Life shines in the background

I was talking to someone who had just gotten back a few weeks ago from Ireland and the subject of the discussion was "getting away mentally". Seems as though this person felt that no cell phones and a far away place had done the trick. The guy to the left here is standing 20+ floors up near a window in Seoul Korea. He is indeed "away mentally". The question is "away from what"? Is it the day-to-day routine, some good and some not always easy, or is it that there is "no routine"? Either way there is plenty to do that makes this situation to be a good thing?

I received in the mail a poem written by a old friends wife. It was 6 pages long. It was a series of 4 lines verses, one after another and they told the story of their life together. The poem was titled "Our Adventure" and it had a subtitle also that labeled it also as a "Tribute to her friend, mentor, and loving husband". This man was my close friend also. It has been a couple of years since he passed away. What was captured in the verses and the memory was the routine of their lives. What was treasured in the verse was the regular routine even expected routine. It was a series of places, activities and events that they had spent time doing together. Nothing that was done was spectacular or even interesting in itself or probably to anyone else but it was treasured as a memory and was the background of time treasured together.

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Life should be bright around you. It should be brighter as a backdrop to who we are. We ought to be able to make the simple more interesting. The routine ought to be a treasure. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't

The Poet's Mind

Vex not thou the poet’s mind

With thy shallow wit;

Vex not thou the poet’s mind,

For thou canst not fathom it

Clear and bright it should be ever,

Flowing like a crystal river,

Bright as light, and clear as wind.
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Respect, dependability, dedication, love

May 28, 2007 is Memorial Day. This day is one that my own father taught the importance of by example. In doing so he also taught the importance of some important principles. What he taught was respect, dedication, dependability and love.

For him it this day was about remembering family gone before. For him and for all of us it also can be a time to just honor those that have served our country.

My Grandfather died in 1955. I recall from that time forward special attention given to where he was laid to rest. A small rather rough cemetery on the side of a hill in Malad Idaho was the resting place for a small group of pioneers and settlers of this area. It was set apart from the grazing land with fence poles and barb wire. No green grass , but a lot of weeds and sagebrush. A couple of years after this event we went to mark off the area where my Grandfather and a older brother of my Dad’s were buried. This older brother Uncle John had passed away in 1919. We set in place a divider from the rest of the area with a cinder block cemented together. This marked off from the surrounding area my fathers families area. From that point forward I recall going to this place several times a year with him.

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He taught respect, dedication and dependability in doing this. This activity and attention was really was important to him. We teach most effectively that which we have some passion for and for which we really care about.

With such a lesson taught I have often wondered why I have not followed his example. I just have never gone to graveside on Memorial Day. But then I hope I have followed the bigger lesson's example.

The activity of going on this day, Memorial Day, is not what I learned. I learned that for him this was a meaningful way to show respect....... but also that respect is important. I learned that his dedication reflected his conviction......... but also that dedication is important. I recognize that he continued to honor his parents after they were gone .........and what is important is that you honor your parents.

Then too as I get older I recognize that you can be close to those you respect, honor, and love, wherever you are.

More news on the 4th floor

Sometimes you find yourself expressing yourself whether it was wise to have or not.

Heros, sometimes, can help us on life's path

Muhammad Ali is someone I have always admired. Looking back 45 years he is been often someone who inspired me and I have found fascinating. I have watched his fights over and over many times. He was a strategist, a thinker, and had no fear. That’s enough to make this list. Then too he often seemed to look within himself and came out with things that were odd at the time. Poetry was not a common thread for Boxers, then or now. I recall two times he caught my attention using one short, “poem”. Once in an interview with Larry Holmes before a coming fight Holmes commented and he suggested he would just "mow-over" Ali. Ali was then asked to say something. His reply, he claimed, was the world’s shortest poem and a celebration of who he was and what he was about. He said.

"Me? Whhheeeee!"

Later in his career he was speaking to the graduation class at Harvard. After a good speech suggesting they had advantages he didn’t and they ought to use them someone yelled to him from the audience saying "give us a poem". His immediate response was “Me? Whhheeee!” I recall hearing this and thinking then how underestimated Ali’s intellect was considered by many.

