Pulling Onions Again

Freedom opens a few doors and closes many more. 
My mind is a sea I cannot see into; I merely skim along its surface.
I think, therefore I am a living person; dead bodies don't display thinking, just stinking.
Sometimes the present alters our interpretation of the past; most often the past surrounds and infects the present. 
Wherever I go, something new becomes me. 
Be careful not to stand up for that which will cause your downfall.    
God may be very smart, but he is a poor communicator.
What ought to be cannot be derived from what is the case, but a reasonable person ought not to ignore what is the case.  
I can admire a few great persons or heroes, but seldom have much desire to try and imitate them. 
Disrespect and contempt for the body is a common trump card for spiritualists; but, our game of life does not use trump cards. 
Nonsense can sometimes improve our sense and senses. 
Prohibitions focus our aim on better choices and actions. 
Don't sell the present short on the promises of "when." 
Most tire from hatefulness; cheerfulness is abiding.
Stubborn facts are loosened up with novelty.
A sure path to the perversion of truth is to make it a belief. 
The act, the deed, the doing are the primary considerations. 
My body gave birth to my mind, is in my mind, and my body-mind thrives in our world of lived experiences. 
Objectivity is a product of our agreements, and an important feature of my imagination. 
R. Buckminster-Fuller once suggested that "God is a verb, not a noun."  Which verb?  Pretending?  Storytelling?  Fantasizing?  Believing? 
My consciousness is a vegetable soup, and the water in the soup is what I do. 
Yes, I am just this and that; but, I am also not just that and this. 
Hearing the cat purr when we pet them gently matters far more to us than whether the cat's fur is black, white, or orange. 
If you think you are damned if you do or damned if you don't, your not thinking creatively enough. 
The ten thousand things are more enchanting than the Silent One. 
To lift the mind, move the body.  

Pulling Onions: The Quips and Sayings of an Old Gardener.  Over 840 quotes.  By Mike Garofalo

Bare Root Planting Time

Repost form December 2012:

We planted over 250 trees and shrubs at our Red Bluff 5 acre ranch in Northern California. Our fruit orchard consisted of 125 trees.

In December and early January of each year, Karen and I plant bare root trees and vines.  We also plant potted plants.  We also dig up and move plants to new locations.  

This year, we are planting the following bare root trees and vines: a Splash Pluot, a Bartlett pear, a non-pariel almond tree, a neplus ultra almond tree, an Indian free peach variety, and a Moorpark apricot tree.  Among the potted plants are oleander shrubs, bay laurel trees, black oak trees, grape vines, mock oranges, bottle brush, and others.  

We started a new row in the northeast quadrant of the south field.  In the first row, from north to south, we planted: 1) Transcendent Crabapple, 2) Golden Russett Apple.  

We dig holes, plant the tree or shrub, stake trees as needed, prune excess branches to shape and reduce stress, and water.  

Gardening Information for Vancouver, Washington

Repost from 2000:

It is now raining heavily in Vancouver, Washington.  The Cascades will get some heavy snow at the higher altitudes.  Temperatures in the 40's.  

The annual average rainfall (AAR) in the different places I have lived is of note for me:

1946-1967  Unincorporated East Los Angeles, Bandini Neighborhood/Varrio,
                  City of Commerce, Southern California   AAR = 15”
1948-1958  Karen grew up in Alexandria, Central Indiana   AAR = 42"
1969-1973  Biloxi, Mississippi   AAR = 65”
1973-1983  Bell Gardens, Southern California   AAR =  15”
1983-1998  Hacienda Heights, California   AAR = 15”
1998-2017  Red Bluff, Northern California   AAR = 25”
2017–         Vancouver, Southwestern Washington, Northwest USA  AAR = 42”


Vancouver, Washington, is rated as USDA Agricultural Zone 8B.

Zone 8b means that the average minimum winter temperature is 15 to 20 °F. 

Gardening Information for Vancouver, Washington:  

Understanding your gardening environment is essential to success.  What are the climate conditions in your area during a year's cycle?  What is the soil like?
What kinds of plants are grown successfully in your area?  What nurseries are nearby.  

