FISHING REPORT #2

FROG JUICE

I went to Church Camp last week with my old friend Kem. We have been friends for 4 decades, but we are not as good of friends as we used to be....I stopped smokin' pot and he found Jesus Christ...
It bothers Kem a lot when I cuss...especially if I manage to drag his heavenly Father into the mix which I quite often do. I do try to watch my language around Kem. The main reason he wants me to go to Church Camp is so that I might find Jesus too..even while he smokes his joint...but the other reason he wants me there is so that I can help the youngsters catch some fish. I enjoy that immensely and that is why I go
This year I hoped my 16 year old son, Rip, might be of some help getting 12 6-8 year olds baited up and their poles in the water on the side of the bank and keeping their lines from becoming impossibly entangled, but Rip was more interested this year in collecting tiny frogs on the bank and putting them in a Gatorade bottle.
They were a smarmy slimy mess in there and in the 100 degree heat I kept begging him to get rid of that bottle and give me a hand with all these kids.
It took about 30 minutes to get everyone baited and in the water.
One of the young-uns, Joshua "fit the Battle" I called him, looked up to me and says:
"Thanks Mr. Steve, You sure look hot"
'Thirsty too" I replied.
I was sweating like a Pig and I reached for my drink. My eyes were stinging as the sweat rolled into them and I pressed my lips to my once cool bottle of Gatorade.
I tilted my head back....
...As the first frog passed my tongue I knew there was something wrong. I froze in mid-gulp. There had been no Frogs in my Gatorade before and as the next Frog entered my mouth...
....I knew what was happening....I had accidently grabbed the Gatorade bottle Rip had been doing his little Biological Swamp Torture Experiment in... and now I had a mouthful of frogs in frog juice.
In front of God and Kem and 12 little Church camp Kids I spat the vile liquid out of my mouth and let loose with a
"GODDAMMIT"
that echoed up and down the Lake.
All heads turn to me, and up till now I have been the figure of charity and compassion and a mentor to some of the nicest little boys and girls you would ever want to meet and generally a good influence.
But I see Kem out of the corner of my eye and hear him whisper very loudly
"Steve, please, watch your mouth"
Well, that did it for me and I turned to him and said quite loudly
"KEM, WOULD YOU GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK, JUST ONE TIME?"
And all 12 of those kids just cracked up!!!

I owe Rip one... I do.... and I'm gonna get him good!

FROM THE STORK TO PELICAN ISLE

I am taking the Water Baby to Pelican Island this afternoon and leaving her there.

She will not have a car, but I will give her a weeks worth of food.

She will have to study her way out.

They had a Hurricane there that killed 6000 people.

Water Baby says "when parents get worried they yell".

I yelled at her last night. I'm not worried about Hurricanes....and I'm sorry I yelled.

I'm worried and shes scared...

I'm hoping she does well...she's really very smart as evidenced by her quote about parents and yelling.

College...the first Semester...could there be anything more exciting?

Why is all the exciting stuff so scary?

She is going to help save the planet, you know.

THE BIG ONE THAT GOT AWAY

"SHE WEIGHS MORE BY THE FOOT THAN SHE DOES BY THE INCH"
NEARLY SCARED THE PANTS OFF ME...

FISHING REPORT

TIME LAPSE OF PERSIED METEOR SHOWER 8/12/2007

3a.m. Sunday Morning-
Stopped for gas.
Truck wouldn't start.
No tools, no money, long way home.
Beat the hell out of the truck for an hour.
Hammer, Tire Iron and Muriatic Acid did the trick.
Truck started.
Good thing we got an early start.
Perseid Meteor shower in Full Tilt Boogie. Splendid, but the Native Americans considered Meteors to be Bad Medicine.
I love that bad medicine.
My friend Keith could catch fish from a storm drain, or a parking lot puddle, maybe even from a bale of hay, I do declare. But not today
At 9 a.m. Sunday morning- Sun beating down, no wind, humidity off the charts, no wind, sweating profusely, no air, 96 degrees in the shade if there were any shade, sun blazin' in cobalt blue sky, not a breath of air, temples pounding, if a bird would fly by we'd have us some shade....
Real Hot...Whoa Yeah... In the Shade.
But there is no shade in the middle of the lake.
We hauled it for the house.

