wilderness imagination
The clearest way into the Universe is through the wilderness mountains.
~
leave the city of your comfort
travel into the wilderness of intuition
walk upon the hot virgin dirt
and let free your deepest imagination
no more pain degradation hurt
and your soul is one with all creation
deep in the lonely barren desert
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
go, boldly go
toward the mountains of the moon
Scenes on Sunday ~ Zion Canyon
Where history deepens one’s appreciation of the canyon’s beauty.
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
You could walk out of Zion Canyon
but I wouldn’t like to try it.
Rain in England
Rain, rain go away, come again another day.
Right now, where I live, it’s raining cats and dogs. That’s a bit of a shame because it means I’m going to be stuck in the garret until it eases off a bit. Going out in the rain and cold is one reason lots of us English people seem to have coughs and colds a lot of the time.
It’s going to rain for most of the day here, and in fact it’s raining over most of the UK. Our Met. Office have flood warnings posted for several coastal towns ~ luckily not right here.
A lot of Americans think that it rains all the time here in England. As a matter of fact, in comparison with some places in the world, we don’t get that much rain. On average, where I live we get about a couple of feet of rain in a year. In comparison, supposedly sunny Hawaii has an average of 5 feet of rainfall in a year. Perhaps Hawaii is not ever going to be right at the top of my bucket list.
Some say that it rains every day in England. And that we English must love the rain. All I know is that we do get a little sunshine, usually in the middle of July.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
what a grey day
California Flowers
Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
In early June this year I will be flying out to Southern California, and then on to Arizona for a week or so.
One of the things I like best about SoCal is the beautiful flowers ~ the like of which we don’t see here in England.
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
perhaps I should get a book on the wild flowers of the USA
Bad Weather
there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather
Snow in New Mexico
As far as I’m concerned the weather here is bad today ~ gale force winds and driving rain, courtesy of an Atlantic storm sweeping in from the south-south-west. Some fool decided that severe storms here should have names, and this one is called Erik ~ pathetic. Hurricanes should have names, minor storms over the British Isles shouldn’t. (Actually it’s Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Office which names storms here ~pathetic.)
For all of history, today, and into the foreseeable future mankind’s activities have been /are / will be dependent upon the weather. Agriculture relies on the right kind of weather at the right time, travel can be disrupted due to high winds rain, and snow, and power consumption rises if the weather is too hot or too cold.
Right now 70 million Americans across the Midwest are bracing themselves for dangerous storms bringing high winds, cold, rain, hail, and the possibility of a tornado or two. Now that’s really bad weather. But then America does have extremes of climate.
Weather refers to what’s going on in the atmosphere at a particular place, over a short period of time; temperature, humidity, wind, rain / snow, clouds, visibility….. Climate is the long-term weather pattern over a large area over many, many years ~ long enough to generate meaningful statistical data ~ say a hundred years or more.
Which is why all this brouhaha over catastrophic anthropogenic climate change is just so much crap. If global temperatures show a significant warming over the next 30 years or so, then maybe there may be something to it ~ or more likely it’s still just changes in long-term weather patterns driven by the usual suspects.
Our weather is created by the sun, and sometimes catastrophically modified by rare events such as a very major volcanic eruption, (Krakatoa), or a comet / meteorite hitting the surface of the earth, (whatever killed off the dinosaurs). Occasionally local weather can be catastrophically changed by the actions of man; the Great London Smogs for example, but those events are rare and temporary.
Some say that man is killing the planet. And that we need to stop using cars, aeroplanes, electricity, living in houses, and definitely stop eating meat. All I know is that every now and again Chicken Little runs around screaming that the sky is falling.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
snow on the high plains isn’t so very rare
we are not all crazy
Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Due to a bout of insomnia I found myself listening to President Trump’ State of the Union address. What an uninspiring speaker that man is. Having said that, I am in no doubt that Mr. Trump will be re-elected for a second term in office.
One of his controversial standpoints concerns the building of a security wall / fence along the southern border of the USA with Mexico ~ to prevent illegal immigration, people smuggling, drugs and gun smuggling. The Democrats / Liberal Left are especially incensed by this policy, as are the liberal left in the United Kingdom incredibly angry about our referendum’s requirement that immigration into the UK from Europe and elsewhere be immediately curbed.
There is no doubt that one of the main reasons the British people voted decisively in 2016 to leave the European Union was to drastically cut immigration of all kinds, illegal and otherwise. This is not xenophobia, it’s common sense. Other than very skilled individuals, where there is an immediate job waiting, immigrants offer nothing whatsoever to their new country. In fact they are a net drain on scarce resources. There is also compelling evidence that immigrants are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime.
