picture from sunday's stroll in craggy garden's area. in an hour plus i'll be on my way to have new lens implanted in left eye. i guess i'll get ready now.

northern lights video from new scientist:

http://bcove.me/e7pq2xsj

took a hike up craggy gardens road off parkway yesterday with camera. the road was closed for some reason. i walked at a pretty fast clip and when i'd had enough stopped and took a bunch of photos in RAW format, this is one of them after processing. gonna have to learn more about this mode.

tomorrow i go in for the first of 2 lens implants for cataracts. hope i can see better in a month or so. when i got back living module was way too hot since i had not been here to work the windows as you do in the mountains to preserve cool night air and avoid hot afternoon air. it occurred to me - and i'm guessing - that i would be somewhat limited after surgery lifting and manipulating heavy stuff so i dragged out AC and installed in window,  2 window fans that push/pull air depending on time of day. this morning will spend a little time shoving things around and securing them in pseudo-camper and that's it.

this morning's astro-cryptology:

so take whatever time is needed to talk about your current frustrations. You might find yourself in the middle of a serious conflict if you don't adopt a proactive approach first.

and i say i'd love to.

spring has sprung, the sap is rising, the years come and go like old friends, the tangle of existence flows like the endless breeze from a sky we've never seen.

so what else is new?

idea for bumper sticker - or billboard:

government of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%

AKA the Criminal Overworld

the great american novel, circa 2011.

i have been attempting to stop this blog for a couple of years now but it just keeps rolling on. now i am wondering if some of my cohorts would like to jump in, make it more of a communal thing with emphasis on the geezers from long ago who have so far survived and are surrounded, like myself, by a world we never made.

although maybe we did?

beautiful day, nice walk an appalachian trail.

took this momento on a walk today. cold, freeze tonight, but a glorious day, continued to fumble on with a few projects. guess i mentioned already how the month of april has suddenly transformed itself into a month of cataract activity, don't know how i can work things out to be in a couple or three places not in this place. but april is the month when thoughts turn to pilgrimages, no?

Fears meltdown has begun as radiation spreads - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Fears meltdown has begun as radiation spreads - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

"Meanwhile, IAEA head of nuclear safety and security Denis Flory says he has heard there might be 'recriticality' at the Fukushima plant, in which a nuclear chain reaction would resume, even though the reactors were automatically shut down at the time of the quake.

He says this could lead to more radiation releases but it would not be 'the end of the world'.

'Recriticality does not mean that the reactor is going to blow up,' he said.

'It may be something really local. We might not even see it if it happens.'"

last nite a very bad nite, bleeding into today. weird sleep, hot flashes, chills.

if i can find a thermometer i might take my temperature.

plan to see john r. and bev this afternoon.

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- 1000fps with an 800mm lens

check this out, a wonderful use of digital image technology.

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- 1000fps with an 800mm lens

another version of a picture i've had kicking around for awhile. after 25 years of using photoshop i am still awed by it's depth.

watched the first basketball game i've seen in a  year or so yesterday. good game. around here there is no question that one roots for UNC and they put up an extremely good fight against kentucky which if they keep playing like they did yesterday are unbeatable.

this morning's manifestation. when i woke up i thought it was monday. guess i'll try to catch UNC game now that it is reaching penultimate p0hase.

acrylic, i think the 2nd i painted, finished late last year?

this morning a little on the overcast chilly side. a stay inside day; like to have new image display and music page done by the end of the day. as well as wash sweaters, fid prescription for glasses (old - most recent - pair of glasses fell apart last week.

ho-hum. nice day for a walk. or talk. dancing would be nice but i hung up my dancin' shoes. a good book? motorcycle trip?

i guess i'll just look for lost objects.

yesterday's front yard. shot RAW and played with it.

then the wind and clouds and rain moved in. this morning cold.

still trying to discombobulate pc running xp. right now no audio recording, could be fixed i think by downloading and installing asio4all, but downloading anything doesn't work. wasting way more time than i got with this thing. other solutions necessary.

been flat as a pancake recently. low energy. i do persist in plodding along though, no will power involved, just a habit. make what you will out of today's cryptogram (above), i can't. have a prototype music page begun, you can check it out  here.

neat. i've been trying to figure out a better way to present my music. course i've lost most of it with external hard drive blow out.

8.25 Rendered by modernPeasant

another shot from the mountain saturday. i had thought to drive to chapel hill this week but am thinking now of getting myself in working order first.  after that maybe i hope trip to meher center and hit chatham county on the way back.

taken yesterday. really pleasant equinox - or was it solstice? - potluck yesterday, lots of beautiful children, music around the fire, and supermoon. hard to beat.

supermoon. that's what did it what ever it did. still around. going to charlie and myria's hilltop today for theequinox, potluck, children, firecircle, amps set up, play music. i've decoded to include in this post a lengthy article ffowarded from macon whereever he is that may be of some interest:

my favorite niece anne. will spend today very precisely and methidically packing for overnight equinox camping. weather is perfect.

now for something completely different. my 3rd attempt at acrylic, in progress, really doing nothing but seeing what the paint does. believe it will change bigtime but i'm putting it away for now.

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."