GONE FISHIN'

Back in a coupla' few weeks.

WORLD TURNIIN'

The Water Baby is in Galveston today registering for the Fall classes at Texas A&M.
I imagine there are a lot of changes coming on very fast for her.
Its good to see her on this kind of path.
I think theres gonna be a lotta hard crying, that good kind, real soon.
They don't grow up as fast as some might say...there has been a lot of time...

There has been time enough.
Its just time...then its gone.
Only time...and its gone.

>

DAVY JONES LOCKER

"In angling, as in all other recreations into which excitement enters, we have to be on our guard, so that we can at any moment throw a weight of self-control into the scale against misfortune; and happily we can study to some purpose, both to increase our pleasure in success and to lessen our distress caused by what goes ill. It is not only in cases of great disasters, however, that the angler needs self-control. He is perpetually called upon to use it to withstand small exasperation's."

FROM "FISHERMANS LUCK"

Cap'n Hook is the Great Great-Grandson of"Fighting Joe Hooker, a bombacious and hard drinking Union General from the Civil War.
He and I became good fishing partners. He was my Supervising Sous-Chef at the Crystal Crotchless when I first started working for the Hymen-Regency.
For the first few trips we would go to a Dam below lake Granbury where we hoped to catch Stripers in the 'tailrace" below the Dam.
We would be using Fly rods- and the Fly rod is seldom seen here in Texas.

We did not catch any Stripers, but we did have a most unusual catch for a Flyrod in Texas...
Our first time out below the Dam Hook caught an 18 pound Opelousa Catfish!
We thought it was a bit of a fluke until the next weekend, when we both caught Opelousa's...his was 12lbs. and Mine was 14 lbs.

Then I bought a boat and Motor. I had been saving coins for about a year and a half. I took them to the Bank and the total came to....

EIGHT-HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!


I bought a 15 horsepower motor with that money, brand spankin' new.

Hook located the boat...it was a 1956 Lone Star V-Hull. When it was new it had a Canopy, windshield, two seats at the Wheel and two more seats facing aft (to the rear) and a 60 HP Motor. Back in 1956 you could not ask for a better Ski Boat.

But this was 1982 and the boat had caught fire and all the seats and Canopy and Windshield and steering Mechanisms were gone....the Aluminum was melted in spots and most of the paint inside and out was burned of as well. It looked like a big ol' beer can weathered and crumpled on a Trailer.

I bought it for $75.
With a little ingenuity that I really dont have much of, I managed to turn it into a good fishin' boat.
It looked like a real contraption, but it was one tough floatation device.



HOW TO SINK A BOAT

One day at an area lake, Hook and I found a little moss bed full ogf fish. We very seldom caught many fish, but for about 20 minutes we were knockin' the fire out of them.

But our fortune was not to last...a big ol' fancy-assed Ski boat came plowin' right through our serendipitous little honey hole.
We kept fishing even as the giant wake thrown up nearly tossed us over.
Then the Bastard did it again, this time even closer...so close the spray almost bathed us.
Several times over the Son-of-a Bitch came through, until our spot was now floated with Seafoam.
All this racket is not good for the fishing.
Its not good for anything.
We gave several dirty looks to the Skipper and even tried to wave him off some, but it became apparent it we were being blatantly disrespected.

It made my Maritime Blood boil.
So... I cranked up the motor and we went else where.
An hour or so later, we decided to call it a day...

As we were heading in to the ramp, I spy the enemy vessel. It seems to be adrift, and perhaps the occupants are swimming or taking a nap or whatever. i brought my bow to bear upon the wicked craft, now only a few hundred yards away.

Hook looks to me and says
"What are you doing?"

'We are going to pay them a little visit"

I approach the boat and there are still no occupants visible.
At full throttle I circle round twice..still no one...
so I said to Hook:

"This ought to wake 'em up"

and brought my bow right in line with their beam...full steam ahead...and announce our arrival:

"HOLD FAST, YE SHEEPSHEADS...GANGWAY!!!"

