The way it used to be

Marty sent along some electronic copies of photos from a long time ago, probably early '80's when we were all a whole lot younger.

Rocked fishing hole

Great Blue Heron at work the other day.

Saturday sunrise

Pretty special...

A quiet moment...

...in the midst of a housefull of Thanksgiving Day company.

More Maya: The power...

...to make people smile and laugh.

Late afternoon sky

Skywatch Friday and a photo taken late this afternoon out at the golf course. Pretty good weather for late November. Go here for more Skywatch Friday photos from around the world.

Youngest of them all

The youngest member of the Thanksgiving group up at Miki and Kevin's yesterday - Maya. And, yes, she was the center of attention which she just loved...

Thanksgiving, Rendition, Actions have Consequences

-Miki and Kevin hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of us. A good time was had by all and, yes, my belly was filled several times with all sorts of yummy food. Good food, good company, good time.

-Diane and I got home in time to watch a scary and painful but very good movie called Rendition. Besides helping us take our minds off of our distended tummies, it graphically made horrible rendition, that act by us good guys to whisk suspected bad guys off of streets anyway in the world and delivering them to states where they could be tortured till they coughed up 'useful' information.

-Digby writes more on what to do with with the bad acts by the bad guys. She has spent much time mulling over what should be done once the new guys are in charge. She is very much against letting bygones be bygones - crimes were and have been committed - actions have consequences - if nothing is done, the next guys will go even further. Here she, and others, mull some more. Seems pretty simple to me: people who break laws need to be brought to court and if found guilty brought to justice.

Thanksgiving Day

We have a lot to be thankful for, including the sunrise on this frosty morning. Hope your Thanksgiving day is a happy one.

Wall Street and its collapse

Where did it all go wrong? Well, if you have 15-20 minutes, read this. Found it at daily kos this morning and read it although it took me three different sessions, early morning, late afternoon, and an after the movie session completed about five minutes ago. Should help in understanding what was going on in the investment banking world and why it has collapsed.

The answer

For Jim and Wilma and Diane, the answer is Tanya Tucker.

Notes for a Wednesday morning

-Diane sent this amazing photographic slide show (update: here) with music; your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to get out there and take a picture of the guy taking the pictures. (Good luck.)
-finished Herman Wouk's The Hope last night. Been awhile since I've read this author but he again tells a good story, this one taking us through the birth of Israel in 1948 to the conclusion of the Six Day War in 1967. Now it's on to Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War and then Herman Wouk's The Glory.
-Notre Dame football isn't looking too good but the two basketball teams are making some noise, especially the men who are ranked in the top ten and beat IU and Texas in the last two nights at the Maui Invitational. Fyi, the Hoosiers by 38 points and the Longhorns by 1. The women are ranked #14 which isn't all that shabby.
-IU Men's basketball, on the other hand, is worse than the Irish football team. But, lets remember, it is coming off a stupefying scandal and is now trying to pick up the pieces. Bob Karvitz, as usual, has something to say.
-Colts are winning, doing enough to make sure they have at least one more point than their opponents over the last four games. Go Colts!
-President-elect Obama seems to be doing rather well also during this transition time between presidencies. Guess the Hillary appointment is going to be the last one what with Robert Gates staying at Defense, an appointment being confirmed in recent news notes.
-And then there is the continuing financial meltdown in the US and around the world. The pbs.org Jim Leher News Hour has just about been consumed by financial and economic facts and theories and blather. Is this something we are going to have for the next two, three, ten years? Good time to catch a quick nap after a filling dinner, methinks. Do you wonder, as I do, how come there isn't more rage with the disappearance of substantial amounts of people's net worth with the collapse of the housing market and the stock market? Still numb, maybe. Or maybe too early yet. Or maybe we are hoping that the turnaround will be just as quick as the collapse. You remember that it was just last Spring that we had high gas prices and a concern for the economy. And now we have collapse following collapse and a lot of people absolutely stunned. And even more people hunkering down and hoping the storm will pass, will go somewhere else, will disappear. Oh boy.
-Think I'll go have a bit to eat and spend some time reading about the Vietnam War (now that was a real downer). A little later, my date with the young lady at the dentist's office. And then maybe out to the golf course for a little late November in Indiana golf. Now that is something to look forward to!

