I normally use a desktop Dell computer and a large Samsung digital monitor. Most of my webpages, created since 1998, have been in simple HTML code, mostly created using Microsoft Front Page 2003 software.

Years ago, I created an Green Way Research Index to my hypertext documents in HTML. My interest and skills has been mostly in Content Creation (writing, reporting, research, documentation, compiling, linking, bibliography, guides...).

I have decided to try to learn how to create webpages in both HTML and CSS code to display properly on my Samsung A32 cellphone. I am learning how to CSS code from two textbooks. I am now using Dreamweaver 2021 software for writing and editing, and use two textbooks for learning how to use Dreamweaver. I also use online resources for learning CSS and Dreamweaver.

Web publishing for decent display on a good web browser on a big monitor is one challenge, writing for display on a typical small screen cellphone is another challenge. I check my webpage on Google Chrome and Microsoft Bing, on a big monitor. I check my webpage on my Samsung A32 cellphone.

I hope to learn how to use CSS coding ONLY to create webpages for cellphones that will display properly in a greater variety of cellphones.

This coming week CPS46.css ONLY! CPS = Cellphone Poetry Series

The first document I created using a CSS style sheet is called :
Seaside Snippets: Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

This first document worked fine in my Samsung A32 cellphone, but not so well in terms of margins and text size in my wife's newer and slightly larger Samsung cellphone. I hope to learn how to improve my CSS webpage design skills in this area by using my two textbooks:

Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JAVSCRIPT, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Niederst Robbins, 2018.

HTML&CSS: Design and Build Websites. By Jon Duckett. Wiley, 2011, 500 pages.

I have experienced some heart health problems since April 23rd, and so I have been taking in easy more. Webpage design is definitely easy on the body, and challenging for the mind.

Other relevant links to my short poems include:

Slices from Time after Time

Poetry by Mike Garofalo

Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems by Mike Garofalo

Sunday, May 15, 2022

DreamWeaver Days - Now Beginning

Dw DreamWeaver

Adobe Dreamweaver Version 2.1 2021
I started using DreamWeaver on May 15, 2022
By Michael P. Garofalo

From 2003 to 2022 I used Microsoft Front Page 2003 to develop webpages and websites.
Pretty much simple .html webpages. Index: https://www.egreenway.com/index.htm
Using Front Page was free after that first CD purchase way back in 2003.

I use CuteFTP for FTP file/image transfer/management, and do not, at present, use Dw for that function. There are many specific 2 panel line ups I have set up and linked up via all the specialized FTP settings need to connect with my WebHome on a Blue Host WebServer in Utah. All my specialized and personalized settings work well in the CuteFTP software. I think I first used this FTP transfer software back in 2000.

I currently use the Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Bridge package (@ $11.00 per month) . My wife and I have many current photography projects.

I have used Blogger since 2005. It a quite powerful blogging tool for my low tech needs, is free, has plenty of options, and works just fine.

Unfortunately, My old "free" Microsoft Front Page 2003 will no longer work anymore @May2022! Died! RIP FrontPage.

I purchased, installed, and am now (5/15/2022-) using and learning to use
Adobe Dreamweaver Version 2.1 2021.

The Adobe Dreamweaver software comes with many good on-line instructional videos. User groups, Q&A groups, UTube instructional videos, online instructors, and books are available to help a person learn how to create and edit webpages (i.e. hypertext documents, online documents) and manage whole websites using DreamWeaver. Cost = $23.00 per month.

This DreamWeaver software is used my many website design professionals along with possible WordPress applications.

I purchased about $150 on DreamWeaver printed textbooks; mostly used. I will probably use the following book as my main guide to using DreamWeaver:

Adobe Dreamweaver Classroom in a Book (2021 release) 1st Edition. By James Maivald. Adobe Press, 2021, 464 pages, $56.00.

