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I was inspired today with love in my heart!

I want to share a few of my thoughts. I am not trying to convert anyone to my thoughts-your thoughts are your choice and I respect that. It just occurred to me this is a way to share, in part, where my heart is. I am a human sister with a living soul, and a spiritual creature with all eternity embracing me.
Thank you for going forth in this post:)
It’s true, I am a happiness hog. I breathe in all the oxygen to regenerate and relax.
I breathe out carbon dioxide, but more importantly I breathe out all my anxiety.
Anxiety changes nothing except takes a toll on this human body-the only place we have to live!

I cannot harbor hate nor discontent, in this life. It tears down and wears down the resources of the human home. My mission is to see that everyone that crosses my path is appreciated, loved, and honored – flaws and all.

Here’s a challenge: Begin a 24 hour period of a $100% positive mind. When the real you hesitates to “accommodate popular thought” – instead, take in a power breath and
exhale with vigor – sharing the now refreshed thoughts and intelligent choices. Think you can do it? Remember when a
negative feeling jabs you-take a breath and realign YOUR thoughts. Take your positive and blow out it from your lips like a kiss, like a mist, like a continuous wave of everlasting power coming to you for just believing things you cannot see, and concepts in the real reality of it all.

Think “LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE” It’s so easy. Just take a chance.

WITHDRAW THE POWER AND GIFTS THAT LAY INNATE WITHIN YOUR SPIRIT. The way of the world is not His way, BECAUSE He ALLOWED us to CHOOSE, if we love Him or not, if we believe in Him or not!

I drop my eyes and my heart because of the way the world is now. Just like lost children, millions of us wander the planet each day wondering the “why” of things, but keeping the our own faith within our hearts and our memory. God has us in His memory.

Millions of us believe only what they see or can prove beyond belief. There are millions of hearts that have a space yearning to be filled with something they can’t conceive (all my thoughts). It was the only freedom God claimed within us. He planted a space for Himself and His Son in all of us, aching to be filled with love and truth.

Elevate your thoughts. Think whom you were fashioned after. Those of YOU who LOVE with spirit, belong to Him, as Free Men. None of us have all the answers, but some have been able to somehow begin to fill that special space within our hearts, to be in touch with our real natures.

Empower yourselves. Tap into the richness of all the the gifts that are untapped as yet, and not even blossoming – at any age, as age is not relevant. Spirit is ageless.

Thanks for joining me. Here is a photo to “COOL” you down. Think of it in your head and make it happen. Tap into the “good stuff”. 🙂

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21 Responses to “I was inspired today with love in my heart!”

  1. Fawn Says:

    this was a wonderful reminder of where to focus my thoughts with beautiful images. thanks so much!

  2. Marsha J. O'Brien Says:

    I am so thrilled. Made my day! Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Marsha J. O'Brien Says:

    Thanks. Glad you like the writing. I agree with you..it does look a bit mundane-not very exciting. I took that photo from my kayak though, and it was so beautiful on the lake that day. I will actually try your suggestion within this or next month. Broke my back a year ago, surgery, just had surgery on that broken wrist, had a beat-up hip replaced;it is still difficult to sit at the computer for long-even in bed very awkward to type on laptop. BUT I TRULY agree and will do something soon. I am a novice at making a blog look great! Have hundreds of photos I have taken. I will think about what I can do – and do it soon. THANKS again for your suggestion! Have a beautiful day.

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    • Marsha J. O'Brien Says:

      Thank you. Haven’t written a lot over past year as I had broken back, surgeries, etc. and now a broken wrist! But I am healing and starting to post again. Take care, and come back again!

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      THANK YOU. You certainly made my morning. I am so happy you enjoy my writing. I actually have three books on Amazonbooks.com, and will be putting them on Nook and Kindle soon. Also have a few more I am working on now. I haven’t advertised any yet, but if you are interested, these are the titles:
      “The Spirit of Whiskeytown Lake”, “Lessons of Love”, and “A Time to be Happy.” Thank you again so much. God bless your sweet heart for taking the time to write!

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    • Marsha J. O'Brien Says:

      You are welcome to be on any topic you like “at my place”. Actually I have written over six hundred fifty posts on this blog, and this is the first year I decided to upgrade – for $20.00. I am so “unsavvy” on format – I am still not sure what I can do with my update! I opened my blogs for free. Mine is simple – I don’t really take the time to do the various and lovely things a writer can do with a blog. Maybe someday if I can stop writing long enough! I have enjoyed wordpress.com,but there are other places to check too. I think I would just write “Where to get free blogs” on goggle or some search engine, and see what comes up. Thanks for stopping by and let me know when you get started and I will visit “your place” too! Have a beautiful day.

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Black Grandmaster Tank

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Another beautiful installation in the trees: “Celebration and Fanfare” by Celeste Cooning

4 Culture’s SITE SPECIFIC Network is really pulling no punches this summer with surprising and innovative temporary public art.  Look at Celeste Cooning’s lovely installation….

Celebration and Fanfare | Site Specific.

Come join MMMM in Issaquah, Washington

Mater Matrix Mother and Medium is once again on  the move this summer, as part of 4Culture’s SITE SPECIFIC network, this time to Issaquah Washington.  The Issaquah Arts Commission has invited myself and artist Paul Margolis to be artists in-residence at the beautiful park at the historic 19th-century Pickering Barn, as we reinvision MMMM from August 17th – 26th, right adjacent to one of the widest and most pristine sections of Issaquah Creek.

In support of this ever-changing artwork, the Arts Commission will host me at three community crochet events throughout this summer at various locations around Issaquah.  Please come to the first Community Crochet event on July 2nd during ArtWalk Issaquah, from 5-9pm, at the old Lewis Hardware in Historic Downtown Issaquah, the future site of the artEAST Art Center.

This free crochet workshop is for anyone and everyone to join in the continued creation of this large 225-foot community project. All skill levels welcome, especially beginners, I’ve even taught four year olds to crochet! All materials provided. Drop in or stay for a while.

Each time this giant fiber river is installed, the installation is reinvigorated — new pieces are added, old ones transformed, with the river taking on the shape of the landscape it is contained within, just as water does.  Please join in!

Sponsored by the Issaquah Arts Commission and 4 Culture SITE SPECIFIC.  Special thanks to artEAST.

DATE: July 2nd, 2010

TIME: 5-9pm

LOCATION: Lewis Hardware (artEAST’s future Art Center)

95 Front Street North

Issaquah, Washington 98027

If you’d like to keep abreast of the movements of MMMM, join the Facebook page!


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Day 1 Debate: What Number is Best?

I know there’s a tendency to spend the first day of class talking about rules and expectations and grading policies and the syllabus and lots of other stuff that bores kids silly because, well, it’s boring. I mean, I know it’s all necessary for them to be familiar with, but do we really need to spend the first day doing that? It’s taken some time, but I’ve (mostly) changed to jumping right into something math related. Maybe it’s not a deep subject that we explore, but something to get students talking, and having fun, in class.

For my first day of Pre-Calculus, we didn’t hand out textbooks, we didn’t review the content standards, we didn’t sign out graphing calculators. Instead, the students fought. And laughed. And fought. And laughed. And laughed some more. Students entered the class and were told to think about their favorite number. (If they didn’t have a favorite, they were to make one up, and if they couldn’t, I’d give them one. Luckily, every student came up with one on their own.) I then told them to do some thinking, and come up with as many reasons why their chosen number was the best. Reasons could be from math of course, but also from pop culture, sports, numerology, other cultures, anthropology, mythology, religion, art, design, or whatever they chose. After five minutes of brainstorming, they discussed within their group of three or four which of their numbers was actually the best one. They then did further research for about fifteen minutes, using the Internet as a resource, to prepare arguments for why their own group’s number was awesome and the other groups’ numbers were boring. In the middle of their research time, I told students the story of the Hardy-Ramanujan number as well as the Interesting Number Paradox to give some incentive and inspiration.

When research time was up, we did a round-robin debate. I started with one group, and went around the room in a circle. Each group had up to 30 seconds to present an argument either for their number or against another number. I assigned each argument a subjective score of 1 to 3, and added it to that group (or subtracted from another group if they were arguing against another group’s number). I told them I’d keep going in a circle until I got bored with their arguments, but in both classes, the students were really impressive in their research and thought processes. During their research phases, I was also able to wander and listen to what they were thinking, how they discussed the math with their peers, and how they worked in groups.

I had some interesting arguments presented, and though I don’t remember even close to all of them, these were some highlights:

  • 4 is the only number that is spelled with its own number of letters.
  • 2 is the only even prime number.
  • 13 is the sum of the squares of the first two prime numbers.
  • 11 is both the number of points on the maple leaf of the Canadian flag and the number on the Loonie (Canadian one dollar coin).
  • There are 8 “quadrants” in 3d space (split by the xyxz, and yz planes). By the way – anyone know what they are called? Not quadrants, surely, since that’s how we refer to the 4 regions of the xy plane, but I don’t know right off.

