Potpourri

Last week I entered a photo in one of the weekly contests on the Pentax Forum. The theme that week was to put a photo to song lyrics. There are many people with a lot more talent and ability than I in the photographic arts and I love looking at their pictures. They give me inspiration to go out and try to find and create something memorable that says those thousand words a picture should. Sometimes I get inspired in a "different" way. You can imagine pictures to go to "The Wind Beneath My Wings", or "New York, New York", but my mind went elsewhere. On the way to work I stopped by the Municipal Campground/Rec Park and took some photos.  The song that I remembered was "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, but I remember it like this:

Don't go out tonight
Well, it's bound to take your life.
There's a bathroom on the right.

I won the humor award.

Then I went to work. We don't have cubicle farms in small towns, but more homey kinds of settings. This is my office. At least the roof doesn't leak. Here is my desk and a typical lunch.

I can tell by your ooohs and aaahhs that you are impressed with my extravagant executive style and exquisite taste in decor. And you all thought I was just another country bumpkin! Guess I showed you how impotent
important I am! At least it is a lot like family as most of us (out of 8) have worked together for the last fifteen or twenty years.

Recently our first batch of barn swallows fledged. We may get three batches this year with the early start. Here they are outside the barn with mom and dad keeping an eye on them. They remind me of Moe, Larry, and Curly, but with parents that aren't ashamed of them yet.

And now for something completely different. About a week ago we heard from our friend Andie that her former supervisor, with whom she worked closely, was accused of (or maybe it was charged with) murdering his third wife. At about that same time my brother told me a five year old child was shot and killed across the street from where he lived until last August. It appears as though our world hasn't changed much. I am very glad both Andie and my brother literally dodged that bullet. I would be happy to build them each a small house on the farm where they could get away from that world. Better yet, here's one just up the street a short distance that some might consider a fixer upper. It could use a little TLC and maybe a roof.

The good thing was that Andie called and the Cooker and Stitch were out doing other things. I had her conversation all to myself, although there was a message to convey. In the words of Chief Dan George, "My heart soars like a hawk".  Good to know it can still react that way.

Here is a place on the deck that we use for reading or just marking the passage of time. A little respite from the world outside.

 Always remember and never forget that "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas."