msalvetti wrote:
The last few days I've been coming here for some respite, but instead I've found myself without and biting my tongue.
There is another legitimate side to these debates. I'm sorry, but lamenting the over-the-top political correctness that admittedly we have these days and associating it with the removal of statues of civil war "heroes" is just wrong.
There should be no romanticizing the leaders of the Confederacy. The fact is they fought in large part to perpetuate a system that enslaved an entire population. Their "heroics" led to the death of 620,000 Americans (that's both sides, who after all were all Americans). Essentially, they were traitors. Even Robert E. Lee stated that we should not build monuments, that the nation had to heal without those reminders. It's time they were removed from public spaces and placed in museums. Our history shouldn't be forgotten, especially the dark chapters. But those chapters also shouldn't be celebrated.
Ok, off my soap box. I'm pretty much a political agnostic, I haven't ever posted anything like this, and I'm not going to again.
Now, can we please get away from this and back to our regular programming? I buried my Dad on Tuesday, I could really use a pick me up.
Did you mention that you were coming over here this year for a particular event? Just double checking to se if we can end up at the same spot at the same time.
Buc-ee's began down in the Lake Jackson area as a mom and pop convenience shop. They have the cleanest restrooms in the country, and their gas prices are competitive even though they are on the highway. (I just returned from the Temple Buc-ee's filling up my vehicles and cans in case we have visitors from the coast due to the storm (or if I have to go down to help afterwards)). (BTW, think about gassing up, Harvey is going to cause many coastal refineries to shut down, in the upper Texas coast, that will be a big impact!)
I understand Buc-ee's owns their own fuel distribution operation, and have sent out word they will have gas available. Buc-ee's reminds me of the Texas food chain HEB, they care about Texas and Texans.
Photo of my brother and I back in our hard core "biker days".
You will notice the only "new" thing about those tricycles are the air horns. My dad got us some pretty nice second hand toys for birthdays and Christmas. I didn't find out until I was an adult the Lionel trains he bought us were 10 years old by the time we got them. I still have them out in the barn somewhere.
Thank you for your condolences. After my Mom died 2 years ago, my brother and I had been taking care of Dad. We managed to get him home after the 6 months it took him to recuperate from a fall, and with the help of in-home health aides (that came to his house), we were able to keep him there for about 16 months, until mid-February this year.
He had a setback then, spent a couple weeks in the hospital, then back to PT but this time we had to transition him into long-term care in a nursing home. He just lost too much mobility and he needed too much help to be able to go home again. It's been pretty much a slow decline from there, between heart failure, severe arthritis, life-threatening fluid buildup, and lots of associated pain. About 3 weeks ago after another hospital stay we all mutually agreed to enter a palliative care mode. He'd had enough, he wanted to be at peace. He wasn't going to get better, he could no longer walk or stand, and he needed morphine and a couple of other narcotics to be comfortable.
His mind was still sharp. He was 86 and I used to bring him technical journals from work to read. It was tough seeing him so heavily sedated from the meds. So we knew where we were headed, just didn't know how long it would take to get there. He somewhat surprised us by dying in his sleep after just 5 days of palliative care. It was a blessing. He and my Mom had been together over 60 years until they were separated 2 years ago upon her death. Hopefully they are together again now.
I'm doing OK. I was prepared as much as possible, but I'm still on edge emotionally (as you saw from my post yesterday, which was a bit out of character for me).
So thanks again.
Boydo, welcome back. I've missed your imagery, looking forward to more.
And everyone in Texas and the Gulf Coast, please be careful! Take care of yourselves.
Headed back out the door to get the water bill paid and a fill up on the gas in the car to get me through till next week, but what with all the shifts I worked this week, I forgot to come and post this. Thanks for all the voting everyone did, but I didn't win.
( Mounted on the nose of a T-33 and out in the field to document the current 3km piston (and maybe all time propeller) speed record attempt by Steven Hinton and the VooDoo P-51 race team. )
That's Friedken's rig, saw it about six months ago. The "Shotover" is a very cool set up, runs about $450K +- before you paste it on something. We've been looking at them and Glenn had a meeting set up with them at Heli Expo this year, but we bothe ended up being at opposite ends of the world and couldn't make it. Amazing for sure!
Am I going to see you at AFW this year? Hope so! It's going to be non-stop bop if half of what we have planned comes to fruition.
