Romero Pools, Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
A friend is someone whose story you have heard.
— kenne
Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category
A Friend 1 comment
Death Be Not Proud 2 comments
Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, VA (August 22, 2021) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
This morning I received word that the husband of Linda Parrish, a friend, and co-worker at Texas A&M,
had passed away October 29, 2021. Paul Austin Parrish was 77 years old.
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
— John Donne
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Chasing Life’s Horizons Leave a comment
Hiking Rock Creek Trail (August 6, 2006) — Images by kenne
Chasing Life’s Horizons
Ain’t nothing better
than hiking through
a window in the sky —
the air is fresh,
the sky is blue,
a magical mystery
in a world of horizons
far as the eye can see.
Chased by every hiker,
a vision soon left behind
only to be replaced
by another, another
magical mystery.
— kenne
Rock Creek is a beautiful Eastern Sierra backcountry canyon in the John Muir Wilderness (Jerry, George, and Kenne, August 6, 2006)
“Art is the funnel, as it were, through which spirit is poured into life.”
―
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The Best Boss Ever Leave a comment
My Chancellor, Dr. Joe Airola (09/13/10)
What made Joe the best boss ever, he didn’t insist on you always agreeing with him.
He once said to me, “Kenne, you know what your problem is, you’re too damn argumentative.”
A characteristic that may have created some enemies, but not with Joe.
He was one of the most self-assured, understanding people I’ve ever known.
We both continued to work together after retirement —
a true friend.
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La Milagrosa Canyon Panorama Leave a comment
La Milagrosa Canyon Panorama — Image by kenne
This Friday my friends will be hiking the La Milagrosa Loop again, this time without me — sad!!
— kenne
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Blues Project — Part II 1 comment
Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz
Computer Art by kenne
Down the east Texas road,
there is rain in the wind
as the musicians’ setup
for an evening of the blues
with friends gathering
the last time at
Ken and Mary’s Blues Project,
the best house concert ever.
In recent years we’ve missed
some of the concerts in
the woods having moved
to the desert southwest,
then last February, we received
word of the “Last Waltz”
for the Blues Project —
plans were made immediately.
With Coleman cooler,
yard chairs and
cameras in tow
we walked over old
bottle caps toward the
Blues Project stage,
to be greeted with
hugs and kisses — Welcome!
Mary announced the food
was ready, and Ken shared some
background on the beginning
of what became the Blues Project.
Not long after the music began,
lighting lit up the darkening clouds
with thunder adding to
the magical evening.
Other than an occasional
drop or two, the music played on
until, as if the plug was pulled,
the dark sky began to fall.
A rain delay was called
as the tarps were brought out
to covered the equipment.
Using our smartphones
we could see radar showing
the rain would be lasting
for an hour or more.
As has happened in the past,
the musicians gathered inside
to continue an evening of music.
Most of those who remained
were inside or on outside porches,
knowing the best of the evening
was yet to come —
jamming the night away
on a hot, humid night
in the piney woods of east Texas.
It may be the last waltz
for the Blues Project
but that doesn’t mean
the party is over,
the music still plays on
and on, and on — may
we stay forever young.
We’ve got to go, but our friends will stick around.
— kenne
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Memories of East Texas 1 comment
Ken & Mary’s Blues Project (On a humid east Texas night the rain forced everyone to move inside) —
Images and Video by kenne (Flickr Images)
Memories of East Texas keep drafting
over Arizona mountains
headed to El Paso, San Antonio, Houston
where BBQ smoke floats
through the piney woods
and blues music heals the soul
to make up the conscious past
with the Last Waltz of
Ken and Mary’s Blue Project.
Over time we have learned
all good things must
come to and end;
things we enjoy,
things we find comforting,
things we love
all eventually come to an end —
“To every thing there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Now it’s time to head on down the highway
to once again experience the blues at the crossroads —
“Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
— kenne
Darkness settled over Ken & Mary’s Blues Project as Sonny Boy Terry and Rich DelGrosso finished their set, October 17, 2009, Porter, Texas.
Original Stage at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project (August 2005)
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Two Friends Win Awards Tonight In Memphis — Congratualtions! Leave a comment
Jonn Del Toro Richardson and Diunna Greenleaf — Image by kenne
Tonight, two of our favorite blues musicians, Jonn Del Toro Richardson and Diunna Greenleaf, won awards at the 2017 Blues Music Awards in Memphis — Jonn for Best Emerging Artist Album and Diunna for the Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist). Congratulations to Jonn and Diunna, we love you both!