Vancouver, Washington, USA, Zip Code: 98662

Hardiness Zone:  Zone 8a: 10F to 15F

Average First Frost:  October 21 - 31

Average Last Frost:  April 1 - 10

Koppen-Geiger Climate Zone:  Csb - Warm-Summer Mediterranean Climate

Ecoregion:  3a - Portland Vancouver Basin

Palmer Drought Index:  Extremely Moist

Average Annual Rainfall:  43.55 inches

Heat Zone Days:  Rare Over 86F 

Elevation:  171 feet above the Pacific Ocean

Soil:  

Nurseries:  Yard and Garden, Shorty's, Tsugawa in Woodland, Lowe's and Home Depot.  

General Geography: 

The Pacific Ocean and Astoria, Oregon, is 100 miles to the West from Vancouver.
The south side of the City of Vancouver is the Columbia River, and across the river is Portland, Oregon.  The Cascade range and Columbia Gorge is to the East.  Looking north: 165 miles to Seattle, 494 miles to Vancouver, Canada; 105 miles to Olympia, and 45 miles to Mt. St. Helens.  

January Average: 33F low, 46F high, 6" Rain

February Average: 35F low, 50F high, 4.99" Rain

March Average: 37F low, 56F high, 4.38" Rain

April Average:  40F low, 60F high, 3.28" Rain

May Average:  45F low, 67F high, 2.67" Rain

June Average:  50F low, 72F high, 1.88" Rain

July Average:  53F low, 79F high, .8" Rain

August Average:  57F low, 82F high, .5" Rain

September Average:  49F low, 75F high, 1.91" Rain

October Average:  42F low, 64F high, 3.41" Rain

November Average:  38F low, 52F high, 6.49" Rain

December Average:  34F low, 46F high, 6.68" Rain

Yearly Averages:  42F low, 62F high, 43.55" Rain


The Spirit of Gardening

Gardening in Red Bluff, California

Colors in the Garden: Vancouver, WA

Gardening in Vancouver, Washington

Winter Scenes

Nearly all of the photographs on this blog are taken by Karen Garofalo.
A bee enjoys some tasty Tuscan Rosemary blossoms.
Photos from 2013-2016

A lizard crawls over some Chickweed.

"Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher?"
-  Ursula K. Le Guin, Changing Planes

Acacia tree in bloom.

Minature horses grazing in green pastures, an almond orchard in white bloom, and a dusting of snow on the Yolly Bolly mountains to the west.  Karen and I enjoyed this dramatic February view from our backyard from 1998-2016.  

The McCloud River near where it flows into Shasta Lake.

Karen enjoys the McCloud River scenery.

The Spirit of Gardening

Travels in Northern California

Pulling Onions Again 2025

 

Pulling Onions
By Mike Garofalo

Mushrooms and Puffballs

Repost for December, 2014:

In the past month, here in Red Bluff, California, we have had many days with rain.  These rainy days have caused the spores from many types of mushrooms and puffballs to appear in the ground around our home.  Karen has stalked these little fungi, and taken many pictures.

"A mushroom (or toadstool) is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) or pores on the underside of the cap. These pores or gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread across the ground or its occupant surface.
"Mushroom" describes a variety of gilled fungi, with or without stems, and the term is used even more generally, to describe both the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota and the woody or leathery fruiting bodies of some Basidiomycota, depending upon the context of the word.
Forms deviating from the standard morphology usually have more specific names, such as "puffball", "stinkhorn", and "morel", and gilled mushrooms themselves are often called "agarics" in reference to their similarity to Agaricus or their place Agaricales. By extension, the term "mushroom" can also designate the entire fungus when in culture; the thallus (called a mycelium) of species forming the fruiting bodies called mushrooms; or the species itself."
-  Mushroom - Wikipedia

 

Dried Garlic Flowers

 

A Gift of Dried Garlic Flowers

We dug up and turned over the soil.
We added cow manure and mixed well.
We flatten the ground and raked it up.
We sat down: rested, reflected, enough.

