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Wednesday, 15 February 2012
New post, new floor..................x
10 comments:
Such a beauty of a floor! The only thing that would suit is a beautiful rug, but not too large so you still have the essence of the wonderful floorboards.ReplyDelete
Wow, what a find! I wonder why it was covered up? I remember about 15 years ago lifting the carpet in an old house we had and finding a mish mash of flooring - wide boards, narrow boards, chipboard and industrial sized baked bean cans hammered flat! Needless to say we started from scratch and laid 'new' old boards in that room.ReplyDelete
Enjoy the rest of your week. I know exactly what you mean about snail's pace!!
Me gusta la madera es tán acogedora,sin duda el cámbio es bueno.Saludos de SaraReplyDelete
good work! and what a fab floor.ReplyDelete
enjoy the rest of the week
love jooles x
Indeed what amazing floors laid beneath your carpet....ReplyDelete
GORGEOUS GORGEOUS FLOOR!!ReplyDelete
I can understand why you are excited about that floor! What a find. Look forward to your before and after pics!ReplyDelete
What a pretty crochet blanket just gorgeous.
I fear this week is going far too fast. Another busy day tomorrow doing nice things. Think might need to slow down a bit on Friday.
Hope you have a lovely rest of the week with your bumble bees.
MBB x
...loving your home! everytime you show piccys i swoon ;0)...hope it does go slowwww your half term and its full of fun!...but then again i have to share part of this half term with sophia's dad. So well, our last day being lazy today as tonight she 'll be off for two nights...boo! hehe...least she gets excited about packing her little bag to go and i always put a little treat inside from me ;0)ReplyDelete
Last time she gave me Lola to cuddle so it remind me of her - bless ;0)
I must get crafty and arty and tidy too while she's away!...enjoy your time with your sweet girls x
Why would you cover up such a beautiful wood floor! I love it! Well done on tackling your demon! xxxReplyDelete
I have just popped over using the link from Bobo Bun - I'm so glad I have found your site - its full of inspiration.ReplyDelete


text: Azusa, California (October 11, 2013) – Another bicyclist has been struck by a car in Southern California, this time in the city of Azusa. The victim of the accident, 18-year-old Andrew Edward Page, was a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was killed when a car struck his bike. The accident happened just after 4 p.m. Thursday on Cerritos Avenue and Newburgh Street. Azusa Police ... Read More »

subset: commoncrawl


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If you want to do something worthwhile in your vacation but don't think you can afford to do it, help may be at hand. Each year Shell offer a Personal Development Award, and this year there are 60 awards of £500 available to non final year students. Shell suggest you could use the money for:
But as long as you write a good application, I'm sure there is flexibility.
Apply online at: Shell personal development award.


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Honken Ottoman provides a restful extension to Honken's seating area for more in-depth reflection or for a well-deserved rest after a successful project. Can be positioned on both left and right-hand sides. Honken Sideboard offers a surface for work and meals and can be supplemented with storage if you so desire. Material: Steel frame, leg attachments and storage in painted steel. Legs in oiled oak. Foot cushion in polyester and down, upholstered in fabric or leather. Work surface in oiled or painted oak.
Honken is, together with the armchairs Morris JR and Poppe, part of Experiment 2015. Honken Workstation and Ottoman are accessories which can be combined as you desire and which can include everything you need to make Honken into the perfect workplace, such as a side table, work surface, storage, electrical outlet and an ottoman for more indepth reflection or for a well-deserved rest after a successful project. With Honken Workstation accessories, your easy chair becomes a separate small universe where you can alternately relax and work. Honken Workstation is perfect for schools, universities, libraries, hotels, offices and workplaces of all types.
Blå Station is a family business. We are located in what used to be a sewing factory in Åhus, on the southeast coast of Sweden where the ocean is just as restless as we are.


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Today, Ryan and I had a "day date." This is the advantage of being a teacher AND being married to a teacher. Every day can be Saturday and you can enjoy "day-dates."
We decided to see a movie and then have lunch. Ryan's really been wanting to see "The Green Lantern," so we caught the 11:30 showing. It was better than I thought it would be. Let's be honest, Ryan Reynolds is pretty easy on the eyes. And I really liked that the movie did not drag on and on. Sometimes I feel like action movies drag out the "fight scene" for the longest time, just to throw in a billion special effects. This movie did have really nice effects, but it was a good length for a movie. I actually saw Ryan Reynolds on the Today Show last week and he explained that he wore an "energy suit" during the filming which tracked all his muscle movements. I thought that was kinda cool.
After the movie, we headed to Charlotte. I really wanted to look at bathing suits. We decided to have lunch on the way. I chose The Cowfish because I have been dying to go there. The Cowfish is a Burger/Sushi restaurant. Isn't that a cool combination? You would never think those things go together, but YUM. I LOVE the concept.
We started with onion rings, because they are known for these. They have coconut in the batter and are really delicious. If you go there, you must try them.
I decided on a bento Box because it has a little of everything: Thai Cucumbers (soooo good!), sweet potato fries, edamame, 4-piece sushi roll (I opted for Spicy Tuna) and a mini-burger.
Everything was wonderful. I don't always like sweet potato fries because sometimes they are a little too sweet. These were perfect. The Spicy Tuna roll was awesome and so was the burger!
Next time I think I want to try some of their more specialized rolls.
Ryan got a big ole burger.
We sat outside where it was a little warm, but they had lots of fans to help with that.
The service was great AND we saw a celebrity there… Ric Flair! I am sure that since he lives in Charlotte that many people see him out and about, but this was the first time we had seen him out. It was pretty exciting, even though I do NOT enjoy wrestling AT ALL. It's always kind of fun. I asked the husband if he wanted me to take his picture with him (because hubby loves wrestling) but he said no. We didn't want to interrupt him. I am sure he gets enough of that.
From there we went bathing suit shopping, which wasn't nearly as fun, but I did have some luck.
I finished up my Monday with a margarita with some friends.
Each Monday, Jenn hosts "Margarita Monday" at her house. Her husband Jason makes the best margaritas ever!
I've got the recipe so I can make them at the beach! YUM! AND… Jason says I can share the recipe with all of you! So stay tuned for that!
So… reader question…
What celebrities have you encountered? Who did you see? Did you stop to have your photo taken or just go about your business? Tomorrow I'll tell you about some of my other celebrity encounters.


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The eye can be taken a look at with relative ease as to both its function and its structure. A functional examination includes the ability to move in the orbit and the response of the pupil to light and accommodation.
The function of the eye might be tested in numerous ways. The client might be asked to determine illuminated letter or objects of varying sizes on what is referred to as the Snellen chart.
Conversely, the evaluation of the structural part of the eye might be made in numerous ways. Stress within the eyeball is measured by a "tonometer." In particular diseases, specifically in glaucoma, the tension in the eyeball is increased considerably.
It needs to be well remembered that a client with an eye problem may have other problems. Typically other physical conditions are primary and impact the eye as a repercussion. The appearance of the eye can notify the client and the physician to troubles in some disturbances of other parts of the body even prior to other symptoms present themselves.
One's dependence on sight is stressed when one deals with a possible or temporary long-term loss of this essential sense. When restorative steps are sought, particular kinds of vision correction such as contact lenses or eyeglasses are recommended.
On the other hand, some individuals are bothered with the fact that they have actually some framed lenses or contact lenses in front of their eyes.
For this reason, advanced surgeries were established to encourage decreased utilization of contact lenses or glasses. One of which is the now popular LASIK eye surgery.
Basically, LASIK eye surgical treatment is the brief term for "Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis." Like its concrete equivalent, LASIK eye surgery is another form of vision try this web-site correction. The only difference is that with this kind of surgical treatment, one's vision is corrected permanently.
With LASIK eye surgery, the refractive mistakes in the cornea are permanently changed. This can be done utilizing an "excimer laser."
The main function of this surgery is to produce a threadlike, rounded "flap" in the cornea utilizing a blade known as "microkeratome." In a series of unfolding and laser processing, the cornea is finally reformed, permitting better the eye to direct more light into the retina.
Appeal vs. Disadvantages
Amidst the growing popularity of LASIK eye surgical treatment, there are still disadvantages that people need to know. Most likely, the primary factor why this type of eye surgery has become well accepted is because many of its cases had actually achieved success.
Nevertheless, in spite of its success, there are still some disadvantages. Here is the list:
1. It is an operation used to the most delicate part of the eye
Due to the fact that LASIK eye surgical treatment includes the operation of the retina, which is one of the most delicate parts of the eye, the majority of people say that the operation can be extremely dangerous.
To puts it simply, a simple mistake could practically trigger an individual's lifetime loss of sight. explanation It is essential to consider numerous factors prior to choosing whether LASIK eye surgical treatment is the right corrective step one has to go through.
2. It is not a perfect procedure
LASIK eye surgical treatment may fix your vision but it does not necessarily imply that it can provide you a perfect vision. Even if statistical reports show that 70% of the clients might have 20/20 vision, this does not necessarily imply they have ideal vision too.
Given all these things, it can be deduced that, a fantastic read in spite of the appeal of the operation, LASIK might not always be the ideal eye surgery the method the majority of individuals see it
Alternatively, the evaluation of the structural part of the eye might be made in several methods. It ought to be well kept in mind that a patient with an eye problem might have other problems. Typically other physical conditions are primary and affect the eye as a repercussion. The look of the eye can alert the physician and the client to difficulties in some disruptions of other parts of the body even before other signs present themselves.
Like its concrete counterpart, LASIK eye surgery is another form of vision correction.
Two Features You Do Definitely Not Understand In Connection With LASIK Eye Surgery
The eye can be taken a look at with relative ease as to both its function and its structure. A functional examination includes the ability to move in the orbit and the response of the pupil to light and accommodation.


