Beware the Pure Spirit, Let the Flesh Instruct the Mind

Make it so.

The palantir in front of Burgin Dossett prognosticates an impending Ice Age.  You saw it here first folks.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Signs of Life ETSU Parking Lot 12:00 pm

The owner of the farm behind Lowes strolled up while I was taking this picture from the road. He thought it was funny that I was taking a picture of this old sign when another barn  facing the road also had a quilt design that was newer and more ornate.

"And lead us not into temptation..."

This reminded me of the Nile River

Ganesha: Remover of Obstacles in my apartment 

I’ve been bothered by my eating habits lately. As a NOW middle aged man (there I said it), as an individual with diabetes, and as a public health professional, I feel at odds with this. I love food, you can see that when you look at me. I’ve never missed a meal. Pure pleasure, it can be one of the great joys in life.  I feel the need to reexamine what I am consuming. I want to eat closer to the earth. That is, eating items that are not so far removed from their sources. No worry, not going vegan here (although I highly respect that for those who can swing that), I just want to step further away from highly processed food items. High fat (or the wrong fats), high salt, high sugar… and so much processing and frying.  I love my fried foods, this is the South right? I could do better. Live foods (thinking salads here) or frozen and fresh meats. Lunch meat is the devil to me…. Mmmmmm I can make a killer sandwich, but damn, look what I’m eating.  The budget is always an issu...

Today was my birthday. An office redecorated and some great cake. It's been a good day.

A new life form has appeared in my apartment : Tillandsia . Thank you Jon.

Remnant

T he image on the left (ETSU campus construction) reminds me of the image on the right (ruins at the National Arboretum in DC).

This picture is more of a confession than anything. My refrigerator is a cold deep freeze for mummified and spoiled food. I found this on the back bottom shelf this morning. It expired 11 months ago. It was liquefied and putrid. I am self shaming myself into cleaning up my kitchen.

"This used to be my playground." I miss living  near Willow Springs Park. I journeyed there today at lunch. It has changed since I lived on that side of town. I love the mountains here, keeping constant vigil over us all. I thought of my Rumor and missed him again today.

I saw something interesting that I thought could be manipulated. I like the abstractness of this. Otherwise, not filtered and changed it reveals itself too easily.

Sometimes you feel like a ...

One of the many groupings of books to be found in my apartment. The Sage handbook on qualitative research is the best resource I have ever read and used.

There is such beauty if we will only look around us. More specifically, sometimes we need to only look down glimpse another part of this big beautiful world. 

What a storm last night huh? Happy that it wasn't below freezing or I would be trapped in my apartment.

My beautiful view from my apartment today at 6:45. I get to enjoy this scenery every day.

The ghost of Christmas past is still alive and well at a local restaurant.

The "polar vortex" as it is now known has been been brutal here in eastern Tennessee. I have been especially affected by the cold this year. It's as if my body has been staging a revolt against cold of any kind. It hurts this year, another sign that age has been creeping up on me. No use in denying that I may not be as resilient as I used to be. The cold of the last couple of days has been extreme.  The couple of moments that it took to take this photo shot was intense. My hands and face stung. Squirrels are still active on campus.  The temperature swings may be confusing to them. I'm not sure if they go into a static hibernation mode or if they are up and down all winter. I know I felt sorry for this little fella. He/she was running to and fro trying to find food.

I think I look like a comic book character...

To honor the frigid cold that has descended upon us all.

Not quite sure what I am doing here, just exploring some software in Picasa. I couldn't figure out how to change the background color. The rest reminds me of doing magic mushrooms.This picture comes from a statue that leans against the wall in my spacious living room. It's of Greek/Roman design but the pictures make it appear Asian, almost Green Tara...ish.

It’s been a wide ride on the musical train this year. Below is a listing of albums I have acquired in the past year and that I have listened to heavily. My tastes are like my blog entries and not for everyone. ·          An Awesome Wave – AltJ ·          The Lions Roar – First Aid Kit  (Wolf and Lions Roar favorites) ·          Please – Pet Shop Boys (Opportunities favorite play) ·          Noah Gunderson – Noah Gunderson (Jesus, Jesus  and Fire favorites) ·          In Our Nature – Jose’ Gonzalez ·          The Big the Black and the Blue – First Aid Kit ·          Straight Ahead – Amy Grant  (a repurchase for me, my favorite album ) ·        ...

I've taken a challenge to take a picture a day for the upcoming year.  Why? Perhaps a bit of creativity, a way to explore and explain. Shouldn't be too hard to do this. I didn't know where to start, so I guess the easiest picture to take is one of my myself. Nothing fancy, just me. I'm happy to take picture suggestions for the upcoming year, drop me a line on FB or Google+ and I'll see what I can do. Want to join along and take some pictures as well?  Do it.