Foggy morning at The Ranch
Being home… always a blessing. It’s been comfortably cool at night and hot during the day. Very nice for August. I’ll take it.
In the air and on target!
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
Izze is not fond of competition… and that’s OK. Boy is she good with a compound bow though. The sound of that arrow piercing the target is like a rifle shot!
Lining up for dinner!
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
Barbecues and cook outs… the bounty of Summer.
Then my pal Jerry and I got furloughed to map out our route for this year’s Pick ‘n’ Putt.
My noble steed... ready to ride!
Jerry and I have a superb set of roads for the riders this year!
How's that for a blue sky?
Hydration stop!
Yep… all this and chores at home.
As good as it gets some days!
Onward
The tale of Rip Van Winkle took place in my beloved Catskills. Sometimes it seems like 20 years just came and went…
I’ve probably got a little Rip Van Winkle in me too, just watched you and Jack at the Grammy Museum, absolutely great interview of Jack and yourself. Really enjoyed listening to your discussion of your influences and musical history. Again, great interview! Would love to see more of these to accompany your music because I thing they intertwine with each other.
Feel like Rip Van Winkle: just found out legendary producer Bob Johnston died a year ago.
@rich l I’m…well maybe 🙂
Just thinking that the ability to communicate
(from us unwashed masses to other unwashed masses) is, unlike in the past, available to all of us.
(Struggling to make this poignant, po r even dort of funny, hoping for JK’s forbearance)
Hey, look up in the sky! Is it a bird, is it a plane? No! It’s a Joey H frisbee!
(Redirection, works every time, walks away whistling…)
So are you saying the blog, not man, is the crown of creation?
Funny post JH@jim hitchcock
Wow its hard to believe that 40 years have passed since the dog days of the summer of 1976,earlier in the summer we had a huge amount of ladybirds,almost a plague of these lovely insects,and at the end of August I hitchhiked from my home near Liverpool to see Hot Tuna in London.Good Times,and we have still got this great music to keep us going!
So, once upon a time, the every expanding universe decided to invent the blog(tm), and one day Jorma thought ‘hey, here I can ruminate’, and it was done.
And then one day, he made the fateful decision to open said blog to a motley crew of wild, whacky, and wonderful commenters, and here we are now, so many good stories told.
Thanks, JK 🙂
JK, I got to hang with your old mate Geoff Achison last night. What an amazing picker and a friendly guy. He must be a great instructor. He sends his regards and is looking forward to his return to the FPR. See ya soon!
Happy Dog Dayz fur all us mutts
Ya know I gots a hell hound on my trail . . .
Love and Peace Fur All
mutt
Robert Frost right…
There’s not a bad cut on Live!: Takin’ the Stage.
wow rich 3 bucks a bag here on staten island I see sign 10 bags – 10 bucks Gregg s.i.n.y.
Rich, I’d have to say that if all was well with your soul, even for no more than a brief moment, then paranoia was not your motivator.
“leave us wondering who and what we are…”
I was pondering that line from “In My Dreams” last night. Do we think we are basically just good people, that have evolved from the chance accumulations of random mutations, that occurred over millions of years in some primordial swamp? The Crown of Creation that some band from the 60’s sang about? Or, our we children of G_d, made in his image?
Certainly, how we answer these questions can shape our thoughts and actions.
I bring this up because I was faced with a dilemma last night…
I’m re-landscaping the front of my house – it’s costing me a small fortune. I planted some perennials, and then headed to Home Depot to buy some mulch. I bought 10 bags and pulled the van up to the pile of mulch in front of the store. It was about 8pm – so getting dark where I live. No one came out to help me, and there wasn’t a employee in sight. I began to think, “Hmmm, why not just take 12 bags.”
It’s amazing the rationalization that took place in those few moments. “Go ahead, save $6.00 – after all, Home Depot probably jacked the price up a 100%. There a big store, pilfering two extra bags of mulch is not going to make or break them. I even began thinking of an excuse if an employee did appear all the sudden and count how many bags I put in the van. My ploy was to say I’m bad at ciphering. “You’re kidding me, there’s 12 bags in there?! Well, I’ll be danged.” Believe it or not, I considered the possibility of being arrested – for $6 dang bucks!
I wrestled with this conundrum the entire time I was putting the 10 bags into the van. Than a thought came to me – despite the trivial amount, it’s flat out stealing. There was a great wrestling match taking place between my head and my soul!
Even though no one was watching, (or was He?), was I willing to sell my soul for $6.00. I was reminded of what Paul wrote in Hebrews 12:2 “therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so ‘easily’ entangles.” On the other hand, I guess I could have used the tried and tested Flip Wilson defense, “The devil made me do it!”
So, what do you think, was it paranoia that I’d get caught or the effect of sin upon my soul that was causing me to deliberate this test?
After I loaded the 10th bag, I checked the doors to the right and the left of me one more time. Surely they’d believe I miscounted if I got caught…
So what did I do you wonder?
Well, a Pure Prairie League song came to mind;
“I’m pickin’ to beat the devil
And you know he’s on my tail
But the Lord is in my fingers
And he won’t let me fail…”
As I hit the hay last night, wondering who and what we are, for a brief moment at least, all was well with my soul. Thank the Lord it wasn’t Kentucky women and Tennessee whiskey I was struggling with.
Jorma All your pics are welcoming and enjoyable. Appreciate you sharing. What a sky in the last 2 and the pic of your daughter and her dog are priceless. It’s all in the eyes.
Hot F’ing Tuna playing in Golden Gate Park Oct 1st…well I’ll be damned!
Going to see Chick Corea Trio that night at the jazz center in San Francisco..
is there ANY chance you and jack will sit in with Chick, Jorma?…LOVE to see a 45 minute “Invitation>Spain>Seaweed Strut” jam that night!
Seekin’ for a 240 mm rear tyre to favour my stable equilibrium. Anyway, Steady As She Goes, Ain’t In No Hurry! Of an outstanding beauty are your Concerts You play Solo. Lucky indeed for this privilege, feel so honoured and am so grateful. Always Thanks Jorma!
What a week to be home – sunny and warm. We’ve had a great summer. Hope you’re outside enjoying it. Sure looks like it.
Well, hell. The show at the Barn done sold out before I could get it together. He who hesitates…gets the hesitation blues!!!
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” – Robert Frost
The beautiful picture of Izze and the beast (Mav?), reminds me of a song we used to sing in grade school –
“Get out the way, ol’ Dan Tucker
You’re to late to stay for supper
Supper’s gone, breakfast’s a cooking
o’l Dan Tucker just a stand there looking.”
Ah yes… The Death Of The Hired Man…
‘Dead was all he said…’
Looking forward to getting in a couple of rides in the country this weekend.
Public schools started back in Texas on Monday, so while summer isn’t over with yet, a bellwether for fall has arrived. So, the end of my grandchildren’s summer came last weekend, and what a fortunate grandfather am I to have had them spend it at our house. Marilyn, my 6 year old granddaughter, has been able to swim most of this summer, but she didn’t know it. Had to have the floaties on to feel safe. Sunday morning, she said “let’s go swimming, Paw Paw”. Can’t say no to that, so out to the pool we went. Within a half hour, the floaties were off and she had swum the length of the pool by herself. I saw the light of confidence come on in her eyes when she completed that first lap. This, my friends, is why I welcome and look forward to my later years. Moments like the one I had Sunday morning are priceless, and if I wasn’t a paw paw, I wouldn’t know them (not to detract from parenting, but grand-parenting’s a wonderfully different trip). There’s no place like home. I say onward today with a sense of wonder at what’s left in store for me.
“A Mans home is his Castle”