Without music, life would be a mistake - Nietzsche

A face of true amazement that a pink, fairy guitar would be all her own. 

In great detail she tells her father how she will practice every morning and every night. 

 Her patient father teaches her finger pressure exercise to strengthen her fingers.

After practicing small calluses begin to form and she shows them off with pride. 

 She seems to be a natural... 

My Shadow

MY SHADOW

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of her is more than I can see.

She is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see her jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about her is the way she likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For she sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And she sometimes gets so little that there's none of her at all.

She hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

She stays so close beside me, she's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

pome by robert louis stevenson

King of Death

To the thoughtless youth, deceived by the vanity of earthly possessions, the path that leads to the eternal abode is not revealed. This world alone is real; there is not here-after - thinking thus, he falls again and again, birth after birth, into my jaws. 

The secret of immortality is to be found in purification of the heart, 

in meditation 

in realization of identity of the self within and Brahman without. 

For immortality is union with God .

- The Upanishads: Katha 

Siblings

The everlasting bond between siblings is nurtured from the beginning. 

Texas Wind

Anyone who tells you these are ugly, harmful to birds or load are lying to you...

Editing

In the digital age of photography snapping a photo with your camera is only the beginning. I have a bad habit of holding onto pics that I qualify as 'almost there'. These 'almost there' pics are images that are not perfect but can become so in the editing room. Sometimes I will edit a pic and it will still be an 'almost there' pic. So I will leave it and come back a few months later and it will become a completely different image. 

There are many different types of editing programs out there to help you make your photographs look like pieces of art. You don't even need advanced programs to make unique and stunning changes to your pics. 

Here are some of my favorite edited pics from the original shot to the completed image.

Original image taken in Jacksboro, Texas.

Edited image with Iphotos. 

Original image taken at the Baltimore Aquarium. 

Edit image with the Black and White setting in Aperture.

Original image taken in Annapolis Maryland.

Edit image with Iphotos. 

Original image at the Baltimore Aquarium.

Edit image with Aperture.

Edit image with Aperture. 

Abortion

Just recently there was a bill set to be presented to the House of Representative by New Jersey Republican Chris Smith entitled ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act’ or H.R. 3. Due to the uprising of men and women around the country the Republicans supporting the bill have back down for now.

However lets consider this act and what it is.

H.R. 3, if passed would not allow taxpayer money to be provided for any type of abortion with the exception of forcible rape. It would also no longer required the Hyde Amendment to be reviewed yearly and would ban privately funded abortions also.  

For those of you who do not know much about the Hyde Amendment it was introduced by Henry Hyde a Republican from Illinois in 1976. The amendment was to put restructions on Rowe v Wade and tacked onto the Department of Labor and Heatlth, Education and Wlefare Appropriation Act of 1976.

Within the Hyde Amendment it prohibited government funds to be used for abortion with exception to the mother’s health. Yet, the Hyde Amendment is reviewed every year and Congress has gone back and forth as to what should be added to the list of “acceptable” abortions. This list has included rape, incest and sever and physical heath damage.   

Now consider the magnitude of this for a moment. If the H.R. 3 were to ever pass the government would be deciding what a women could or could not do with her own body.

If you ask me it is an odd piece of legislating for a party who hate having the government interfering with their lives…