Sunday, March 31, 2013

WELCOME CONGOLESE READERS- BIENVENUE LECTEUR DE CONGO

The Congo must be a very interesting place to be these days.

 We live a quiet, rural and academic life here in the Central California valley. Below are some pictures of where we live. Thanks for reading our blog!
=====================================================================
Le Congo doit être un endroit très intéressant d'être de nos jours.

 

   Nous vivons une vie tranquille et rural et universitaires ici, dans la vallée centrale de la Californie. Voici quelques photos de l'endroit où nous vivons. Merci de lire notre blog!



Saturday, March 30, 2013

Польско-Здравствуйте читатели! It is Spring in California


Весна в Калифорнии


Spring in Yosemite


Добро пожаловать в Молдова

Золотое Утро в сельскохозяйственные угодья.Молдова кажется такой далекой. 



Солнце находится низко над горизонтом. Stanley, кошки, втягивает мой свежий кофе. 


 Наша маленькая Поморского решается на старом синем диване. 



 Пасха завтра. Счастливая весна для всех.



Map of Moldova

Thursday, March 28, 2013

ZZZZZ-NOT. SLEEP TEST TONITE

                                                              A SLEEP TEST VICTIM

Walking the Corn

SOURCE OSHA-

What are the hazards in grain handling facilities?
The grain handling industry is a high hazard industry where workers can be exposed to numerous serious and life threatening hazards. These hazards include: fires and explosions from grain dust accumulation, suffocation from engulfment and entrapment in grain bins, falls from heights and crushing injuries and amputations from grain handling equipment.

Suffocation is a leading cause of death in grain storage bins. In 2010, 51 workers were engulfed by grain stored in bins, and 26 died—Suffocation can occur when a worker becomes buried (engulfed) by grain as they walk on moving grain or attempt to clear grain built up on the inside of a bin. Moving grain acts like "quicksand" and can bury a worker in seconds. "Bridged" grain and vertical piles of stored grain can also collapse unexpectedly if a worker stands on or near it. The behavior and weight of the grain make it extremely difficult for a worker to get out of it without assistance. OSHA has sent letters to approximately 13,000 grain elevator operators warning the employers to not allow workers to enter grain storage facilities without proper equipment, precautions (such as turning off and locking/tagging out all equipment used so that the grain is no being emptied or moving into the bin) and training.

Explosions are often severe, involving loss of life and substantial property damage. Over the last 35 years, there have been over 500 explosions in grain handling facilities across the United States, which have killed more than 180 people and injured more than 675. Grain dust is the main source of fuel for explosions in grain handling. Grain dust is highly combustible and can burn or explode if enough becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface and finds an ignition source (such as hot bearing, overheated motor, misaligned conveyor belt, welding, cutting, and brazing). OSHA standards require that both grain dust and ignition sources must be controlled in grain elevators to prevent these often deadly explosions.

Falls from height can occur from many walking/working surfaces throughout a grain handling facility. Examples of such surfaces include (but are not limited to) floors, machinery, structures, roofs, skylights, unguarded holes, wall and floor openings, ladders, unguarded catwalks, platforms and manlifts. Falls can also occur as workers move from the vertical exterior ladders on grain bins to the bin roof or through a bin entrance.Mechanical equipment within grain storage structures, such as augers and conveyors, present serious entanglement and amputation hazards. Workers can easily get their limbs caught in improperly guarded moving parts of such mechanical equipment. 

Storage structures can also develop hazardous atmospheres due to gases given off from spoiling grain or fumigation. Workers may be exposed to unhealthy levels of airborne contaminants, including molds, chemical fumigants (toxic chemicals), and gases associated with decaying and fermenting silage. Fumigants are commonly used for insect control on stored grain and many have inadequate warning properties. Exposure to fumigants may cause permanent central nervous system damage, heart and vascular disease, and lung edema as well as cancer. These gases may result in a worker passing out and falling into the grain, thus becoming engulfed and suffocating or otherwise injuring themselves.