We opened packets of garden seeds.
Seeds for herbs and heirloom chives.
Bags of onion sets and garlic cloves.
These starters met all our needs.

For the many Springs of Future Years,
when the Allium stalks stand high
and bloom; we will remember (Yea!)
our First Garden in Red Bluff CA!
We achieved that today.

Later—
on the table, a gift for hours,
dried white garlic flowers.

 

mpgEoW2 295, October 1998

Table of Contents
Highway 99 and Interstate 5

Table of Contents, Volume 2, Alphabetical
Highway 99 and Interstate 5, West Coast USA

Index, Subjects, Themes, Ideas, Volume 2

At the Edges of the West, Volume 1
Highway 101 and Hwy 1, West Coast USA

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works
By Mike Garofalo

Weightlifting Exercises for Older Men

A Repost from June of 2014, when I was 68 years of age.

Strength Training for Persons Over 55 Years of Age  by Mike Garofalo

I lift weights 5 days each week at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff, California. 

My current weight training partner, since January, 2014, is Roger Andresen.  Roger is 64 years of age, highly motivated, and competitive.  His legs are very strong.  I've seen him do 12 repetitions on the incline sled leg press machine with 620 pounds.  I am 68 years of age.  I can do incline sled leg presses 5 times with 480 pounds.  We do free barbell squats with up to 245 pounds for 6-8 reps.

My one repetition best ever in the bench press was 255 pounds, but I now train regularly at around 195 for 5-10 reps.  

We do from 16 to 20 sets, 8-12 reps per set, during each workout.  We sometimes drop to 5 reps for our heaviest lifts. We lift some comparatively heavy weights for a couple of older men!! 

My current summer season (6/12-8/15) fitness, bodybuilding, and weight training schedule is as follows:

Monday:   Walk for 4 miles 5am; Weightlifting for Legs 4pm; Yoga class 5:30pm; Taijiquan practice 6am; Gardening in morning.
Tuesday:   Walk for 4 miles 5am; Weightlifting for Back and Shoulders 4pm; Yoga class 5:30pm; Taijiquan practice 6am.
Wednesday:  Walk for 4 miles 5am; Taijiquan practice 6am; Gardening in morning.
Thursday:   Walk for 4 miles 5am; Weightlifting for Chest and Arms 4pm; Yoga class 5:30pm; Taijiquan practice 6am. 
Friday:   Walk for 4 miles 5am; Weightlifting for Legs 4 pm; Taijiquan practice 6am; Gardening in morning. 
Saturday:  Walk for 4 miles 5am; Taijiquan practice 6am; Gardening in morning.
Sunday:  Walk for 4 miles 5am; Weightlifting for Chest and Arms 4am; Taijiquan practice 6 am; Gardening in morning.

For more information about Strength Training for Persons Over 55 Years of Age, please check my webpage on the subject.  This webpage also gives more details on my exercise program. 

The Principles of Weight Training:  Overload, Progression, Specificity, Rest and Recovery, Nutrition, Variety, and Proper Attitude. 

Listen to what some other people have said about having the Proper Attitude: motivation, intention, desire, goals, determination, willpower, and focus:

“Weight lifting is about lifting the impossible, overcoming the unachievable. If you don’t lift things that are hard, and only do the things you can do, it’s only going to get boring.  Unless you want to lift beyond your limits to get stronger, to achieve new goals, and to be satisfied, you got to lift past these challenges, and still lift the things you think are impossible to really understand how your true strength will show.  Lift how I lift, see how I lift, watch how I lift, learn how I lift, and your true strength will come forth and be revealed”
– Chasers Holmes

“When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ Tomorrow is disease.”
– V.L. Allinear

“To feel strong, to walk amongst humans with a tremendous feeling of confidence and superiority is not at all wrong. The sense of superiority in bodily strength is borne out by the long history of mankind paying homage in folklore, song and poetry to strong men”.
– Fred Hatfield

"Take care of your body.  It’s the only place you have to live.”
–  Jim Rohn

“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless, and reason is powerless.”
– Herophiles

By trying hard we often achieve more than we dare hope.

