There is no path to peace, peace is the path
- Mahatma Gandhi


Maybe just my imagination, but it seems prices have been jacked up then the item put on sale back down to the original price. Could be wrong. I have a standing wish list on Amazon so that I can combine items for free shipping. When I went to add items to the holiday shopping from the regular wish list, I think the prices went up. Since I am not in any hurry, I will wait until after the crazy winds down and check the prices again. I think AC Moore did it with their frames. I buy a lot of frames and it seems to me that the prices were up on them too. Again, not in a hurry so I will wait and see. They are big on the 50% off “one item not on sale” coupon. The only problem is pretty much everything is “on sale”. Everything except the epoxy acrylic which is mondo expensive. I have a lot of that though. It seems to be the one item they neglect to put on sale.

I must have a target painted on my ass or something. I was in Wegman’s today, a total zoo at 10am, and a woman rammed me with a cart. That hurt. I wonder do these people drive a car, and if so, I’d like to know which one so I can steer clear. Another woman crashed her cart into my cart, but at least I was not attached to it at the time. Speaking of cars, HRH told me a tractor trailer ran her off the road, or did not let her merge even though she was up to speed. Thing is, since she use to work for a shipping company, she knows this particular freight service and told me her ex company use to farm work out to them from time to time. She said if any of her company’s drivers did that, they would have found themselves reamed a new ass hole. I asked her if she called the police, but she said she hadn’t but might do something even more effective and call the freight company, or have one of her ex coworkers call since she has the truck number, time of day, date and route. She had the baby in the back. There are a lot of people in line to take this guy apart. I know it is stressful, but if you are a professional driver, you have got to do better dealing with the stupid civilians.

I think I have finished the shopping. Or I should clarify and say I have done as much as I am going to. If I missed anything, I will have to compensate with cash…the gift that goes with everything. Years ago, someone in the family gave himself’s parents a gift card. They were so insulted that whoever (it wasn’t me), would not go through the trouble of shopping for them. They are over that now. I think they were broken of it by daughters in law who returned the gifts given to them…see, it is not that easy to buy for someone else. I have trouble with picking things for my own kids. Have narrowed it down to an item and cash. Minimizes the error rate. Even with HRH, I agonize over the item. I can fairly infallibly pick jewelry, and shoes, but that is about it. So, if you are reading this, and are on “Santa’s “ shopping list….i did my best and won’t be offended at all if you want to return it.

Think I may go soak my hip. The doctor is not going to believe this happened a second time. Maybe I should make up a story.







"You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarrassment, or denial."
-Chogyam Trungpa


Raise the Chi



********************************************



May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

-Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)







******************************


Some mighty fine jewelry made by a friend of mine. Check her out. Support local artisans
[link]


******************************




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Many thanks and appreciation to for allowing fellow devs the use of her templets for css.

There is no path to peace, peace is the path
- Mahatma Gandhi


I think I may have had my last session with the shrink yesterday, kissed her goodbye, metaphorically speaking. I am now off meds and while things are shaky, I have hope. I may wind up back there in a few months, but until then, mother’s little helper has been packed away. Now therapy is a different story. I don’t see an end to that any time soon. The one thing I will say about life, and being a parent in particular; other people’s problems seem to flow into my life. I need to cope better for while detachment is one method, it is probably not the better way.

I got an email from himself’s sibling talking about a gift for the old ones. Um…this is the 22nd of December. I think their family motto is “never do today what you can possibly put off until tomorrow”. I had already gotten them something, but I suppose I can return it if they want to do a group gift. *sigh*

MG will be coming home tomorrow for the holidays. How long he stays is anyone’s guess including MG’s. I guess I should get some food in the house, at least a couple days worth.

