Hickory Community Theatre, Southern Exposure

The Hickory Community Theatre is one of about six or seven community theatres in the community counting those at the college and the university.  The talent is amazing and the presentations are delightful. 

Tonight, at the Hickory Community Theatre, we saw "A Southern Exposure".  This play is the story of a young college student, struggling to leave the nest, where she was raised by her grandmother and two great aunts.  

Callie Belle, a young Kentucky woman raised by her cranky, controlling grandmother and two eccentric, doting aunts, is about to tell them she’s moving to New York City — with her boyfriend!  Will her fairy tale hopes be dashed?  Will she realize her own self-worth?

Well, you will have to drop by and see the play, now playing until March 24, to find out the answer to these questions.  We saw it tonight and enjoyed it.

Hickory Museum of Art, Ekphrastic Poetry

Art of Poetry

Saturday, March 16

2 - 3:30 PM

FREE Admission

The Hickory Museum of Art (HMA) will conduct an ekphrastic (poetry about art) walking tour through its exhibits this Saturday. The public is invited to attend this free event. Enjoy poems written about works featured in the following exhibitions: A Tribute to Will Henry Stevens (1881-1949); IMAGE*INATION: Catawba Valley Camera Club Exhibition; The Birth of a Collection; The High-Speed Photograph of Harold “Doc” Edgerton; Discover Folk Art; and Studio Art Glass from the Museum’s Permanent Collection.

The poets featured during this tour include: Scott Owens, Ann Fox Chandonnet, Betty O’Hearn, Brenda Smith, John Womack, Anthony Rankine, Cynthia Rand, Doug McHargue, Mel Hager, Patricia Deaton, and Kelly Demaegd. 

The Movie "Amour".

The movie "Amour" was shown at the Carolina Theater in Hickory, Thursday night sponsored by the Footcandle Film Society and the Hickory International Council.

Not an easy story to take in.  A French couple, man and wife, both in their 80’s who live in Paris  and therefore probably lived through the German occupation and liberation of WWII .   Both are well-educated and they apparently have significant money for retirement and also the excellent French health-care system is available to them.  Still they strive to handle a health issue on their own resources –  which are non existent.  Their effort doesn’t work and they have problems they can’t handle.  They also have no real friends who can help, and one daughter who works elsewhere.  No professional medical help was present at any time, even after a major surgery had taken place.

I found the story hard to believe or accept and that detracted from the movie for me.  Symbolism was present but not really directive.   The acting obviously required extensive preparation and work by the female lead, Anne, (played by Emmanuelle Riva) and she played that marvelously.  The physical resources brought to bear by the actors in the story were constrained to bare minimum physical rehabilitation, no real mental activity was applied toward the illness and recovery, some emotional work was done with paintings that were very dark, and singing of childhood songs. The spiritual aspect was totally absent from the film and that seemed strange. 

Sandra Beasley in Hickory NC, Poetry Alive

Sandra Beasley spun out some of her poetry Tuesday night and wove it through an enchanted group of fellow poets who sat intrigued at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in Hickory.  She showed us another look at ourselves, from a view we don’t believe if we ever even see it, while she kept sprinkling oogley-googley all over us.  Scary stuff for a guy like me.   “But it’s our first date”  she said, “Huh?” I replied, but then she kept on climbing out and all I got were references to Greek platypuses who play fugues on the piano about nailed troubadours – or trapdoors – I’m not sure which.  

Well, this probably began way back when I was still asleep, earlier in the afternoon.  When I woke up, Sandra was explaining "sestinas" to us and I thought she was joking.  She was really good.  She kept a straight face and I started chuckling.  Some of the others looked at me and held their fingers to their lips.

OK - enough of that.  Sandra Beasley is a resident of Washington, D.C., down here working for a while at LRU.  If you ever get a chance to see her and listen to her, then that will be your Lucky Day.  Meanwhile, she has been kind enough to put some of her poems in books, and you can view them by clicking one of the URLs below.   

http://www.sandrabeasley.com

http://sbeasley.blogspot.com

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sandra-beasley

P.S. I've just started on my first sestina.  It will be about Sandra Beasley.