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I'm happy to report that my hats for Craft Hope Project 16 are DONE!!! I would have liked to do more, and I never got a teen size hat done, but I hope these will keep some little heads warm as they go through chemo and treatments!!
If you did any hats for Project 16 please let me know and share pics/links! :)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Craft Hope Project 16: the littlest warriors---Hats are DONE!
1 comment:
- hoffee and a nuffin said...
You've been busy & those look fantastic!
- March 5, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Santa Claus aka Kris Kringle. The symbol of goodness and the giver of gifts to children everywhere. During the other 364 days of the year, Santa is overseeing the North Pole doing business as usual making preperations for the following Christmas Eve.
Mrs. Claus aka Katherine Kringle is the wife of Santa Claus.
Jack Frost is the adopted son of Santa and Mrs. Claus. Jack has a supernatural ability to create and control ice that he uses to surf around with.
Gloria the Angel is Santa's assistant.
Rumspringer the Reindeer suffers the same condition as the famous Rudolph. Although Rumspringer has troubles dealing with a difficult life due to his condition, he is always surrounded by the love and support of his friends in the North.
A humble little snowman living in the North Pole was brought to life by a mysterious little hat.
Dracula has been around for a long time but only recently he came up with the idea of invading the North Pole. Gathering his crew of classic horror misfits, Dracula sails to the North to wage war.
Dracula's brides are a small group of debutante with money in their pocket and not a care in the world. Dracula trying to keep up with the times didn't find it difficult to manipulate these 3 into marrying him for a fun time of partying.
Demona, who's real name is Debbie, or as her friends call her, Debbie Demona, is just a high school student who thought nobody understood her interests in music and art. Initially thinking Dracula was a European professor living off the grid, it wasn't hard to convince her to rebel against society trying to make the world understand her.
The Hunchback aka Igor was shunned by people in society until Dracula came along. Giving him work as an assistant and meeting strange people and monsters around the world, Igor finally found a place he could fit in.
Doctor Jekyll was a studious man who study science, but after many years of feeling left out of social circles, he development a drink that brought his inner desires to the surface manifesting themselves into Mr. Hyde. With new found careless attitude, Dr Jekyll eventually lost control and permanently lives his reckless life as Mr. Hyde, joining Dracula's crew to wreak some havok.
Often mistaken as Frankenstein himself, he is the monster hired to be Dracula's body guard was created by the late Dr. Frankenstein. Assumed to be a unintelligent brute, there's more to this monster than meets the eye.


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Ettington Benefit or Friendly Society
Philip Hoyland contacted the site saying "I am trying to find some information on the Friendly Society that was active in the village in the 19th century. If you could pass on my details to a local historian, or Historical Society, I would be grateful." Once again any help would be appreciated.
Parsonage House
Dorren Lee would like to know if Parsonage House still exists in the village. her great grandparents lived there in 1861, but she can't find any history of this house. Any help appreciated.
Bee Keeping
Curious about honey bees or beekeeping?
New Book
Priced at £7.50 (plus P&P if required) this book comprises
Edensor/ Ensor Family
Does anyone have any information about the Edensor/Ensor family descended from Saswallo who endowed the Church Of the Holy Trinity at Eattington and may have been Quakers. Descendants did go to Maryland and donared land to the Quakers. My husband's Mother was an Ensor descended from the Edensors in Derbyshire. They first went to Ireland and then came to Australia in 1840. Gloria would be grateful for any information.
A mother's history
Victoria Grainger writes: From records I have discovered, I have found my mother was using a surname of Vivian at least during and prior to 1955. But no earlier than 1949. I have also retrieved the following name and address, Mr C. G. Vivian, Fosse House, Ettington, nr Stratford on Avon, Warks. Also a phone number Ettington 238. Any information would greatly assist my sister and I and hope local knowledge may assist us. Thank you.
Neighbourhood Watch
Check out the advice on the Neighbourhood watch page as well as get your Tack Marked at the Tack Marking event - full details here.
"A History of Ettington ..."
Bob Allso is pleased to announce that his publication "A History of Ettington and its People in the First World War" has now been printed ready for issue.
Part 1 is about the Ettington men who served in the war and a number of local families back home.
Part 2 - Everyday village life - is about the social impact of the war, covering the topics of church and religion, landowners and gentry, farming, craftsmen and traders, domestic work, home-grown produce, the pubs, the school and charities and welfare.
Part 3 describes the unveiling of the war memorial and provides a profile of each of the fallen men. There are appendices covering the lives of two of Ettington's most prominent residents at the time, John William Lowe and Captain Francis Peirson-Webber.
Bailey Family
Maggie Bailey would like your help in filling in some blanks:
"I now know that my great, great grand-parents were George and Hannah Bailey (her maiden name was Walters). The census records for 1841 and 1851 show them living in "Eatington" and that he was a blacksmith. They would have been born around 1805 and 1811 respectively and the records just say that they were born in Warwickshire.
By the time of the 1861 census there is no record of George. Hannah is now shown as the head of the household and her occupation is that of "dressmaker". She has a 21 year old daughter, Elizabeth, also a dressmaker, a 19 year old son named George, who is now a blacksmith, a 13 year old son James and Charles (my great grandfather), then aged 8 years.
A few years ago my husband and I drove through Ettington on our way to Stratford-upon-Avon and remarked on what a nice village it seemed to be. At the time I had no idea that my ancestors had lived there.
If anyone does have any more information I would be very pleased to hear it."
Castles and Corbetts
Val Hebble-Thwaite is looking for information about her great grandfather, Richard Castle who married Annie Corbett. Family history has it that they lived in the gamekeepers cottage. One of the family was gamekeeper on the Shirley Estate. Val is looking for any information to help with my search.
Please contact the site to be put in touch.
The Rainbows
June Fleetwood (nee Rainbow) asks:
"Has anyone any details of Rainbow Cottage? Are there any Rainbows or relatives still living in Ettington? I am researching my family name in Warwickshire and would love to hear from anyone who has any information of the Rainbows who lived in Ettington, Warwickshire"


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You have selected one Spanish country to research. You will use resources available from the library website to assist you.
Be sure to think about what you would like to see/do if you travelled there. Some suggestions include: tourist attractions (human-made and natural), foods to try / restaurants, festivals, concerts, museums, monuments, etc.
With this information you will create a 3 – 5 min presentation.
Library Databases
Spanish-English Dictionaries
- Collins Spanish Dictionary
- Word Reference
- Duolingo (learn Spanish the fun way!)


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The digital image that I used is from MelJen Designs - and it's a freebie!! I used my copics and stickles to colour this delightful little bear and her bouquet of flowers. Jo loves the colour blue, so I used lots of blue patterns in my Easel Card. The design for this card comes from a sketch at Mojo Monday
Here are some closeups of this card:


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The LM555 is a highly stable controller capable of producing accurate timing pulses. With a monostable operation, the time delay is controlled by one external resistor and one capacitor.
This device features: Adjustable Duty Cycle, Turn off Time Less Than 2μSec, Temperature Stability of 0.005%/°C, High Current Drive Capability (200mA) and Timing From μSec to Hours.
The LM555 timer is applicable for Precision Timing, Time Delay Generation, Sequential Timing and Pulse Generation. The above schematic shows the LM555 Timer Internal Circuit Block Diagram. The Absolute Maximum Ratings (TA = 25°C) of LM555 are as follows:


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It should be no surprise that singer/guitarist John Paul Hammond is a musician. It's in his blood.
Hammond, who on Friday, June 7 will play the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia as part of the 2013 Tinner Hill Blues Festival, is the son of famous record producer and talent scout John Henry Hammond. By his son's account, the elder Hammond discovered artists ranging from Billie Holiday to Lester Young to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen.
Sometimes referred to as John Hammond, Jr., Hammond the son has had several brushes of his own with musical history during his forty year career.
He is the only musician known to play in a band featuring both Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. He also advised Hendrix to travel to England—a move that essentially launched the guitarist to fame.
Hammond befriended Willie Dixon and Duane Allman, got to know Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and shared a show with Jimmy Reed. He enlisted members of the Band as his back-up band for an album—then saw Bob Dylan steal them away. He attended parties hosted in New York City by blues shouter and songwriter Victory Spivey. Spivey once recorded him playing with Otis Spann and Bob Dylan in the same session.
Performing live on guitar and harp-on-a-rack in a barrelhouse style, Hammond plays classic blues songs from the 30's, 40's, and 50's. He has recorded more than 30 albums since debuting on Vanguard Records in 1962. In 1985 he won a Grammy for the compilation album Blues Explosion, which also featured Sugar Blue, J.B. Hutto, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Koko Taylor and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He has received four other Grammy nominations, including one in 2010 for his album Rough and Tough.
In 2011, Hammond was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame by the Blues Foundation.
He spoke to Beldon's Blues Point about his long career in the following interview:
BBP: I did see you at the Hamilton (in November, 2012). I guess you were opening for Coco Montoya?
Hammond: This was in D.C., right?
BBP: Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoyed your show, I must say.
Hammond: Thank you.
BBP: Well, I was reading about your background, and you're part of the Vanderbilt family, right?
Hammond: Um, indirectly. My father's mother was Emily Sloane, who—her mother was a Vanderbilt. And I never got to know that whole scene at all. My dad was a rebellious guy who broke away from his family and all of that stuff and I mean was practically disowned by his family. And so I grew up not knowing much about that side at all. I grew up mostly with my mother, who was Irish, born in Toronto, just off the ship from Ireland. So that was my reality as a kid. You know, as I got older I heard all of these things about my father's mother and her Vanderbilt connections. My grandfather, John Henry Hammond, was the son of a very strange dynamic guy from the Civil War era, a general in the army who became a scout for the railroad and all of this stuff. A real character. So that's my background.
BBP: Wow. I was curious also—just as a thought—are you related to Anderson Cooper from CNN?
Hammond: Indirectly, indirectly, yes. Anyone that had a Vanderbilt connection, all of these trainspotter types are quick to say (affecting a pompous type voice) "Oh, you're related to (whomever). He's your third cousin twice removed." I don't pay attention to that stuff.
BBP: Well, I don't know why I thought of that. It just sort of popped into my head. But anyway you were talking about your dad, and I understand your dad was pretty important in the music business in his own right. That he actually discovered Billie Holiday?
Hammond: Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons—he put the band together for Benny Goodman, then went on to discover artists like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, um, Bruce Springsteen…
BBP: Really!
Hammond: It goes on and on. He was quite a guy.
BBP: But I understand you really didn't have a lot of contact with him as you were growing up.
Hammond: Well I didn't grow up with my dad. My folks were divorced when I was five. I saw my father on occasion. My brother and I grew up with our mother, basically.
BBP: But did his line of work influence you at all?
Hammond: Maybe indirectly, but I wasn't part of his household, so I got into this on my own. It's my own passion.
BBP: Well, why the blues, of the different styles of music you could have gotten into? What about them attracted you?
Hammond: When I was seven, my father took me to hear Big Bill Broonzy, who was one of the great country blues players. I was very impressed. I don't know how the seeds were sewn, but as I got older, I just sort of gravitated towards blues music and all of that passion and feeling, to me, it was where it all came from. I just got deeper and deeper into it. And when I was 18, I got a guitar, and when I was 19 I started playing professionally. It's all I wanted to do.
BBP: Hmm. And I understand that you were a big fan of Jimmy Reed, that he had a lot of influence…
Hammond: Oh, yeah. I got to be on a show with him.
BBP: Really?
Hammond: 1964. In Oakland, California.
BBP: You were playing with him?
Hammond: Yeah, I was opening the show. It was a show put on by a record producer named Chris Strachwitz who had a label called Arhoolie Records. And I got to know Chris: he's a big blues fanatic, and he put on shows, recorded artists and so forth. He was—is—a terrific, dynamic guy.
BBP: And what was it like meeting Jimmy Reed for the first time? He was somebody you admired all of those years.
Hammond: It was awesome. I was so humbled I don't think I said more than four words, like, "so nice to meet you." And I watched his show intently. He was just amazing.
BBP: Wow. And I also understand that you were a big fan of Robert Johnson.
Hammond: I was, but I never met Robert Johnson (laughs). He died before I was born.
BBP: Yeah. He died before a lot of us were born.
Hammond: But I got to know a lot of great blues players, including Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. Willie Dixon. I could just name hundreds of other artists that I've toured with and played with—got to know and—I've had an amazing career.
BBP: Yeah, I've been reading all about you. You certainly have. Tell me about Willie Dixon though. I know that you were a friend of his.
Hammond: Well, he was happening on many levels. He was a songwriter of course, and wrote songs for Muddy and Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter and just about everybody. He was also a great bass player—bandleader—he put artists on the map, you know from obscurity to having recording deals and so forth. He worked hand and glove with Chess Records and he took care of himself. I mean he got his songs published, he made money that way. He was a very happening guy. He was from Vicksburg, Mississippi. I'd driven through Vicksburg on my way to New Orleans once and I said "Oh, I was in your hometown, Vicksburg" and he said (imitating a very deliberate tone of voice) "don't talk to me about Vicksburg." Ooooh. So I guess he didn't have wonderful experiences there. He had been a professional boxer for a while. He was a big, tough guy, but a really nice person.
BBP: A lot of musicians in the past I know were boxers. Jackie Wilson, the great R&B performer. A lot of folks. But you were described to me as the only person in the history of music who ever had Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton together in the same band.
Hammond: (laughs) For about a week, yeah.
BBP: How'd that happen?
Hammond: Well, I met Eric in 1965 when I was on tour in England. I hooked up on some shows with John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers and Eric was his guitar player. So we hung out a bunch in England and played a bunch of shows together. They actually backed me on a TV show called Ready Steady Goes Live and we became friends at that point. And in 1966 I was playing at a club in New York and was introduced to Jimi Hendrix who was a fantastic guitar player and a great guy. I got to know him as a friend and I put a little band together with him as my lead guitar player and he was discovered and went over to England and became a huge star in Europe. In 1967 I put my own little band together, just drums and bass and Cream came over for their first tour in the U.S. and Hendrix came back to the U.S. from England, where he was a huge star. And they both had some time off, and they both came down to this club where I was playing with my little band. And they both said "Hey, suppose we sit in with you?" Every night that week they came in and sat in. It was just phenomenal.
BBP: How did they sound together? How was the mixture of…
Hammond: Oh, they were just incredible. They fed off each other; they were both great players, very passionate about blues music and—no problem.
BBP: That's incredible. I also know that you actually played with Levon Helm and some members of the Band?
Hammond: Yeah. I met them in Toronto in1963. They had just left Ronnie Hawkins and they were on their own and playing gigs in Toronto. I went down to hear them one night and became good friends. I would go to their shows, they'd come to my shows, and they were in New York in 1964 trying to get a demo tape together. And it wasn't going so well, and I was already signed to Vanguard Records. So I approached Vanguard and I said, "I've got a little band together. Can we have a recording session?" And reluctantly they said okay, and so we had three hours to do whatever we wanted to do, and we made a whole album called So Many Roads. Levon (Helms) and Robbie (Robertson), Rick Danko and Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson and the whole Band was my band for a while. My friend Bob Dylan came to the recording date and I introduced them to Bob and the next thing I know, they were playing with Bob!
BBP: (laughing) He stole them from you, huh?
Hammond: Well, yes. Well, I mean not that they were ever my band; they were always their own band. But they recorded behind me on that So Many Roads record.
BBP: Did you ever record with Dylan himself?
Hammond: I did. I went to a recording date, he asked me to play some guitar. Highway 61 Revisited, but it was obscure. I think I may have been on one track in the background maybe. Or perhaps it didn't make it, I don't know. It wasn't a big deal to me.
BBP: But getting back to Jimi Hendrix, you actually advised him to—when Chas Chandler approached him—I think it was at the Café Go-Go in New York?
Hammond: The Café Au Go Go.
BBP: Right. You actually advised him to take Chas Chandler up on his offer.
Hammond: Oh, definitely. Oh yeah. He was so good. He was so dynamic, that how could you not suggest that he go over and make his own career happen? I mean he'd been a sideman for –for three or four years. He'd been with a band called Curtis Knight and was fired in New York, I think, for probably upstaging him (laughs). And I mean he was so dynamic, it was just incredible and he was a really, really nice guy.
BBP: Do you remember the conversation? Do you remember his reaction?
Hammond: He said "Man, this guy has offered me a ticket to go to England and record." And I said: "You just have to do it. You're not going to have a whole lot of chances like that just off the bat." And he came back and looked me up when he'd already become a huge star.
BBP: Hmm. Well, I've heard you are a great electric player. Over the years, your trend seems to be to do acoustic shows, one man acoustic shows.
Hammond: Yes, that's what I enjoy doing most. I can play some electric guitar but that isn't my real focus. I prefer the solo style that I've developed over all of these years and I feel that's my strongest point. I do enjoy playing the electric guitar, but having a band together and all of that, that's not been my focus.
BBP: But you have done some albums where you've played electric…
Hammond: Yes. Yes.
BBP: The one you recorded with David Hidalgo from Los Lobos….
Hammond: Yes.
BBP: How do you know when something calls for a band and when something calls for you to play solo?
Hammond: Usually it's the record label that says "well, we don't want a solo record." So it's kind of on my shoulders to put a band together. What I like to do and have done in the past is to do some cuts on the album being solo and some with just a piano or a smaller combo, and then some with a full band; you know drums, bass, piano, whatever. And I've made albums in the past with big bands and horn sections and all of that stuff, and I've had a chance to do a whole lot of stuff over the years.
BBP: Yeah, I kind of picked that up. One thing though. Do you—you don't really do a lot of original material, do you?
Hammond: I've got some songs of my own, yeah. I think I played some that night. I don't think of myself as a songwriter. I'm a blues singer and I know hundreds and hundreds of songs so I have a lot to fall back on, be inspired by.
BBP: But it seems like your aim seems to be to kind of pay tribute and homage to the genre.
Hammond: I do songs that I like. I'm definitely in the genre. This is my life. I think that blues music is always relevant and dynamic—very honest—and I've been inspired to do this for my whole career. A great song deserves to be sung, and I don't think you have to be a songwriter to be a good singer or player.
BBP: But when you do write songs, what artist do you think of?
Hammond: Well, they're so many that I've been inspired by. I just go with the feeling that comes, you know?
BBP: So it's just a collection of people who are calling to you in the background as you're writing your songs, right?
Hammond: I get inspiration; I don't know where it comes from. But it does come.
BBP: You know something else I was curious about? I've seen a lot of people do this—Bruce Springsteen—you did it at your show at the Hamilton. Playing the harmonica and playing the guitar at the same time. That must be very hard. How do you..
Hammond: Well, it isn't anymore. It used to be like a huge challenge right at the beginning, but I began playing harmonica and guitar almost at the same time. So in order to put them together, I guess it's like a piano player that has a left hand independent from the right hand. And after a while, you don't even think about it: it just flows. It's hard to put in the words.
BBP: It's just something that happens more or less.
Hammond: Yes, that's what I've started out to do and got to a point where I could do it and was encouraged to do it and felt like I was getting better.
BBP: And I guess at the same time you're throwing in the singing as well, so that kind of complicates things…
Hammond: That one man band aspect.
BBP: Right. I mean, are you kind of following a blues tradition when you do that?
Hammond: Well, there's only a handful of players that play on the rack like I do. Jimmy Reed was one. I don't know if you ever saw Doc Watson play…
BBP: That might have been before my time…
Hammond: Great harmonica player on the rack. It's uh…you have to be a little nuts to do it, I think (laughs).
BBP: When you say "the rack" you mean…
Hammond: the harmonica on a rack while you're playing guitar.
BBP: Got you. Now I also hear that you actually look for obscure blues songs that are actually in danger of disappearing.
Hammond: I don't go out of my way to look for stuff like that. I mean, if I hear it by chance or whatever, and I feel "oh, that's a good one," that's the kind of way I go about it. I don't go looking for them.
BBP: It's just something you hear and you try to incorporate it.
Hammond: Yeah.
BBP: When you hear something, is there something particular that appeals to you?
Hammond: it's got to appeal to me; otherwise I don't want to be involved with it. There are so many great songs out there, it's what I feel that I can do that I like that I can make it mine. I think that's where all singers are. Find something you can latch onto and make it your own.
BBP: I mean can you put into words what about a song grabs you? If somebody were to ask you what you would look for, or what would strike your ear?
Hammond: Well it would have to do with the words and how they go together, what the image is that it creates in your mind. I'm a guy who's been on the road 51 years, I've seen a whole lot of stuff and I can relate to traveling. I can relate to every statement you can make in the book: passion, adventure—when a song grabs me it has to be something I can relate to.
BBP: Something in your personal experience, in other words.
Hammond: Yes, I guess. I've had a lot—a lot –of that.
BBP: That's interesting. Now I know you've played with a lot of musicians over the years, we kind of talked about that earlier. And there were others too that we didn't mention: Dr. John, Duane Allman, Roosevelt Sykes. Which of these musicians actually taught you the most? I mean, did any of them actually take you aside and say "John, you need to do more of this…"
Hammond: No, nobody ever did that. I traveled with a fellow named Charles Otis from New Orleans, who, when I put my first band together, he was the drummer, and he's been on the road with Professor Longhair and Little Richard and Alvin Robinson and Frogman Henry, all of these great New Orleans players. I mean he'd been on the road and knew about how to comport yourself, you know, how to be professional and not go crazy. Charles taught me a lot about, just how to be yourself in your own shoes and be professional; respect your audience, you know, that kind of thing. Charles is my friend to this day. We made many records together, travelled all over the place and…you'll meet folks like that in your life that will hip you to things. One of those guys.
BBP: Wow. How did you hook up with Roosevelt Sykes? The reason I ask is because I actually saw him back in the seventies.
Hammond: You did? Wow, I was on some films with him. And we became friends, and I was going to make a record, and I wanted that sound of just piano and guitar. And I asked him if he'd do it, and he said he would. So I flew him up to New York; he wanted $700. And so the record label was going to write him a check and he said "no, no, no, I want cash on the piano." (laughs). So he got the cash on the piano and we had a great time. I was on a lot of gigs with him; just a phenomenal guy.
BBP: That's incredible. What year was this?
Hammond: Probably '75.
BBP: Hmm. That's about the time I saw him.
Hammond: It was called Footwork.
BBP: Hmm. That's the name of the album?
Hammond: Yeah. An album I made with him. I also had recorded with him back in the '60's for Victoria Spivey. When Sykes came to New York he played at Gerdes Folk City and this was a hangout for Victoria Spivey who was an old time blues shouter from the 20's and 30's. And she knew Roosevelt and anytime he came to New York, she'd be there, and the idea was to invite everybody in the band up to her place in Brooklyn and she'd record you there on a tape recorder. And so I went up there many times and I got to record with some phenomenal players, including Otis Spann and Bob Dylan. It was back in the wild 60's, '65 or '66, or around there.
BBP: Otis Spann and Bob Dylan in the same session?
Hammond: Yeah.
BBP: Really?
Hammond: Oh yeah. And they're still available. I don't know if they're on CD yet, but I imagine they are somewhere…
BBP: Wow. What a combination. I mean…
Hammond: …on the Queen Bee label.
BBP: Queen Bee label? And these are based on recordings that Victoria Spivey made on a tape recorder?
Hammond: Yeah, on her tape recorder with her friend Lenny. She'd feed you a huge fried chicken dinner and then you'd have to play (laughs). It was a wild scene.
BBP: It sounds like an awful lot of fun.
Hammond: It was.
BBP: Who else would show up for those things?
Hammond: Well, a harmonica player named Bill Dicey. Babe Stovall. Anybody who was coming through and playing;if she liked you, you'd be invited up to her place.
BBP: Well it sounds like you've known a lot of interesting people. Duane Allman, how did you meet him?
Hammond: Well, I was recording for Atlantic in 1969, and Duane came to the recording session, he wanted to meet me. He had heard some of my earlier recordings. So one of the players on the recording date, Eddie Hinton, knew Duane and introduced him to me. And Eddie said to me "you've got to hear this guy play, he's phenomenal." So Duane played a little bit, and I said "Oooo. Would you like to be on this next tune we're going to record?" And it was just mind-boggling. Everybody in Mussel Shoals knew of Duane, he had played behind Aretha Franklin; he had played behind other artists that were recording for Atlantic…so anyway we became really good friends. At one point the Allman Brothers band actually opened for me in St. Paul—probably '69 or '70—and then I opened a lot of shows for them later (laughs).
BBP: You returned the favor in other words.
Hammond: Oh, man, we were good friends.
BBP: Wow. That's something. You've had some pretty amazing experiences there with musicians. I was wondering, how do you think the blues has changed? I know you like the more traditional styles, but the things that the modern artists are putting out, what's your take on them?
Hammond: Well, you do too much, it isn't blues anymore. You do too little, it becomes a ballad. It's hard to put into words. I mean blues; you'll know it when you hear it… (Hammond had to stop our conversation briefly at this point to take another call. Our interview resumed upon his return.)
BBP: Just a couple more I want to throw at you. You know it was funny, I was watching TV the other night, and they showed that movie Little Big Man.
Hammond: Oh yeah…
BBP: And I understand that you were involved in putting together the soundtrack for that?
Hammond: I did the soundtrack for it. I mean I didn't do the cavalry stuff, but I did the entire guitar playing. 1970.
BBP: Mmm-hmm. Yeah. That was the year that movie came out.
Hammond: Yeah, they flew me out to Hollywood. I said to Arthur Penn, "I don't think the music that I play existed back then." He said "it doesn't matter, it will work." So they sat me in front of a five-hour movie, and where they wanted to have music, I would play; there'd be a little strip that would come on the film and then I would start, and they recorded it as I played to the movie. It was an amazing, amazing experience for me.
BBP: Was that the only movie you ever did? Were there others?
Hammond: I was involved in two other films vaguely. One was called Matewam, a John Sayles film and one called The Indian Runner; it was a Sean Penn film.
The Tinner Hill Blues Festival is held annually in Falls Church, Virginia to honor blues guitarist John Jackson, who lived in Virginia and died in 2002. Scheduled for June 7-9, 2013, this year's festival will also feature singer/guitarist Big Bill Morganfield, Sheryl Warner and the Southside Housewreckers, The Acoustic Blues Women, Guitarist Roy Bookbinder, Beverly Guitar Watkins, pianist Daryl Davis, singer Mary Ann Redmond and singer Sista Monica, among others. For specific performance times and other details, check out the Tinner Hill Website at:


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Brand Label: Isabel Garreton
ITEM MOVED TO ARCHIVE: On September 19, 2017 5:12 pm, Fashion Stylist Online noted this item may be out of stock at Saks Fifth Avenue because it was not referenced in their latest online catalog. If this item is out of stock at Saks Fifth Avenue, you may be able to find similar fashions sold there or elsewhere on our Isabel Garreton Designer Brand Directory.
Available for Purchase Online at Saks Fifth Avenue for $112.80Pin It
Dress featuring floral details at neckline. Roundneck. Three-quarter sleeves. Back button closure. Elasticized cuffs. Polyester. Hand wash. Imported.
Shop other brand label items from Isabel Garreton on FashionStylist.com.
This item was published for sale online by Saks Fifth Avenue on September 19, 2017 12:26 pm and last updated by us September 19, 2017 5:12 pm.
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Earlier this month, I was happy to again participate in the Ohio State Museum of Biological Diversity Open House, our department's biggest outreach event. We had more than 2,200 visitors from all parts of Ohio and elsewhere. This year, Matt Holding and I teamed with two fantastic undergraduates who work in our lab (Meghan Parsley and Paul Hudson) to go even bigger than we did last year. Since this year's theme was all about how scientists use technology to discover and classify biodiversity, we put together a booth that showed visitors how our lab uses technology across all aspects of our science, from catching animals to analyzing their DNA.
We had an absolute blast at this event. Apparently, so did a whole bunch of other people!
Here are some photos I took frantically between showing salamanders to (big and little) kids:
And here are some photos of our booth, some of our materials, and some of the great visitors we met!
At the end of the tables, we had a few animals on display that showcased some ways that DNA can reveal biological differences between organisms. Included among these animals was the eastern glass lizard that we brought back from Florida last year, and I was astounded at the number of kids that could immediately identify it! The little "flip quizzes" at the end of the booth sparked a lot of discussions with both adults and children.
This is a great event and I highly recommend it if you are a local. All the faculty, staff, and students are so excited to meet the citizens of Ohio and share their passion. For more pictures and information, I'd recommend the Museum of Biological Diversity Facebook page here.