Woodsey Watering Hole

Just a small pond not forty yards off of #5 green, this watering hole is used by the wild critters of the area - a quiet place in a very young woods. My entry for Watery Wednesday. For other participants from around the world in this meme, go here.

Standing on the corner...

...watching all the girls go by. Monochrome Monday already again. Go here for more b&w's from around the world. Photo was taken when we were in Bloomington a few days ago and had a chance to see college kids around and about.

The woeful Irish football team

Come on now, all you Irish fans. Look on the bright side: the season can be salvaged with a win next week against USC out on the coast. Right? Right. Chances of that happening are about the same as the ones Syracuse had coming to South Bend and beating the Irish, which they did. So, come on now, heads up.

Supermarket motion in b&w

Groceries bagged, bill paid, time to move on. Thursday morning in Bloomington.

Moon high in the sky at sunrise

SkyWatch Friday and our daybreak started with a lot of blue sky, a moon high in the sky and a brightness in the east. Other SWF photos from around the world can be found here. Enjoy.

Wildlife in B-town and above Jack's pond

Marsh hawk just outside of Marsh's supermarket in Bloomington yesterday morning (while Jim and Wilma and Diane did the shopping, I wandered around outside just to see what I could see). Must have been marsh hawk day as earlier I saw one in the trees above good neighbor Jack's marshy pond not too far from our east window. Jim said he saw an owl above that pond a little while later and we know that a great blue heron has been hanging around there these last several days - I've spooked him when heading out on a walk. Glad to have the critters in the area - on the hunt for snakes and mice and other small living things on their breakfast menu.

Notes on a Thursday afternoon: the EC, personality test, the Dow, and the Rich

-While we're thinking of it, lets abolish the electoral college. The popular vote elects our senators and our representatives. Maybe (no maybe about it in my book) it should be used to elect our president as well. The NYTimes argues for its demise here.

-Via Kevin Drum (you are what you blog) and Andrew Sullivan, a Meyers-Briggs personality test that uses your blog to quantify your personality type - in about two seconds. Fyi, my two main blogs give me two different personality types, one as a performer and one as a doer. That's okay by me since each of them serve different purposes and such a result is not surprising.

-The Dow continues its plunge, now down below 7600. Holy cow, yeesh, eek, and daggumit, too. Jim and Wilma and Diane and I went to Bloomington and spent some money on odds and ends and lunch at the Great Wall, doing our best to prop up the local economy. Think Diane and I spent about $40 all told and Jim And Wilma substantially more (getting stuff for Thanksfiving dinner). That will help, won't it?

-I love it when the CEO's of the Big Three were asked how come they were sitting right there in front of a Congressional panel requesting mega bucks to bail them out of a bad situation after having flown into Washington in their personal (read very expensive) private jets. Seems like it's getting harder and harder to be rich and acceptable nowadays. Wonder if I could live with such a worry. Bet I could. Anyway, I am rich. So there.

Diane is heating up something to eat. Best stop and go join her for the evening meal - lets call it a supper since we ate enough at the Great Wall to count as dinner.

More from the Corner Cafe

A big guy at the counter...

...and a little guy enjoying just hanging out with a spoon and some female company. What a life.

The Corner Cafe and Small Town America

Lunch time at the Corner Cafe in downtown Loogootee: Mike (me), Diane, Jim and Wilma. The owner of the establishment (Janice Henning) did the honors.

Loogootee's downtown with its American flag, small triangle with a couple of benches and a fountain, and of course a video store. That's Diane walking to Gus, her little gray Yaris.

Looking northeast from the triangle, the building with the Gold Medal Flour insignia has recently been refurbished. Note the spiffy appearance of the two second story windows. Blue skies today.

Watery Wednesday: heron at lake's edge

Our friendly heron who doesn't seem to mind my presence. I walked all around him taking pictures and he just kept his feet planted right there in that same spot keeping an eye on me but not about to give any ground (or water) whatsoever. The photo was taken just a little while ago as I was out and about on my afternoon walk. Submitted as my entry for Watery Wednesday for this week. Click on the link to view other Watery Wednesday participants. (Yes, I know it's Tuesday but that's allowed because it's Wednesday in Manila, and that's where this particular meme originates.)

