Back in the saddle again...

After having the flu...yuck! Three days on my back with a body temp 1.5 to 4.1 degrees above normal. No thanks! Next year, its the flu shot for me!


The Deck
The one and only deck I have ever designed and built, photogaphed here during a bright summer day on the Third Coast. 

Good food, cool evening breeze, good conversation, and good company make for a great meal. That is what my wife and I enjoyed tonight as the kids were busy with their own things. We ate on the deck, my first and last as a designer and builder, and watched a full moon peek through the branches of our pine tree, trying to find out what we were doing. Viata-i buna.

a good night's sleep...

...is rarer this days, with the activity in all corners of my life, but I am learning that Poor Richard was right: EARLY to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. OK, I think the latter two attributes were purely for meter and rhyme, but forcing myself to go to bed early makes me feel better in the morning. What a thunder-boomer of an epiphany...yeah, yeah, I'm just too old to push the midnight oil as long as I used to do.

On other notes (no pun intended), Carcassi's Study in A Major is coming along. There are three distinct sections, and they are now memorized. Now I will work on putting them together with the appropriate repeats and dynamics. I need to get back to his Study in A Minor, which is at about the same learning point as well. I think I will add Aguado or a piece by Sor next. My skill levels are not sufficient to tackle any of Tarrega's classics.

The weekend after next I will teach on Jesus and the woman at the well. This was a rich encounter holding many lessons within itself...

the rain continues to fall...

Water, water everywhere! 

The bayous are filling, large puddles everywhere, the ground completely saturated. The weather man says only one more day, then colder weather comes a'calling. Oh well, no topless days for the Jeep on the near horizon, but March is not far away.

Tonight, I watch Kentucky-Florida, and do no extra work. The 2-3 hours in the evening I have been logging takes a toll, eventually. What a fool I would be to work hard and not take the time to enjoy its fruits!

Sinaia, Romania

Walking the streets of Sinaia, Romania in the early Spring of 2004. 

I took this photo with my cell phone while in the ski resort town of Sinaia, Romania, along the Prahova River valley. It was a beautiful day, and the sun and sky were nice, also.

The skies are clearing...

After days and days of rain, it looks like the skies on the Third Coast are clearing. The bayous can now drain a bit, Patterson Road's flooding can subside, and my 'country road in the city' will be restored to my commute...


Patterson Road flooded

The vividness that will be restored in the skies today will not be as great as the vividness revealed in reading and studying Mark 1:40-45 (and the synoptic passages) in the original Greek. The English language seems so 'flat' by comparison, but then again, so is modern Greek. Such things happen to lanquages so long in use and especially those used by so many.

Capricho Arabe seems so out of reach right now; I need to focus on memorizing and sharpening the Carcassi pieces, anyway. Focus, focus, focus...hey, what's that over there?!?!?

;-)

OK, that's bettter

I get so fed up with "power grabbers" and people who try to solve problems by saying "NO!" to every solution offered without coming up with their own solutions. Of such was my "teeing off" last night.

The sun is not yet up, but I am confident it will rise, and the new day will contain a basketful of surprises, some pleasant and others I'd rather do without. Nonetheless, I will give thanks for blessings that sweeten my life, and the difficulties I will try to regard as for my training and ultimate benefit.

I have friends in Nepal who are suffering under a government and revolt gone mad. Freedom is so precious, and I pray that freedom will come to that little nation.

Yahoo! News - Bush Retirement Accounts Plan Dead: Top Democrat

Yahoo! News - Bush Retirement Accounts Plan Dead: Top Democrat: "Reid said none of the 44 Democrats in the Senate would back a plan that diverts Social Security taxes into accounts that workers would invest in stocks and bonds. Opponents argue it would only add to Social Security's financial problems, force big cuts in benefits and add to ballooning budget deficits."

Social Security does not keep up with inflation, even when inflation is 3% per year. It can hardly be called an investment for anyone, its more like a money-pit! The number one problem for those opposed is that monies invested in the private market are not available for siphoning by bureaucrats. The siphoning began in the 60s when it was deemed 'unconstitutional' to have the money sequestered from the general budget. Greedy politicians, whatever happened to statesmen?!?!

Gimme what I pay into this worthless fund, and I'll take my chances with mutual funds anyday! For those under 30, the new plan would double their money at retirement, still not enough that one would do without their own private plan, but at least a real investment!

2005 1/12 gone

How can it be that January has blown past us?!?!?

Congratulations to the Iraqis in their quest for freedom. My best wishes to this interim representative government which will shoulder the responsibility of creating a constitution and new Iraqi government based upon the freedom of conscience desired by everyman.

The guitar awaits in the corner, seeking a little time from me, and maybe Carcassi or Sor...


My Classical Guitar, a Takamine EG522C