Cantú-Barrera in the Hickory Museum of Art

Guitar magic took place in the Coe Gallery at the Hickory Museum of Art on March 8, 2013, 7:30 p.m.  The maestro was Francisco Javier Cantú-Barrera, who was featured as a “specialist” in classical guitar.  He performed pieces written by himself,  Heitor Villa-Lobos, Isaac Albéniz and Joaquin Rodrigo.

It was a joy to see someone play such obviously difficult chord and stroke actions without apparent effort, sometimes almost caressing his insturment and bringing out tender notes that hung in the gallery for a moment, sometimes just barely discernible, and then disappearing as deeper melodies swept in from a source of great power.  In the finest Latin tradition Maestro Cantú-Barrera played his guitar once or twice as one might play a drum, drumming with both hands, on the body of the guitar and on the frets without interrupting his elegant playing of the guitar with the strings and frets – rhythm, melody, and wow.  A marvelous act of creation with with a sense of ease and familiarity.

  

The presentation was free and open to the public.  More than that we were PAID, in a sense to attend, in the form of snacks and wine.  My estimate of the audience was between 40 and 60 (I don’t do crowd estimates), and it took place in a gallery that was hung with the impressionistic art work of Will Henry Stevens.









                                                                                                   

Hickory Museum of Art with Blue Ridge Realists

 Good art and good music, gourmet snacks, wine, conviviality, teaching and learning, what could be better than all that?  The Hickory Museum of Art put on a three-tiered performance Saturday night, February 9, 2013.  From the rarefied atmosphere of level three of the museum, filled with amazing folk art and appreciative visitors and viewers, down to the second level where discussions of the Blue Ridge Realists art, including its creators, were taking place. One of those discussions is shown in the top photograph being led by the museum’s curator, Lisë Swensson.  

Finally coming on down to earth in the lower level where that gallery was also filled with more work by many of those artists, and there were still more snacks there, and the room was filled with the beautiful harp music of Joan Johnson, a member of the Western Piedmont Symphony, also here in Hickory.

Juvenal

The clouds have come from all around!
They’re gathered here, and are staring down
looking at how we twist and writhe
as the wild, ragged wind plays keen with us.
Their cloudy arms now thrust out wide
and we fear for the thumb to appear and decide.

Humans Evolved From Turkeys?

Well, that’s what I got from the presentation given by Dr. Howard Neufeld, professor of biology at Appalachian State University last night as part of the Hickory Science Museum’s “Science After Dark” series.  This was the first science event to be hosted at Bistro 127, and it was very tasty.  My wife and I enjoyed a marvelous Margherita pizza and good draft ale.

Oh,  to get back to the presentation.  Actually Dr. Neufeld didn’t really say mankind had descended from turkeys but he did show an interesting graph revealing that the United States had “evolved” in the process of believing the theory of evolution far enough that it was now head and shoulders above the nation of Turkey, but ONLY the nation of Turkey. The graph, compiled by Jon Miller and published by National Geographic Society (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html) showed America lagging FAR behind the other developed nations of the planet Earth concerning belief in the theory of evolution.  Not much was said to address the question “why?”, but it was pointed out that not much attention is devoted to the theory of evolution in the nation’s schools.  Members of the audience indicated that might be because of the requirements of testing the nation’s students.  The issue of religion was mentioned by some of the audience but not really considered.

Dr. Neufeld discussed at length, the “evolution” of the development of the theory of evolution, showing that it really was not the brilliant concept of one man, but that many people, Including Darwin, explored and discussed together the idea and the development of the theory..  And of course, that “theory” understood by many Americans – you know – that mankind descended FROM the apes, was pointed out to be a gross misunderstanding that was never considered by the theory’s developers.  A diagram showing the generally accepted process was presented and explained.