If one defines poetry, as is a "form of art" in which language is used for its aesthetic, then indeed Ali was a master of that language.

William F Buckley Jr. is also someone I have admired over 40 years. I was an am impressed with his first widely known book. “God and Man at Yale” was something different. It made somewhat unique comments for the time both then and now about the ideological impact of what an education should be. At the time he was almost alone in the way he suggested that a University was not obligated to present all sides. He said then, and has been consistent in that suggestion, that Christianity and Atheism is the most important duel in the world and that what it really amounts to is a struggle between individualism and collectivism. 50 years later this is as relevant as then. I also have admired his respect for his own church.

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was born June 23, 1910 and is 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a position he has held since March 12, 1995, and is oldest person to preside over the LDS Church in its history. As Presidentof the LDS Church, he is considered by its members to be a prophet, seer, and revelatory. I have over my own lifetime marveled at President Hinckley’s life.
His influence for good surpasses all others that I can think of in my lifetime. He was born 4 years before my own father and he is in full charge today actively working to build the church.

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Jesus Christ: As a hero and a person to admire "He" surpasses all and is greater than the "sum of all others combined". I will not print his picture on this blog as I feel it would trivialize his “majesty” to be printed in such a way. If I had not learned and concluded that this blog will really only have influence with a very few, since it will likely only be read by those who really do mean the most to me, I would not even list his name here, since I consider it scared. He is the only "true hero". If I try to find a hero for my life it leaves me no choice but to list Him. He is a "person", He lives and He can show us the path to live best, better than any other hero every will. I love Him.

***The path above leads to the front door of the Seoul Korea Temple

Looking west from Cheju

One of Zach's favorite pictures that he took in Korea was a picture of the Moon. It was taken over the Cheju airport about 6 AM on a Sunday morning. The Moon was really big to see and it had a spectacular impact. By the time the picture was shot a little of what made the sight so special had been lost.

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Another interesting picture was taken in a Folk Village. This was a replica of a village setting of pioneer Koreans and how they lived, "back then". The village houses were like single room dwellings. I wrote about them a few days back. Out in back of one of the houses were these odd looking plants.

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Both the moon and the plants are just timeless. They are about things that last verse just buildings. The Buddhist temple site was less than timeless but it was unique, special and very intricate in design.

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Glad to be back. Nice to have had a good trip. We thought about what we wanted to accomplish a lot before we went.

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We did it........................................

Proud of our Heritage now home in the USA

In a folk village on the island of Cheju I saw a variety of small one room houses that many in Korea used to live in. They were out in the country and they farmed to make a living but farming just required enough land to take care of one families needs. Not a lot of difference between the early pioneers of the west in the US as they tried to make houses in a wilderness. The houses changed and cities were a lot of what changed them. You still see the old Temples in the country and of course in the city but the people had to leave their own farms and work for large companies. That meant they moved to small towns and then big ones. As we took the train from Seoul to Busan we saw one small town after another. The difference was that the group of building in the second picture up was just one small section of a small town as we past by. A small town might have hundreds of these High Rise Apartments. Seoul on the other hand had thousands upon thousands of these apartments. Between 10 and 15 million people live in this area and that is more than 25% of all that live in South Korea.

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Korea is one of the Four Tigers of East Asia, South Korea has achieved an incredible record of growth and integration into the high-tech modern world economy.

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Pride refers to a strong sense of self-respect, a refusal to be humiliated as well as joy in the accomplishments of oneself or a person, or a group.

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Our trip to Korea was about Pride. Proud to have Korea as part of our family Heritage.

A Moose that is a part of what makes up a common thread.