In the end, students on winning teams got 10 points each, and runner up students received 5 points each. They aren’t extra credit, mind you – I’m doing away with extra credit, but that’s another blog post. These will go towards…something to be determined.

This was a great low floor, high ceiling activity where the richness of the mathematics was unbounded, but there wasn’t a single student who felt too intimidated to take part. One day doesn’t make an entire year, but this was a really fun way to spend our first day.


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What Was the Colossian Heresy and What Can We Learn from it?

In comments on the last post Philip mentioned Milton Jones’ interpretation of the Colossian heresy as something comparable to post-modernism. I have a great level of respect for Milton Jones. I haven’t read his book (that Philip linked to in his comment) but I did think this would be an interesting point to respond to in a post rather than a comment. In January I started writing curriculum on the prison letters of Paul. I really believe it is important to understand the occasion of an epistle if we are going to spend time teaching it and discussing it. So I really wrestled with the Colossian heresy for a while. After sitting at the feet of everyone from N.T. Wright to Benny Three Sticks and Peter O’Brian via their excellent commentaries, here was my take on the Colossian heresy from my Prison Letters of Paul small group curriculum,

“The Jews believed angels were involved in giving the law (Gal 3:19 for instance). It seems false teachers had come in and said that it was necessary to please these angels, principalities and powers if God was to hear their prayers (see 2:16-23). In order to please them they were taught to follow strict dietary (2:21)and holiness guidelines as well as the observance of special days (2:16). Paul is teaching them that such teachings are false and that Christ is still supreme with full authority over everything in creation that they don’t need to lean on such hollow and deceptive teachings (1:15ff, 2:8).”

I can’t say with certainty that I have it all right but that is the best I can come up with thanks to borrowing from a few scholars I highly respect and trying to put these pieces together in my own mind. It seems more appropriate to me to read their Jewish worldview into the text rather than to read a 21st century worldview into it. It makes more sense that Paul would be referencing things from their culture and not ours. Application can certainly still be made and the parallels connected appropriately to teach us something today about our own world. But as for interpreting what the actual heresy was we have to be careful to read the text from the right direction and not interpret it in light of the first “hollow and deceptive” teaching that we can think of in the world we live in.

If this interpretation of the heresy is correct, how do we make application in our world today? First, we have to listen to what Paul did say about the truth concerning Christ because Paul believed that if we have the truth we won’t be led astray by false teachings (Col 2:8-15). Postmodernism in and of itself is not a false teaching, as some have claimed. It is a worldview. It can lead to false teaching but it can also lead to some very profound insights regarding our faith. We cannot let our worldview “kidnap” (Col 2:8) us by leading us away from Christ and to something claimed superior or more sufficient than Christ. If we allow any worldview to do that we are in grave danger. That can happen with postmodernism but it can happen with any worldview, even modernism. You can get so caught up in figuring everything else, from the modern perspective, that you fail to see a need for Christ in your life. That is Paul’s point in the next verses (Col 2:9-10). The Gospel doesn’t need anything more to make it sufficient to bring us life and godliness because Christ is head over all things. In Col 2:11-15 Paul lays out all that Christ has done for us. When we read through that great list we should realize that our worldview must draw us closer to God and not further away from Him.

PS – If you don’t read Philip’s blog you should have a look. He is a great friend and a very insightful guy.

About mattdabbs
I am a minister, husband, and father. My wife and I live and minister in Saint Petersburg, Florida. My primary ministry responsibilities include: small groups, 20s and 30s, involvement, and adult education.

One Response to What Was the Colossian Heresy and What Can We Learn from it?

  1. Good write-up. But I could’ve used more references to Benny Three Sticks.

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Venturing down the IoT Rabbit Hole

The Microsoft Hackathon found us this year tinkering with some IoT-related technologies. Bernd, Bence, Balázs and me also tried to evaluate the reality of the commercially available iOT devices — and found a promising, but somewhat grim landscape.

We tried to bring to life the following four devices in different scenarios:

Samsung Artik 5
* 100 USD
* ARM Cortex A7x2 @ 1GHz
* 512MB LPDDR3 + 4GB eMMC
* WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Ethernet
* Fedora, Arduino® IDE, C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, (Go)

* 45 USD
* Texas Instrument CC3200, Cortex-M4 @ 80MHz
* 256kb RAM + 2Mb Flash
* WiFi
* MicroPython

Raspberry Pi 3
* 40 USD
* 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
* WiFi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Ethernet
* proper Linux and what not

Sparkfun Blynk
* 30 USD
* ESP8266
* Unknown memory
* WiFi
* Arduino® IDE, Blynk

The Good

The smoothest learning curve was definitely provided by the WiPy.

WiPy with an infrared distance sensor connected

“When the WiPy boots with the default factory configuration starts in Access Point mode with ssid that starts with: wipy-wlan and key: www.wipy.io. Connect to this network and the WiPy will be reachable at In order to gain access to the interactive prompt, open a telnet session to that IP address on the default port (23). You will be asked for credentials: login: micro and password: python.”

Connecting a sensor and typing the following lines in the prompt will give you instant gratification — and data.

> from machine import Pin, ADC
> import time
> adc = ADC()
> apin = adc.channel(pin=’GP4')
> while True:
… print(apin())
… time.sleep(1)

We also verified that IoT cloud services are abundant (MS, AWS, Samsung Artik, IBM BlueMix et al) and they are providing a good and free playground for the amateur to start out.

The most promising emerging communication technology seems to be LoRa as energy consumption will go down and communication range will go up. Go and add your own endpoint ;)

The bad

Getting serious is still hard given the immaturity of the ecosystems:

  • *khm* patchy documentation is everywhere as most devices are still works-in-progress,
  • setup and discoverability is far from trivial, default settings raise serious security concerns— remember, even the Amazon Dash has to chirp home,
  • talking securely to remote services is hard — the OAuth dance is very outlandish to iOT (you have to have an own, exposed IP, maybe be able to handle web callbacks, even HTTPS),
  • there’s no de-facto communication model (push/pull, broadcast/poll) and developers are not even nudged in either direction with best practices,
  • the current state of the union is that IoT devices have to be considered as ‘dumb’, local sensors and you need a bridge (at least a RasPi) to connect them to the outer world.


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Gentlemen… start your…

Travel broker browsers!

So the 2009 schedule came out today.Surely this had to be a hoax! I mean it’s July! That gives me months to plan my schedule, Book hotels, look for flights, apply for credentials. As one who comes from the Champ Car side of the fence, I’m used to hoping for a “tentative” schedule by xmas and learning the driver line up at the first practice in Long Beach… But I digress…

I’m a little underwhelmed really. Yes, yes, my home race is back, yipee! But I would have liked to see Cleveland slip back in there. I would like to see the Aussie race confirmed. I can’t understand the reasoning behind keeping Homestead… Especially as the season finale! Blech!

Kudos to them for opening with St.Petes & Long Beach and for dumping Napville.

More in a bit (heading into a meeting)

4 responses to “Gentlemen… start your…

  1. I’m guessing Miami is getting one last shot. They obviously wanted to give it a chance by keeping it far from the St. Pete date, which makes sense.

    One would think Cleveland will be back eventually, but its probably going to have to wait for either the sport to grow (to allow for a 20+ race schedule) or one of the midwest dates to drop out.

    I wish they’d alternate oval/non-oval a little more. But overall I think consistency is very important. Glad to hear you aren’t diving off the nearest cliff like some fans.

  2. Lol! honey… If unifimorphication didn’t send me cliff diving, then it’s safe to say a fairly balanced (as far as disciplines go) schedule isn’t going to nudge me!

  3. Hmm, if I could find someone to hitch a ride with, the Glen sounds good. If not, I’ll stop by Toronto. Hope to see you there.

  4. Nice! I hope to be at both!

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Monday, September 30, 2013

Monday's Musings

Thought for the day: If someone has ever told you you’re crazy, you probably aren’t. Think about it. If someone were really, actually crazy- would you want to be the one to let them in on it?
We got home from Cincinnati late last night. My husband and I stayed there as our home base for our trip into Kentucky. And because we wanted to see Red’s last home game, which ended up being a disappointment. Not Kentucky, the Red’s game. I guess they lost their two prior games, so the one we went to ended up being meaningless, which meant they sent in their second string.  And it rained. A lot.

But Kentucky was good. We made a stop in Versailles, where a large part of my second and third books take place. It felt so amazing being there; like I’d walked into the middle of my story. I took lots and lots of pictures for visual cues. I tend to write better with a few pictures in front of me. And the unexpected surprise? We went to Churchill Downs (where they have the Kentucky Derby) and there were races going on, and I picked the winning horse. If I were only the betting type, I’d be a rich woman right now. Oh well-at least I had a mint julep, even if I couldn’t talk my husband into letting me where a big poufy hat.
Have any of you ever been to the places where your books take place? What other things do you do to prepare to write?

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Goals, How to Date a Nerd, Express, and Small Things

I know this isn't Friday yet, but I'll be on my way to Kentucky Friday morning for some more book research, so I'm posting this a smidge early.

