A powerful color punch

There are certain colors that resonate with me. 
 For a long time my favorite color was blue.
What I mean by resonate, is the color does 'something' that's not easy to explain, but I like looking at it and how I feel when looking at it.

Check out these colorful exterior homes.

Chartreuse, anyone?

Colors with unusual names.

Color is important and every where from college colors, to traffic signs, flags and wrist bands.

Here is what someone describes what it's like to be color-blind.

Some vivid colors or groupings of colors we tend to 'like' better than others. 
Color is perceived through wavelengths to the retina of the eye and sends an electrical  impulse to the brain which recognizes what we call 'color'.
Perhaps a related experience which our brain then relates or recalls to that 'color' and that's why certain colors resonate and we like them over other colors.

I like these artists use of color-
Roy Woodard-Fairchild
Diane Clancy

How do we perceive color?

Can color change your mood?   or affect your mood? 
How about the psychological effects color plays on mood and emotions?

Hue, saturation, temperature and value can used to describe colors we see, making for visual interest.





Photo credit: cohdra from morguefile.com

Photo credit: matthew_hull from morguefile.com

Photo credit: taliesin from morguefile.com

Photo credit: beglib from morguefile.com  


Well, I was just thinking that the world is colored so vividly. It's so nice that our eyes are tantalized by so many beautiful colors!

A Veteran's viewpoint

A few days ago, I received an email.
Because of it's content, I believe it's worthy to share, so I've copied it below.

The 'beige puppet", whom might that be?
And more importantly, I'm wondering if many will be voting at the polls in future elections.
It's looking pretty slim we'll ever return to the 'olden days' of baseball, apple pie and the traditional family together sitting at the family dining table.

Oh well, those days are history.
A new view of everything is on the scene calling the shots and has the masses wanting this big change (mind you the details about the changes in store were never clearly addressed).
I can only hope that down the line those voting for big changes aren't unhappy when the big changes take affect.

I can't help but think that sometimes a person doesn't know they're in quicksand until they're in with both feet, trapped with their freedom to move severely limited. Physical strength isn't adequate to free oneself from quicksand, and being rescued needs to happen, or keep a cool head and remain calm rather than getting excited so one can float out of the 'sucky' predicament.
America, the land of the free, home of the brave, is in quicksand. So many problems are 'sucking it downwards'. We need help from the heavenly direction to bring us out of our sucky and murky, messes.


Read below what one Veteran wrote.

those who serve know 'best' the cost and value of freedom

Photo credit: aconant from morguefile.com
 

The American Dream ended on November 6th in Ohio,

written by a USMC Vet

  The second term of Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest Republic in the history of mankind.

A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America.

The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard.
The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and Chicago shyster, David Axelrod, along with international Socialist George Soros will be pulling the strings on their beige puppet to bring us Act 2 of the New World Order.
Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and the circus fattster Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post Sandy" tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.
 People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.
You will never again out-vote these people. 

 It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.
Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness...

I'm done, but before I go I’d like to share a one sentence editorial that appeared today in the Illinois Newspaper the Peoria Journal Star... It speaks volumes:

"A pen in the hand of this president is far more dangerous than a gun in the hands of 200 million law-abiding citizens."

If you want to share this with your friends, please feel free to do so!

In NYC the senses are maximally stimulated

It's been years since I accompanied a friend on a trip to NYC. My first time there was fabulous. Seeing some famous sites was exciting. The food was marvelous. People-watching was entertaining and and just being in NYC three days was thrilling and maximum sensory stimulating.

A horse drawn ride through Central Park

Photo credit: td2 from morguefile.com

 
Things to do in New York City.

I boarded the plane leaving NYC with a Stage Deli cheesecake in a carry-on box. One of the pilots volunteered to keep it up front with him. I should've told him, "not a problem as long as I could be in the cock pit with it for safe keeping." 

When I got home I ordered a cheesecake from Stage Deli to treat my staff to this
fabulous, and I'm not exaggerating, 6-inch thick melt-in-your mouth delicacy.

Pretzels from a street vendor was warm and scrumptious! There was food and smells and stands displaying the brightest flowers on just about every block. Small grocery stores were here and there. Everyone walked briskly on sidewalks and the streets were covered with taxi's. New York City is a swirling, metropolis holding millions of people and an immense array of things to see, places to visit, sounds to hear, aromas to smell, while pleasingly gratified with an abundance of drink and wonderful food consume.

NYC is alive with street vendors. 
 
Check out this virtual tourist site of NYC.   If auditory and aromatic senses could be included, that would be the best virtual experience to NYC.


View this video of a stroll along Fifth Avenue, NYC





Old street vendor pictures.

There are two observatory decks. I went to the open-air observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building, which sways a bit.

