Saturday, May 26, 2012

something different


...............................................prickly-pear-cactus-flowering is something I would not have thought much about before moving to the Southwest. Today when I went for my run walk I thought that I would try to find something "different" to take a picture of. I suppose different depends on what your used to. Even so this cactus is different.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

B.T.

Middle of the week. Short post. Looking for something worth saying. Conclusion........................Be Thankful

Saturday, May 19, 2012

no picture of a catcus here..................

This week I went to San Antonio and Austin. Of course that has nothing to do with the picture above but I can tell you that I would have liked to have posted a picture of a catcus. I took a picture of very interesting catcus a couple of weeks ago but I can not get it to post any other way than on it's side? I also had a picture of a entryway to a sporting goods store in San Antonio that might have been postworthy. It had a large stuffed Steer with very large horns, standing on a ledge above the door. For various reasons I decided not to post that picture.  The reason I had the Steer picture is because Thursday evening while in San Antonio were driving around looking around in the Northwest part of San Antonio and we went into a nice shopping center and went into the huge sporting goods store and looked around just for something to do. This was a fun experience by the way. I was told that the Northwest part of San Antonio was the nice part of town.  The area was named Stone Oak  and was as said already,  especially nice, but then part of the reason it was nice was because some of the "Spurs" live there I was told? I put a ? after that last sentence because I am not sure who any of the Spur's players are anymore, not to mention that I am not sure why that makes any difference.  Guess being rich is what they meant about why this area was nice. We spent most of Thursday before getting to Stone Oak, drving around Austin. One thing about Texas (for the purpose of this sentence I felt that Texas needed to be bold and underlined) is that there are several versions of it. Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas each seem to be a different version. El Paso is of course a whole different version but they usually don't get billing along with these other places. ...........................................Austin is the best if you ask anyone in Austin by the way.
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All of this driving around was "market research" and we were checking out food locations and different food concepts. In theory I was suppose to have been eating hamburger, fries and sampling the shakes in these locations. I did sample a Sea Salt Shake with carmel and whipped cream on top. I figure when you put whipped cream on top of a shake your sort of ashamed of the shake to start with and are hoping that it will be valued more with the fluffy top.  The Sea Salt Shake with carmel was a little different but nothing to write home about. Putting a little Sea Salt in your mouth (yes the sea salt is just little crystals of sea salt sprinkled on top)  is of course different than the sweet you expect but I am not sure if it is worth it since you stuck with the whipped cream, and the ice cream is not all the rich. The idea of getting paid to do this type of significant market research is an interesting subject. More interesting ,as a overall subject that is blogworthy, and more than sampling Shakes in Texas would be should be an easy thing. For example I have a friend and cousin who spent some of the last few weeks in Wales. That would make for a more interesting blog. On the other hand if you are reading this blog and actually know me then you at least have some clue as to what I did this week. Even so this exicting tale only covers three of the days.  I read an article last week in a magazine about books. It was sitting in KJ's special room and was easy to read since it was on a pile especially close to where I go in and sit for a few minutes each morning. The article said that one could always cheer up or feel good or better by reading something and it sort if indicated that it didn't matter what it was? The implication of this article is that even reading a blog could serve a purpose.  So I use that as justification for writing this today. Perhaps it doesn't matter that it isn't about anything.  Course I am heading out for a run walk right now.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

"the" Mom


It is Mothers Day. I posted about my Mom on Friday because I wanted to save today for the Mom that has the most impact on my life. These pictures show a couple of our kids, MJ and ZJ, and both of Katie's. I picked the pictures because they some of my  favorites. Three of them are of the "two of us". Each one of those, in a way, are spontaneous. The one I like best is the one that we are both spontaneous.  I especially like the one of her as a "little girl". Her brother made it into the picture but it is Kathy that I love about the picture of course.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Mom

I suppose we learn to love in a lot of ways, but the most important way is by "how we were first loved". The scriptures tell us in John 4:19 that we love the Lord  because he first loved us.  We learn something about the Lord in and from  that process. He didn't need our love in order to love us. Our mothers in a similar way taught us the same thing. The Lord reminded us of this when he answered the lawyer's question. "Which is the great commandment?" The answer was "Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." When I look at this picture I see a lot of things. I see a shirt that might have been silk like? I see pants that may not have been what I would have picked out. I see hair on my head that of course I wish I still had but I am at least glad that it wasn't hanging down below my ears. I see those things together as being how my Mom must have wanted me to look like at that time and I see pride and love in her eyes and smile. I am so glad that I was a point of pride for her. I am thankful for that and for her and for the other Moms in my life.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

4 1/2 on a Saturday still is a good thing

Yesterday I started out on my regular Saturday run which is really a walk now and went towards teh mountains. I turned to the North. Unlike a lot of Saturdays I decided to head West and to go to a neighborhood that has a green park like area along side an Arroyo. I ought to remind me of the old Portneuf river that runs by the house I grew up in. That river, way back then, had natural banks and overhanging trees and was a very interesting place to grow up by but then today it is just a cement arroyo that the river runs through. In our area the water runs off of what is sort of a long bench area extending from the Mountains and it will build up into a fast moving stream with quick heavy summer rains so a cement arroyo is the answer. All that said the particular one I wanted to take my run by has a park like area built around it. It is indeed unusal to see this much grass. After reaching that destination I headed back home. The run/walk totaled about 4 and 1/2 miles or so. Very different from Saturday runs of years past. .

Saturday, May 05, 2012

new blog is not easy to use

could be the a lot of years of blogging could end if this new blog doesn't become more clear on how to use...........