Double Nickles

I passed my prime going a hundred miles an hour

The inner child of mine had his tongue sticking out

For the whole ride, and he was yelling at strangers

"Hey, hurry up, you're gonna get left behind."
As we sped past the blurred lifescape
That had been mine to enjoy

The Visually Stimulating Combination Of Succulents & Shrubs in A Garden

A Dedicated Follower Of Rasta

Ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in a few years this afternoon, and was caught off guard by his appearance. Most notably, the dreadlocks he is now sporting, and the black, red, yellow, and green striped rasta hat perched at a jaunty angle atop his head. 

This is a guy I've known since 2002, and at no time have I ever seen or heard from him any indication that he was into the Reggae scene.

I found out, however, that he met the love of his life about a year and a half ago, and she introduced him to the glory of Reggae and all that goes with it.

*Sigh*. The things we do for love...

The Comfort

Everyone has their comfort. For the vast majority it seems to be financial security, which is quite understandable. 

For me it's German Chocolate cake.

I'll Take "Things Written When Drunk" For $100.00 Alex

Difficult Conversation To Have On The First Date

I once went on a date with a woman who told me
That she wanted to be the type of woman
That husbands leave their wives for

She explained to me that a woman who could do that
Take another woman's husband
Most possess an irresistible allure
Be incredibly beautiful
And emanate sensuality like the sun emanates heat

This woman, like myself, had been abandoned by her father
When she was still in diapers
And, like myself, she had never known her father
He had just up and left and never looked back

I asked her why she would want to be like that
And she said that her mother, who had never remarried
Was smart and beautiful and as strong as a person could be
So, she reasoned, any woman who could take her man
Must be smarter and more beautiful and stronger still

Even though this conversation occurred many years ago
I remember replying to her, with what could only be termed
Angry remarks

For I told her that my mother, too, was smart and beautiful
And as strong as a person could possibly be
Which to me had resulted in the belief that my father 
Must have been weak, must have been afraid
And did not possess the ability to appreciate my mother

I had determined that he had left my mother & us children
Not because he had been charmed by an irresistible Siren
No, I told her, it wasn't a sensual beauty that lured him
It was a woman as ugly inside as he was

She may have been beautiful, but I didn't know that
All I knew is she had to have had the heart of a vulture
To take a husband of six 
Away from his wife and children
And that my father must of been a vulture as well

The More People Change, The More Things...Change Completely

One of the truly wonderful things a person can ever witness is the complete transformation of a person from quite literally being a burden to society to being a asset to mankind as a whole.

I've been fortunate to know firsthand a number of people who have made such a dramatic change in the their lives.

At first, the transformation is such a huge difference in the person's character that it's hard to believe, but after a few days of observing them fairly closely you start to realize that the change is real, and that the person you formerly knew as someone to be avoided at all costs has become someone who is actually enjoyable to be around.

Then it becomes inspirational.

It happened again last week. A man I'd met about half a century ago came out to Colorado from California to pay a short visit, and that man was completely different from the person he used to be.

As in, aliens stole the real person and replaced him with a near-identical clone, but the aliens made the fatal mistake of not accounting for the real persons original, toxic personality, which will be the undoing of their plan to invade earth.

Seriously, that's how dramatic the change is in this person. 

It was great to spend a few days with RM last week, and that right there is a sentence I never thought I'd type. 

He has worked hard to turn his life from one of being a directionless, police and court resources taxing, non-contributing, non self-supporting member of the human race to being the complete opposite of that - and it is quite inspirational.

It's Not What You Did, It's What You Didn't...Or Not...

Everything you may or may not do
No matter how much time, resources, energy
Or hard-earned cash
You invest

Means nothing

Depending upon the perception
Of those your time, resources, energy
Or hard-earned cash
Is all intended to impress

Yet Another Beautiful Spring Morning In Denver, Colorado

Nothing like a nice dusting of early Spring snow to make the flood control look like a Currier & Ives print

Every Direction Leads To Home...Eventually

People wander, through life and the land

Without a thought to where they're going 

Without a compass, without a plan

For millions, wandering is not about getting to a destination

It isn't about following a schedule or arriving on time

It's about adventure, discovery and exploration

Some travel the world in wide-bodied jets

Others prefer the luxury of a leisure cruise

Some drive down ten-lane highways

Others stick to the two-lane blacktops

Some prefer to walk wherever they can

Others prefer to hike rarely trodden paths

It's not how you get there that matters

It's not even how far you go

It's all about making the journey with eyes and mind

Wide open

Tulip Army

I Am Angry But I Cannot Scream

Two Dudes Fighting In A Working Class Bar

Every once in awhile, people in bars get out of hand

Two dudes in a bar I was at the other night

Made like they were going to knuckle up

They were sitting next to each other all night

Talking about work or women or some such nonsense

The conversation seemed to have veered off course 

Just after 10:00

Maybe it was politics, maybe it was religion, maybe it was sport

It could have been multilateral trade agreements for all I knew 

Whatever it was, it set off a powder keg

For both of them began to raise their voices

And pretty soon they were yelling at each other

Half-drunk, slurring shouts condemning each other's opinions

Then came the more personal insults

Followed, of course, by a barrage of curses and invective

That belittled and demeaned each other's

Education, ability to function in society

And general attractiveness as a human being

It was right about then the noise of a scooted barstool

Rasped out

Alerting everyone to the fact that these two boys were getting

up

Signaling the end of the yelling phase and the start of the 

shoving

They shoved each other back and forth a few times

Then one said to the other, "fcuk it, ain't got the energy for it"

And they both just sat right down and looked at each other

Grinning like madmen in a hard rain

Then they raised their beers and drained them 

While the rest of us just stared.

The Old Grey Tree Just Ain't What It Used To Be

For starters, it used to be a whole, living tree, not a multiple piece, dead tree.

The First Sprigs Of Spring

Ride, Ride, Ride The Wild, Technicolor, Converted School Bus

The Giant Stack Of Unread Books On The Corner Of The Desk

It is taunting me every time I sit down to get on the computer
15 books high and counting
The giant stack of unread books...gathering dust

Post Mortimer, For The Record

When I was 33 I was told it was time

To settle down, have a kid or two

After all, my youth had faded, I was no longer in my prime

So I proposed to this woman I thought would do

Never thinking I would be the victim of a crime

But I was, and the perpetrator was

Myself

Yeah, I took the blackjack and hit myself in the back of the
 Head

Might as well have put a gun in my mouth and pulled the
 Trigger

Marriage or a bullet, either way I was

Dead 

A Few Things Seen The First Day Of April

       
        This unique chair which I believe was made in Australia

This Obelisk made of rocks set in concrete, commemorating the realignment of highway 96 in 1936

     The Pueblo Dam from the observation tower that overlooks the archery range

                                           A stuffed turkey

                                           A Stuffed Beaver 

                                                       A Stuffed Raccoon

                                       The Sunset From Highway 96