Traveling is always an adventure with me...it's never "did I forget anything?"; rather, it's always a "what did I forget this time?" I imagine many of you can relate...and so it was I dusted off the art show cobwebs and loaded the car for a one-day art show in the quaint mountain town of Saluda, NC just off I-26.
(downtown Saluda, NC)
The trip was smooth and uneventful...got in early enough to unload and 'set-up shop' before most of the other vendors...I ended up forgetting two small support arms for the front shade flap, but given my booth's space north-facing direction with a cinderblock wall on my southside, didn't figure that was any great shakes. Looked like I was in pretty good shape with the supplies, all things considered...
Except for one small detail, especially useful when traveling good distances and 'on the hoof' for a couple of days...it became apparent that what did not jump in my pocket (which meant I laid it on some counter in haste of being distracted to do something else), I forgot to bring my cell phone. One big, loud Homer Simpson "D'OH!" on 3, everybody....
The morning was especially chilly at 43 degrees...while many of the booths warmed quickly with sun, several of us were in this protected deep shape up against a cinderblock wall of a store, which added to the length of the sustained chill a couple of hours beyond what everyone else experienced. Let me be the first to tell you Native Style flutes can be temporarily cantankerous in such temperatures, so I was glad the crowds waited a little while to pick up; by then the flutes had acclimated and were back on pitch. Nice day overall...no complaints. One big "D'OH!" but no complaints.
(Ye Ol' Ugly Boy Flutes with giant Kokopellis guarding the flutes)
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Wouldn't we all get along better if things in this world didn't get so dad-gum political? Ego, self-pride, and self-righteousness sure have ways of mussing up the works most times. My hope and prayer is that one by one EVERYbody starts basing their decisions on what is for the best for all of society, not just a favored group or particular belief...
I've read most of the public details, but still not seeing this issue as one way or another...one of the big articles in Sunday's paper announced the sudden departure (resignations) of two top-level administrators in the National Weather Service (NWS), overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). David Johnson, Director, and John Jones, Deputy Director, announced their resignations Friday to their staff, one day after sharp public criticsm from Bill Proensa, Director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
At the crux of the deserved denouncement was a $700,000 budget cut for operations and research at NHC flying in the face of some $4 million appropriated for advertising and promoting its 200th anniversary (the government disagrees with that number). The resignations did not mention Proenza's comments. There is much more to the story, to be fair...accusations of some NOAA officials trying to bring the NWS and NHC and other subsidiaries more firmly under NOAA's direct control, funding, and influence, to help brand NOAA as one big entity instead of the perception of being spread out in various niches. You can read more about it HERE...lots of intricate detail for "Enquiring" minds...
It's a knife that cuts both directions, in terms of future competitive funding among other things. Little things like Bush's proposed budget which provides NO funding for hurricane research flights...science without research...now there's a brilliant idea...and when you put these representative numbers up against the hundreds of millions we're sending to Afghanistan alone, you can't help but wonder what's going to happen as we continue to erode our Nation's own foundation through neglect, benign or otherwise. Something seems very wrong in Denmark, and it goes far, far beyond this NOAA issue.
(downtown Saluda, NC)The trip was smooth and uneventful...got in early enough to unload and 'set-up shop' before most of the other vendors...I ended up forgetting two small support arms for the front shade flap, but given my booth's space north-facing direction with a cinderblock wall on my southside, didn't figure that was any great shakes. Looked like I was in pretty good shape with the supplies, all things considered...
Except for one small detail, especially useful when traveling good distances and 'on the hoof' for a couple of days...it became apparent that what did not jump in my pocket (which meant I laid it on some counter in haste of being distracted to do something else), I forgot to bring my cell phone. One big, loud Homer Simpson "D'OH!" on 3, everybody....The morning was especially chilly at 43 degrees...while many of the booths warmed quickly with sun, several of us were in this protected deep shape up against a cinderblock wall of a store, which added to the length of the sustained chill a couple of hours beyond what everyone else experienced. Let me be the first to tell you Native Style flutes can be temporarily cantankerous in such temperatures, so I was glad the crowds waited a little while to pick up; by then the flutes had acclimated and were back on pitch. Nice day overall...no complaints. One big "D'OH!" but no complaints.
(Ye Ol' Ugly Boy Flutes with giant Kokopellis guarding the flutes)--------------------------------------
Wouldn't we all get along better if things in this world didn't get so dad-gum political? Ego, self-pride, and self-righteousness sure have ways of mussing up the works most times. My hope and prayer is that one by one EVERYbody starts basing their decisions on what is for the best for all of society, not just a favored group or particular belief...
I've read most of the public details, but still not seeing this issue as one way or another...one of the big articles in Sunday's paper announced the sudden departure (resignations) of two top-level administrators in the National Weather Service (NWS), overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). David Johnson, Director, and John Jones, Deputy Director, announced their resignations Friday to their staff, one day after sharp public criticsm from Bill Proensa, Director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
At the crux of the deserved denouncement was a $700,000 budget cut for operations and research at NHC flying in the face of some $4 million appropriated for advertising and promoting its 200th anniversary (the government disagrees with that number). The resignations did not mention Proenza's comments. There is much more to the story, to be fair...accusations of some NOAA officials trying to bring the NWS and NHC and other subsidiaries more firmly under NOAA's direct control, funding, and influence, to help brand NOAA as one big entity instead of the perception of being spread out in various niches. You can read more about it HERE...lots of intricate detail for "Enquiring" minds...
It's a knife that cuts both directions, in terms of future competitive funding among other things. Little things like Bush's proposed budget which provides NO funding for hurricane research flights...science without research...now there's a brilliant idea...and when you put these representative numbers up against the hundreds of millions we're sending to Afghanistan alone, you can't help but wonder what's going to happen as we continue to erode our Nation's own foundation through neglect, benign or otherwise. Something seems very wrong in Denmark, and it goes far, far beyond this NOAA issue.
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