Thoughtful Words

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong, because someday in your life, you will have been all of these. --Unknown

The Giving Tree

My favorite story - childhood or otherwise. It will make you feel whole.

Words In My Head

I hear you wonderin' out loud

Are you ever gonna make it

Will you ever work it out?

Will you ever take a chance?

Just believe you can

Hell yeah you will

Gonna be okay

You might get lost

But then you’ll find a way

Don’t go alone

Can’t be afraid

Hell yeah this life is here

And it’s made for livin'

And loves a gift that’s made for GIVING

Give it all away and have it still

And hell yeah you will

--Neil Diamond

Upstate Autumn

Gourds

The Misfit Pumpkins

Cider Mill Pumpkins

Endwell Country Road

With special thanks to my friend and fellow Binghamton Alum, Tiffany for the photos.

Good News Friday

Todays "Good News" is that November starts on Sunday.

The following Good Things are going to happen in November. . .

1) An extra hour of sleep is gained on Saturday night. Daylight Savings time starts Sunday, November 1 @ 2:00am Eastern time. So set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed Saturday and when you wake up feeling that much more rested, say a quiet "thanks" to Benjamin Franklin. After all, it was his idea.

2) Saturday, October 31 marks the four month mark of my residency program. One-third completed. That should be enough right there. . .but wait, there's more!

3) I have a four day weekend coming up starting November 7. A meeting and an appointment back home facilitate this. Lisa will be up from NYC and we have promised to eat cheese and apples and play board games to celebrate Fall.

4) On November 14 I am taking a roadtrip to the outlets. I love bargains.

5) THANKSGIVING! Food, family, warm fires, probable snow (because it IS Binghamton), assembling the Christmas Light display (think Clark Griswald) and more.

So be proud of yourself. You made it through October - with it's weird weather, wannabe "holiday" (better luck next year, Halloween!) and complete lack of purpose.

Welcome, November.

RIP Farmville

I have decided tonight to delete my Farmville application on The Book.

I'm hanging up my overalls. I'm putting my cattle out to pasture. I'm selling off the supplies. I hope that my land is accepted back into nature. I would hate to see my plot of land be used by Corporate America to build the next WalMart Supercenter. Still, I can't take the committment, albeit a virtual one. The crops are demanding, the animals are far too fertile and those damn fruit trees always need harvesting. By the way, do real farms even have Elephants? And if they do, are said Elephants producing circus peanuts? I was always confused by that.

Goodbye Farmville. I'll miss your serenity. I'll miss your 4-hour turnover of Strawberries. They were superb, albeit virtual.

The Ascent

Grab hold,

And take this hand that

Reaches out to you.

Look up

Into my eyes;

My spirit

Cries out to you;

Friendship is my thought.

Let us climb

The jagged cliffs of life

And fight the ascent of

Opposition together.

If I can lift you today,

You will look back

And grab the hands of a thousand more.

That is the way

The Great Spirit would have it!

-Howard Rainer, American Indian Poet