Circumnavigating the Boundries of History

     There once was a concept that we called time.  We sort of worshiped it and ran our lives around it, trying sometimes even to beat it.  Yet in doing so we often got depressed when we felt we didn't have enough of it or we hadn't received our own share of it, so we began in those particular moments to live in the past.  This was always due to our thought patterns that we hadn't accomplished enough or what we did, somehow didn't live up to our own standards, or worse yet, live up to someone else's standards.
      Of course, then being anxious for various reasons, whether it be to finish the bucket list or to correct some inherent miscue in previous attempts, we began living in the future, though we didn't exactly know the parameters involved, so we ended up squandering the present.  You don't have to unwrap it, or wonder why or if, you just have to accept as it unfolds or is accepted since it was already given.
       So to gather no moss, or to attract something we wish for just go with whatever flow arrives, play freely, dance with abandon, and realize there really isn't any time so to speak of, just those nagging flash backs, or feelings when we begin to reflect.  There is no harm in reflecting because that is after all the dignity and pride involved with being human.  Just realize you don't have to linger or attach some form of judgement on the reflection, just smile, enjoy, be happy, don't worry and move ever so eloquently into the next moment when it chooses to occur.  If anyone by chance is reading this malarkey I bid you a fond farewell and a good clean feeling about the future.....Me

A Day in the Life of a Sand Tart

Now I'm not warning you to stay away, or to serendipitously close or put your hands over your eyes when you gaze into the time travels of "Sand Tart" peaks and valleys as it goes through the portals from the dough being made, it being rolled out, egg washed and sprinkled with a sugar and cinnamon mix, baked, cooled and transformed into bagged product ready to be delivered by elves to the customary victims of chance, but whatever you tend to get all over yourself will certainly have been by choice.
      This is a yearly endeavor put into what I usually call my industrial sized brain matter by my dear departed Mother.  Even is she wasn't feeding us these Jewels of the Nile while we were growing up and handing them out to the neighborhood kids so she knew where her kids were, but after we made the leap of faith into our own silly dilly dallying daily lives, allowing her to enjoy an empty nest sort of feeling, she kindly sent once a year these gorgeous creatures either in a coffee tin or old shoe box, as if she was the second coming of the lady who lived in a shoe, to our humble abodes scattered across the continental United States as any coalition of Military Brats would have the tendency to do.
       Since there is a visual I won't waste anymore of your time, detailing or explaining the course of Sand Tart events, but only state that whatever mindset you encounter the rest of the day, your mouth, your taste buds and your brain are only going to linger in a cerebral labyrinth wishing you were here, but realizing you are rather there and in no proximity to produce the party in your mouth that these babies do.  Until then, I bid you a fond farewell, and a gracious and motivating holiday season with friends, neighbors, family and co-workers.....Steven

Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain...

     As I wander through the diversity of parking lots on delicate missions to facilitate my desires I often peer into the fortunes behind the mythical and mystical nuances behind the bumper sticker dialogue deluge.
      Often I get this militaristic imagery of " FREEDOM ISN'T FREE ..." and of course I lament over it's characteristic solioquoy.  I recall instead the stylistic ramblings of Janis Joplin instead, hoping of course to wash whatever flavor profiles are left in my taste buds for moments at a time, " FREEDOM'S JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE..." end game slowly realized.  Not that there is any stratification going on here, but one I can hum the tune to, or just fake it, or get my fist pumping head throbbing candy coated popcorn and a prize feeling, like so many other unorthodox things are prone to do.
     Freedom, as any neuron firing escapade that shakes, rattles and hums when I get the tune down to a score is not won by challenging the mindset of another culture, or pursuing this concept of protecting our own spacial anomaly by imposing our will onto someone Else's structural foundations when we fear they are trying to do the same to us. No, I preclude or have a perception that this elusive concept of " Freedom " is really just a state or frame of mind. You don't own it, it is given freely, and it can leave without warning, take you by surprise and hopefully when it is realized will take your breathe away.
       Some idea that you have to fight your way out of a paper bag, dry a wet towel out somewhere high up in the Himalayas to relieve yourself of the burden of subjugation  is just pure and simple poppycock to persuade you to become another member falling off the back of a turnip truck.
        As the song often laments, someone left the cake out in the rain, I don't think I can take it, because it took so long to bake it and I'll never have that " recipe " again or I started a Joke, that started the whole world laughing, I myself laughed so hard, I fell out of bed, bumping into my own head, until I realized the joke was on me.  Take your Lego's, your Lincoln Logs and go outside and play until I call you late for dinner....

