CE Wills

     Hey, everyone. It is a peaceful Sunday morning at the green retreat. I awoke at 5 A.M. and just lay in bed and thought about stuff. I thought about things I'd always wanted to do and some of those items on that list which I have actually accomplished.     These days, they have a term for everything and Bucket List is a term which is thrown around. It comes from the Jack Nicholson movie, I suppose. I found that movie sad and depressing but the subject is intriguing.      It's funny. As one goes through this life, their list undergoes transformation. You may accomplish 50% of your list. About another 40% you lose interest in doing because you decide it was stupid, or a waste of time or too much money involved, or it was just too much of a hassle.      Let's face it. I am in my sixties and I have some physical things that limit the contents of my bucket. Ha, ha. I just had a mental picture of a guy walkin...

    Hey, everyone. We have been without power for a lengthy time and I am glad to have rejoined the current century, as far as tech goes. In my area, there was a massive amount of downed trees but things are mostly copacetic (Old term for cool.) as we speak. I hate sitting in the dark, even if I am reading The Clash of Kings. For several nights, I read while in bed, which I never do, and was very happy to have the back-lit screen. I mean, Abe Lincoln must have really strained his eyes, reading by the light of a fireplace.      Hey, it is Valentine's Day, here in the states. This holiday was invented by marketers but it is a nice gesture when heartfelt, sharing your love with whomever. As a token of my dedication to the merits of love, I did something nice for my car today, which I'll tell you about shortly.      I have been writing a new western book. It started with a real bang, but I have been doing other things for a few days. I ...

    Hey, everyone. As you know, I like to meditate on a painting or sculpture on occasion. I know very little about art and make no claim to being a critic. I do know this much; it feeds my soul, as a good meal feeds my body. I can sit down and study a painting, like the one above, and feel my soul's yearning for something indefinable. Is it a love for beauty? A desire for a different life that might have been?      I have an app for my I-Pad that I truly enjoy. It is named Impressionists . As you thumb through it you can choose between dozens of the old Impressionist painters such as Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir and the above-mentioned Pissarro. It is a feast for the eyes.     This morning, I meditated on Pissarro's Girl With a Goat. I thought about many things. 1) Was this goat a favored pet? It seems so, since she had it on a leash and was looking at it with a benign smile. It is certainly a long-haired goat. What do they call thos...

   Hey, everyone. I just finished a good book and I thought I'd tell you about it. The title is Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child. Here's the recipe from one of the latest tales in the saga of Jack Reacher.      As you may know, Jack Reacher is an ex-Army Investigator who travels the United States and stays off the grid. He owns the shirt on his back and not much else. He rides buses, hitch-hikes and takes up for the little guy.      In this installment, Jack is on a subway in New York City. One of the other passengers is acting strangely and bears a striking resemblance to the suicide bomber checklist for symptoms. Reacher approaches her and the lady pulls a gun from her gym bag and blows her own brains out. As you can imagine, Jack gets a trip to the police station for an interview.     It isn't long before Reacher finds himself working the case, even though he has no authority whatever. But, that's the nicest thing about...

    Hey, everyone. I watched a terrific movie tonight that I thought you might like to hear about. It is a spy flick, which is one of my favorite genres. The title, as you might assume, is Safe House . One might wonder if the name for such residences is entirely apropos after watching this film.     Denzel Washington stars as Tobin Frost, a rogue agent from a CIA background. He has no loyalties to anyone, anymore, other than to himself. He is in the business of avoiding the agents of a dozen intelligence services and of selling secrets to the highest bidder. Let me say right here that I will resist the urge to say that Tobin Frost is a cool guy. That would be sophomoric.      Tobin runs into a bit of a jam. He is in South Africa and has bought some intel from a British agent who is slightly crooked. He takes the info, which is stored on a chip, and injects it into his body with a needle. I find this personally abhorrent and rather g...

    Hey, everyone. I had a bit of a technical problem earlier with a post, so if it looks like a duplicate post has went out tonight, it probably has.      My wife saves things that most people don't save and I like that. For instance, she has a grocery store bag from 1984, a store called Dillon's, in Kansas. Yes, they still had paper bags at that time and this one had a public service message on it. In color, no less.     We had spent time up north prior to this, while in the military, so we weren't all too shocked at the tough winters. We were impressed with some of the tips on the bag, and their sound advice. Especially the 'stranded kit'. Most people in Kansas kept a kit in their car during the winter. It was one you put together, not a kit prepackaged. There would be blankets, heat candles, flares, water, food etc.     We had ours and it looked mighty good one night when I was caught out in a blizzard, 50 miles f...

    Hey, everyone. Glad you could stop by the author's green retreat. Nice sunset, don't you think?     I watched the final of the Aussie Open yesterday and got a big kick out of it. Let me tell you some thoughts on this rather bizarre match between Stanislav Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal. As you know, I love Nadal. I like his intensity and his bull dog tenacity, his effort. I like Wawrinka too. I like the tatt on his forearm about failure and effort.      Before this match started they were being filmed coming down the tunnel and I guess Rafa stopped and let Stan wait on him, with Stan carrying that heavy equipment bag. Gamesmanship? Only Rafa knows. I watched Wawrinka drop his bag and there was a look of irritation on his face...and the eye of the tiger.     I thought to myself. You might want to forget that this guy has never taken a set from Nadal, let alone beaten the Spaniard. Sure enough, Wawrinka beat Nadal, but w...