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Try Finding a Marriage Counselor with Marriage Counselors Hub
By mch on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 | Comments Off
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Banyumas is a small sleepy historical town in Central Java. It was the first capital of Banyumas regency. It is approximately located 20 km southeast of Purwokerto, and 12 km south of Sokaraja. Although distance from Purwokerto is not too far, Banyumas is 180 degrees different from Purwokerto's hustle and bustle. It is very sleepy and little bit deserted. It is also offers the harmonious mix between traditional Javanese houses and Dutch-style buildings. For historical-sightseeing lovers, this town is recommendable for a visit.
Get in[edit]
By bus[edit]
The nearest bus station is in Purwokerto. Some of buses passes Banyumas, especially for those who heads to Yogyakarta, Solo, and other southern Javanese cities from Purwokerto. The Efisiensi Bus, which serves routes from Purwokerto to Yogyakarta (or vice versa) always passes Banyumas.
By train[edit]
Purwokerto Railway Station serves as a main railway hub in the region. There are many of trains from major cities such as Jakarta, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Solo, and Surabaya passes Purwokerto. From the railway staion, go by the road to Banyumas.
Get around[edit]
By trishaw[edit]
Traditional three-wheeled pedal-powered carts known as becak can be found in most part of Banyumas, especially in Alun-Alun (town square) and the market.
See[edit][add listing]
Entering Banyumas will feel as we were on 1940s or 1950s. Banyumas has plenty of historical buildings that worth a visit.
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Eat[edit][add listing]
Drink[edit][add listing]
Sleep[edit][add listing]
The code area for Banyumas is same as Purwokerto - 0281
Get out[edit]


text: COLLEGE SOFTBALL ND's Bargar honored Freshman Brittney Bargar was named the Big East Conference Pitcher of the Week after winning both her starts in conference play last week and helping Notre Dame softball team (18-10) to a 4-0 start in league play. Bargar's top highlight of the week was her performance against Connecticut, when the freshman righthander posted the first eight-inning no-hitter in Notre Dame softball history. MIAA honors Amram Saint Mary's freshman pitcher Kristin Amram has been named the MIAA softball Pitcher of the Week. Amram allowed only one run in 12 innings of work while striking out 25 and scattering five hits. In the Belles' 9-1 win over Manchester, Amram broke the school record for strikeouts in a game, chalking up 13 strikeouts in a five-inning contest. LACROSSE Foote player of the week Notre Dame senior women's lacrosse standout, Crysti Foote has been selected as the Big East offensive player of the week for the third time this season after scoring nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in No. 10 Notre Dame's 13-9 Big East win at Connecticut on March 31. Her four assists were a career high for Foote who leads the Irish in scoring with 41 goals and 20 assists for 61 points in 10 games. HOCKEY Walsh in Challenge Notre Dame senior left wing Mike Walsh is one of 28 senior men and women's hockey players selected to participate in the first-ever NCAA Skills Challenge. The event will be held on Friday at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wis., beginning at 8 p.m. (EDT). The competition will be held in an East-versus-West format with each team having six male position players, six female position players, two male goaltenders and two female goaltenders. -Irish Awards Program: The Notre Dame hockey team will hold its 2005-06 Awards Program on Sunday at the Mendoza College of Business Atrium and Auditorium. Hors d'ouevres will be served at 3 p.m. with the awards program set for 4 p.m. Tickets are $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for children 12 and under. For more information, contact the hockey office at (574) 631-3630.


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~Your Path Into Optimal Health~
Enjoy Your Calm Oasis from the busy storm of life. When we take time to relax, to care for ourselves it gives our body, mind, and soul the opportunity to recharge. It is a matter of creating the right environment so that healing can occur.
Gentle techniques are used to help the body's muscles and fascia let go of tension. Releasing tension allows increased circulation and nerve supply, improving health of the tissues and ultimately health of the body.
Subtle changes are effectively and easily assimilated by our body. This is true because our body is a sophisticated and finely tuned organism. It is continually working to maintain a constant internal environment. If something upsets that balance beyond the body's ability to restore equilibrium, we experience discomfort or dis-ease. If we view this dis-ease as a wonderful feedback system alerting us that the body is out of balance or alignment, we can take steps to bring us back into alignment or balance. Perhaps it is a matter of getting more sleep, drinking more water, taking time for fresh air and exercise, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Chiropractic, Physiotherapy, and Massage Therapy all have something to offer in restoring balance to the body.


