To the selfish, like me: Feeling of loneliness begets self-doubt, Self-doubt begets a lowering or lost of self/assumed worth, Lower perceptions of self worth creates personal discomfort, Unresolved Discomfort beget anger, Anger begets blame. And then: GET OUT OF THE WAY and WATCH OUT! I am able to say or threaten to do things to people that are that are unkind, discouraging and really irrational. And do you know What? It all starts from my uncomfortable assumed position on my-own created pity pot - which I call "Poor ME!  OK today I am doing something - What? I have a few options. I'm in the process of choosing. BUT I KNOW THAT I MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY LIFE AND HOW I FEEL! Hey, Thanks for reading, I feel better! 

Hello, you may remember me - I'm the guy who started this blog like a high test drag racer and then ran out of gas before the race had really begun! Sorry! Things are OK but far from perfect! What's that - so what isn't like that? That is one hel'ava an attitude to offer a guy who was just trying to be interesting. Well let's see if there is anything that you've missed, OK or that I didn't tell you! I'm now 72 and feeling it both physically and mentally - Physically-a lot of thing hurt and some things don't work well! Mentally - I find it very easy to forget to know what I was saying or doing - what was I saying?  No it is really not that bad but there are times…  Anyhow I am having problems finding a sense of usefulness! Retirement has to many Tuesday in each week - periods of "nothing to do". The emptiness emphasizes the "emptiness"! I feel like a bi-polar child filled with anxiousness to be involved but no one or no where can I find satisfaction and personally rewarding involvement. I always like the "bright and hot lights" but now someone turned the switch off! Some have made personal suggestions and I have failed to follow up - my bad! My wife is keeping herself busy ( to busy) and I resent it.  My imagination has created fears which easily turn out to be anger.  I may go and seek help from someone who can kick me in the right direction - Hell any other direction!  Thanks for reading this stuff - but you really should go to the public library and pick up any book.  It has to be better than this! But thank you, you have given me some relief. I'll be back more frequently - I need you!

Off Again, Off again, to meet the Kin

Well here I am ( 2:25 am) too restless to sleep since tomorrow we are off on "first leg" of this 2011 Summer's vacations.  We are beginning with a drive to Vienna, Va., to our Daughter and Son in law house. Grandma (Lynn) will serve as "Grandma"to Ava and Cal.  I will go to G'town for their "one week - summer non-credit course" - Sacred Scripture.  After +/- 12 days will return to Miami alone. Lynn will eventually fly from DC with Ava to Buffalo while I and two of our other Grands, Greggy and Patrick, will fly from Miami to Buffalo for our "2011 Grandma" Summer trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. And then… I'll fly back to DC, and we will drive to Chicago to take our son's and daughter in law's child Tommy on a separate - highly personal trip for a few days to Indiana and a Wild Wolf park and some other site that I can't recall. Return to Chicago and begin a drive indirectly to Miami with our son, Jud who will end up in Belize. The last part of the trip with Jud needs some tightening up but we are planning to at least go to Pro-football Hall of Fame, Canton Ohio, and Vienna, Va. Other Possibilities Marion Heights, Pa ( Grandparent  burial, my Mom's birth place ), Camden Yards ( Babe Ruth's memorial), Phila. ( Birth of USA), Valley Forge)Victors of our Revolution,  Harpers Ferry, W.Va ( John Brown's attack and arrest), Richmond, (Birth of the Confederacy), Atlanta ?, Jacksonville ?, Miami - then Jud is off to a great adventure in Beliez.  We haven't started and I am tired already. See ya!

The Second Best Hotel in the World and the best in the world

OK so you think that I am bragging. Well after you vies the following pictures, see if you agree and we can now say that we stayed there. Now I don’t know if they have ever stayed at my house or yours, but Travel and Leisure magazine did a survey and The Oberoi Rajvilas, Japur got the most positive nods! Take a look at these photos and turn green. This was the views of our doorway when we registered. We had a gigantic bedroom with a bathroom that was dream like.

Above is our view in the morning from the front porch and below is our pathway from our front door to the rest of the facility





The property housed an active 260 year old temple to the Hindu god Shiva with its own holy man who chanted after the sun went down and kindly gave the red dot or bindi to all willing to accept. We got ours as well as some “sacred” string wrapped around our wrists, in FSU COLORS



The restaurant was absolutly delightful. We ate on a patio surrounded with gas torches and in which Indian musicians are playing traditional Indian instruments. Our servers were all dressed in magnificant saris and all men worn turbans. The food was filled with tastes pretty unfamilar to western tastes but wonderful.