For now, in May,

editing old webpages with Dreamweaver (Dw) for practice;
text editing features, side panels, tricks, search/find, design view WYSIWYG, keystroke setups;
inserting images, graphics, links, text;
reading Maivald's DreamWeaver book;
uploading edited hypertext documents to Blue Host WebServer using the CuteFTP software;
checking my work on Google Chrome home desktop Samsung screen;
check on consolidated $56.00 a month plan for all Adobe software;
templates in Dw for photo gallery or shows;
add more "Sites" to DreamWeaver;

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Today: Where It Takes Place

“This nondescript, never-to-be defined daytime is
The secret of where it takes place
And we can no longer return to the various
Conflicting statements gathered, lapses of memory
Of the principal witness.  All we know
Is that we are a little early, that
Today has that special, lapidary
Todayness that the sunlight reproduces
Faithfully in casting twig-shadows on blithe
Sidewalks.  No previous day would have been like this.
I used to think they were all alike,
That the present always looked the same to everybody
But this confusion drains away as one
Is always cresting into one’s present."
-  John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1975

I have enjoyed reading poetry in the month of April. I have read poems from these two books every day in April, 2022:

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry. Edited by Rita Dove. Penguin, 2011, 599 pages.

The Oxford Book of American Poetry. Edited by David Lehman. Oxford, 2006, 1132 pages.

One objective of mine, from April 20 to May 20, 2022, is to write each and every day.

My objectives must be under my control, measurable, realistic, specific, accomplished on time, positive, and reported daily. |
The daily measurement and reporting on objectives helps to keep me on track towards accomplishment.

Measurements are recorded in writing so results can be evaluated accurately and properly over weeks and months.
Changing a habit requires at least 90 days of consistent accomplishment of the specific remedial objectives.
“Objectives” are also referred to as plans, aims, goals, resolutions, targets, projects, daily actions, specific tasks, etc.
Daily steady improvements accumulate over time towards success.
Belief and confidence in your goals is essential to success in making improvements.
Norcorss Principles: Psych, Prep, Perspire, Persevere, Persist.

Changing Habits – Bibliotherapy

Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions. By John C. Norcorss.

Atomic Habits. By James Clear.

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

For Tao Te Ching Readers

Do you enjoy reading translations of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu?
Have you read a couple of different translations of the Daodejing by Laozi?
Did a quote from the Tao Te Ching appear in Facebook post, with a art-graphic, on a billboard, or at the edge of a stunning photograph; and, did it wiggle your consciousness?
Did old long ears Laozi appeal to me more than a worn Gideon Bible one rain swept evening in a Port Orford motel high above the surf - Yes!
Did some lifestyle recommendations from Laozi challenge your moral sensibilities?
Did the artwork from China and Japan in those lovely Tao Te Ching artbooks make you want to sit in awe and silence?
Did the Yin/Yang, Female/Male, Reproductive Instinct, Outpouring Gushen-Tao catch your fancy?
Did you sense some Zen aloofness, a wu-wei attitude, or a 'mind your own business and sip some tea.'

I've heard many Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong and Yoga players say they have read the Tao Te Ching.

My contribution to the Tao Te Ching Enthusiasts' Circle is via compilation and indexing and hypertext notebooks:

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter. Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization. Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter. These are hypertext documents, and available online under Creative Commons 4.

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

A Solitary Daoist Neopagan's Final Journey

An Old Philosopher's Notebooks

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Thursday, March 03, 2022

Blogger and WordPress

I have used Blogger software since 2005. I am quite satisfied with its performance over the years. It is free, expandable, reliable, and easy to use.

Today, I signed up with Bluehost's server hosting of a WordPress site. I paid $104 for a one year subscription. It is at https://www.michaelpgarofalo.website

I know nothing about using WordPress so it will take a few months to get rolling. If I can't do much more with WordPress than Blogger, or my many existing websites already can, then I won't renew WordPress. We all have spent a lot of money over the decades on software. Some software we love, and some is a waste of our money. Right now, I favor Blogger over WordPress.

A Repost from the Cloud Hands Blog from 2016:

Cloud Hands Blog Name??

Why call this blog "Cloud Hands"? What does "Cloud Hands" mean?

