best i could do this morning. i'm flat as a pancake.

rainy chilly morning. not much to say. got midi working on pc soundcard conundrum, but still no audio recording.

today's jumble. i am suddenly hit with the realization (again) that now is the time to get out and about as old lady cantabury used to say. this coming saturday is equinox potluck at charlie and moriya's and probably camp out in truck, tent or yurt. so the week is dedicated to getting ready to do this which i'm not. assembling gear and supplies, stowing them neatly and so forth. seriously thinking of driving to the Mehr Center next week and then coming back via the triangle.

nice ride yesterday, beautifuearly spring day, a real change from earlier in the week when it was the tail end i hope of a not awful winter, but damp and chilly. courtesy of richard we rode to chataloochie, took a few strolls, visited some camp sites on big creek that were really attractive this time of the year, not congested at all, the gray and pale brown ambience full of air not leaves, gleams and glows of moss. big creek was up and i noticed more backwards running standing waves then i ever have, all miniature. now i have to make something of ths second fair weather day, a long walk seems in order.

was going to cataloochie but very wintery out, trip postponed. puttering today: work on a new music page, an acrylic, clean truck interior, get rid of a lot of books and watercolor magazines, a trip to the pharmacy, and find a few missing objects.

broke a hard drive this afternoon. can't face the results at the moment.

picture a day keeps the doctor away. since recovering from flu and brochitus i've been slowly resetting. trying to keep house in order. projects sputtering along: large acrylic painting my 3rd i think; attempting to reorganize image gallery, new music page instead of links scattered over the web. been dinkin' with PC, attempting to get it back to the place where i can record and edit music. ho-hum.

#

ScienceShot: Snails on Speed - ScienceNOW

ScienceShot: Snails on Speed - ScienceNOW:

"Talk about an oxymoron: A snail on speed."

Are We in the Middle of a Sixth Mass Extinction? - ScienceNOW

Are We in the Middle of a Sixth Mass Extinction? - ScienceNOW:

"Earth's creatures are on the brink of a sixth mass extinction, comparable to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs."

i feel like quoting somebody or posting a link that expresses some notion, whether it makes sense or not. anyway ho0w would i know if it did or not? mumble babble cough gasp maybe i'll feel different sometime.

Sistine Chapel

a real treat

hi-rez visit to the

Sistine Chapel

i don't know, maybe i should be all over the "snooze" - my neologism for "news" - but all i seem to do is pictures, images, imagination overwhelms the quotidian. it is the quotidian. 

it may be because i am recovering from one-two punch of flu > bronchitis but i think that is a side issue. i think it is because words fail me.

not much going on except the sickest i've been in awhile.

very slowly getting together with now. still sniffling, caughing gasping hope i'm on the mend. above is the first picture i've done since my confusing return. camera found, on the way here, hope it has some pictures left in it. now it's time to hop in truck and get something going.

my birthday today: 70 years old.

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.

- Madeleine L'Engle

granddaughter natalie found at youtube as usual forget when i did it.

in prescott visiting dad who just celebrated 92nd birthday by bouncing back nicely from very bad fall over xmas. getting here was a slog, left asheville morning temp was 4 degrees i think. pleasant visit with old friends in triangle, pleasant fight to phoenix altho i seem to have lost lower dentures on plane. more than anything i appreciate the early morning and evening air in mile high phoenix which is like... well, a breath of fresh air.

got driver's license renewed for 8 more years before i left which was a little dicey but the force was with me. now if there was just somewhere left to drive to drive to.

ok i give up ignore former terminal post. when and a big if i can put this thing away in for example the way back machine or whatever, i'll stop. but it occurs to me that posting something, even if it's drivel, has become a deep habit so i'll deal w/ it later. took the picture above out kitchen window a day or two ago.

this blog is terminated, seems like a good time to do it, new year & all.

a brief history: started it long ago, learned to write each morning off the top of my head, heavy into politics and culture during the bush years, wars for profit etc., gradually lost interest in this domain after working for obama's election, began to concentrate more and more on creating pictures, music, animation while simultaneously losing the ability to type much on account of arthritic right thumb, to the point where i was only putting up a jpg a day and a link or two.

the archives will remain online. i'll start another blog soon, this one minimal with the occasional posting, advise RSS feed so you will know. meanwhile modernpeasant.com will continue, new and improved.

pretty slick (and easy) random moderpeasant photo sampler

DropMocks

Watch a meteor shower tonight in Asheville area | citizen-times.com | Asheville Citizen-Times: "Watch a meteor shower tonight"

last year. no the year this is the last day of. this is the path i am walking in my dreams.

interesting shot: it was way underexposed. i used brightness adjustment, converted it to 32 bit, then back to 16 bit and used adaptive to tone map it.

as i am sure i have said before it keeps me off the streets. so did the ice and wind and cold. 

sun is out now, i've dug out the truck, can probably make it out after another hour of sun. run some overdue errands. 

in the last two days i've helped push 4 or 5 vehicals over a tiny rise in the road that stops a lot of folks.

a shot from yesterday, i didn't take many, it was pretty cold.

still is.

yesterday, christmas, outside my front door. spent the day alone, cleaning stuff, working on a few movies, and a cd that popped out of nowhere when i looked at some recording and mixing i'd done during this month. attempted to work with air dried clay, my 2nd attempt, did not turn out as i planned. phones were inoperable most of the day. today plan to keep on keeping on.

good morning, good month, good year, good era, good to know you. suggested bumper sticker for next year, from xmas advice given to me by neighbor kathy:

have fun with other people

never can quite keep straight in my mind which is the solstice, but if it was last night i spent it in a yurt at my 3rd cousin myria's and charlies. almost balmy weather, especially compared to the cold spell of last month, week, whenever it was. expect to be here christmas day, ruminating, brooding, meditating, stepping out of the picture frame, or maybe jnust taking a break.

What's wrong with the sun? - space - 14 June 2010 - New Scientist

What's wrong with the sun? - space - 14 June 2010 - New Scientist: "What's wrong with the sun?"

New Scientist TV: Going global: Watch how solar eruptions are connected

New Scientist TV: Going global: Watch how solar eruptions are connected: "Until now it hasn't been possible to prove a link between numerous events of solar activity, although the idea that they are linked somehow has been around for decades. To come to their conclusions, the team studied data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO spacecraft, and plotted the events they saw on a map of the sun's magnetic fields"

things to do after christmas: shop drop & slop. transformation or bust. head for higher ground. learn sanskrit.

i'm not a big christmas person, considering it mainly another commercial enterprise, it's dubious sole value being a kind of test. today my printer broke and i switched to a back up, swapping ink cartridges etc. two trips to staple's, because i have the habit of making christmas cards and as in past years was running late. the radio said it was two degrees around 4 o'clock, and all in all it resembled late january in a lot of ways. i'd like to say something about the obsessiveness that drive's a day like today but really don't know what to say except the occasional bouts i experience on some projects leaves a real mess behind.

monday morning, an icon for the winter. heard sometime last night, or maybe dreamt it, no matter where you live in the USA you don't go outdoors for 2 - 3 months, either summer or winter. today i am not going outdoors. doctor's appt. at 11 :30, but doubtful i'll make it. nothing pressing except life which includes some sort of xmas card to make and mail. on the up side, i struggled into town sat. to buy long underwear, first pair i've needed since the 80's when i lived in higher mountains and wood heat, but neo-old age finally changed that. sat nite saw a few old friends, a quiet bunch for the most part, unlike years way passed.

grandaughter natalie. last week in chapel hill. here in asheville we're not snowed in. yet. but pretty cold.

just got back from the triangle no not bermuda visited with children grandchildren & friends. while i was there my old friend jeff sloan died from non-hodgkin's lymphoma last sat. nite/sunday morning.  i'm still in shock.

 my dad is doing well after a fall that onto concrete over the holidays. my sister drove him back from phoenix to prescott straight to doc where stitches were removed. has a bruise slowly descending from hips to feet and can't get around easily. i'm thankful that sister jane is with him i hope for a few more days.

was surprised to find yesterday that he was being set up w/ a wireless and skype, an undertaking that must have been started earlier because ISP was already established and spoke w/ jane vis skype while i was scurrying around getting ready to head east this morning. a very knowledgeable neighbor is helping him set this thing up who apparently works with older folks regularly and may make all the difference in the world. i expect and hope he approches this new trick for old dog incrementally, he has a lot of healing to do before he wades in. potential problems are eyesight - bigger 2nd monitor? - and hearing - he has a gadget that transmits tv audio to headphones, something like that? - but all in good time.

i am ready to load truck and vamoose, realistically speaking should be on the road 10:30 or 11, puts me at jim's @ 2:30, nicol's later when she gets back from work. will email right before i leave.

packing today, cleaning up, hit the road (briefly) early tomorrow.

Get Better At Math By Disrupting Your Brain: Scientific American:
 "If the brain functions by optimizing behavior, it might be possible to worsen numerical competence by disrupting parietal function, but it should not be possible to enhance it that way."

had a very pleasant xgiving w/ richard debbie tom erin. spectacular easy walk. black friday at home, snug, evening visions. sat i discovered that there was no heat, and as the day grew darker and colder with the help of dave established some mechanical malfunction (you could hear it click and clack) (it's natural gas.) anyway it's fixed and i hope i can - finally - get to chatham county for a visit. 

another one from the archives believe it was shot in RAW format. had a spectacular black friday ensconced at home talking to dreams. today and tomorrow bustling around preparing for trip to chapel hill monday. reworking my online presence beginning with picture gallery, got lots of new ones, but it's proving to involve a bit too many tweaks so will not be up until i get back.

nicely written piece by a subject of study. it is  encouraging that that this domain is beginning to be taken as legitimate material by the scientific, medical and academic institutions:

High Light: When a Psilocybin Study Leads to Spiritual Realization: Scientific American

one of the longest string of beautiful days i can remember. of course i can't remember much.

haven't got in it though, except for quick steps ou the door. took the above shot yesterday across the street.

i used to feel frustrated at not being outdoors. still do i guess. but i've been busy puttering inside, still groping my way towards the state where i can quickly locate anything in the house and use it without stumbling around wondering what happened to it.

veteran's day somewhere near south toe river, nc

much to do about nothing list from sunday.

‘Infinity of Nations’ - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

the good, the true, the beautiful

‘Infinity of Nations’ - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Aquarius

By Rick Levine

Your key planet Uranus will keep you excited all day today, even if you have unexciting responsibilities to handle. The most mundane tasks can become fun if you change your perspective. Being focused helps you to get your work out of the way quickly so you have time to expand your horizons pursuing other interests that bring you even more satisfaction.


perspective
True understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion

first pass at grand-daughter natalie's photo. gotta warm it up.

picture taken this morning at charlie and myria's.

heard the first christmas jingle of the year this week on the radio.

i think i will begin to insert these daily pix on facebook. why not. i have repaired camera in hand after missing out on fall color, but may get some today when i visit myria and charlie in hendersonville. cousin bob & susie flew in yesterday to visit them and new grandson.

Right Wing Radio Duck

thanks and a tip of the hat to scrutiny hooligans.

take a look. BBC video.

coming soon: got my dropped camera back after 4 weeks in the shop, so look out there will be a freshly taken visual soon in this space.

rainy this morning, nice. today is my big push to organize all papers, manuals, billz, i put up a painting station, building up an appetite for large acrylics, still modifying or thinking about modifying pc system so all audio outputs thru soundcard, get packages together to send, working on end of life paperwork - ie DNR stuff. by end of week intention is to have this stuff done and move on.

Tibetans in China Protest Plans to Curb Their Language - NYTimes.com:

"Thousands of Tibetan students in western China have protested since Tuesday against proposals to curb or eliminate the use of the Tibetan language in local schools, according to reports from Tibet advocacy groups and photographs and video of the protests circulating on the Internet."

the known effects of an indigenous language disappearing include the disappearance of worlds inhabited by the speakers. if one considers world-view to determine or equal the experienced reality of that world.

i believe that a similar loss is occurring to the world that i was born in. the language and the world that fit so snugly within it has become a liquid circus of morphing meanings, and the multiple choice discourse we are the result of a language being lost.

held my nose and voted yesterday. today is massive cleanup day, find manuals etc i need, try and figure out how to use new throwaway fone i bought to replace broken cell, finish fixing audio input output so i can get back to mixing music on computer and on and on and on. at some point get around to fixing online portfolio which is about a year out of date.

spent the last two days in and out of town taking care of this & that. voted.

this "world" truly a black swan. no-one knows. mad scramble to oblivion.

there were many books written about indigenous people's losing their language and the consequent loss of the world they previously inhabited. i and you are in a similar position today. hard to express, but something is gone.

got back to aville sat nite, uneventful trip full of surprises, too quick, too much, not enough, but good to briefly see friends, children and grandchildren. at this point in our story when the lights are blazing nonsense and the density of foibles are sinking the ship, nostalgia is beside the point. give to your friends the love you have left and leave yourself behind.

i hope i get my camera back soon, and i very much have respect for mr. n. young's latest, le noise, which says more to me than the last 12 months of ny times combined. i'll spend this week chasing my tale as usual, reluctantly tangling with audio on PC and maybe work in some groceries.

work in progress aren't we all

leaving for chapel hill and environs this morning. my horoscope looks good. the first bird of dawn flew infront of my heading to the right, so the roman auguries appear favorable. i'll post here when i can. should be back later in the week.

Too much physical energy can be difficult to handle today, but it also may be exactly what you need to get the job done. You have natural reserves of willpower that you can draw on when you need them. However, you could be too aggressive in a situation that doesn't actually require much force. Knowing when to lighten up can be your greatest strength now.

By Rick Levine

leaving in the morning for the flatlands. i'll try and leave early, say 8 AM, which would put me stopping at jim's about 1 PM. if as history has clearly shown i get out by 12 noon i'll stop same place around 4. then on to nicole's which is nearby. after that don't have a clue.

pic done this morning just to see if i could still do one. been busy winterizing house, ramping up for short trip to triangle. finally quit netflix, never did watch breathless. looking forward to viewing mint julep, small independent film done by kathy fehl and friends.

something to see (and hear):