Why think about a Moose in Idaho while in Korea.
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I have thought a little about this the last couple of days. It was news from a part of the family I don't hear a lot from. Even so I had been in Korea for about a week. In spite of the fact that many of our pictures of Korea show buildings what really hit us was the "Green". Hard to imagine the weather man whining about no rain. The many many hills just reminds us of the great hills in our part of the world. The next blog I do will be done from my home computer. It was Marta in Chubback Idaho that yesterday sent me a story about finding a Moose in her yard. We enjoyed thinking about her experience and it made me remember several experiences with the "Moose" over the years. One in our front yard. One or two up canyons. It is interesting how exciting running into a wild animal can be. One time I was running up East Canyon early in the morning. We went around a corner and came face to face, it seemed, with a Moose at least as big as this one. What the heck for this story I am just sure it was twice as tall. The Moose looked like it wanted to come over and trample us. We found a different direction quick. I recall a Bobcat sitting on a running trail one day. The Bobcat had a face like a pet cat. Except of the fact that it was much bigger. It was spring and the bobcat was hairy. It had long hairs hanging down from it's face. I was running when I came on this bobcat and continued to do so. Lots of snakes. We used to find some big snakes in our back yard. I beat a few to death with a shovel. I actually took a couple by hand and walked them down the road and let them go. Never bumped into a bear but I had a running associates who did, big time.
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What is pretty about the world is really the color and the texture and the common thread you find in lands close by, in your back yard, and far away.
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The sky is still blue in all these places but a little different sort of blue. In Korea it has been a little gray with a lot of rain and moisture in the air. The lands is still green in places that indeed are far away but very different. The clouds are white but seem different, if that is really possible. People really seem the same and then again the differences never end. A Moose is a Moose but folks just are fascinating. Korea is a place to be proud to be from.
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We will see if VJ still reads this blog. If so I would invite her to pass the connection on to Marta if she wants.

A Object, and a picture to have one in

Today we went to see the LDS temple in Seoul. Then we took the subway back to Itaewon. We did some serious shopping and found a few more things. Then we made our way back to the hotel via the subway. We have spent a long time in the subway system these last few days. Tomorrow we will start home. Leaving about 11am. It is an hour to the Airport. The visit at the Temple was short. Nothing open. We may have been early or maybe Monday is an off day. The whole Temple seems to have been rebuilt since I was here. It was very nice. The landscaping was very nice. It actually had a view that could be seen of the city off to one side that I don't recall from before. Maybe some buildings have come down. Even so it was in what seemed like an alley that took us from the main street up a little hill to this setting. We took a cab to get there. Then when we left we walked down to the main street and just walked a mile or so up the street. I wanted to go by the Women's University where we had been told was an interesting place. It did indeed have a lot of young ladies walking around and was kind of a neat area. On the way I noticed this picture of Mr. D. Figured I would through in in for some color. By the way the picture with me by the side of the Temple is one that Zach as of coure most all of these are.. The one with me by the side of the Temple wall was a interesting one. He had me step into the picture to give it some dimension. He said some "object" was needed. Then on completion he mentioned that it may have been one of my better pictures.

HB19 Seoul

A unusual subway picture.
Not many folks on this one

Today is the last day before we leave. We are going to the LDS Temple and then back to Itaewon to shop for Celadon and stuff.

Yesterday

late I felt inspired to finish the musemum tour we took in France so we went to the local Culture Center where on loan from Musee D' Orsay was a bunch of pictures. The problem with this idea was that it wasn't all that great a choice of pictures as we saw it.

The cab ride back was a "highlight of the trip" as per Zach. It actually made his journal. Let's just say no time was wasted,

Great Chineese dinner last night. Zach said it was better because they had competition in the hotel from the other resturants.

Might get another blog in later today. Leaving mid day tommorrow.

Pictures from Zach's Camera, the real thing

This blog will be all original pictures taken by Zach. We flew back from Seoul today and he took some from the plane that he really liked. Lots and lots of mountains and he captured some good shots.

On the way up the mountain Zach promised to take his son up when he turned 60 or so. The purple flowers are growing out of the lava rock. The building was in Seoul and near the train station. Big screens on several buildings.

Zach has taken, so far, way over 100 pictures.

Tomorrow is Zach's Birthday. Happy 19th. I will be celebrating it a day ahead of all of you.

Cheju-do heading North

Here are some sites from yesterday

www.yakchunsa.com

www.jejufolk.com

www.ilchulland.com

Probably could do a whole vacation this way. I figure once you get your real audiance down to the mom who is interested in what is happening it really makes the whole idea of a blog down a lot.