 I took an elevator which went up to a certain floor. Then I had to take another elevator which went up to the highest floor the elevator could go. It's windy out on the observation deck, but I sure took in quite a panoramic eye-full of the city and surroundings at a quarter-mile above ground.  

The ground floor lobby was impressive and full of people, and I couldn't help but notice one gigantic list of building tenants, some 15,000 make their business address at this famous skyscraper on Fifth Avenue.

Bonus-there's another deck and the building's undergone renovations since my visit in 1994.

The foyers of The Ritz, Trump Towers are impressive. 

Riding in a horse drawn carriage into Central Park on a chilly night was a joy. 

The clop, clop clop and the driver in his top hat and coat and the blanket across the lap are nice memories of that experience. 

There are lots of horses in NYC pulling carriages or being ridden by policemen.

Check his view of mounted policeman amongst taxis in Times Square.  (See other tourist views at this link).
 This women policeman on her police horse show it's definitely mandatory horses be accustomed to commotion of vehicles, people and sounds to not be spooked.

The air is filled with energy, aromas of food, and honking horns of taxis, mass transit double-decker buses and delivery trucks.

Shops and more shops and big, colorful, neon, flashy, can't-be-missed, over-the-top advertisements line the streets and certainly in Times Square.  

Macy's has wooden hand rails going up the escalator. 

I remember lots of make-up counters and displays just about on every floor,  mostly Clinique.  

I want into Neiman Marcus, the Toy store, and since it was November, there were some festive decorations in the store windows and people were wearing coats and boots.

The subway is accessed by taking steps going underground. At first I didn't see where, but you have to look for a square of thick fencing along a sidewalk and there will be the steps leading down to the subway. I'd never been underground (at least to my recollection) so taking steps down under the street was a new experience. I was surprised that everything was well-lit. Even the subway cars were clean and on time.

I looked around at the people on the subway car. I saw that it's all about getting to where you're going and ignoring all the other people also busy getting to where they were going. 

No one looked directly at another person so there were no pleasantries or 'how ya doing?' spoken by anyone. People on the subway were reading or being to themselves like it's their normal, everyday commute.

 Here's info about riding the subway which I didn't have at the time. My friend had been to NYC before so we didn't have any problems at all getting about. I was sort of hoping to see some graffiti, but everything was spotless. The uneventful subway rides got us to our destination and back. 

The ride on a double-decker bus was more fun.

I saw very little trash, graffiti or homeless people in Manhattan. I wondered where I might see some like on the movies and TV shows. My guess is Manhattan is kept pristine for the tourists. 

I found NYC stimulated all my senses almost to overload and to my great surprise the bustling multi-cultural metropolis with it's millions of inhabitants was pretty clean and tidy.

Not enough greenery or trees, but tons of concrete and metal stretching skyward, fancy advertisements, lane upon lane of vehicles and people, people, people constantly moving. I guess they slowed down and rested when they were home. 

I almost felt NYC could be in a foreign country. I heard other languages being spoken more than I heard English. I saw people wearing turbans and Jewish head ware. 

Did I mention the food was absolutely heavenly and plenty of it served quickly. Sitting and letting your food digest while leisurely drinking a cup of coffee at your table isn't done in NYC. In NYC there isn't any idling around. Order, eat, and get up so the table can be readied for the next patrons waiting to be seated. 

Some 10 minutes or so North of the main sites of Manhattan is Harlem. 

I managed to get the taxi driver to drive a couple blocks into Harlem though he was very hesitant to do so. He looked puzzled that I wanted to go to Harlem. At least I can say I've seen Harlem, even if it was only 2 blocks.

If I ever get back to NYC, I definitely want to visit this establishment.  It's new as of 2013, and sure has made an big impression in many categories.
I think a week would be plenty of time to visit other places in NYC and get an adequate sensory experience and taste sampling and more memories in the city that doesn't rest, not even for one New York minute.

Take the Silver Comet Trail

Wow! I was excited to discover there's very nice bike path, called the Silver Comet Trail running from Smyrna, Georgia to the Alabama state line.  That's a distance of  61.5 miles.
That's pretty impressive to me. Why hadn't I heard of this before?  From there it connects with the 33 mile Chief Ladiga Trail.


Photo credit: Jusben from morguefile.com
 
For a vacation or weekend outing combining sight-seeing, exercise, fresh air, and fun, why not?


I used to have and old three speed Schwinn bicycle. When I was away to college and living in Davenport, Iowa, I had a morning routine of getting on my bike and tackling some pretty steep roads. That was good workout on the legs, arms, and heart. Then I'd change and get ready for morning classes.  Boy, I had lots of non-stop energy back in my school days.


