Hurry

Get your things done,
stick to your agenda
be frantic and loud
a message to sender.
Don't even feel proud,
just continue to hustle
on the face of this world
like an ant without muscle.

photo taken at Grand Central NYC

no more virtual fun this weekend

I will have to teach clay modeling, see you all after the weekend.
On the picture, the birds are nesting before they fly south. Wouldn't it be grand to have that mobility?

enough pastel color renderings

Sunsets are very fine, but there is also day and night. Darkness and light. Twilight belongs to romantics. That is good, that's how it should be.
I am tired, sunsets don't enthrall my soul these days. I look at them as an image, nothing else. And now I will go to bed and hopefully catch sunrise in the morning.

... by the way, I put a new player on the sidebar, got rid of the old one (too slow) which will list original stuff of mine. I might even give a little speech now and then: NEWS FROM HOBBITTOWN!

...posted as "phone call". If you press the "POSTS" button, you'll see all of what is on there, including my crazy songs and jam sessions.

let go

Some people say I should let go,
and this could be the final remedy.
It's not that easy though,
and only the future is the test
for the days to come.
Wise woman and wise men told me so.
And I can move fast,
but this will be the last
phoenix arising out of the ashes.
I battled the devil before with sticks and a pole
to redeem my soul
while bandits get their lashes,
'tis what they deserve, just so you know.
Infinity is a concept, and the future is for real
To humble yourself to live in the present,
that my friend is the actual deal!

There is just no substiute for having true friends

snow?

A mile away, on top of the ridge, they are making snow.
Later on, when the cover is sufficient they pull up people on lifts. Down they go, and up again, and then down again. Endless circles.

I used to like that game, but I became tired of running in circles. Nothing against skiing or snow-boarding. I've been there since I was five year old. Difference then, as kids we had to make our own slopes, a group effort. Then we climbed the hill to have that exhilarating drive.
Now it's mostly a bunch of obese fat ass people going in circles. Boring. I wish to ski Colorado



though - they say the slopes and the conditions rival if not surpass those of the Swiss mountains.
Got to do do it before global warming takes all fun away!

after the thanks

All right, so I give you a blurb about Thanksgiving after all.
My daughter despises mashed potatoes, can't be the genes, 'cause I love them. Despite of this, there she is standing in the steamed up kitchen preparing that very dish.
We had a wild turkey, delicious and an organic farm raised one, traditional. The company was great, the host and hostess fabulous. But I am people shy these days. So is my son. So we took a walk down to the falls to avoid further small-talk for a little while.





On that walk we found this shop - very Americana.
End of blurb.

I hate to fix things ... to start of with, and I only crave Chinese art

There are days when you just have to do it yourself, no other help in sight. So I took apart the old Steinway and fixed some keys. Tedious, the wood is very brittle and easily brakes.
Back in "the shire of hobbit-land" days are getting colder and also "brittle"...that's just how the brake of this season is.
Before you know it snow will cover the fields. That's a good thing though.
The "fixing things" title. It is just so that I love when things just work, and if they don't, I agonize about the demise. I guess that is called procrastination. But sometimes... I get inspired. Today was such a day. Patience is one of the higher virtues - yes??? At least this piano was not made in China. That crap from there I just throw away when it is broken. Actually I try to avoid buying Chinese which in itself is not an easy task.
But hey, they will learn. After they figured that led paint on kid toys is not kosher. They will follow the path of Japan. Remember Japanese products in the 60's and 70's? Total bullshit, cheap ass quality products. But then - ha - they eventually came out with the finest electronics and the most reliable cars. I would call that the "silent revenge" against the empire. Pearl Harbor all over again, this time without Mitsubishi bombers, but spread over time replacing those kamikaze missions.
Hell it worked! Detroit, the headquarters of the three big US car companies looks desolate, abandoned and like a ghetto today. I wish I had had a camera last time around. The pictures would have looked like East-Germany before the break up of the Soviet Union, actually worse - more like Dresden after WW2.
But you wouldn't believe me anyway. So just take a flight and see for yourself. Ah, forget it. It's not worth the cost of petrol to go there. Rambling? Yes I am rambling today. But I will get to the point. China will overcome it's technical and other hurdles - refine it's products a few years down the road (just like Japan did) and thereby become the economic superpower on this globe. I sometimes wonder though if anybody will have cash or credit to buy stuff then.
For now I am content to fix my 1958 upright Steinway by myself.
Enough ramblings? OK, you got it ...

