Open Thread - 1/19/23 - TGIF Odds and Ends
The sky was particularly colorful this Thursday evening.
I wanted to share the look of East Texas at 5:55 pm.
Some blue, some peach color. You know damn well what's coming!
I finished up a case for a Vaughan today. While signing all final documents for court, I was wearing white boots. Made me think of a Vaughan.
The two kids I asked to learn 10 new words by defining them, using them in a sentence, have gone completely nuts! They are now writing stories, drawing pictures that involve each word! I should get their week's worth of work packets tomorrow. Does this effort merit $2.00? $5.00? $10.00?
I send home "B" words tomorrow, giving them something to do next week. Their Mom says she does not have to prompt them whatsover, and they have never had so much fun learning anything. I am gonna pat myself on the back for being an inspiration for something good. (Just this once!)
It is cold outside this weekend. And in Gaza. And people are hungry. I want to do something! What? I am damn powerless. It would take millions upon millions of people in the streets, and all the while, we can't help our own homeless. They are all cold, they are all hungry, they are all our brothers and sisters.
We're going to Galveston next week. Seems like every time I go there the weather is dreadful. Things I never get out to visit are things like Moody Gardens. It is always something. Check it out at the link:
Last time I saw Lyle Lovette, he was backed by his 4-man "Acoustic Band". This time, in Galveston, it will be his "Large Band", so the songs on the play list will be quite different. We have orchestra seats, center, but way, way back. They were selling so fast, it sold out while we were booking these seats. I networked with my friend, Lyle's first cousin, and may get a shout out or pass backstage. Or not. Remains to be seen.
While we stand in line to get into the concert hall, it will be storming and raining! And we will do it anyway!
Well, there is nothing positive in the news I see. Wars, needless deaths and destruction, and what is right in my house that will change my life, and yours, is the newest, latest, greatest re-examination of Social Security, the thing bankers, Republicans, and Libertarians say they hate, and what Democrats say they sort of love, but hey, if it goes, it goes, because Trump.
I hope everyone has something of some kind to look forward to being accomplished. Grow a flower? Rescue a cat? Getting a raise? Neighbor surviving their surgery? Getting a call from a friend you hadn't heard from in years? It is the accumulations of climbs up to the top of the mountain, no matter how minuscule the accomplishments are in our minds and hearts that gives us the will to keep going.
This is an Open Thread. Do not hesitate to drop in any comment that you wish.
What's on your mind, people?
Folks, let 'er rip!
Comments
Celebrate Good Friday, in a calendar, not necessarily
in the religious sense. The older I get, the more precious Saturday and Sunday are to me.
The blue/peach colored sky in the picture above is the west side of my property boundary. Those leafless oaks are way over a 100 years old. When I am sitting on my front porch, turning my head slightly right, this is what I see, all the time. Beauty, peace. It can, occasionally, be beautiful enough to bring tears to my eyes. Go figure!
Your turn, folks! Make it wild, make it beautiful, make it meaningful!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hi, good morning OtC and y'all
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love the colors of the sky, thanks for sharing it. Kids have magic in their capacity to
learn. Given the best cues, creativity sprouts like Texas weeds
Having a really good relationship with my cabinetmaking tools and associated skills.
Creating a custom cabinet for a client is fun, rewarding and somewhat challenging.
Engaging the customer in the decorative aspects gives them a sense it was built
for them personally. The only trick is to burn lots of propane to get the shop warm
enough build without freezing-up. Got a fire going inside again today to thaw-out.
Good music selections. Haven't seen Lyle play since Boston with Bonnie. Good stuff.
thanks for the OT!
I am trying to come up with words
for them to learn that apply to current events and societal norms. I have come up with bar, ban, brand, blight, blend, barter, boycott, and for some history, Braille. Barometer, boilerplate round out the list. I hope this doesn't inspire them to use the word "boring".
Two of my clients are cabinet makers. They are both very artistic, with one being a musician, the other one a painter.
You people!
Stay warm, friend, and don't get distracted from your work by those dancing flames.
It is going to freeze tonight and tomorrow. Dammit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The barn burned but the bright beasts bailed
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good luck
Your writing class
is paying off, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning...
Lovely sunset. A warm 35 this morning. First AM above freezing in a week. Back into the freezer this weekend, but 60's next week.
Good going inspiring the kids. That's something more people should do.
Have a blast at the concert! Thanks for the OT.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Dear One got out to snap a picture
just in time. It was so lovely, had to share it.
