now there's Munich talking to your beer stein... and then from Belgium... la' Saison Imperial... a farmhouse Ale they call it at a whopping 8.5% VOL and made with a strain of yeast called "Brettanomyces..." it is reputed to tatse of ripe cherries and dark musty plant matter... I haven't cracked this beauty yet but not to worry.

Now normally in the Chimay glass we would have poured a Chimay Bleu (blue) at 9% VOL and said to be made with a yeast called "White Labs WLP 500 Belgian Trappist..." this is the high octane Chimay and there is nothing in the world of beer that will compare, it is my favorite beer; a Trappist beer, re-fermented in the bottle and not pasteurised..

Chimay for me is best consumed in Belgium, I can't remember if I have ever had it on tap, but I suspect I have, strong as it is it will effect the memory. In the Chimay glass tonight is a Spaten Optimater... I apologize to my Belgian friends and thank my German friends.

I will say to you with the highest confidence you may purchase a bottle of Chimay Bleu where ever in the western world you live and it will taste exactly as if you were to be so lucky as to drink it in a Belgian pub... like the one at St Dennis is used to frequesnt, in Hainaut province in Wallonia, the "Happy Maggot" (la Larve heureuse to the locals), gosh I loved that pub... and it was a pub... and they liked the dog I had with me at the time, "Sam" the food thief...

On the other side of the Chimay - Optimater... "La Fin Du Monde" (the end of the world) which I consumed last night, it's a Belgian Style... Abbey Ale... a lighter in colour triple fermentation Ale that is also re-fermented in the bottle... 9% VOL this beer will tell you... by the end of the evening I was savoring the spicy delicious yeasty taste. It's brewed in Quebec... reason enough to visit Canada if not defect... this is real Ale with an ancient Belgian taste.

Next to that we have a Saint Pauli Girl "Special Dark,"cracking at a 4.8 VOL... the brewery that makes this beer has been in business in Bremen, Germany since the 12th Century. Not bad, not bad at all... available at some US supermarkets.

Finally... "Noggie Brown..." that is to say New Castle Brown Ale out of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. You do notice the bottle is empty? Now to be annoying... someone out there in cyber business space has made in difficult for you to enter the website listed for this brewery... Before you can enter you are required to give personal information... your birth date; I entered that I was born 1907.

I answer that to all the websites asking stupid questions before you enter as it is none of your business how old I am... and it's annoying... so if you want quick answers about the beer, skip the company web page and go to the Wiki.

And what did Mrs. My Happy Eye give me for Christmas... who's the lucky boy! Now I wonder where this will take me... cheers!

Information...

Hainaut: http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/hainaut-province.shtml
Wallonia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallonia
Chimay Bleu: http://www.chimay.com/en/chimay_blue_220.php
La Fin Du Monde: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fin_du_Monde_%28beer%29
Saint Pauli Girl Special Dark: http://www.stpauligirl.com/dark.php
Newcastle Brown Ale: http://newcastlebrown.com/
Newcastle Brown Ale on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_Brown_Ale
Mr. Beer: http://www.mrbeer.com/

The local Christmas Lights "Nut Job"

2010-12-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Everybody has one in their neighborhood, no matter where you live in the Christan word where the American pastime of illuminating the front lawn and house during the Holiday season is Vogue.

In our "Hood" we have this family that every holiday save for July (thank goodness) this fellow puts out lawn ornaments, and they are loud and obnoxious, Noel being no exception, in fact it for him it is the annual the Piece de Resistance!

Driving by what comes to mind is the expense this fellow is forking out over the holiday, money I thought would better go to feeding the hungry, the poor, people who do not have money to burn pretending to love Santa Claus at power company expense every year.

I have a string of lights on my home, LED's, cost literally pennies, this stuff on the lawn here... it's what the local power company lives for!

For myself, when I see homes lit up like this... well I wonder what's the message, why do you need to light up the neighborhood like no tomorrow?

Imaginary characters waving hello at imaginary people while just a mile up the road the local food bank has hardly enough food to hand out to the poor and homeless, the hungery, those who didn't do a damn thing wrong but believe in the dream and are now on the bottom feeder list.

This whole thing about loud, what's that all about. What happened to silent charity where you write the check to the charity of your choice this time of year and that's that?

I have watched this thing grow each year. I have no problem with a few lights outside the door, that's very American, this knock em' dead with all this electronic bullshit... it bothers me.