What can be done to reduce the hazards in grain handling facilities?
Illustration of grain engulfment hazard - It takes only two to three seconds to become helpless in flowing grain
On August 4, 2010 and again on February 1, 2011, OSHA issued warning letters to the grain handling industry following a series of incidents including the recent suffocation of 2 teenagers in Illinois grain elevator. In response to the rising number of workers entrapped and killed in grain storage facilities, OSHA has also issued a new fact sheet, Worker Entry Into Grain Storage Bins [1 MB PDF*, 2 pages] in August 2010 for workers and employers emphasizing the hazards of grain storage bin entry and the safe procedures that all employers must follow. Additionally, OSHA issued a safety and health information bulletin (SHIB) entitled, Combustible Dust in Industry: Preventing and Mitigating the Effects of Fire and Explosions, and a Hazard Alert: Combustible Dust Explosions [790 KB PDF*, 2 pages] fact sheet.
The control of worker’s exposure to hazards in grain handling facilities are addressed in the OSHA standard for grain handling facilities (29 CFR 1910.272), as well as in other general industry standards. These standards reduce the risk to workers by requiring that employers follow established, common sense safety practices when working in grain handling facilities.

SOURCE MICHAGAN PAPER-
What are the hazards in grain handling facilities?
The grain handling industry is a high hazard industry where workers can be exposed to numerous serious and life threatening hazards. These hazards include: fires and explosions from grain dust accumulation, suffocation from engulfment and entrapment in grain bins, falls from heights and crushing injuries and amputations from grain handling equipment.

Suffocation is a leading cause of death in grain storage bins. In 2010, 51 workers were engulfed by grain stored in bins, and 26 died—the highest number on record, according to a report issued by Purdue University [193 KB PDF, 5 pages]. Suffocation can occur when a worker becomes buried (engulfed) by grain as they walk on moving grain or attempt to clear grain built up on the inside of a bin. Moving grain acts like "quicksand" and can bury a worker in seconds. "Bridged" grain and vertical piles of stored grain can also collapse unexpectedly if a worker stands on or near it. The behavior and weight of the grain make it extremely difficult for a worker to get out of it without assistance. OSHA has sent notification letters to approximately 13,000 grain elevator operators warning the employers to not allow workers to enter grain storage facilities without proper equipment, precautions (such as turning off and locking/tagging out all equipment used so that the grain is no being emptied or moving into the bin) and training.

Grain dust explosions are often severe, involving loss of life and substantial property damage. Over the last 35 years, there have been over 500 explosions in grain handling facilities across the United States, which have killed more than 180 people and injured more than 675. Grain dust is the main source of fuel for explosions in grain handling. Grain dust is highly combustible and can burn or explode if enough becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface and finds an ignition source (such as hot bearing, overheated motor, misaligned conveyor belt, welding, cutting, and brazing). OSHA standards require that both grain dust and ignition sources must be controlled in grain elevators to prevent these often deadly explosions.
Falls from height can occur from many walking/working surfaces throughout a grain handling facility. Examples of such surfaces include (but are not limited to) floors, machinery, structures, roofs, skylights, unguarded holes, wall and floor openings, ladders, unguarded catwalks, platforms and manlifts. Falls can also occur as workers move from the vertical exterior ladders on grain bins to the bin roof or through a bin entrance.
Mechanical equipment within grain storage structures, such as augers and conveyors, present serious entanglement and amputation hazards. Workers can easily get their limbs caught in improperly guarded moving parts of such mechanical equipment.
Storage structures can also develop hazardous atmospheres due to gases given off from spoiling grain or fumigation. Workers may be exposed to unhealthy levels of airborne contaminants, including molds, chemical fumigants (toxic chemicals), and gases associated with decaying and fermenting silage. Fumigants are commonly used for insect control on stored grain and many have inadequate warning properties. Exposure to fumigants may cause permanent central nervous system damage, heart and vascular disease, and lung edema as well as cancer. These gases may result in a worker passing out and falling into the grain, thus becoming engulfed and suffocating or otherwise injuring themselves.
What can be done to reduce the hazards in grain handling facilities?
Illustration of grain engulfment hazard - It takes only two to three seconds to become helpless in flowing grain
On August 4, 2010 and again on February 1, 2011, OSHA issued warning letters to the grain handling industry following a series of incidents including the recent suffocation of 2 teenagers in Illinois grain elevator. In response to the rising number of workers entrapped and killed in grain storage facilities, OSHA has also issued a new fact sheet, Worker Entry Into Grain Storage Bins [1 MB PDF*, 2 pages] in August 2010 for workers and employers emphasizing the hazards of grain storage bin entry and the safe procedures that all employers must follow. Additionally, OSHA issued a safety and health information bulletin (SHIB) entitled, Combustible Dust in Industry: Preventing and Mitigating the Effects of Fire and Explosions, and a Hazard Alert: Combustible Dust Explosions [790 KB PDF*, 2 pages] fact sheet.
The control of worker’s exposure to hazards in grain handling facilities are addressed in the OSHA standard for grain handling facilities (29 CFR 1910.272), as well as in other general industry standards. These standards reduce the risk to workers by requiring that employers follow established, common sense safety practices when working in grain handling facilities.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