And we slammed into the Ski Boat taking her broadsides.
Still no one appeared, and as I surveyed the damage, I could hardly believe what my $75 piece of crap had done to this guys boat.
It was starting to sink.
I had found its sweet spot.We got the hell out of there.



I don't know if it sank all the way or not...or where the occupants were when I rammed her...but we never did go back to that Lake.

GOOD ANSWER

"GUERNICA'...CLICK FOR THE FULL SIZE IMAGE...

I have been watching a series on PBS called 'The Power of Art". It is very well hosted by a British fellow named Simon Schamas. He is very informative on the History of Art and Artists and each episode has been devoted to a single Artist. I have learned that to fully appreciate the Painting, it helps to know about the Artist and the circumstances surrounding its creation. At least it does foer me.

His very dry sense of humor has brought me to laugh aloud even while watching a show about Art.

I like that a lot.

One of the first ones that I saw was on Pablo Picasso. I have never cared for Picasso, but have a better appreciation for Pablo Picasso the Artist having watched the show.

What I want to tell you though is what I learned about Pablo Picasso the Man.

It seems his most famous Painting, called "Guernica" is a Mural depicting the 1937 Nazi bombing of a Bosque village in Spain. It is a Giant Mural done in Oil.

In 1941 the Gestapo raided Picasso's apartmernt in Paris. During the ransacking of the studio, a postcard size reproduction of the famous painting was found. A Nazi officer waved it threateningly under Pablo's nose demanding the Artist to tell him...

"Who did this?WHO...DID...THIS?"

I can imagine a certain Artistic serenity in the air as Picasso proudly, calmly answers....

"You did"

Good answer.

A man that eloquent deserves my admiration.

It makes my chest swell up and I find that I am sitting a little straighter as I type this.

From Mr. Schamas:

"This is not a series about things that hang on walls; it is not about decor or prettiness," Schama says. "It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art -- the power of art."

Speaking of Art, allow me to direct you to Gewels and her well crafted post today.

CAPTAIN HOOK USED TO SAY...

'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't look him in the mouth"

"What a man won't do, won't get done."

...and my favorite...

'If you think you are not part of the problem,
you are part of the problem."

Cap'n Hook (thats what I called him away from the kitchen) was one of the best Chefs I ever worked with; a good Mentor and Fisherman. Over the course of two years I watched him go from an "Iron Fisted Tyrant" to being one of the most tactful managers and polite Gentlemen I have ever known.

He was there the day I sank the boat.

HE WAS RIGHT

A Chef told me long ago...
"The more you try to change things now the more you will have to try to change things later; and the more you try to explain now, the more you will have to try to explain later."

"WHERE'D YOU HIDE THE BODY"

Continued from parts 1, 2, and 3

Some few of you may be wondering the rest of the story about Larry, but its one I can't tell. I may be able to confess to you my mistakes and that I even pissed my own britches once upon a time...but thats for and about me.
I said that I didn't know what was in Pensacola for Larry but thats not entirely correct... what was there was the fact that it was not here and really, LARRY HAD HAD ENOUGH OF HERE.

There had been some really tough days for my friend Larry.

I never liked a man as much as I liked Larry.

If you have ever been to Texas, especially West Texas, you will know how flat and dry it is and that there is a great distance to travel between towns...and when you do get to the next town about all that is there is a Shamrock Gas Station and a Motts 5&10 Store.
Within a week of moving Larry, an Album by one of my favorites, James McMurtry, came out with the following song on it and it sounded just like Larry, especially that last verse.
And I didn't know that the rest of the Album titled "Where'd You Hide the Body" would pretty well script my life for the next few years...
I believe there are a few entries on You tube for this one.
There really is a town here in Texas called Levelland.