At any rate, it was a packed room.  Many people from Hickory showed up to see the presentation, eat and drink well at Bistro 127, and then to ask questions afterward.  Good job Bistro, Dr.  Neufeld, and the Hickory Science Museum for bringing science to the people of Hickory.  

This was our fifth, we had seen previously a presentation on Dark Holes, another on Dreams, another on the Search for Extraterrestrial Beings, and one on Climate Change.  

New!

This is a try of the new app for the iPhone to blogger

Maya Angelou in Boone

Maya Angelou presented a performance in Boone tonight.  There was some snow on the ground and a chill in the air, but the Holmes Center on the campus of Appalachian State University was full of buzz.  I went up there expecting to be part of maybe 50 or so people to hear this distinguished author, poet, playwright, and movie producer.  Instead, I wound up in a great bee-hive of perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 vibrantly electric beings who were spilling happiness and laughter and busyness accompanied by flash pictures of themselves all over the place.

Then the program began.  At one point the first speaker mentioned that “perhaps some of you here saw the inauguration of President Obama yesterday . . .” and at that instant a huge roar rose from the students, as if Obama himself had appeared on stage for a moment and slam-dunked the winning goal.  Wow.

Then followed music, singing, dancing by a group of young ladies clad only in flimsily flowing black dresses. Then a group of black women, probably in their late teens or early twenties, each proclaimed in various ways that “I am woman!”  Finally, Maya Angelou rode her wheel chair onto the stage.

So this night was a great conjunction of amazing events, all of which would not have been possible when our country was formed, a grand commemoration of the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, and of the anniversary of Roe-v-Wade, and the second inauguration of President Obama.  Maya Angelou told some tales of her own voyage through life, and implored the students before her to study and learn to shed those "Chains of Ignorance", to develop courage like one learns to lift weights, and to respect ALL human beings.  She read only a couple of her poems but they were placed within other urgings from her.  “You are better than you think you are”, and “You represent ALL human beings”.  And she saluted all of us, we the Heroes and Sheroes of the world.

Then back into the chilly night for a quick ride back down to Hickory.

HCT – Time Stands Still

The Hickory Community Theater presented “Time Stands Still” in its caberet, the Firemen’s Kitchen.  The play showed some of the problems that journalists and photojournalists who cover combat operations bring away with them from those encounters and it clearly references current American operations in the Middle East.  

One of the strongest points in the play was the depiction of emotional problems sometimes experienced by those  who alternate living in two totally different worlds.  One part of their being is looking forward to returning to a “normal” existence while a deeper feeling rises to the point of irrationality because of the conflict between the work they do and the apparent indifference to that work from American “normalism”.  

The act of being a witness to destruction and at the same time recording it for – well, is it really for the purpose of history, or education or news or reporting, or is it more an act of voyeurism? This is an old question, and a pertinent one.  The play discusses this issue and really leaves it, perhaps to haunt the audience.  Meanwhile we see the dedicated compulsion of these people who snap the horror they see in war and develop the agony of innocent humans into a different kind of "beauty".

The play tells how incredible photographs and stories of burning women, dying themselves, crying and carrying the dead bodies of their recently killed children, and the stories that describe these events have to compete with space in American magazines and newspapers with house-ware sales, bridal showers, new automobiles, movies, and restaurants, and how those other events crowd out the stories and pictures of war because the combat depictions are not deemed "economically productive".   It is pointed out that people who see those pictures of horror often quickly turn the page to get on to something more enjoyable, like perhaps a sale at a department store.

The play is powerfully presented and skillfully explores these questions for people who have never experienced the ripping and tearing effect of desperately wanting time to relax and rest at home with family, while at the same time realizing that very wish makes them vulnerable to mental and emotional dismemberment.  

According to the play it seems that once you cross a certain threshold in events of this nature that the only way out is to go back again.

