News and Coming Attractions.

Nobody ever accused me of being excessively bright or technologically competent. I have never figured out how to add a video and an internet link to a Facebook post. I will have to ask Mark Zuckerberg next time I am at his house for dinner. Nobody ever accused me of being too tightly tethered to reality either.

I wanted to add the video of last month's winner in the Let it Snow Jukebox and the link to this month's Head Above Water with more of the foolishness the wonderful members of the Head Above Water Nation have come to love.

So, here is the video announcing last month's winner. 

A song that, as far as I can tell, doesn't even mention snow. But, it has a lot of wind, rain, fog, and thunder. And it is a rockin' little number, too.

And here is this month's HAW (or #HAW, which has a nice ring to it, don't you think?).

The Wild Word, magic in the days of science.

Dylan makes his first appearance. It is from "Under the Red Sky" and I know there are people who say that anything after "Blood on the Tracks" is not really worth the time. But, I don't agree. In fact, I think "Time Out of Mind" and "Love and Theft" are two of the best albums ever made by anybody. If you can listen to "Standing in the Doorway" without feeling pain you haven't really lived, or at least lost.  But, that is not what I wanted to tell you.

What I wanted to tell you is; Tomorrow I am going to write a post about my wife. Who is not crazy about being constantly referred to as "my wife." She does, however, like it much better than being called "the wife." Though, I don't think, in all my rambling I ever used the term.

Not "the mountain" but "a mountain."

Anyway, my wife, who is a determined person, has picked a Fire Lookout Post in Montana for our next vacation. It is at the top of mountain. There is no running water, no electricity and you have to park a mile away. So, we are going to have carry three days worth of food and water up the side of mountain. And she is so excited. She hates using a treadmill, but now, she drags me over the treadmills, and raises the elevation and "climbs the mountain." You can see the smile on her face. And it makes me laugh.

But, more on that tomorrow, if "the wife" doesn't deep six the idea.

vacation mornings, magic in action

There is a magic in vacation mornings. I like to get up early, 5:30 this morning. I don't want a minute to sneak past. Waking up, taking my coffee onto the deck. Maybe even enjoying a dip in the hot tub before breakfast.  

Of course it does make for a long day, and night comes early and with a crashing suddenness, but that is OK. It is the morning that brings me the most pleasure. Life is easier in the morning, coffee, and sunrise, and simplicity. A powerful combination of life's greatest gifts.

They call an hour after sunrise, and an hour before sunset the "magic hour" for photography, and it is true, it is true, pictures turn out better. But it is not only for photography, the enchantment of life is more obvious in those fleeting moments.

Dreams are more fluid, thoughts are more peaceful, and reality is just better. Maybe it is not clear, but I love vacation mornings. I love looking at the mountains, the ocean, whatever background provides the scenery for our moments.

So, I will leave you for now, with this picture, and this thought,  "Nothing is worth more than this day." Goethe.

Dreams Interrupted, Why,, oh Why?

It was the strangest thing, a day that started with a quiet, gentle rain shower. It was kind of peaceful, and kind of jarring. A peaceful dream of rolling hills, missed exits and giant, monolithic facades carved into the hillsides of Eastern Nebraska was interrupted by the polite pitter patter of the refreshing spring rain.

It was an odd dream. I was driving across Eastern Nebraska by myself, in my car (a RAV4). We are from Nebraska so it is not that odd, but we don't go there often so it is kind of odd. I never go by myself so that is a little odd. But my car is a lot better than my wife's car so that is not too odd.

I missed an exit, which is not strange, I miss exits, turns, landmarks all the time. I took the next exit, which is normally my reaction to a missed exit, and I have a lot of experience. But, I missed the ramp back on the freeway, which is a little unusual. I am so experienced at ending up in the wrong place starting over is almost as natural as starting.

Then, in my dream, I improvised, which is not that strange, because improvising is what gets me so many places that are not the destination. I went cross country, reasoning, in my dream that I have a four wheel drive vehicle, which is a little strange, I do have four wheel drive but I never use it, it just came on the car. I would never use it to cut across a field to get back on the highway.

And here is where it got strange. It was not just cutting across a field, it was driving up the side of snow covered hill, a big hill. Bigger than most of the hills in the part of Eastern Nebraska that I was dreaming about driving through. On the top of the big hill was a small path, not a freeway, just a small road, barely big enough for my car. So, I drove along the narrow road, on top of the snow covered hill until it became so narrow that there was no longer enough room for my car.

I had no choice, I started backing up. which is not normal at all, because I am awful driving

backwards, even worse than when I drive forward which is an adventure. If this had happened in real life I would probably be forced to leave my car, and walk back to Ohio. I love my car, but leaving it would be much better than backing off the side of the cliff the hill had become and dying in the flaming wreck at the bottom.

But here is where it gets odd. As I was backing up I noticed a huge, ornate, exquisite, wonderfully detailed building carved out of the mountain side, the mountainside in eastern Nebraska. Which is odd, there are no mountains in Nebraska. Even if there were nobody would have spent the time to carve such a masterpiece out of the stone.

Naturally, I stopped backing my car along the harrowing, dangerous single lane mountain top road and got out to take a picture. Which is exactly what I would do if confronted by something so odd, so that is not odd, at all. But, the rain woke me up before I could take the picture. Dammit, I was so close. It was so cool, you would not believe it. But, you will have to trust me.