A NICE LITTLE GIG...

I was asked to provide art for the lobby entrance and board room at the beautiful new digs for the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. These people have exceptionally good taste and keen perceptions. They were great to work with and the project was a fun one start to finish... Having just completed the hanging, here I am in the lobby with "Our Lincoln" to my left...

 And here is "Heartland"...

If you are ever in Lincoln, stop on over...
It's nice to be seen...
                                   :^)  Tom

SEASONS AND CHANGES...

We've been down this road before...

A good time to restore...
To be made whole again...   :^)  Tom

JUST PASSING THROUGH...

On the way home...
We decided to pull off and pay our respects to the family farm near Nebraska City where my mother grew up. I had big adventures there and spent a lot of time dreaming big dreams as a kid...
It has come to a sad end... Once vibrant and meaningful, where so many of our lives had overlapped, it is now deserted and abandoned, a monument to the end of an era...

Gone are the old days of the thriving dairy requiring horse drawn trips to the river in wintertime to harvest blocks of ice... and trips to Omaha with loads of cattle or hay. The cattle are long gone from the lot next to the barn where pigeons roosted and wee ones played all day in the hay. Gone are the chickens, the dogs and Uncle Bud's girls running all around...the reunions... Gone are the smells and the characters coming out of the kitchen where five generations would sometimes cross paths in the course of a single busy day...

Gone are the storytellers of not so famous Cowboys and Indians, of heroes and crack shots...of Aunt Tudie, truly famous for her State Fair blue ribbon jams and jellies, not to mention her crossword puzzle domination! My Grandpa's sidesplitting jokes and my Grandmother's regal ways...seeing glory in nature and all living things. In another life she is surely a Queen!

Gone are the quilters, the burly field hands, the strong willed, multi-skilled women, and long days in the field on the tractor... the milk house, the tool shed, the cave, gathering eggs from the hen house and berries from the garden... 
All are gone... 
All the homies have moved on...

 It was only a brief stop, igniting a flood of memories...

These are the days of timeless treasures,
You've got to hold them in your heart...

We headed on home, each silently wondering...What was that all about?!!!
Roots are important... Tom  :^)

THESE ARE THE DAYS...

It's not dark yet...

Hearts turn to the fathers,
We let them in...
As we go near to listen,
Yah living with men...              :^)

WHAT HINDOOS DO...

Here are familiar images you can expect to find in and around temples all over India and in this case Jaffna, Sri Lanka...with some variations depending on particular gods and traditions emphasized in certain locations.
Colorful to say the least, they certainly stir the senses in their depiction of familiar characters from epics and stories told for a long time, with occasional references to birth, life and death craftily woven in...Some call it Maya...                              

I met a man with understanding who said when asked if he was a Hindoo... Yes, but l don't go to the temple... Why?... Because of exploitation of the people by the priesthood... Hmmm, imagine that...seems those Pharisees do get around.   

Don't take any wooden nickels... Tom :^)

BIRDS OF A FEATHER...

Down by the riverside...

 Once again, tis the season for over half a million Sandhill Cranes to break journey along the the South Platte River in Nebraska for their seasonal 20% body weight pitstop, before continuing Northward...pretty cool!

Free as a bird,
Keep looking up :^)
The best is yet to come...Tom   

GET TO THE POINT...

where you can see clearly...

 

Here is the beach in Mirissa, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Imagine waking up to this scene every morning...

 

Rama, solid on the rock at the point...

 Views from the rock of adjoining bays...

 All the best to Avisha, Lahiru and the Zephyr...
What friends are for...   Uncle Tom  :^)

FACES YOU MIGHT SEE...

Around Jaffna Town...

 "...and the poor will always be with you."

There's always something we can do...
to lighten the load
to lighten the day
to lighten the mood
to lighten the heart    :^)