We have a cab waiting to go to the airport. It is 5:04 AM Sunday morning here in Cheju-do
and we are going to be flying North soon.

7, maybe 8 hours later

Jeongbang Falls

The rock is lava and this is
a very spectacular setting








The trail to the top is on the left of the picture. Once you
get to the top you can look straight down or off to the right into a crater that is all green with cover






First thing this morning we next door to the big hotel. I asked the Hotel Desk person to find us a day cab for hire. He arranged for one who gave us 7 hours. We went through the map options and found some spots to go. A Buddhist Temple. I had been before and it was one that really fascinated me last time. Very very ornate and just overflows with a very unusual spirit. Zach didn't want to go inside but did look through the door. I took my shoes off and went in for a few minutes. Not out of respect but out of respect for the feelings of those inside and of course to keep from getting sacrificed to one of the big wooden snakes curled around the post just over by the big guy. Then we went to Jeongbang falls: A very pretty setting. Can't remember right now which one but it was the tall one. Last time I saw them both.
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Then to JeJu Folk Village. This was really neat. Lots of little villages. Zach seemed very interested. I was fascinated again with this one.
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Then to Seongsan Sunrise Peak. We did climb this. Stairs all the way to the top but it was a hard climb nevertheless. Again it was again for me. Seemed a little higher this time.
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Next to a big old cave. This was neater the first time but it was something Zach hadn't seen anything like it.
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So the day was full. We just got back. He saw the island in a good light. He saw how beautiful it really is. The coast line full of lava rock.
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He had found Mt. Hallasan on his own and thank goodness we didn't have time to begin to try to climb it. We did see it as we drove by.
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Interesting, is usually what to me occurs as I think about things. If this island had not been overflowing with people (Golfers big time, and even a lot of school groups) then we would have tried to fly out tonight. If the rooms had not been full we would not have wound up where we are. If we were not where we are then when we tried to fill the day tour with 4 or 5 destinations I don't know that we would have been able to have hit all of the ones or maybe any and they are the ones that I hit last time. It was interesting to go to these places and have them open up to me as having just been their and truthfully I had not thought of these destinations before I came. Maybe just going where you've been makes for some better conversation. It did that.
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Tomorrow we are going back to Seoul. The cab guy we used today will be here at 5:15 AM to pick us up.

Jeju is a generic name for Cheju

We made it to Jeju, or Cheju-Do yesterday about 5 pm. We found only one open flight from Busan and then on landing here found no way back. All flights for Saturday return were filled. We did get a early Sunday morning flight. Then we, after walking the airport some, found every room, seemingly, on the island full. Big island by the way. Just guessing but I would assume this place has several hundred thousand people now and what use to be cities around the edge is now in some places city all across. We finally found one. It was next to a very fancy resort. Lotte is where it would have been neat to stay. Next door. The back side is on the Ocean and it is 4 star. One room was found next door.

Seems that the only place in Cheju for myself and Zach is 'Hotel Hana". Interesting.

Anyway the room they had left was probably cause it wasn't wanted by many. It was a hot room over the bar and music played all night. With the window open it made it a little harder.

No big deal about the room. We went next door and had what would be a wonderful meal if you liked that stuff but of course Zach did. Good Service.

Nobody found yet that speaks English except the tourist center lady at the airport.

Zach doesn't know what to think yet. Asked what he wanted to do he suggested we climb the highest mountain. Last time we came we had a rental car but it all came back to me as I tried to rent a car. Last time my companion gave the agent a large tip to bend the rules. You have to have an international drivers licence you see. Guess he got away with it since we were at the Ferry entrance rather than this airport. The cab driver seemed a little overly silent since he couldn't even get Zach to talk to him.

Plan for the day is to get a cab or something like that and get out to the country and take a real picture like the one above rather than having to just borrow this one going forward. Then we will see how much we can get out of a driver that can speak the language or vice versa.

We will check out Hallasan Mountain but that is a long shot. We will look for Celadon Shops.

Have a big dinner. Zach just told me that Celadon Shops were just imitations and we needed to find a Celadon Museum. We do have tomorrow and Monday in Seoul.