The title phrase "Cloud Hands" comes from Tai Chi Chuan practices. One movement sequence in Tai Chi Chuan is called "Cloud Hands." Variations of the name include "Waving Hands Like Clouds" or "Moving Hands Like Clouds."

The movement sequence is from left to right, done two to four times, with both legs and arms moving fluidly, slowly, gracefully, and expressively.

The ability to use the hands creatively, gracefully, beautifully, skillfully, and artistically is essential to nearly all arts. The whole subject of Hands is hightly interesting to me.

Clouds can form dramatic and changing sights in the sky. They can be calm and beautiful, or awesome, or frightening. The cloud cover changes throught the seasons are provides endless variety.

Rolling clouds and rolling hands. Flowing clouds, rivers of air and water, out of reach, out of hand; but mimicked, imitatated, pretended, played ... playing hands like clouds.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Cloud Hands Blog has now served up over 700,000 page views of my daily blog posts to readers around the world

In October of 2015, this blog had page views of 600,000. In February of 2015, this blog had 500,000 page views.

I have made over 2,411 posts to this Cloud Hands Blog. My first post to the Cloud Hands Blog was made on October 26, 2005.

There were 20,450 page views of posts to the Cloud Hands Blog in the month of May, 2016. There are 90 persons who follow my blog posts by automatic email.

I have had some positive feedback and awards for the Cloud Hands Blog.

Thank you very much to all those persons that have read the posts to this blog.

Last year, I added a Translate button at the top of the right sidebar so that non-English readers can read the post in the language of their choice, albeit within the limitations of automatic machine translations.

I use Blogger for a number of reasons. First, blogging provides a permanent record of one's written contributions with backup files. Second, your posts can be indexed in a variety of ways. Third, it provides a useful and flexible structure for linking to other related websites and blogs. Fourth, people can subscribe to your posts via an email blog aggregator. Fifth, your posts and content links are added automatically and immediately to the Google and Bing indexes. Sixth, you can display photos, graphics, and UTube embeds in your blog. Seventh, web publishers can use their blog to create a alternative front-end index to their other websites and webpages. Eight, it serves as my readily available online notebook. Ninth, Blogger is a free application provided by Google.

The nice aspect of any Blogger blog is the fact that all posts are thoroughly indexed by topics shown in the lower right side bar. The blog has a search box at the top left hand corner of the blog that provides full access to the content of all my past posts. Also, there are links in the right sidebar to other blogs and webpages by others that are worth exploring and reading.

My Cloud Hands Blog is primarily a online vehicle for referring people to my hundreds of webpages with specific, extensive, and focused content on subjects of interest to me, and updating my readers on the webpages I am currently creating or improving. Links in each post point to relevant material in my webpages on a particular subject. A detailed alphabetical index to my many webpages can be found at Green Way Research.

I have been creating webpages at the Spirit of Gardening website since 1999. Over 33 million webpages were served to people all around the world from the Spirit of Gardening website from 1999-2016. I use BlueHost for hosting my webpages.

I have been creating webpages at Green Way Research since 2001. Each year over 1.3 million webpages are served up from the Cloud Hands website which includes Cloud Hands Taijiquan, Valley Spirit Qigong, Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices, A Philosopher's Notebooks, The Good Life, and One Old Druid's Final Journey.

Over 4,000 persons have written to me since 2000 to tell me how these hundreds of webpages have provided them with enjoyment, inspiration, information, and insights; or, to ask me questions.

My main webpage efforts in 2015 had been weekly work on the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. By June of 2016, I completed adding over 25 English language translations for each Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations, 2 German and 1 French translation for each of the 81 chapters of the Daodejing, and indexing by English, Wade-Giles, and Spanish language terms for all the Chapters. Each Friday, I submit a post on the Daodejing to the Cloud Hands Blog.

I always respond to comments to one of my webpages. However, readers seldom make comments.

