chuck kottke

Microbrews are the best! I think the best home-made wine in wild black cherry wine! What's your favorite?:)

Hayley, I wish I had your background in English Literature! As fas as I've gotten is Dickens and some of the poets.. But just reading Dickens really says a lot about society - both then and now. Glad to hear of your interest!:) Kellie, that's a nice start - you can always build upon that theme, be it unrequited love, and give it some more intrigue! But that's a good foundation - a mystery keeps the reader/listener interested.;) Thinker, that one's very sincere and kind - nice to read something consoling - at times we all go through rough patches, and need a boost. Keep up the good work!!:cool:

A Warm Welcome to Finland!!:sunny:

Music is like flowers - comparing two songs, two albums, or two artists is a lot like comparing flowers. Some might say this one's prettier than that one, but really, they're all beautiful, and when you get a bit bored with one, you start to see the hidden beauty of another reveal itself. So I would have to say they're both great! But I cannot compare them. It's mood dependent as well.. TNP likes carrots.:P

:laugh3: I remember those days!^^ (just tell them it's squid eyeballs..) When you get that one mosquito in the house at night, and it's so elusive - every time you turn on the light, it's out-of-sight, but then flits around your face as soon as the lights out.. :thinking:

Intriguing! Storms on the way??

On violet hill - Looking for a reference, I find in the US Presidential race a search brings up "The Race to Captain a Sinking Ship".. Could be very telling!

I think we're like birds in a way.. we have a need to hear ourselves collectively sing at times.. it's just hard-wired in us.

3 Cheers for Algeria !!!:sunny::sunny::sunny:

:sunny:HOLA!:sunny:

Welcome! Welcome Mark!!!:bulb2::bulb2::bulb2::builder2:

Good Morning Karen!!!:daisy:

Hello Czechs!!!!!:joker:

Music is a Drug!:) (with only good side-effects!)

ABBA - Dancing Queen

The artwork is nice - I've always found that painting to be beautiful, even though the revolution went from good to bad in France back then. It evokes the spirit of people rising up to proclaim their freedom over the monarchy's forces, being led by a beautiful, bare-chested French lady-liberty! (and who can argue against that!:wink3::P).. It's about declaring justice against oppression - for the common people, and for shared values. It evokes strong emotions, and shows a sense of determination. I think they chose well!:):hat:

My song is love - Coldplay.:)

Frosty Hayley, Frost's pretty frosty, I'll have to say! Very moving poem, but how sad, and yet true even today. New Englanders, especially rural, were so preoccupied with survival, I think loss was accepted more matter-of-factly, especially with regards to children, since childhood illness took so many youngsters before the day of vaccines and modern medicine, and so I think some adults tried not to get too emotionally attached to their children.. But it speaks also of the adult disjunction with compassion, and of the truer nature of children - as the adults are in some sense "trained" to be less compassionate. I guess we're all taught to have a thick hide as we grow up, but sometimes it's just not right when someone dies or has problems in life.. Why was poetry your least favorite subject?? I've always enjoyed poetry, as long as it wasn't forced upon me (strange how that works!). What is your favorite area of English literature then??

Canada, where Christmas never ends?!:) Black jeans, Natural cotton T, hemp belt.

Hello Victoria! What's your secret?:wink3::)

The speed of water's flow weathering as it goes once the nature of the struggle between rock and liquid earth had been understood revealing bands of time in the rainbow earthy hues while streams run full, swollen with mud the display returns on sunny days streams run; glaciers crawl; time is the watch. with boundless spring bubbling forth its cool refreshing views and setting course for the bands to be seen by tranqil eyes on the tranquil scene..

Hooray! Trains are something I do very much enjoy as well! Hey, tell your gal's family that you're not obsessed, just enthused!:) I always marvel at the steam age's engineering - it was the dawn of a new era, and moving mechanical parts were not to be hidden away, but something to be proud of, and put on display! (& if I lived closer to the tracks, I would do the same - they're beautiful machines to see in motion..) Politiks - well, unfortunately, global trends being what they are.. but maybe there is hope - we've pulled away from the brink before, so an era of reform would be most welcome at this point. Yes, I saw a special on Italy's political troubles - and here I thought only Americans could be that insane!:laugh3: Perhaps it's just as corrupt here, but the corruption in shared amongst more large power groups, instead of just one or two. But everyone knows it's a problem - just it gets tossed to the background in the heat of elections, and that could all change with the economy doing a bit of a bellyflop lately..(tends to wake people up a bit to the underlying problems..at least I'm hoping as much.)..:thinking:

Glad you get to see them David (I have a fondness for the old steamers as well..)! We do get an occasional steam train here as well - the National Railroad Museum is down in Green Bay, and I had fun as a kid hopping up in the engine room, opening and closing the valves (of the retired engines, that is!), and pretending to be operating the engine. Good fun to be on a working steamer as well! Here it was mostly logging engines - Limas, and the like. I did catch a ride on an excursion train a few years back - beautiful scenery, and good fun in the summer - but the route was just too short - it would be nice to go for a few hours and see a little more of the country on one.. What are the engines and cars like on your trains?? I have a rail-road gene in my family - since my ma worked for Electromotive (engine works), and her dad worked on the Pullman car line as a carpenter many years back, so I'm quite interested to hear about them! Rail works - well, better to straiten the tracks when it's needed - god, you should see how bad ours were getting here - the trains would "wiggle" slowly to avoid derailments.. thank goodness they did the upgrades!

Well, when I first met Chris, he was hanging out with Bono in the mall at the time, and I suppose great artists draw inspiration off one another.. Dylan did pretty much the same earlier in his career, so it's not all that uncommon. They both have similar interests in improving life for those in need in Africa - finding real solutions to problems of global poverty, injustice, and fighting disease epidemics. I suppose, it's only natural!

Sleep, heavenly sleep awaits this tired soul.. I think I'll have some more of that cranberry concentrate! how do you reduce wear at the top end of the cylinder bore?? carbon nanotubes.. we need to get these babies in the pipeline real soon..