Restoring Art …

Have you ever wandered into a store and saw a piece of art that just really caught your eye?

What if it was very reasonably priced?

Would you consider buying it?

Even it was flea market and the artwork was obviously not an original?

Would you still be interested?

Let’s just say that the piece in question was in need of repair.

Would you still buy it?

Assume that you could make a superficial repair with just a piece of paper, a marker, and some glue.

Would you be more or less inclined to buy it?

Well those of you who know me well also know that there is no use in trying to talk reason with me when I see something I want.

Sure it may just seem like a piece of junk to you, but I can see the potential.

I’m not above spending more money to make something myself (and less well, I might add) than I could have purchased a similar item for. A new one.

I found myself in this same conundrum this past weekend. Though others might think that I was “unburdened by the thought process”, I just had to have it.

I fixed the piece as best I could, with the tools that were at hand. I think it came out pretty well.

Oh sure, maybe some day I will return to it and do a better job; however, until that time comes …

I am proud to show you what now graces the wall of my living room.



Can you even tell where I fixed it?

Fountain Hill Indians

We were the Indians...

We were not hunter-gatherers...

We were not bold or brave warriors...

A few were pretty good, most were just average, some below that...

But when we took to the field...

Urged on by the incessant cheering of Mrs. Gaugler...

When we joined together as a team...

We were a single unit with a single mission...

Defending our turf...

Operating like a small well-oiled machine...

In those precious moments...

Those formative years...

The time when a young boy gets a vision of what he can do...

The days that build a boys self-esteem...

The moments that turn young boys into young men...

Even in those moments...



We were pretty bad.

No Promises, No Apologies …

I am herewith implementing a strict “No Promises, No Apologies” policy here at the Haven.

I’ve been thinking that with my posting becoming more and more sporadic, I’d end up beginning each one with an apology for not writing for a while, and ending it with a promise to do better in the future. I don’t want this thing to degenerate into that. I'll post when inspiration hits,or whenever else I feel like it. So as a way to rid myself of this near-paralyzing, though self-inflicted guilt, I vow that I will not make any promises and I will offer no apologies.

I’m sorry but it has to be that way... I swear.

OK, where were we? I think last time I stopped by I was talking about the Netherlands. Here is a photo of our hero in the Netherlands (or should that be the villain in the nether regions?).



Do you think this seems to be turning into a familiar pose?

About one and one-half weeks ago I broke in my new smoker. Truth be told, it was probably more of an official trial than a true breaking in. But it came through in the clutch. Here it is smoking away …



Here is a piece of pork loin that I smoked in it that day …



Someone call Gib, and tell him I’m ready to resume the chief smoker job!

I also smoked a boneless pork shoulder and shredded that for barbeque. The meat turned out very good, but the sauce I made was just OK. I invited some friends over and they seemed to like it.

Last week I was out of town again. I stayed in a small walled city named Amberg. I didn’t get any photos of the place because I was dark both when we left in the morning and returned in the evening. It is a nice town. We were there for three nights and found three really good places to eat (two of which were breweries). I think Amberg has six breweries in the area, but I’m not sure how many are in the walled part of town.

On the way back to Wiesbaden we stopped in Nürnberg for lunch and a little look around. We ate in this place called the Nassauer Keller. It was in the cellar (Keller) of this really old building. The ceiling and walls were completely made of stones.



We were thinking that it was probably a coal cellar at one point. And the entrance must have been the coal chute. I haven’t seen steps this steep since I lived in the apartment at 6th and St. Catherine in Louisville. Only the ceiling was so low in this stairway that you were forced to hunch over for the whole trip.



Here our hero emerges …



The Nassauer Keller is directly across from this cozy little chapel …



I took some other photos, but the sun was so bright that the contrast is pretty bad on them. The river (maybe it’s a canal) runs right through Nürnberg.



We also checked out a couple of other churches and I took some pictures of some nice ornamental entryways on some government building. Apparently Nürnberg was pretty much destroyed during allied bombings, but they have rebuilt it pretty well. I found a website that compares pictures from 1945 with similar shots in 1998. It’s located HERE. Pretty interesting.

I received a bit of bad news last week while in Grafenwöhr (near Amberg). They told us that our trip to Italy this week was cancelled. We were supposed to go to Vicenza for about 4 days, and planned to spend the following three day weekend sightseeing in Vicenza and Venice. It will happen sometime in the coming months, but I may have something else going at that time and not be able to go.

The good news is that four of us are taking off Friday and heading to the city of Bilboa in the Basque region of northern Spain. They have a Guggenheim Museum there that was designed by Frank Gehry (can you tell I’m going with a couple of architects?). Hope the weather cooperates. It should be a nice trip.

I’ll be heading back to Destin, Florida in early March for a weeklong class. After that, I’ll come right back to Germany. I think I’m going to Armenia for a couple of days in April.

HERE is an interesting article on complex systems, and why the sky is always falling.