myself in jim's imaginary front yard after recent travel marathon. i felt worse than i looked.

watched that wills fellow on the sunday news parade. he pointed out that the "liberals" were engaged in a performative contridiction concerning the money that dean is raising, since they are against mixing money and politics.

this is so goofy i have to comment. people's money is different from corporation money when it comes to what is left of politics. just as an individual's right to free speech was not meant to include a corporation's right to pay the media to spread it's messages. advertising is not "free speech". my contribution to a political candidate is not the same as an institution's.

constitutional law has degraded to the point where an institution or corporation has all the rights guaranteed to a human by the counstitution. only they have massive amounts of cash and outlive us.

found this photo at my dad's house (along with a lot of other visual odds and ends). i took it at tilley creek early 80's, where i lived with my wife and children. tricked it up and printed it on cibachrome. darkroom stuff. ancient past.

i am slowly resetting. right now am looking for camera case, coffee maker, and about 300 pages i printed of ken wilber's latest online stuff.

as far as current events go, they are going going gone. politics is now beside the point. stumbling into iraq totally ignorant of who or what is there has unraveled more or less predictably. the arrogence of our republican leaders who i actually think believe thier pie charts, and the fear of the democrats of going out on a limb and actually saying something about it is self evident. the shennanigans of israel could be stopped cold by the cessation of denial that they are living on land that belongs to someone else, even if god did say it was thiers. assassinations by self-immolation and missles. i recently saw a kid's lunchbox with super ninjas on it. they looked exactly like everyone's idea of terrorists. last night on dateline the story of four middle class american families who were struggling with the loss of everything, homes, jobs, health insurance.

the common denominator in all this is in my humble opinion the fact that institutions as a way of organizing people, profit and fear of no profit as a motivator, no longer work. things change. compassion and altruism have to come into play, i don't care what ayn rand, o'reilly, rush and friends say.

i think i painted this before i left for travel extravaganza.

i've got so many things to say that i've got nothing much to say here.

but here is a taste: have you seen or heard of the woman who wrote "treason" something or another? as i understand it, she is rehabilitating mcarthy and declaring those against the iraq war traitors. the democrats - what's left of them (no pun intended) - are "against america".

talk radio is full of this stuff. to disagree is to be an outlaw.

good to be back home after 25 or so days on the road. i'm exhausted of course.

the picture above is first try at oil-based pastels. don't quite know what to do with them but they sure are portble, easy to schlepp around. i did it at my dad's house in prescott az. his AC was out, but with the judicious use of attic fan and the timely closing and unclosing of windows it was pretty comfortable.

unlike phoenix where i didn't stay too long with sister jane and fred. dropping in on phoenix is a shock, and i really can see no good reason for it's existence. hard to imagine that i was exiled there for ten years.

i'm aiming to move very slow for a week or two - "one thing at a time" - review options, priorities (what options?) and relax.

Vacation Ending
testing, testing.

i"m visiting with Jim c. tonite. last nite at doug & nicole's. NC is another hot place. seems like a summer full, talked a little about Lucius shephard with jim. the nation.

hope to see damien with ninian tomorrow. looking foward to own bed own head.

stick around, fool around, poke around.

i'll be back.

meanwhile a few vacation posts will be found below:

visited sister jane and husband fred a few days ago. took shuttle to phoenix with dad who had an appoinment with VA docs for tuning ear aids or whatever you call them. fred and jane had just returned from cape cod visit with fred's parents.

took shuttle back to prescott next day: air conditioning on shuttle went out, not good, but made it back.

then got call from jane, fred's father ralph who was in hospital unexpectedly passed away. he was a pleasant and good natured soul, may he rest in peace.

they managed to fly back to cape cod yesterday despite east coast blackout.

monday. enjoying stay with dad in prescott altho hotter than hell. semi-rescued one watercolor and am now trying oil pastels which i really like, very portable, just the thing for the road.

blood sugars have really been wacky, maybe from antibiotic i'm taking. split my head open leaving aville, 7 stitches. most ungraceful exit ever. will see fred and sister jane tommorow in phx. they fly in from cape cod. fred's father ralph is in the hospital having a tough time.

words of wisdom? don't have any except "the spirit is received in silence". oh, i experimented with cable tv last nite, spent a few minutes with each channel. (don't have or want this at home). it's all true, "57 channels and nothin's on" as mr. springsteen said awhile back. unbelievable circus of commerce, cliches, warmed over one-liners and fake jewels.

and i think - tho not sure - you are still regarded as an "egghead" in todays world if you don't watch this stuff. over and out.

sitting in the library in prescott az once again. been here (in town, not the library) for a week, seems like either a year or a day. across the street is the house my son eric and i lived in 100 years ago.

nothing much to report except the world is nuts and so am i. it has taken me a week to start very unsatisfactory watercolor - but the next one will be better of course. found some great photos of my grandparents, one of grandpa wyly 9 months old. i'll add these to some kind of cyber album when i get back to the smokies.

i keep remembering gb shaws quote, "growing old is like a shipwreck."

but heard old friend ben jones on the radio this morning which was kind of fun. he sounds well and is still quick on the draw with a quip. gotta go now, trying to research air conditioning for dad whose system flaked out.

expect to see son eric next sunday for a few days, he's driving from sunnyvale ca to flagstaff straight through, spending the night with friends and then on to here.

prescott has changed just like anywhere, tibetan bookstore down the street, new age all the rage.