Dear Friends and Enemies.
i have an addiction. i gotta write. In these wild and crazy times, my peace comes via my muses via this clumsy keyboard. I actually like long hand scribbling mo betta and my archiveist will find plenty of those. but this format will suffice to cure my need/addiction to myself.
That being said my following notes are meant as a fix for my writing Jones and nothing less. Not an exact truth. Not an exact lie.
3 pitched the idea of his airplane raffle at for a plane ride at the Flagler Airport during a show he was helping sponser with the partners Berkshire/Hatthway. Flagler Freedom Fest. Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 11-13. He came to a schog,inc. meeting, got up, made a pitch. Then printed up the tickets and gave me half and a special offer that who ever bought a ticket that night would go into a special drawing and win the first ride. I sold 6 tickets. 5 of em to members who would not even be at the run, due to prior arraingments, but wanted to donate to a good cause. I look up to and admire these men/women. Truthfully, i expected to sell a lot more, but ok. This chapter has an annuall outing to the great wilderness up north at Camp Ellie May and that weekend is theirs. Veterans Weekend is packed with events and the competition is active. Which is the way it should be.
i stressed over the route up, knowing Linda does not like the super slab and only tolerates it for me. 415 is the standard, well traveled route, but longer. I even mapped out a route going up 11, which is a delicious country road, but requires 20 minutes on the super slab.
Saturday morning finally rolls around and i pack the essentials making sure i have a brush for my Lindas hair. It is her hair, but it is my job to make sure that brush is packed. I've learned to pack two. "We have to be home early for the dogs." is a statement i heard, hmmm, a couple of times since telling Linda of this run. Now, as we are 4 minutes late, she says "I've spent the last 15 minutes trying to find the music channel for the dogs. Where is it?" she's frazzled from deep down inside not really wanting to spend her day doing this. Ok. I get it. i understand, but not today, not now. I try to find it. Can't. Bring up aol music on the lap top. "Boom. Music. Now lets go" "Not so loud she cries." then tells me to calm down and shut up. These are the times one must practice gun control. "Serenity now. Serenity now" i tell myself. Finally we saddle up and get to our standard starting point early and no one is there. "It's ok." i tell Linda we are early on purpose. 10 o'clock arrives, but no fellow bikers. Not a single soul. Wow, this is a busy weekend. Now the path north is clear. 46 to 415, blah blah blah, to Tomoka State Park. I actually am a fan of lone wolf riding. the whole road is mine. Just as we pass the New Tribes Mission, Linda spies a bald eagle on top. "Ohh. Please turn around." "Now? Are you kidding.", i protest. "Now." she says. Now it is. I make a Dave Frame uturn and take calming deep breathes while she snaps away. she hustles off of Snoop-Skoot to get closer, just as said eagle flys away in search of a snack. Now we are only a couple of minutes later, but i know she is happier.
The new and improved 415 is acutally a very nice road to ride now. Two smooth new lanes each way. Because of the last few years of construction awareness riding, it is even more of a treat. Finally we roll pass Putnam Ave. and come to a traffic jam. I can see around the 5 cars in front of us and a motor patrol with lights on at the entrance to the run. I see bikes rolling out of the park. "I'm goin round." i holler back to linda as i ride on the grassy area beside the road. "No." she moans. The motor patrol sees me and calmly waves me into the pack. And we are rolling. Glad for the many many escorted rides under our tires that gave us the comfort level of knowing just what to do to blend into the pack. Only 1, maybe 2, bikes behind us, then the lit up motor escort.
.
13.11.16
4.9.16
it is your government...
government...
seems like it should be simple. in fact it is. These panels words/meanings have just floored me and i can think of nothing else... these are too long for most to be able to read. i understand.
seems like it should be simple. in fact it is. These panels words/meanings have just floored me and i can think of nothing else... these are too long for most to be able to read. i understand.