BOB KILPATRICK IN CONCERT AT GRAND OPENING of the Message Church at Century 21 Theatres on Easter:

BOB KILPATRICK IN CONCERT AT GRAND OPENING of the Message Church at Century 21 Theatres:

The Message Church opens Easter Sunday, March 31st at 10am at its exciting --and innovative-- new location at Century 21 Theatres in downtown San Mateo. The first of two grand opening events has renowned singer/songwriter Bob Kilpatrick in concert. Bob has worked with top names in music like Sara Groves, Michael W. Smith, Lincoln Brewster, Anne Graham Lotz and Andrae Crouch. He has also produced other artists, working with Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Sara Groves and Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul & Mary). Still, most people were introduced to Bob’s ministry through his well-known worship compositions.

The Message Church's new venue has received rave reviews during its soft-opening. "One of the hardest things about showing up at a church for the first time is feeing like an alien. The Century movie theater is great because it's a place we already go to all the time, so we feel right at home", says 25 year-old USF student Touré Clark, "Plus, it's downtown! There's plenty of parking, restaurants... it's great". The church also offers a nursery and children's class at an adjacent theater room.

Century 21 Theatres
320 2nd Ave, San Mateo, CA 94401

Feel free to bring in your pop-corn, coffee and refreshments! Where else can you get all that?

Contact
Beto Carvalho
The Message Church
www.themessage.cc
(650) 242-5919

Rebirth Through Time at Joyce Gordon Gallery





What: Rebirth Through Time: Celebrating 10 years of Excellence

When: March 1 – April 28, 2013
Jewelry Trunk show by Corinthia Peoples: Saturday, March 30th 1-7pm
2nd Opening Reception: Friday, April 5th, 6-9pm
Artist Talk: First Friday, April 5th 7-8p

Where:
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St (12th St. Bart Exit)
Oakland, Ca. 94612

Participating Artists: Zena Allen, Latisha Baker, Christine Balza, Lorraine Bonner, Dimeng Brehmer, Samantha Chundur, Linda Fong, April Hankins, Penny Harncharnvej, Kristen Jensen, Vanessa Marsh, Susan Matthews, Barbara McIntyre, Corinthia Peoples, Keli Walker and Flo Oy Wong

For more information please contact:
Gallery Curator: Eric Murphy - eric.aioakland@gmail.com
Gallery:
510.465.8928

Joyce Gordon Gallery presents “Rebirth Through Time”, an exhibition of sixteen women artists in honor of Women’s History Month of March into April and the inaugural celebration of Joyce Gordon Gallery’s 10th anniversary in downtown Oakland.

In Europe during 1911, March 8th was celebrated as International Women’s Month with the focus on women’s rights in society and continues to be recognized to this very day.  In the US, this celebration much like Black History Month began to be observed for a full week and in 1987, Congress extended this fete into the entire month of March.

Today by inevitable response, we also honor women artists through exhibitions and other public programs without much discussion about the history and evolution of women artists, gallerists, critics and collectors throughout time. In Eleanor Tufts’ 1974 book, Our Hidden Heritage: Five Centuries of Women Artists, Tuft document the lives of 22 women artists from the 16th to the 20th century and examined how each of them became involved in art. These female artists include, Artemisha Gentileschi, 19th Century sculptor Edmonia Lewis and 17th Century still life painter, Rachel Ruysch whose paintings was believed at one point to sell higher than the works of fellow Dutch painter, Rembrandt. Other studies suggest that parity in the success of male and female artists in history is subject to initial conditions and favorable environments. This nature vs. nurture idea would then support the success of such women artists as the daughters of Charles Peale, students of Bologna University and the painters of Mithila in India; a predominant group of women artists that became Internationally famous and financially more successful than some of their husbands, enabling them to be more than corporeal assets.