Swimming pool vs. our bath – tough choice Huh?

Elephanta Island for real this time

Ok, this is about our last full day in Mumbai (Well right now as I am writing, we are in Jaipur - actually Nepal – it was Monday in Jaipur and we ran into e-mailing difficulties. Just to get my head on straight- we flew from Miami on Tuesday afternoon took two flights to the other side of the world and stayed in a wonderful hotel. Perhaps the best one in Mumbai! The same hotel in which President Obama and his entourage will stay when he visits India at the end of October / beginning of November – the COPY-CAT!. Check it out on the internet – The Taj Majal in Mumbai.WOW!!!




Since that first night on which we being so tired, we slept until 1:30 in the afternoon of the following day – THURSDAY! Yeah, that’s what I asked too – where did Wednesday go? - The whole explanation seemed like that old bit by Abbott and Costello - “Who’s on First!” but any how, we first toured Mumbai with the young guides on day #1. Then FRIDAY we went with an adult Indian women to Elephanta Island by boat. It is a tourist site, about 7 to 8 miles from the harbor of Mumbai. UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage site. By the way if any one expect me to write about elephants, hold on - since you are wrong! The island has caves filled with massive Hindu religious statutory similar in general design to a natural material bas-relief appearance in that they were hacked out of the natural stone some twelve to fourteen hundred years ago.



Well back to the actual tourist visit +/- 60 minute boat ride on a vessel which didn’t meet any USCG standards except testing how many people could het on board. Once at the island (and after I put my rosaries away) we had to climb up stairway that was not too stable, up to a dock, buy some tickets for a railroad system whose cars were possibly 4 X HO gauge and into which six to eight people were expected to comfortably to sit even if built to seat four! That 5-10 minute ride took us to the base of another Indian means of transportation - climbing up a never ending flight of landings and stairs. Now not being a complainer but climbing up some 125+ steps + landings, really challenged my “No Complaint Mantra Policy.” But there always, well maybe not always, a silver lining! The stairs were bordered on both sides by tables, filled with creative but absolutely un-necessary items to force we,tourist, to remember these challenging stairs or to pick up and get latch on to these items for some unexplainable reason or as I did - to “leaned upon” the tables while climbing up the stairs and raised platforms, I finally and if I say so myself – surprisingly- I made it to the top. The natural rock has been chiseled away and great rooms have been created with columns and statues, which like Michelangelo said, buried in the rock waiting to come out through the hand of the artisan. I will try to attach some pictures which I find to be representative of this wonderful site. Wish me luck!

Jaipur Second City For Us

By now I hope you realize that I kind of falling for India. It’s OK, so is Lynn! It is not a perfect romance. The fact that lovers are human and not perfect is part of my problem. We just feel more fulfilled or believe that we are than we are as individuals. We are emotionally and physically accepted, we assume that we are better for it or at least feel better.

Both India and I have our foibles. Mine, you already know and I am not confessing to you about any more. India has population, limited employment and therefore poverty and distracting willing to show enhancing colors. Like most levels of appreciated culture, they are not typical, they are unusual. People, who question their worth may seek other camaflagued and seem to want or need to escape from who or what they feel they really are, to a decorated and distracted self. In the States it may be cars, clothes and music, not to mention colognes, designer names on clothing, tummy-tucks, hair transplants, breast enhancement and tattoos. `In India, from a guy who hasn’t yet spent 100 awake hours here yet, it seems that there is an demonstrated cultural intensity, There is “blandness” to look over, around or through the need, be it of the street beggars, the crowds on the streets, in the trains, or the traffic-India had assumed some things as we do when we assume the summer heat, mosquitos and sun burns. They are, have been and will always be, so be it. But as we distract ourselves and others with bathing suits, beach towels and #999 quality sun block, Indian chooses their distractors of intense colorful cotton saris and spicy foods which we might call hot or gaudy– but we’re wrong. Theirs are enriching colors and their food, spice and all are enhancing.It make food a event. Indian convert live from what it may be to what they want it to be, as best they can manage their reality

Take Jaipur, our second city. We flew from Mumbai for about an hour with half of the plane filled with French tourist. That kind of an experience will make you a little less proud of your European roots. Surprisingly, the phrase , “Please keep you seats” does translate well into French. Well Jaipur is called the pink city. Why, because some one more important that me but who I can’t remember thought that PINK was the color everything should be.