In 2016-2017, my reading, research, and writing will be focused on on Epicureanism, Hedonism, Utilitarianism, Hellenistic philosophy, embodied cognition, pragmatism, metaphors, fitness practices, self-help, and the senses. I focus on a more limited set of topics on this blog, and seldom comment on current events.

My wife, Karen, and I are very active gardeners. Therefore, I post on this subject quite often.

Hopefully, posts to this blog will benefit my readers in some positive way, lead to discovering other mind-body fitness options they might explore, and providing a little insight on topics of mutual interest. My views on developing a philosophy of life might not appeal to some - so be it.

Yes, I do repeat previous blog posts. Few busy people have the time to post original material each day unless the blog is a steady source of income for them. Since I am 70 years of age, semi-retired, and still work two part-time jobs for 30 hours total each week, actively garden, and exercise six days a week, my time available for original creative writing is somewhat limited.

Recent Feedback and Kudos from my Readers:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

Best wishes for good health, contentment, and peace,
Mike Garofalo

Friday, January 21, 2022

A Blogger's Hardware Setbacks and Steps Forward

Suddenly, my thin ho-hum ASUS laptop computer, used for field work and play, lost the ability to connect to my home wifi, then went blank and would not turn on again. It could not be revived, despite my heroic medico-laptop efforts. Sadly, this weakly little laptop was pronounced dead on 1/21/2002 at 3:54 am.

Things break down and don't work anymore and my wallet hurts.

I went on a Yurt Camping trip from Monday (1/17) to Thursday (1/20) to Nehalem Bay State Park near Manzanita, Oregon. All my writing about my travel experiences, nature studies, poetry, notes, and some photographs for this trip were lost, gone, taken to the grave in the hard-drive-soul of my dead ASUS laptop.

Yes, a setback, a cheap laptop equipment failure, DaRn$##!!XX**!, lost written work, no warranty backup, and my wallet groans.

Home Office Desktop System:
I write, manage photographs, read my Kindle books and Internet documents, search the Internet, and use computer software on my home office desktop computer set up. I run a big Dell desktop computer, Epson printer and scanner, and external hard drives. I have a nice big Samsung computer screen. Yes, and all the associated peripheral electronic gear and goodies. Also, I use a Samsung Galaxy A32 cellphone power-house will fast T-Mobile 5G. Very Nice, very cool, very powerful, with it, current, and my wallet moans again.

Recently, as a sad story goes on, I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 on my desktop. Sadly, my trusted webpage editor, Front Page 2003, no longer can inset photos in a webpage. Yikes, DaRn$##!!XX**!. Still have to solve this problem with Front Page.

History! Figure out and find solutions. Move on!

What Steps Forward? Do It!!

So, I bought a used and refurbished HP Elitebook 8470P laptop. My wallet shed a $250 tear. We shall see how this hefty businessman's travel tool works for me.

Lot's of extra computer laptop work ahead for me in the weeks ahead. Time, time, time ...

I use my Cloud Hands Blog as searchable electronic filing cabinet. Blogger software is simple and free. Material can be used elsewhere in webpages. All blog files can be backed up. Handy. Sharable!

I do use the laptop in the field for viewing pictures taken. For taking photographs, I use a Canon EOS Rebel T7/2000D, a Canon SX740 PowerShot, and my cellphone Galaxy A32.

I do regular backups on external hard disk drives from my desktop and laptop.

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Months and Seasons Webpages Series

Comments before a Cloud Hands Blog Repost from April 22, 2012:

I lived back then in Tehama County, near Red Bluff, California.

Since 2000, I had been interested in studying Neo-Pagan theology, rituals, concepts, and creeds, e.g., Druidry, Wiccan, Taoist, Yoga, Zen.

I published many hypertext notebooks on months, seasons, nature studies, gardening, gardens, plants, spirituality, Neo-Pagan and New Age topics, fitness, taijiquan, yoga, Taoism, Zen, Druids, etc. Many, many many millions of people used these Green Way Research Hypertext Notebooks from 2000-2021. These hypertext notebooks are one of my gifts to others in our world.