Levelland

Flatter than a tabletop
Makes you wonder why they stopped here
Wagon must have lost a wheel or they lacked ambition one
On the great migration west
Separated from the rest
Though they might have tried their best
They never caught the sun
So they sunk some roots down in the dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town around here
And when the dust had all but cleared
They called it Levelland, the pride of man
In Levelland

Granddad grew the dryland wheat
Stood on his own two feet
His mind got incomplete and they put in the home
Daddy's cotton grows so high
Sucks the water table dry
Rolling sprinklers circle by

Bleedin' it to the bone
And I won't be here when it comes a day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me in Levelland
They don't understand me
Out in Levelland

And I watch those jet trails carving up that big blue sky
Coast to coasters watch 'em go
And I won't blame 'em one damn bit
If they never looked down on this
Not much here they'd wanna know
Just Levelland
Far as you can point your hand
Nothin' but Levelland
Aw,You can wash your hands
Out in Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair
Back before the central air
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
Don't think she's seen the sky
Since we got the satellite dish
and I can hear the marching band
Doin' the best they can
They're playing "Smoke on the Water", "Joy to the World"
I've paid off all my debts
Got some change left over yet and I'm Gettin' on a whisper jet
I'm gonna fly as far as I can get
from Levelland,
I done the best I can
Out in Levelland

"Where'd You Hide the Body"

Ditto.

DANCING IN PARADISE

continued from parts 1 and 2

Yeah, Mother of Invention got it...starting at 9:00 that Saturday night, we began moving Larry's stuff into my house, my Garage, my back porch.
At about 1:00 in the morning, I called a friend and told him we needed some help..
"But I have a new girl over here" he whispers over the phone.
"I don't care if you're having group sex with a Penthouse Pet, the Playmate of the Month and Ginalollabrigida....I need your ass here in the next hour...."

You know what? He showed up!

The kids were thrilled...the five of them had set up camp in Rips room and Larry and Deb would take Water Baby's room.

At about 8;00 on Sunday morning as Larry slid the last box into my garage, I put the speakers for my Stereo outside...
We were both a little punch drunk if you know what I mean...
'Larry, you couldn't have planned this any worse if you had tried....you hired a mover to take all your worldly possessions to two different houses and we just finished moving you from three different houses into mine. What are you gonna do now"

Larry raises that handsome eyebrow again and says
"Well I'm not going to piss in my pants Steve"
and we just fell out laughin...
So I cranked up the Stereo.... the Bass and Drums are in this chopped up Rhythm....
BUM-ba-BUMbapum-BAbumpum-baBUM-pah pum pah- bum-pah-bum

and then Mick Jagger starts in....

Shattered, shattered
Love and hope and sex and dreams
Are still surviving on the street
Look at me, Im in tatters!
Im a shattered

So up and down the driveway, Larry and I start dancin'...doin' our best Mick Jaggers and a bunch of other stuff we just kinda made up...
We're in Tatters!
And before long all the kids are out there too...it was great and our kids still talk about it.

Then the neighbor that never did like me ever since I carved a hand flippin "The Bird" at his house outta the tree trunk came out and gave me the Hairy Eyeball...even though I cut the "Bird " down before he ever saw it.

Larry didn't piss himself, but that week he quit his job and two weeks later we loaded up two big Vans and we moved his family to...
Pensacola Florida from Fort Worth Texas...
I really don't know to this day exactly why, or what was there for him....it seemed that Larry just needed to go somewhere.
I moved Larry 4 times in two weeks.

I never liked a man as much as I liked Larry.

"I CAN'T GIVE IT AWAY ON 7th AVENUE"

previously...
"The owner of the house Larry was buying the house from finally arrived at 12:30- he had been due at 8:00 that morning.He had some kinda bad news.
There was to be no sale.We were far, really far, from finished moving for the day."

Larry was my best friend. The night we graduated from High school together, we sat on the hood of the Pontious and he talked about being an Artist and I talked about being a Chef. He now did Graphic Design for an Advertising Company. Not exactly Matisse, but Art has changed, no?
Larry had the sweetest little family. His very pretty wife, Deb, was from Belgium. He had met her while in the Service (thats where he learned how to overorganize) and they married as soon as he got his 4 years done. she and my wife were best friends as well.
They had a daughter, Erica, 6 years old; and a son, Mikey, 4 years old. They also had a new addition, a one year old.
My two kids were 4 and 6 too, and yes, they were best friends as well.
We were all best friends....