The cast:  Sarah, the photojournalist: Christy Rhianna Branch, James, the journalist: Mark Alton Rose, Richard, the publisher: Ted Eltzroth, Mandy, the normal person: Kelly Abernethy

Poetry Alive Jan 9, 2013

Good poetry readings at Taste Full Beans. Susan Woodring and Molly Rice were the featured speakers. Really, really good readings.

Shakespeare – in a Nutshell

Went to the Fireman’s Kitchen last night to see its penultimate presentation of the Hickory Community Theatre’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare – Abridged”.  Well, it was truly magnificent?  But I had the feeling that Shakespeare would have loved it.  I think he would be right up there on the stage piling absurdities and mis-quotes on top of all of the other actors.  He would have sent a messenger  off to the Olde Hickory Tap Room, just around the corner or perhaps right around the other corner to “The Crescent Moon”, to supply ale for the entire congregation, and would have probably brought his own bottle of Sack along with him.

We were generally a demure group.  We did laugh at the appropriate points (most of them) and we giggled at the off-color references, and enjoyed as many of the absurdities that we could recognize.  And we even hung in with the endless demonstrations of various ways to do Hamlet quicker and quicker, even finishing one entire rendition off in 30 seconds, and we then watched as they repeated THAT one backwards, ending at the beginning.  

It was a good evening, back in the Fireman’s Kitchen, back with old friends and new friends and a fine evening of entertainment.  

We also found out that the Hickory Community Theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary by becoming one of 6 community theaters nationwide to produce a winning play of a new playwriting competition.  Over 200 plays have been submitted to the competition.  Once the top plays have been chosen, HCT will select which one they would like to produce.  the playwright will journey here, workshop the show, and be on hand for the opening night festivities.  Not bad for a town with 5 community theaters!

Poetry Alive in Hickory, November 13, 2012..

Jakia Propst

A marvelous group of poets assembled tonight in Hickory at Taste Full Beans and blessed the world with expanded horizons and deepened dimensions, and everybody lifted their wings and rose into glorious realms of new understandings and the entire world was clearly seen – briefly – for the very first time.  

At any rate, Nancy Posey, Helen Losse, Mel Hager, Scott Owens and “Versus” – Jakia Propst and Andrew Licout, two students from St. Stephens High School presented a stellar demonstration of really, really good poetry.  Versus gave us hard hitting stuff that opens your eyes, your emotional eyes, and your unconscious eyes, and shows you who you really could be.  Good.

Joseph Mills who teaches writing at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, then read from three of his books to finish a marvelous evening.   Mills had conducted a class in Taste Full Beans for poets just before the readings began. 

A good evening.  Thanks to Scott Owens and Taste Full Beans.

Hushpuppy. The Hickory Footcandle Film Society.

The Hickory Footcandle Film Society presented the “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Thursday night at the Carolina Theater.  Basically, the carrier story is about people in Louisiana’s coastal swamps and bayous still trying to live in an old world which is now being reclaimed by changing weather, rising sea elevations, hurricanes and pollution from great corporate enterprises.   

Interesting story.  But I think most of the people who watched the movie detected a deeper feeling moving within themselves.  No longer are only those people still living on the ecotone between nature and civilization who are being threatened by earth’s changing environment and weather, but all of us are feeling changes coming into our lives also.  It is no longer only those “uneducated” people of our planet who are helping contribute to the deterioration of their own immediate environment, but now we all participate in the acceleration of these changes. And the changes we feel are also accelerated by our habits, our life-styles and our own “education”, which also prepared us for a world that no longer exists.  And it is not the simple superstitions of simple people who make them deny the reality of the world before their eyes but many of us now, captured by our own convictions, religions, facts and answers, are no more prepared to confront this new world we now inhabit.  The simple people portrayed in the film, who once were fully capable of functioning and living a fruitful, even bountiful life of blessings poured upon blessings, now see their world, their friends, their family and themselves slowly slipping away like a dream that is disappearing.  

