“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

This week one of my projects was determining what to do with the growing number of mushrooms appearing amongst the coppiced black locust grove I started a few years ago for firewood and fence posts.

Happy Friday everyone. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

I was planning on posting photos from this months camera club light painting photo shoot on Tuesday. Unfortunately my ticker had other ideas and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat. Thankfully the problem is not serious or life threatening and is under control with the help of meds and I'm now back to my usual abnormal self. Hope everyone else is feeling well and healthy.

Since I missed out on the light painting I went to Santee Lakes yesterday morning and got some shots of a Snowy Egret catching breakfast. It was so overjoyed with it's catch it started doing the happy dance.

It feels like we're stuck in history. Here we stand, in purgatory, between the old world order and the new world order. I didn't ask to be here and I'll bet you didn't either, but here we are. If mankind survives, in what form may yet be determined, historians will study this era like no other. We may be, right now, writing the final chapters of a book. A story that will never be duplicated again in the exact manner of biological circumstance. In the balance of evolution, we think of ourselves apart, because of our intellect. Unfortunately, branches do break off from the evolutionary tree.

The worst part is knowing we can't go back. And the future is most uncertain, to say the least. I'm sure most would agree that the past was far from perfect, and I'm sure most would agree that it now looks like paradise in the rear view mirror, with hell bearing down just up ahead, full tilt boogie.

How is it we are here? How is it so many existential means of destruction meet at the focus of mankind, in unison. Economic collapse, famine, climate upheaval, pandemic, war, we were warned for generations of these potential catastrophes, here they are upon us, all at the same time. Is it coincidence? Artificial? Natural? Does it matter?

Civilizations have stood at the crossroads before, but never on this scale or with so much at stake. It may seem like a positive feedback loop that's out of control, like it's totally out of our hands. Like there's nothing we can do to stop it. But I'm not so sure about that.

Upcycling - Don't Waste It!

I learned about 'upcycling' a little while ago. It's a nice new name for an age-old practice, at least, so it seems to me.

If you spend any time on right-wing web sites or watching right-wing TV you'll notice two popular memes - crime and immigration.
Essentially, the country is drowning in criminals and illegal immigrants (who frequently fall into both categories) and the Democrats are actually causing it and encouraging it, while only Republicans are on your side, fighting it.