This holiday season is supposed to commerrate for Christians the birth of a man who lived his life in poverty, helped a whole lot of people on their way, cured the ill, and gave of himself to others.

This display of electrical entertainment is for me miles away from the humble message of hope, and love and kindness in our world of commercial greed.

Happy holidays

Total Eclipse of the Moon

2010-12-21T15:14:00.000-08:00

December 21, 2010, there was a unique alignment of the full moon and the Winter Solstice (aka December Solstice). This alignment had not been seen since 1638. During the total lunar eclipse last night the full moon passed through the Earths shadow which blocked the sun's light. The total eclipse began at 12:41 p.m. MST Monday or 3:41 a.m. EST Tuesday. The shadow lasted a little over an hour.

What's the message here on the Pier at Weston super Mare?

2010-12-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

I will blog I promise in greater detail about the new Pier at Weston super Mare, but for now, well... I find this rather troubling.

1. First off one should not at any time put Ketchup (or Katsup whatever) on a hotdog.
2. Why does it have to look so phallic?
3. What's the deal wrapping the whole thing in an American Flag?

The legendary tube steak... at the very front of the newly rebuilt pier... Like HBO, Like Cable TV... "I don't get it! " Oh we shall do this one justice...and have some fun on an upcoming post on my other blog... "On The Ale Trail!"

The New Pier at Weston super Mare:

Doing the "doo" to you on Wall Street

2010-12-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

There I was out in the cold today cleaning the hot tub... I hear a splat... and then another splat!!! I looked over my shoulder... nothing... I looked onto the deck... whoa... dude... lucky me! At that moment I am thinking there's got to be a Nostradamus like significance here... this is no chance happening... because there ain't no such thing as coincidence... that got me to thinking about Inge's e-mail this morning. I am thankful Inge and Ray write me, they've been around the world a few times, can smell a rat ... seen a few things.... and yes they have a high quality bullshit detection metering system... and I assure you on good authority the one you have improves after age 60... you may quote me.

Inge sent me an urgent e-mail... "Fortune" magazine's Bill Powell had interviewed hedge-fund kingpin Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates. Kynikos is "betting on China’s economy to implode in a spectacular real estate bust.” Now imagine the fallout world wide if that happens? He's equally concerned that J.P. Morgan and Bank of America went through an entire third quarter without a negative trading day "reported"... that's not normal.... what's going on?

Unless you believe you are lucky... sort of like with the birdy doo that just missed me out on the deck this morning... then something stinks on Wall street. How about this... if someone is winning all the time, then someone else is losing all the time and that just might be you... the ordinary investor... the regular Joe investing in stocks... is it now a one sided game? My father in law years ago warned me to stay out of the Stock Market because even then, "the big boys take care of themselves first." Like my Father in Law... Chanos sees two stock markets: one for Wall Street’s rich insiders, another for Main Street’s suckers. Which one are you? Click Here to find out and thank you Inge for the warning.

Another Beer of the American West

2010-12-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Brewed and Bottled at the Wasatch Brew Pub, 250 Main Street, Park City, Utah, as the beer say's, "Why have just one!" Beer's Beer, it's meant to drink... just about every body out there has a gimmick to sell you what ever it is they are wanting to sell you. If you have LDS friends they don't find it funny.

Then again... I really don't know why there's all this fuss. Take other countries in this world, take South Africa, their current... that is to say incumbent president Jacob Zuma, he has three wives, now that should make for conversation at a White House state dinner wouldn't you say? How about the royalty throughout the Gulf Region that we buy so much oil from? Again there doesn't seem to be a problem there... diplomatically... whatever... my advice is we should talk all about it over a beer. When drinking that beer perhaps we can talk about converting over to generating electrical power as soon as we can from solar energy, Geo-thermal, wind... nuclear... cow poo... city sewer poo... going hydrogen... cleaning up the air...

Polygamy Porter Web Site: http://www.wasatchbeers.com/polygporter.html

Offensive TV commercial for Polygamy Porter on (You Tube)

Gnome Alone

2010-12-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Here's what happens when they leave you out in the snow to fare for yourself during the winter!

Men an Tol

2010-08-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

Mên-an-Tol simply means 'holed stone' in the Cornish language but it is also known locally as the Crick Stone and the Devil's Eye. It was widely believed that passing children through the hole would cure them of rickets and other ailments. Barren women were also passed through the stone during a full moon in the belief that it would cure their infertility.

