randuwa

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Andrea Palladio: Teatro Olimpico

Andrea Palladio: Villa Godi Valmarana

Monday, October 22, 2012

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ October 21 to October 27th

One addendum: Robert Rauschenberg died in 2008...

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Food Fact

Here's an interesting food fact: Out of the estimated 30,000 types of edible plants thought to exist on earth, only 11 (corn, rice wheat, potatoes, sorghum, cassava, millet, beans, barley, rye and oats) account for 93% of all that human's eat. And every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors (source: "At Home" by Bill Bryson

Monday, October 15, 2012

The D & S Road Show!

From October of 2011 to August of 2012, my longtime friends Dona & Steven have chosen the life of itinerant nurses and have left over two decades of life in southern Ohio to live across the western united states. From Las Vegas and Reno to Seattle and Escondido, they are giving me the vicarious pleasure of joining their adventure via post cards. And I share them now with you!

Rights versus Wants

Sunday, October 14, 2012

My Life Snapshot: 13 OCT 12

I ran by Behnke's Nursery this afternoon to grab something for a little project that I've been contemplating. I was next in line at the only cashier open--it was about 4:30 pm and the place was pretty dead. Then a cute young man wearing the Behnke's red t-shirt came into the check out area after loading another customer's plants and beaconed me over to a second register that he was going to open. He was lanky, not very tall, and all of 18 (maybe) with a great shaggy head of dirty blond hair and one of those soul patch tufts under his bottom lip. He was pleasant in a hyper non-chalant "cool kid" fashion, and he sort of mumbled his words the way teenagers seem always to do when on their own in the presence of unfamiliar adults. Once totaled, I swiped my debit card, and he asked me to sign my name on the electronic pad. After finishing, he suddenly became more animated and said in a cheery up-beat voice, "Hey, you have a great signature. It's nicer than most of the wo.....um, other people, who shop here." It was all I could do to keep from bursting out in a laugh. I met is suddenly sheepish expression with a mischievous grin, and said, "I get that from my dad." The slightest of pauses and then he smiled, too, and said, "Thank you, sir."

My Life: Snapshot 10 OCT 12

"Never forget to be hospitable, for by hospitality some have entertained angels unawares." ~ The Letter to the Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2.

There was a knock on my door this evening around 8 PM. It was dark out, and when I opened the door I encountered a black man of indiscernible age. He spoke his way through a rather eloquent well-rehearse and rote speech about standing up on his own two feet, not seeking a handout, participating in an organization that was helping him to make a better life for himself. I was careful to make certain that in the dark he was, in fact, alone while trying to be fully engaged in his pitch--his presence. The bottom line for him was his sale of magazines. The bottom line for me is that I just don't buy anything from anyone selling at my door. In the process of his sharing, he asked me to help him understand how I have overcome adversity in my life... I was dumbstruck. Here I am this fortunate man. I have a job I love. I have never wanted for any necessity in my entire life. I've never been hungry one night in my entire life. And I've never worried about any of it. I've often felt odd in that I am aware just how much I take my comforts, modest as they are, for granted. Yet in this moment, I could find no purposeful wisdom in my amiable experiences. Sensing my trouble in answering his question, he gently offered how his parents were drug addicts who died when he was just a kid. And then to further help me he mentioned that he was from Memphis originally and that meant he had to learn to speak properly. Suppressing a sudden desire to cry, I told him that I honestly had never faced a real hardship in my life, but that I had always worked hard, and whenever I met anyone who spoke negatively to me, I didn't believe what they said. I told him to ignore people who told him negative things... Then I stepped out onto my little porch and shook his hand and told him that he had done very well in presenting himself. He smiled so sincerely, and thanked me for my time.... like my time is worth anything.

Behold, Byootepol!

The newest member of my acquarium is this male Beta. I'm sure that you will agree with me that he is amazingly beautiful--or as my Vietnamese friend would pronounce it: Byootepol. Beta's are native to the Indochina region of Southeastern Asia (which includes Vietnam), and SO I have named him "Byootepol". He is thus far very shy and can't seem to take himself away from the water wisteria portion of the upland "forest" third of the tank. His coloring is like that of an Opal--like Byoote-Opal!