An Early appreciation of the Arts

I recently realized that my early appreciation for Jazz and music originated with a white, curious Beagle and his little yellow friend. I was inadvertently introduced to the music through the interesting animations of a cartoonist named Charles Schultz. The music being the creation of Vince Guaraldi. Vince Guaraldi composed a familiar song named Linus and Lucy, which later became synonymous with the Charlie Brown (Peanuts) theme song.  Since Charlie Brown's emergence in the late 1950's, at the age of four, he has introduced many people to the plight we call life. He became the butt of numerous jokes and the cause of many laughs. 

Back to Granada.

Well it is that time of year again. The snow has fallen and the lifts are open; so back to Granada we go.

A few photos of the mountain:










But, while we were there we had to reek a little havoc.

Websites of Interest

http://www.miniature-earth.com/me_english.htm

Appreciate what you have!


http://www.freerice.com

This is a good site to learn and help at the same time.


http://www.patchadams.org

This is a great man with great ideas, soon to come in Spanish (and I know the translator)!

Some pictures to look at!

The fam after I surprised Mom at her party.




Greg, Sarah, Trisha, and I hanging out before Trisha left.




A beautiful Spanish sunset from our balcony.




Greg and I looking at something, I think I really am adopted!

My Grandpa, my teacher, my Hero!

It has been just over two months since Grandpa died, and I have to say I am much happier knowing that he is no longer in pain. I learned so many things from this man, and above all it was to have no regrets. I truly believe that grandpa had no regrets, and he wouldn't want us to be in pain for him being gone. Like Aunt Terry said, he prepared us for death at an early age. I often remember going to the Redlands Community Cemetery, when I was young, with grandpa to play. He taught us at a very young age that death is just another part of life, and we all became comfortable with it. Our family has learned to cope in such an unusual way that we often receive funny looks when we are able to laugh near the grave side.



When Grandma died he showed us that it is OK to grieve, but that it is also important to celebrate.



Grandpa taught us all the importance of family, to be slow to speak and quick to think, to keep the main thing the man thing, and to have no regrets.

Syd said that Grandpa taught us all different things, he reached us all in different ways. This is how Grandpa reached me:


Grandpa noticed something in me that I think he used right away. He noticed my interest for working with my hands, and my abilities there in. Grandpa trusted me with power tools, far before I fear he should have. Grandpa taught me how to:

Roof a house, weld, use a steel grinder, install sprinklers, pour concrete, read a map, plant tomatoes, edge the lawn with an eleven-thousand year old edger, paint, change my own brakes, and to lay brick.

He used these skills to teach me even greater things, and instilled the principles I would need to live life.

I am truly thankful for the time that he showed all of us, but especially his grandkids. He was a wise man and a great teacher, but more importantly he was our grandfather. I will miss him with great anguish but I am glad that he is no longer in pain. I know that one day soon I will see my hero, mentor, and grandfather again.

Pictures

I figured I would put some pictures on the blog.



This is a picture from the Chair Lift in Granda and the Sierra Nevadas.




Here is a picture of the groupe I go snowboarding wiht. Oh, and apparently winnie the pooh has no eyes and human hands.



Some of the grafitti in Granada is really cool



This is me at the top of the mountain. The Sierra Nevada in Granada is beautiful.




Here's a picture from the middle of the slopes. A day of nice powder.



Sorry that is has been so long since I put up fresh pictures. I have been super busy, and honestly I struggle with an innate problem known as procrastination.

Hmm!?!

I don't think that I remember how to do this anymore. However, I will give it a shot and see how it turns out.

Ernest Hemingway once said to Francis Scott Key, "I write one good page of writing to every ninety nine pages of shit, I try to leave the shit in the trash can." A very colorful, yet true statement. I will try to do the same, but on a much smaller scale and will probably bore you with my constipated thinking. (If you catch my drift) At least Hemingway could produce some sort of S!@#... well I think you get it, I'm no Hemingway!

Dad and I had the chance to visit London a while back and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Of course it has been twelve years and I am just now blogging about it. I think procrastination is a genetic thing, somewhere on the forty-seventh chromosome accompanying the Down Syndrome gene. My procrastination has propagated into an outright apathy and for that I apologize.

It was a welcomed change of pace to be in London with "proper" English speakers. Also, it was nice to see Dad; the first familiar face I have seen in nearly 8 months. We had a chance to get out and see a lot of interesting architecture, artifacts, and adult video stores (certified of course). No, we didn't go into any adult video stores, but we did see a number of them and I would only trust the certified ones. Just a word of advice for anyone thinking about traveling to London.

We started off our self-guided tour of London at the Tower of London. Here we learned all about the history of the Tower from a boisterous, portly Yeoman Warder, also known as a Beefeater. In order to become a Yeoman Warder you have to serve in the Royal Army forever ( approximately 26 years or so).

We also had the chance to see the British version of Chicago; almost exactly the same.

But, the most exciting event was going to the National Gallery to see a number Van Gogh's paintings. (Van Gogh happens to be my favorite painter, and in January I am taking a Field Study class in Amsterdam purely dedicated to him).

I am out of time for now to write. Plus, I am having trouble uploading pictures. I will BLOG more later and upload my pictures.