a little something from a pleasant visit at tom and erin's yesterday. today is dedicated housecleaning in progress.

astrological comment on my day today:

But even your most direct approach could get lost in your foggy mental landscape. Your friends might believe that you are being contentious now, but you're not. Remember, you can still play well with others even if you're marching to a different drummer.

lost in the woods again. a spell of not feeling so hot but pushed by a number of "must be done" things. no observations of note. no direction home. 

Incredibly, impossibly beautiful time lapse video | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

beautiful time lapse set in canary islands. this set my monkey mind into motion, thinking how artifice today captures what our experience rarely can.

Incredibly, impossibly beautiful time lapse video | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

little something i did yesterday. today i got a thumbs up from eye doc, see him again in 2 weeks and hope to get glasses of some sort at that point. he said i could drive to chatham county to see children and grandchildren so i will, working on place to stay etc at the moment.

2nd acrylic i've done. on gessoed watercolor paper, as usual i made the composition up.

first picture i took - this morning - with new eyes which i still can't read with. big deal.

went to doc yesterday for check up on eye, but appt is today so i'll do it again. another big blow in the wind. mike and marilyn arrived safely at john and bev's yesterday. i hope to drive up there this afternoon but not in the middle of thunderstorm w/ dilated eyes,

"After the gig, if your recording is in digital format, be sure to back it up onto a separate hard drive, and burn a CD or DVD for good measure. “Remember the rule of digital,” says Winger. “If it doesn’t exist in three separate places, then it doesn’t exist."

Recording Your Live Gig, Pt. 1: 8 tips to get the most out of your live recording — Echoes - Insight for Independent Artists:

'nother day 'nother doller. doc appt at ten checkup on left eye, so far so good. survival errands this morning - groceries, laundry. yellow ink for printer.

feel above the fray; or more likely deep down within it, embedded, riding it out.

socio- political- cultural not to mention karmic weather felt but not known. are you used yet to uneasiness?

day at a time, and a lifetime a minute.

watched loose change last night, fell asleep halfway through.

went to earthday sat afternoon in the sub-luner city of asheville NC. first time since last summer i browsed downtown. stuck around till 6:39 for the lee boys, a sacred steel outfit. first time i had actually watched a lap steel professional, or for that matter anyone play the instrument, which i have been playing with for a year or so. amazing.

i couldn't not dance to this stuff, but did manage to get a short clip of a warm down and dirty bunch of tight musicians which can be viewed here.

earthday. after chores, living maintenance, dishes and so on, or maybe even before believe i'll wonder down to pack square for the festivities. probably not for long, just the time it takes to scatter my leaflets which read "fear = collaboration". around 6 there will be a set by the lee boys, a sacred steel outfit that is a must hear for me - and there aren't many of those around.

got new lens implant tuesday for left eye, right eye scheduled for april 26, some point after will get new glasses and get out of dodge. feel urgent need to talk with someone who between us think we know each other

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"