In our exhibition, Rebirth Through Time, artist, Zena Allen’s Watercolor and Ink painting, “Baptism” adapts the style of the Indian Mithila painters and various folk art while merging another sub-Saharan culture in Ethiopia, ironically these two cultures are also comparable in the culinary arts. Other culturally conscious artworks, includes Keli Walker’s “The Albino” hinting towards the modern massacre of Albino’s in Africa today, Penny Harncharnvej’s “Thais to America” series, (feat. Thailand’s King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, born in Cambridge, Massachussettes) challenges class systems and Asian stereotypes as referenced in a 2010 Art in America article and Flo Oy Wong’s “Oakland Chinatown” is a retrospective series of drawings in which her family restaurant demonstrates a period of working class Chinese Americans during her childhood in direct contrast to Hollywood’s portrayal of popular Chinese culture at that time. Other artists like Linda Fong, April Hankins, Barbara McIntyre and Samantha Chundur’s abstract paintings focus more on the intrinsic nature of art. The innovative process of Vanessa Marsh’s Constellations series of photograms, and verisimilitude of life like figures in her c-prints is a nod to Anna Atkins and the role of women photographers of the 19th and 20th Century.

Regardless of medium or subject, this group of sixteen women artists is salient to the role of women in modern art. So the question remains, what is the role of women gallerists, curators, critics and collectors?  If I may be more colloquial than factual to express personal observation, women in the field of art seem to show a greater dominance in today’s art market. It’s not just a cheer to the muses, it is a venerated moment to a more cognitive species. In regards to collecting art, let’s not forget Oakland’s own, Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946), who I am certain would say to women artists today, “There she is.” Historically women gallerists are no modern sensation either when considering the role of Agnes Dürer and Rembrandt's first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, who managed their husband’s art practices.

So how does a commercial gallery survive for 10 years, which may suggest that it must remain innovative and reinvent itself through time to stay fresh and relevant. With that said, we toast to 10 years of Oakland’s muse and woman gallerist, Joyce Gordon.

 

Joyce Gordon Gallery is a commercial fine art gallery located in the downtown district of Oakland California. It exhibits art that reflects the social and cultural diversity of the Bay Area and international artists. The aim of the gallery is to respect the creative pursuits of the individual and seeks to make such work accessible to a broad audience.


BOB KILPATRICK IN CONCERT AT GRAND OPENING of the Message Church at Century 12 Theatres:

BOB KILPATRICK IN CONCERT AT GRAND OPENING of the Message Church at Century 12 Theatres:

The Message Church opens Easter Sunday, March 31st at 10am at its exciting --and innovative-- new location at Century 12 Theatres in downtown San Mateo. The first of two grand opening events has renowned singer/songwriter Bob Kilpatrick in concert. Bob has worked with top names in music like Sara Groves, Michael W. Smith, Lincoln Brewster, Anne Graham Lotz and Andrae Crouch. He has also produced other artists, working with Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Sara Groves and Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul & Mary). Still, most people were introduced to Bob’s ministry through his well-known worship compositions.

The Message Church's new venue has received rave reviews during its soft-opening. "One of the hardest things about showing up at a church for the first time is feeing like an alien. The Century movie theater is great because it's a place we already go to all the time, so we feel right at home", says 25 year-old USF student Touré Clark, "Plus, it's downtown! There's plenty of parking, restaurants... it's great". The church also offers a nursery and children's class at an adjacent theater room.

Century 12 Theatres
320 2nd Ave,
San Mateo, CA 94401

Feel free to bring in your popcorn, coffee and refreshments! Where else can you get all that?

Contact
Beto Carvalho
The Message Church
www.themessage.cc
(650) 242-5919

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Ghanese Children Going for the Gold-By Force-BREAKING NEWS


 BREAKING NEWS- Ghana is starting to expel the illegal Chinese miners. Will keep you updated. Weds Mar 27

Why are children used to dig gold in Ghana?  Because they have no choice.  Of course, it this is the same old thing--child labor. Chinese mining companies are illegally in Ghana exploiting Ghana's mineral resources, ruining the environment, exploiting the laborers and more. Children are working at these mines. Let's stop this.



When a patch of land on the edge of Nweneso No. 1 village was bought by a Ghanaian who said he wanted to search for gold, few residents objected. Then dozens of Chinese moved in with excavators, wrecking farmland and turning the local stream into a trickle of mud.

                                       Gold Mines in Ghana  
 The biggest gold companies operating in Ghana are Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp., which is developing its second mine in the country, and Johannesburg’s AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd. 
                                    Ghana’s Gold Rush Sparks Conflict With Illegal Chinese Miners  
“The Chinese destroyed our land and our river, they are sitting there with pick-ups and guns, plenty of guns,” Maxwell Owusu, acting chief of the village in the central Ashanti region, said last month. “They operate big machines and it makes it very difficult to reclaim the land for farming when they are done.”



