Photo of the Day - Unusual Texas Tree

Unusual trees make great subjects, but you don't often get a combination of the right lighting and "atmosphere" as well as a clearing with the shape of the tree showing up clearly. I was fortunate to find some near a creek in Texas. The area reminded me of the woods in the movie "Bridge to Terabithia."

Hotel Towels and the Environment

On several trips, I've noticed signs in hotel room bathrooms stating that replacing towels daily with fresh ones is hard on the environment, and that those willing to help out should hang up their towels rather than leaving them on the floor or in the tub.

It's a good idea. It would save precious water, keep detergent pollutants out of the water, and reduce the use of electricity, which would also contribute less to global warming. We don't change towels every day at home, so why not? I'm all for it.

However, I've discovered that even if I hang up my towels, the maids STILL replace the towels. And, it is hard to hang them up wet so that they will air dry, because hotels simply don't put in enough towel racks. Most of them have one rack upon which they stack all the towels . . . bath towels, hand towels and washcloths. You can't put them back that way and expect them to dry out.

So, if they are serious about not changing towels daily, they need to be sure the maids aren't changing them when the room occupants have done their best to hang the towels wherever they can (mostly over the shower curtain bar), and even better, put in adequate towel bars so that more people will be encouraged to hang them up.

Photo of the Day - Red Hibiscus

Hibiscus is such a lush flower! We have several hibiscus bushes and their large, intensely colored blooms are a joy. These bushes are old and had gotten "leggy" so I was persuaded to cut them back drastically. It was hard to do. I hate cutting back shrubs. I hope the results will be worth it -- more foliage and blooms, few long sticks with leaves on the ends. I need a course in gardening!

Who wanted to go to war?

Yesterday while having lunch I overheard a woman at the next table pointing out to her friends that "99.7% of the people in this country wanted to go to war, wanted to just go over there and get it over with." Her point was that "we" all wanted to do it, and now the country is turning against the war, forgetting that we were eager to start it.

I don't know about her statistic, but I believe that in general she's right -- but she failed to point out that the reason so many people were for it had to do with four issues. First, we were traumatized and horrified because of the 9/11 events and wanted someone to pay for it. Our government led us to believe that attacking Iraq would serve that purpose, because they saw "links" between Iraq and al Qaeda. Second, our government practically drummed into us that if we didn't go over there and attack Saddam and cause "regime change" they'd be coming over here and blowing us up with dirty atomic bombs or killing us off with anthrax or smallpox. Third, our news media were beating the war drums all day long every day, especially Fox news. And fourth, we (the public) didn't have a way to evaluate whether anything we were being told was credible, and our elected representatives in Congress didn't question it because it would have make them look soft and unpatriotic. If they had, they wouldn't have been reelected.

For the record, I was not for the war. I stated from the beginning that it was wrong. Even if Saddam did have the dreaded weapons of mass destruction, so did many other countries and we didn't go preemptively attacking them. It's a terrible precedent. Saddam was a terrible dictator, but he was effectively contained . . . more effectively that we knew.

Now we've made a horrible mess of things, unleashed a civil war where warring factions are trying to see who can gain power, and our naive idea that setting people "free" means they will automatically become democratic peace-loving people is in shambles. The country is in worse shape than it was before we attacked. There is less security than there was under Saddam, and there's no end in sight.

Now our news media talk out of the other side of their collective mouths. They ought to be ashamed of their part in bringing this sad situation about. People are dying every day for our arrogance and there doesn't seem to be any solution in sight. Evidently we didn't learn the right lessons from the Vietnam War.

Meanwhile, whatever happened to the swaggering statements that we were going to find Osama bin Laden? In the streets of Bagdad?

Flags at Half Mast

Someone asked me today why the U.S. flags are flying at half mast. I answered that I believed it was in honor of and grief for the murdered students and faculty at Virginia Tech.

Then I went on to say that 100 times that many of our military personnel (and many thousands of innocent Iraqis) have died violent and painful deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet I don't see our country's flag flying at half mast for them. They deserve it a hundred times over.

What happened at Virginia Tech was horrifying, and my heart goes out to all those families and friends who lost loved ones in such a cruel and senseless way. I don't mean to diminish in any way their suffering, or the fact that the nation should show it cares.

But what about all those men and women who served their country? How badly has their country served them?

My flag flies at half mast in my heart every day, and each day when I see the "Honor Roll" of those killed, shown on the News Hour, I shed tears for them.

The flag should fly at half mast everywhere until our soldiers come home.

Photo of the Day - Coleus

While flowers are beautiful and showy, sometimes foliage can be dramatic. It often grows in pleasing compositions, the way leaves are grouped and displayed. There are an amazing number of shades of green. I remember when I was a kid, most of us just colored all green leaves and grass "green" and didn't seem to notice the many differences in color.

Coleus leaves are variegated and textured. With several different varieties, you could make a leaf bouquet nearly as colorful as a floral one.

My printer goes belly up

It's hard to imagine sometimes how dependent I've become on my computer -- until I have a problem with it. I wonder if there were something that automatically graphed how many hours I spend in front of it whether it would be the biggest time slot of my life. I hope not, even though I enjoy it a lot.

Last night my "trusty" Epson Color Stylus 740 contracted a "general printer error" and wouldn't work. I spent the entire evening trying to fix it (no luck) with a variety of sources of "help" including printer discussion groups on the internet. It's hard to complain. This printer has served me well for seven years. However, I'm not pleased that I just bought a slew of ink cartridges for it, and now I can't use them.

The thought of buying a new printer doesn't upset me financially, but having to decide which one to buy does. More time down the drain.

Does anybody make a printer that uses a huge black ink cartridge that's cheap? I learned from observation that some printer ink is disgustingly expensive! They sell the printers cheap and then sock you for the ink. I would certainly love to find one that is more economical to operate!

Photo of the Day - Unusual Insect on Ixora Leaf

Maybe someone will see this photo and be able to identify this unusual insect for me. I happened to be outside with my camera and wondered what was lying along the main vein of this leaf. As I got closer, I could see that it was a long, skinny insect. I've never seen one like it before -- or since. This insect is just over 4 inches long.

Photo of the Day - Tree Roots at Urabandai, Japan

Japan has wonderful forests and the shades of green there are a bit different than I've seen in the USA and Europe. I always find knarled tree bark and roots interesting, too, and this clump of tangled roots at Urabandai, Japan looks like it could come to life and crawl away.

Photo of the Day - Enoshima Fishing Boat - Japan

This fishing boat provided an amusing study in contrasts between the old style wooden boat and the modern blue plastic pail upended on it. The tranquil water in the Enoshima bay added reflections.