Happy Anniversary!!

Thursday, November 19, 2009 was my first post.

Well, how about that? I have reached my one-year anniversary of blogging!
And now, my friends, it is time to bid you all adieu...I have reached the
end of my journey.

I thank you all for reading my drivel, and for allowing me to re-discover
the writing I used to do. I will continue to read all of your posts. But for
me, I think I have about run out of things to say...

I won't say I am gone FOREVER, if I think of something that I think needs
to be said, then I will post it...think of this as just a little break.

I leave you with a final song...
A nostalgic memory of my frequent co-collaborator.
Now he lives too far from me, I only see him every
year or two. Too bad.

So this song is all just me playing.

The references to 'Sally' are Ray's guitar
(yes, he named it).

Sheila is a cat that I had at the time.
She died when she was around 17 years old.

I include the standard disclaimer:

Not professionally recorded, and it might sound better if
you listened with headphones.

The link and the lyrics appear below:

Where's Raymond?

C. Where the hell is Raymond?
I surely miss him now
Where the hell is Raymond?
Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond?

1. Ray and I, we used to write
While waiting to succeed
Raymond strumming Sally
While we both wished for our needs

Hunger in our bellies
And lust deep in our bones
Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond?

2. Playing songs for all to hear
Creative waste of time
Creditors are hounding us
'Till Amway comes on line

And Ray and I are mellow
With our music and our pot
Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond?

C.

3. Then the day must come
When shit together we must get
Adolescent playtime surely
Has it's place to set

So Raymond, he took Sally
And I took Sheila, too
Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond?

C.

Peace be with you.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...

I am inspired by Bossy Betty to post some of my pictures of some signage.
For some reason, I see it as 'art'.

I guess we should start with food purveyors...they are some of my favorite.
Lisa's is our favorite coffee shop my mom and I go to when I visit her in California:

Freeway signs nearby:

Neighborhood Stop sign, and the logo on my mom's Buick

How many people do you know who would take a camera into an airplane lav?

Servicing the automobile:


I like to take pictures of the different signs in the gate areas of airports:


Storage:

Are these children slow? The kid in the sign looks pretty buff, huh?

Warning sign on some kind of arcade game. Love the mis-placed comma, and the
implication that an accident would really be unexpected!

I would like a discount on this 'Frangrance'.
This is why you should always have a camera with you.

Peace be with you.

Downtown Grapevine, Texas

Our fair City Hall:

This faithful old miner protects the city night and day:


Some balloons outside an establishment on Main Street, and their colorful shadows:

Texas Rangers Banner...I guess it wasn't quite time yet...
Maybe next year.

Water tower...

Construction of a new Visitor's Center...I humbly believe the new construction of
these tall buildings is wrecking the old-town feel, but that's just my opinion.
But I like the way I captured the streaky clouds...

Trees like this are always placed on the top tier of a multi-story building
during new construction. Tradition is for good luck. It also lets you know how
high the building will go:

Every time I take my camera downtown, I take a picture of these cool rusted out
tanks and buildings:

Hidden inside the round building is an old milling machine of some kind.
I like to imagine how long it has been since the last time it was fired up.

Everything here is fenced off...what I wouldn't give to be able to get in there,
poke around, and take more photos...

Peace be with you.

A Bunch of New Quotes

As I approach the final Home Stretch, I leave you with some more
random quotes that I have collected over the years:

There's one thing that separates us from animals. We aren't
afraid of vacuum cleaners.

The man who invented the eraser had the human race pretty
well sized up.

I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
-- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he failed to pay his taxes.

If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
-- Dan Quayle

We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.
-- Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and
the second half by our children.

If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the
land with sticks and transporting goods on our backs.

Life is just one damned thing after another.

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to
bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.
-- Bob Dylan

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.

Conciousness: that annoying time between naps.

And don't you just love these sports folk?

Any time Detroit scores more than 100 points and holds the
other team below 100 points they almost always win.
-- Doug Collins, basketball commentator

The only reason we're 7-0 is because we've won all seven of
our games.
-- David Garcia, baseball team manager

All of the Mets' road wins against Los Angeles this year
have been at Dodger Stadium.
-- Ralph Kiner, NY Sportscaster

Congratulations on breaking my record. I always thought the
record would stand until it was broken.
-- Yogi Berra, to Johnny Bench

The Minutemen are not tall in terms of height.
-- Dan Bonner, CBS sportscaster, during a UMass basketball game

We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees.
-- Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks

Our strength is that we don't have any weaknesses. Our
weakness is that we don't have any real strengths.
-- Frank Broyles, college football coach

It is beyond my apprehension.
-- Danny Ozark, baseball team manager, regarding his team's losing streak

The team has come along slow but fast.
-- Casey Stengel, baseball player, Mets manager

People think we make $3 million and $4 million a year. They
don't realize that most of us only make $500,000.
-- Pete Incaviglia, baseball player, 1990

Half this game is ninety percent mental.
-- Philadelphia Phillies manager Danny Ozark

I think that the team that wins game five will win the series.
Unless we lose game five.
-- Charles Barkley, making NBA playoff predictions, 1994

My initial response was to sue her for defamation of
character, but then I realized that I had no character.
-- Charles Barkley, on hearing Tonya Harding proclaim
herself "the Charles Barkley of figure skating", 1994

I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.
-- Shaquille O'Neal on whether he had visited the Parthenon
during his visit to Greece

Not only is he ambidextrous, but he can throw with either hand.
-- Duffy Daugherty, football coach and sports analyst

Peace be with you.

I'm Still A-lion

Per my last post, I am to list six 'lies'...except one of them is actually true.
So have to made up 5 lies, and inserted one truth.

The correct answer is ALMOST number 3...while I did play a gig with Belinda,
on the same night, on the same stage, it was not at exactly the same time...
It was an open-mike thing at a pub in Orange County. She was on before me.
Tough act to follow.

And for those of you who are under 30 or 40 and have never heard of her,
then I guess we could say that ALL of my statements were lies!!

Peace be with you.

I'm A-lion

I have been tagged by Baygirl to carry on the Lying Truth Game.

According to the latest rules, we are to list six 'lies'...except one
of them is actually true. So have to make up some whoppers and have you
guess which one is true.

The really cool thing about being tagged for this is that it gives me
something to blog about, since I have not been feeling real creative as
of late! AND...to top it all off, I then get to post again with the results!
So this gives me TWO opportunities to blog about something! Woot!

Oh, by the way, I also need to tag a few people to do the same.
But rather than inflict this type of commitment on someone who doesn't
feel like doing it, I am only going to throw this burden onto one person:

Mr. Patrick Tillet!

Only because he has had a very interesting and challenging life. I can't
wait to see what he comes up with!

So here are MY six statements...five are lies, and one of them are true.
See if you can guess which one is the truth...if any...

1. I used to be a heart surgeon

2. I once represented Chester Muqueuse in a court of law

3. I once played a gig with Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go's

4. I am the one who actually invented the internet

5. I got my old (stock) Plymouth Valiant up to 120 miles per hour

6. My post about the Standard\Metric wrench controversy netted me 50 new followers

Okay, have fun with that!

Peace be with you.

The End of the Day

Cool long shadows of leaves on the sidewalk, right at the point of sunset.
I need to do more of these, but when you happen to notice some cool effects,
by the time you get your camera, the sun is already down.



This last one, obviously, is not sunset, but a scene lit by moonlight only.

Peace be with you.