Palm Springs California (June 17, 2022) — Image by kenne
The family gathered in Palm Springs to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of Jeri and Ron Roelling.
Golden Kudos
Another anniversary;
Kudos are now due
To this radiant, golden couple:
Your 50th is quite a coup!
You keep on keeping on;
However do you do it?
You make marriage look so easy,
Like there’s really nothing to it.
Congratulations, you two;
We wish you all the best.
May all the years to come
Be just as richly blessed.
— Joanna Fuchs
Looking Down Through Chino Canyon To The Coachella Valley Below (Greater Palm Springs) — Image by kenne
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway — Photo Essay by kenne
(Click On Any Image To See In A Slideshow Format
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway—the world’s largest rotating tram car—travels over two-and-one-half miles
along the breathtaking cliffs of Chino Canyon, transporting riders to the pristine wilderness of the Mt. San Jacinto
State Park. During a ten-minute journey, tram cars rotate slowly, offering picturesque and spectacular
vistas of the valley floor below. Once reaching the Mountain Station—elevation 8,516 feet—enjoy two restaurants,
observation decks, natural history museum, two documentary theaters, a gift shop, and over 50 miles of hiking trails.
Tramway Video by kenne
Experiencing the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit (Scottsdale, June 15, 2022) — Image by kenne
We have wanted to see the Immersive van Gogh exhibit for some time.
So, since we had planned on attending Jeri and Ron’s 50th Anniversary,
June 16-18 in Palm Springs, we drove up to Scottsdale on the 15.
The exhibition, conceived by Creative Director Mathieu St-Arnaud and his team at Montreal’s
world-renowned Normal Studio, is an immersive experience that features more
than 300 of Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic artworks and takes the art lover
into a three-dimensional world that exhilarates the senses.
— Vincent van Gogh
Video by kenne
— Vincent van Gogh
Sunflowers — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— Vincent van Gogh
The Resendez and Turner Families Hosted a Pool Party for Graduates Katelyn Turner
and Robert Resendez in Atascocita, Texas, May 29, 2022 — Images by kenne
(Click on any image to view in slideshow format.)
Kae Tempest — Photo-Artistry by kenne from a Photo by Wolfgang Tillmans
A couple of years ago, I posted: “I’m a new fan of Kae Tempest, an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist, and playwright — a great performer by any measure. Then, in January 2022,
I did a post on Kae’s latest book, “On Connections,” in which they extolled the importance of finding meanings in the little things.
Like most people, when I first hear about an artist, I feel like I was the one who discovered the artist.
So, I was both surprised and pleased to learn about Kae’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show this past Monday.
— kenne
Andean Cockof the Rock — Image by Hugh Poland
In early February, my stepson-in-law went birding in Ecuador. Upon his return to Kingwood, Texas, Hugh put together this trip video.
— kenne
A Tacana Family Headed Down the Tuichi River to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon — HDR Image by kenne
The Tacana people live along the Beni River in the Madidi National Park, Amazon.
The Tuichi River joins the Beni River upstream from the town Rurrenabaque.
Pedro, our Tacana guide demonstrated the indigenous technique of fishing.
Matt did have some success on our Day 3. — Image by kenne
Amazon Rainforest Sunset (August 2019) — Image by kenne
— kenne
“Let’s Dance, Grandma” — James and Joy (October 2, 2021)
Charles Bukowski
– – Charles Bukowski (Source: Oldpoetry.com)
We spent some brief moments with brother Tom during our trip to Seattle for Lisa’s and Mike’s wedding on Lummi Island (August 29, 2009).
It’s never been easy for anyone to figure out the Turner boys, let alone one to the other. In some ways,
however, if you know one of us, then you know the other. We are very much alike, but selectively taking some similarities to an extreme (by choice and personality), which appear different.
This video is about my brother; therefore, it’s about me.
“The cat’s in the well and grief is showing its face
The world’s being slaughtered and it’s such a bloody disgrace.”
— kenne
For Crying Out Loud (September 2009)
(The video can be enlarged by clicking on HD at the top right and the four arrows in the the lower right corner.)
Eastern Bluebird — Photo-Artistry by kenne
He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder
Well, it might have been a bluebird, I don’t know
but he’d get stone drunk and talk about Alaska
The salmon boats and 45 below
Well, he got that blue wing up in Walla Walla
and his cellmate there was a Little Willy John
and Willie, he was once a great blues singer
so Wing & Willie wrote him up a song
— from Blue Wing by Tom Russell
Another Glass Of Wine My Dear (April 5, 2007) — Image by kenne
Have Some Medeira, M’dear
She was young, she was pure, she was new, she was nice
She was fair, she was sweet seventeen.
He was old, he was vile, and no stranger to vice
He was base, he was bad, he was mean.
He had slyly inveigled her up to his flat
To view his collection of stamps,
And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,
The wine, his cigar and the lamps:
Have some madeira, m’dear.
You really have nothing to fear.
I’m not trying to tempt you, that wouldn’t be right,
You shouldn’t drink spirits at this time of night.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
It’s really much nicer than beer.
I don’t care for sherry, one cannot drink stout,
And port is a wine I can well do without…
It’s simply a case of chacun a son gout
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Unaware of the wiles of the snake-in-the-grass
And the fate of the maiden who topes,
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.
She sipped it, she drank it, she drained it, she did!
He promptly refilled it again,
And he said as he secretly carved one more notch
On the butt of his gold-headed cane:
Have some madeira, m’dear,
I’ve got a small cask of it here.
And once it’s been opened, you know it won’t keep.
Do finish it up.
It will help you to sleep.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
It’s really an excellent year.
Now if it were gin, you’d be wrong to say yes
The evil gin does would be hard to assess..
Besides it’s inclined to affect me prowess,
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Then there flashed through her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath,
“Oh my child, should you look on the wine that is red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!”
She let go her glass with a shrill little cry,
Crash!
Tinkle! it fell to the floor;
When he asked,
“What in Heaven?”
She made no reply,
Up her mind, and a dash for the door.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Rang out down the hall loud and clear
With a tremulous cry that was filled with despair,
As she fought to take breath in the cool midnight air,
Have some madeira, m’dear.
The words seemed to ring in her ear.
Until the next morning, she woke in her bed
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head…
And a beard in her lug ‘ole that tickled and said:
Have some madeira, m’dear!
—Flanders and Swann
Ye Vagabonds LP
I love British folk music — enjoy.
Old Man — Image by kenne
A Man’s a Man for a’ That
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that,
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A Prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that!
But an honest man’s aboon his might –
Guid faith, he mauna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities, an’ a’ that,
The pith o’ Sense an’ pride o’ Worth
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that.
—
Becoming is Superior to Being 