— kenne
Do You Want Be To Stay — Diunna Greenleaf, Jonn DelToro Richardson and Bob Corritore Video by kenne
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Something Imagined Day by Day Leave a comment
Music Under the Moonlight — Grunge Art by kenne
Epilogue
Those blessèd structures, plot and rhyme–
why are they no help to me now
I want to make
something imagined, not recalled?
I hear the noise of my own voice:
The painter’s vision is not a lens,
it trembles to caress the light.
But sometimes everything I write
with the threadbare art of my eye
seems a snapshot,
lurid, rapid, garish, grouped,
heightened from life,
yet paralyzed by fact.
All’s misalliance.
Yet why not say what happened?
Pray for the grace of accuracy
Vermeer gave to the sun’s illumination
stealing like the tide across a map
to his girl solid with yearning.
We are poor passing facts,
warned by that to give
each figure in the photograph
his living name.
— Robert Lowell, Day by Day
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Time Past, Time Present 2 comments
Time past, Time Present — Image by kenne
Old ranch house rock wall —
Look through the window to see
Time past, time present.
— kenne
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Leopold Point 4 comments
Hikers at Leopold Point signing, JOY, to my wife who is recovering from surgery — thanks for the kindness. (June 24, 2016)
— Images by kenne
Leopold Point
We hike the Catalina trials
around bid boulders
under the giant ponderosas
opening to fern meadows.
We reach the ridge
above the pine tops
sharing our unceasing
love for the splendid views.
We are nature enthusiasts
devoted to nurturing our senses
connecting more deeply
with life’s experiences.
We follow the trial
to Leopold Point
a special place to sit
in group solidarity.
We chatter away
while being mindful
to capture a moment
in brief solitude.
We have learned
the value of moment
by moment awareness
in connecting to nature.
— kenne
Click on any of the following tiled images to see in a slideshow format.
“Now, more than ever, we need nature as a balancing agent.”
— Richard Louv
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“The Place” Down On The Bayou 4 comments
The Double Bayou Dance Hall, “The Place”, where you could get good smoke brisket
and local women offered homemade pecan, lemon meringue and sweet potato pies. (October 19, 2002) — Image by kenne
Break Between Sets at the Double Bayou Dance Hall, “The Place” (May 25, 2003) — Image by kenne
But the most dangerous thing in the world
is to run the risk of waking up one morning
and realizing suddenly that all this time
you’ve been living without really and truly living
and by then it’s too late. When you wake up
to that kind of realization,
it’s too late for wishes and regrets.
It’s even too late to dream.
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Music Sunday Leave a comment
This posting first appeared November 18, 2009.
Ray Bonneville at Ken and Mary’s Blues Project, November 18, 2009 — Images and video by kenne
I believe that all the little things in life add up to one’s life. So, it’s important to get them right, otherwise nothing else matters. 
I’m here to tell you that Ken and Mary Harris have been getting it right for a long time.
They love people and they love the Blues, and for years now have been doing a lot of little things that have been adding up in the form of the “Blues Project.”
Several times a year, Ken and Mary open their home to friends and their guests to experience the best in blues music this side of Texas. Sadly, many have no idea what they are missing, and sometimes it can get lonely in the promise land by yourself.
One of the many musicians who have appeared at Ken and Mary’s Blues Project is Ray Bonneville. Just as Ray may write about a place he has lived, e.g., New Orleans, he is not from there. He is a traveler in other people’s reality, writing stories that serve as a portal to his existence.
“Firefly comin’ this way
a flickering light is to say
time ain’t but this long
here tonight, tomorrow gone.”
— from “Goin’ By Feel”
As a fellow traveler in the reality of others, I hope our paths will cross again soon.
kenne
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Capturing The Moment — July 4th Celebration 4 comments
July 4th Celebration — Composite Art by kenne
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”
— Benjamin Franklin
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Friendship 2 comments
“Friendship” (Summit Rock, Sedona, Arizona) — Image by kenne
The only reason I don’t want to die is because
I would never see this country again.
— Georgia O’Keeffe
Becoming is Superior to Being 