Larry had been Ramrodding the Operation from his old Rent house, and there was a lot of angst because the owner of the house he was buying had not yet arrived on the scene. I do not know the particulars of the deal, but it was a FSBO- "For Sale by Owner- nor do I know much about Contracts or Real Estate...but I know now that we had moved 90% of Larry's stuff to a house he would never spend a night in.
I think it was a handshake deal that went awry.
The bottom line was that his old rent house was no longer available. All his Earthly Treasure, including wife and kids, sofa and bed, every fork knife and spoon were now at a house no longer for sale, and the Movers wanted to know what to do with the half truck of treasure yet to be unloaded.

Every Mineral and Spiritual Resourse available to Larry were distributed between 2 houses and a moving van and none of these were to be final resting places.
It was like an Exodus to Nowhere.

Somewhere the call was placed to a Rental Agency, and a rent house about 2 miles away was found that Larry, his Wife and three kids could move into that afternoon. Things were beginning to move pretty fast.
Larry had the Movers load up what would be a truckload of the big stuff to take to his newly rented, sight unseen property. Somehow, we would move the first Truckload they had taken ourselves. That was all the funding that was available. I could not help but notice that Larry was starting to look a little ragged at the seams. All the color coding and organizing could not help us now.

While Deb was off at the Leasors signing an agreement, I began to load the Gypsy Wagon. I met the Movers at the leased house and they began to unload their Truck and I waited for Larry or Debra to show with the key...
Now, the movers having finished unoading into the driveway, bid adieu to me, and left.
Debra showed up with the key and began transporting what she could from the Driveway to the house. Larry was at the no longer for sale house with a friends Pickup Truck. I went home, hitched up my boat to use as a Moving Trailer and set off to help Larry.
Things were movin' really fast.

Larry and I arrived at the rent house with our first load.
Larry was beyond looking a little ragged at the seams...he was frazzled..he was tattered...to be...shattered...
because this Rent house he was 'sposed to move into, that about half his stuff was already moved into was a real dive.
It was like a Roach Motel with a leaky roof.

Larry took one look around, raised that very handsome eyebrow of his, and said
"I'm not moving my family into this house".
It would seem his future now depended on me and the Gypsy Wagon.
I was afraid he might just "piss himself".

Sooooo...any guesses what our next move was?

"All this chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter bout
Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta -- I cant give it away on 7th avenue
This towns been wearing tatters (shattered, shattered)
Work and work for love and sex
Aint you hungry for success, success, success, success
Does it matter? (shattered)
does it matter?
Im shattered.
Shattered "
the rolling stones


YEAH, IT DOESN'T REALLY FIT, OR DOES IT?


to be continued

HIGH MAINTENANCE

"PONTIUS MELARCKY"

Did you ever just run out of time? Get in such a hurry that you start making some pretty hasty decisions?
Well my best friend Larry, all the way from High School did while I was helping him move one day.
Years before he had seen me do the same thing....



It was 1975 and I was throwin' a Keg Party out at the lake.... I started at 9:00 in the morning with a hit of Strawberry Mescaline, a moderate Hallucinogen. I had a lot to do...there were the keg's that had to be picked up and taken to the Lake...there was Marijuana to be procured, then I had several friends that I had to pick up, including Larry and my girlfriend Suzie, and others before we met the 100 or so other people at the local Foosers Hut.
From there, a Caravan of 30 or 40 cars thru town to the backroads that led to Devils Backbone at the Lake. Me and my 1955 Star Chief named "Pontius Melarky"
It was a great spot and I was one of the few that knew how to get there.
I had had to pee since about noon, and I was trippin' pretty good when I picked up Larry...we were on our way to Suzies and I did a quick calculation in my head...there was no time to stop to pee.
I told Larry I had to Pee.
He says "Why doncha pull on over?"
I says "Got no time Larry"
I told him I had no choice...I was gonna to "piss myself".
Larry laughed, I looked at him crosseyed and let it rip, right there in the front seat, with both hands on the wheel, drivin down the road...
"Ahhh, thats better"
Larry says "NO you didnt"
"Yep, I did"
Larry has this very handsome way of lifting one eyebrow which he did to great effect as he glanced to my darkened crotch confirming that I had indeed "Pissed Myself"
When we got to Suzies house, I went to the door and when she came out I explained I needed to borrow a pair of her pants.
She just laughed and said I was really getting to be high maintenance.
That waas some really good Mescaline.