It's Getting to Feel Alot like Christmas

     Joy to the World with a little pomp and circumstance.  Does the crisp air and the bare trees begin to make you feel like a kid again.  Like for instance as I did hiding underneath the cherry wood dining room table that had two four legged support beams on Cannington Drive in San Diego one year, so I could catch Santa pitching Tent and gobbling up the cookies and milk as he pilfered from his bag of treats what he felt was missing underneath the Yuletide Tree. This particular table came from Edgemere, a small town near Baltimore, Maryland, from my mother's, Mom. Yes, for the first time in oh so many years we are not erecting a fresh cut tree, but rather replacing it with a Fiber Optic Sue.  As the storyline has it, a friend of Joyce's named June, who's daughter Sue decided to move on something she held dear,made Joyce the recipient of such a Joy to Behold.
     So upon arrival home from work last night, an unexpected treat was mine to experience as I walked into the dining room from the garage and there stood, short and proud the Fiber Optic Sue.
     Whether you have been naughty or nice, a Grinch or are into any of a smattering of Christmas Spirit, gaze a little on the simple Joys of starting the Holiday Season and feel the effervescence of the pulsating fiber optic nuances. I bid you Happiness, a Merry Christmas and a fond farewell for now.

What, Where and Why Not

      What the power of Mother Nature is and what it can produce in your surrounding bundle of Joy, which of course in this case is your home, your domicile and it's surrounding yard is quite the Cat's Meow.  In this case, a tree, which had leanings toward our neighbor's side patio of Dave and Ors, quickly becomes another one of the glorious serendipity moments in one's often times tumultuous life span.  Here in a 45 degree angle is most of the leg that fell off of the semi dead tree.  As you can see, it didn't take down much of anything but itself.

      Here is the lasting Totem Pole left behind after that tremendous wind storm, here in Sonoma County as it came blasting it's way into our consciousness. It had lingered for years, being used as a Bird's landing tower and a lot of gossip of when it was going to fall and what type of damage it was going to wreak upon not just Joyce and myself's environment, but our wonderful neighbors, Dave and Ors.  Consequentially it came to pass, that Kismet would have it's way, it became only the memory of what could of happened, but didn't. We all were amazed at the fact no one had woken up during it's untimely demise, and that in all the permutations that could have emerged, the one that did the smallest amount of damage to either of our quaint abodes, occurred in our imaginings.

     Now here is my modest and small amount of time, an hour and a half, taking off the upper branches, without the use of a chainsaw.  It is a pile that would be of some use at the " Burning Man " celebration, but will only stand as a quick monument as to those moments, though unheard and unseen at the initiation of it's own occurrence. Later, when our friend Tom comes over and decimates the memory of the actual event, we will surely forget it actually happened.

Releasing the Commitment to Turkey

So there I was, intruding upon the morning's grace and gave some thought to saving the Turkey this year.
Yeah it was five thirty in the morning, but none the less, I had a compelling reason  to forge ahead into the lightning round of all the forgotten nuances of days past in the coliseum of kitchen.
Here before you is a Bourbon BBQ Tri-Tip, twice cooked potatoes, one sweet, one russet, filled with cumin, curry, toasted sesame oil, ginger paste and a three cheese menagerie topping, marinated Portabella mushrooms in Balsamic Vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, butter and Vidalia Onion Dressing, a Spinach Salad with Bacon and Apricots, and a Avocado and Orange salad with tangerines and Red Grapes.  I cook, therefore I am and at this point I bid you a fond farewell as the Family Gatherings pursue their own origins.

Can you See this Now?

Now it doesn't take a pioneer in Bread Making to digest and visualize the time and energy to simulate the prairie mindset.  Here in a cast iron skillet and a few whimsical notes of satisfaction lies the capabilities to bring out the spirit that will induce the wonderfulness of newly toasted bread smeared with some nice butter and some homemade Jam.  To get yourself from here to there, simple apply the notions going on here.