As global gold prices climb amid economic uncertainty in Europe, Ghana is facing an influx of illegal small-scale miners from China using machinery villagers say they can’t afford. The operations are raising concern over environmental damage in Africa's second-biggest gold producer and sparking anger among Ghanaians who say they sold their farmland without knowing Chinese gold miners would move into camps nearby.



Africa
The Sahel region of Africa: Burkina Faso and Niger
Child labour in gold mining, or orpaillage as it is called locally, is widespread and increasing in Burkina Faso and Niger. As much as one quarter of all children in the world who work in mines are in a region of the Sahel common to these two countries. The reason for this is partly economic, partly social. The droughts of the 1970s and 1980s set off a downward spiral of poverty which, in turn, disrupted communities and families to such an extent that children previously protected by traditional customs and structures became a resource like any other that could be used to increase income. 



Much of the small-scale gold mining in the Sahel is casual, seasonal and informal. Estimates have shown that children under 18 may constitute up to 30-50 per cent of the entire orpailleur workforce (estimated at between 200,000 and 500,000 across the two countries). Approximately 70 per cent of the children are under the age of 15, indicating that children start working from a young age. 

The majority of children come from villages within the area, often within 10 km of the site, although a substantial number travel considerable distances within or even outside the country. Children who choose to migrate to the site with friends, peers, sponsors or even on their own usually end up having to fend for themselves. An unknown percentage of children at the mining sites have been trafficked as well. Non-local children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and deceit by adult orpailleurs and tend to work full-time in the pits and for longer hours than other children whose parents are present. Foreign girls in the orpaillage communities (usually Ghanaian or Togolese) may have come with a person who promised them work in a petty trade. Once at the mining site, however, many of these foreign girls are abandoned and turn to prostitution in order to survive. 

                                                                   Ghana Chief

Virtually all gold-mining communities in the Sahel are in remote, exceedingly poor rural areas. They are rough places without sanitation, health services and regular access to clean water. These unorganized and usually temporary settlements have virtually no public facilities. Schools, if they exist, are many kilometres away. Nevertheless, in Niger and Burkina Faso many families accompany their men to these sites. Thus, a number of children are born and grow up in mining settlements. Left to themselves while their parents work and without school or supervised sports, children easily become involved in mining or other forms of child exploitation. These problems are exacerbated during “gold rushes” when migrant miners converge around a freshly discovered site. Poor living and working conditions mean that all young children are exposed to infections and diseases caused by unclean water and lack of sanitation and complicated by malnutrition, Dysentery, diarrhoea, malaria, meningitis, measles, tuberculosis and other parasitic and viral infections are common. In Burkina Faso and Niger, children are engaged in almost all aspects of the mining operation, from rock breaking and transport to washing, crushing/pounding and mineraldressing. Children are particularly “useful” in underground gold deposits as their small size and agility allows them to more easily work in the narrow shafts and galleries. 

Girls as well as boys undertake heavy work, although it is more likely that boys will work underground, while girls stay on the surface. Work for both involves the transport, crushing, washing and processing of rock. Typically, children under 10 years old tend to be given less arduous tasks, such as petty trading, pushing water carts and working as messengers. Regular, full-time work usually begins between the ages of 12 to 14 years. Children often work every day, although they occasionally get to rest for a day at the weekend. Working hours are extremely variable – from 8 to 14 hours – but almost always at least 6-8 hours per day (occasionally the children actually sleep underground). In many cases, children have insufficient time to rest and inadequate food and water. Again, those without parents are particularly at risk, having nowhere to secure a decent meal or safe place to rest before returning to work. 

Although children are often expected to do the same work as adults, they invariably receive less pay. Most often, remuneration for children is a combination of in kind and cash payments. Others are not paid but work simply for food, shelter and security. For those that are paid, the cost of food, tools and medication may be deducted from their earnings such that they are left with virtually nothing. Those working with their parents are seen as simply providing an extra pair of hands to share the workload and are therefore not paid directly. Underground, the children are often forced to undertake exceedingly strenuous work under very hazardous conditions. Most of the tools and equipment they use are primitive and heavy, requiring considerable strength to wield effectively that constantly strains children’s bodies. 