I had been teaching yoga and taijiquan since 2001 both privately and at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff, adjacent to the St. Elizabeth's Hospital and Medical Professional Complex. I taught three yoga classes and two taijiquan classes each week at the TFFC from 2003 to 2016; a great part-time job for me. I obtained many fitness certifications at workshops and training courses.

Again, a Repost from April 22, 2012:

All avid gardeners are keen observers of the impact of the seasonal changes in their local environment. Garden work projects must be carefully timed with the flow of the seasons and weather changes so as to minimize wasted effort, prevent wasted time, reduce costs, and maximize their gardening effectiveness and success.

Those who enjoy outdoor activities and outdoor sports plan their activities around the cycle of the seasons. Vacations and outings are carefully scheduled with the weather in mind.

Persons interested in NeoPagan religions and Nature Worshippers play close attention to the “Cycle of the Seasons.” Holy Days and Rites are planned and celebrated based upon a seasonally based liturgical cycle.

I live in the Northern Hemisphere at latitude 40°10' North, in Red Bluff, California, in the North Sacramento Valley. Cities with a similar northern latitude include Beijing, Barcelona, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Madrid, Naples, New York, and Vladivostok.

When I created my Months and Seasons Webpages Series I made the following assumptions. First, the resources (i.e., quotations, poems, sayings, facts, links, citations, etc.) would be organized by months and seasons so as to be relevant to me, a person gardening and walking and enjoying nature studies in the Northern Hemisphere. Second, resources chosen would be relevant for a gardener and nature lover. Third, resources chosen would reflect my interests in NeoPagan customs, Indo-European myths and lore, Far Eastern worldviews, nature mysticism, ecology, and the Green worldview.

Every year, the most popular webpages that I have published have been the 26 webpages in the Months and Seasons Webpages Series. These "Cycle of the Year" webpages are served very frequently to readers all around the world. Since they are so popular, I offer the webpages in this series at both my domains: gardendigest.com and egreenway.com. I try to make additions and improvements to some of these webpages every month. I use Google Analytics and my Internet web host's (Blue Host in Utah) statistical programs to keep track of how many times these webpages (excluding counts of graphics served on these webpages) were served by my Internet web host to readers in 2011.

1,287,000 Webpages Were Served in 2011 from the Months and Seasons Webpages Series by Mike Garofalo

January 84,200

February 82,100

Imbolic, Mid-Winter Celebrations 300

March 103,700

Spring 84,700

Vernal Equinox, Minerva/Athena Celebrations 900

April 67,200

May 62,100

Beltane, May Day, Walpurgis Nacht Celebrations 1,200

June 42,600

Summer 40,300

Summer Solstice Celebrations 2,200

July 41,800

August 68,500

Lughnasadh, Mid-Summer Celebrations 2,400

September 85,900

Autumn 23,800

Autumnal Equinox, Mabon Celebrations 12,200

October 103,800

Halloween, Samhain, Ancestors Day Celebrations 6,000

November 105,000

December 117,100

Winter 55,700

Winter Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Christmas Celebrations 4,500

Seasons and Time 5,300

Index 83,500

Total 1,287,000

Monday, January 06, 2020

Cloud Hands Blog Title

Cloud Hands Blog Name??

Why call this blog "Cloud Hands"? What does "Cloud Hands" mean?

The title phrase "Cloud Hands" comes from Tai Chi Chuan practices. One movement sequence in Tai Chi Chuan is called "Cloud Hands." Variations of the name include "Waving Hands Like Clouds" or "Moving Hands Like Clouds."

Cloud Hands   云手  Yun Shou

The movement sequence (e.g. #10 in 24 Form) is from the right side to the left side, flow left to 3:00, done three to four times, with both legs and arms moving fluidly, slowly, gracefully, in coordination, on form, and expressively.

The ability to use the hands creatively, gracefully, beautifully, skillfully, precisely and artistically is essential to nearly all fine and applied arts. The whole subject of the uses of our Hands is hightly interesting to me.