You can't push yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.  
 
Waiting to do something isn't enough, you must do it.

You can never achieve great success without great exertion.

“Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger

"There is no point in being alive if you cannot do the deadlift."
- Jon Pall Sigmarsson

"We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
- Carlos Castaneda

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Winning is not normal, and people who win do so by following an abnormal path. The discipline and dedication and sacrifices are incomprehensible to the thousands, standing outside looking in, who are capable of joining, yet unwilling to pay the price of admission."
- Steve Trippe

"It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."
- Winston Churchill

“The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.”
– Anthony Robbins

“Most of us think we don’t have enough time to exercise. What a distorted paradigm! We don’t have time not to. We’re talking about three to six hours a week – or a minimum of thirty minutes a day, every other day. That hardly seems an inordinate amount of time considering the tremendous benefits in terms of the impact on the other 162 – 165 hours of the week.”
– Stephen Covey

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
-  Steve Prefontaine

"If you fully believe you will be successful and can visualize yourself being successful, you will succeed."
- Tom Platz

“I do it as a therapy. I do it as something to keep me alive. We all need a little discipline. Exercise is my discipline.”
– Jack LaLanne

I don't have time to lift, I make time.

“Intensity builds immensity”
– Kevin Levrone

“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”
– Buddha

Have the courage to accept what you can't alter and to alter what you can't accept.

Thoughts are mere dreams until you put them into practice.

If you waste today crying over yesterday, you'll be able to waste tomorrow crying over today.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
- Vince Lombardi

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."
- General George Patton

"There is no failure except in no longer trying."
- Elbert Hubbard

"Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"If",."perhaps" and "but" never got any person anywhere.  

The most important day of your life is today.  
 

"Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak"
- Thomas Carlysle

"I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds"
- Henry Rollins.

"Squat more!"
- Jesse Marunde

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"
- Friedrich Nietzsche

"Sell yourself short on nutrition and you're selling yourself short on maximizing your physique development."
- Ernie Taylor

"If you believe in yourself, have dedication, pride, and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards."
- Paul "Bear" Bryant

"Strength is happiness. Strength is itself victory. In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness"
- Daisaku Ikeda

"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do."
- Martha Grimes

 

Listening to the Rain

Repost from December 8, 2014, from Red Bluff, California:

We are today getting some much needed rain from a large storm coming up from the South Pacific into California.  Winds are now in excess of 45 miles per hour.  Rainfall up to six  inches is predicted for the next few days.  Temperatures here are between 45F and 55F.  We expect considerable snow in the mountains above 5,000 feet.  We have not had such a ferocious storm in Red Bluff since 2008. 

The elementary school district I work for on a part-time basis, 24 hours per week, is closed today because of dangerous road conditions for our buses and flooding. 

A day for some home chores, reading, exercise, and listening to the storm outside.  

December: Quotes, Poems, Sayings 


Water and Rain: Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Facts

"I have been one acquainted with the night
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain
I have out-walked the furthest city light
I have looked down the saddest city lane
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say goodbye;
And further still at an unearthly height;
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night."
-   Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night


"Water, the Hub of Life. Water is its mater and matrix, mother and medium. Water is the most extraordinary substance! Practically all its properties are anomalous, which enabled life to use it as building material for its machinery. Life is water dancing to the tune of solids.
-  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi  


"Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life."
-  John Updike

Here are some photographs that Karen took around our yard this morning.  We are checking and concerned as the heavy rain continues.    

Gardening Chores - April

From 1998 until 2017 I enjoyed gardening on our five acre home in Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California.  The photos above were taken in April of 2017, the month we moved to Vancouver, Washington.  