Borne in Sonoma County

After so many cues have come and gone, I surmise my moment in time has arrived.  My preoccupation with hospitality and sharing moments with the retired elderly population has contributed to my new experience in yet another delightful situation in the culinary landscapes of the kitchen environment.
There is a quiet frivolity involved here, dedicating our energies to making an impact with our beautiful and colorful plate layouts and our attempts to offer participation for our guests at mealtime the flavor profiles that go with our concert of culinary artwork.
With those thoughts in mind please gander, at your own risk at what the Fountaingrove Lodge offers to it's residents in the way of road trips brought to you by the Sonoma County bounty of food offerings and the Chefs, Adam, Mark, Glenn and Rainer at this very moment in it's nubile inception.

A Little Rain, Please......

     Now swirling around in my brain, whether or not it is in the left or right hemisphere are numerous and diverse verbal images that should not have to permeate on a daily basis, my very existence.
      Though I go onto Facebook now and again and read the posts that my diligent friends seem enamored with, I do not participate in making some erroneous remarks.  The reason, besides being a social media stairway to buffoonery, most of my comments would be, at least on Facebook, counter productive, since a lot of those posts boast no new knowledge or create real thinking moments.
      I am happy that on Veteran's Day, that my family, at least on the East Coast, being engulfed with members that have served in the military, deem it necessary, like so many others into reveling and being thankful, for one reason or another for every member who has served.  Though as I sit here and type, I do wonder why there is a constant outcry to go to war, when there are Wars to be fought at home, and it is not those wars that involve weapons but rather community involvement.
      If that same support were given to each community from those so inclined to support the military, into figuring out how to solve the lack of mental health, employing people in decent and fairly paying jobs and honing in on education, taking care of the elderly and teaching a growing population of parents how to raise and discipline their kids into being socially aware, respectful of others and not spend so much time, as I write this serendipitously, on the monitor exploring whatever it is that they indulge themselves in.
     As far as replicas of automatic weapons, and kids in neighborhoods carrying them around, there are so many factors that create situations that don't need to exist.  One, manufacturers that make them should maybe reconsider their relationships on the profit motives. Two, parents who allow their kids to acquire these replicas should be aware of the area that they live in, demographically speaking, when their kids are parading them in public for whatever reasons, and to make sure their kids are not going to end up putting themselves in harms way to achieve some type of fantasy of war games or confrontational situations.
      Though culturally children or teens playing violent video games in the United States often are more violent than those in other countries that involve themselves in the same entertainment.  It seems that social interaction declines with more and more time spent in these forms of entertainment, creating a false sense of reality and when it is carried into the outside real world, tends to activate public concern and discourse.  Though to this date of writing it doesn't seem to have activated social or public change, since it seems as these type of dysfunctional displays continue to occur.
      It is true in these calamities it is going to take a village to make the changes that are necessary to put a dent into these debacles.  The parents, the law enforcement, the school system, societal norms cannot keep pointing the finger at one another, rather they all must come together to form a commitment to solutions to each and every installment of these fervent events trying to bring attention to either income inequality, mental health issues, equality of gender issues, bullying or trying to stop people from voting by making new laws that make it harder for certain demographical  segments of the populations from doing just that.
      Though I live in my own little world, trying hard to not to participate in these community diatribes, because they do occur in my immediate surroundings, I am guilty as anyone else of not wanting to become involved. I do my best not to let whatever it is I am concerned with to get out of hand, so I will not become one of those diatribes that become the talk of the town.  I do tend to take the time to write diatribes, since it seems these posts are not being shared with the public, or on numerous occasions I send positive vibes, in different colors and musical adaptations to help people think out their own mindful thoughts to help save the community when it is necessary.
      Now, the reason that this menagerie of thought patterns has occurred is because I wanted some rain to come into my immediate vicinity.  I feel as if spiritual change comes about when we gather inside listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof, and sit around a warm fire, contemplating the peacefulness of existence.
      

Sky Visions and Understatements

 As if by magic, yesterday, popped into our collective unconscious, leaving for some reason an idea that fall had encompassed our world.  Up until now, leaves had changed color, winds had blown the whirly-gigs off their foundations, yet, when we started our day at a garage sale at a local senior center, the Fall had been knocking, but yesterday, we let it in.  They had a replica of Japan signing a surrender on the Missouri, with Douglas MacArthur in 1945. They had a candle lit lantern that was a Music Box and a Cookie Jar shaped like a Pear.