Love, from That Man,

On the way to CheuJu Do. Standing in the airport in Busan. Busan is not Pusan or maybe it is for me. Anyway we have a one way ticket and don't know yet how we are getting back tommorrow. This is a hot destination it seems. We are going back to JW tommorrow night one way or another. Took the train to Busan. Nice train. Long trip sort of.

This is a small town airport but Busan is anything but that.

The country side is as I rememeber it but a lot of growth. Small towns are big, now.

We went, as we worked our way out of Seoul , by subway to the rail station this AM.

I wish I had something profound to say but when you make to this little corner of the world twice in your life, (CheuJu) it is indeed profound.

A blog from Korea/ ㅁ ㅠㅣㅐㅎ ㄹ개ㅡ ㅏㅐㄱㄷㅁ

Today was mostly a "Subway" day. Zach is up to the room I am finishing off the day with a post. Started the day with some foreign banking 101. We couldn't get any cash from the bank because they didn't understand what American Express was. I find that hard to understand since the area they are in takes them in all the stores. They thought it was a debit card and the idea of getting cash back was the struggle. About a 40 minute process and we got it done.

Then we figured out how to buy subway passes and got a map but no one seemed to know where Itaewon was. Years ago it was famous. Lot's of sidewalk vendors. We later learned they had mostly gone away but still a great antique place. We were misdirected to Irwin and it took us a long way in the wrong direction. We came up and took pictures at a lot of stops. Then back to the Express Bus terminal station which sits right under the JW Marriott. We then learned that Itaewon was on the way to

Gondeok where Holt International is located. We then went on to Itaewon and stopped and shopped and had lunch and then went to Holt. The problem at Holt was figuring out which building it was and where it was. We had good instructions. Even so we asked a policeman who as it turned out was a block away from it if he could tell us from the address. He had to call in to find out something that didn't work. We called and finally got it and made it. Then we spent about a hour with the lady who is head of oversees placements. (Still about 70% of them come to the US by the way) Zach looked through his file and said he felt some accomplishment.

Kathy suggested a blog entry for Zach. He is right next to me having come down from the room. So he says:

I thought today was very educational, and not only did I see more of Korea and the people (along with what they are like), I got to see what the kind of place I stayed in in my initial months in Korea.

-Zach

Fad in Fad out

Zach's first experience of blending came as he blended in and I stood out. We got in the line for immigation. Wrong line. Said Korean only. We couldn't see any other signs. We waited for 10 people. I had eye contact a few times with clerk. Must have been 100 other booths. When we got to our turn he came out and loudly said Korean only to me and pointed to the far end. Ya see I stood out. I was different. I may have projected what I thought he was thinking and everyone else too because I was so different. Nevertheless I had mentioned to Zach that he was now the same and honestly in a room of several thousand people I could not see one non Asian. So we went to the other end by that time the Korean only folks were about done so an agent who watched us walk all that way came and emptied the lines all around us of non Korean folks and took them to the Korean booths. They were done then. We had another 10 folks to wait for but we got done.

When I became different I saw it all different. By then Zach felt the same and was enjoying it.

Anyway who knows what really anyone thought of me. Probably nothing. Probably just my side of the window.

Made for a good long chaper in a book on differences I am working on. Wrote it early this morning.

See ya,

Words have no wings but they can fly thousands of miles

This blog may or may not be accessible and so I cannot predict if I will have a post in the next week.

What I do know is that I hope to have some good pictures and the blog is a good place to put them.
Look forward to reporting.

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Korean Proverbs

A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out

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Words have no wings but they can fly a thousand miles

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Put off for one day and ten days will pass

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A kitchen knife cannot carve its own handle

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Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut

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The bad plowman quarrels with his ox

A long long time ago in a place far away, yet close.......

A great graduation present was completed today. We attended Zach's graduation at "The Pitt".

A ward filled in a lot this weekend for extended family and it made this a very special time.

Graduation and Mother's Day being the same day is fitting.