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Sundance 2011 is over. The week started off with the NY Times article declaring that Sundance is a welcoming place for women directors, and it ended with a couple of women getting deals and awards. But let's be real, the women still don't get the deals the guys get.
Variety has a list of reported "significant deals" from Sundance. They list 27 deals. Five of those deals are for films directed by women (including one where the women is a co-director.) And there was another deal made for Hot Coffee since the Variety list was compiled.
So that's a total of 6 films out of 27. That's 22%. And if I had to bet I would say that none of the women got as big a payday for their film as did some of the guys.
While there might be a more welcoming environment for women directors at Sundance, the lacks of deal for women is emblematic of the general problems women directors face.
Here are the deals for the women filmmakers:
Circumstance – Maryam Keshavarz
Buck – Cindy Meehl
Pariah – Dee Rees
The Future – Miranda July
Silent House – Chris Kentis and Laura Lau
Susan Saldoff – Hot Coffee (doc) (new announcement since the Variety list was created.)
Award Winners
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig), directed by Anne Sewitsky
The Audience Award: Documentary – Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl
The Audience Award: Dramatic – Circumstance, directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz
The Best of NEXT!: Audience Award – to.get.her, directed and written by Erica Dunton
A Special Jury Prize: Documentary – BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey, directed by Constance Marks, an inspirational film that crosses cultures and generations
A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – Another Earth directed by Mike Cahill; written by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling.
A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – Felicity Jones for her role in Like Crazy.
2011 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
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FLO _ LeToonz CharacterPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, athletes, authentic, autopoietic, cartoon characters that teach us about our self, character development, creative insight, curriculum, do it, ecology of mind, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, Flo, flow, genuine, haha, human evolution, human learning, human performance, humanity, implicit web, in the zone, jung, learning, let go, life meaning, life purpose, mazlow, meaning of me, mutual of omaha, olympics, purpose, self, self control, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self realization, self sustaining, semantic web, social science, sports, superluminal, vision of the future, we | 1 Comment
Abridged Version
Flo is the experience of time compression. A day spent walking in the woods will pass more quickly and easily then one spent sitting on the living room couch. A phone conversation with an old friend may seem like just a couple of minutes when its actually been an hour. This is Flo. A long bus ride without a good book or conversation will usually prove to have a lack of Flo.
Unabridged Version
Ah, Flo. Speaking of athletes. There has been no other group in our world that has garnered more recognition concerning this aspect of LeToonz. For the world of sports or any artist by reasonable extension, Flo is short for "being in the zone". It is a term that inspired the content for an entire book by a famous University of Chicago professor. Many of us can relate to Flo in terms of "time flying." Or the common idiom "Time flies when you're having fun."
Good movies will Flo. If it doesn't it doesn't make money. Moviemakers are very conscious of this. Our experience in a mall, especially with children, needs to Flo otherwise it starts to fell like a very, very long time. Developers know this and have made a concerted effort to make us feel more FLO while we shop so we will spend more time and money. Have you noticed that shopping malls have become huge entertainment Flo centers with movie theatres, demonstrations events and every kind of fast food under the sun? Its all been designed to increase the amount of Flo you experience and decrease you desire to go home or shop somewhere else. Designing for Flo has become an unconscious theme in the design of everything people interact with today – from buildings plans to vending machines, to video games to dentist's offices. They are all designed to increase Flo because Flo is frictionless, and being in Flo compresses our sense of time.
The most important thing about Flo is that it can occur with and without insight or Ah-Ha's. Couch Potatoes enjoy watching a lot of TV but are they experiencing any new learning or having Ah-ha's? So obviously it is where we have Flo and Ah-Ha that we need to find. Where we have Flo without Ah-Ha's is sure to be an environment or experience that will lead to a bad taste in the mouth over time if not immediately. The whole concept behind entertainment is moving towards creating a Flo experience that takes our minds out of the equation for a while. That deliberately stops the Asking Ourselves or the non-purposeful Ah-Ha's of our daily lives from happening.
We can LetGo and Flo. We can experience Flo while we focus and concentrate on a thing while Asking Ourselves, and we certainly know about the Flo that is conjoined with DoingIt. Beware of the Flo without Ah-Ha's for that is the insidious climate of life we are living.
We all seek to be in Flo in life more often that not. What we need to do is to be in Flo. Or have Flo experiences that are occurring while in pursuit of our gifts, innate dispositions, nature and SELF. Any other kind of Flo is maladaptive and there is plenty of that to be found, way too much.
DoIt or Do It _ LeToonz CharacterPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: act, action, Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, behave, behavior, character development, creative insight, curriculum, do it, ecology of mind, evolutionary psychology, Flo, haha, human evolution, make happen, manifest, output, purpose, self, self control, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self realization, self sustaining, social science, take action, we | Leave a comment
Abridged Version
DoIt or DI is simply action in the physical domain. It is hammering away at nails all day, getting on the phone to call a teacher about a child, sneezing, talking, smiling, lifting a box or a baby and so on. All manner of physical action is what DI is about. DoIt can be inspiring and DoIt can be repetitive as well.
Unabridged Version
The 3 Dimensions of LeToonz also apply to DoIT. We can DI as a function of purely cognitive, visceral or spiritual basis. We DI whether it is the right thing to do or not. We DI unconsciously and without understanding of what drives us. Even if we do have understanding, it may be purely intellectual and not deep enough to change the direction or pattern of DoIt.. We know that smoking, for instance, is not healthy for us but we continue to smoke and DoIt until it becomes a habit and an addiction for us.
DoIt occurs without AskingOurselves. Your parents probably warned you to "look before you leap" and that it is far wiser to contemplate and plan your steps along the way before actually taking these steps. Sound advice that many children completely ignore. Of course this kind of DI that doesn't ask questions first is not exclusive to the inexperienced.
Many adults themselves are "Doing" a career or job that has very little to do with who they really are or what they really should be doing based on their natural abilities, likes and dislikes. Asking Ourselves in this situation may even help us justify our choice using survival and success as very good reasons for personal sacrifice. It is important to note that the Ah-Ha's we have while we are Asking Ourselves, Letting Go and Doing in this type of situation is all cognitive and disconnected from our innately disposed self. Thus, we DoIt without regard to our SELF. This life pattern applies to a vast majority. It is dysfunctional and it is deadly for our culture and world as a whole.
Many people will continue to DoIt without asking themselves why any more because the Ah-Ha's that will follow and the Letting Go that occurs and the Doing what they're supposed to be doing in life will necessitate making changes that are too uncomfortable to make. So they continue to keep on Doing It is spite of the fact they are unhappy and living without Ah-Ha's.
On the other hand there are people who DoIt gloriously and live their lives doing what it is they like or love to do. These folks are the lucky ones . . …or maybe they're just the smart ones who took the time to ask themselves, listened to the answers and took the actions necessary to see their ideas come to fruition in life.
Ah-Ha or Aha _ LeToonz CharacterPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, black hole, center of symmetry, character development, conscious, consciousness, creative insight, do it, ecology of mind, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, Flo, haha, harpo studios, human evolution, human performance, humanity, learning, life meaning, mazlow, me, moment, mutual of omaha, new age, ontology, oprah, purpose, self, self control, self actualization, self aware, self awareness, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self sustaining, social science, synergy, we | 1 Comment
…or Ah-Ha Moment or Aha Moment or Insight or Creative Insight or Human Insight or oh-oh or Eureka or …
Abridged Version
Ah-Ha's only occur after we LetGo. Typically this is a moment in time, a hardly noticeable event. That is why we have become so unconscious of the nature of the relationship of all these elements. They are so common. The Letting Go that precedes insight may also take on major dimensions as in a heart attack, or divorce, major disaster that could have been avoided had we asked ourselves differently and so on. But typically LetGo is no more than a look out the window, or a shower or someone saying something and we go dreamy for a nanosecond and suddenly we experience Ah-Ha!
Unabridged Version
Ah-Ha is probably the sexiest, most immediately interesting of all the characters. Ah-ha is insight. Ah-ha is revelation, getting it, clicking, figuring it out, a hunch, an intuitive knowing about something. It is WOW. It is Eureka. It is "That's it!" It is a universal guttural gesture made in every language in every nation or tribe of this world. It is universal in meaning and totally individual at the same time. It is any and all experiences of something new or seeing something new about something we already know about. Many at times and none at others share in the pattern of them. It can apply to our lives or to the lives of a people a generation away; as in insights that are ahead of their time. It can have magnitude, be big or small. It can have direction up, down, in and out. It can happen many times in a row or all alone. Under the right circumstances the frequency can be enhanced whether it be with an individual, group, company or country.
Like all LeToonz characters, Ah-Ha has three basic dimensions. The Head, Heart and Whole or Mind, Body and Spirit. So we can have Ah-Ha's that are intellectual/cognitive, physical/visceral or both. They can be functional, as in how to brush your teeth or floss or significant as in discovering natural abilities or dispositions for what we do best. They can be right and wrong as in having Ah-Ha's about hurting someone or about saving a life.
Everybody has Ah-Ha's and we all have them differently. Ah-Ha's are usually considered to happen to creative people. If that's the case then we are all creative people with dispositional variations.
We can have Ah-Ha's about Ah-Ha's. We also have Ah-Ha's about how we Ask Ourselves and so on. This is a higher or deeper level of introspection or Asking Ourselves. We can LetGo of having certain kinds of Ah-Ha's or we just LetGo to them. We have to Ask Ourselves to begin to evolve.
The Intellectual Ah-Ha's may or may not be aligned with our SELF or involved with being who and what we are supposed to be in life. As a consequence, being simply intelligent may have nothing to do with being who we really are. This is nothing new to those of us who have spent our lives doing intelligent things and finding ourselves spiritually drained. As a matter of fact the two are related. Having visceral insight tends to point to those aspects of ourselves that are innate or that we are by our very nature predisposed to know and act on. The optimal insights are those that combine, either sequentially or simultaneously insight occurring both cognitively and viscerally.
As with all the LeToonz, Ah-Ha is a piece of a process puzzle. They all work together and if we are not having the right kinds of Ah-Ha's based on our innate-ness or our particular human-ness, then we may be forced, in a personal or professional disaster to LetGo. Sometimes we label living life this way as "trial and error"as though we are forced to proceed through life in blindness and ignorance of our true SELF. WE can this the feedback versus the feedforward condition of an individual, company or country. Unfortunately the feedback condition is where most all of us operate… until we have to LetGo, have an Ah-Ha that is most certainly visceral, and DoIt the right way.
We all have a "Path-of-Ah-Ha" in our lives more or less aligned with ourSELF. The objective in anyone's' life should be to have a Path-of-Ah-ha as perfectly aligned with their innate dispositions as possible. The vital, positive and everlasting psycho-social, economic, political and environmental consequences of this progressive personal and cultural action for the betterment of all humankind is unimaginable and yet it must be attempted as soon as possible for our well-being and our families.
LetGo or Let-Go _ LeToonz CharacterPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: Ah-Ha, aha, aha moment, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, character development, curriculum, do it, ecology of mind, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, Flo, forget, haha, human evolution, human performance, humanity, learning, life purpose, meaning of me, meditate, mutual of omaha, pedagogy, purpose, relax, release, self, self control, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self sustaining, social science, undo, we | Leave a comment
Abridged Version
Let Go is the stopping of all AY activities. LG is no thought. LG is no Feeling. LG is mindlessness. LG is a moment or a window that allows something to come through. Typically LG allows insights or Ah-Ha's to come to us. LG can happen physically, psychologically or spiritually or a mix of all three. The ways we LG are as varied as each and every one of us is varied. We can LG as individuals or LG in groups of any rank or size. LG is hard for adults to do.
Unabridged Version