I am feeling a little inadequate these days. Mostly it is from personal issues, then there is that damn photo club to which I belong. I had a question about something and when I noted them, they responded with a link to one of the 6 million journal entries they have up, asking me if I had read it. Well, no I had not. When I get 2 or 3 journal entries from one club in a day, I tend to delete them or at best, skim them. Most of the time they seem to be busy patting themselves on the back about all of their members who get DDs. They have taken to awarding their own group DD’s. I do look at the submissions, but have come to realize that my style of photography does not come close to what they want and I will never gain their approval. Himself asks me why that bothers me and that is a damn good question because when I look at their gallery, there is a certain monotony of style. 90% are desats, so many are moody or brooding, in many cases, shot with telephoto lenses. I sort of feel if I am going to shoot a homeless person, I should have the balls, or eggs, to use the 35mm. If I see one more subway/underground/tube shot I may vomit. I rode the subway in Philadelphia for too many years to find anything romantic in it. The smell of urine and garlic was a constant presence, as were the people who sat next to you that had you trying to draw a clean breath. If I had to ride at night, a little off peak, there was always an underlying edge of fear for my physical safety.

I guess I should give up on this club, we are not a fit. They are about art and I seem to drift toward reality shots without any desats or careful manips or vignettes. The starker the better. I suppose they are part of my guru network, practicing Buddha nature. Unfortunately, there is the traitorous thought in my head to see if I can copy the club’s standard style. You know, you could be a Da Vinci, but if the flavor of the month is Van Gogh, you don’t have a prayer of getting artistic recognition. The real question is, do I care about recognition on this site? I don’t know, maybe. It is fairly hypocritical to slam it for such conformity of style and in the next breath whine about lack of recognition. For me, photography is the one “artistic” discipline that I perform that does not take client taste into consideration. My glass work is done with an eye to selling, but I wonder how many artists have created without that commercial eye. Even Da Vinci and Michelangelo needed their patrons and had to put up with the patrons driving them nuts at times.

I have not seen the baby in over 2 weeks. I think I am jonesen for a fix. I really dislike snow, and the horrible pre holiday traffic.

Ok, enough whining….for now.







"You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarrassment, or denial."
-Chogyam Trungpa


Raise the Chi



********************************************



May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

-Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)







******************************


Some mighty fine jewelry made by a friend of mine. Check her out. Support local artisans
[link]


******************************




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Many thanks and appreciation to for allowing fellow devs the use of her templets for css.

There is no path to peace, peace is the path
- Mahatma Gandhi


I don’t know what the total accumulation was when all is said and done. More than I care for inches, although any inches or ice is more than I care for. Why am I living in this climate.

Himself, with all of the confidence in the world in the newly purchased, and untried, snow blower, did not, as I suggested, make a first pass yesterday at the half way point. He is one hurten puppy after manhandling the machine through snow above its catcher. When I gave him the ‘I told you so’ speech, he suggested, and I believe he was serious, that I should have done it. You know, for a moment, just a moment, I felt perhaps I should have to spare his back, but then I thought “eat my shorts”. I offer sound advice, you don’t want to take it, then you can suffer.” Two passes through half the snow would have been way easier than one pass through all of it. He said he did not think we were going to get so much. Then why did we get a heavier duty machine?

I did the hand shoveling, not that much really, the steps and porch and the back patio enough to get to the grill, yes, I grill in the snow. I also shook the snow out of the mugo pines, and hopefully, they will unbend and recover. The snow was deeper than my boots, and not having snow pants, my boots got packed with snow, freezing my leg. *sigh* This was not a pretty snow the way some snow falls can be with that fairy land effect. Way too much wind behind this storm and other than the evergreen trees, the snow was blown off the branches. Fortunately, while pretty, there was no ice with this storm.

I don’t know the condition of the main roads. Himself had to go get gas this morning for the machine and used the 4wd truck. It had no problem plowing through a drift up to the hood. It is a beast. At that time, one of the main roads was not yet down to the black top. Odd in a way since our dinky little side street is showing street surface. The areas gets all tweaked over jurisdiction. The main roads are county, the local are, um, local. The county is behind in the clean up.

