A Million Things You Don't Know You Don't Know

There really is no way that you could know everything

even if you spent all of your time learning

traveling, researching or experiencing

there is just too much in this world to learn it all.

I decided after traveling across New Mexico for six years

that I wanted to see the White Sands National Monument though

I had no idea whatsoever what it was other than white

sand - it is formerly a lake between two mountain ranges just

an hour or so from the border...

the sand is actually gypsum

a soft white or gray mineral consisting of hydrated calcium sulfate. It occurs chiefly in sedimentary deposits and is used to make plaster of Paris and fertilizers, and in the building industry.

It is the largest deposit of gypsum found in the world. 

This is a photo taken from space with the wind blowing which means

anyone living near this unique area spends a lot of time

sweeping up gypsum on any given day

like living on the beach where the salt invades your home.

I thought the entire area was white sands

but the top part is the missile range and the right side

is the Air Force Base and town.

It was a long way to go to sit in sand but it is a very cool

place - the sand does not get hot because it isn't really sand

but if you want to hike it make sure you are in shape

because it is just dune after dune after dune

with no landmarks...

barb

6 Books of The Vistior Free to Download

Saturday [today] April 9th and Sunday April 10th

The six books of The Visitor are free to download on Kindle.

Stephen King, George R.R. Martin and Me

I have a blank bucket list because honestly

I can't concentrate long enough

to believe what I want to do right now

is what I want to do tomorrow

or next week..

so when I do something that makes me

happy or excites me in some way

I add it to my 'things I didn't know I wanted to do'

non-bucket list..

I have tickets to the auditorium in June

to listen to Stephen King

and George R.R. Martin discuss whatever

the hell they want to discuss

because I just want to be there.

I know rock and roll moves me to the point

that I love to go to concerts

and I did go to one Comicon which

definitely was checked off the list of those things

I really don't want to redo.

At the Comicon we listened

to several comic writers/artists including

Stan Lee

He was funny and entertaining

but it has been years since I have read a comic.

So take in all the bands

excluding The Eagles who are still on my

list despite seeing them so many times

but this upcoming event

has blown my socks away.

Stoked...totally, totally stoked!

barb

Bookmarking My Place in Time

"Youth is wasted on the Young"

it isn't that they do not appreciate those wonderful

vigorous days and years

that window in one's life where everything

is new and exciting sometime scary

it's really not that at all

it is an observation when one gets on in years

when the body slows down

and the days seem to just melt together

it is at that moment

you realize

that with age comes wisdom

understanding and clarity of the hourglass

it is when

you develop hindsight

based on years of living and absorbing

based on experimentation

or denial of abilities and desires

it is at that time

that pure minute of life

that you go through the 'what if I had' thoughts

'what I could have done'

that you pick up the brass lantern

rubbing it with a spit and shine of hindsight

'please let me try again'

just one more time around the track

with the knowledge

gathered like a basket of wildflowers

on a rainy morn'

it is not that it is wasted

for it is a fresh adventure of the heart and mind

a learning curve of life

without a playbook, without an idea

of the powers

deep inside of us hide

I shall bookmark this very moment

savoring each thing I have learned

never regretting but always

wishing

for more time

let me not forget.

barb

Moral throught the Compass of Time

There is nothing that I read that does not make me explore

my feelings, the message or just my curiosity

That being said...I was reading a post on my feed

it was from a distance relative but we're not friends so I couldn't respond

or maybe it was good because it contained one of those

personal buttons that should not be pushed in public

So much, so very much of what we believe or what we think

should not ever be put out in public in black and white

sure you can delete when you realize that it was not a necessary

opinion in the world of a million and one opinions a minute

but then the WTF kicks in and you just want to take a stand

for what I am not sure but your fingers itch as the hover

Morality is tossed around as a 'thing' - is it a thing or is it even

something that can be assigned a definition

"concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior

and the goodness or badness of human character"

Of course, you find morality in fiction, in movies and the lips

of those who believe they are morality checkers

When did one's behavior start to be defined as good or bad

Certainly if you walk up to someone and kill them

you might be considered to have a bad moral basis but

we train millions of people to kill, we come from an ancestral

pool where killing was acceptable, where be strong and cold

meant that you were powerful and good

Morality is alive and well
but despite the fact that it is used in many ways
morality is something that each of us must define for ourselves
and yet I find if you just do what comes naturally that
you don't have to define it for the smug, sanctimoniously
people will assign you a place on their compass of judgement

If you do it, accept it
If you do it, take responsibility for it
If you do it, don't explain it
If you do it, accept that some will not accept it
Follow your own compass for it is yours and yours alone.


barb