 Now it wasn't just the colors that befuddled our visual perpetuity, the sky was dancing with fronts grasping one another as if there was a cerebral tug of war going on.  I actually saw a plane with a vapor trail accosting the formations, an interloping gesture of peaceful coexistence. This was all happening as we, on another of our weekend jaunts, found our way to Castenadas, the Outlet Store and Sprouts to pick up a collective and diverse smattering of foodstuffs.  On our return trip we capitulated plans to visit BJ's in Coddingtown for a bite of Lunch.

Neither Joyce or I had partaken of the culinary traits behind this newly acquired recompense of eclectic food offerings.  Took us awhile to decide on a few small plates of nuanced layouts of illicit palettes of flavor.  While we waited, I actually order a blend of PM Porter with some Raspberry lacquer. Joyce actually succumbed to saying I could do that. I gingerly twirled my focus with the camera taking a few shots of the colorful menagerie of visual candy parading itself on the walls and in the mirrored reflections found in the our room along with one of the light fixtures.

We had a warm Avocado egg roll, a Thai Chicken dumpling, Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms, and a Bison Burger with what appeared to be a lump of Coleslaw, but didn't have the customary flavor profiles indicative of such an accoutrement.  We scurried home to unpack our trip's purchased delights and scampered down to Airport Cinemas to watch " Last Vegas ", which was simply pleasing non-thinking movie entertainment.  Long ago wisdom's of that feeling of original friendships lasting over the course of human time. After arriving home, we bid adieu to our first day of Autumn Speak.

Really......???????

     I was thinking and I still am about how Humans "Beings" have or have not necessarily evolved.  Where the consciousness came to fruition about reflection, giving us the concept of time, and of course, in the long run, space, is left up to the people who tend to find a penchant for nomenclature.
     I think as I have evolved in a singlularity, when I have learned something, or accomplished a task, I generally think of interjecting it into someone's world in order to share and maybe, along the way, promote a quiet thinking moment, consciously or unconsciously.  Just accumulating ubiquitous clutter in a mind speak sort of way, as I know my friend Lee used to do, and not hand it out to his array of companions would lend to superfluous incantations and probably upset in ways I know I wouldn't understand, the space and time continuum, which in many instances in History, it certainly has been experienced.
     Now all of this is just gossip and innuendo if not for a particular point of view.  As I contemplate the significance of sharing and participating in the evolution of our Homo Sapiens existence I find it so much wasted time where we seem to denigrate others points of view. We don't tend to realize that if one part of the body is sick or unhealthy, whether it be from poverty, lack of education, fear brought on by misinformation or a lust for individual power, the global body of community is always hanging in the balance.  
     If there is creativity, richness, awesomeness, achievement, accomplishment, once it is interjected into the human experience, sharing and permitting it to grow and expand in it's awareness just seems to me a way in which the spirit of the "Village" can evolve into a higher consciousness, planes of ascension .  Though I am fully aware that opposites to this idea exist so the Universe can evolve in it's own unique ways.
     Therefor setting up barriers to wealth, giving an inordinate amount of importance to money like the stock market and investing in psychological mayhem is not a way to promote clear conscience.  Denying anyone access to knowledge for whatever reason doesn't pursue any intentions of the culminating planes  of ascension  Making people suffer by not dispensing preventative or catastrophic health care makes us lose out on so many creative endeavors left to die in their own malaise of indifference.  Creating competition to get the best out of one another doesn't always give way to trust for the common good of one another or for that matter letting everyone share for moments at a time, the same glorious feeling.  Everything that is out in the Universe is meant to be shared, given as freely as the time of day as it passes our way, and everyone should have access to whatever they need, as long as when they get it, they pass that same favor on, when it is obvious and time to do so.
     There is no reason to be Nationalistic or Unpatriotic in a Globally shared existence. There is no reason to doubt Mother Nature in her attempts at reconciliation when extreme calamities, not created by us Humans, occur. There is no reason for poverty, lack of education or unfed masses.  Common sense, truth, justice in all of it's myriad forms, honor, humility and invitations and awareness of the freedom of choice are all attributes we were kindly given, but sometimes we become unaware of our ability to dispense of these common tools to promote peace of mind, body and soul.
     So for all of you out there giving out nonsense, misinformation and not sharing your varieties of wealth of anything you can name, let me ask you one little benign question.  
     " REALLY.......????? "

Pat's 90th Attitude Adjustment

 This is the place we went to pick up Pat's Corsage.