LG is not giving up or quitting. Quite the opposite, LG allows us to move forward and beyond where we are by letting go to the next thing. LG can happen in the Head but not in the Heart or vice versa. For example, I can lose weight and know intellectually that I'm 50- pounds lighter but still feel and believe that I am a fat person!. In this scenario I have not let Go as a Whole.
LG happens all the time but some people find it very difficult to do. Others tend to be predominantly LG and need the rest of the LeToonz facets to be bring balance into their lives. LG people often keep others from getting stuck on something. Let Go might seem like a 60's kinda' character but it's not as simple as that.
LG can happen in a split second. LG may take no time at all to happen or may happen over a long period of time. The time it takes to stop feeling the pain of losing someone special in our lives is an example of this. We can LG slowly about something in our hearts while we LG about that same thing quickly in our Minds. LG is not fully complete until the Head and Heart have LG together. Most often LG happens so fast we can say it occurs as a moment in time. Like having just one, or a bunch, or a whole string of Ah-Ha's while taking a shower, glancing out a window, or while taking a walk in the woods. We LG many, many times without sensing the time it takes to LG one bit. And with that much LettingGo and Ah-Ha's happening time just flies. Interesting isn't it. Like AskYouself, LetGo or Letting Go, can happen in the Head or the Heart or both at Once. We call the both at once event The Whole. LG comes after AY and before Ah-Ha on Le Wave. LG allows Ah-Ha or insight to happen. Without LG we can't learn or evolve into the 6W's – The Who and What, When and Where and How and WHY of each and every one of us whether that US is ourselves, our families, friends, teams or group of any size. That size includes the world by the way.
AskYourSelf or AskYo'Self _ LeToonz CharacterPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, bohm, character development, ecology of mind, einstein, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, Flo, freud, human evolution, human performance, humanity, jung, learning, let go, life purpose, life work, meaning of me, mutual of omaha, oprah, pedagogy, pribram, purpose, rogers, self, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self realization, self sustaining, social science, social self, synergy, we, wholistic | Leave a comment
Abridged Version
Ask Yourself represents the process of questioning one's own thinking and/or actions. Ask Yourself is the asking the important questions about Who, What, When and Why many times each day. Ask yourself wants you to learn the answers about your thinking, your feeling, your believing and even those things you disbelieve. Ask Yourself wants you to know yourself and the world a whole lot better. Ask Yourself wants you to ask lots of questions from your head and your heart.
Unabridged Version
Ask Yourself is, asking yourself and asking Ourselves. AY is the Thinker. AY is the Feeler. AY is the Processor of Thoughts and Feelings. AY is Dreams. AY is Logic. AY is Emotions & Moods. AY is The Supreme Processor both rational and irrational or any mix of both. AY is Strategy and Tactics whether they be how to use food coupons to save a buck or how to survive in a thermo-nuclear war. AY is the Visioner and Planner. AY is the Visualizer and Imaginer. AY is all things of the Heart and Mind that deal with Processing. AY adds and subtracts and does differential equations too. AY Reflects. AY Asks Questions in general. AY does so inside our head and heart or spoken outside or a personal mix of both. AY can process things using the Heart or Mind or both at once, as a Whole. AY happens within and among us. Teams AY together and do so to varying degrees of success. A team can be parents, a research group, the UN in session, a PTA or kids playing basketball. AY is Inner Dialogue recognized or not, inside and out. AY is Talking To Yourself. AY creates opinions and judgements. AY can do what it does through intellect and intuition, objectively or subjectively or a mix of both. AY takes time to happen. AY is as varied as human beings are varied. The way we AY depends on our genes and our experience. Most important, how we AO depends on our genes and role models. AY like all the rest has three interrelated aspects. They are The Heart, The Mind and The Whole. AY's position on Le Wave with the rest of the Le Toonz gang is in front of LetGo and behind DoIT. AY can come up first or last. It depends on the person and the situation. Most generally we think of AY as just thinking. The most advanced form of AY is found when one asks their SELF, their ESSENCE.
The LeToonz Gang _ DescribedPosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more... | Tags: Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, belief, bohm, character development, communciation, creative, creative insight, creativity, curriculum, design, divine, do it, ecology of mind, ecomind, eureka, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, facebook, Flo, freud, haha, human evolution, human performance, humanity, I, individual, insight, jung, koestler, learning, let go, life meaning, life purpose, life work, mazlow, me, meaning of me, mutual of omaha, new, ontology, oprah, pedagogy, pribram, purpose, realization, revelation, self, self control, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self realization, self sustaining, semantic, semantic web, social gaming, social networking, social science, society, socnet, tags, taxonomy, twitter, we | Leave a comment
Abridged Version
The "Le" in Le Toonz refers to "Learning as Evolving. Toonz is cartoon with a Z. The Z means anything you want it to mean. The "Evolving" part refers to our development, growth and living fully each day. It assumes that we are all disposed in a multi-faceted fashion to do something significant with our lives. LTZ is about some serious stuff but that's not why kids buy them. They buy them because they are new, fun and seem to make them feel better as they begin to value that which makes them YOUniquely authenic, gift-driven "Individuals."
And a new platform of app's, even a psych-social philosophy of sorts, has recently emerged and demonstrates a clear alignment with the idea of intentional human evolution and YOUnique and authentic gift-based quantification, visualization and expression:
We are still missing the overall ontological framework.
LTZ is in fact a process-model that assists in the discreet and objective and measureable identification of the complex matrix of our innate and natural gifts and dispostions AND the visualization of this natural Self over time… as our Self evolves.
It "looks" like it is meant for the K-8 consumer market, but make no mistake, what lies within these cute characters (and the complex topology (See LeCozmos) they describe over time) is a serious process-model as "evolutionary ontology. "
Unabridged Version
LTZ is about becoming aware and acting with intention about that which is Significant about us or what we call Our SELF. LTZ are a simple and complicated group of characters illustrating what we consider to be a universal set of interconnected, linear and nonlinear, who bring to life a universal – yet unique to the person – set of interconnected states & processes.
You'll see what we mean by "universal yet unique" and "states and processes" later. Simply speaking LTZ is a team. LTZ are a highly active bunch. They work best when they work together. They educate, coach and lead us to the 6W's – the Who, What, Where and When, How and WHY of us. LTZ work on many levels at the same time. You can do many things at once in the parallel universe of LTZ. LTZ lead us to the personal and intentionally livable discovery of what many loosely refer to as the phenomena of Synergy, a dynamic phenomenon we take very, very seriously here in LTZville. You've heard about this phenomenon from a multitude of mouths. And may even know its specific definition – the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. That is to say, LTZ exist to help us discover that which makes us all special and that which makes us "YOUnique".
(You can read about all the LeToonz characters, as a system of "States and Process" in other posts within this blog – Universal and unique states such as "Flo" and "Ah-Ha" and processes such as "AskYourSelf" and "DoIt." For example, here's a link to the blog post about the LeToonz character and model variable called "Ah-Ha" – https://letoonz.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/ah-ha-or-aha/)
LTZ represents a combination of fundamental life and living processes that every human being and every mix of human beings, from families to economies to countries, utilize every moment of their waking lives. Yes, we think of economies as living processes in that they are based on human systems playing in real-time and overtime with each other. The same would apply to education, politics, and ecosystems.
LTZ live in three basic and entwined dimensions: psychological, physical and spiritual. We assume mood and emotion operate within a combined psychophysical interpretation. Simplifying these three in LTZville we call these the Head, Heart and Whole Self-dimensions or facets of a human being. Each LTZ can operate and effect change through separate, combined or merged, intellectual, visceral and spiritual actions. The optimal way to process in LTZ lingo is as a "Whole". This would mean that all three of the above dynamic dimensions are operating together- seamlessly. LTZ are most alive when they are Whole. The Whole form of LTZ activities results as a combination of the Head and Heart operating at the same time and without separation. You don't just think a thing you feel it as well and at the same time. In effect when we are Whole, our Minds and Hearts (or Head and Heart) are not separate processing dimensions, they are one.
For example, the LTZ character Ah-Ha represents the concept, moment and experience of human insight. It distinguishes those thoughts that are intellectual, objective, factual or logical, etc. from those thoughts of the heart, which are visceral emotion and deeply felt. When an Ah-Ha occurs that combines both these dimensions of the Head and the Heart without separation, it is considered a Whole Ah-Ha. We need to have these more often and that's an indeterminable understatement.
Luckily as it turns out, there is no specific religious order to LTZ. They did not come from any religious ideology. This Self-evolving and Self-systems evolving process model which LTZ enjoyably illustrates for kids and families, can and has acted as a support vehicle for any denomination or religious order. All the LTZ characters exist without antagonism within any ideology. They are truly universal.
Speaking of Universal. The beauty of LTZ is found in their universal operation independent of people but existing for the sole purpose of assisting them in figuring out what makes them distinctive. Here we see the simply complicated aspects of LTZ surface. We can say we all learn differently yet we all learn just the same. The idea of merging learning into one process and seeing our universality and our individual distinctiveness or Significance, is as one ongoing affair. We can say we all evolve individually yet we all evolve, more or less, just the same. LTZ operates universally to unfold that which is special about us as an individual or as a complex system of individuals. LTZ then shows us that our distinctiveness or human-ness, and the knowing of such, is just the start of a personal life process. In knowing what makes us different and from this, or in parallel with this, and as whole individuals, we can then begin to know most consciously and with intention what makes us whole.
On the simple side, LTZ's are about Consciousness. Our most basic awareness that one's Life Purpose comes from the action of creating one's SELF. With the help of LTZ, our actionable awareness matures and Our Purpose unfolds best in a particular Place and Time, with Particular People doing a Particular montage of things, acting as an individual or as a group/whole. As a key can only open a door if its specific and distinctive groves match that of the lock, so we can only open doors best together if we match up specifically with others. It is in the matching, the complimenting, that we are bigger than we are alone where we discover real Synergy for the first time. Through LTZ we see that Wholeness within ourselves happens on one vortex. Wholeness with the world happens within another connected vortex. These two have to merge. They are born and evolve in parallel yet have to merge. So, Whole Wholeness or True Purpose is appreciated and seen through LTZ as the enfolding of Wholeness within and without, the World and Us. Our Place and Time and Significance with others playing life out, lights out, in a complex tapestry of Synergistic Jazz ensembles from 2 to a 10 billion! It is in the complimenting that we are Whole and that we Know Synergy.
In personal distinction-driven, gift-driven and Significance-driven teamwork true synergy happens. Our purpose as one or as one world is only accomplished when we live true synergy. And it never stops evolving. It always evolves. With the birth of each child a fresh tapestry appears and the ever-changing montage of human distinctions will remain a mystery waiting to be discovered. Something never seen before has arrived.
This is why LTZ stands as an interpretive, context independent characters-as-model system, representing our Self and Synergy evolving human processes… LTZ is both universal in the states and processes it represents and was created and is designed to assist in the unique expression of each individual, evolving human being… as a YOUnique Self.
It is through interpretation with a backbone, with a process skeleton, we allow ourselves to individually discover OurSelf. Any human assessment diagnostic must be interpretive and evolving by design to give a person, or system thereof, the ability to see OurSelf(s) most clearly, fully, colorfully and potently whole as One.
LeToonz Hangin' On LeWavePosted: October 9, 2009 | Author: JohnBrian | Filed under: LeModel Defined _ LeToonz, LeCozmos and more..., LeToonz Fashions and Accessories, LeToonz Music, LeToonz Television | Tags: ah, Ah-Ha, aha, Ask Your Self, autopoietic, character development, curriculum, do it, ecology of mind, ecomind, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary technology, evolving, Flo, haha, harpo, human evolution, human performance, humanity, I, jung, learning, let go, life meaning, life purpose, life work, mazlow, me, meaning of me, mutual of omaha, new, ontology, oprah, pedagogy, purpose, self, self control, self actualization, self development, self evolution, self evolving, self meaning, self realization, self sustaining, social science, we | 3 Comments
From Left to Right we have… Ask YourSelf – LetGo – Ah-Ha & DoIt
Flo …is in blue below
ReMote …is the big eye above
BeIt …did not make this photo shoot but you can find s/he somewhere around here….
Synchro …you join us later… (unless I put s/he in and forgot to edit this text afterwards 🙂


