Juice Box Boys

Juice Box Boys, one of whom wants to be a Train Boy.

Thanksgiving and Thanks for Giving

Yes, tomorrow at this time, this could be you! 

No matter where Americans are, they find time to give traditional thanks for the harvest they just had (Oh, sure! Like shopping counts) by eating too much food, surrounded by relatives, some they like, some they tolerate, and some they can't stand but won't say so until they've had too much wine. We're just nuts that way, but it's the American thing to do and we do it well. The Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving also but I don't think they eat as much as we do.

Thanks to our armed forces for giving us the freedom to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Khowst Province, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Art Everywhere

Another Spiderman.  Susan really likes these little pieces, which are only about 4" high.  I just can't get excited about them although I love the magic of how the glaze changes.

Everywhere you look you can find art, even on the walls of buildings.

Sometimes, when I'm not paying attention, Susan finds time to make her own art.

Unfortunately, she doesn't find enough time - the newspapers, books, KenKen, other blogs, my blog - all get in the way. She finds it very hard to understand why anyone would want to keep on working instead of retiring with whole days to waste delightfully while doing nothing productive.  As we put it, we get up in the morning and have nothing to do. When we go to bed at night we've only done half of it.

Flower Power

I put these flowers up in late June. Amazingly enough, they are still there! That's my old-man bike in the picture. It's so lame looking it will never be stolen.

Sometimes I just draw, sort of zentangle-like.

Sad

 I can't think of any worthwhile title for this blog entry.

Bruce Plante, Tulsa World

 The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France to the United States in 1886.

Steve Sack, Star Tribune

Just two nights ago we watched our Netflix movie, Diplomacy, and gave it 5 stars.. It was a heavily fictionalized but fascinating account of how, during World War II, Raoul Nordling, a Swedish diplomat, helped convince German General Choltitz that bombing Paris would be a horrific abuse of power. Part of his argument was the everlasting beauty of Paris.

We've been to Paris. It's beautiful and magic. Our hotel was just 2 blocks away from the Bataclan Concert Hall.

Remember: Veterans Day, November 11, 2015

To our oldest generation:

Thank you for believing that freedom was worth fighting for.

To our youngest generation:

Thank you for volunteering to serve to protect our freedom.

Today, as was true last Veterans Day,  less than 0.5% of the American population serves in our military armed forces. Here's hoping that today, Veterans Day, the other 99.5 % of Americans will take the time to thank a veteran and to thank an active duty service member. They've earned your respect and your thanks. 

How about a little historical context?

In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized sending an addition 500 Special Forces troops and military advisers to assist the pro-Western government of South Vietnam.  This increased the total there to nearly 3,200 by the end of 1961.  By the end of 1962 there were approximately 11,000 military advisers in South Vietnam. By the end of 1964, the numbers had risen to 16,000.

On October 30, 2015, President Obama authorized the deployment of military advisers into Syria.

Don Madden, Da Nang, Vietnam, 1969

Leviathan

Little birdies, just a little bigger than an inch.

Leviathan? Just about one of the best movies I've ever seen.  Why is it that Hollywood has to make unrealistic James Bond movies when skillful artists can make movies that pose morality questions that are never answered. Or even could be.  The Felony is another close-to-perfect movie.  Neither one of these movies starts out strong but they slowly reel you in and end with a twist in the last minute.

Train Children, maybe heading your way.

It's been raining a lot lately so I haven't had much of a chance to send off Train Children, Train Toys or Train Flowers.  But stay tuned, they may show up in your town someday.

My neighbor, Loma, has a green thumb and can grow anything.  Our apartment balcony is one floor up and one apartment over from hers so we can look down at her balcony full of plants.  I made this pot for her because she took a plant from me that was in an emergency crisis situation -- Susan was going to touch it.  No, no, no! Susan is the kiss-of-death for plants so Loma did the Rescue Plant adoption.

The glaze on the pot is from a soda firing which gave it the blue-to-green appearance (it's not the lighting, its the pot colors).  My friend Yetta made the saucer for the pot because she's a thrower. Me, I'm a hand builder, as you can see from the pot.