The acting and portrayal of these people were very interesting.   The 8-year old actress, Quvenzhane Wallis, who portrayed a 6 year old girl, called “Hushpuppy”, was played without noticeable flaw. Her actions were impressive and easily led me to forget her age. She clearly is a product of that new world which is now replacing the ones we all remember so fondly.  Those who survive into this new future will see many more amazing stories from her.

Also, congratulations to the producers for an astonishing achievement:  no cigarettes were lit in the entire film!  Haven’t seen that in years.  Also there was no evident “product placement” anywhere in the film, although I’m not really sure that any manufacturer would really want their product recognized in this film.  There was a super abundance of cheap American beer, whiskey, and a lot of other alcoholic beverages constantly being consumed without apparent harm to the constant guzzlers.

Good movie.  If you haven’t seen it, go now – before it is too late!

Congratulations to Alan Jackson, good job.

And one more thing.  Why the focus on the nostrils near the end?  Nothing is ever done without meaning in a movie like this.  So why did the camera linger on a close up of the boar’s nostril and then VERY shortly after that do the same thing with Hushpuppy’s dad?  I even hate to bring this up because it might seem racist.  But still, I wonder.  Any ideas?

Nicholas Carr in Hickory.

Another fine day in Hickory, NC.  In spite of the fabulous weather with temperatures in the 70s and gentle breezes on a sunny day, we went out to LRU to take part in their Visiting Writers program, now in its tenth year.  

Tonight’s speaker was Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google” and “Does IT Matter?” .  He is in Hickory tonight to speak about his new book “The Shallows:  What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains”.  The program was recorded to be rebroadcast tomorrow morning on WFAE, Charlotte, at 0900, and was MC’d by Mike Collins. 

Carr was fresh from his second encounter with Stephan Colbert last month http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/01/nicholas-carr-on-colbert_n_632304.html

and he talked with Collins about the book, its implications and the messages it carries for all of us.

He pointed out how the current emphasis, especially in education, on teaching children facts and answers is reinforced by the internet’s constant shifting of topics.  Carr says this leads to an actual restructuring of the brain cells by the reinforcement and neglect of different neurons involved.  Contemplative thinking, introspection, and the ability to mentally reflect become lost along with our abilities to concentrate our attention.  Carr also pointed out how this negatively affects our long-range memories, and our abilities to differentiate between trivia and important concepts.  Then he talked about how psychologists believe that we now tend more so than in the past to seek information that corresponds with our beliefs and to reinforce those beliefs rather than use new information to learn and grow.

On the way back we stopped in Bistro 127 for a couple of their craft beers and a really good margherita pizza.   Bistro is in the process of developing a new brewery in Hickory, the Loe’s Brewery.  We tried two of their new presentations a Loe’s Pale Ale and a Loe’s Amber Ale.  I preferred the Amber which I found to be an interesting experience with a variety of tastes and complexity.  The Pale was more straightforward, a bit like a lager with a couple of surprises.

Then back home to the doggies.  Another enjoyable day in Hickory. 

A Day in Hickory

A normal day.  Nice day.  High temperature about 78°, clear  skies, soft breezes.  Oktoberfest is on one of our horizons, rising slightly.  How to spend this day before sending it off into the record of "past events"?  Well, to begin with, writing – but writing is hard to do on such a nice day as this.  Dog walking?  Oh yes, but the doggies can only walk so far.  They don't see the sky, they see the grass instead, and clumps of weeds, and fireplugs, and they walk in a trance, breathing in worlds we will never know,  pausing occasionally to read their p-mail, comment, scratch it in deeply and walk on self-righestously.