text:
The prologue time-trial was only a few miles long, and predominately uphill. The suffering would only last 9-ish minutes, and I during my preride the day before I had decided on how I wanted to pace the effort. I had forgotten my ipod at the house, and spent most of my warmup mourning its absence:
The prologue was a mixed-bag for me: I successfully paced the course exactly as I wanted to, and timed my final push for the line perfectly. The downside was that my legs didn't deliver me as quickly as I'd wished, and I rode to a 15th place finish. On the upside, I'd taken another 'win' in the season-long duel between me and Zirbel.... Jesse was our best-placed rider in 8th, and most of the team was in the top-30, so at least we had plenty of cards to play in the upcoming stages.
That night, I and the 3 others staying at our host house each spent some quality time with the toilet. The next morning, we decided that our ailment must have been the work of some bad chicken we'd had at dinner; it was the only food that all of us had eaten.
The first stage was a 120-mile road race, with a tough climb towards the end of each lap. With the size of the field, we held our cards close until many of the amateurs tired in the first 80 miles, then we lit the fuse on the climb to see if the field would split. Each lap, there were breaks in the field over the top of the climb, but everything kept coming back together. The lead group continued to dwindle in size, but all of the key players were still present.
As I would learn after the race, I was not the only one fighting cramps and feeling a bit sub-par late in the race; my housemates were also suffering, presumably from dehydration as a result of our bad chicken.
By the end of the race, our and others' attacks had shrunk the field to about 60 riders, and we still had everyone there. Zirbel was taken out in a stupid crash just a couple of kilometers from the finish--thankfully, he would get the same time as our group. We failed to organize our leadout, and Bissell's Bevin took the stage win, but our team had continued its march up the GC ladder.
|Post-race cleanup and discussion
The finishing straight was the only place on the course for 8 guys to swarm the front together, and it was a bit chaotic but we succeeded in taking the front just before the first turn. I was again in the front rotation, just keeping the pace high until the real leadout would start later.
Like Joe Martin and Nature Valley Grand Prix, the GC is far from set in stone at the beginning of the last stage. In fact, the Sunset Loop at Redlands is the most significant factor when it comes to final GC placing. To make what is already the most difficult stage of the race even more interesting, the race was forecast to have high winds and torrential rain--something that apparently has never happened before at this race.
The race is a lollipop course, where we race out of town and then do 12 laps of a circuit through a neighborhood on a hillside before racing back into town to finish on the crit course. The loop was uphill on one side and a technical and fast descent on the other.
The first few times up the climb, everyone was fresh so the gaps that formed at the bottom weren't too critical, as the climb flattened after the KOM halfway up and we could chase back on. We stayed aggressive early until Creed made the break and rode up there for a few laps.
When descending by myself or leading a group, I'm what others call a risk-taker. I don't see it that way, though, when I have a clear line-of-sight and can take my own lines. Descending in a group, though, can freak me out sometimes. Especially on a sketchy descent like this one. I was finally getting comfortable on the descent a few laps in when I felt it. Just a couple of drops at first, but then a couple of turns later it started dumping.
The next time down, I was even more freaked out, letting gaps open and then having to chase them back over and over again. You may remember that the last time I raced in the wet, it didn't go so well. I love descending in the dry, but wet pavement puts a real damper on things....
The next lap, at the top of the climb, it was time to put our team's plan into action. Nerves must be placed aside--I had a job to do. We were going to take control across the top of the climb as a team and blitz the descent to see if we could disorganize Kenda's team and split the field. I ended up second wheel, behind Friedman the Cannonball, as he blasted down the hill. This was the first time we were truly testing our Challenge tires and HED wheels in the wet, and we were going all out.
I shut my mind off, and just focused on staying with Friedman. If his tires could hold through the turns, and if his brakes could slow him down, so could mine, right? When we finally reached the bottom, we were 15 seconds ahead of the field. I was high on adrenaline.
|Friedman and me pulling away on the descent
As I climbed at my own pace, I realized that I had just determined my race strategy for the final few laps: I would get my jollies and my adrenaline rush blasting downhill in the pelting rain at 50mph, buying myself some time over my group and getting to sag the first part of the climb at a more comfortable pace.
I'm still not sure what happened--I think the course marshalls at the final turn to get back to the crit course had packed it up for the day. The lead group had already made it to the crit and everyone behind us had been pulled and given a pro-rated time, so we were the last ones out there. Either way, we missed our turn. We knew something was wrong when there was cross-traffic at intersections. We were now racing in traffic.
I didn't know where to go, so I was forced to nullify my attack and fall back to the group. As luck would have it, a commissaire car was behind us, and they told us how to get back to the crit. The message was sometimes slow to get around the group, and at one point there were guys going the wrong way on a divided road--in traffic. It was a total mess, but we finally made it to the crit course (at the wrong place) and the comm got our numbers and would later give us a finishing time.
All that mess aside, Cando and Friedman had awesome days. Cando rode into 3rd on GC to finish the race off well for us. With that done, we wrung our soggy, cold clothes out and thoroughly enjoyed our hot showers.
As everyone else flew home, Zirbel, Amanda, Bob, and I stayed behind and began preparing for our next adventure: the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay.