The Thursday Ramble: Be True To Thine Own Self.

Stay true to thine own self, a slight variation on Shakespeare. There have been a few points in my life when this needed to guide my way forward. The first home building company I worked had been a small family owned company, I was there seven years, in the last few months I was there the company was sold to an international conglomerate,  lots of change took place, I was miserable. I looked around, found another job, I remember going into the bosses office to resign, when she asked why, the words "I have lost the faith" tumbled out. I didn't believe in the way the company was starting to do business. To be true to myself, I needed to move on.

Certainly admitting to the world that I am gay, attracted to men, was a huge step in being true to thine own self.  I had hidden behind the closet door, making myself and sadly others miserable in the process.  I remember saying to my first spouse, "you are not happy, I am not happy, and we both deserve happiness." Change is miserable, but sometimes essential to be true to yourself, to find your happiness. 

There is a line in a Jimmy Buffet song, "he went to Paris, seeking answers to questions that bothered him so." Many of us, struggle to define the question. When you define what bothers you, change it. Do what is needed.  Sometimes regime change starts at home. 

It is a rough week. Take care of yourself. Don't let the world eat you alive. Be true to thine own self. Oh, and come November, VOTE like your life depended on it. 

My World of Wonders - January 7, 2026

Where have I been this week? Mostly around home, the pool, the treadmill.  A shopping run to Target and Aldi.  Giuseppe and Larry hosted First Friday, so we were up to the 6th floor, Anna and Susan invited everyone to the 8th floor to see their spectacular kitchen has just been finished after more than 2 months of work. It is the time of the year when my car only gets driven once or twice a week.  

What have I been up to in the Kitchen? I made roast pork, baked beans and roasted carrots and parsnips for New Year's day. For First Friday I made mini quiches, Saturday Sweet Bear was feeling off so I didn't cook, Sunday was meatloaf. Pork Schnitzel on Tuesday. 

What have I been read? Two books, My Queer, Unsettled Life a bio-history by Mitchell's hubby, and How Dry We Weren't a book about prohibition in Washington DC. Not bad, two books in the first week of the year. I have about four more books on the stack, and I should make a library run sometime soon. 

When am I planning to leave the house? I am having lunch with a former colleague on Friday, I haven't talked with her in two years. 

What artsy things am I up to? There is a portrait on the easel, Friday is change out for the Showcase, the Gallery show is being changed by another committee this month, the Show Opening I Saturday afternoon.  

What am I blogging about?  The creative Saturday Morning Posts are being created ahead of time, and I have started creating posts for the month we will on a great adventure in late spring. I will have a month of posts planned before we leave - work on that has already started. 

What about the annoying advertising?  Ads have been minimized, the payment threshold has been reached, as soon as the next payment transfer takes place, I will eliminate the last of the ads on this site. It was a noble experiment. 

What sadness hit the blogging family this week? Judy, the wife of Bruce at Oddball Observations died this week. Judy was 89, they had been together for decades and decades. The same day, Diane at House Dust and Wanderlust shared the sad news of two death's in her life, the daughter of a friend and the older brother of another friend.  

 

Travel Tuesday: Onward to France

 

Monday Mood: Why Are We Here?

What is the purpose of our being here? What is the value of our existence? Deep questions. At various times in my life I have had different answers.  

The first half of my adult working life, it was all about me. I had a series of jobs, that were really a competition, we were all out to prove that we were the best, that we could sell more, build more, build it faster, make more money than the other person. I was obsessed, the goal was to be something that we weren't. My purpose was to make money, for others, hoping that it would trickle down to me.  My value, and a great extent my self worth, was based on the stream of income I produced. I was really not happy, and spent a few years looking for a way out. 

Then I was very-very fortunate, to be able to take three years off from the real world, in my late 30's, and go back to school, to law school to earn a doctorate in my field.  I went expecting that I would come out and go back into the same rat race, but at a different level of rats. Then the summer between first and second year of law school, I decided to complete a mandatory-volunteer-service requirement (is it really voluntary if it is required?) I needed 30 hours of volunteer time, I ended up with about 120 over about 8 weeks, time spent helping improve the lives of others. I learned about purpose and meaning that summer.  A purpose of helping others to live a better life. 