Welcome to my first post on this particular topic. This is all about Goals and Dreams. The Big ones; the bigger the better: Basically-what is your biggest dream for five years down the road? For me it’s to have The Newstead Trilogy be the next great American Novel(s). Okay-so I know that’s dreaming big-okay huge, but I’m the lay it all out there or go home kind of person.

The question we’re supposed to answer on the last Friday of each month is: How are you doing with your goal? Slow, but good. The second book is coming out in November. Word is slowly getting out. I’m hoping with the coming out of Bashan, people will start to see where I’m going with this; each book things get a little deeper and darker.
Thanks to Cassie May for hosting this and congratulations on the release of her new book: How to Date a Nerd
The question is: What is the nerdiest thing about you? Probably that I don’t care what people think about me. I am who I am, and I like who I am, so if you don’t, that’s okay. I’m officially over it.
Check out Cassie's book on Goodreads:
The question for this week is: What author would you love to have lunch with? Living or Dead? Living would be Stephenie Meyer. Okay I said it. I’d love to meet the mind who came up with Edward.  Dead-King David, or maybe his son, Solomon. I know, quite the contrast.
The small thing I’m celebrating this week is that I’m heading out to Kentucky tomorrow with my husband; aka the kids are staying home with Grandma. I love Kentucky, especially the Lexington area. I tend to be a visual person, so I try to make it to the locations of my novels at least once a year to keep the creative juices flowing. I CANNOT WAIT! And yes that includes all the wonderful alone time with the hubby.
How about you? Any big five year (dreams) goals? Anything nerdy you want to confess? What author would you have lunch with if you could? Celebrating any small things?

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Indiestructible and Follow Fest Continues

Today I'm posting on Indiestructible, an amazing book for Indie authors by Indie authors, all those of you visiting from Follow Fest, see my post below.

by Jessica Bell

The day I realized I’d been obsessing over my sales figures way too much was the day I closed my eyes and tried to think about the real reason I am an indie author.

Is my primary goal to make money? No. So why do I keep obsessing over my sales stats? I realized it’s because more sales means more people reading my work. What I really really want is to be read. I want to share the one thing in this world I would cut my fingers off for. I know. If I didn’t have any fingers, I wouldn’t be able to physically write, but you know what I mean.

My passion for writing comes with a perpetual replacement button, attached to my side seam, just in case it becomes unraveled, and falls off, after a day gallivanting through the publishing jungle. It can be tough in there, but in the end, being an indie author is OH SO WORTH IT.
This made me wonder …  what’s everybody else’s story?

Then Indiestructible was born.
Need motivation and inspiration to self-publish, or sign that contract with an interested small press? Have you done all the research you can, but still feel ambivalent about the idea? Indiestructible: Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle brings you the experiences of 29 indie authors—their passions, their insights, their successes—to help you make the leap into indie publishing.

This is not a how-to guide. This is the best of the indie tradition of experienced authors paying forward what they’ve learned, giving you information to help you on your journey. The personal essays in this book will leave you itching to get your work into the hands of readers and experience, first-hand, all the rewards indie publishing has to offer.

Not only is this anthology packed full of interesting, unique, and genuinely helpful information, and totally worth the 99c (only 99c!!!), 100% of proceeds will be donated to, a movement which breaks the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education.

Pretty amazing, huh?

What are you waiting for?

Buy Indiestructible—support the indie author and an amazing charity—TODAY!

eBook: $0.99 USD
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
ISBN 10: 0987593102
ISBN 13: 9780987593108
Language: English

Edited & Compiled: by Jessica Bell

Contributing authors:

About Jessica Bell:

The Australian-native contemporary fiction author, poet, and singer/songwriter/guitarist, Jessica Bell, also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.

She is the co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and the director of the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca.

Connect with Jessica online:

Name: Melanie Schulz
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
What genres do you write? Nothing specific, whatever moves me. The Newstead Project is a Young Adult Thriller
Are you published?  The Newstead Project, my first book in the Newstead Trilogy was released by Black and White Publishing Co. in May of this year. Book 2, The Bashan Agenda is set to be released on November 1, 2013
Do you do anything in addition to writing? I am a Psychiatric Nurse, as well a homeschooling mom.
Where can people connect with you? Here, mainly. I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also have an author website:, and am on facebook:
Great to have you by, will stop by your site soon!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Monday Short, Follow Fest

Here is my Monday short- Can you tell I've been reading Treasure Island? Welcome all those visiting from the Follow Fest!

 The Trunk

“Remember when,” the girl’s grandfather began.

She settled back in her seat, waiting for the rest. For the last two weeks she’d made it a point to listen. She didn’t know if it was the morphine or just him nearing the end, but his stories had taken on an interesting turn of late.

“We used to go to New Brunswick?” he continued, looking up at her.

“Yes Grandpa,” she lied. She’d never been anywhere near New Brunswick.

“And we buried that car in the pond?”

She grabbed the sheet of paper from her pocket. “What pond is that?”

“Oh, you know, the one on Baker’s Road,” he said, while she nodded, carefully drawing a blue circle on her paper, writing the words Baker in the middle of it. She put an X right under the word.

“And where is that again?” she asked, ready to write the instant the words came out of his mouth.

“Past the railroad tracks that run through town, about ten yards or so after that old coal shed on Baker’s.”

She scribbled furiously.

“What else did we do there?” she prodded, hoping to get just a little bit more before he drifted off again.

“The same as we always do,” he said, yawning. “We’re pirates-remember- we bury our treasure.”  With that his eyes fluttered and his breathing slowed to a dream-filled sleep.

She tucked the blanket up under his chin, glancing down at the paper clenched in her hand. For two weeks now she’d been hearing about how he’d hidden his treasure in a trunk. It had never dawned on her that maybe he’d meant the trunk of a car.

It felt like time for a trip to New Brunswick.

 Now, onto Follow Fest.
Name: Melanie Schulz
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
What genres do you write? Nothing specific, whatever moves me. The Newstead Project is a Young Adult Thriller
Are you published?  The Newstead Project, my first book in the Newstead Trilogy was released by Black and White Publishing Co. in May of this year. Book 2, The Bashan Agenda is set to be released on November 1, 2013
Do you do anything in addition to writing? I am a Psychiatric Nurse, as well a homeschooling mom.
Where can people connect with you? Here, mainly. I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also have an author website:, and am on facebook:
Great to have you by, will stop by your site soon!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Small Things and Celebrating

The small thing I’m celebrating this week is letting go. I know last week I wrote how much I hate schedules, but they’re really necessary to get things done, and all that is true, but this week I learned something even more important. Sometimes schedules should be broken. Today I should do five pages of math with my seven year old, along with about a hundred other things, but I’m not. We’re going apple picking at a local orchard that has 350 different varieties of apples-can you imagine that? We’re riding in a wagon, eating fresh-made donuts, and having homemade apple cider, all with my mom and sis and her kids. Then we’re ending it all with a picnic in the woods.

Deciding to forgo the schedule for a day: A small, but wonderful thing.

Name a movie character’s personality who is you to a tee: Katniss Everdeen. I don’t love a lot of people, but those I do, I’m fiercely protective over.  And being outside feels almost like a heartbeat to me.

How about you? Any small things you’re celebrating? What movie character’s personality do you resemble?

Monday, September 16, 2013

Today I'm happy to help promote the latest and sadly last volume of the Cassa series.

My question for Alex was:

Is this the final book in the Cassa series?

I’m afraid it is! Since I keep jumping ahead twenty years, that means if I write another one, Byron will be eighty-two. Cassans might live longer and age slower, but he won’t be moving as fast as he used to and won’t fly anymore. I don’t want to do Byron: The Geritol Years.

Besides, the story comes full circle with CassaStorm. Time to close the book.

By Alex J Cavanaugh

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorM is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.” – Edi’s Book Lighhouse

“With a talent for worldbuilding and a compelling cast of characters, Alex J. Cavanaugh combines high powered space battles and the challenges of family dynamics to provide readers a space opera with heart.”
- Elizabeth S. Craig, author of the Southern Quilting and Myrtle Clover mysteries

“I thought the revelation was going to be one thing and I was completely wrong … CassaStorm pushes the limits…”
- Tyson Mauermann, Speculative Reviews
$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera

Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019

$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm:

Amazon -

Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

Now, for my review.
This book was the perfect end to a series I never thought I'd love. Those of you who know me, know I'm not really a space opera kind of girl, but I loved these, all of these. There was heart and real, authentic relationships, as well as a kick-ass story that kept me up late into the night, trying to find out what happens next.
In this book we connect with Byron and Athee, twenty years after we left them. They have a ten year old son now, named Bassan. Byron has been promoted to commander of the Cassian outpost in Tgren, which has been good for him. And bad. He hasn't seen war in almost twenty years, none of them have. Which leaves them completely unprepared when it shows up at their front door. But this is a war none of them could have prepared for, especially now, when it appears his family is at the center of it.
If you love the rest of the Cassa books, like I do, you'll love this one too. It has the same effortless writing style, the same deep relationships, the same wonderful tension, only this one has a few more unexpected twists.
I'm trying very hard not to spoil it right now, but let me just say, it ends just as it should.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Celebrate and Express

This week was hectic at first, but as it went on, seemed to smooth out a bit. I tend to buck against routines, that's why I love summer vacation so much, but it turns out I need them. You would not believe all I accomplished this week! And not just with my book, with everything. So that's what I'm celebrating this week: That doing something I hate (aka a schedule) ended up being the very best thing for me.

The question for the week is: Name something crafty that you do, or wish you did: The person I am is outcome focused. If it does not serve a purpose, than I don't do it. I don't have roses in my garden, I have rose plants, because they make huge rosehips that I can use in the teas I make. And I don't do puzzles, because you just take them apart. What's the point in that? I knit mittens instead. They have a purpose, they are useful.
Besides for my family, my making things tends to be for Christmas. We always give/receive homemade Christmas gifts, usually from our garden. I usually make the mittens I was talking about earlier, or teas from the dried herbs from my garden, or bay leaf wreathes, and jam; stuff like that. It's not really crafty, just something I do.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Indie Life, What's Up, More than a Kiss

Today is my first Indie Life post, and today I'm posting about a wonderful program I discovered along the way:

Compulsion Reads is an Indie site for Indie authors by Indie authors. Basically, it's an endorsement system. And not everyone who submits gets endorsed-less than half do, actually. Which in essence is a good thing, because if your book does get their coveted gold seal, that means yours stands out.

What I'm reading: Treasure Island. Again. I can't help it, I loved it.
What I'm writing: I'm not really writing at the moment, too deep in formats for Bashan.
What's inspiring me right now: Autumn. I really love this time of year.
What else I've been up to: Basically enjoying my children and seeing my second book come together. Does it get any better than that?

Okay, so I found this blogfest yesterday, and I just had to join. Basically you have to post a kissing scene from one of your books. So here it is, from The Newstead Project:
He smiled down at me, a knowing smile, and lifted our hands to his soft, full lips as he gently kissed the back of each of my fingers before letting them fall back down between us.
We continued that way in blissful silence, until we reached the farmer’s trail at the end of Markham Lane. It was no more than a frozen dirt path that, after making a few turns along a creek, led to my trailer. I slowed and Joel stopped.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
He bent over until his face was only a couple inches above mine. I don’t think either one of us was prepared for what being that close would do to us.
My hand lifted to his face and lightly traced along his cheekbones, up to his forehead, before circling back down to his jaw. My fingers hesitated by his lips.
His eyes burned bright as his head lowered. My breath held, waiting. But just when I would’ve sworn it was inevitable, his jaw tensed and he slowly shook his head. I don’t know if it was to him or to me. His lips touched softly on my forehead instead, a light brush that was over before it began.

Monday, September 9, 2013

First Days

Well this is it, the day school starts in the Schulz house. It's a crazy morning-everyone's up early and still relatively excited about what the new year holds. We're doing the Prairie Primer with the younger ones- basically it's a in-depth study of the Laura Ingalls books, where you do all the cool stuff she did. I think I might enjoy this more than my kids. This week we're making maple sugar candies and corn husk dolls and going on a nature hike to explore animal tracks. Now my older daughter, I couldn't even begin to tell you what she's doing- something that looks a lot like Algebra and Latin and American Government. I think I'll just stick to the candy making.

This week I'm participating in a new monthly event- Indie Life-come back on Wednesday for that. Friday will be the normal Express Yourself and Celebrating the Small Stuff.

What's on the agenda for you this week?

Friday, September 6, 2013

Express and Celebrate

The express yourself question for this week isn't a question, instead, wonderful Dani and Jackie would like for us to share our family pictures, so here goes:
My two handsome men:
 my daughter and my son:
My fifteen year-old refused to let me post any of her :(
But I'm sneaky (she's the girl on the cover)-hey-what can I say- the picture's already out there. (heehee)
The small things I'm celebrating are what you see above: My family.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Today is Insecure Writers Group time, which means, basically, I get to tell all of you what I’m feeling insecure about. Thank you so much to Alex Cavanaugh for starting this-two years ago today!

I’m at a strange place right now. I’m going over the final notes from my editor on Bashan (book #2 in the Newstead Trilogy) and I’m feeling good. I’ve realized something about myself and my writing over the past three years; I like how I write. I’m me. I haven’t bowed down to convention, ever. I listen to criticism, yes, but I glean what I need to, then move on. It took me a long time to do that. I’m not kidding. In the beginning, I let my grammar-ninja husband get his hands on my book and he changed it. It wasn’t mine anymore. Did you know that in Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin ended many of her sentences with prepositions? And she used the word amiable. A lot. I hate to think what an editor today would do with her work. Now I’m no Jane Austin. I’m me. And that’s just the way it should be.

What I’m reading: Kiss by Ted Decker and Erin Healy. I tend to like anything Dekker does-right up my alley-thought provoking thrillers. Thank you everyone for the advice last week on what to read next. My TBR pile is now sufficiently stocked.

What I’m writing: As mentioned in insecure, I’m (still) finishing combing through Bashan. It’s amazing that I’m still finding things.

What else I’ve been up to: Just enjoying the one week break I gave myself in-between the chaos of summer and school starting.

What’s inspiring me now: Yesterday was my three year anniversary being a writer. I might have been one before that; I always had stories running through my head, but September 3, 2010 was the first time I wrote any of them down. So this week, today, I’m reflecting on that. I’m inspired by that.

And finally, the winner of my Red, White, and Blue makes Purple Blogfest is…C. M. Brown. Yes, her name was drawn by my very sweet seven year-old just this morning. Congratulations C. M.! And thank you to everyone who participated.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Blogfest/ Take Two

Today is the day! Welcome everyone to Red, White, and Blue makes Purple Blogfest!
 This blogfest consists of flash fiction with a military theme, all of which will be featured in an anthology to be released in January. All proceeds to go to Camp Pioneer, an Operation Purple camp. Operation Purple is a great organization, which provides summer camp for the kids of our country's soldiers, free of charge. I will be posting more information concerning the anthology later, but for now, stop by these other blogs and thank these wonderful people for giving back to those who have served us.

Here is my story:

     “Sir?” I question, watching him.

     He nods slightly, holding out his coat.

     That time I grab it, feeling the weight; royal robes aren’t something I’ve ever felt before, let alone worn. Surprisingly it fits. And mine fits him, too.

     “Where are you going to be?” I ask, but he’s already walking out the door. From behind he looks like me; just a plain shepherd, in plain shepherd’s clothes. And I look like him. I guess that’s the point.

     I leave as well, only when I get outside, I head in the opposite direction.

     The sounds from the front come at me. It’s different, somehow, knowing that all those arrows are now being drawn for me.  That thought is enough to stop my feet.

     I don’t need a reason to do this; I already have hundreds of those. That’s not why I stopped. I need for this, this giving of my life, to be personal.

     A picture of my brother’s face fills my mind just as my feet shift to turn back to the shelter. He believed in this cause.

     That’s not enough.

     He died for this cause.

     The picture shifts and I wince, expecting him to transform into the mutilated pile of flesh dumped in front of our house last week, but it isn’t. It’s him, only now, he’s happy. He’s hopeful.

     I start walking again.

     Men shift to the side as I pass. Most of them have that same look on their face.

The men on the wall respond as well. Twisted contortions of rage turn bright as they see the stones embroidered across my chest, as they draw their bows.

      I want to close my eyes, but I can’t. I know this is the last thing on this earth I will see.

     The first hit comes from my left, only it’s thick and dull, not piercing like I expected. It’s followed by another, then another, until I topple to the ground. There are at least five men piled on top of me.

     A final thud comes, only this one is from behind.

     One by one, the men rise and I see in their faces the same reason that was in mine. They believed the lie as much as the men on the wall. They thought I was him. And for him they would give their lives.

     As one man we turn to see the figure lying on the ground behind us, the man whose blood turned crimson the shepherd clothes I’d had on just ten minutes before.


text:
I’m still going to CodeMash (Originally Posted 1/8/07)

Technorati Tags: ,

I didn’t think I was going to be able to go, since I’ve switched companies… but as it turns out

CodeMash – I'll be there!

This is great.  The whole team from my new project is going, and I get to go with them.  Still not sure about the carpooling arrangements, but I imagine there will be a couple of groups… there’d have to be, right?  So now that the agenda’s finally filling in on the site, I can start making my plans for what sessions to attend.  Anything NHibernate, AJAX, or smart-client is on my list, with the gaps being filled with whatever seems most relevant to my new assignment.

This oughta be good.  I hope it catches on, and maybe next year they’ll do it again.

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text:
tea time

gosh our soccer team is pathetic. I have no words.

Those douchebags could at least have let South Africa qualify, they would have done ONE good thing.
Anyway, back to France. So wish they could all get fired.

älskling brought back some super good tea from the Seychelles…everytime i drink it i feel like im traveling a bit…plus they are in super cool “vintage” bags…

Crispin found this adorable necklace while she was in Stockholm

6 thoughts on “tea time

  1. Cute necklace mo 🙂
    I saw a similar one in Accessorize

    i’m supporting spain, i’m so glad they won their second match *relieved*

    it’s a shame about france

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text:
A Wrinkle in My Brain: A Wrinkle in Time

a wrinkle in my brain

I think most of us had to read Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time when we were growing up. The only thing that stuck out in my mind from middle school was the terrible cover of an obese woman dressed in ridiculous clothing. And my mind for some reason always associated the ‘wrinkle’ in the title to be a description of the decrepit cover lady’s age.

However, lately I’ve been excited to revisit all of the reading we were assigned as kids, and have been delighted to find out that my English teachers who I thought were bores, who took joy in assigning us books that cured insomnia, really did love and recommend awesome literature. Madeleine L’Engle has composed a beautiful young adult epic that is a mix of the Chronicles of Narnia and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. It undoubtedly fits the category of books we read long ago that deserve another shot. The narration is witty and clever why still maintaining a quirky sense of humor that makes the book more than just tolerable as it was in 7th grade, but something that is truly enjoyable.

I picked up a copy at half price books, and to my dismay it was a beaten-up old copy that was annotated by some punk middle schooler. Usually I don’t care much for other people’s annotations. I want to discover and make connections on my own, but seeing the novel (in a sense) through a middle schooler’s eyes was so much fun. I think a handful of people remember the book as being a novel packed with new vocabulary words that we had to look up. For instance, it HAS to bring a smile to anyone’s face when you start thumbing through the pages and seeing words like these highlighted in different colors: tesseract, propitious, dilapidated, retort, judiciously, and indignant. L’Engle’s writing is more than descriptive, she has a powerful ability to submerge you in her kooky world with lyrical passages that read like poetry:

Silence fell between them, as tangible as the dark tree shadows that fell across their laps and that now seemed to rest upon them as heavily as though they possessed a measurable weight of their own.

Another facet of L’Engle that I had never appreciated was how ‘Christian’ A Wrinkle in Time really is.  There are undeniable overtones pleasantly blended with direct quotations of beloved scriptures all throughout the book that drove me to check her out on wikipedia (a universally recognized credible source). And if any weight can be given to a wikipedia article, it seems that L’Engle loved Jesus and was passionate about communicating (specifically) His love through her work, especially in A Wrinkle in Time.

Her creative writing traces the time and space traveling trio of Meg Murray, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin. Together with the help of three enigmatic beings, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, Meg and her gang go galavanting throughout the universe to find the Murray’s lost father who has been missing for over a year. It’s a heartwarming quest that had me laughing and and brimming over with excitement and anticipation.

The captivating writing, intriguing and unique story line, mixed with the overwhelming message of love’s power put this book on shelf 4 1/2 of 5… go read it again. You know you want to… you’ll like it way more the second time around just like I did.


text:
Santra Rucker Sentenced to 390 Years!***messymandella*** Santra Ruckers

 We prayed, and We Prayed and we read and told her story! NOW FOR THE DOCUMENTARY anf you guys will be a part of it for life. YOU ALL MADE THIS HAPPEN! TEARS FROM STRANGERS, AND TEARS FROM YOU ALL. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! FEDS MAGAZINE ran the story. I read it and made it my mission,and you also took your time to tell people her story. is not in vain.

Register Number: 34932-083
Age: 45
Race: Black
Sex: Female
Located at: Aliceville FCI
Release Date: 10/24/2024

  Santra Rucker was a cute around the way girl. She had the hottest labels and freshest hairstyles. She  did not have to worry about money,she dated a baller. Santra dated a drug dealer,Darryl Glen Riley.She herself, did not sell drugs. She however, was in love with a man who gave  her the best of everything. Riley,  was a well know street hustler.However, people did come to his house for business deals. She is in prison because of her love for a drug dealer.

Santra Rucker is in prison for 390 years because of her association with her boyfriend. The sentence was so extreme that Santra did not believe it herself. She has tried everything and nothing has worked.She is still in Club Fed.

Convicted and left to rot behind prison walls. Why would she face time? The truth is,you don’t have to sell drugs. Yes, If your man is a pusher and he cohabitates with you, you selling drugs to in the eyes of the law. The sad thing is that babies are also innocent victims in a drug raid. DSS will make you work like hell to get those babies, back. I know women in my neighborhood, that are going through this struggle today. The man has been in prison for years and DSS still does follow ups to check on their parenting skills.  A girl that works at DSS told me she had no sympathy for a woman who chooses a man over her kids. I told her, if she has been in that life, you wouldn’t see it that way. I told her that you can be in love with the money and become Ray Charles to the shit. Santra loved the money.Let’s be honest, drug dealers are treated like reverends, in communities by some.However, she was not a dealer, unfortunately that is not how it’s works.You know whats happening in that house.If the police come, during a drug bust,everyone goes down. Santra found this out the hard way.

People have protested and shown support. I know Alicia Keys and others have sent Santra Rucker letters. Alicia’s Grammy Award winning video for “Fallen” video was inspired by Santra Rucker’s case.

Serial Killers  don’t get 300 years for murder. Santra  was railroaded and forgotten. The government made her example. She fell in love, with the game. The game does not love you back. The hustle is real, but greed is the motivation.

If she could do it all over again, I am sure things would be different.I am sure she would have stayed away from this life. It’s gifts,and money and power. None of this lasts forever. Santra will never see freedom, and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The court gave her 12 Life Sentences. She has spoken to 150 politicians. This woman should be home.This is simply ridiculous. I believe if you do  the crime;Do the time! However, she fell in love with the wrong man. What would happen if everyone that dated a drug dealer was given 390 years in prison? Would you  be reading this now?

We have to get this woman out of prison…real talk. messymandella

November 13th, 2012

We have to get Santra Rucker out of prison.

It has to happen.

We could start a petition, or rant and rave, but we need action.

The system is hard to crack.

There are non-profit organizations that will help provide legal support for those in need.

I am going to send some letters to different organizations.

I am hoping that we can come together and release her from “The Belly Of The Beast.”

390 Years is mental and physical Slavery.

  This woman is on my mind every day…

Enhanced by Zemanta

  1. so true and sad at the same time….I can relate…in so many ways

  2. I feel you on that. You really can’t win with the game.

  3. It is hard for me to understand how a person can get that much time for a non-violent crime. You must check who your are involved with. Words can not fathom what she is going throught. Good luck Santra, you are going to need some prayers.

  4. Does anyone know her mailing address?

    • I did look her up she is in Danbury Connecticut

      • I am so sorry I missed your question. Thank ya’ll for reading.

  5. I have been following this young lady’s story for some years. Praying that she’s granted clemency. Yes, we do need a petition to get the woman HOME! Has she learned a valuable lesson I believe so. I believe he testified against her for the DA smh. Whatever the outcome is God sits high and looks low Riley will have to answer before God for his actions. May God continue to BLESS Ms. Rucker, keep her steadfast and unmovable. The creator of this website “Big Ups” to you for not allowing Santra Rucker to be forgotten. So many yong women do become blindside by all that glitters. Not knowing that the enemey is in sheeps clothing! God Bless You All!!!

  6. Listen to this Sunday at 6:30pm Est. I am talking about Santra Rucker serving 13 sentences – LWOP + 5

    • Thank you for reading my article.I really appreciate it.Thank you!

  7. I always wondered if she was ever freed. This is crazy that she is still in prison for just being with a hustler. Stay strong ms rucker you have people that is in your corner. Let this be a lesson to all you young ladies who think its cool to be with hustlers. Dealing with them comes with a lot of issues, it ain’t all about the money and gifts. Sometimes you have to pay with your life or freedom

  8. Reblogged this on messymandella and commented:

    • Join me in her freedom. I am working on another segemnt for her. Let’s talk.

      • I am a very close friend of Santa’s and I would like to help in any way I can I just dont know where to start. Please help me help her.

      • Sara Kruzen is home! There is hope!

      • Yes, email me messymandella@aol,com

  9. I want to gather information and the go to work! Did anybody listen to the show?

    • Send me your personal information to
      I want to get her home! I think about her life every day. How can someone be locked away so unjustly without any vindication. I hope she has not lost her fight! WE CAN GET HER HOME!

  10. Thanks for visiting..May God bless you and your family.

    Minister Roderick Fowler

  11. I had read this article about her situation and it hurts to even hear put away for so long and what kills me is she has kids and will never be able to teach them let alone spend the time wit them like a mother would want too……I want to write to her do you have her info on where she is, please let me know thank you and hope a change happens for her real soon.

  12. Sister I just want to know how I can help..

    Minister Roderick Fowler

  13. Omg readin this made me cry i never knew u could get tht much time for jus being the gf of a drug dealer

  14. This is such a sad story. OUR legal system is such a mess. I pray something work out for this young lady we have murderous who don’t get that much time. I to would like to support trying to get this lady home because this could be my sister,daughter or mother.

  15. I have a friend that’s at Aliceville with Santra. She emailed me the other day saying Santra will be resentenced. Have you heard anything about that?