But this story is supposed to be about Larry and the day I helped him move 20 years later....
He and his wife Deb had bought a house. They were moving all their possesions and three Kids from a rent house. He had spent a good month getiing ready for this move, because Larry is one of these over-organizers....you know...boxes labeled and color coded and arranged in some kind of Algebraic scheme so as to fit into the truck in the most logical and least space consuming fashion possible...
He had hired a moving company to move the big stuff which he had plenty of....Bureaus and Hutches and China Cabinets of English Oak and German Steel- this stuff was heavy.

But Larry is not only an Over-Organizer, he is a Penny-Pincher too. The Big Moving Truck and Commercial Movers would only be Moving the Big stuff- he had negotiated them down to a couple hundred dollars for 2 loads.
The other 1000 or so boxes was to fall to me and my trusty 1984 Toyota Van (sorry, no photo) with 300, 000 miles on it....we called it my Gypsy Wagon because it had been about everywhere and done everything.
Of course, I wasn't getting paid because, well, I've never liked a man as much as I liked ol' Larry.
At the new house, Deb and the kids were waiting for the Owner to show up to get the last of the papers signed. She had the key, so when the movers and I arrved we were able to put the boxes and furniture into the House.
At about Noon the movers had the last truckload in the driveway.
I had about three more loads of boxes to move.
At Larrys almost empty rent house, the new tenants were pulling their truck into the driveway.
It looked like we were almost finished moving.

The owner of the house Larry was buying the house from finally arrived at 12:30- he had been due at 8:00 that morning.
He had some kinda bad news.

There was to be no sale.
We were far, really far, from finished moving for the day.

to be continued

MOTORPSYCHO NIGHTMARE

song from 'another side of bob dylan" 1964

I had a sad, funny little dream last night...
I dreamed that I went to the Bike store looking for a sidecar to put on my bike- you know, one of those things for a passenger to ride in like what they had on the German Motorcycles in "Hogans Heros"...
Now do not be confused, my bike is not a Motorcycle, its a bicycle, but thats the great thing about dreams, is it not?
Anyway they fixed me up with a nice sidecar ...but I got more than I wanted as the sidecar came with a big shaggy dog...and goggles and Japanese Fighter Pilot Hats...for me and the dog!
So down the road we went, me and the dog in our goggles and hats...is was almost like a Dr. Suess poem or something...even all the colors were kinda pastel like in his books...
...and every where we stopped, like at the library, or the park or the CD Warehouse, women would line up to pet the dog and talk to ME!

Like I said, it was a sad, funny little dream...

And I have discovered this morning there is a whole line of goggles for dogs...

they are called "Doggles"...

isn't that a hoot?

With the tremendous amount of rain we have had down here the last two months, I have not been riding much. This last week the rain subsided and I rode to and from work every day. There is a hill, a real bitch of a hill, that is a slow upslope for about a mile that increases in grade for the last 1/4 Mile. Earlier this year I would take the last part of this hill in 10th gear...last week I was actually forced to walk it for two days...

It will probably take 2 weeks to get back into shape...

While I have not gained any weight, I have not lost any either...

Yesterday with good weather I had a nice 2 hour ride....maybe did a slow 8 miles...no one stopped to talk to me though..I did scare a coupla' young ladies in front of Jasons Deli when I hollered "Gangway!"

I usually do the 3 miles to work in about 15 minutes...

That hill, comin' back, is a real killer...takes about 22 minutes comin' back...

Can you imagine what a great workout it will be with a sidecar and a Dog?

Pretty ruff...

MAMA'S, DON'T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE RETRO

not that there is anything wrong with that...