Things were different before this modern technological era, and now that population pressure is a very serious issue. In the past immigrants filled valuable roles in society, but today even ditch diggers have to be able to drive a back-hoe.
Theodore Roosevelt’s words are still applicable today. When I travel to the Southern United States it’s noticeable how many people have Spanish as their first / only language. In parts of England many Asian female immigrants cannot speak English. It’s sad, but one cannot be a true member of society if you don’t routinely speak the language. In this modern technological world, one cannot be a valuable member of society if you don’t speak English.
Some say that we should welcome ethnic diversity. And that opposing unfettered immigration is racist. All I know is that you’d have to be crazy to allow all and sundry to live in your home.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
immigrants do fill lots of roles in the hospitality industry.
Scenes on Sunday ~ Memories
sometimes, the good memories are all we have left
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
don’t run away into the desert
but enjoy your desert adventures
the interconnectedness of agribusiness and you
Gambling with your health and well-being for the sake of more profitable hamburgers.
One of the main purposes of genetically modifying food plants such as wheat and corn is to make them resistant to a weed-killer called Roundup, which is sprayed on food crops several times in a season ~ including right before harvesting to dry the crop out. The principal active ingredient of Roundup is a chemical called Glyphosate. Of many lies told about glyphosate is that it was discovered by Monsanto in 1970. In fact this nasty chemical was first patented as a descaling and chelating agent for boilers and pipes by the Stauffer Chemical Co. in 1961. It’s a drain cleaner.
Glyphosate is a poisonous organophosphorus carcinogen.
When I was a boy, learning about farming, I was told about field rotation, (or crop rotation), which is the practice of changing what the farmer grows on any piece of land on a four-year cycle. This prevents such nasty things as soil erosion, soil exhaustion, soil poisoning, and poor soil fertility ~ all of which lead to poor crop yields.
Modern agribusiness doesn’t practice crop rotation, instead it uses monoculture farming. This destructive method of land use requires large amounts of artificial fertilisers and pesticides to make it work, and it leads to an unbalanced and unsustainable ecosystem. Agribusiness in the USA does not work in harmony with the land, instead it beats the land into submission to produce larger and larger amounts of poisonous food and drink.
These are very similar farming practices to those which caused the Great Plains dust bowl of the 1930’s, except modern farming practices are far more intensive and artificial than anything dreamed of by the farmers who helped cause the Great Depression. Today, agriculture is based on very capital-intensive heavy machinery.
If a farmer in a typical high plains farming community decides to eschew intensive chemical-based monoculture and embrace more ecologically sustainable organic agriculture, he / she is likely to be ostracised by the rest of his / her community. Peer pressure is a powerful thing and very difficult to ignore. Most farmers are in denial about the damage they are doing to the soil, the rivers, the sea, and the wider environment. Not to mention the poisons they are putting into your food and drink.
These chemical fertilisers and pesticides can take decades to completely clear from the environment. The half-life of glyphosate in soil and water is much longer than Monsanto would like to admit. Monsanto is a German company.
Some say they would never shop at a farmers market or buy organic produce. And some people don’t believe that intensive farming practices are killing them. All I know is that in 1945 about 45% of American food was grown in people’s back yards.
And, by the way, probiotic drinks are very bad for your health. The live bacteria in probiotic drinks originated in cows.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
anything made with grains is bad for you
unless it’s organic, then it’s not so bad
Scenes on Sunday ~ Seascapes
I must go down to the sea again ~ to the lonely sea and the sky
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Santa Monica
The end of the old Route 66
Solitary Tourist
Alone again ~ naturally.
At half-past-eight this morning I’m heading off on an all Island Grand Tour ~ although how much of 326 sq mile Lanzerote one can see in one day I’m not certain.
What’s just as interesting is why I’ve chosen to do this while nobody else in my little collection of vacationers wanted to take this tour. It seems that I still have this odd desire to be on my own, doing my own thing, without ever wanting to ‘fit in’ with a group. As it goes, I really don’t like being in a group.
I never ‘join’ groups, clubs, associations, or societies. In fact, a lot of the time I live outside of day-to-day, ordinary ‘society’. Most people both bore and irritate me ~ those people who blog here on WordPress are notable exceptions. Perhaps that withdrawal from society is my loss, but I think I’m too late to change myself now.
It’s true that my lifestyle makes it harder to meet women…..
Oddly enough, the women in my little group of fellow holidaymakers seem to recognise that, and have suggested that I join a dating site ~ Match.com. They were only half-joking.
Maybe I’ll think about that while I’m sitting on the coach during this Island Tour. In-between taking lots of pictures.
~
Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.com
Lanzerote is pretty
JackCollier7 
You must be logged in to post a comment.