Integrated Relaxation

I had the privilege to be invited to a friend's home in Mississippi this weekend for a lunch with some folks from his church family. I've known Alan now for a few years but had never been to his house. What a tremendous experience it was.

After living there for over twenty-five years he was able to purchase the adjacent property to add to his lot and decided to design and build an integrated relaxation and fellowship pavilion.

You can see from the pictures that it is truly a remarkable and highly unique structure and what makes it most incredible is that Alan and his wife Kathy have committed it to their friends.


We live in a country of class envy fueled by the battling political warriors who attempt to convince the less fortunate that their plight has been sealed by the ones who could care less about their position. The foolishness of this caricature is of course not only anti-American, but comical since the ones trying to persuade them of such things are themselves socialistic Peter Pans who create sucklings in the name of 'looking out for your best interest'. I mention this because when I saw this great place that Alan has made, I saw the right use of affluence.

Don't get me wrong, he lives modestly but he has, through hard work and dedication created a good life for himself and the ability to stoke a brain child into a live reality. With a landscape architect education and a vivid imagination this piece of calm contains many great features including a full kitchen, a private creek/stream, and a stone fireplace.


There are several hammocks available as well as a nice wicker porch swing and a comfortable den setting by the fireplace and plenty of chair space with a mezzanine deck overlooking the running water and plush greenery. Many stone paths meander and weave through the trees in an ergonomic fashion that blends into the environment. This relaxation nook is accessible from the street with carefully designed walkways and a private double parking space which is fronted with an Asian-influenced border wall and the general scheme of the property is a handpicked blend of reminiscent Southwest, Mission style, and screened Japanese, vacationing on a Lloyd-Wright beachfront.

He has an open invitation for visitors and friends so that they may use the facility for warm fellowship, private meetings, sensitive discussions, and meditation as well as the occasional get together. What a fine example of using what God has blessed one with for not just self, but for the benefit of others.

You Stink

I had a cigarette smoker tell me today that my cigar stunk. Somehow my odoriferousness had managed to repel he who is most mephitic and that got me thinking.

What have cigarette smokers done to deserve being put on the Most Wanted list? I’m a bit tired of seeing them swarming around buildings like ill-behaved locusts in time out.

I don’t like cigarette smoke either but is this really necessary? I’m typing this entry on a laptop. This marvel of modernity certainly contains enough technological evidence proving that we should be able to figure out a way to properly ventilate a room so as to not have to send away our nicotine laden neighbors scurrying off to grab another fix. I can’t accept the fact that something other than forced retreats is not a viable and more humane solution.

I saw a man riding down the street on a motorcycle with no helmet on his head. Some seem to be willing to fight for the right to watch his cranium bounce down Hwy 49 after being hit by an impatient pickup truck, yet they are adamant about shoving Ms. Martha onto the porch to inhale and wheeze.

And then I began to think about flatulence and obnoxious perfumes and the incredible amount of longsuffering that must be exercised towards those who consume methane producing meals and who have little to no sense of what a dab is suppose to mean.

And what about supercalifragilisticexpiahalitosis where otherwise endearing and visually stimulating denizens become noxious dragons, shaking even the most firm follicles from one’s olfactories. Are these malodorous folk to be banished into their own stench corral?

Oh, I hear what you are saying now. There’s no such thing as cancer causing secondhand halitosis. And if that easy rider wipes out having his brains instantly becoming couscous my lungs will still be preserved.

I suppose it simply boils down to “I know you are but what am I?” yet once again.

Discriminating Blogging

Well it’s been quite some time now since I’ve blogged. While my observations have continued to be many and fathomed, my overflow hasn’t been peaked and hence, I have not felt compelled to write. And it is with that in mind that I began to doubt my bloggability until I realized that I have many hats to wear and only one head and that bloggeronially speaking, one must blog with a deference of discrimination.

Yet the thought of scarce blogging led me to feel guilty about not writing for the sake of those who do read my blog. And that contemplation ushered in a sense of pride for having thought that there were actually some folks waiting on a post – checking in regularly to see what was posted before they head out to work or retire for the evening or while they are eating a noon time snack. Prideful thoughts mangled with guilt and the fear of being ostracized by the blogging community then met the Reality Committee (RC).

The fear of ‘they’ and the effort to make sure that I was in line with ‘those who shall judge’ is of no concern to the RC. If I will blog, then I shall blog! If I am infrequently blogging in the blogosphere of blogdom, then I am an infrequent blogger! And if I am frequently blogging, then I am blogging frequently!

Should one be concerned with the rapidity and mass of his blog tome or should he be in fear of posting vacuous syntax and diary regurgitations that would stretch the benevolence of even one’s own mother in having to read them? Quality over quantity should be the decree! Yes quality over quantity! Yes! Yes!

I sure hope this post qualifies.