You Are a Retrospective Soul

The most misunderstood of all the soul signs. Sometimes you even have difficulty seeing yourself as who you are. You are intense and desire perfection in every facet of your life. You're best described as extremely idealistic, hardworking, and a survivor. Great moments of insight and sensitivity come to you easily. But if you aren't careful, you'll ignore these moments and repeat past mistakes. For you, it is difficult to seperate the past from the present. You will suceed once you overcome the disappoinments in life. Souls you are most compatible with: Traveler Soul and Prophet Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Hah!

I took it three times because I didn't want to be a "Retrospective Soul" and guess what?

It came out 'Retro" evey time!

So I guess I'm stuck with it until I can work my way up to...what are my choices?

This line is way off;

"You are intense and desire perfection in every facet of your life."

I don't know what this line is suposed to mean:

"You will suceed once you overcome the disappoinments in life."

Oh, really?

Goody-Goody!

I will agree that am often "Misunderstood"..

If i have to explain that, you wouldn't understand.

In fact, I don't much believe in a human Soul;

we are Carbon Compounds and Noble Gasses....

its the gasses that give us a sense of humor!

SOOOO....

I JUST KEPT TAKING IT TILL THEY GOT IT RIGHT

(perfectionist?)

ACTUALLY

AFTER TAKING IT THE FOURTH TIME,

THERE WERE SOME ANSWERS THAT I CHANGED FROM THE WAY I SEE MYSELF TO PROBABLY HOW OTHERS SEE ME.

(I have a little difficulty seeing myself as I am))

THIS IS PRETTY GOOD EVIDENCE

THAT WE ARE MORE AS OTHERS SEE US

AND LESS AS WE SEE OURSELVES.

"Seeker" seems more like me, even to me,

so

lets have a looksie!

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges. You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions. Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist. Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!). Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others. And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you. You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically. Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas. Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

How 'bout a Filet of Soul?

"when you're feelin' low

and the fish don't bite

A little bit o' soul, yeah,

will put you right"

"Put on that Red Dress, Baby, I said We're Goin' Out Tonight

You better bring some boxin' gloves
In case some fool might wanna fight"
from the medly "high heeled sneakers/ big boss man" as covered by chris smither on "another way to find you"

Chris Smither is one of my favorite singer-songwriters. He has one of the most unique and distinctive sounds in the business. He is a musicians Musician. His song 'Love You like a Man " is covered by Bonnie Raitt and 'Mail Order Mystics" by the legendary John Mayall. His song 'Origin of the Species" from the Album "Leave the Light on" made the Rolling Stones list of top 100 from 2006.
Chris first album came in the early 70"s and due to a little problem with alchoholism, there would not be another one for 13 years.

His Masterpiece seems to be a Live album from 1991 called "Another Way to Find You"
The song I have supplied for your perusal is "No Love Today" from 1999 and his collection "Drive You Home Again"

The Chorus is a street vendors chant from the streets of New Orleans where Chris grew up...

"I got Banana, Watermelon, Peaches by the pound
Sweet Corn, Merliton, more better than in town
I got Okra, enough to choke ya, Beans of every kind
If hungry is whats eatin' you
I'll sell you piece of mine
But thats not what you came to hear me say
And I hate to disappoint you,
but I got no love today"

Like most of Chris' songs there is a beautiful wisdom in the closing lines...click here to give a listen.

"In the end no one will sell you what you need
You can't buy it off a shelf
You have to grow it from a seed"

Chris says he is in love with Language and it shows. If you ever get a chance to see Chris, tell him I sent you.
I hesitate to supply this link to 'World Cafe" as the quality of the vocals starts out a little weak, but it does pick up and speaks well for him. and at 6:16 minutes into it you can hear "Origin of the Species"... and @ 39:25 there is the title track to "Leave the Light On" a very nice tune.

"These races that we run are not for Glory
No Moral to the story
we run for peace of mind
But the race we're running now is never ending
Since Space and Time are bending
There is no finish line"

We'll do some more of his one of these days...

