ok. Fairlane, the esteemed Commodore of the Good Ship Jonestown, the criteria......
http://fairlane.wordpress.com/
"Arte y Pico” is part of a tag initiative that is passed along to compliment other bloggers.
Now, here are the rules and regulations, as well as my nominees for the next five deserving winners of the Arte y Pico Award:
1) Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, http://fairlane.wordpress.com/.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here Arte y Pico.
This has flabbergasted me to no end, primarily because I have had a blog for a total of two weeks, (hey, I took off my shoes just to make sure I was counting correctly) though I have dropped comments around blogs like a pigeon drops droppings around a picnic in the park. Now that is a whole different deal that HAVING a blog.... and doing all the neato- stuff like adding music and videos and such.

I am really complimented, at at the same time confused. In the former sense because I have an extreme amount of respect and admiration for the Esteemed Mr. Lane (or the Emperor....or Dark Lord, or King of All Things Keen&Peachy....pick'em) and his abilities and the talent at the craft of WordSmitheryism&Stuff. &all the other posters, commentators, pundits and trolls that hang in said aforementioned environs&Shit.

The confusion is that, to follow the rules, I need to know what I am doing.
I don't.
okjimm.....

1. owns a four year old laptop, recently purchased.
2. does not have a home internet connection
3. hits the blogs mostly at work(where no one gives a shit)
4. at Oblios(where they love me)
   

I will certainly pass along the award, but I gotta beg a little indulgence. It's just gonna take a little bit. I really do not know what I am doing. Now that may work for "Life Experiences" (or not work, as I have discovered) but putting together a blog and making it as cool as Politits, or Lennui Melodieux, or DCap or Anita's or Freida's or FOT or D'ad Art.......ya, you get the drift. There are so many people who are doing such incredible things.....that I am really still a little bit in awe of this vast landscape of communication. I truly am.

And if I may wax eloquent, it is this elemental and deeply sincere level of communication that still gives me hope about the future of America...

The mass media has let us down,,,,,,,,, religion has let us down.....politicians have let us down.....society has let us down...... and yet kind, thoughtful minds, giving souls, and wishful hearts seem to always find a way to reach out and find the other hands reaching out. It is what the 'We' in 'Us' does. Really Good Stuff..

I'll be back. I'm getting weepy. I need to blow my nose....and geta beer.

Last Day of June

The last day of June. The rains we have had have washed away quite a bit of what I wanted to do in the Spring and capriciously whimsical winds have altered other plans.

July is getting rather filled, the weekends, and it suddenly dawned on me that if I wanted to do the Tunnel Trail this season, I should just take off and do it before anything else happens. I'm taking holiday on thursday (business sucks before a major holiday) and will just pack up and take off.

The trail is only two hour drive; I can take my time and still be there by noon, find a camp ground, get in a leisurely ride up to tunnel #3 and have plenty of time to sit at a campfire thursday night before doing the whole trail on friday, driving back friday night.

It is on an old railroad cut in the western part o the state dating from 1873. The last train ran in 1964 and soon after that it was converted to a biking/hiking trail. It runs 32 miles on hard packed crushed limestone in the heart of rural Wisconsin, through three large tunnels and across 34 small bridges spanning the creeks. It has been a favorite trail of mine for quite some time, especially the stretch through tunnel #3.

It is the longest tunnel, almost a mile long. There is a creek on the top of the hill the tunnel transverses and the water that permeates through makes the deep interior of the tunnel seem as if it is raining. It also produces a dense condensation fog, so that when you are in the middle, you cannot see a light on either end, or, frankly, the hand in front of your nose. A flashlight is mandatory and, even on the warmest of days, a sweatshirt or jacket as well. There is no chance of riding through; it is very pitted and you cannot see any other hikers or bikers.

The pay-off is coming out. After a mile walk through pitch black, through a path that can trip you in a second, coming out into the sunshine is fantastic, rejuvenating, clean, clear.

Maybe I think of it as a metaphor for life. Or just a bike ride.

gone biking

Gone Biking. A good way to make friends.

some mornings beer is a four letter word. I'll be back after coffee. Lotta coffee.

*Ok. I'm back. Kinda. The show really rocked ass last night. I don't know how to do the add music thingee.....mabe the link thingee will work....http://www.lastfm.fr/music/Old+97%27s/_/Big+Brown+Eyes....anyways These guys really really were Stuff&Shit!! Kinda Pixies with some Kinks, wrapped around a little country flavor---add some angst&anger--stir with beer, season with Elvis Costello. Bubba and his buds, Binky&Mike joined me. And the town is not so big...you know every third person or so that you spill a beer on....and who really cares, anyways & it is festival seating...which means who the fuck wants to sit,anyways....

I really should have taken the day off. I had a beer for Randal, &Scarlet&ME&DCup....and MR. LANE...&christanybodyelsethatcameto mind.

I'm pretty sure I had a good time.

Facing Forward

Clarence said a striking thing about rowing that I've always valued, the upshot of which was that he liked rowing because you were approaching life backward. You could clearly see the past, and you glanced quickly at the future over your shoulder mostly so you wouldn't run into anything destructively immovable. Too much of the future was predestined by the behavior of others for you to be in control. The most you could hope for is to be ready and attentive.

-Jim Harrison, True North

Down by the River

OK. This isn't Cleveland or Milwaukee or Minneapolis or Neato-Peachie-Keen America but every thursday night we have music on the river. http://www.waterfest.org/ Now it may not be the biggest names, and it may be a lotta retreads&stuff....but it is extremely affordable (pffft-I get freebies, anyways!) and the sunsets are great, it's only four blocks from home.....

bad news....they only sell Budweiser products

good news... Oblio's is only four blocks...I can drink good beer FIRST....

good stuff....bands that rock and might be hard to see otherwise....Iguanas, Old 97's, Paul Sanchez...and some great local and regional bands

bad stuff..... a lotta 'oldie' shit

...it's on thursday nights because it is easier to book acts with a spare night and with some excellent local sponsorship....it is affordable as all get out for anyone who wants to go.

And no one in the office really really expects me to get anything done on fridays anyways.....

Ok. Ain't no big deal, but this is a slice of my Wisconsin and I wish you all could come. First round is on me..... but only if you drink the cheap beer!

Eagle Harbor 2006

Look back on time with kindly eyes,

He doubtless did his best;

How softly sinks his trembling sun

In human nature’s west!

emily dickinson