Life is Hard

I've been hearing a lot of folks saying and writing that life is hard, or life is tough. I've been wondering about that. Hard compared to what? Dying? I suppose so, dying is easy, people do it every day. Heck even old people can die. So, hard compared to what? Then it hit me. Life is only hard when it doesn't compare favorably to my expectations.

I think and hope that once circumstances are favorable, that they won't ever change. That's not very healthy, because things are going to change. I think and hope that life will work out according to my hopes and dreams. That's not very healthy either. Healthy I guess, is living the now. Planning the future as best we can. Dealing with the past as we have need. But really just living this moment, because this moment is all we have.

So I'm not saying "life is hard" anymore.

Creep Factor, Oh...About 12.

My Brother Jeff suggested I check out a painting he came across recently. I Googled "Jesus Spanking" in anticipation of finding an image of Max Ernst's surrealist work, "The Blessed Virgin Chastising the Infant Jesus."

Google had many suggestions for me, of course, and I culled a couple examples for your enjoyment.




Max Ernst.
Jesus' halo has fallen to the ground, but Mary's is still firmly planted. I wonder about the three voyeurs, and the red top that Mary's wearing.







I remember reading something like this as a kid, I thought at the time that some missionary-type ought to tell those naughty babies in Darfur and Ethiopia that they don't have to suffer, they just have to repent.

Experiments with a New Camera, Part Two

Lilikoi, or Passion Fruit on Ha'o Street Trail, Kaloko.



Yellow Plumeria in our backyard.



Pink Plumeria in our backyard.






A grasshopper at Bridgehouse Nursery.