Time

It's a nice morning. I'm sitting in a Santa Barbara courtyard with red tile roofs. Staying dry. It's not cold. There's a fountain gurgling and the rain is falling softly on the bird of paradise next to me. There is a scent. I'm not sure which flower yet but it's heavy sweet. Maybe geranium? No, no musty taste. There is a stair leading down from the courtyard partially hidden by a low wall behind me. I can hear a clapping of a woman's shoe coming up the stairs. She is on her toes as I don't hear a heel. She turns away from the courtyard at the top so I never see her.

Bells ring out. Westminster abbey I think the chime is called. Eleven chimes. Now another church further in the distance rings it's bells. Both bells alternating. The age of the building and the ancient time keeping has a pleasant contrast to typing on my phone. Once the bells stop it again becomes quiet except for the rain and the gurgling fountain.

This rain, you would like this rain.

TLA

I wonder.
Are they still together? Was it true love? Where are they now? But most of all I wonder...
How much hell did Bryan catch for spelling errors?

This memorial is in a driveway in an older part of town. From the appearance and location I would guess this to have been from the late 60's or 70's. Possibly older. The house is now a business and the driveway is on a side street behind the deli. It's used for parking now. I also wonder how many people step on this admission and never notice the omission ?

the_heart.jpg a.thurston 2012

Light on

Sometimes I can be a kid. I'm walking around target in the early morning. They have energy efficient light controllers in the freezer aisles. As you move into the aisle the sensors pick up your movement and turn t he lights on in the cases. If there were a lot of people shopping you would most likely never know this. But in the early morning they are fun. you turn into a darken aisle and the lights go on, one case at a time. If you hold still long enough, they go off. I tried to "sneak" into the aisle but the sensors are well placed. They must have had children in mind when they designed them.

The Dishes

The dishes are hard to love. And by dishes I mean the verb. Not the traditional meaning of the verb "to serve up" but the informal common use, to wash the frigging things. I wash dishes. Mostly my own, sometimes others. I find it difficult to cook while they pile up on the counters. But for that very reason I have grown to love the dishes. It's a meditative thing. You can concentrate on the next aspect of the meal while you reduce the mess and clutter. If you have a small place and limited utensils this is important. It's necessary. It's part of your game.

Finding joy in the simple necessary tasks is part of learning to cope with a stress of everyday life. So shut up and pass the sponge.

The New Radar

A few days ago I was shown a demonstration of technology that has me worried. If it falls into the wrong hands it will be disastrous. The wrong hands being defined as the right hands by the law. It's inevitable that it will and so I warn you now.

If you are familiar with  aviation then you will know what a transponder is. If not, then in simple terms, it's a way to identify an individual aircraft by radar. The pilot of the craft sets a code and the air traffic controller knows which plane on the radar screen is yours. Nice feature that's been around for years. Now they would have trouble passing a law requiring these on autos, talk about self incrimination for speeders. What they can do is identify your cell phone. The device I saw could only identified individual devices. It did not tell you who owned them. But it could remotely track the device and calculate your speed. Evil concept if the law could have that data and ID the phone. What places you in the car? A call to a local patrol and they pull you over. The use of proximity keys and Near Field will even make that easier for the bad guys.

This currently only indicates the cell phone was in the car and was on. If you turn it off there is no way to track you. But if you turn it off, how can you text and drive?

Pizza is dead

I use to believe in pizza. At one time my world revolved around pizza. I worshipped pizza. I was young and very involved. I thought seriously about devoting my life to pizza when I grew older. I was raised by an Irish-Italian mother and we were strict in our devotion to pizza. I knew all the toppings and followed the way of the sauce every Sunday. I studied the history of pizza in the new world and that of ancient Rome. Pizza was my life.

But as I grew up I became more jaded. I was exposed to those who dedicated themselves to pizza but had another agenda. I saw the abusers in action. I saw the lives they destroyed in the name of their pizza. It hurt my soul deeply and I moved away from pizza. But I couldn't abandon pizza entirely. I tried to insist that pizza had no part in my life. But in times of strife I called out for it; and it was delivered. I continued to search for the true deeper meaning of pizza but grew tired and wary.

Then I found curry.
Curry does not care if you are young or old. It does not care if you are one race or another. It does not care if you are straight or gay. It is not indifferent, it is nurturing. It fills your soul with joy and your senses with spice. It can be sweet, it can be hot. It can be vegetarian or have the meat of your choice. It does not restrict you to a shape like pizza does. The ingredients are mixed "in" not on top where they can fall off. It is the spice of life.

And if you can not let go of pizza, curry does not care. You can put curry on pizza.

Church_top jpg by anson © 2012

Trophy/Hunter

Occasionally a man gets to a certain age, divorces his wife and remarries a younger woman. These women are referred to as "Trophy Wives" as if they were some sort of prize. We also refer to big game hunters that hang stuffed remains on their walls as "Trophy Hunters." 

If we combine the meaning of those two words then miniaturize it you arrive at Sid. Her image is above. She is my "Trophy Cat" because she is young and quite beautiful. 

She also kills things, for fun. 

trophy_cat jpg by anson © 2012