That led to a career in public interest law, that filled, often to overflowing because I can be obsessive and over committed for 25 years. Work that had great purpose, and filled my life with meaning. I am very glad I did it.  I made a real difference in the lives of others, and doing so made it difference in my life. 

Two years ago this week, I retired. It has taken some time and some work to adjust, and I still look in the mirror sometimes and wonder how I can be old enough to not be working everyday. But I am. And the longer I am the more fulfilled I am with being so. What is my purpose in retirement, to be good to myself, to accept and love myself, to be kind to others, to encourage others to find peace and happiness, to create and share. To think and understand the wisdom that develops from the struggles over 50 years of labor. I am here, to be comfortable and happy. And that is enough. 

I don't regret 25 years helping others, I did my share. That was my purpose for a quarter of a century, it is no longer. I am glad I did it, and glad I have moved on to finding the happiness I thought that first 20 years of work would bring me, and didn't.  

The Sunday Five: Kelly's Inspiration New Year W

Why these photos? Kelly is a master gardener, and a talented artist. This display at the Hirshorn combines her to passions in life.  

Our dear friend Kelly posted these on FB on New Years Eve, she is married to Bob, who used to post as Woodchuck, he was one of the first bloggers we met in person.   

1:What would you like to have accomplished in one year from now?

2:What new ideas do you plan to pursue in the next year?

3:What was the most difficult thing you traversed this year?

4:What is the most important lesson that you have learned this past year?

5:What was unknown to you a year ago?

My Answers:

1:What would you like to have accomplished in one year from now? I hope to be a better painter, I am working on faces at the moment. 

2:What new ideas do you plan to pursue in the next year? Exploring the familiar and finding new details in the everyday. 

3:What was the most difficult thing you traversed this year? Remaining positive when others are terrified of the world. 

4:What is the most important lesson that you have learned this past year? To relax and enjoy the freedom of not working. 

5:What was unknown to you a year ago? The beauty of St. Andrews in Scotland. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: We Are All Artists

Inside everyone of us, is a creative urge. A desire to draw, paint, make music, sing, dance, sculpt, shape pottery, write, tell stories, photograph, create video, work with fiber, or act. We are all artists. Most of us spend a lifetime suppressing our urge to create. We are afraid our work is not good enough, that others will find it silly, or ugly.  In doing so, we stifle a part of our development. 

This year I am going to urge you to create, to let your inner artist develop and flourish. Even if your work is used to line the bottom of the bird cage, creating it releases a part of you, develops parts of your brain that most of us spend a lifetime not allowing to flourish. 

Pick up a pencil and sketch, pick up a brush and paint, put words on paper. When you see a work of art and think, "I could do that." Follow through on that and "Just Do It!" Explore on your own, take a class, create with others, share your work or hide your work, but create.  

When I was a teenager, I learned a little bit about painting. I learned more about color and light by painting than I did from any other source.  In college I took a jewelry making art class, I learned that I could focus for hours on refining tiny details that make a difference in the finished product.  The only meaningful thing I learned from Law Journal in law school, was the importance of editing and editors. I have spent the last decade learning how to write, how to be comfortable writing and sharing what I have written. 

Exploring your creative urges, allowing yourself to practice arts will teach you things about yourself, that you never knew.  

Let's spend the year, being creative.   
 

Funky Friday: Two Years of Me

Is it an art project, a personal history, a daily reminder, or a new habit?  At times I have described it as all of those, and this week marks two years since I started quietly posting on a secondary blog a daily selfie.  Are these portraits? Snapshots of daily life? Are they boring, I lead an intentionally dull life. Yes, probably all of that.  

There is a bit of funk in there, some exotic locations, some funny faces. The beard has stayed consistent, though shaggier at some times than others.  Glasses come and go, depending on what I am doing and my mood. If I am driving or away from home I am probably wearing glasses, and I have half a dozen pairs including a couple of pairs of prescription sunglasses. 

Should anyone ever look at this collection? Will anyone ever look at this collection? Who knows, who cares. Maybe 50 years from now, long after my ashes have nourished trees someplace, someone will stumble across this simple daily record of life. Maybe the pixels will be erased in the great purges of time. 

I don't know. I don't care. For now I will continue this little daily ritual, take and post a simple photo of my face, once a day, every day, day after day. I hope I am able to do this everyday for the rest of my life. 

What is your daily ritual that maybe only really matters to you? If you don't have one, what do you want to start doing?