    • On all 13 life sentences? I will check the last mail from her did not state that.&

      • I have never heard anything about that.Let me know

      • Yes, I have been trying to call her by Trulincs..Have you talked to her on the phone

  16. If there is a Petetion where can I sign

  17. FROM 13 LIFE SENTENCES! SHE HAS A DATE! 10/24/2024!
    Register Number: 34932-083
    Age: 45
    Race: Black
    Sex: Female
    Located at: Aliceville FCI
    Release Date: 10/24/2024

  18. wow :/

    • I want her home sooner! Thank you for reading!

      • Grew up with Santra in Edmondson Village Baltimore glad she nows has a release date,i am a 27 year career marine santra went to jail about the time i started my military career,whats also funny is i live 45 miles now from her prison in Aliceville.

  19. everybody mistakes in her case 390 years sound a little hard,she was in the wrong place at the wrong time,I think 390years is and under statement

  20. Ummm while the length of her sentence was beyond crazy, her claim that she had no involvement in selling drugs is a straight up lie. She used to hang around the way in VA and it was WELL KNOWN that she was a supplier. She used to sell to a couple of my friends directly.

    • thank you for reading that sentence is beyond crazy. You don’t get that long for murder

      • Totally agree – her sentence was insane. But she shouldn’t be saying that she never had any involvement at all because that isn’t true. People would still stand behind her even if she admitted her wrong!

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Potato and Fine Beans Tarte

I probably mentioned in some previous posts that I do not like following a recipe when cooking.

Almost every time I simply create everything right then and there. It is a good way of challenging yourself!

This is what I’ve done this time as well! I was in a rush (as always) and had limited ingredients in my fridge. I also had some milk which had to be used otherwise would have gone bad (I hate throwing food away!!!)  So I came up with this tarte!

Potatoes (3-4)

Fine Beans (100 gr)

Grated Cheese (70 gr)

2 eggs

A cup of milk

2 teaspoons of English Mustard

you can buy already made pastry sheets from your local shop or you can make it yourself (as I did).

Line the pastry into a desired dish and bake it in the oven at 200C  until lightly golden

In the meantime, peel the potatoes and slice them. Boil for 5 minutes in order to soften a bit.

Beat the eggs with the milk and add in the mustard. Do not forget to also add a pinch of salt and the cheese.

When the pastry is done, line the potatoes, add the “sauce” formed of eggs and milk, and in the end add the beans.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until everything is well cooked. (use a fork to see if the potatoes are soft enough).

Spaghetti with simple tomato sauce

The easiest and tastiest recipe ever! Why? Because it’s done in 15 minutes and the fresh sauce blends in very well with the spaghetti.

approx 170 gr of spaghetti

200 gr chopped (fresh or canned tomatoes)

half an onion

salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar

Heat some oil in a pan

Finely chop the onion and put in the pan, fry until lightly golden

Meanwhile boil water and cook the spaghetti as written on the package

Now, I personally used chopped canned tomatoes. I’ve put them in a blender in order to make the sauce.

When the onions were slightly golden, I have added the sauce, a little bit of pepper and garlic, salt and a tea spoon of sugar.

Mix well and leave to simmer at medium heat for approximately 7 minutes.

When the pasta is done, just add a table spoon of olive oil and some salt and mix well.

And that is all!

Homemade Quiche Lorraine (with mushrooms)

Ohh the taste of this quiche! Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner! No wonder everyone loves it! Perfect for a Sunday at home to be honest, when all the family is spending time together, watching TV, playing board games or any other activities.

This is a fairly easy recipe, with basic ingredients that are found in every kitchen fridge in this world. That is why precisely I decided to bake this quiche today.. My fridge had only these ingredients (which blend in together very well)

To be honest I do not measure the ingredients used when cooking. I just use my common sense. But I will try to be as precise as I can for you, my dear readers!

So, here it is:

(for the pastry) 175 gr flour

85 gr butter (slightly melted)

3 table spoons of water

(for the filling) 3-4 rashers of bacon, finely cut

3-4 eggs

100 gr mushrooms, sliced

100 gr grated cheese

aprox 100 ml milk

Mix all the ingredients for the pastry together until a dough is formed. Leave to cool in the fridge for about 15 min.

In the meantime, fry the bacon in some oil and then add the mushrooms (or fry them separately)

Heath the oven at 200C

Roll the dough and put it in a quiche tin and put to bake for approx 10 min

Mix all the ingredients for the filling together. (bacon, mushrooms, cheese, eggs and milk) Do not forget to add salt.

When the dough is ready just pour the filling and put it back in the oven for approximately 25-30 min.


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Paris Plage 2011

Paris Plage (albeit a photo from 2008)

I can’t claim to be a Paris Plage regular but I have tried to go at least one day every year in its 10 year existence. For those not “in the know”, Paris Plage is an operation of the city of Paris under the initiative of our mayor, Bertrand Delanoe wherein the quais of the Seine are converted into beaches during late July and early August. It is a change from the mega-traffic that is usually experienced on the quais. It may be the first year but there is also a smaller version up on the Canal de l’Ourcq near the Parc de la Villette. Tomorrow, I think the family and I will do a canal cruise from there and I’ll let you know about that. As for the Seine version, it is pretty cool with plentiful sand, a nice, huge sandcastle, loads of showers and other activities, ice cream, bars, etc. This year, it feels fairly family focussed with more children’s stuff to do: my kid loved the little adventure parc complete with a tyrolean swing. My daughter loved dipping here ice cream cone in the sand and then eating it. To each their own, right? I recall there being an outside pool last year but they seem to have dispensed with that this time around. Actually, it is pretty cool because they are always tweaking the formula a bit. This year, there is a really cool paddle boat thing in front of Hotel de Ville that is probably worth the detour if you are in Paris with very young kids. Over the years, it has been plagued with horrid weather. I think I got really lucky that after my rainy Miami holiday, the weather here is beautiful and so the excursion was a real success this year.

There was a time when I hosted a Paris Plage After-Party in my bachelor’s pad on rue Monsieur le Prince and it was a doosey with 150+ attendees, perhaps twice that in bottles taken to the recycling bin and countless other stories forgotten in the haze of alcohol and now time (this was in the early heyday of Paris Plage back in 2002/2003). Needless to say, a marriage and two kids later, my Paris Plage adventures stay far more sober and civilized.

OK so, gotta catch up on Dexter now, S2E06 is waiting…

About mfinocchiaro

IT Architecture Guru for large PLM software company but dabbling in Web 2.0 and other stuff.
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ANCWL slams 'drunk Dlamini' report, spokesperson delivers incredible Facebook rant

ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini. (Madelene Cronje, M&G)

ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini. (Madelene Cronje, M&G)

The ANC Women’s League on Wednesday criticised a newspaper report which claimed that its president, Bathabile Dlamini, was drunk while addressing a gala dinner in Germiston.

“The article seeks to undermine the President of the ANCWL and is a smear campaign to discredit her,” the league said in a statement.

It asked The Citizen newspaper to retract the article, which appeared online, and to apologise to Dlamini.

The Citizen‘s digital editor Charles Cilliers said the publication featured an article which originally appeared in the Daily Sun. He said he did not know how the ANCWL had overlooked this fact.

“We read the Daily Sun, like everyone else in South Africa. We read the allegations that she was drunk while giving speeches and thought it was interesting,” he said.

According to the article, Dlamini was unsteady on her feet. The ANCWL, however, said she was sober and had stood throughout her address on challenges facing the league’s young women’s desk.

The ANCWL threatened to take The Citizen to the press ombudsman if it failed to take responsibility for the issue.

Daily Sun editor Reggy Moalusi said the paper did its due diligence before publishing the story.

“We were fair to the minister. We called for comment. We spoke to her spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant.”

He said Oliphant’s response was included in the story.

Oliphant, meanwhile, turned to Facebook to deliver an expletive-laden rant warning the media: “Don’t talk shit about her”.

“So today, allow me to dance for my food. Above all allow me to be vulgar. Anyone of you who wish to use this post for your articles, go the fuck ahead! Yes, the fuck ahead.”

She continued by insisting that Dlamini does not take the issue of alcohol lightly.

“Let me just tell you about the Bathabile Dlamini I know and her attitude towards alcohol. Akabufuni. Akabuseli. If it were all up to her, South Africa would not be drinking, there would be no advertising. Akabufuni. So okukunya nihlala nikuthetha, nikubhala is just that - kukunya!

“Heard me? Understood me? Kukunya! There I said it.” – News24

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Wow, what a surprise to read about Crunchbang (#!) Linux‘s demise recently. Special thanks to the developer of #! and all his hard work! I had just installed it (again) a few weeks ago and customized it on an old machine; #! ran smoothly without issue and I was considering loading it on a friend’s media center PC since it was so trouble-free. At least, until I read the following:

CrunchBang, a lightweight Debian based distribution, will come to and end after a post to the CrunchBang forum by the project’s main developer, Philip Newborough. In the post he explains that he doesn’t believe CrunchBang has “any value” with distros like Lubuntu in existence now, which wasn’t the case when the project started. via Paul Hill at LinuxVeda

After skimming the #! forums, I decided to give Debian another try…enough with all the imitators! 😉

Surprisingly, my most recent effort at loading Debian resulted in a great running machine! Debian LXDE version is what I’m using and I have to admit at how easy everything was, how stable. Everything just works! I simply had add some of my favorite apps. Given how easy installing Linux is these days, especially the Debian flavors, although Manjaro is still running flawlessly on an old machine somewhere, you have to work hard to find something that just doesn’t work.