The Spirit of Gardening Website

"Crouchers move through a garden at a stoop: naming, gasping, horraying, admiring or coveting plants; Gapers saunter, smiling or sighing at what they find, succumbing to an intangible beatitude that takes them for a brief escape into another dimension.  Both sorts of gardener are besotted; both get their hands dirty; think and talk gardening; but on the threshold of another's garden, each use a different set of whiskers."-  Mirabel Osler, Gapers and Crouchers

Sacred Circles

Repost from 2018:  

"Creating Sacred Space is central to Wisdom Tradition spirituality and wisdom schools. It holds that in the act of dedicating or claiming sacred space we do indeed create an actual context for contact with the Numinous and its aspects. In that vane, our Wheels are not a " gimmick" -- they have a life and power all their own that is supported by centuries of many traditions. The elemental "beings" that we invite are "real" in their ability to interact (to be in relationship) with us. If it is what we want, they will help us to reshape our lives to the highest good we are capable of perceiving at that point in time. There are natural and actual correspondences between shapes (i.e. the angles of the planets, or squares, circles and triangles, etc.) and energies, things and concepts, but, the mysteries are not static or frozen in time: they change and grow with the changes that occur in humankind. Every space that we create has its own natural energy or underlying principle and teaching to offer. For instance, in a sweat space dedicated to the sacred, the "real" heat of the ceremony is a different kind of hotness which can burn away many of the things which separate us from the sacred. The ritual circle as sacred space is thus not a place arbitrarily set apart from the realities of the world, but on the contrary, it is truly aligned with the essence of creation through the coordinates of North, South, East and West. Because of that alignment and the power inherent in such space, we are actually aligning with and participating in the primal act of Creation. And, through each sacred space we create, the mystery grows and evolves by our commitment."
- Sacred Circles Institute

Sacred Circles and Spheres  Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Lore, History, Symbolism, Meditation, Notes, Charts, Photos.  By Mike Garofalo.

Sacred Circle Garden in Red Bluff California. This hypertext document includes many photographs of Mike and Karen Garofalo during the construction process of this medicine wheel, starting in 2006. Detailed information about the symbolism and associations in this sacred circle garden are provided in chart formats. A bibliography and links to related information about sacred circles, medicine wheels, stone circles, ritual circles, Magickal Circles, etc., is also provided. 

We lived in a rural area, 7 miles south of Red Bluff, California, from 1998-2017, on a five acre parcel of land. The fireplace at the center of the sacred circle garden was a good area for Ba Gua Zhang walking, Taijiquan, or Qigong; reading and writing; outdoor campfires in the Winter; meditation; resting in the shade on a hot Red Bluff summer day; for family marsh-mellow roasts; for sipping a whiskey/coffee and other indulgences; for nighttime star viewing; for daydreaming and spell casting; for a place to get out of the house; for a place to garden; etc. 

By 2009, the sacred circle was completely enclosed by vines, shrubs, and trees; you were hidden in a circle of green, [can't see out/cant' see in]. I provided electrical outlets in the design, and used them for lights, winter Yuletide lights, music, appliances, etc. We watered with both drip lines and hoses using our pond water south of the sacred circle garden. We added many rocks to the inner circle of this sacred circle garden from our travels in the Northwest USA. 10 Years of Treasured Memories!

Before and After in the Garden

[A repost from the Cloud Hands Blog on June 25th, 2014.]

Our "Sunny Vegetable Garden" changes dramatically from spring to summer.

The two photos below were taken by looking south.  The first photo was taken in early April, and the second in late June.  The "winter garden," where Karen was standing in April, has been cleared and all the onions and garlic harvested. 

 

The two photos below were taken by looking north. The first photo was taken in early April, and the second in late June. Whatever we don't water is dried and brown by June

June Gardening:  Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore

Gardening and the Seasons:  Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore

Our dog, Bruno, always likes to join us for gardening activities.  He is skilled at digging for gophers and snakes.

This photo was taken in 2005.

My Birthday

Today is my 76th birthday.  Michael P. Garofalo, January 23, 1946 -  

My daughter, Alicia, and I, 2021

My two grand-daughters, Makenna and Katelyn, and I, 2021

My parents were Bertha June (1921-1994) and Michael James Garofalo (1916-1997).  My two brothers were Paul (1948-) and Phillip (1952-).  