Today I thought I would put my own Mothers picture on this blog. I remember her often, and often when I do it is her as a younger person that I recall. I on the other side have a hard time not seeing my Dad as he was when he was older. I last saw him walking with such short steps. As he got older he seemed to take a lot more time to look at me and his conversations seemed to have more interest to me. In some ways again this is in reverse to my Mother.

Things I recall about my Mother

1. Her Voice. I enjoyed calling her and listening to her say my name as she answered the phone.

2. Her desire to be more than she was.

3. Her interest in music.

4. Her need for her own identity.

5. She was always on my side. If I did something wrong as a young boy I would get sent to bed without dinner. She would sneak it in later. Many times.

6. She complemented the gifts I bought her for Mothers Day, Birthdays,

and Christmas and always really made a big deal out of what she thought was

my good taste. It made the events especially nice for me and I always bought her

something I picked out. I loved to buy her gifts.

7. She taught me to stand up for myself and really taught me to not have a whole lot of

fear in pressure situations. That may or may not be something she thought about carefully and decided to teach me or more likely is was something good that came out of unexpected events.

8 Her unconditional love of her Children was a lesson in progress. Again she herself as well as my Dad probably neither expected to be as willing to just look through the problems and stick to their own unconditional love as they really did.

9. I never once heard any doubt in her testimony and beliefs.

10. She was proud of what she had accomplished and proud of her husband.

She who means so much

The Mother of our Children is the most important person in my life. I look back and remember some of the thoughts and the reason that she has become so important in my life and I recognize just how lucky I am.

Looking at some of the best things that happen in life it in some ways is a surprise that when you really think about them luck seems to be a big part. By luck I don’t mean to separate effort or correct choice but it gets down at times to having made a right decision that you really didn’t understand how very very right the decision was.

Having been married 40 + years it is just a fact of life that we have seen a lot of people who have not stayed married and where things didn’t work. Our Bishop expressed privately his sadness with the reality that some of those he works with to help council just don’t like each other. For two married people to not like each other is a tragedy.

Our church has suggested priority in "whom" we love. The suggestion is to love the Lord first, our spouse second, our children third and then the other priorities like "go to work". How powerful this order of priority is.

Before I say much more about this I will just make a comment on something else that really bothers me. In our church we have articles of faith that define what we believe.

#11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God
according to the dictates of our own conscience,
and allow all men the same privilege,
let them worship how, where, or what they may

I would consider myself an intellectual. Hate to just say it but after all that I have read and studied and with the re reading and re looking that I have done I would say that is just me. I would also declare that I believe in a Father and a Son and a Holy Ghost and see the Father as someone who thinks of others and me as children. Likewise I would like to be with the Father and become more like him. It just leaves me speechless to find that this simple declaration is enough to be branded a non-Christian and one who has offended others. I often read of those who feel that my church is not intellectual and that we are wrong about whom God is and that we offend by hoping to be more like him. Even so the higher we aspire the higher we may go. What we want is often what we seek after. Our secret desires turn out to define our actions.

What we have faith in defines all of our actions. Faith is the substance of those things that we don’t see but its existence is the principle of action that defines what we do and for that matter what is. Socrates reflects Christs teachings on this subject in his belief that virtue is knowledge and that he who does, and chooses, the will of God, will through that choice know the doctrine.

So for someone to "love the Lord above all others", this choice would in effect define their actions and thoughts and deeds. Loving the Lord first would set in proper priority where self should be. (Somewhere down the road from 3rd). The Lord, then our spouse, and then our children would be the priority. If you love the Lord first then that would define who you would treat your spouse. (The way the Lord would want you too)

So I go back to luck. I don’t know where I learned this lesson as I was going up. Maybe you feel it from what makes ones own marriage tick? Anyway when I was 20 I don’t recall someone giving me a formula that would make certain that 40+ years later I would be married to the same woman and that I would love her far more than even then.

On the other hand the thing that influenced me most in my own choice of companion and spouse was simply that “she loved the Lord”. O how fortunate I was. How thankful I am. The Lord is first and he is indeed all that matters. She is all that matters. The logic of this is so compelling. It is healing. It is a standard for success.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

Thomas Jefferson

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest

Edward Gibbon

All that is human must retrograde if it do not advance.

