French soldiers on patrol at Notre Dame, May 2013.
Tag: men
Mexi & Cº
A little place in Paris offering tastes from south of the border in vibrant colors. May 2013.
Waiting for Godot
Waiting… Waiting… Waiting… Paris, France, May 2013.
A Decisive Moment
Deciding on the right moment in Paris, France May 2013.
The Underground
Riding the Paris Metro, May 2013.
Take on Art
Grandma was documenting the paintings at the art show. She and her grandkids were really cute taking photos of the art. Another artist passed the time playing games on a handheld device.
Hey Jude
On my way to class on Friday, the young man with the guitar was sitting alone playing and singing at the to of his lungs, and not very well. As I walked by after class, the blonde with the harmonica had joined him in performing a horrible rendition of “Hey Jude” (to be fair, only the singing was really bad, but not terribly objectionable for some reason). They were so involved in the song they didn’t noticed that I had stopped to photograph them, and they were doing the song so badly, they bordered on performance art. As I continued on my way, the guitarist started singing “nah nah nah nana nah nah…” so off key, and out of compas, that I burst out laughing and laughed all the way back to the office.
I took a load of trash to the dump today. I left early and got up to the entrance I’d always turned into and there were no other cars. “Nice!” I thought to myself. As I drove up to the building to pay, the attendant came out and said “The dump entrance is up the road before the light — this is recycling.” He told me to drive straight ahead and follow the road around. I followed the road through about twenty people eagerly waiting for stuff to recycle — they looked disappointed when I drove on by. I got back out on the main road, drove up toward the light, and found a long line of trucks waiting to get into the landfill. Forty-five minutes later I discovered I was in the line for the scale, but I couldn’t change lanes, so I drove onto the scale, walked up to the window and told the attendant that I didn’t need to be weighed. She said “that’s okay, but the people behind you will be mad when they see you turn the other way!” She asked for my license plate number, my proof of residence in Corrales, and driver’s license, then when I went to give her a $5 bill to pay the $4.75 fee, she told me it was a “free day!” “So that accounts for the long line of trucks them?” I asked. She nodded “Yep!” and told me the line would probably go down to the roundabout by noon. If I’d known it was a “free day” I wouldn’t have gone. I would have preferred to pay $4.75 to dump the trash then spend an extra 45 minutes waiting in line to dump the trash. I took the photo of the Sandias on the way home from the dump.
Walk & Ride
Walking, riding, driving and a table waiting to be occupied.
Family Promise
What does homeless bring to mind? Indigent street people, addicts and alcoholics with mental issues that are not to be associated with, like the Samaritans in the first century CE? While many of the homeless individuals you might encounter on the street have serious issues that contribute to their often perpetual homelessness, there is another, almost invisible, side of homelessness — homeless families. Homeless families tend to be “normal” people who have had some kind of catastrophic event that caused them to become homeless. Fortunately, there is Family Promise of Albuquerque (FPA) to help. FPA is made up of churches that temporarily house homeless families and volunteers who help support the families. Instead of ignoring these families, FPA, offers them life sustaining water.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? (John 4: 4-11 NIV).
Central United Methodist Church hosted two families this past week, and Laurie and I volunteered to help yesterday afternoon. When we got to CUMC, we had a pleasant surprise — there were four students from UNM playing with the kids as part of the 11th Annual Spring Storm Event put on by the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) who volunteer in a one day service project. The students, Katarina, Jackie, David and Rudy, were wonderful. They played and played the the kids, and had a lot of fun. I was really impressed that they took a day off from their heavy class loads to play with kids — the kids were so happy, and their mom got a nice break. By giving up some of their precious time yesterday, Katarina, Jackie, David and Rudy helped make earth a little more like Heaven.
Downtown Drive-by
A costumed crowd was gathered outside the Kimo Theater. I wanted to park and get photos but there were no parking spots available, so I swung around the block and did a drive-by photo at about 10 mph. The sunset was beautiful, but my best opportunity of getting a photo of it was a drive-by at 80 mph on I-40.
Off Center & Not Even 