Random thoughts... - by Tocky
Tocky on 23/8/2021 at 04:59
My granddaughter Aubrey got her first commission today! She had painted a picture of our dog in watercolor and someone on Facebook saw it and wanted her to paint their cat. My daughter has been been painting peoples animals on commission for quite a while now and is making good money at it but this is the first time for my ten year old granddaughter. It's not high art but it's pretty cool and I'll take any happy news I can get. She isn't half bad at it. The one she did of our dog is very recognizably our dog. It's nice to know something of yourself is passed down to the next generation. And then the next.
Tell me something that made you happy today.
bjack on 23/8/2021 at 23:30
Tocky, that is really cool. My wife and I have paintings/portraits of all out cats over the last 4 decades. 2 are still alive. Your grand daughter is doing a great service.
Sometime happy? My dad sorted out his Uber account afte4r letting it lapse for years and changing his phone #, then having a stroke and not being able to drive... He can now get around with Uber if needed. He figured out the phone change without my direction. Praise the Lord. I'm 1500KM away and cannot easily take him to the Doc.
I also sorted out a bit of kit on my Matchless G12.
Tocky on 24/8/2021 at 03:32
I'm glad to hear that, bjack. I'm sure that is a load off your mind.
While the electric company were cutting limbs away from the line at my moms they cut the line instead. Electricity was out for two hours. I got a message on my phone from her life alarm and it alarmed me. I called them and they said never mind it was the electricity problem. When I talked to mom I found out three ambulances had shown up to her house. It's good to know it works so well but I hope they don't charge her for that.
Tocky on 29/8/2021 at 06:34
I reread The Willows by Algernon Blackwood today. It's a short read and best done in one sitting. I lay in my hammock with just enough breeze to keep mosquitoes off and read without interruption. This was the third time. The first was when I was about 15. I thought it a bit boring then. No monsters or shambling dead. Just two guys in a canoe who stop amid some willow islands on the Danube river. Most of it is simply in the heads of the two characters. Not all though. And that not all is what tests their sanity. The second time I was in my thirties and hadn't even recalled I had read it. Someone on PBS station said it was the most terrifying read they had ever had so I bought a book of his stories and read them. It meant more to me then. Horror is more in the mind and by that time I understood that.
This time it got me thinking about the time those limbs broke around me in the woods and that odd feeling wove itself into the story. I thought of all the times I tried to rationalize what happened just like the main character of Mr. Blackwood's story. The few truly bizarre things which have happened to me I have always tried to laugh off or find excuses for. Often both. And I still do. That is why this story is so disquieting for me. It occurred to me that perhaps having read this story early in life that my mind even made up my own version of it a few times. I know this isn't true but my mind wants to think so because it sounds rational. At any rate, it is interesting to hear someone talk to themselves the way that I myself have done. Even knowing it is a made up story it makes me feel not so alone and not so insane to have had strange experiences somehow.
Tocky on 21/11/2021 at 03:25
We redid the Hot Springs trip and I had no trepidation at all this time. I knew it would go perfect. Of course that would sound more believable if I had stated that to you before we left but whatever. I just wanted to share some of my trip. Things worked out especially cool this time as if to make up for the other time, which was also great except for losing so much money.
This is the Arlington. It was built with gangster money specifically for gangsters, Capone to be specific. Hot Springs was built as a gambling town with only one rule: no violence. As such it became a sanctuary for all gangs and a safe haven. She is well worn but still a lovely lady.
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https://i.imgur.com/jLXIAVQ.jpg?1Here is one of Capones room. You can rent it now but it was his alone for a time. We didn't rent it. It's three times the rent of a regular room and maybe we will some other time but you have to book way in advance.
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https://i.imgur.com/TR0KeSH.jpg?1
Tocky on 21/11/2021 at 04:09
We may not have even had to use valet. We could have just parked on the street but we wound up doing it anyway. I know I'm going on about it but I really do hate it. Anyway we had breakfast and a guy wandered in and began playing the grand. Weird to eat breakfast of all meals to Chariots of Fire and other dramatic music. Just as I was about to ask him for Claire DeLune he wandered off again. I had a feeling so I asked the waitress and she said he is just some guy off the street who shows up every now and then. I told her they should hire him. The breakfast was crap BTW. He was the best part and worth paying for even though I later found out it was complimentary and I shouldn't have. The guy should have at least had a tip jar. I liked him. Eat elsewhere if he isn't there. Just look at that sweet face. He could play perfectly too.
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https://i.imgur.com/YJMz8vK.jpg?1
Tocky on 21/11/2021 at 04:39
A hot springs is directly across the street but you may have to swing wide of Hare Krishna's as we did. It's a little park there. On down that street are lots of old steam and massage houses. Our hotel had a floor for that but I don't like strangers touching me. There is also a historic old place right out of the thirties we visited which is free to roam around in. Across the street is Madame Tousads (sp?) great grand daughters wax museum. And just up the hill is a tower that overlooks the whole town and then some. I have pictures for all this but I'm not sure anyone wants to see them. I know I've already shown you more than you asked for already.
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https://i.imgur.com/ZFqwHm7.jpg?1WTF
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https://i.imgur.com/hxVThVO.jpg?1Inline Image:
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https://i.imgur.com/r0MetEh.jpg?1Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/i4z8mHO.jpg?1Eh. Maybe more later if anyone wants.
Oh! A lot of the steam rooms and workout and bath stuff was used by the baseball teams to limber up during spring practice. Dizzy Dean and the like.
zacharias on 21/11/2021 at 08:28
Great pics and report Tocky. You are looking windswept and interesting, as Mr Connolly would say.