It is only slightly warmer her than your neck of the woods. Thing is, Galveston must be weather jinxed for us. 4 years ago in July, the weather was so hot, there were warnings of flesh eating critters in the hot waters on the beach. Last Christmas, we were there 5 nights, and it was freezing or close to it every single night. This upcoming trip has heavy rains and thunderstorms forecast. Doesn't sound fun to sit in wet clothes for a 3 hour concert, even if it is Lyle!
Have a fantastic weekend, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Morning
Trees resting through winter have their own timeless beauty.
The word project is inspirational. If the concept is to turn the project into a lifelong desire for knowledge and understanding then keep the dollar reward low enough it fits your budget for all 26 letters and maybe beyond. The possibility to be rewarded with a hundred dollars does not come by often for some children.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
I think I will give them $10,
but will strongly suggest they take $1 and donate it to a charity.
It is a $2 project, but that isn't enough to give a donation.
Damn inflation!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc et. y'all - great looking sky and nize
music. Your vocab builder project sounds like a success and fun entertainment too. Calls to mind those books of my youth "100 days to a more powerful vocab" and such.
As retirees, Friday doesn't mean much anymore, especially since we no longer volunteer at places where it still had meaning. In honor of times past, we have made it "cards day"; at least once in the afternoon we will play a game of contract rummy with each other.
Looking forward to finishing packing; traveling light between cool to cold and probably wet/rainy, to seriously windy breezy, to warm and sunny is tricky. Sand/water shoes or sandals or both or neither. If you're a large person, all your garments and gear are also large.
Fun news:
( https://sputnikglobe.com/20240117/scientists-discover-evidence-of-lost-c... ) estimated population 50,000 to 500,000 and a link to source - Quaternary Science Reviews Volume 324, 15 January 2024, 108418 ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379123004663?via%... ) The article is a pleasant read, but the paper in the reviews site is dense and difficult reading.
The South China Morning Post has a "Comment" that I can't read because I don't subscribe, with a terrific and catchy title worth absorbing and pondering: My Take | Why US national security means insecurity for most other countries
Enjoy your trip and your concert
be well and have a good one
Edit: fixed obvious typos
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I totally understand
what it is like to have to wear a heavy coat to the airport to fly out to a tropical country. Takes up gobs of luggage space. Even stranger is to fly out of the tropics carrying that coat you have to don when you land back home.
I am to the point that I know nobody can tell for sure if I am wearing the same clothes all the time. I may take 2 sets of clothes for a 10 day vacay.
The one time I only took one spare pair of shoes, I needed them! I was walking in a hotel, headed to my room, and the heel of my shoe crumbled. I was in China, headed for a riverboat tour that morning. No time to shop.
Of all things, these kids are so caught up with the word project, they spend hours on it after school, skipping tv and games.
I haven't played rummy since I was a teen. Wouldn't know how to do it now. I remember it was intense, and real focus was required.
Rummy nowadays describes someone with a hangover.
Well, I am glad you are going tripping, doing my best not to be jealous, although my "best" is falling short of the mark!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Lol'd at the heavy coat thing, also the unmentioned
ginormous tropical raincoat that covers the body down to the knees while wearing a backpack under it. Also, at this:
Though I still have some antique ex-offico pants, almost all of my shirts, pants and shorts are now from REI and are the REI "Sahara" line, even the stuff I wear at home. I must have 12 identical of a couple of types of shirts (long and short sleeved) and long pants, only a few pair of shorts because all but one pair of pants are zip-offs. Except for when I wear T-shirts around the house it looks like I never change clothes at all even when not traveling. I heard that one younger in-law thought we were poor because "He always wear the same clothes".
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I have a collection of Magellan
fishing shirts, and pants I used for hot days and safaris. I upgraded to Columbia brand years ago. First time I wore a new Columbia pants/shirt outfit, the Tanzania safari guide walked in the lobby wearing the identical outfit. I have filled up a closet with these clothes.
I bought a heavy coat for a winter tour of Croatia. The tour guide came up to me, said, "Nice coat. We match." We did have on the identical coat, The North Face brand.
Last long trip I made to The Hill Country, it was obvious the people I would see at the grocery store or gift shop would never lay eyes on me again. My "uniform" went unnoticed.
Your snotty in-law hasn't seen the price tags on REI clothing, I suppose.
FWIW, fishing shirts for men is what locals wear to business meetings and funerals, as well as to the lake to fish. They tuck the shirt tails in, add a belt to their pants, and they are set.
I always take care to pack clothes that match all the other clothes in the luggage. I mixed them up each day. Fun times!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Interesting article
about the once-lost continent! What else around the globe is waiting to be found?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
One of the most beautiful songs
(non-classical) of my life, and and Dear One is learning to play on the dobro. It is a song of our youth, our lives, me in Texas, he in Illinois:
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981