My parents and I in 1947
In South-Central Los Angeles

My maternal Grand-Mother Mabel Ast Blaize on the left,
and my Paternal Grand-Mother Lena Garofalo in 1947.  

Paul, Big Mike Dad, Philip, Me, Mom
Circa 1958

I grew up in East Los Angeles and attended St. Alphonsus Catholic Grammar School, Cantwell Catholic High School (Honors Diploma), California State University at Los Angeles (B.A. Philosophy), and the University of Southern California (M.S. Library Science).  

I worked for the City of Commerce Public Library System from 1963-1969.  

Blanche Karen Eubanks and I were married in 1967.  We celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary in 2021.    

Karen and I in 1970
Biloxi, Mississippi

Served in the United States Air Force, Air Training Command, from 1969-1973.  Honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant.  

I worked for the County of Los Angeles Public Library System from 1974 to 1998.  I retired as a Library Administrator, and Regional Administrator for the East Region in the San Gabriel Valley.  I worked at offices in the Compton library, Bell Gardens library, East Los Angeles library, Norwalk library, Huntington Park library, and West Covina library.  

We lived in Bell Gardens and Hacienda Heights - both in the East Los Angeles  metropolitan area.  

Karen and I, and our families and community, raised two children, Alicia June and Michael Delmer.  We now have two grandchildren, Katelyn and Makenna. 

Alicia June, my daughter, and I in 1976.

Alicia, me, Karen, Mick, circa 1990

My colleagues in East Region at our
Community Library Managers Meeting, Circa 1993
For 15 years, I was the Regional Administrator for 22 libraries
in East Region of the County of Los Angeles Public Library System

I started creating websites in 1995, and a blog in 2005.       

Karen and I lived in Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, from 1998-2017, in a rural area on a five acre parcel.  We both worked part-time for school districts.  I was the Technology and Media Service Supervisor and District Librarian for the Corning Union Elementary School District; and Karen was a Special Education Instructional Aide.  We both enjoyed gardening and landscaping projects. 

 

Red Bluff, California, Sunny Garden

Yosemite, North Dome, 2005

Sean, me, Mick
Alicia, Karen, April
Circa 2007

Karen retired on June 14, 2014, after working part-time since 1998 as a Special Education Instructional Assistant for the Tehama County Department of Education in Red Bluff, California.  

Mike retired on July 1, 2016, after working part-time since 1998 as the Technology and Media Services Supervisor and District Librarian for the Corning Union Elementary School District in Corning, California.  

I taught yoga, taijiquan, qigong, pilates, and other fitness classes at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff from 2002-2016.

In 2017, we moved to Vancouver, Washington.  We are now both retired.  

Family in Oregon in 2013

Vancouver, Washington, 2017
Our New Home

Flinn and Garofalo Family Gathering
Vancouver, Salmon Creek, Washington, Summer 2021

I am very fortunate in having fairly good health, a positive attitude, and stamina for work and play for all of my long life.  I was fortunate in being able to be productively employed for 54 years, and earning good medical insurance for Karen and I.  

I am a philosopher by inclination and practice.  

I have been active with various sports, physical conditioning programs, walking, fitness, Taijiquan, Yoga, hiking, etc., during my entire healthy long life.  

However, during this past COVID epidemic period I did not walk each day, kind of huddled in my home office and read, smoked too much cannabis, daydreamed, lolly-gaged, goofed-off, and acted like a lazy depressed retiree.  Therefore, I was very out of shape at the end of 2021.  

My personal goals for 2022 are to:  

1. Maintain a dietary habit that reduces my blood sugar. 
2. Reduce my body weight to 225 pounds. 
3. Walk and exercise every day. 
4.  Read and write:    Four Days in Grayland     Cloud Hands Blog. 

5.  Help and take care of my wife, family and friends. 
6. Support humanistic and environmental causes. 
7.  Explore Photography using my Canon SX740 camera, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop; and work on our Family Photo Project😊 with Karen. 

8. Enjoy old age. 
9. Travel to the Coast and Yurt camp each month for four days.  
10.  Yet to be Determined, New Opportunities, Unknown

That about sums it up!