Clouds can form dramatic and changing sights in the sky. They can be calm and beautiful, or awesome, or frightening. The cloud cover changes throughtout the four seasons provides endless variety.

Rolling clouds and rolling hands. Legs quietly moving in steps, like smaller waves at low tide. Flowing clouds, rivers of air and water, out of reach, out of hand. And we enjoying pretending, playing, mimicking, and imitatating moving clouds with our hands and feet. We are playing hands like clouds.

Is drawing or painting clouds on paper a form of moving hands like clouds?

Clouds and hands are in two different categories. However, it is category mistakes (Gilbert Ryle), Freudian slips, muddled concepts, boners, fallacies, contradictory ideas, gaffes, verbal mistakes, and bumbling that make for laughter, awkwardness, interesting imaginative thinking, weird impressions, and new awareness. Clouds and hands don't go together in normal discourse. Of course Air is in Space, empty space, in which we move our hands; but clouds and hands are like apples and aluminum. So, "Cloud Hands" is a little offbeat, weird, on the border.

I first learned to perform, on my own, the "Cloud Hands" movement sequence in Yang Style Taijiquan at the age of 40. Exercise, relaxation, dance, and performance art are all combined in Taijiquan.

One martial interpretation of mine, of the Yang Syle Taijiquan Cloud Hands (palms face inward to you), is they are back hand strikes to the face of the opponent. Kind of like the backhand slaps of wrestler Ric Flair, or the flourishing moving confusing hands of Aikidoist Steven Seagal. In Chen Style Taijiquan Cloud Hands the palms face out from you, and the overall movement seems more like a two handed sideways push of the opponent. A way to redirect the opponents energy and direction, and shove them away. Just brush those foggy clouds from your jacket, just fling opponents away.

That is how this Cloud Hands Blog got its name in 2005. I was teaching 6 classes each week in 2005 at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff, California. I taught Taijiquan and Yoga classes each week from 2002-2016, from age 56 to70.

I have always used Blogger from Google since it is free and fits with how I work. I have probably underutilized some Blogger features in the last 15 years.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

One Million Page Views of Blog!!

The Cloud Hands Blog went online in 2005. I have made 2,653 posts to this blog.

Since 2005, this blog has recorded over 1,000,000 Page Views!

Thanks to all my readers!

Also, my Green Way Research websites continue to record many webpage views each year:

www.gardendigest.com Statistics for the 2016 Year (Google Analytics)

Page Views 862,538
Sessions 651,036
Users 562,401

www.egreenway.com Statistics for the 2016 Year (Google Analytics)

Page Views 591,683

Sessions 331,906
Users 268,535

On the average, each month, these three web resources have a total of around 141,000 Page Views per month, and are distributed online each month to around 86,000 Users from all around the world.

I figure that my websites and blog have together served up over 29,000,000 Page Views since 1999.

Again, Thanks very much to all my readers!

Friday, January 01, 2016

Plans for 2016

Reassess the value and benefits, for others and for myself, of my blogging, and my webpage development and maintenance projects.

Accomplish many home improvements, refurbishments, painting, and clean up projects.

Complete my normal daily exercise and fitness routines.

Work diligently to reduce my A1C blood sugar test results to under 6.5, and my body weight down to 240 pounds. Effectively manage my eating of nutritious foods, carefully use my diabetic medicines, exercise, reduce stress, and get adequate rest to slow the deterioration progress of my Type 2 Diabetes.

Complete 9 months of my last 18 months of part-time elementary school district work before my retirement in December of 2017.

Do what I can to help make for a peaceful, productive, prosperous, beneficial, and healthy community.

Discontinue activities that are not supportive and aligned with my preferences and goals.

Weed my used book collection.

Enjoy more frequent camping and day hiking adventures in coastal Oregon and California.

The Cloud Hands Blog has been in existence since 2005. I have posted 2,193 times to this blog. There have been 635,000 Page Views of this blog. Many positive reviews and some awards have been given to this blog. The right hand column of this blog provides extensive subject access to my hundreds of webpages and blog postings. There is plenty of content still available on this blog and my webpages that readers might find useful. Enjoy!