But it is a wonderful day in Hickory.  There's more to do.  We go to the Democratic Headquarters and pick up voter registration forms and then go on to the Patrick Beaver Library.  We get some wonderful coffee from the new Taste Full Books, the delicious branch of Taste Full Beans now at the library, (mine was cafe latté, (deLICious!)), and we meet some 60 people coming in and out of the library.  "Pardon me, are you registered to vote?"  Most said "Yes!", many gave us a thumbs-up.  But we also encountered five foreigners and two felons.  (Felons CAN vote in North Carolina under certain  conditions).  We also met members of the Hickory International Council who were meeting to determine actions to 

take in the coming months.

Then back home to walk the doggies again, and then back downtown again.  Not easy.  Ten minutes each way.  At least.  Maybe eleven. We spent a little bit of time looking at some of the art exhibitions currently on display in Downtown Hickory, now in one of its "Art Crawls".  Some 22 different venues have art ranging from jewelry to statuary to paintings to photography and all of this is under the aegis of music from street musicians.

But onward.  On to the Old Hickory Tap Room.  The Belfast Boys are playing tonight.  There will be singing and dancing and the night will be filled with music.  Ireland will be front and center and the place is filled with people who have Ireland not only deep inside their souls but also shining brightly on their sleeves.  Adrian Rice and Alyn Mearns, both natives of Belfast, Ireland, thrilled their congregation with mana from heaven.  Meanwhile, the Old Hickory Tap Room took care of more basic basics such as jerked chicken breast, Rueben sandwiches and great craft beer from the Old Hickory Tap Room Brewery.  We had "Oktoberfest", then "Death by Hops", and of course, "Irish Walker".

Then back home to the doggies again.  It was a great day.  Another great day in Hickory.

Click on photos for enlargement.

A Saluki Story

Enrolled in 1952.  Part of the class that pushed SIU over a total attendance of 3,000 students.  My qualifications?  Really?  None.  I got too close to a college that had a dream and got sucked in.  Effect?  Every good thing that has happened to me in my life is a result of my attending SIU.  

I was right out of the sticks.  Graduated from a high school with about 20 students.  When confronted with initial registration I didn’t know which line to get into.  There were signs reading “Last name beginning with an A and ending in an F”, next one read “Last name beginning in a G  and ending in an L”.  I was amazed.  My last name began with a W and ended in a K; where was my line?  The most appropriate answer would probably have been “back home!”  But a beautiful lady with a “Can I Help You?” button on her blouse smilingly showed me the line I should get into, and she insisted I stay in it even though it ended in the wrong letter. 

Vera Peacock was my French teacher.  First year, first class, 8 a.m.  She was totally unreasonable.  Her homework assignments were unbelievable.  We students banded together and decided we would confront her.  And we did.  We told her she was demanding too much work.  She went to the door of the classroom – which lead to the outside street – and flung it open. She turned and looked at us and said “Get out!”  She glowered at us, “This place is reserved for COLLEGE students!”  I remember looking through that door and seeing Korea.  I saw rifle flashes and felt concussions. It was a relief when she finally closed the thing.  It was tough after that.  Mais une pâle ampoule a commencé à briller.

Well, it wasn’t all that serious.  I did get to work with the only Saluki we had then.  He was in the back of the Men’s Residence Hall, which was named after Susan B. Anthony.  The yard had a sundial inscribed “Count None But the Sunny Hours”.  And I did get to know Dick Gregory, in fact fenced with him as part of a fencing “team”.  Having recently arrived in Illinois from MIssissippi, I wondered how my uncle would react seeing me jabbing at a black guy, who was jabbing back at me.  He would have wondered what the world was coming to.  Well, we were building a new one.

Worked on the University Farm for much of the first year, since driving tractors and feeding stock was the only thing I knew how to do besides drive steam locomotives which were in short supply at SIU.  Then spent my sophomore and junior years under shelter from the elements as a janitor at the University School, working from 5 p.m. until 10 every night and from 10 a.m until 10 pm on Saturdays.  One of the residences called “The Coterie” let some of us working guys eat in their  cafeteria before 5 p.m. which was when they officially opened.  I still remember them and still appreciate that.  Sundays were for study.  Last year at SIU I ran mail to the MRH.  I wanted to be a lawyer.  But between my junior and senior years, the military cancelled draft deferment for lawyers.  So my senior year I had to switch majors.  Had to choose Political Science since it required French, which I had “mastered”.  Left in 1956, with a B. A. in Liberal Arts and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, a result of the ROTC at SIU, required of all men since it was a “Land Grant” school.  And I went off from Carbondale to meet the world.  

