A moss-covered stone wall becomes a lesson about
man and nature living together in perfect harmony.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Clouds and Landscapes
Walking, bright summer days, potentially rainy afternoons,
thunder clouds, the sky above, and the land underneath.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Crazy Ass Sugar High
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| Time to "power up" with cereal crack! |
Lately I've been buying cereal when it's on sale, because I'm on a tight budget. I haven't eaten it regularly for many, many years, not even during my broke college days, because it was way more expensive than other simple foods, like eggs, bread, cheese, butter, and milk.
But recently I've been buying a small box when it's on sale for $1.99, and it contains ingredients I can easily pronounce. So, I've been sitting at a table in the morning, looking at a box decorated for kid's, while I eat from a bowl filled with milk and cereal, just like in childhood.
Of course I noticed right away the wild colors, designs, and graphics. It's hard not to, and that's the point. Art for children, as it relates to impulse buys in a grocery store by the continued, tearful haranguing at a harried parent by an impatient, cranky toddler, has to be as instantly addictive as its' highly sugared contents. Marketing to children despite their best interests is a hard dance at that, too.
Cigarette manufacturers learned the hard way: Joe Camel was rendered too kid-friendly, as was the brightly colored promotional material posted child high at stores, to catch their lowered eye heights and attention spans. I recently interacted with a very young couple's child, and as I watched her bounce frenetically from thing to another without absorbing any of it, I knew her diet was part of the problem.
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| This is your kids' brain on legal drugs. Enjoy! |
And so it was: a few days later, another neighbor, who acts as a sometimes surrogate parent and free babysitter, came over to tell me that the little girl was being weaned off sugar because of her hyperactivity, which was obvious to observe. She was running at full, frenetic speed well after 9:30 p.m. at night, a time period when I would have been so sleepy as a kid, I would not have been able to keep my eyes open, even if I wanted to. She was that wound up.
We know now that the highly processed and refined sugars add to an enormous list of health problems for people, but here's the missing part of the puzzle that's more hidden and actively suppressed by food and beverage companies through their lobbyists in Washington, the ones who cater to, and pay off, FDA officials: a growing link between certain foods and their negative impact upon our brains, (which are part of our bodies), and if not addressed quickly, develop into long-term (and incurable) mental illness. That hyperactive douche bag sales rep who pounds coffee crack all day from the nearest chain store, regularly snapping out inappropriately at meetings and passive-aggressively via email? He was the crazy kid next door who tried to bite you on the arm all the time, now grown up and working in your office. Stay safe.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Warrior in Disguise: The Shield Bug
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| Holy sh#t!! What is that?! It's massive, man... |
At first I thought this prime specimen was a big tick that thankfully
died it's last days on the porch, (I had a bout with bad sickness during college because of a tick bite, but more on that some other time), because of the flatness that's typically associated with the bug.
But it had these large wings that had settled askew and out from
the body, with colors that just didn't add up to a regular ole tick.
I got a piece of wood from a bamboo stalk that I had I cut down with my trusty pen knife on my key chain, during another one of my walks around town on a hot, lazy afternoon that had revealed a stand of thick, hearty bamboo grown by a homeowner to obscure their backyard from a parking lot in town, and then I did when any self-respecting country person would do: I flipped that bitch over to get a closer look at it.
Wow! I'd never seen markings like these before, and now I know why: the shield bug feeds only on certain types of trees and wood, the kind that's preferably been cured through time and the rain of many humid summers. I hope it took out some mighty foes before dying flat on it's back, like a true warrior would want.
To learn more, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatomoidea.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Bart Discovers MMA
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| Forgotten at school, again. |
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| "Where's your brother?" |
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| Uh oh. Police Mom Marge is here. |
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| Bart's caught fighting in the playground... |
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| ...with Homer's support. Ooops. |
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| So Marge takes on the head of a fight league in order to protest violence, and its effect on kids... |
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| ...and kicks his ass. Margie likey! |
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| But, what effect does it have on little Lisa and her brother Bart? |
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| A new generation of fighters! Tune in to the very end to see who wins. |
Dedicated to me and my bro Bernie, fighting since we were babies in the late 60s, now celebrating a great sport that finally matches the dreams (and scuffles) of our youth. Special "shout out" to all you "crazy" kids and silly, little dreamers. Here. We. Go.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Wild Calico Kitty
At the beginning of the summer, I saw two little kitties wandering around the basement of a white house, on a street I always walk down. One was black and white, and the other calico. I still see them occasionally during the daytime, but they're a lot better at hiding from prying human eyes, which makes them really hard to spot.
Sometimes I wonder if they live in one of the big, old houses on the block, so they can be tended to by one of the kindly retirees who like to garden, maybe leaving them saucers of milk outside by the back door, but I also like the idea of them running around town as a kitty dynamic duo, killing small birds, chipmunks, and other small animals that burrow in among the wood piles. Fare thee well, hunter.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
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