Photo credit: singhajay from morguefile.com
 
Some cities have some very nice bike paths and make for great getting out to exercise for all ages.
Kids should have lots of adventures on a bicycle.  Once you graduate from training wheels, you're bound for many good times pumping those pedals which will always be good memories of childhood.

I haven't been on a bicycle in years. I should do this. Really.

The feats those daredevils must do

The tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon yesterday by Nik Wallenda, who wore a microphone, and from the famous funambulism family known as the " FlyingWallenda's", caused me to think of various other astonishing feats men a women perform requiring guts, unrelenting determination, nerves of solid steel with a gutsy desire to do some thing only a handful of people on Earth could even attempt to successfully do.  Then, to make the feat even more challenging and solidifying their name in history, add the element of possible death if there's a mistake or failure on their part in performing the feat.

Feats require great balance, precision, strength and training

Photo credit: rollingroscoe from morguefile.com

 
I'm sure the adrenaline rush is huge and one reason why some daredevils return to perform even
more challenging feats. It must be addictive. We won't mention the financial gain and notoriety-
those are a given to these daredevils.

Check out this impressive list of Niagara Falls daredevils.

These women she-daredevils were each quite astonishing with their feats of skill.

Is it possible to 'not sink' running over water?

Photo credit: kconnors from morguefile.com

 
My favorite is a guy running on water(I think it looks real). See for yourself along with other amazing physical feats-(click link for video)

 I have to include Harry Houdini's feats of escape so many people fell spellbound to. A daredevil, an entertainer, an escape artist and master illusionist.  He was quite an original.


In this vid, you see a man 'walking on mostly water '.  Kinda funny how he was able to.





And of course, remember the always fit-and-spry Jack LaLanne doing something more featful than the year before.  Maybe I should say, 'more feating, but his feats were not life-threateningly dangerous, but they still required great skill and physical strength which the majority of us regular folk could consider to be super-human,
so I consider them feats.


In this posting I've mentioned just a few daredevil feats. Each prove the potential of the mind and body can do much more than the limits we normally place upon our bodies is very possible.

BONUS:Nik Wallenda's 22 plus minute tighrope feat crossing a gorge spanning a quarter mile at the Grand Canyon was accompanied by continual prayer. See this photo of him.

(That's 22 minutes of death defying walking and balancing without a safety harness or net on a cable
across a gorge with wind blowing).

He's got my vote for having nerve to even attempt something
like that. I think I would like to read his memoir-I bet it would be interesting. Click to read the transcript of an interview he gave.



Daredevils have to be bold and have confidence in their abilities to perform their daredevil feats.
They keep us enthralled and mystified with their confidence to even attempt such challenges
that can bring fame, but also the possibility of losing their life should they fail. That's what I call
 do or die trying.

I applaud them for doing what they must do.

Barks and second chances behind bars

When someone incarcerated decides to make a positive change for him or herself and is a positive influence on another living creature, it makes for a happy ending for all involved.



This video shows inmates training greyhounds with love. Lots of good teaching advice.


Inmates train dogs to be rescue dogs, service dogs for the disabled, and prepare dogs for adoption.
In other words, people serving time behind bars who failed in society are training dogs to be of service in society.

These programs are very rewarding and good not only for the inmates but for all involved when the dog is later placed with a person in need of service or rescue dog.


I'm pleased to know there are many programs the incarcerated are training dogs.  This link will show many videos of such programs.


 In essence, inmates receive first-hand training themselves by training dogs to have acceptable social behavior greatly increases their own second chance success in society.

Every one deserves second changes for a better ending.

Congrats to all. Keep it up.

S P E L L I N G B E E

Have you wondered why it's called a 'spelling bee?' Why not 'spelling stand-off' or 'spelling derby'?  All in all, I think it's a grand thing that kids devote a huge part of their young lives studying words because what they gain will carry forward to everything they will do. Spend hours memorizing little nuances of different languages for the possibility of having to spell a word from a language different from their own will help them in every form of communication in every profession or field of study.

There's a lot of words to spell in the world

Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com

 
Here's info on the history of spelling bees.

Here is a list of past winning words. Make sure you check the 'Spellers' to read these kids are very intelligent and gifted in academics and music.


Contestants have to study world dictionaries to spell words I wouldn't even begin to use in a normal conversation. But they are amazing to even know how to dissect a word apart based upon it's origin, the put it all together.

Congratulations to this year's National Spelling Bee Champion.. This teen, Arvind Mahankli, has a sense of humor, and, a set goal for his future. His parents and sibling I'm sure are so proud of him.  I especially like that he's humble of spirit, taking his winning all in stride. He was a contestant in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Now that he's a winner and in more ways than one. What a role model for all of us to never give up until you succeed.


Video of the newest spelling bee champion and the German-derived word he nailed sealing his win.



 Congratulations to all who entered and spelled words I wouldn't even know how to begin spelling.