Six Gun Women

Well, it was different.  This movie plummeted through the realm of “Camp” like a star falling from the heavens (no pun intended – well . . .).   And this great fall was accompanied for the most part by the same silence one finds outside on a dark night.  Let’s just say it resembled a lost tongue unable to find a suitable cheek.  It strained our incredulity and in the spirit of the evening, we cheerfully gave into that.  But that turned out not to be enough.

There seemed to be stories presented during the course of the movie but they kept changing and then disappearing.  Reasons were given for the unusual collection of “workers” at this “mine” but those reasons only made probabilities less likely.  The women with six-guns were supposed to be a farce based on the cowboy movies of the 1950s but somehow the talent seemed to have not been familiar with those things.  

Best part of the evening was the discussion afterward.  Here we found details of the movie which apparently took somewhere around 15 to 20 years to complete.  The lead actor, Tony Clay, who was also the writer, and the director, spoke to us after the showing.  He pointed out how the “first photographer” had used up a lot of money and did poor work, so he had to get another photographer and re-shoot a lot of the movie.  He talked about some of the structural work of photographing any movie, and I think most of us had our horizons broadened somewhat by all this.  He referred to a constant problem with money and he attributed that to the distributors-to-be.  Apparently distributors are just no good, and  I’m sure everybody in the business would agree with that. 

And there were boobs.  Bare boobs.  Nice.  Big deal.  But without good writing and good photography and good acting, boobs are just things that deserve better than what they got here.  A boob is one of God’s greatest creations, and should be handled with care.  It deserves proper framing and suitable presentation.  If these things start jumping out at you when you least expect to see one . . . well, people will begin to regard them as ordinary  and unimportant things and quit staring at them all the time.  You could probably summarize this movie by saying that there were a lot of boobs in “Six Gun Women”.   And that’s true.  They were all over the screen and the audience was full of them too. Including me. 

Baby Birds

I scheduled the pruning of our shrubs back in late March, but the actual event finally happened just two days ago.  Now the shrubs and crepe myrtles are bushy and full of leaves, nascent berries and other whatnots.  Like these two surprised and indignant victims.  They were up in a top limb about four feet above the cut and they fell to the ground still wedged into their nest.  The pruner told me what happened and together we managed to wedge the cut branch back into some type of new position in the crepe myrtle.  But it was late in the day.  Dusk was falling, darkness coming quickly.  Mama bird flew back and forth dipping down lower and lower.  Finally it was all done, the branch – and nest – were wedged firmly in place, the workers were gone,  darkness closed in and no mama bird was present.  A deck light about 15 feet from the nest was left on, turned down to dim, and the light simulated moonlight.  Careful glances stolen throughout the night revealed nothing.  The light seemed like a dim hope in a vast darkness.  No mama bird showed up.



Next morning revealed mama bird in action!  Full of food for baby birds, she flew in again and again, and even papa bird showed up, bringing food to his little ones.  Next day the baby birds were moving about within and on the nest.  Now the concern is about our dogs.  They would LOVE to "play" with a itty-bitty-baby bird – especially our puppy would.





Now comes today.  Roofers are here to tear off our old roof and replace it.  They are shown the nest and asked to "respect" the progress of life.  They grinned and spoke rapidly in Spanish.  At least the dogs have a day in "dog-camp".  Meanwhile, the branch which contains the nest is drying up and withering, its leaves are drooping, mama bird and papa bird are flying back and forth!  What will happen?  How will this end?  We don't know at this time.  Stay tuned . . . . .