the thanks

Half a mile down the road there are these cows, all male suckers (heifers?) I drive by them daily knowing that they soon end up as cheap minced beef on the shelf of a supermarket. I stop and talk to them - nobody ever talks to them. You gotta talk to animals, they deserve conversation and affection even if they end up being cut into pieces eventually.
So I also give thanks to all the animals who sacrifice their life for human hunger.

whatever it is

I used to teach a couple of courses in NYC, during the time they had that installation in Central Park. One pick I modified and sort of put it into my drawer, thinking of using it as a front-page to my never appearing webpage. What do you think? Will I use this , or does it look entirely tacky?

Last night my daughter woke me up 12:30 or so, needed some help with printing her essays. Needless to say, I couldn't fall asleep after that. Instead I went to the studio and recorded some music, in a horse (corse) voice ... 'cause I got a cold. Tried fiercely to put the results of this on this blog today; but I am just too dumb to to so tonight, and tired.
Tomorrow will be a better day!
************************************************

tommorrow is today :)

I decided to use an other player, it's now located in the sidebar below my profile blurp. There you can hear the song and also other original audio I will post in the future.

OK, here are the original lyrics by me:

Far distant
I waited all day long
just to sing my song
now I'm feeling strong
enough, to say I love you.

Since you will go away
baby I hope and pray
that our hearts want break appart.

Far distant love, when will I see you again
a thousand miles between us is giving me pain
you came out of nowhere, now youre gone -
far distant love.

I know in a month or two,
I'll be running to you
forget about the blues
I love you

And if your mind is clear
and your feelings sincere
then I know we'll be together!

Far distant ...

welcome to my mess

As I look around, I glance onto Raphael's picture "the school of Athens" amongst my mess. It strikes me to be some kind of message. All these philosophers, thinkers, artists, astronomers, physicists, statesman ... gathered in one place!
If only humans these days could do the same, congregate and exchange their knowledge instead of fighting for issues unrelated to the common man.

Here are some quotes from the more prominent people in this picture:

Plato:
As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.

Aristotle:
Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy.

Socrates:
If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.

5 a clock Guinness in Hillsdale

OK then, I'll elaborate.
The guy on the left has a BA from a college in visual arts and is now painting houses. The girl, I don't know her, she is the bartender at the "Mount" (the Mount Washington Hotel).
What's the point of saying this? The painter and her look out towards the second image here, Hillsdale "central", and ponder about their future, each in their own ways. As I was taking the pictures I asked myself the same question. Not so much the philosophical ones like: Where is this world gonna lead to. But more on a personal level, where will the pathways of my life lead me in the next few months?
Heck, I wish I knew!
I guess the myth of the starving artist is not a myth after all.

fall mood

Bare and barren branches
have had a history before they brake, off the trunk.
So no more whining is needed.
Nature took its course and sunk
to the ground what comes to be re-seeded.

Human souls are the same,
most shed history, barren
and broken while memory fades
like nail finger-clippings
lost on foreign soil.
Others - still reach for the sky.

