A nice present

This calendar was put together by KJ and perhaps ZJ helped but it is a nice presentation of a nice bunch of folks........................

Chirstmas Posts

All of these pictures are Christmas theme pictures except maybe the one of the food room just off the kitchen. On the other hand KJ and ZJ spent 10 hours Wednesday working on re organizing it and getting it in shape for the Holidays. Today is the Christmas Eve and all through the house were all stirring and hopefully there is no mouse. The cat does seem sort of up to it all and hangs around the tree and the gifts a lot. Also good news is that we have blue skies again. We had a few days without them and it was not a good thing.

Be Thankful

This is the time of year that folks often stop and feel thankful? On the other hand if your not "Thankful" then what are you? Thankfulness is a choice.

I am thankful for today

trains planes and auto's vs's calendars and motives

Each year about this time many businesses give calendars to their customers. Naturally the calendars are really a way to get the name of their business up on the wall all year. The idea is that this sort of gives them a stronger relationship with their customers? I put the question mark on the last sentence because indeed the sentence is a statement that ends with some doubt? I still recall the years my own business gave out nice calendars each year and worked hard to get them "on our customers walls". One gimmick that worked was to across the top of the calendar to have imprinted the name of the person who's office you were trying to get the calendar hung in. The customers personal name in BIG LETTERS and then on the bottom of the calendar ones own business name which was after all the whole motive of the "gift". I put "gift" in quote marks because it really was not a gift it was more about the giver than being a gift. Sort of like the TV ad I saw on television where a young "chirpy" ( I put chirpy in quotes because probably it isn't really a word to be using like this, but as I did use it, it applies to young females who are thin and really with it, at least in the make believe world of TV commericals) .........so, the young chirpy young woman smiles and says it is "better to receive than to give". Sounds like the calender folks theme .................

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Well I usually don't keep calendars given to me but if I do I cut the names of the giver off the top or bottom. This year, already even, I got one I liked! It was from a company I don't like much but then it was easy to cut off their name. The bigger one that may not really find a place to hang was about trains. I like trains. The smaller one was one that could stick on the space by the side of my computer and it will probably replace my usual one for next year. It was about old cars.

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Trains always remind me of Pocatello. The whistle in the nights. The tracks through the center of the town. Especially just about how cool these big old engines seem. I like trains, old cars, and trucks. Not as fond of airplanes.

city of contrasts and trip that has its contrasts

another trip.....................a picture out the window that shows the skyline. Detroit was a place that I had not been for a long time. Probably 20 + years. Even so I must have missed it last time as I just didn't remember the city. I did see the GM headquarters and it still stands as the central focus point of the skyline even though it sort of missed my focus in my own picture. The contrasts are not so different than a lot of other big "old" cities. The downtown has a monorail and a lot of effort to make it a destination that folks want to go and then as you go out of the downtown block after block of abandon project housing sits with windows out and no one living in the empty buildings.

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The return trip was on an airplane that was completely full and it was a long challenging flight. Sitting 4 rows from the front was like going to a movie. Next two me a very old women who had stuffed her oxygen machine under her set. It's battery ran down. It had to be changed and of course everyone on the plane had to use the rest room and the stewardess was firm that no one could since the seat belt sign was on and she just said no. On the other hand the passengers said they were going anyway. Course one could watch a movie on the I-Pad across the aisle or see the DVD's and I phones and games everywhere you looked. Free airplane cookies, something to drink and a line in the aisle.

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Monroe Street ran by the Hotel and the Casino and had some nice restaurants. The hotel was called "Greektown" and set firmly between the hotel and the Casino was the Greek Church which must have been the part of the expansion of this whole area.

I strolled around the grounds and didn't feel at home

I went to St Louis this week for a short trip and a "picture out of the window" of the hotel room" (The tall white building on the left). Over a lot of years I have had a lot of these type of short business trips. The hotel I was in had 26 floors and my room was up 23 floors. The top floor was a restaurant with a full view surrounded by a deck with no roof and just a glass wall. The deck overlooked the ballpark, Busch Field, and looked right into the park. In the other direction from the hotel was the large downtown enclosed foot ball stadium. Sitting on the top floor late Thursday looking out at the town reminded me of so many trips I have taken and the many many parts of the world that I have had the experience of seeing this way.............

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It was a quick trip with it's visit to the down town and to the top of a tall building and then later on the far side of the river a large plant. Landmarks marking the view and the striking difference between the best that the town presents and the coldness of the streets and neighborhoods that really surround where your at if you were to go out on the street and really take the chance of being alone.

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I am reminded of the movie the "Graduate" when Ben was upstairs and his Dad, Mr. Braddock, who was trying to get him to come downstairs. Ben suggested he was worried about his future and his Dad answered the question of concern for his future by telling him " I just want to say one word to you"..........."Plastics". That was the answer, the solution, maybe the real indicator of the future. Looking back to that time and thinking some about the word, "Plastics", is especially interesting or maybe revealing. Plastic's of course were for that time the Silicon Valley type of destination for success for young people and perhaps was good council, then. The fact that Ben was not really interested in his financial future but his own life is pretty clear. The lyrics of the song help put it in perspective. The movie may have through these comments helped us "look around and see with sympathetic eyes and to stroll around the grounds until you feel at home. Then add to that all that has happened around us and all that our supercities or culture may be is, indeed "plastic". Plastic in the sense that it is less than real.........................................

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And here's to you, Mrs Robinson

Jesus loves you more than you will know

God bless you, please Mrs Robinson

Heaven holds a place for those who pray

Hey, hey, hey

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files

We'd like to help you learn to help yourself

Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes,

Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home