Well, I think the football game is coming on soon, and himself will sleep in front of it. When it is over, I will go outside and grill him a steak….then may even wake him up so he can eat it.







"You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarrassment, or denial."
-Chogyam Trungpa


Raise the Chi



********************************************



May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

-Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)







******************************


Some mighty fine jewelry made by a friend of mine. Check her out. Support local artisans
[link]


******************************




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Many thanks and appreciation to for allowing fellow devs the use of her templets for css.

There is no path to peace, peace is the path
- Mahatma Gandhi


Let me make one thing clear. I was not dreaming of a white Christmas, or a white anything for that matter. But here we are on the coastal east coast with over a foot of snow so far and about 8 more hours to go if the forecast is correct. It isn’t even winter. This must mean global warming is a hoax.

Speaking of hoax, evidently one of our brilliant senators, Inhofe R Oklahoma, in an effort to embarrass the president with the senator’s “truth squad”, flew to Copenhagen to lecture all of the delegates on what bunk all of this silly science,started in the UN and picked up by Hollywood elitists, is. He could not get scheduled for any official speech or any meetings with delegates, but did manage to corner some of the international press corps in a stairwell. A German reporter told him to his face he was ridiculous. I wish our press corps could do that.

Did you see the broadcast account of the senators and the prayer meeting (a senator from SC and (naturally) Browback, K, oh, and not to be outdone, congresswoman Bachmann, MN). One would expect to see circus tents erected for this sort of thing. Perhaps they are going to have faith healings instead of health care although I think faith healing costs are probably higher or Higher; with all of that swaying and twitching, the poor things need some attention. I could say I don’t understand how some people can get on board with this theatre religion, but then many people think the WWF is real.

Anyway, in more despicable and less ridiculous news…how about those R senators using troop funding to stall the health care vote. It seems they planned to filibuster that bill in order to slow down work on the health care bill. 92 year old senator Byrd, D WV (something of a legend being the longest serving congressional representative in history) actually told them they should be ashamed of themselves, this lecture delivered from a wheelchair at 1am while the senators were giving him an ovation. Now I don’t know if they were giving him an ovation because he is old, because of his long term service, or because a 92 year old rolled his bony ass onto the senate floor at 1am to cast a vote.

One of my neighbors is out with a snow blower, clearing his sidewalk and driveway. It is always very entertaining to watch these particular neighbors. I would never dream of telling the guy it would work better if he did not blow the snow onto the area he has yet to clear, or to turn the funnel so that the snow doesn’t blow up onto the porch and against the door.

Just for kicks and giggles, I tossed Maynerd into a snow drift. He is, at least part, Main Coon and has tufted toes and that bushy tail…when I don’t have it shaved. I don’t think he realized he is a snow cat and promptly ran back to the door and scratched on it to be let in, a huge change from any other time when he is attempting to slink off and explore. A fair weather explorer. I did not toss the other cat out although she is on my last nerve with the night howling. She is a cranky old woman and I don’t think cranky old women should be tossed into the snow no matter how irritating they are. I know I would not want to be tossed into the snow.







"You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarrassment, or denial."
-Chogyam Trungpa


Raise the Chi



********************************************



May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

-Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)







******************************


Some mighty fine jewelry made by a friend of mine. Check her out. Support local artisans
[link]


******************************




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Many thanks and appreciation to for allowing fellow devs the use of her templets for css.

There is no path to peace, peace is the path
- Mahatma Gandhi


MG sent me this link
[link]

check it out before wikipedia removes it

Personally, I've started production on the sock puppets.







"You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarrassment, or denial."
-Chogyam Trungpa


Raise the Chi



********************************************



May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

-Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)







******************************


Some mighty fine jewelry made by a friend of mine. Check her out. Support local artisans
[link]


******************************




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Many thanks and appreciation to for allowing fellow devs the use of her templets for css.