RED DRESSES, RINGS and BLUE MOONS

"To find your strategy to peace is war"

If you click on any of the links below, you can learn more about Saturn and it rings than you would ever want to know...I think its fascinating that one of the gaps in the rings is carved out from one of Saturns many Moons, Pan.

"gravity is directly proportional to the product of two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between" DAVE MOWS GRASS

Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune also have faint rings around them, but Saturn hit the ring jackpot, doncha think?

Saturn was the Roman God of agriculture.

Explanation: What size particles compose Saturn's rings? To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn broadcast radio waves of three different wavelengths right through the rings to Earth earlier this month. The experiment was sensitive to ring particle sizes because ring particles much larger than a broadcast radio wavelength will reflect those radio waves away. Three different wavelengths were used: approximately 1 centimeter, 3.5 centimeters, and 13 centimeters. The results are coded into the above false-color digitally reconstructed image. In the above image, the color purple indicates regions populated predominantly by ring particles larger than 5 centimeters, while the color green indicates regions with a significant population of small ring particles less than even 1 centimeter. The white center of Saturn's B-ring indicates that the density of ring particles was too high to make a good determination. Other radio observations indicate that some ring particles can be as large as several meters across. The impressive nature and clarity of the above sharp image may help determine clues about the origin of Saturn's beautiful but enigmatic ring system.



I've been wanting to post a song and some lyrics by my buudy Chris Smither, but things keep getting in the way, like Red Scribbles post/picture yesterday of the most ringed of all the Planets...Saturn...and it took me back to Stevie Wonders "Songs in the Key of life" and a really nice cut from that exellent album that never got much airtime...
I give you...

"Saturn"

Packing my bags -- going away
To a place where the air is clean
On Saturn
There's no sense to sit and watch people die
We don't fight our wars the way you do
We put back all the things we use
On Saturn
There's no sense to keep on doing such crimes

There's no principles in what you say
No direction in the things you do
For your world is soon to come to a close
Through the ages all great men have taught
Truth and happiness just can't be bought - or sold
Tell me why are you people so cold

I'm....
Going back to Saturn
where the rings all glow
Rainbow, moonbeams and orange snow
On Saturn
People live to be two hundred and five
Going back to Saturn where the people smile
Don't need cars cause we've learned to fly
On Saturn
Just to live to us is our natural high

We have come here many times before
To find your strategy to peace is war
Killing helpless men, women and children
That don't even know what they're dying for
We can't trust you when you take a stand
With a gun and bible in your hand
And the cold expression on your face
Saying give us what we want or we'll destroy

I'm....
Going back to Saturn
where the rings all glow
Rainbow, moonbeams and orange snow
On Saturn
People live to be two hundred and five
Going back to Saturn where the people smile
Don't need cars cause we've learned to fly
On Saturn
Just to live to us is our natural high

NOCTI-LUCENTITY

For our friend that captures such great pictures of the skies;

AZIMUTH
Though it be night
there are still clouds at work
moving in the Dark
Silvery Linings at play softly
Shimmering high and brightly
Even as we sleep
Beyond the usual horizon
Hold your lense High
And keep your chin up.

Explanation: Alluring noctilucent or night-shining clouds lie near the edge of space, some 80 kilometers above Earth's surface. Of course, when viewed from space the clouds are more properly called polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) -- seen here for the first time in image data from the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite. The clouds form over the poles in the corresponding summer season and are now being seen more frequently at lower latitudes. This paticular view from June 11 details the PMC structures forming over the north polar region in white and blue. (Black indicates no cloud data was available.) The AIM satellite should be able to track two complete cloud seasons over both poles to investigate possible connections between the high altitude night-shining clouds and global change in the lower atmosphere.

The preceeding was pulled from my 'Astronomy Photo of the Day" site, and if you click on the links, there are probaly better pics than the ones I have chosen and more info on NLC's.

They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think they're seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming.
They're called noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds (NLCs). And whatever causes them, they're lovely.
They are a faily recent phnomemna, first noted in 1885 after Krakatoa erupted.
I saw these and thought of Annelisa.

One more, shall we?

Too small...