In other folklore it is said that Men-an-Tol will answer any question asked of it if the enquirer places two brass pins laid across each other on the top of the circular stone, it would seem that this will only work for yes or no answers as the pins are supposed to take on motion to answer your query.

My good father in law and I trekked for miles through muddy road, over Cornish walls, across sheep eaten down to the dirt grass, on a wet drizzle day, not too many miles driving went inland from Penzance, and not too easy to find either, you will park, you will walk, you will enjoy!

That... or better still... I recommend highly you go to Cornwall for the Pasties alone if for anything else for once you are there... Magic!

St Just in Roseland Church, Cornwall

2010-08-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

St Just in Roseland Church, Cornwall
Dedicated to St Just on 14th August 1261, by Walter, Bishop of Exeter, St Just in Roseland Church is probably Cornwall's most photographed church. I was working at the time we visited this place for a real ass. To get even, we traveled, Cornwall is one of those magical places in the UK most visitors on a short holiday never get to see. Don't forget to click the photograph to make it larger. If you have time, and are going in no direction... Cornwall, that's all!

HQ AFN Frankfurt

2010-07-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

HQ-AFN-E News Desk 2000 Frankfurt, Germany
Military broadcasting careers were made in this studio, this shot was taken at the end of an era as new facilities in Mannheim were under construction. I made a really bad career move in 2000 and left the National Guard after a deployment, took on a civilian job working for AFN South in Italy and it was all bad Karma that year. Fondly I remember this place in the 1980's as it was the only show in town. I had great mentors and then worked with some great people, funny enough who have also aged as I.

Original EUCOM Report Set
This actually was Cassandra Francis's EUCOM Report set, which used to sit across from the Gasthaus set, obviously moved across the studio years later to be positioned in front of Tech Control for the AFN Evening Europe wide television newscast. Next to it is a Green Screen I will assume used for the weather report, in my day it was Air Force Meteorologist MSgt John Gamash, and that was in another lifetime.

Out Back of HQ AFN E where the SATNET dish is gone!
By the time I returned to Frankfurt for a visit the AAFES shopping center across the street had been torn down and the German government was building a Police Academy on the premisis. This dish farm was not there in my day.

The front door to HQ AFN-E
I did so many 24 hour Charge of Quarters as we all did just on the other side of these Front doors, Thanksgiving, Christmas, weekends, I will tell you this, during the command of LTC Sonny Craven there would not have been so much vegetation, times change, people change, the mission remained the same.

Gary Bautell

Gary Bautell was a civilian news professional who I didn't really ever have the chance to get to know as I would like to... he was always a very serious calm individual whom I will assume loved the news, all his staff were professional. I remember walking the streets of East Berlin in 1987-88, and at the top of the hour more often than not a radio in a car or from a window would be playing Jan Wood or Gary Bautell with the AFN News, this guy and his staff in their own way helped bring down the Berlin Wall, you would never think that if you didn't know the story.

LTC Sonny Craven, Commander AFN-E
LTC Sonny Craven was commander there when I arrived. I have always respected him and still cherish the opportunity to have worked for him and to have served with all the other fine people who made AFN then what it was.

Pam Proper and Ann Mulligan
Pam Proper and Ann Mulligan were the best. Pam is a seriously talented journalist, Ann was a great people manager, together they made AFN an outstanding place for me to be at the time I was there, I remember them fondly.

The Dock
An uninteresting picture unless you were coming for your mail, of taking off on a last minute location assignment, or making a delivery or picking one up... this is the warehouse door outside the mail room. I used to stand here with Ralphy Stintson and talk about other people, the weather and have to listen to how much he missed Maine, it was worth it.

Studio K
And then finally we come to studio K. "K" for keller where many a deal was made, a career broken... or made, where we whom were privileged to work in the hallowed studios upstairs let loose more often than not on a Friday night. My wife and I actually painted this place. Gone now from our life, but not forgotten... what memories!

The Ghost in Puccini's window

2010-07-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

The front window of Puccini's home at Torre del Lago

Winter had settled in, my mother had passed away and I was sort of in limbo, what do you do when you lose a parent? Migliarino was just north of Pisa, along the top western coast of Tuscany. Our home was nothing special, we were foreigners and because of that you just didn't know who was watching your house to break in. The Romanian Gypsies are tight rope walkers, circus performers, they have incredible balance and are very disciplined and strong and the small children learn at an early age how to pull themselves up a gutter drain pipe, swing onto the Terra Cotta tiled roof, and not seen or heard as they make their way to the glass roof top ventilation window you find in most Italian homes... to lift it open to crawl quietly to the attic loft door, open that, then quietly drop to the floor, and then sneak walk down the stairs to open the front door and let their older family in to rob your home while you are asleep.... it so happens all the time!