Update: Didn’t take long…I’ve already switched to Peppermint Five.

Peppermint Five Desktop

In the meantime, here is how to install apps:

sudo apt-get install [name of app]

sudo apt-get install keepass2

  • Privacy & Security
    • keepass2 – a password keeper for you.
    • secure-delete – enables you to securely delete/wipe data in folders/files
    • bleachbit – an easy way to periodically clear out confidential data off your hard drive, which I sometimes need to do for work, as well as home.
    • cryptsetup and gnome-disk-utility – This is needed if you want to encrypt external USB drives, as I describe in this blog post.
  • Other Utilities
    • terminator – a terminal emulator that lets you split the screen so you can see multiple CLI windows at a time.
    • mc – Midnight Commander file manager, oldy but goody
    • filezilla – File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program
    • shutter – a great screen capture/annotation tool that reminds me of Skitch before it was messed up.
    • unetbootin – a great help in setting up live USBs
And, of course:
Adjust the Time/Date Settings
Right-click on time/date in the bottom right-hand corner, then adjust the CLOCK FORMAT to change: %a %d-%b-%Y %I:%M %p

This will give you  a day – day-month-year – time AM/PM type format.

View my Flipboard Magazine.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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Monthly Archives: December 2008

The advantages of composite material in marine renewable energy structures

M. Mohan – RINA Marine Renewable Energy Conference, 2008

Composite materials can have many advantages when they are used in marine renewable energy structures. These advantages will be demonstrated in this paper with an example of a 2m prototype of a C-Power Underwater Turbine that was engineered and built at Gurit using composite material. The novel design features of the turbine presented challenges to the structural engineering and will be discussed in this paper.

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Black Walnut and Maple End Grain Cutting Board

Black Walnut and hard rock Maple End Grain Cutting Board

I wanted to share with you a little bit of the process of making an end grain cutting board. I am making two boards using a combination of Black Walnut and hard rock Maple. These two woods will give a nice contract of color. The final size of each board will be 14″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″ thick.

The first step is to hand pick nice hardwood, preferably woods with nice grain, color, square, no splitting and no worm holes. If you purchased wood, let the wood acclimate to the conditions of your shop for a week before starting your project. Knowing the final size of the board allows you to calculate the total board feet of hardwood required to make the board. Keep in mind that there are numerous cuts and glue ups in the process. You need to account for all of the cuts as each cut on a table saw waste 1/8 of material.

Prepare your cuts for the best use of the hardwood and the design.  If you plan to use different types of woods, you may need more board feet of one wood verses the other based on your design. Since this board is primary Black Walnut, I will need more Black Walnut than Maple.

Plan your cuts based on final size of the board. Start by cutting the wood into strips. The size of the strips is determined based on the final design and size of the board. Glue all of the strips together in the sequence of your design, leaving the boards in the clamps for a minimum of 24 hours.

The above photo shows the Black Walnut and Maple strips, this is the first glue up. After removing the glued strips from the clamps, both surfaces were sanded smooth to size per my design.

Next step was to cross cut the above boards into strips that are 1-5/8 wide, which will make a 1-5/8 thick board. The 1-5/9 thickness provides 1/8″ for flattening both surfaces and all the sanding. After cutting the strips, each piece is carefully placed in the proper sequence based on the design. Every other piece is the opposite of the last piece.  After each piece is in order, it is time for the second glue up.

The above photo shows the second glue up of all of the strips that were cut to 1-5/8″. This will be the final design.

In the above photo, after 24 hours, I removed the boards from the clamps. I then cut the board to size, 14 x 20 inch and started sanding the surface on all sides. The final thickness will be 1-1/2 inch. Once this is completed, I will cut finger pulls of each end and then sand them smooth. My sanding process starts at 120 grit up to the final grit of 300.

The sanding took nearly an hour to go from 120 grit to 300 grit. They are looking good, flat on all surfaces and all sanded. Next step is to cut the finger pulls, then apply the final finish.

The above photo shows the board after cutting the finger pulls, sanding the finger pulls and applying the final finish.

Finished boards!

I hope you enjoyed my post!

Summer Ice Cream!

This time of year everyone is enjoying their favorite ice cream and favorite toppings. The variety of ice cream and toppings is endless. Everyone loves chocolate, what is your favorite? What’s your favorite topping, brownies, marshmallows, nuts, chocolate syrup, caramel, cookie dough, etc.?

Months ago on Instagram I met a wonderful person and an amazing artist, her name is Deb. We both had been following,  liking, commenting and admiring each others work. Through many emails we got to know each other and decided to arrange a trade.

Deb decided that she like black walnut and wanted a nice size cutting board. She told me that she was in the middle of a kitchen remodel and I was envisioning how beautiful her kitchen was going to be.

My wife, also a Debbie and I love pottery. I had been looking for a couple of ice cream bowls to match our kitchen. Before I knew it we had worked out a trade.

beautiful pottery ice cream bowls

Deb made me the most beautiful ice cream bowls, I love them and they do match our kitchen colors. The are on display in our kitchen, only when they are not being used!

Check out Deb’s post on the black walnut cutting board, Honey Lavender Lightly Frozen with Fruit. Deb is a very talented artist, check out her pottery on her blog and/or her Instagram!

I love my ice cream bowls and I am so glad I met Deb, maybe someday we will meet in person!

So, what is your favorite ice cream and toppings?

New Boards Made The Last Month

Above: Black Walnut Board

I thought I would post today a few of the boards that I have made this month. There were a few more that I made but did not get a picture of them!

Above: Ambrosia Maple, Cherry and Black Walnut

This one is 14 inch in diameter and has a lot of different grain character and colors, it’s stunning!

Above: Black Walnut and Maple

Customer wanted a long board to place beside her range, 22 inches long and 6-1/2 inches wide.

Above: Black Walnut and Maple end grain cutting board

Rachel was looking for a unique board that could take lot of use. See her picture below!

The above photo was taken by Rachel, she is a wonderful cook, check out her Instagram page, @5280Meat

Above: Black Walnut board with handle.

Check out Trina’s picture below of this board, round board and ice cream scoop! Trina is a wonderful cook, check out her Instagram page, @Paleo_Newbie_Recipes

As a gift with every order I send a free tin of Wood Conditioner. My Wood Conditioner is homemade combining a mixture of food-grade mineral oil and pure food grade beeswax. It will help you maintain the finish on your boards, reviving, condition and help protect your boards from moisture and drying out.

Enjoy your afternoon!

Custom Quilted Flame Maple Cutting Board – Part II

This board was custom made for my blogger friend over at Forest Garden blog, she wanted the wood to look as natural as possible. She selected Flamed Quilted Maple for the board and I was lucky to find a piece with a live edge. She did not want a large cutting board but one that fit into her space that she could use everyday. She likes beautiful woods, but wanted it all organic and artistic as well as functional.

The live edge board I had found was only approximate 9-1/2 inches wide. The board needed to be 12 x 15 inches. To provide the extra 2-1/2 inches or so I added a piece of Flamed Quilted Maple from another board that was a different shade that would help to off set the live edge and that would look nice.

After cutting the two boards to match, gluing the dominos to attach the boards I glued them using Titebond III which is a water proof glue. The board stayed in the clamp press for 24 hours before I was able to run the board thru the drum sander to insure it was perfectly flat. Then I sanded this board smooth like I do all my boards to 1200 grit. After wiping down the board to remove all the fine dust using a tact cloth,  I then placed the board into a food grade mineral oil bath for about 30 minutes. Sitting in the bath of mineral oil allows the wood to soaks in the oil creating a barrier and a nice finish. I then let it drain for an hour before applying a warm mineral oil and food grade beeswax mixture. The warm mineral oil and beeswax is the final finish that adds protection. As you can see in the picture the sheen is from the warm final finish. I also shipped a tin of my Wood Conditioner!

Debbie (my wife) was in the shop last week and saw this board before it was sanded and fell in love with it. Debbie has a basket full of cutting boards but you guessed it, I am making her one just like it this week!!

I shipped the board on Monday, FedEx home Delivery, it arrived today around 11:45and shortly after being delivered I received the following email;

Dear Michael,
It board is absolutely magnificent!  My husband says that he’s not sure now what he was expecting, but that what you have created blows away whatever expectation he had.  He has informed me that it is a piece of art, and I shouldn’t use it….

At the moment it is resting in the light where we can visit it and admire it 😉  Not in the kitchen…..

I will use it and enjoy it-  he wants me to use it as a serving piece, not an every day work surface.  And truthfully, the grains and patterning in the wood you chose is just magnificent.   It is peopled with all sorts of beings- we’ve found a bear, several eyes, and other creatures so far.

