Fireside Chat

Before Christmas, I was walking through Sam's Club and encountered this scene on a very large TV screen.

You can now have a crackling fire in your home without having to chop any firewood. Even tho I didn't buy it, it's probably a great idea. Why stop there? Perhaps we could have a pet dog in our home without having to feed it or do any nasty cleanup. During the summer, a nice big rotating fan would give the appearance of cool air flow. Why not show a live webcam view of crashing ocean waves to give your home that beachfront feel (without tsunamis). "They" probably already sell all these ideas along with the giant aquarium scene. I once had two goldfish named Alfie & Omega. They both died when I placed their fish bowl too close to the crackling TV fireplace.

Rock On Rock

Throughout the course of human history, various forms of signs and signals have been used as markers or reminders to communicate a message. Here we see an example of a rock pile built on a beach which could be communicating a special message.

Different color combinations can mean certain things. The fact that the base is made up of two rocks spanned by a third could mean something. The number of rocks balanced into a rock tower could be part of a code system for detailed communications. The top rock always carries special significance which can be related to its color or the direction it points.

Regarding this particular stonehenge, I just made it for the fun of it and it has no special meaning.

Global Warming

Sun Spots

At different times of the day and year, the sun hits our space differently. One lazy afternoon, I noticed this sun spot on our living room wall.

It looked like a Zen painting or some sort of Oriental lettering. This would fall into the category of Temporary Art. Other items found in this category might be Sand Alligators, Snow Forts or Hose Art.

Where Zen Is

An Add-On Poem by Kit & Johnnny.
Title: Where Zen Is.
Date Written: November 11, 2009.
Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved.
{Line 1: Johnnny, Line 2: Kit, and so on and so forth.}

Title: Where Zen Is.

Take me to the beach
Where Zen is within reach
Everything is here
Which leaves nothing to fear
Write a paragraph, then a book
Tuck it into a secret nook.

An Add-On Poem by Kit & Johnnny.
Title: Where Zen Is.
Date Written: November 11, 2009.
Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved.
{Line 1: Johnnny, Line 2: Kit, and so on and so forth.}

Olive Oil

Just like Popeye, we love Olive Oil.

Polar Eyes

We don't see things as they are,
we see things as we are.
--Anais Nin (1903-1977) American/French writer

Cariflower

When you're walking around, with a Canon A540, looking for an interesting picture waiting to be taken, it's hard to pass up reflections.

If you were thinking

that these front yard flowers

are reflecting

in the passenger-side rear window

of a 1989 Honda Civic Hatchback

you would have been correct.

I could have just said

that the back of my car

was full of fresh flowers

but that would have been

misleading.

Reflections

If you were going to start collecting something, what would it be? What's that one thing that might get you to scout out garage sales? I recently decided to act on a previous decision to start a collection of mirrors. Mirrors are very Zen. They reflect whatever is before them, without changing their nature. The first addition to My Mirror Collection is not the mirror pictured, but rather a different mirror, but a mirror nonetheless. It cost $5 but it's worth more than that to me. Every adventure begins with a first step.

Milky Way

Do you ever feel like your problems that you're dealing with are becoming rather large? It always helps to zoom out for a second to put everything in perspective.

If your life has what seems like some big problems, let's compare them to the size of our Galaxy. Our Solar System is located in our Galaxy which we call The Milky Way. This spiral galaxy is in the shape of a big disk which is around 100,000 light years in diameter and about 1,000 light years in thickness. One light year is approximately 5.8 trillion miles. Our Solar System is about 26,000 light years from the galactic center of the Milky Way, which is estimated to have about 200-400 billion stars, and thought to be about 13 billion years old. Size-wise, if the Milky Way was reduced to 100 meters across, our own Solar System would only be about 1 millimeter in width. The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies in the Universe. Now, maybe your current issues that you're dealing with, don't seem quite so big. The next time you think you have a big problem, keep it in perspective, relative to the big picture.