Professional decking screws

It was a real bitch for them to try and figure out how to overcome 4 inch deck screws. I had brought them with my tool kit from the states, I screwed the wooden shudders together with 4 inch metal plates so even if you ripped out a few slats the metal frame held on, then I screwed the pane frames of the glass window to the molding, damn of they could pry that one open with a crow bar. Same for all the doors save for the most visible door to the neighbors across the street. Also that attic loft cover, tight as a drum.

Lake Massaciuccoli

I say this for even if you went out for a few hours you had to secure your home from theft, for burglary is national sport when it comes to foreigners living in Italy. The photo below is of the side window to the public parking lot for Giacomo Puccini's House, which is located was about five miles north of Migliarino, taken on an afternoon when I secured our house. Puccini spent most of his time at Torre del Lago which is where the house is situated, located in a small community about fifteen miles from Lucca situated between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Lake Massaciuccoli, just south of Viareggio.

The side window of Puccini's home at Torre del Lago

We did the tour of his home, I was naughty and played a few notes on his piano and the lady running the house got angry at me. Outside I was snapping a few photos and she made certain she came out and bitched about that as well. We got back to our home that afternoon and the Gypsies had stolen back yard lawn furniture just to let us know they were watching and had been there. The lady at Puccini's house also moaned about my taking this photo as well.

Giacomo Puccini

Don't you just love Puccini's Operas?

Fag Ash Lil'

2010-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

We were on the main street of Billericay, UK... the city where the Pilgrims gathered before traveling to Plymouth to board the Mayflower to leave England for the new world. 1620 was a long time ago.

2000 was when I took this photo and that was also a long time ago and I wonder from a life time of smoking cigarettes if the old dear on the bench is still with us? You know of course the worst smoker is a reformed one... I am not without sin!

For the uninitiated American reading this Blog a "Fag" in the UK is a cigarette. Although totally unclean and very dangerous for your health, smoking cigarettes there is just like it is here... an expensive addiction.

In 2000 a pack in the UK cost about $7 dollars US, a two pack a day habit simply put... you were always short on change. The price now in the US is slightly below that and creeping closer everyday, and why? Because so much tax revenue is generated from selling cigarettes that will kill you.

Back then I read a story where an old fellow burned to death in his house from falling asleep while smoking a cigarette that dropped from his hand and set his bed on fire.

How about a "Fag?"

A Rat with Wings

2010-06-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have blogged this story before, but I'm going to blog it again because it's true and worth repeating. Do not, do not under any circumstances trust a sea gull when you are near sea gulls. In the UK when we are in Lyme Regis, and when and if you are there too... beware of thieving seagulls, the Queen's seagulls, Herring gulls... they can and do... in one full swoop... snatch your food right out of your hand as you are walking the boardwalk... what ever it is, ice cream, a sausage... candy floss... it's all gull food.

My story is much worse. I was attending weekend training south of Astoria, Oregon at a coastal military training center a decade ago. I wasn't all that hungry as we had just flown in on a C22 Sherpa, built in Northern Ireland and fly's just like it. Those Golden Arches beckoned the young as we neared, which was just about everyone in my group save for me and the Major... they wanted to stop for food, we did.

I ordered a burger and fries, bad me but then I wasn't paying attention to what's in the burger and fries, or how the beef was raised and a dozen other concerns I now have about what goes down my gob.

While the young all sat, devoured and chatted I went outside to the parking lot, the Major was having a cigarette, I walked over, opened my burger on the bonnet of the vehicle next to where he was standing... WHAM! A sea gull turd perfectly landed on my burger bun.

The Major looked at me, "Seagull... it's a rat with wings."

Laguna Beach

2010-06-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

Went to visit Frankie and Julie at Dana Point, nice place but it sits like most of the California Coast on an earthquake fault. We drove to Laguna Beach...I was amazed though to be in an art gallery with Rembrandt etchings, Miro prints, Picasso's, Chagall paintings... the gallery was off on some side street, parking was a bitch, it was hot, and the place for my money was crawling with Beach Bums, Bum's and the Elderly Rich with money to burn.