Edward Gibbon

After all these years together, remembering when

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Perhaps this lion

looking up is remembering?

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Maybe this lady looking

out is remembering?

Then what about us.

Remember when,

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I was young, and so was you.

Time stood still.

Love was all we knew.

We gave our hearts.

We lived and learned.

There was joy.

Life was change.

We came together.

Sound of little feet.

We found trust.

Never gave it up.

Thirty seemed so old.

Now looking back.

Just a stepping stone.

To where we are,

to where we have been.

Said we would do it all again.

We said when we turned grey.

When the children grew up and moved away.

We won’t be sad, we will be glad,

for all the life we have had.

Remember When.


Look At Us

(written by Vince Gill and Max D. Barnes)

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Look at us after all these years together

Look at us after all that we've been through

Look at us still leaning on each other

If you want to see how true love should be

Then just look at us
Look at you still pretty as a picture

Look at me still crazy over you

Look at us still believing in forever

If you want to see how true love should be

Then just look at us

In a hundred years from now

I know without a doubt

They'll all look back and wonder how we

Made it all work out

Chances are, we'll go down in history

When they want to see how true love should be

They'll just look at us

A master plan can turn out to be unexpected

Couple of different pictures. I remember the master plan. The state where I grew up had a lot of small farms and on every farm it seemed was a corner where the old cars just sat. Cars from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Those were the old ones. They were often rusty and seemed to be worthless. I figured it would be a way to make a lot of money if I bought them and fixed them up and sold them. What I should have done is bought them and found a field to move them into and just sat them there and let them sit for the next 50 years and then I could have just sold them off one at a time and also sold off the big field. Ya see the big field is the unexpected. Just like it seems a little unexpected to find the block with the a on it in a picture by some branches when I looked on the Duke City Blog today it it often the unexpected that makes it real interesting. The land would have without fail made money. A few of the cars might have. Then two one summer we moved irrigation pipe on a farm next to the Snake River. Somewhere we found a old Packard. It may have reminded me then about the "master plan" but it certainly does now. It was green. It had a "straight 8" motor. That mean when you lifted the hood you say a big long engine. The spark plugs were right on top on a flat place. One day one of them blew out through the hood. Another was loose. We found some heavy duty glue. Epoxy probably spelled wrong here. We glued them back in. Then we had a even worse gas mileage problem. Probably getting about 4 miles per gallon. The land owner we moved these big long heavy pipes for 2 to 3 times a day gave us one fill up a week at his yard gas tank. So we cut a hole from the truck on the Packard and ran a pipe so we could open up the gas place and fill two tanks with one fill up. The car was bought for about $50 and after the summer sold for about $75. Should have been in the Master Plan I suppose. As for the block and stick I find nothing about this picture to make it worth much. It is a little unexpected. A lot of the nice things that come along seem unexpected in time.

The inpenetrable fog of the blog

Calvin-Writing above. Looks like Calvin could have been a blog guy at heart. A good suggestion if one thinks that they are a writing is to write. Salesmen sell, teachers teach, good husbands do, and writers write. So I "do" write some but not nearly enough to make a lot of difference. Subjects are a challenge sometimes. Not to think up but to be of interest to anyone else. A week or so ago I meet two different people who labeled themselves as writers. I asked what they wrote and one said short stories and the other about the same. Both had different types of stories they liked. One had shared his most recent with the other one. I asked if they had been published. Neither had. Both had tried. Both had been at it a long time. The reality is that writers write but they are not necessarily read. Reading of course matters, and that is why you do it I like to say but then writing may or may not if reading is what it takes. Then again all you have to to write is to do it.

On the way somewhere

Maybe there is something to be
said about looking up for
advice





















Could a smiling cat lead give you bad advice.




