"Say not the struggle..."

   bird flying downward

Say not the Struggle nought Availeth

BY ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH

Say not the struggle nought availeth,

     The labour and the wounds are vain,

The enemy faints not, nor faileth,

     And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

     It may be, in yon smoke concealed,

Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,

     And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking

     Seem here no painful inch to gain,

Far back through creeks and inlets making,

     Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,

     When daylight comes, comes in the light,

In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,

     But westward, look, the land is bright.

one of my favorite poems

not much time 

recommend a good movie...some nudity not gratuitous

"Kama Sutra" (1996) a love story directed by Mira Nair

this movie should be viewed with the directors commentary first

it gives some indication of the more than 3 thousand years of

the culture of the Indian subcontinent...magnificent

also...I know I'm a little behind the times but I recently bought

a DVD of the music videos for an entertainer named Biork 

this is some of the most creative video I have ever seen...the music

is definitely overwhelmed by the video production...but the entire

collection of music videos is on one DVD and very good...but strange

i may have used this quote before...who cares

"Everything has two handles..."

I went to a talk by James Baldwin some years ago and was rather bemused by his obvious disdain for his audience..we were in Baton Rouge a strong- hold of white supremacy for the last few centuries. However he started to ramble on and what I remember mostly was his describing the "vast prodigious  negro sexual drive"...one of the audience members, a young man,  was so disturbed at being  a white male that he stood up and asked Mr Baldwin how he might atone for his sin of white maleness...it was disgusting...now I don't have much "white guilt" despite some folks assurance that I should..I do however recognize that "people of color" are not on a level playing field in American society. In Africa in recent times there have been Africans killing Africans by the hundreds of thousand and not because of their color but because of their tribal affiliation. I have yet to hear anything about African-American racism...which is alive and rampant in some places in this country...don't like whites, dont like asians, dont like latinos...racism! I do admire Mr Baldwins literary accomplishments and his social commentary considering he has no college degree...but I can't say I like his writing much. I picked up a copy of this book and found it good reading.."Out There-Mavericks of Black Literature" Darryl Pinckney

Jean-Baptist Belley (1747-1805) born in Senegal and transported to Saint-Domingue as a slave, acquired freedom, joined French army, became landowner and slave owner and became chief of police. Now should this mans accomplishments be denied him because he was a slave owner..                                                                                                                                                                        Abwehr are alive and well in this country... Elie Wiesel-number A-7713..don't forget
 so are the anarchist- "License they mean when they cry liberty." Milton
 "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime" Aristotle "Politics"                                               Justin Rosenstein- co-inventor of the "Like" button on Facebook...you know I don't think I could live with a like button in my life...                                                                                                            Been spending some time with Oggetti di lussuria also known as the "PINK METH" I am apparently not the only viewer insofar as there seems to be gazzilions of sites available                                         I guess this makes me an onymous outre ofay...I can live with that

on a happy note..until it thaws1.5 Adelie penguins discovered on Danger Island using drones

I may be being stalked by an older blue chevrolet truck  Alaska licence plate number 7R46MB

"Everything has two handles-by one of which it ought to be carried  and by the other not." Epictetus this is the first quotation I ever collected in my notebook...it has served me well

                                         a couple of visitors to my campsite recently

"Jesus saith, Ye ask who are those that draw us to the Kingdom of Heaven..."

so I walked up to the top of the hill a few days ago where I can get some phone reception and then I sat down on a log where I could look down the far side of the hill ...as I sat down I set my camera down beside me and began thinking about I what I might do that was exciting....considering that travel is pretty restricted unless you have a private jet...by the way we are not "all in this together"...not by a long shot...I don't expect to see Jeff Bezos masked up in the walmart anytime soon...or ever...not a lot of billionaires showing up in the obituaries you might have noticed.  as I sat on the log wondering how I was going to keep up my work as what I recently heard Rick Steves the travel guy refer to as a "Pleasure Activist"...nice term...sounds a little less shocking than Hedonist which I generally use to describe myself...I started thinking perhaps I should spend some of my savings on an image consultant as I had just read about a woman named Karla Welch who was named the most "Powerful stylist in 2017" by the "Hollywood Reporter"...yeah thats what I need is to have a fashion consultant...and she dresses that Beiber fellow among others...and I could by an etegere and go to a soiree or two...then I noticed something moving up the hill towards me and I picked up my camera as it got closer...it sat down for a moment and looked down the hill as if enjoying the view....as I was...then it stood up and came towards me...the wind was blowing in my face so the fox never smelled my scent and I filmed it as best I could as it got closer and closer then the wind changed and the fox got my scent and stared at me for a few seconds then trotted away. This encounter was thrilling for me and I suddenly realized the photography is where my interests are. And of course as if to reinforce this idea that I should continue with photography I found a good buy on another Nikon camera for a hundred bucks in the pawn shop and then went into a thrift store and found for a buck a DVD with 12 hours of photography instruction by Joel Satore a great nature photographer for National Geographic.  so I guess I will forget about the stylist and the etegere and the soiree...unless of course I get invited to a soiree where I might rub shoulders with the stylish folks...or not." 

Jesus saith, Ye ask who are those that draw us to the Kingdom if the Kingdom is in Heaven?...the fowls of the air, and all beasts that are under the earth or upon the earth, and fishes of the sea, these are they that draw you, and the Kingdom of Heaven is within you"                         
 "The Oxyrhynchus Papers"

 

                                            the message said that the video format was not supported
                                           so I will have to figure out how to change the format
                                           I think this image is of the fox looking down the hill
                                           I have a couple of stills but the video is much better