 When we went to Yerba Buena gardens, these are the architectural images we saw.

 More of images from Yerba Buena Gardens and a slight and quick view from our view from the 9th floor, room 903.

 Views from our room, 903, day and night and fog.

 Cocktail and appetizers, which turned out to be cheese whiz and pretzels and crackers.

 As requested from Doreen, some pertinent moon shots.

 Appetizers at Dinner.

 Main Courses at Dinner.
Two desserts.

 Buffet breakfast on Sunday Morning.

 Walking from Pier 39 to Aliot's.

 Appetizers at Alioto's.

 The gang of ten and the Main Course Choices at Aliotos.

 Desserts, Views and decorations at Alioto's banquet room.

In the library at the Marine Memorial Club and Hotel.

A Flash of Eloquence Scattered Upon the Decades

     If there is one inside of you that intuitively drives you to remember those moments that linger just to give you insight into the decades that permeate your soul's travels, give that one a moment of peace and quiet.  It's just a nudge, but an important nudge when one experiences another deluge of information and doesn't necessarily want it to coalesce with the moment at hand.  Sit back, stare at the wall, or think about nothing and let that exponentially acquiescence permeate until the tingle, shake, rattle and hums subside.
      It will delight you, relieve you and define your next move into the future, often with the wisdom it was so necessarily pertinent to depart.  I have sat upon those stump moments, gloriously so, many times in order to clear the cobwebs defined by day to day excursions into life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Being Human can often boggle the senses, prematurely interpreting casual and mind altering personality exchanges with your environment.  Second thoughts often provide momentary relief, yet giving one a chance to settle the dust bowl of mental curriculum down is more a path to intellectual perpetuity.
     As one can see, dedication to the abuse of the English language is my misguided attempt to paint visual images into the structure of the sentence.  Let it forever be known that the often times tumultuous events we encounter are put there for a purpose and any actions taken prematurely often upsets the rhythmic hourglass of our individual cerebral computations providing our ability to stick or place one step in front of the other.  Live long and survive those initial extrapolations and commit oneself to the consequences however they appear to your conscious mind and make them guide you to some tranquil Utopian expressions, if only for a solitary glimpse of what perfection is all about.  This my friends is actually a case for accepting the artistic notion of Perfection itself.  Again, it does not come with a warning label and is often neglected, but with practice, one becomes their own perfect solutions to such excursions into the subconscious road trips. This one bids you farewell wishing you the lighter sides of such humorous adventures.

New Redwood Empire Food Bank Open House

 I can only start by telling you this is conceptual form and function business thought going on here, and if not for one of Joyce's friends June Smith being involved in some fashionable manner we might not have participated in the grand tour and learned of the updated programs and huge square footage that will take this Food Bank into the future serving Sonoma county and communities to the north.  The thinking and functional parts to me that were updates were the large cooler spaces for fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, the kitchen that can be rented out and the conference room of that same nature.

Now here you have a few of the newly acquired kitchen equipment, from convection ovens to the new standard three sink set-up, large quantity mixers, meat slicing machine and robocop food processor and things like an oven that bakes off a whole baker's rack at a time.  Lots of table top prepping areas and large viewing windows so people in the foyer of the building can watch the goings on in the kitchen as it happens. I think any restaurant or food establishment would be happy with this expansive kitchen. 

 On one side we find a glorious store filled with all the natural ingredients found in most of your local markets, but catering to the lower income brackets of your local communities.  Here they will have the benefit of friendly smiles, gracious attitudes and attentiveness of the volunteers as they search out the items on their grocery lists and be educated on all the smart choices if need be. Fresh fruits, meats and coolers inside the store will provide the environment for the customers to pick out items they normally wouldn't get at a Food Bank.

As we entered the foyer of the new building that houses the Food Bank, a glorious flower arrangement bid you hello, a large sign pointed out information about the services provided and windows into the kitchen gave you views of the culinary processes going on.  The diabetes van and educational program delivered and catered to people who were in need of their care and as you can see, the bicycle with the osterizer on the back gave an understanding of the human energy needed for such a process. It is a good sign that the new Food Bank is here.

Being There, Instead of Being Here.....