If you don't set objectives, goals, intentions, resolutions, or aims, then it is far less likely that you will accomplish any of those objectives. With no target to shoot at, how do you aim? Use your energy, your thinking, and your will to prioritize, focus, and accomplish the most important objectives.

Simplicity Quotations

Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Monday, October 12, 2015

Cloud Hands Blog Usage Report

The Cloud Hands Blog has now served up over 600,000 page views of my regular blog posts to readers from around the world.

By February of 2015, this blog had served up 500,000 posts. By July of 2014, it had served up a total of 400,000 page views.

I have made over 2,230 posts to this Cloud Hands Blog. My first post to the Cloud Hands Blog was made on October 26, 2005.

There were 14,179 page views of the Cloud Hands Blog in the last month, and over 530 page views yesterday. There are now 101 persons that follow this blog by email.

I have had some positive feedback and awards for the Cloud Hands Blog.

Thank you very much to all those persons that have read the posts to this blog.

Last year, I added a Translate button at the top of the right sidebar so that non-English readers can read the post in the language of their choice, albeit within the limitations of automatic machine translations.

The nice aspect of any Blogger blog is the fact that all posts are thoroughly indexed by topics shown in the lower right side bar. The blog has a search box at the top left hand corner of the blog that provides full access to all past posts. Also, there are links in the right sidebar to other blogs and webpages by others that are worth exploring and reading.

My Cloud Hands Blog is primarily a online vehicle for referring people to my hundreds of webpages with specific, extensive, and focused content on subjects of interest to me, and updating my readers on the webpages I am currently creating or improving. Links in each post point to relevant material in my webpages on a particular subject. A partial index to my many webpages can be found at Green Way Research.

I have been creating webpages at the Spirit of Gardening website since 1999. Over 32 million webpages were served to people all around the world from the Spirit of Gardening website from 1999-2015. I use BlueHost for hosting my webpages.

I have been creating webpages at Green Way Research since 2001. Each year over 1.5 million webpages are served up from the Cloud Hands website which includes Cloud Hands Taijiquan, Valley Spirit Qigong, Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices, A Philosopher's Notebooks, The Good Life, and One Old Druid's Final Journey.

Over 4,400 persons have written to me since 2000 to tell me how these hundreds of webpages have provided them with enjoyment, inspiration, information, and insights; or, to ask me questions.

My main webpage efforts in 2015 had been weekly work on the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. By June of 2015, I completed adding over 25 English language translations for each Chapter, 3 Spanish language translations for each of the 81 chapters of the Daodejing, and indexing by Spanish language terms for all the Chapters. Each Friday, I submit a post on the Daodejing to the Cloud Hands Blog.

In 2016,, my reading, research, and writing will be focused on on Stoicism, Hellenistic philosophy, embodied cognition, pragmatism, metaphors, fitness practices, self-help, and the senses. I focus on a more limited set of topics on this blog, and seldom comment on current events.

My wife, Karen, and I are very active gardeners. Therefore, I post on this subject quite often.

Hopefully, posts to this blog will benefit my readers in some positive way, lead to discovering other mind-body fitness options they might explore, and providing a little insight on topics of mutual interest.

Yes, I do repeat previous blog posts. Few busy people have the time to post original material each day unless the blog is a steady source of income for them. Since I am 70 years of age, semi-retired, and still work two part-time jobs for 30 hours total each week, actively garden, and exercise six days a week, my time available for original creative writing is somewhat limited.