Then there was the solid brass fire hydrant. I was thinking, "brass," has to be polished... dog's pissing on the hydrant... the guy doing the polishing... that's got to be a crappy job. I have seen some very interesting things in my life... the mine fields of Bosnia (there are over 10,000,000 still in the ground) from the war. I spent a birthday of mine on the Acropolis, fell in love with my wife on the Eiffel Tower, was married in a little English Church... but this... this brass fire hydrant...

Dude!

Du Fannie

2010-03-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

We found ourselves traveling through La Orange (La-Ran-geh) one Sunday morning years ago when thirsty as we were we stopped of at the "La National" the local town bar opened Sunday morning for the folks who were not going to be attending church service that day. Fine with me. Euro Sports flashed on the 16 x 9 monitors with the sound off, it was already loud from conversation, passionate heated Sunday morning conversation... we knew right off this was the place to be!

I ordered two Richard (Reh-Chard), a "Pastis" now how could, why would... one... the two of us be here in Provance on a Sunday morning skipping church and not have a Pastis? I speak really bad French, on the other hand after a few Pastis who cares? So it should come as no surprise my interest soon piqued upon gazing and the fine derriere, that is to say the somewhat luscious rump, that rear end of this plaster statue? To the clientele of "La National" this was a scared and holy object not of lesser reverence to these fine men and women than one of the holy relics brought back from 11th century Crusades just down the street in the town cathedral.

I asked the Landlord, "qu'est-ce que c'est ?" He smiled and forgave me for being an Amerian, I said, "Excusez-moi mon ami, je suis un sauvage Américain, he laughed and answered... "Du Fannie!" I could see that and a rather nice depiction I thought as I contemplated what next to ask for clarity. The Landlord knew and said it was a trophy awarded to the champion Boules Team of the year in town.

Provance is one of those places locals can smell the way they do, drink what they like the way the do, eat fabulous food everyday and think of nothing more than of the simple things in life that make us happy; friends, good conversation, family, argumentative politics that no one agrees upon, Pastis... and when visiting the National in La Orange on a Sunday morning playing church hooky... "Du Fannie!"

merveilleux !

The Princess Margarate

2010-02-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

The Princess Margaret

We were lucky enough to travel on one of the last passages across the English Channel on this hovercraft. Look at the 1960's style uniform on the the women working the ticket counter. This was before the Euro Tunnel was completed.

The US Marines still use this type of water craft as an assault vehicle and so do the Royal Marines.

Afternoon's Snooze

2010-02-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

What a way to celebrate a day in the UK!

What do you need? Fresh sea air, sunshine, no noise, no kids, no dogs, no nothing... just good friends, green green grass, shades...

snore!

MHE

Waiting for the Sun

2010-02-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

Store windows always present strange offerings for the lens. Whomever the artist was that designed this ceramic was a tremendously talented soul.

My Happy Eye

Colour as mental therapy

2010-02-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

I keep thinking what is it about Tuscon, Arizona that I like so much?

We had just returned from a year in Europe, bummer job, great to be there as what an exciting cultural place to live. The year before I had finished up a rotation to the Balkans, and although my deployment was nothing like the deployments my friends have been through in Iraq and Afghanistan, deployments burn you out.

Mud brown and cement gray, shattered bombed out cement gray at that, with Kosavar mothers and their dozen children living in tents under the one still standing floor of a destroyed building that was once the Sarajevo city newspaper.

So Arizona, Tucson, home to dear friends who wanted only our company... and it was warm, and dry and whoa... check out the Chartreuse...

Radical!

My Happy Psyche

Largo de Puccini

2010-02-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

We lived in Italy on the west coast about 20 minutes north of Pisa, talk about idyllic... The town was called Migliarino, home to the ladies who so valiantly guard the forests at night.

One Christmas eve we were visiting friends who had local Italians in company, who asked us where we lived nearby, we told then and without missing a beat in a very loud voice the oldest man said,"Prostitutti!"

Yes, Migliarino was home to ladies of the night, and day depending who was standing at the corner when we drove by. The Albanian Mafia was reputed to own them, and certainly it would break your heart to see 17 and 18 year old Russian and Eastern European girls from former Warsaw Pact countries working the streets, but that's the way it is and that is what they do to earn their money.

Five miles up the road heading toward Via Reggio is a cut off that will take you to the coast to Tore Del Largo, home to the Opera composer Giaccoma Pucciniho. Most folks even if they didn't know the name of the song have heard Puccini's "Nessen Dorma"... the same that Pavarotti made so famous along with the Three Tenors conducted by Zubin Meheta on Eurovision in the early 1990's.