 There was this thought of being there, the destination, the patterns of time and space, the nuances of peace and quiet time spent for no good reason except you were no longer here, but There.
Joyce had upon inception thought of a way to reminisce about her father, Harry and a way to conceptualize the Birth of her mother in a place that they could coexist with their surroundings once a year, where the family together was not able to accomplish during the time spent as a nuclear family, and there was where it was at.

 Now Bob, being a photo journalist, had the paintings on the wall come out as the glorious visuals as the Sun, in all it's glorious magnificence, stroked the horizon of both here and there. As one leaves the sequences of time in a day, memories can only hold onto their permanence in some sort of impressionistic collage, putting the protocols of the events of the day into the blinks of an eye, forever graffiti on the subway walls of the prophets memory, without any words having to be spoken.

 Now the idea that not all the participants were going to fit into this 13th annual event as the expansion of the extended family burst onto the coming of the tribal gathering, though they were all there in spirit, one gets the inner glows of the ones that did sit around what might be called the round table of existence of the being we have all come to be beholding to for some odd years, culminating in a celebration of 87 years of her own Private Sonoma County Existence. We all owe in a debt of gratitude that no one will ever pay back with the interest of Adele.

 Now besides the stamina and perseverance of Joyce, their in lies the fullness of Margie, the other blessed creative female soul conceived by Harry and Adele. While they sat upon a lone sand dune, musing, their beneath the waves, walked the bits and pieces of extended fortitude, in the grassy knoll and the incoming tides gently going to and fro from the scrabble board of families. Adele later told me the nakedness of the great grandchildren didn't stop at the ocean   floor, but found it's way back to the domicile of the home they all had started from earlier.

As the little Hamlets of Island homes pervaded the visual landscape that surrounded the iridescent waves crashing one upon another at Mother Nature's doormat called the shore, the panoramic views provided a kaleidoscope of fancy dancing images that burst forth to commemorate the coming of being There with Adele and not the lonely feeling that our spirits missed out on such benign musings from ship to shore upon the gracious moments shared with one another, here.      
As for me, though I was here, rather than there for the meeting of the tribal council of the Mortensen Clan, the night before I shared the precious moments with Adele and Joyce partaking the culinary flavor profiles of the Chicken Pot Pie, silent, yet auditory company of our friends the Gladiolus and the frivolity of the Birthday Party Hats that rested upon the mantle of the fireplace. The moonlit cloud formations around the moonscape that night pervaded into my sleepless night and caused my early retreat from the Maddening Crowd that was to follow in my undetectable footsteps, leaving the scene of the Celebratory Happenings.                                                             

Intuition and It's Culinary Partners

 Welcome my friends to the taste that never ends.  Right before your eyes, nothing up our sleeves, let me introduce to you from Woodfour Brewing Company, Corn Soup, Beet Salad and our favorite, drum roll please, Eggplant Meatballs.  Wonderful Stuff to contemplate.

 Here we found, thanks to Joyce, a sampler for any 5 of their beers for 8 bucks.  I met one of the chefs that heard about me as "Uncle Steve", and his nickname from Justin Wangler was "Cornmeal"...Great Stuff.

And then a few shots of what the new shopping and restaurant destination is, in Sebastopol, called the Barlow.  Many more offerings to delight the senses, and various businesses moving here to congregate their elusive and beautiful traditions that had been scattered up until now all over the multitudes of Sonoma County, California....another Me

Is that all there is, then let's Begin....

          After very little thought, I must admit that whatever you want to call the Human Race, it seems after all this evolution that we would quit these concepts of brinkmanship.  If we are truly on the global thought pattern that everyone from investment counselors to school systems invoke about we are now on a smaller planet, with 24 hour news programs giving out erroneous dialogues of partisan bickering and everyone trying to be the first in line with whatever is happening moment to moment on any subject.
       Is the only way to run a country and solve problems by brandishing opinions from the barrel of some weapon.  By now we could of been, or at least should of been aware that there are other ways to solve a particular set of circumstances, other than being right, rather than being happy.
      It doesn't have to be this idea of haves and haves not, but rather what is in the best interest for the majority of the congregation or constituents involved in the process of negotiation or compromise.  Why is it that we can ascertain the nuances of Universes, but we can't get this idea of share and share alike down.  Those people who are set in life, whether or not they pay enormous amounts of their income in taxes, and those who struggle day to day with their financial wherewithal and pay no taxes, don't need to pick at one another from time to time, instead they could figure out ways in which to enrich both sides of any fence that has been built to make them disenfranchise one another.
      Morally, killing off anyone that disagrees with you is not a problem solving answer, because sooner or later it will come to blow by blow consolations.  Existence side by side is mutually beneficial and capable of maintaining the status quo.  I can't or won't spend paragraphs giving examples of either way of doing things, just know that we are all well aware of  the alternatives, and it is just going to come down to making it happen or not. Just sit back and enjoy the ride, or struggle with the lack of anyone defining the parameters of these societal miscues.  Sooner or later the water will break and we can come to the end of this evolutionary tale of being Human.  Hopefully, or optimistically, we will begin to evolve into a higher state of being where we can see all the possibilities because for now, at least, we are myopic in our natures.

