Diversions

 nothing but visuals

for exotic lovers only

the annual photo review

piece by piece

lana, bill and marcos did this in day and half

   Follow your mirth.

   See you down the trail.

GOING OFF SCRIPT

     A telling meme in circulation depicts the Twilight Zone's Rod Serling standing in front of Donald Trump in the oval office.
     The US is about to pass into uncharted territory. It is like a launch without calibrations. More doubts, questions, legal challenges, character faults, inconsistencies, lies and division hang over this transition of power than any in modern history.
      Old time wags used to speak of the "ship of state." A Matrix hovercraft like the Nebuchadnezzar or Blue Dreamer is a more apt analogy, given the pace of cyber warfare, omni present surveillance, social media battles and the complexity of real diplomatic intrigues. This old democratic republic has never seen the likes of the incoming gang nor a more divided electorate. A surrealistic carnival is about to open in the land of post-truth. In another borrow from the Matrix, which pill will most people take-the blue or the red?
      As for me, I'd prefer to sail off in a wooden shoe on a river of crystal light with the "never afraid three," Wynken, Blynken and Nod. A grand daughter may indeed be my antidote.

strange juxtapositions

    Do you ever feel like a tennis shoe at a tuxedo and gown ball, or bib overalls on a rack of swim suits, or like you got on the wrong bus? I've just returned from that place.

      Look at these happy and engaged people.

    The more complicated or the more pieces-like 1000 !-the happier and the more engaged they become. Bill, Marcos, Bob and Lana love, really really love to spend hour after hour pouring over sadistically jig sawed pieces, straining eyes to master another Wentworth or some other exotic puzzle.

    I'm cut from other stuff. I'll wander in from time to time and even spend a while searching for a fit. It is a short while I spend and rarely do I connect a match. Many attempts perhaps, dashed in frustration and aborning a silent loathing.

    Morning, noon and night these people actually seem to enjoy the labor. I read, maybe nap, take a walk as on and on they work. Bob and I snuck in some football watching. 

    The finished puzzles are something to behold and our fine and patient puzzlers do seem to take a moment of pride. But I think it is more about the journey than the destination. When it comes to puzzles of this sort, I guess I'm a destination guy.

     How about you?  A puzzle worker? The journey or the destination?

      
     Although I am very interested in the Washington puzzle.

Will Republicans find unity or will the extreme wing chew on their own? Will some semblance of a Republican party dance with the Donald or will they regard him as rude, crude and crazy? Will the Donald understand the Presidency requires real work and exists beyond the Twitter stream?  Will the Democrats find their way? Will the two parties find a way to cooperate? Will the Republicans kill the Affordable Care Act BEFORE they have a workable alternative?  How long before the conflict of interest whistle blows? When will we hear the first rumblings of impeachment? How long before those angry and desperate Trump supporters realize he's created a government full of Billionaires who care less about their needs? How long before the sexual assault charges resurface? And on and on.  Actually I think I'd rather join the fishermen three in their wooden shoe on the ruffled waves of dew.

     
     See you down the trail.

Puzzling

UNLIKELY CHALLENGE

    Lana, a decades long veteran of jigsaw puzzle work says this ditty from Liberty Puzzles is the toughest she has confronted.

    Alone and with friends she has worked much larger puzzles and with hundreds more pieces. This wood puzzle with interesting shaped cuts may be small, but mighty.

POLI PUZZLING

    Al Hunt is one of the last of the old boy political analysts, descending from a craft where watching and observing were the tools. Unlike most talking heads now, eager to predict or pontificate, Hunt watches and takes measure, often finding foundational facts. Hunt believes what Eric Sevareid said many years ago, you cannot predict politics.

     The other evening as a pollster and other political technicians were doing a horse race assessment and talking about likely outcomes, Hunt reminded them it was impossible to predict what could or might happen or how it could affect a race.

      Too much time and too many words are spent  handicapping outcomes. Coverage is numbers crazy, doing the simulated sports coverage of the campaign, how to win or lose the game. A lot of wordage seems motivated by career posturing or boosting a media profile. Missing in the heat is illumination or thoughtful analysis. Attention spans and historical perspective seem to suffer a deficit disorder.

      Spend a couple minutes here, time traveling to 1977 when television news analysis was indeed thoughtful and provided depth and significance. Sevareid provided this role for CBS News. You'll better know  the quality and intellect of that time and work by seeing this, Sevareid's last comment at the time of his retirement. Walter Cronkite's follow also shows us a perspective that we miss.

GRAZING
cow and lens

    San Simeon Creek Road, northern San Luis Obispo County, California

  

     See you down the trail.

PUZZLING AND PLAYING

LEFT OVERS

   It's become a self imposed ritual to begin a new year by cleaning out something.  In recent years it seems to be computer or photo files.  This year I unloaded and deleted a lot of stuff from computer and phone and feel better now!

IT IS NOT TEDIOUS

   When we arrived to visit friends they were in the final stages of finishing a puzzle, but finding the going very slow because they were dealing with a section of sky and the pieces were similar.  Lana is a dedicated puzzler so she, Marcos and Bill, put an end to the challenge.

   Were it up to me, I might have framed that puzzle or laminated it so that it's completeness could be kept and celebrated forever.  But it was not up to me and all too soon I thought, they were off on another challenge.

 There appears to be a kind of mania that seizes puzzle workers in the grips of a new 1000 piece challenge.

 So many pieces this time, they had to be spread around the room.

 The theme was comedy and as I started looking at some of the jigsaws I was captivated by old TV and movie memories.
Soon I was doing my best to add an ear, or eye, or hat or some such.  I'd hit a dead end and go back to reading, saying that is tedious work. 
  "It is not tedious to someone who enjoys it" Marcos observed, "it is part of the challenge."
   I took note that part of the challenge is also working up an appetite for sweet, or a drink.
   Eventually, again, with assistance from Norma Jean, not pictured here, our champs, solved another one.

 A SO CAL TOAST

The mid west is so deeply imbedded in Lana and me that we excite, like a kid on his or her first trip to Disneyland, when we are around fresh fruit trees.  Especially so for Lana who loves fresh OJ.

Cheers! 

Happy New Year.

I feel good about getting these snaps off my phone.

And I'm happy for the great memories.

See you down the trail.