By the way, Lynn is the one without the turban. The fellow was our driver and behind them is the city gate. Jaipor was a wild and busy city. Although, it was Sunday after noon Jaipor was hopping. By the way this is the driver who drove to mass at St. Francis. By the way when we drove into the parking lot of St. Francis, the priest was in the parking lot greeting folks Of course even with my newly gained Indian tan, I must have stood out as “whitey”, and the priest came over to me and somewhat apologetically said that the mass was going to be said in the local language of Hindi. Hey if he knew how I have struggled back home understanding, he may not have apologized. Interestingly it was Mission Sunday and I thought how often back home we have thought of these people as the “missions” and yet here they (we) were contributing in the one collection for the missions. – The other missions!

We went shopping later in the after noon and Lynn and I really try to haggle – no we were not to effective but that did not stop us from trying and buying!

Elephanta Island and other things or Day 2 MUMBAI

With its large and growing population, India has a need for transportation – MASS TRANSPORTATION! Lynn had arranged for us to take a city tour on our first full day in Mumbai. Our two, young and helpful, teenager guides had it all set up and we did it.  Walking about  this gigantic city would have been impossible but we did a large area near the harbor and I vetoed any greater distances. Mumbai is retail or discount or just plain bargaining. I’m not good at it so to immunize myself I didn’t buy on that trip.  Well we walked mostly around the area near our hotel or basically just within walking distance for complainers like me and in a climatic condition which would be only slightly above the heat-humidity ratio of a  sausa. Challenging but  It was great and strange and enlightening and sad within every twenty five steps.

We were taken to a small building where much of the works of Ghandi were stored.  Needless to say he is very respected and should be. The walls were decorated with some impressive Ghandi statement. One caught my eye:

     “There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it thought I do not see it. That informing power or spirit is God.”

We, at the invitation of our hostesses, stopped for some refreshments and lunch, Eating is some countries and India being one of those causes we of the gentler stomachs of the West to watch what they consume. Some of these dishes do not react well with our epicurean sensitivities and cultured palates,  You would thnk after eating hot dogs from a corner vender or day old pizza, we would have toughened up!  Nope! Being careful is the rule!  And don’t droing the water!!!But we are on vacation and did I mentioned it was a free lunch -  TRY IT!

Now we were additionally blessed to have two Co-tourist who although now Canadian were originally Indians. These two women, mother and daughter, were great company, great translators and good deciders of what we should eat and what we shouldn’t.  Also then were a kind and laughing for my comments! Great side kicks and friends.

After lunch we were unable to get two cabs so again walking was the method of movement. Now there are more cabs in Mumbai than anyone could imagine but the number of people make a the ratio more favorable to walking. Crossing streets are a challenge. Remember that the US traffic patters are WRONG and BACKWARD! Here, Right is Left and Left is Right.  The driver sit towards the center of the road, but gave me the impression that he was routing around in the glove box and the vehicle was going in its own selected direction. Now surprising with the size of the crowds, many being walkers often attempting to cross streets, teeming with speedy traffic more interested in using their horns than their brakes, there are not an ambulance on every corner. We may have been taught to look – Left, Right Left but  here that would be a unpublished suicide note.  Some dircve gave me the line that here in India there are three things that every drivers needs.  Good Brakes, Good Horn and Good Luck!

Bottom line after our walk-run and car jumping, we took a city bus ride.  WE and 100,000 others per bus. The buses have open doors and the ceiling is covered with innumerable overhead individual handles – of course that’s another game – Grab-it-if-you-can. Short people are out of luck or at least may be out the open side door if the bus takes a turn. Crowded- no need to comment-a pick pocket’s paradise. Lynn wore a waist belt under her clothes and I had a packet that fit around my neck, hanging down under my shirts over my belly – didn’t add to that slender look for which I was shooting. Following our bus trip, we pilled out or should I say were pushed out by those who seemed to have a place that were going-HOME! We were at the train station. It was late in the after noon. People who come into the city of Mumbai were going home. A sea of faces, each had the facial determination of one of us in 6:00 o’clock “rush”traffic. Again, overhead hand belts and crowded, thank God for Lynn’s lighter complexion or I wouldn’t have know her since there was a great  number of people that separated and like us Indian come in a variety of heights.  Lynn was one of the few sari-less women.  Indian women are beautiful and their choice of color are brilliant. Red, saffron, orange, purple with wood block patterns – you can’t say whichis the prettier or prettiest since you opinion will only last a moment until you see the next lady. Many women wear the red dot on the forehead – the bindi.  A sign for a married women, or if men, a faithful and deep believer !  No not in Marriage - in Hinduism. See you in Elephanta Island II