Fragmentations

       Waking up alongside fragments of past events, even though the dreams are not exactly what I would call memories, more so of coming events, posts on social media have tended to be of nostalgic images of successes or nuances of what life had to offer at those lines in the proverbial sands.
        In essence one eye is closed while the contrivance neglects those present situations that can also cast the shadows of timelessness.  Not in any way am I claiming here that I exist on those exhalations that come with accomplishments as they happen, which is really hard to do, considering as soon as the reflections start persuading or clouding the inertia behind conceiving, those moments are gone.
        New sets of challenges always seem to boggle large parts of the populations into trying to persuade others to see their skill sets of perception, so they can be somewhat the fifteen minutes of their own demise.  Too many chiefs and not enough Indians left to pick up the pieces from the hill of Little Big Horn, I surmise.
        I have been, by my own persuasion, one of those Indians hoping to tie up the loose ends, letting others gather the creative moments and joys surrounding Glorious moments such as they come in contact with every so often.  I'm sure in retrospect I don't do these inquires because I too would enjoy the gifts associated with such tumultuous events, but rather I have felt the obligations to record, even though I am bias in my accounts also, but in truth, there is a sense of urgency and responsibility not being tied in some way to the event itself, but as an socially incoherent innocent bystander.
         I know it is easier to stand, one leg or two, on our own individual laurels, but in times of squabbles, having the capacity, like my brother Mike, to stay above the fray, holding out that sincere hand, which ever one it might be, at the moment of inception, and saying to the masses, just take your soliloquies up on the mountain and talk to that imaginary hand, giving some sort of forethought to unmasking your egos and rest your souls for moments at a time.  Then maybe, just maybe, your futures will be one ascertained by some truth, honor, justice and wisdom, balanced by the art of humility.
        Go forth my sons and daughters of anarchy, in those moments of uncertainy, where, I suppose you long to be in someone's warm and tender loving arms and give way to the infinite wisdom of the Universe unfolding just the way it was meant to unfold, with or without your personal blessings.

Who Knew, In Cloverdale....

      I can't tell you how much I enjoy my mother-in-law, Adele, and of course, my wife, Joyce, especially when she has a travel destination in mind, and goes to the trouble of enlisting my help in finding a nice place to indulge in some fine food.  In this case it turned out to be a place called 101  Thai Way in Cloverdale.

     After a fine meal we drove around Cloverdale and ended up at a craft store which proceeds end up helping members of the senior center.  They sell fabric by the pound, which I was unaware that they did that, and Joyce got some large Crochet hooks to perform whatever Magic she intends to perform.

       From there cruising and ending up for some ice cream sundaes at Pick's Drive in and we all ended up with the same product, a Hot Fudge Sundae that came with a local favorite that of Clover Ice Cream.  Thank God for rural Sonoma County for offering us another wonderful Daytrip.

     Of course to get more of the Pie in the Sky shots, I spent some photographic time willowing and dillowing looking and pointing and shooting our way around the skyscapes as we traveled around doing the things we do.  All and All, another one of those beloved days enjoying one another's company along the backroads of the County of Sonoma.

Sonoma County Fair

 Who says I don't blog some lighthearted stuff?

 Dance to the Succulent Visual Seductions....

 Outside with the Master Gardners....

 Joyce and her annual 10 minute Massage....

 Some of our kids winning Brownies and Cookies.....
Joyce outside of one of the Mobile Small Houses....
Some Lobster Corn Dog, Fried Avocado and Popcorn Shrimp...

Yeah, Krispy Kreme 
comes to the Burger Lovers Paradise at
the Sonoma County Fair...