Good and Bad Government
The series of murals in the lunettes of the Reading Room vestibule are by Elihu Vedder (1836-1923) and depict Government. The central mural, located over the doorway leading into the Main Reading Room, represents the abstract concept of a republic as an ideal state. The paired lunettes to the right and left, respectively, depict the practical workings of government, and the conditions that can result from good or bad administration. The prominent location of these murals reinforces the significance of the advancement of knowledge and learning in a democracy and the role of government in creating and sustaining a great national library for those purposes
In Government the artist depicts a dignified female figure against a background of the rich foliage of an oak tree, emblematic of strength and stability. She sits on a marble bench supported by the forms of antique voting urns placed between figures of guardian lions. She is crowned with a wreath and holds a golden scepter (the Golden Rule) and a tablet inscribed with words from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. She is flanked by winged figures of genius. The one on the right holds a bridle and the reins of power, representing the restraining influence of order. The one on the left holds a sword, representing justice or the authority of government and its duty to protect and defend the state.
Corrupt Legislation
In Corrupt Legislation the artist depicts a female figure of questionable virtue against a lush and overripe background of twining grapevines. She sits on a throne framed by cornucopias overflowing with coins, rather than fruit or grain. The flow of the coin is directed back toward herself rather than outward, for the good of the people. In her hand she holds a sliding scale, more susceptible to fraud than a balanced scale, symbolizing the type of justice which she deals. On the right a wealthy man places a bag of gold upon her scales as a bribe. At his feet are more bags of gold and a strongbox. The ballots that spill from an overturned voting urn represent his corrupt control of the sources of power. In his lap he holds the book of Law, which he uses to his advantage.
With her right hand the central figure dismisses a simply clad girl, representing Labor. Carrying her empty distaff and spindle, she pleads for the work that should be hers by right, but which she cannot obtain from a corrupt legislature, inattentive to the wrongs of the people. A broken jar at her feet represents her hard earned savings that she has lost. Behind her the factories are smokeless and idle, while those behind the rich man on the right belch with the smoke of his prosperity.
Anarchy
In Anarchy the artist depicts the disastrous failure of government as a naked female figure who raves over the ruins of the civilization she has destroyed. She holds an incendiary torch formed from the scroll of learning. Serpents twist in her hair, and she tramples upon a scroll, a lyre, a Bible, and a book, the symbols, respectively, of Learning, Art, Religion, and Law. At her feet, under the broken arch of a building is a bomb with a lighted fuse, another tool of destruction. On the right a figure of Violence gazes upon the cup of madness held by Anarchy while he pries out the cornerstone of a great building, causing it to collapse, representing the destruction of the fabric of civilization. On the left, a female figure of Ignorance uses a surveyor-s staff to force the wreckage of civilization into a chasm. The broken millwheel and millstone in an uncultivated field represent the failure of industry and agriculture.
Good Administration
In Good Administration the artist depicts a noble female figure who holds an open book in her lap and in her hand a pair of scales, evenly balanced. She rests her left hand upon a shield, quartered to represent the even balance of parties and classes that should exist in a well-ordered democracy. On the shield are a weight, scales, and a rule, the emblems of a just government. The frame of her chair forms an arch, a construction where every stone performs an equal service, symbolic of the equal part that all should play in a democratic form of government. On the right a youth casts his ballot into a voting urn, his decision informed by the study of the books he carries under his arm. On the left a young girl winnows wheat into another voting urn so that the good grains fall into its mouth, while the chaff is scattered by the wind, an action symbolic of the care with which a people should elect its public servants. In the background a field of wheat is symbolic of prosperous and careful toil and intelligent and virtuous government.
Peace and Prosperity
In Peace and Prosperity the artist depicts a beautiful female figure against the background of a lush olive tree, a symbol of the Goddess Minerva, peace, fruitfulness, strength, and achievement. She sits holding two wreaths to be bestowed as the reward for excellence and is flanked by two youths. The youth on the left sits upon a jar or ancient amphora while he decorates a piece of pottery. In the background is a Greek temple representing Architecture and in the foreground a lyre for Music. The youth on the right, representing Agriculture, kneels to plant a sapling, an act suggestive of a strong and permanent government under which the tree can grow to reward him with its shade and fruit for many years.
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