Recent Feedback and Kudos from my Readers:

"Michael Garofalo has a variety of superior online directories, and his catalogues of poems (including his own) and his writing are worth perusing. Of special note are his webpages on Daoism and the Tao Te Ching."
- Gerald A. Sharp, Chi Flow, 2015

"Mr. Michael P. Garofalo has done excellent research and comparisons of the various translations of each verse of the Tao Te Ching. Thanks to him, we can easily see how various scholars translated the verses; for example, look at Verse 6."
- Tao by Matsumoto

"I love your blog and look forward to the notification in my inbox that you've published another post. It is a centre of quiet and sanity in my stressful life and helps draw me back to my centre. It is better than any pill that my doctor prescribes. Many thanks, Anne.
- Anne, Just an Old Fashioned Girl Blog, 9/20/2015

"Hi Mike, I really enjoyed your website!"
- Shifu Elaine Waters, Colorado, 9/15/2015

"Dear friend, your site is a nice trove of information."
- Shifu Careaga, Jiang Hu Wulin Group, 9/12/2015

"Hi Mike, thank you very much for the very useful information on swinging arms Qigong."
- Brother Promise, Plum Village Org, France, 7/27/2015

"I found your web pages which are nearly perfect, totally helpful like an encyclopedia, and well thought out. Congratulations, and thank you for giving us the opportunity of using them."
- Selma Erdal, Istanbul, Turkey, 7/12/2015

"I started doing Tai Chi 2 years ago and discovered your website about a year ago. Thank you so much for creating and/or organizing the information available there. It has been invaluable as a resource in helping me advance my Tai Chi practice. I am especially grateful for the detail instructions on the 24 and 108 hand forms, the 32 sword form and the various fan forms."
- Ingrid Chin, 6/23/2015

"I have been reading your work for a while and think very highly of it. I am working upon Master Chen's request on a book on Tai Chi but my writing pales in comparison to yours."
- Robert G. Downey, Madison, Florida, 2/25/2015

"I was looking for some materials concerning Taijiquan and Qigong, and quite naturally I found your websites, which seem to be the most elaborate (and even in some way "scientific") to be found on the internet. There can be no doubt that I admire you for this large amount of work which you put in those subjects - which is, of course, an huge amount of life, too."
- Hanjo Lehmann, M.D., Berlin, Germany, 2/19/2015

"Just a note of appreciation for all the time you spent on your website for the 32 step sword form. I'm just starting to learn the form and know I will be referring to your work a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise."
- Kristina Endo, 2/15/2015

"I recently began studying with Dr. Ming Wu (wuhealing.com) in West Hartford, CT. Being directionally challenged, I researched guides to the Traditional Yang Style Long Form and Short Form. Your clarity of organization, together with the directions for each movement has been an essential learning tool. I have been taking handwritten notes to adapt your form to his teaching, detailing the differences in direction and movement from class and from Dr. Wu's videos on his website. My next step is to review the descriptions in detail with Dr. Wu. Your pairing of the visual image of the compass with the movements has been invaluable. I adapted the wuhealing logo into a compass as a visual guide."
- Lynn Mangini, 12/23/2014

"I happened to stumble on to your webpage on the Taiji Jian Form, then continued to surf through the many links on it. I immediately noticed a marked difference between your website pages, and that of others which I have chanced upon in the past. You took the trouble to reference every source that you quoted, and did so in a very systematic and user-friendly manner. Plus, it was done in a proper manner. In compliance with academic standards. These details drove me to investigate further... and then, I suddenly noticed that your website was recently updated in September 2015, and yet, your earlier webpages dated way back a over decade ago. Your collective knowledge of academic referencing standards, plus website design best practices, plus in depth and obvious passion for Taiji, is just simply astounding!These skills are rarely seen in combination. Don't worry 'm not a salesperson or anything. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your work. Thank you for sharing your Taiji knowledge freely online, and in such a professional manner. I am impressed."

- Roz Hussin, October 7, 2015

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

Best wishes for good health, contentment, and peace,
Mike Garofalo

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Sunday, July 03, 2022

Short Poems

By Michael P. Garofalo

Haiku, Brief Free Verse, PhotosTercets, Concrete Poems, CinquainsGraphics, Waka, Couplets, SenryuSonnets, Limericks, QuatrainsUnder 30 Letters Best Per Line of TextUncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series I & II

Sunday, May 29, 2022