This is a sunset photo of Tore Del Largo looking toward the Via Aurelia late summer 2000.

My how time fly's.

Contacts

2010-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

We had been back from Europe about a month when I purchased a pick up truck and we headed down to Nogales, Arizona. Somehow we found ourselves in Tucson at a shopping Mall. Arizona is funny in that in the hot weather people go from house to car to mall to car to house because you just have to have Air Conditioning to live there.

This photo is not doctored in Photoshop save for adjusting the contrast. I was walking past a mall store, caught a glimpse of these contacts and asked if I could take this snap... I thought to myself folks will do just about anything to get attention.

"What's the message?"

My Happy Eye

Off the Coast of Corwall

2010-02-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

We traveled 4 times to the UK that year we lived in Italy. Really if you are an American and you get to work for our government overseas in Europe, well even though 10 years have passed I can honestly say the travel opportunities are incredible.

There is a Saint Michael's Mount off the coast of Northern France, this the other one which is off the coast of Corwall within sight of Penzance, you have heard of the "Pirates of Penzance?"

Cornish Pasties, Pixies, Pirates... if you will take the smaller roads across the Moors much you will find is ancient and if you have time to explore... it's all enchanting.

My Happy Eye

Old Ladies

2010-02-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

They watch, and they are not necessarily meek or tame or without a strong young man to protect them when the need be to deal punishment. We lived on the island of Crete in the late 80's early 90's in a nice apartment in the capital of Iraklion, just up from the ferry port on the road that will take you five miles straight to the Palace of Knossos.

Across the street every night for the four years we lived there, as the evening approached and the honor of the young women needed protection, the grandmothers of Iraklion would take their seat on the balcony's overlooking the street. Vendetta is a huge part of the culture there. A word from an old woman who witnessed a crime or insult was enough to break legs. Consequently a virgin would remain so until marriage due to the vigilance of the grandmothers of Greece. Seaports are always home to randy young men fresh off the boat scouting the city looking for that kind of fun. The Granny's evened the odds.

Theft also was something either not done or if done trust there were no witnesses and it was an approved act. Theft could lead to vengeance cruel. So crime on Crete is low, or was low at the time save for the Gypsies.

Now when the Gypsies came through town... well they are masters of the craft are they not? It is a given they harvest what they need or can sell and trust if it was no out of sight or locked up it would come up missing, and that was the same in Italy when we lived there.

In Siena, Italy it is the same duty for the old women. I snapped this photo of a genteel grandmother watching me in town square to me make certain I was behaving myself, God love her, I wonder if she is still alive?

My Happy Eye

Italy has a Communist Party

2010-02-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

One thing that I could never understand living is such a beautiful country as then (2000) modern day Italy was that right in the province (or stati) of Tuscany there was a Communist political Party. A big one, with local Italian youth wearing the Che' tee shirts, and on political rally days thousands would gather at political gatherings in the countryside to promote the Communist Party winning seats in local elections... Holy Cow!

That is where I photographed the "Via Lenin' street sign. I could not for the life of me think how after 70 years of some of the worst tyranny known to the Free World ... with Russia holding behind an IRON CURTAIN after World War Two Eastern Europe... Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany, where citizens today of each and every one of these nations never ever want to go back to Communism... well some die hard's maybe... but not the youth, their digging g-mail, texting, blue jeans and Western Pop Culture as well as their own modern day culture.

And here I was in prosperous, clean, well fed, modern day Italy and there it was... a for real as day... a Communist Party working towards bringing back the good old days of the Warsaw Pact?

Pinch me....

MHE

Clean / Green energy transportation, save for the Moped

2010-01-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

One thing I did like about our time living in Italy was that in many ways the Italians lived a much more simple way than we Americans do. I like in this country the choice you have that if you wish to live a life lost in suburbia, you can do that. In Italy there was no such urban sprawl, village life was central to the butcher, the green grocer, government was in the center of town, the streets in many paces were 500 to 1,000 years old, wide enough for draft animals and citizens, not constructed for modern transportation vehicles, save for the Moped.

Fragonard

2010-01-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

We had traveled south through France heading home to the Italian coast after a UK holiday...on our way back to Italy we stopped off in Grasse, of which to travel in France, to be in Provence and to not visit the home of "Fragonard," well that would be sacrilege.

Autumn in Provence... what a picture... near the home he paints so lovingly of... artist Guy Buffet .

It just isn't going to get any better.

My Happy Eye