Crowds...

I heard a great message on loving Gods people that really was hard for me. Sure as the Neil Finn song goes, "Were all God's Children" but it is still a bit of a stretch for me to feel that love, that bond for all people like I do friends and family. I am not saying I don't like people, I truly do and enjoy the company of others often. Its just that, well, I like my space. I have been cooped up too long...I am enjoying not having neighbors, the ability to think out loud. I am however going to work on it because I know its important. Do you think He means love everyone or just have 10-20 really good friends.

Venice Italy 2010

It has been said that Venice can either be magical or mayhem. A memory to cherish or a nightmare that cannot end soon enough. Venice is complicated. It smashes its beauty right in your face the moment you arrive. You are overwhelmed, shocked into disbelief that you are actually standing and starring at something so old, so beautiful, so inspiring, that you are tempted to shrug it off as you would an over-hyped movie. Venice is extraordinary. It's colorful and monochromatic all in the same day. There is music everywhere. Art pours out of every bridge and building in a way that makes us all better artists. This is my seventh trip to Venice, and I hope to be back again...its that crucial.

First thing: order up some honest to goodness rain....

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

We are leaving in just a few days for a trip to Paris/Venice/Tuscany/Rome. It has been 5 years since we as a family have taken a family vacation together. Albeit we've taken a camping trip, road trip, weekend getaway and a 4 day trip to the in-laws, the Rays have been Montana bound for some time now. Thats going to change in just a few short days. I will admit, some of our best trips have been spontaneous or ones that we didn't put much thought into. I know i am setting the bar high, but I think this trip is going to be great. The kids are both excited and are at the perfect age to enjoy Europe. Crystal and I have been planning and going over maps, tour books, restaurant guides, friendly tips just to make the perfect trip. I'll bet we will cancel 50% of it, but we just want it to be perfect. I am sure if I can just relax and spend time with Solomon, Izzi, and Crystal and not worry about, the best place to eat, see and be, it will be top top top...This is part one, I will update, but I do think I can pull this off...The perfect family Vacation...

nice to be loved....

J.D. Salinger 91

So Salinger died. Most viewed him as a quirky man who wrote, "Catcher in the rye" and that was about it. Funny, I enjoyed that book a lot, but what was amazing to me was how I found a fond attraction to his other works and more interestingly his life. Sure, I am no expert and not privy to his private life, but what I remember and loved was what was important and often written about his after life, or more to the point; after "Catcher in the Rye". It wasn't the laurels, nor the broadway fame or the reconciliatory nods that came with his success with "Catcher in the Rye" that made him famous, but what he chose to do after the book was written: seclude. After all, isn't it his choice to decide who reads his future work. Can't men keep their original gifts to themselves? Is it our duty, obligation, to share with the world something so personable, so private or for a lack of a better adjective, so right? I think not. The media so often glorifies the critic's, the Salieri's of the world, and empowers them into greatness. In the movie Amadeus, there is a telling prayer from Salieri to God. "From now on we are enemies, You and I. Because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the incarnation. Because You are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block You, I swear it. I will hinder and harm Your creature on earth as far as I am able." Believe me, this is the same type of jealousy that happens in every form of media with lesser men, they judge and dictate what is good and pleasing to them, as they live out their fantasy's and passion on the creativity and thoughts of another man. So, is it so wrong that J.D. Salinger decided after his "big book' to cash in, live in the country and never write again? That way, us critics would never judge him again. As Salinger often wrote, "we are just phonies", and you know what, he is right.

"Forgive me Majesty, I am a vulgar man, but i assure you my music is not." Mozart Amadeus

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Back at the Ranch

I love this driveway...