The “get-rich-quick” mentality that pervades mining sites undermines conventional norms of social conduct. Many young boys resort to alcohol (both commercial and locally brewed) or narcotics (especially amphetamines and marijuana) in the belief that it makes them stronger and more able to cope with the harshness of the underground environment and work. Even those that initially resist taking drugs often succumb to peer pressure. For young girls there are other threats, especially for those without the protection of their families. These include sexual assault, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. Such health risks are augmented by sexual promiscuity and misguided local beliefs that orpailleurs will have greater luck in the pits if they have int ercourse with a virgin or have unprotected intercourse and do not wash before going underground.
Ghana
Small-scale mining in Ghana, referred to locally as “galamsey” (gather and sell), has been on the increase since the early 1980s. An estimated 10,000 children are involved in various parts of the country, m uch of it in gold mining. 

Small-scale mine operators principally engage children between ages 10 and 18 years old who are paid minimal daily wages. These children perform all sorts of low-skilled tasks, including building trenches, carrying loads of gold ore on their heads to washing sites (done largely by girls), washing the ore (done largely by boys), amalgamating the gold using mercury, and selling the product.
Although there have been efforts to regularize small-scale mining in the country in the past 15 years to improve conditions, most sites are still unregistered and illegal. They tend to be set up on private land, sometimes encroaching on concessions of legitimate mining firms. Galamsey not only involves surface mining, but also underground mining in abandoned shafts, exposing those involved to additional deadly hazards – flooding, cave in and toxic fumes. 

Originally the domain of unemployed youths looking to earn quick money, the practice has grown over the years and now attracts local people of all ages and migrants, principally adult men unaccompanied by spouses. The problem has been compounded in some areas by increased unemployment in farming caused by the loss of farmland to legitimate mining operations or to small-scale miners who essentially squat it. School dropout is a widespread problem in mining areas in Ghana. As most of the children involved come from poor homes, they initially start mining part time to help pay school fees with the consent or their parents. Many end up abandoning school altogether as the attraction of making money, even very little, is stronger than their perception of any long-term benefits of continued schooling. Given the relatively short life spans of most small-scale mining sites, these children will eventually find themselves unemployed and without skills for finding other jobs. 

The expansion of small-scale mining and the increase in migrant labour to these areas has been associated with an increase in prostitution, often involving girls as young as 12 years old. This has inevitably led to increased teenage pregnancies, single parenting, and sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS. 

*Full Bibliography available

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sexy Cowboys

Giddy-up!

I love stories and movies that have cowboys in them. Once  a friend of mine and I were having a few cocktails at King's Cross and I fell off my bar stool. My drinking buddy was Dennis Green, a man whose expertise was the art of conversation. Dennis was really an expert in everything,



                                             Dennis Green

We were talking about potential lovers for women and who made the best ones.


                                         Deadwood Dick

Dennis told me all women should have a "sensitive cowboy" in their lives. Poetry, classical music, a fireplace and a hunky cowboy--sans horse.


                                        Clint Eastwood

I thought that concept really was spot on. But we were in Oakland and there were no cowboys in sight. I swilled my drink, said bye to Dennis and left, still thinking about his advice. 


                                            Marlboro Man

The next time I saw Dennis at the grocery store in Alameda, he was wearing a black cowboy hat and he looked really, really handsome. His earrings sparkled and his black cowboy boots completed the outfit. That did it!  I forgot to buy my cheese and drove off dreaming about cowboys.


                                             Vintage ad


I watched a ton of cowboy movies. Movie cowboys are the creamiest.Tombstone is chock full of eye candy.


                                        Tombstone Actors
  

 Happy Trails to me!  I am off to find a cowboy......Dennis gave me great advice.


                         Cowboy from Argentina--a Gaucho
==============================================
                                     A REAL Cowboy
                                          Wyatt Earp

 




Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday Stroll-by a Tortoise

                                             Photo by Hara Woltz
 A Galapagos tortoise utilizing a human road on Santa Cruz Island. 


This photograph reminds me of Vermont--even though there are no tortoises there. Vermont has lots of  old logging roads that are easy to walk on. I can understand why this tortoise took this path. It is smooth and easy to navigate.

                                       Vermont Logging Road

I wonder where he is going? All we know is that he is going somewhere. I loved summers in Vermont, days humid, nights breezy. We stayed right next to a small dairy farm and helped milk the cows. I am positive I would love the islands too!

                                                              Vermont Cow
The Galapagos are much prettier than Vermont but the two definitely have things in common.

                                                The Galapagos

The photo of the tortoise reminds me of a Vermont poet also.
 Robert Frost, wrote in 1920:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 



In the Spotlight

Son & Father : The Two Edgar Kaufmanns

Grace Stoops Kaufmann, wife of the famous owner of Fallingwater, Bear Run, second wife to Edgar Kaufmann, Sr. Far from dying at the Kaufmann...