I love how the wood contrasts on one side of the board, and melts almost seamlessly from the large piece of wood to the smaller one on the reverse.  You matched the grains perfectly so they look almost like they grew together.

There just aren’t enough words, Michael.  It is so absolutely smooth, and the extra sanding makes the grain appear mulch-dimensional.  It shimmers and moves with the light.

We love the live edge.  It is perfectly finished, beautifully shaded, wonderfully sculpted, and transports this piece from the everyday to the extraordinary.

Thank you so much for all of the love and care you poured into creating this wonderful cutting/serving board.  We will enjoy it so much.

…..So I think she likes it! It makes be very happy when someone orders from me and really likes my work! I hope she will tell all of her friends!  Thank you for ordering from me! 🙂

Please visit Forest Garden, she takes beautiful photographs!

Handcrafted Ice Cream Scoops

Also check out my engraved ice cream scoop handles!

12 inch round Cherry board that just came out of the food grade mineral oil bath! Next it will get a warm food grade mineral oil and beeswax applied for the final finish and protective coating!

Custom Quilted Flame Maple Cutting Board – Part I

A few weeks ago a blogger friend at Forest Garden blog and I were emailing about the holidays, grandchildren, the weather, etc. and she mentioned that she wanted another cutting board. She was looking for a unique cutting board, wanted a live edge, wanted a wood with character and wanted the board to be unique!

She soon picked out Quilted Flame Maple wood. I then started looking for a really nice piece that she might like. I found the two boards in the first picture, both are approximately 26 inches long and 10 inches wide. Since the board on the left had the nicer live edge, this would be the board I would use.

I sent her pictures and she loved it. We planned to keep the live edge on one side. The dimensions of her new board needed to be 12 x 14, which was an exact size for the area she planned to store it to make is easy to use everyday. Over the next week I started working on her board.

Check out Forest Garden blog!

Stay tuned for Part II coming soon!

Enjoy your evening! 🙂

Below are a couple Walnut Teardrop Cutting boards with handle and a Walnut Round Cutting board with handle. All of these boards just came out of the oil bath after an hour and are drying, waiting for the last finishing process! The oil makes the boards really shinny until it is dry.

New Teardrop Cutting Board

I decided I needed to offer a new design board this year for the Holidays! What I came up with is a take off from the teardrop board I offered last year during the Holidays. The teardrop cutting board last year did not have a handle.

teardrop-cutting-board-with-handle          Walnut-cheese-board-teardrop-with-handle

Teardrop Board with Handle

Teardrop shaped but with a handle. The above pictures are walnut but I can also make this board using Birds Eye Maple or Quilted Maple. This board could be used as a serving board, cheese board or cutting board. Link to detail page:  Teardrop Cutting Board

beautiful-cheese-boards          cheese-boards-serving-boards

One of my most popular boards is the round board, the above pictures show this board in Walnut and Birds Eye Maple. In the picture to the far left next to the jar of honey are the Honey Sticks made from Walnut.  Click for more detail:  Cheese Board

Birdseye-Maple-cheese-board          wood-cheese-boards

The first picture shows two beautiful Birds Eye Maple boards, second picture shows a stack off Walnut, Quilted Maple and Birds Eye Maple boards and Honey Sticks! You can find more details here: Honey Sticks

Any of these boards would make a great Christmas gift for family or friends! All of my  boards are handcraft one at a time, so allow plenty of time for me to make the board and don’t forget about shipping transit time!

Be sure to check out my Testimonial page!

                        SHOP     FAQ     OUR STORY     CONTACT     TESTIMONIALS     INSTAGRAM     FIND US     BLOG

Cheese Boards

Birds Eye Maple

I have added a new Cheese Board or it can also be used as a cutting board. Size I have available are 8 inch round, 10 inch round and 12 inch round. The handle adds another 4 inch plus to the length depending on the size board. You can find my new boards on this page, Cheese Boards

The first picture (above) is Birds Eye Maple, very beautiful and hard to find.

Walnut is very popular and makes a beautiful board. Many times the walnut will have curly designs in the wood and cream color streaks that add character.

Quilted Flamed Maple

Quilted Flamed Maple is very beautiful, you can see the beautiful flame colors in the boards above.

wood conditioner, spoon butter, board butter or wood butter in tins, made from mineral oil and beeswax, spoon butterAll of my boards are hand sanded to a smooth finish then finished with numerous coats of food safe mineral oil then top coated with mineral oil and beeswax. All boards are shipped with a tin of my Wood Conditioner!

Makes a very nice gift for someone who likes to cook and entertain family and friends

Cheese boards and Cutting Boards make great Christmas gifts or a nice anytime gift for a friend that likes to cook or entertain!

Do you have a favorite cutting board that you use all the time? I would love to see pictures of your boards!


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Tag Archives: evolution

King Corny Muse

Je m’amuse: dang, forgot the crown! Saccorhytus coronarius; not a putz to futz around… H/T: “One of our oldest ancestors has been discovered, and it had a big mouth and no butt“ via Blogger http://ift.tt/2kZuml5

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Ah, for Coffee!

Yours, but for a click: Coffee Chemistry!  I cheated a bit to get the O, H, N molecules and the five flower-evolutions in there…  H/T’s to The evolution of caffeine from the Pharyngula blog;  the Caffeine wiki. Of course, if you prefer haiku, this … Continue reading

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New Bestseller: Petrified!

Evolution and War as a game  ‘Petrified’ might be a better name! Or Devilution? h/t: Bacteria Evolution via Blogger http://ift.tt/2cQJWR8

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Remipede! How can you not love a title like this: The first venomous crustacean revealed by transcriptomics and functional morphology: remipede venom glands express a unique toxin cocktail dominated by enzymes and a neurotoxin (From Molecular Biology and Evolution Journal; follow … Continue reading

Posted in haiku, Illustration, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s a nice challenge to re-write abstracts as haikus. Padian, K. 2013. Correction some common misrepresentations of evolution in the textbooks and the media. Evolution: Education and Outreach 6:11. (This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative … Continue reading

Posted in #amreading, Education, evolution, haiku, Illustration, poetry, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sturgeon Haiku

h/t to Science Daily: Living Fossils? Actually, Sturgeon Fish are Evolutionary Speedsters Related articles Sturgeon Are Fastest-evolving Fish on Earth, Study Says (natureworldnews.com) Living fossils? Actually, sturgeon are evolutionary speedsters (oddonion.com) Sturgeon are Some of the Fastest-Evolving Fish on Earth: … Continue reading

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A Nudish Medley of Mischellany

With the summer holidays upon us, I seem to have less time for my blogs! So, I’m going to post this medley (assortment, mélange, variety, mix, potpourri, bricolage, gallimaufry, mishmash, salmagundi…thanks Thesaurus)) and hope it can serve for a week. … Continue reading

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Nature’s decline

In June I went to the walled garden in Ravenscourt Park here in west London, just a stone’s throw away from my home. It was bursting with colour and life, a sun-blessed testament to a very fine summer.

A very recent return tells a different story, but not an unexpected one. The garden’s life is slowly ebbing away, with signs of decay and death. This has its own beauty.

The aim was to avoid piles of leaves in my photographs. The autumn colour scheme creeps into some images, but doesn’t dominate. I also came to the garden in the grip of winter, which you can view here.

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Click first image to launch the gallery

6 thoughts on “Nature’s decline

  1. A nice set of images, Mike, and it’s nice to visit the same place at different times of the year. The shots work well in their colour theme, and I like the interesting sizes… It adds an extra element to them. :)

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Triaggieland Tomorrow - Yet Very Much Land To Be Possessed

Am I ready? Yes. Tomorrow AM I will leave home very early for the Tri Aggieland in College Station, Texas. Am I nervous? No. And that is the scary part. Usually, I anticipate endlessly. Today, I hope I remember to get everything ready. So laid back about this one it makes me wonder if it is time to quit this stuff?

I have often said that when I don't get all spun up over an event, I might consider taking up other activities. Maybe I have had my day, my time. The race published a chart of participants and their ages. My column on the chart was just about the last on the wasteland of right hand side. One had to look close to see if that was a column there at all. There are fewer men over 60 in the event than under 18.

Am I a relic? Should I quit and leave this game to these younger folks? Should I take up a more sedentary pursuits more indicative of my age? That might make some people my age feel more comfortable.

But I think it would make me uncomfortable leaving active life while there is still fire burning inside and capability is still present. My goodness I set a PR last year at the Rose City Triathlon. My running isn't that great but in training, I keep getting better. It doesn't seem like the time to take up shuffleboard and game shows just yet. It does seem like almost a slap in the face of God to just lay down and quit while He has placed all that is needed within me, even at my age.

In the Book of Joshua, God told Joshua, the leader of the Hebrews, "---Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." Caleb was 85 years old and he said, "As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in."

So why am I not as nervous before this race? Could it be I am having my best year of training EVER? Could it be that this is not a priority race and I have the big picture perspective that this is a testing event to see where I am at on the way to a much larger challenge? Could it be that this peace God is giving me will translate into a really good performance tomorrow? I feel as strong as ever and, God willing, am ready for war.


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