Letter #2

Here is thank you letter # 2. It just occurred to me, these letters were all written in 1974 . That would make the the "kids"over 30 now. Tempus fugits

Wanna Go !

Sharon and I at Portmeirion (just a few years ago) Can you guess what we were attending?

Thank you letter # 1

In College, I took a class in the psychology of music. One of the assignment projects during the semester was to take a small group to a local grade school and present a short program . I organized a small jazz ensemble, played different styles of tunes and then talked about what we had done. A few weeks after we played, the professor gave me a manila envelope . I did not realize it but the kids we had played for wrote notes about our presentation . Being the pack rat I am, I still have them. I ran across them again tonight and thought it might be interesting to post a few. Might as well use them for something!

Wake me when it's over!

Spent part my birthday today here at Volcano National park .
It has very spiritual qualities and is one of my favorite places . The column of steam is
rising from an opening which is 300 feet across (within Halema uma u crater) . The crater is 300 feet deep and 3,000 feet wide. There is Lava (magma) just 1oo or so feet below the floor of the crater . Another reason to love living here.

Fun Day at the beach in China

San Francisco porch

Sunrise in San Francisco 1994

My MOM the babe!

Portmeirion column

Watercolor attempt Portmeirion

You Never Know

Monday mornings usually mean Grocery shopping. Today as I finished and was getting in line at the check out the gentleman in front of me got out of line and moved to the next cashier. No sooner had he moved he backed up and went ahead of me again . As I backed up he turned around and said, "oh I didn't see you there". I motioned for him to go ahead of me and he then said "you get indecisive when you are approaching 83 and I will be 83 in November". He was quite pleasant and as we began talking, I was astonished to learn he was a retired FBI agent. He showed me his ID card and related that he had worked with President Nixon,Vice President Agnew and President Kennedy . You never know who you will meet while grocery shopping.

The Big Island

This was taken from the space Shuttle on May 22. Notice the 3 volcano plumes towards the bottom of the Island. As a friend once said "and we live here!"

Bad news Good news

Bad news Good news update on Snailzilla .
Bad news is that I found it crushed on the road this morning. Good news is that the Giant African snail is extremely invasive and damaging to the environment. One snail can live up to 3 years and lay from 100 to 500 eggs every three months . It can eat around 500 types of plants including tree bark. It also can eat paint and stucco . In addition it may transmit diseases including Meningitis So, all in all it is not a bad thing it was crushed .

There Will Never Be Another Michael Brecker

SNAILZILLA!!!!

I have never seen anything like this huge snail that I spotted this morning . Its size does really not show in this photo but it is probably 6 inches long. Its shell is good size too. It is probably larger than a field mouse. I'm sure it came right out of a Japanese science fiction film! Can Mothra be far behind!

It is just day lilies, Star Jasmin , wild orchids and a stone carving done by a local artist, all in our front yard but it could be an ancient burial side in the jungle. Maybe the tropics are getting to me!

animal collective ---OUT THERE

Pahoehoe Lava 2

Here is another photo of Pahoehoe lava. Of the 2 types of lava (A a and Pahoehoe) it is hotter (2000 degrees) giving it more viscosity. As it flows and cools it forms these fascinating patterns.

Connection

I am currently reading "On Italy" written by Henry James.This travel narrative written in the late 1800s has given me another connectivity moment. These rare(for me anyway)moments are always fascinating . Really relating to an author makes the book seem to be written just for you . This one began as the author was visiting a picturesque old mountain top village. As he is describing it he observes a man that he writes as having the characteristics of an Opera singer . Mr. James automatically begins to romanticize this man to fit his vision of an "Italian landscape" but is really off base when he begins to talk to him.
My connection moment comes with an experience I had in Venice. On day as I was exploring (lets call it wandering aimlessly) I came to a canal bridge where I saw a crowd looking up the canal. I got to the bridge just in time to see a man in a strange boat approaching. As he got nearer I could see his boat was a wooden replica of a Volkswagen beetle convertible . He was also singing some Operatic number. He waved to the cheering crowd, as he passed beneath the bridge and sailed off into the grand Canal.
As Mr. James had done I was in a Romantic tizzy about the happenings in this wonderful magic place.
As it turns out I later learned it was all a PR stunt .
I still think Venice is a wonderful magic place though.

The way it feels sometimes

Cable in Motion

the Great Ben Webster

Peaks of Otter

Ga Ga over Italy

Sunrise at Portmeirion

Calm before Storm

Treat

I just started Henry James On Italy . If this Illustration in the first chapter is any indication , I am in for a real treat. More later.