Your post was fine Buddy, don't give it a second thought, and I agree with you in principle. Sheila and I have lost them in a blink, and we've lost them, like your Dad, in agonizing slow motion, neither is easy. What you do now is take comfort in knowing that your Mom and Dad are back together, and in the fact that you and your brother were wonderful son's dedicated to your Mom and Dad. That's a tribute to the parents you had and your character, be proud and consoled by that. That "time heals all wounds thing", sorta true, but not really, you just accept it gradually. Take a deep breath, deepen your relationship with Th eOne who holds them in His Hands now, weep when you feel like it, and love the ones you have. You're in my thoughts and prayers and will continue to be.
Congratulations Laura! I gotta say, your piece was head and shoulders above the 1st and 2nd.....maybe ya had to be smokin' something to fully appreciate those. I mostly never "get" what wins in those contests. Proud of you for creating it, and for putting yourself out there. Not sure where you found five minutes in your schedule to do any of that, but good on Ya!
Yes, things are getting dicey on The Lone Star coast, yikes! Sheila is headed to east central Texas tomorrow with a team of prison ministry friends and I'm uneasy about her trip. We don't disagree on much, but I'm ambivalent about her doing that ministry anyway, but moving around south of here this weekend makes me nervous as well. Oh well, I know Who is in control, and it's certainly not me
Funny story, I had a meeting with the big client that I've been doing this crisis shoot for this week. They have a drone guy and I'm not looking for drone work so that all works for me. Anyway, apparently the drone guy does the deal where you geomap the coordinates and send it off. First it more than likely busts FAA regs and second how would you ever trust it enough to do that even if you could? Well the drone guy launches the mission based upon Google earth information but it never returns.................wait I have had this dream over and over..................anyway, he goes hunting for it. Seems that Google earth didn't have a 9 story building that had gone up on the flight path (another indication that the drone was not in sight), and it slammed full speed into a plate glass window and sprinkled drone parts on the sidewalk below. Well not really a funny story, ...... but sort of............. I'm going to take Xanax tonite..
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Yes, things are getting dicey on The Lone Star coast, yikes! Sheila is headed to east central Texas tomorrow with a team of prison ministry friends and I'm uneasy about her trip. We don't disagree on much, but I'm ambivalent about her doing that ministry anyway, but moving around south of here this weekend makes me nervous as well. Oh well, I know Who is in control, and it's certainly not me
God Bless her and those with her. My friends in Prison Ministry have the most amazing stories and I marvel at their dedication despite the disappointments in some they help. Talk about a calling --- but in a society that seeps compassion how many people step out in person to help the most lonely and hopeless in prison?
What with the wide variety of submissions and items ranging from sculptures, paintings, and a photograph or two, I'm sure the juried part of the selection was tough. I can at least put it in my artist bio that I was selected and came in third. No prize for that, but maybe next year! (then I'd have to screw up the courage to do the gallery opening thing, YIKES!)
Thanks Charles!
unclechuck wrote:
Laura
Congratulations on a good showing with an excellent submission.
The Judges coulda' saved a lot of time and electrons by simply asking your friends here!
Thanks Jim. I submitted what I had already had available as a canvas print. otherwise I'd have had to pass on this. What I'm really confused on is the photos they used for the voting, and for the announcement of the top ten. Not sure where they got those but I know several of those look nothing like what the piece really is.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Congratulations Laura! I gotta say, your piece was head and shoulders above the 1st and 2nd.....maybe ya had to be smokin' something to fully appreciate those. I mostly never "get" what wins in those contests. Proud of you for creating it, and for putting yourself out there. Not sure where you found five minutes in your schedule to do any of that, but good on Ya!
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Congratulations Laura! I gotta say, your piece was head and shoulders above the 1st and 2nd.....maybe ya had to be smokin' something to fully appreciate those.
Laura
To be fair to the artists, at minimum participants should get to vote 1rst, 2nd, 3rd based on their opinion of each submission.
The pick three can be a loaded game --- the visitor votes for their first choice --- then is told your vote doesn't count until you vote for two others. It's highly predicable that most folks will click the easiest from where they are --- I suspect that would be top left or right, but that's a guess.
The bigger issue is that I didn't see anything else that appealed (to me) and it's not fair to force individuals to vote for 'others' or not have the vote for their favorite counted.
One option might be to give everyone three votes to distribute however they want, including all three for one submission.
It's difficult for a contestant to challenge the rules lest it look like sour grapes --- but maybe a friend could pass this on for you?
Again, I liked your piece and agree with Jim 200% about the others.
What I'm really confused on is the photos they used for the voting, and for the announcement of the top ten. Not sure where they got those but I know several of those look nothing like what the piece really is.