I saw it fifty years ago
Before the thunderbolt had riven it,
Green leaves, ripe leaves, leaves thick as butter,
Fat, greasy life….
–W. B. YEATS, Purgatory
When I hear this song I think of an old Rabbi I saw outside a synagogue in some town somewhere in Germany in the 70′s…
he had a long white beard, and looked at me with eyes I’ll never forget…..
I wish I’d spoken to him, and gone in to meet him…..
some things you only get one chance for….
don’t blow the chances you’re given….
LIVE!
Eddie Money
‘Life for the Taking’
People say
Look at the money they save
But I don’t believe that life’s that way
An old man
Once looked at me in the eye
He seemed to sigh
He seemed to sigh, “don’t let life pass you by”
No no no, no no no
He seemed to say
He wanted me to run
The old man was once a boy
And only young once.
Because it’s life for the taking
Well, it ain’t no, ain’t no mistaken
Well, it’s life
It’s my life
Life for the taking.
I can remember
When I was just a little kid
The big boys used to beat me up a bit
But I learned young that I couldn’t cry
My mamma wasn’t gonna be by my side.
She said it’s life, life for the taking
Well, it ain’t no, isn’t no mistaken
Well, it’s life
It’s my life
Life for the taking
Fuel tank is in the bed, as this sits on the ground
The power unit for the hydraulics
This truck can lower itself until it touches the ground
The engine, nice and clean and efficient
I came upon this Low-Rider truck in the Pismo Beach/Grover Beach area….
It is nicely detailed and efficiently engineered.
It can lower itself until the body unit rests on the ground.
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her
unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?The aggrieved and the injured say, “Beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us.”
And the passionate say, “Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us.”
The tired and the weary say, “Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.
Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow.”
But the restless say, “We have heard her shouting among the mountains,
And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.”
At night the watchmen of the city say, “Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east.”
And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say,
“We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset.”
In winter say the snow-bound, “She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills.”
And in the summer heat the reapers say,
“We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves,
and we saw a drift of snow in her hair.”
All these things have you said of beauty,
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes
and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.
We have a little ‘Mom-and-Pop’ sandwich store in nearby San Luis Obispo California.
It is called Benjamin Franklin’s Sandwich Shop, it is homey, and has good food at not-too-bad prices… but what I really like about the place is the decor. It is all and pure art from the exterior walls, to the interior walls and tables.
The tables are individually hand painted with Tolkien-like scenes of Alpine meadows and deep forests that appear as though fairies will be peeking around the trees. The walls are decorated with full-size murals of forest scenes… all very nice, very enchanting, and a great compliment to a fine sandwich.
Here are some reviews of the restaurant…, they mostly agree that the atmosphere is the biggest draw.
“Good nutrition has given you some length to the bone. But you’re just one generation from ‘Poor White Trash’, aren’t you Agent Starling?” ~Hannibal Lechter to Agent Clarissa Starling’
A friend sent these photos over. It is a nod to the worries folks have that their images from the ‘backscan’ at airports will end up being shared all over. It’s often human nature to make jokes of issues that worry us greatly. The ‘Dark humor’ often helps one get through.
“Grin and bear it” ~US Proverb
“What we cannot change, we must accept and live through” ~ Mexican Proverb
Some folks might find the images a bit disconcerting, even repugnant and profane… be warned before you click to embiggen them.
