“I have had to fight like hell and fighting like hell has made me what I am.” ~John Arbuthnot Fisher

Well...

If it isn't one thing, it's another, right?  My car quit on me today and it's in the shop tonight.  I won't know until the morning what the ailment is...or how much it is going to cost me (this time). 

Shit just keeps piling on...and on.

I have a few stray photos I want to post while I am still coherent. 

Enjoy.

One more thing....what is this??!  I must have missed this bible story.  I don't remember reading anything about Jesus wearing a pith helmet. 

Dr. Livingston, I presume?

"Good lord I feel like I'm dyin'" ~Gregg Allman

And so we meet again...

I remember my first day in Mr. Fookes' Sociology class.  He quoted cleric John Donne - "No Man is an Island".  Maybe not, but it's sure as hell less painful.

This was my view this morning as I swam in the morass of self-pity that is my life - today.  I know I will get over this hump - I always do, I just need a day or two to "compartmentalize".  This one just kinda hurt because it was unexpected....well, maybe a little "expected" unexpected.  Sometimes it feels like I am doing the Cha-Cha-Cha - you know, one step forward, two steps back - except I am standing at the edge of a cliff this time and a trou de loup was there to catch me.  Skewered...hoisted with my own petard...

One thing is for sure, the crap that went down this week has motivated me to get back looking for new employment - far, far away.  The past has a way to haunt you, eh?

I will survive, right Gloria?

Enough of this tripe.

Today, I went to the eye doctor (finally) and got to choose some new frames.  They're so cute!  I can't wait to get them!  Sunglasses too...yay!  (Can you tell I am a little excited?)  The lady who helped me choose my frames was really sweet.  When I first sat down she told me I smelled nice.  Thank you, ma'am.  You have no idea how much I needed to hear something like that...a REAL compliment! 

Well...here are a couple of photos from my adventure today...I'm merely a smidge more blind (in my old age - oh, excuse me - more "mature" state). 

C'est la vie!!!

These ^^^ are my new glasses...aren't they freaking awesome??!  Cyril Figgis!

"Life Would Be Tragic If It Weren't Funny" ~Stephen Hawking

Sigh...

It's been an all around crappy week...and it's only Tuesday.  Maybe I'm not a person who should have nice things.

Whatever.

Well...let me just go ahead and post some photos and spare everyone my morose feelings...I don't want to be responsible for dragging anyone else down into my chasm of heartache and woe.

"We're all in the same game, just different levels. Dealing with the same hell; just different devils."

She Was Precticed at the Art of Decpetion.....

Well...

Some days, Mother Nature has a way to show you just how insignificant you really are in the scheme of things.

“Every man's memory is his private literature.” ~Aldous Huxley

Well...Today I'm just going to post some randomness of the randomness. 

It's been a roller-coaster of a week.

“The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.”
 

And that's...the whole ball of wax.

Every cloud must have a silver lining...Wait until the sun shines through...

So...A couple of months ago, Pappy and I were "thrifting" in Newport and, of course, Chuck was along for the ride.  We found another church on the corner of York and 8th streets that has opened a little thrift area.  I pass this church - First Baptist Church built in 1894 - all of the time and now I am curious as to what it looks like on the inside.  Maybe that will be a future field trip.  The architecture is beautiful. 

One of the items on my bucket list is to observe a stone mason working his craft.  One of the original Klaene brothers who immigrated to the United States was a stone mason.  Some of his descendents who live in the Cincinnati area still ply the trade...even though I think they're really just brick layers now. 

If you ever find yourself sitting at a traffic light - either in Covington or Cincinnati - look around you at the architectural elements.  Some craftsman spent hours carving that from stone.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Here are some of the features of the church and the house next door to it which caught my attention.

I have several churches on my itinerary.  I need to get crackin'.

"Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?" ~Emerson

Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!

Guess that movie reference in 5 seconds....(my life is rife with them).

Well, here we are again.  Me being inattentive to my adoring audience (snicker).  I have a whole herd of photos to post.  I haven't really been shirking my duties here - you know 'procrastinating" as usual - it is that I have recently become reacquainted with someone who is very important to me.  To say they have been challenging me would be polite.  Everything, apparently, warrants a "discussion" and nothing - and I do mean NOTHING - is sacred.  There have been some quite lively debates ongoing these past few weeks.  Well, we do have 25 lost years to recollect.  My head may explode. 

Love ya, bud.

But, needless to say, I have a glutton of photographs that need to be posted so let's get started.  In no apparent order or sequence...(just like in my head - utter chaos!!)

Enjoy....there are plenty more for the next few days.