Bach with a twist

Winter Wonderland

What Cat?

Lava 1- ropey Pahoehoe

Blues progress

More Portmeirion

Tropics

Notso serious

Restoration continues

This photo illustrates what we are trying to do on our project. The area to the left has been weeded while in the background at the right has not. Clearing like this lets more sunlight reach the forest floor and helps generation of new plants. Of course it needs to be weeded on a regular basis. We have been working on this for 5 years now. Maybe one day we will finish

This is gorgeous

Still struggling

More Venice Memories

Say no more!

Beautiful Betty Carter - Moonlight in Vermont

Long Time

It has been a long time since I completed a jigsaw puzzle.This is double sided but one is enough!

Jazz Classics: Charles Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle

Heaven

The way it feels sometimes

New Guinea impatiens

We get lots of complements on these New Guinea Impatiens. There are only 28 plants here but they have filled out to form a solid block. This color(orange crush) seems to be more hardy than others. The one problem with them is that they will wilt badly in the afternoon if there is no rain . Other than that they will last for months .

Alawys wanted my Palms Red

Not too kind but right on

Reforestation Experiment

As this reforesting thing is an ongoing experiment, we make changes if something does not develop as we expected. Not too long ago this area had a spralling beach Naupaka plant that was not looking that good so we decided to make some changes. The kukui nut tree to the rear had started to produce seedlings around its base so we removed the Naupaka and replaced it with one of the Kukui sprouts. Lets see how this works out!

Goodbye Blossom Dearie

Aftermath

Aftermath ,day two. I spent today doing more post pig clean up . This will probably take one more morning to finish. That is unless they show up tonight and make things worse. Stay tuned!

Insulting

Living in a rural setting has its interesting moments, and here is the the aftermath of one of them.This section of our property used to have a straight edge along the street. Last night some wild boars altered it slightly. The grass extends about a foot beyond the edge of the pavement so should be edged anyway. It somehow seems insulting that it took a group of pigs to remind
me to do it.

Favorite View

This is one of my favorite views of our place.Taken at the back of the 400 foot lot, it is especially pleasing because I planted almost all of the small tress in the photo six years ago . It has been rewarding, as well as a lot of work but worth every sweaty moment!

Great stuff

flashback

Pub Mats Continued

Loose Ends

A few loose ends for Dorian Gray.As is the case in many of the classic books this work is readable on different levels. In this case there a four themes.

#1) The Purpose of Art.
Oscar Wild believed Art had no purpose. This contradicts the Victorian view that art could be used for social education and enlightenment.Being in the Aestheticism movement he tried to free art from those standards.This work tries to jolt the middle class, attempting to convince them that art had no purpose other than being beautiful.

#2 The Supremacy of Youth And Beauty.
Although Youth and beauty are present throughout the entire story line, a main point is, there is a price to pay,mainly Dorain's Soul

#3The Superficial Nature of Society
I is important to most of the the characters of the book that a man is handsome . As Dorian descends into moral depravity he is never rejected because of his pure face.

#4 The Negative Consequences of Influence
The Painting , the character of Lord Henery (and the yellow book he suggests ) have an enormous influence on Dorian eventually leading to his downfall and death.

I will leave the motifs for another time as all of this is making me tired!

I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is a Gothic moral novel written by Oscar Wild in 1891.
The main Character, Dorian Gray is the subject of a portrait painted by his friend Basil Hallward . Dorian is a beautiful young man at the time when he is introduced by Basil to Lord Henry Wotton. Influenced by Lord Wotton Dorian, descends into a life of vice. He begins by praying to have the portrait absorb his sins if he can retain his astonishing youthful appearance. Through out the novel the portrait becomes more hideous(as a result of Dorian's sins) but he remains youthful and handsome . As he descends into darkness he eventually Kills his friend Basil and in the end attempts to destroy the painting only to kill himself instead. After Dorian's death his likeness in the portrait returns to its original condition.
This would have made a great Twilight Zone story.

One can never hear too much Coltrane

ah, Indianapolis in the winter!

Tuesday's snow scenes - More IndyStar Galleries

View this gallery at IndyStar: Tuesday's snow scenes

More Venice memories

The Prisoner: Patrick McGoohan Tribute 1928 - 2009

On the Estate

I 'm Not worthy!

Early Jazz Greats Continued

have we no shame

Love potion update

My Long Love Affair With Cats

Cars I regret selling!