*
Alice wanted to go somewhere, in Alice in Wonderland, and it sooner or later came to a decision about a “fork in the road”.
*
She looked up and a Cheshire Cat was in the
tree. Seems this cat is a fictional cat just meant for Alice in Wonderland. The Cat smiles a lot. Once for example it smiled and disappeared slowing until nothing was left. Alice said on seeing it that
she often had seen a cat grin
but never a grin without a cat.
I suppose the sight of a grin just hanging there was interesting. Course this Cat and a lot of what happens to Alice has some meaning for life, so the grin and the cat may have a lesson for us, but the way the cat answered her question at this fork in the road is more interesting right now. She asked the cat regarding the two roads, 'which one should I take?' s 'Where do you want to go? responded the Cheshire cat who was sitting in a tree.. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.”So what to do if the Cheshire Cat tells you it does not matter. First off don’t blame him if your not sure where to go. Even so what to do. Think about where you don’t want to go may not be the best choice since we sort of wind up going where our thoughts take us. Think about where we would like to go. Might be a trail that will take us there if we think about it enough.

Can we be who we want to be?

Is swearing simply the "profane" or is it also the unnecessary? Is it the words themselves or is it even the circumstances where the words are used, that is "swearing"? Is labeling something that is sacred and special with words and phrases that trivializes the same as swearing.?

I think 'yes" it is all of this. The problem sometimes is that the words come out of ones mouth with too little thought. The day moves on and the best of intentions get left behind as we just give to little thought to what we say.

Quotes from Alice in Wonderland, or a day in my own life

Caterpillar: Who are YOU?

Alice: This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. I -- I hardly know, sir, just at present -- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

Got up with the best of intentions. For that matter I go to bed with the best of intentions. Then again I speak to the ones I care about with the very best of intentions but then on the other hand I just often don’t say what I mean. Who am I? I just may not be who I want to be. I probably need to, just at the present, at least, remember what I wanted to be when I got up and what I wanted to try again to be when I went to sleep. Did I really change several times? Mostly this rambling gets down to my own poor language. Faulkner makes poor language interesting and colorful. On the other hand it just may be the case that less color is better.

*

The Duchess: I quite agree with you. And the moral of that is: Be what you would seem to be, or if you'd like it put more simply: Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.

I think the Duchess has it. Words often don’t reflect how we really feel. Words sometimes just as we hear them come out of our mouth remind us that we must have changed several times during the day.

*

Alice and the Cat: But I don't want to go among mad people.

The Cat: Oh, you can't help that.

Cats apparently have a message. In the play, Cats, the Cats said, “One had the experience but missed the meaning”. In Alice, this cat suggests that the people are mad. The issue may be not what the people are or even the particular experience but the issue maybe who are we, and can we be who we want to be?

Barbed memories

Barbed Wire and Leather Seats remind me of a story. Then of course a blog is an excuse for a story. I do remember the barbed wire fences fences on my grandfathers farm when I was growing up. It was a fun place to go. Seemed like there was no field or place that did not have a barbed wire fence. One time when I was just out of high school I worked on a farm in Grace Idaho for a few weeks on summer. Barbed wire was something that was put up on poles but the holes for the poles had to be dug. Not a great job. The alternatives to that job were picking up bales of hay and tossing them on a wagon but a lot of the bales had snakes under them and then of course three times a day irrigation pipes had to be picked up and moved. That part went with one of the other two. So years pass. I am in my late 30s or 40s and I own a Jaguar. It had English leather seats. I have my own business. People who I represent come to work with me. They like to mention the car. Folks like to sort of pick on things like that if they can sometimes. So I have a good little story that I like to tell them. Seems as though English leather has less flaws in it and is especially good. No Barb wire you see. The cows don't damage their hides by getting caught in the Barbs, you see.





O well Barbed Wire seems like a Western thing.

only one exit needed to find where he be

I have found a few good blogs to look at. It isn't as easy as folks make it sound. I recommended one a couple of posts ago. Still do. It is well done and funny. Called Thought and Humor. The humor sort brings me back. My Dad was a regular reader of the funny pages. He loved the good old cartoons. In his later years he watched alone in bed late night cartoons and then went to sleep. Seems like a very good choice. His values are hard to fault. His choices made a strong statement. The metaphysics of my Dad did indeed expand my nature of reality, being and the world. Then why label him with such a term? His choices are worthy of some analysis. The study of knowledge and justified belief is what metaphyics is. What you learn is that it doesn't take 19 different exits to find out where you are. And where you find yourself when you understand him is a good place.