© L. Zay

The frenzy about night shades

As I drive down my road I think to myself, what is this hysteria all about while I was watching the golden leaves scattered on the ground.
Simply put, potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco are all "nightshades" imbued with cancerous stimulants. One and the same family, all of them.
Let's say simply, that "Heinz" ketchup promotes cancerous diseases while advertising the "Lycen" factor to diminish heart disease, which might be correct. What a bargain though.
Now they start to ban smoking within 50 feet of official buildings, post a total smoking ban on campuses - etc, etc....
Who's health are we talking about?
Did anybody ever heard the phrase "mind over matter"?
I personally respect when somebody does not wish to inhale my second hand smoke, and I move away.
But when I then arrive at a parking lot, and several SUV's are idling, and I feel that particular day that perhaps they could shut off their engine during the time their female companions are shopping at WallMart - I only get back blank looks in their faces when I try to tell them that they could perhaps shut off their massive engines for that little while.
So what's that to do with smoking?
Easy, the health benefits gained by smoking bans for the general population is minuscule compared to the obese extractions of fossil fuel pollutants that will hover the whole globe for anyone which has to "inhale" and breathe all these toxins in the air for years to come by the exuberant consumption of western greed.
I mean seriously, a campfire with tofu grilled chunks cooked to perfection, will pollute more than burning four cartons worth of cigarettes.
I guess this legal public exercise is to get the little man down, or get all "the little man's " compliance.
Orwell was dead on, but he was wrong with the title of his book, it should have been called "2007", replacing the "1984".
Little did he know, being self raised on that "Animal Farm."

dogs were barking

Bukowsky once said that dogs were barking,
long into the night.
He stripped the stripper
and plugged his ears with cheap toilet tissue.
What a man.
He is dead now, I'm surprised he made it that long,
booze and general abuse took their toll, end of story.

Dogs are barking, everywhere these days
politicians and crooks want their ways
while we wait to remove cotton tissues
out of our ears and listen to issues
that really matter.
- it's a long way home I would say.

the shire

All right then, I'll have to admit that ...
the trees in the shire are gorgeous. Those shots were taken on my property.
No, it's not that bad here - problem is I am not really "HERE". So tomorrow I'll venture to the island again, pick up all the left over peaces, have a life music party with friends, fix the shingles on the roof that gone blown away in my absence, make peace with the place and then return to the "shire'. Winter-months have to be endured in hobbit style.
If I am quick enough, and inspired, I will post some music from the "music gathering" ,
after the weekend is over and the tape has been edited and I am finally really "here".

the writers almanac on NPR

The Hour
Maybe the moment recurs daily at six, when commuters,
freed from the staring computers,
elbow and bump in unsought intimacy on a station
platform with you, and frustration
rots what is left of your strength. Maybe the hour comes after
dinner, when televised laughter
seeps from a neighboring room; maybe the time is the dead of
night, when you ponder, instead of
dreaming. Whatever the time, you will escape it—by sinking
down with a book, or by drinking
secretly out in the dark studio, or by unbuckling
pants on a stranger, or chuckling,
one with a mob, in a deep theater. Soon, though, the hour
comes to corrode all your power,
pleasure and faith with the damp dread that it daily assigns you.
How you evade it defines you.

Poem: "The Hour" by Michael Lind, from Parallel Lives. © Etruscan Press, 2008

... sometimes NPR feeds me just what I needed to hear.

dividing waters (haiku)

Dividing waters
Create invisible lines
We can not trace them
___________________
OK, that's it - I'm in deep depression after I have left the surroundings of the salty ocean breeze.
People on the "Mainland" act harsh and superegoistic. Whenever I pick up the phone, there is no leisure, no contemplation, just business talk. I am tired of this, but I will endure the winter here in "the shire" - for whatever it is worth. Then I will be back to the island in spring...

gloom of scorpio

I was going to write something here ...
Wasn't it so, that this particular zodiac sign could be redeemed?
Scorpio, the only living thing that can take its own life without outer help or other measures. Fierce, but not graceful.
The eagle on the other hand elevates far above and with keen and unrivaled vision - spots out its pray. No poison involved, just skill.
It has come to my attention that the American Eagle has been swapped, transformed into a scorpio.
Now we will just have to wait and see if and when the US will commit suicide with its own poison and ram the tail into its rear.
The beauty of the eagle once reigned. It shall re-arise when the poison is gone, after the Scorpio's death has been reafirmed.