Mirror image?

These two little birdies remind me that I have a couple of cherubs named Naomi and Leah (darling grandaughters) out on the West Coast, probably finding all sorts of little birdies at their feeders, too.

Notes for a Tuesday morning

Photo: a goldfinch in the rose bush all fluffed up against the cool of the day.

-are you aware of gender based button (and zipper) placement? Diane brought out a fleece vest for me to try on yesterday - I was just a little chilly - and right off I noticed that the zipper was on the wrong side. Diane said it's always been that way. I may have known that from way back but didn't remember or, in fact, never did know. Being curious, I had to find out why there is this right side-left side arrangement of buttons and zippers. And I did by going to google. Curious? Go here for the google solution to this particular quandry. Btw, the vest did not fit; think I found a cardigan sweater to put on; or maybe I put on a jacket and went for a walk - that usually warms me up.

-watched Oswald's Ghost on PBS' American Experience last night. More on the JFK assassination but still the same conclusion - Lee Harvey did do it all by himself. Did you know that 70% of Americans today still believe that it was a conspiracy? The program may have, just may have, convinced me of the truth to the lone assassin theory by getting into Oswald's head and making a case for why he did it, his state of mind, and then the opportunity to do it with the motorcade passing just below his place of work. The pieces of the puzzle fit this time for me.

-finished another Stephanie Plum novel - Hot Six. This New Jersey bounty hunter is still a lot of fun to take to the back room for a middle of the day nap. Many laugh out loud moments in these books so if you haven't tried a Janet Evanovich creation, pick one up, treat yourself.

-photos from around the world: 'rail birds' in Manila, wood and glass in Toronto, waiting for the light to change in Tokyo, bird's eye view of a junction in Hanoi, and an 'under the street' scene in New York.

-sun's up, skies are clear, temperature at 24 degrees when I got up at daybreak this morning. Gonna be a lovely day.

Dinner preparation

Diane busy with a one pot dinner that was very scrumptious. Let me see now: sausage (hot!), apple slices, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, maybe onions. Served with toast and red wine. Yum. While she prepared the dinner, I fooled around with the camera, trying different aperature and shutter settings. Of course, I forget what I did here to get the focus on the distant object and a dimming of the near surroundings.

Dark cloud cover

Taken just before sunset yesterday while I was taking a late walk around the golf course and lake. The dark cloud looked a lot more threatening than it actually was.

Heron in flight on a gray day

Posted for Monochrome Maniacs. Go here to see more b&w's from around and about. This photo was taken last week on a day that was all but black and white. Boggs Lake, where the heron was seen, is just north of the small town of Loogootee in southwestern Indiana.

Skywatch Friday on a Sunday

Both Friday and Saturday of this week were slate gray and rainy days in this corner of the universe in southwestern Indiana. So here is my Skywatch Friday offering, on a Sunday, still a lot of clouds but a fair bit of sun today as well. Cool and windy, too. The young bovine didn't seem to care one way or the other. Go here for more SWF photos from around the world. Photo was taken earlier today just up the road a piece on St. Mary's Road (now officially known as 350N).

Birds galore

A white crowned sparrow came to visit just outside our east window. He was one of many small birds in the area today: gold and purple finches, juncos, nuthatches, tufted titmice. Larger birds in the area included cardinals and crows. Click on the photo for a larger, more detailed picture.

Son and Father

Cheering on the Irish to victory yesterday afternoon. I left late in the fourth quarter with the Naval Academy going down to certain defeat and then listened with fascination as they scared the bejeebers out of the Irish with a couple of touchdowns, a couple of recovered on side kicks and forty-one yards to cover and well over a minute to play to stage one of the biggest comebacks in football history. But, alas and alack, the magic stopped for the Midshipmen when a fourth down pass went awry and the Irish pulled out a squeaker, 27-21. From the photo, who would have thought that such interesting stuff was about to take place.