Wood Carving

Stumbled upon this awesome wood carver's site. David Calvo studied philosophy at the University of Massachusetts. While at college he picked up wood carving to take his mind off of the curriculum. He then went on to graduate school at Boston University to study civilizations and how symbols were used as an organizing force for the individual. Since then he set up shop in Boston and has carved pieces for several universities; he did renovation work at Harvard. Check out his site: http://www.davidcalvo.com/index.html

Self-Portrait by Rembrandt

huahua, I like his expression

Weapon Of Choice - Fatboy Slim

Christopher Walken dancing to Fatboy Slim hahaha

Monticello

Julie and I had the chance to visit Monticello this past August. Below are some of the pictures we took. Photography was not allowed inside the house, but you can see pictures at monticello.org. 

The Sensitive Plant. Julie and I brought some seeds back.

The gardens were spectacular. Th. Jefferson had the mountainside carved out into a 1,000 ft. long terrace. Winds coming over the mountain created a micro-climate, which allowed Jefferson to extend the growing season

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This would be a nice place to just relax and read a book

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The house, which Jefferson was constantly remodeling.  

Sleepy Cat

The Garden

I've been placing leaves in rows for my garden next year. In the spring, I'll spade the ground and place manure on top. The soil is clayey, so I'll have to add a lot of nutrients.

  

Que sais je?

Slowly making my way through Michel de Montaigne's Essais. Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. He popularized the essay and was the father of modern skepticism.

Some of my favorite Montaigne quotes:

"When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?"
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself."
"I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better."

Mark Gonzales in West Coast Music Video

This is a better version of Mark Gonzales skating in the Staedtisches Museum in Germany. It's set to Coconut Records "West Coast." I wish I could have been at the museum to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTzEp4CeWT8

Marc Gonzales at a Museum in Germany

Mark Gonzales New Zealand Film

Mark Gonz-Shoe Talk

Sigur Rós - Við spilum endalaust (La Blogotheque Take-Away Show)

I'm reading "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a really interesting book about success and I'm on chapter four. I'm also reading "The Millionaire Mind."

To Autumn by John Keats

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
       To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
       For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
   Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
       Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
   Steady thy laden head across a brook;
   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
       Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
   Among the river sallows, borne aloft
       Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
       And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Ray LaMontagne - Beg Steal or Borrow

My Flickr page

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jentjr/

Water Saving tips from TVA

http://www.tva.gov/river/watersupply/help.htm

Some very helpful tips from TVA about conserving water.