Crystal Clear Sub-title Search - Help! Please.

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About fifteen years ago I fell in love with the Champlain Valley - Lake Champlain and tributaries, Adirondacks, Green Mountains. I see it as one of the most beautiful areas anywhere. I knew then I wanted to capture it's beauty in photographic images, and share it with others.

In the last fifteen years I have taken over ten thousand images of the Champlain area, using the most diligent processes and best equipment I could muster up. I am serious about capturing my image of a lifetime that when printed large and presented nicely on walls will capture and keep the attention of all that view it. I might just capture that image right here, in the Champlain Valley - it's that beautiful ....to me... can't you see...(as the song goes)

Last Light Canon EOS 1DS Mark III 350mm 1/20th sec f9 ISO 100

A few years ago I got involved with the Vermont Clean Water Network - a network of people and organizations interested in revitalizing and keeping the water of Vermont clean. The cause of a having a culture of clean water, in the Champlain Valley, attracted me and gives special purpose to my project of capturing the areas beauty.

A couple years ago, I joined forces with Trevien Stanger, after reading an article he wrote for the Burlington Free Press called Thinking like a Watershed, to produce a quality 'coffee table' book. The book will include inspirational writing and beautiful images. Trevien is an environmentalist, writer, poet, educator, and great enthusiast of life, I am fortunate to be working with him on this project.

I am happy to say we have moved the project along enough to have attracted a number of clean water experts that have written a piece for the book, and a publisher interested in publishing it. 

We now have to commit to a title. We are crystal clear in agreement about the main title - OUR BASIN OF RELATIONS. (we will have a fun black and white graphic of the Lake Champlain Basin on the cover) We are not yet in agreement on a sub-title. Since I have never intended for the images (you can view images at www.mesipe.com, under Lake Champlain Project) to be documentary in nature, it is a little tricky to integrate images and words to present the book as a unique combination of inspiration, education, motivation and image beauty appreciation.

Please give me your thoughts about a sub-title. I know that is hard, not having the piece of work to look at. In my view our audience are people who love the Champlain Valley, are proud to live in or visit Vermont, who want to view the beauty of the area, and people who are on board with keeping the water clean. 

Sub-title ideas suggested - to like or build on:

Seasons

Protecting what we Love

Honoring  what we Love

Creating a Culture of Clean Water

Honoring the Water

Thinking like a Watershed

Clean Water and a Culture of Care

Where our Lives Flow Together 

We are looking for input so we can further our discussions and make a decision. Please don't labor it - just a quick reaction is great. 

Thanks for your input

 

Advocating is easier said than done, for me!

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I still answer the phone sometimes with - This is Mike, how can I help you? I ask Patty - What do you want? Where do you want to go? What can I do for you? She says - nothing, no where. You would think after 50 years I would know the answers to these questions. And, often I do, but still, I ask - What can I do for you?

I am not naturally an advocate. I profess in ADVOCATE PLANNING - your advocate knows your history, dreams, values, passions and plans, maybe even better than you do. I even have fifty foundation questions to stir discussions. Yet, I serve as a broker - How can I order up what you want?

Nothing wrong with a broker - finding what people wanted served me well in my career. Now I recognize there is a higher level of serving - planning - advocating - loving. 

Cold Winter Day Hasselblad Stellar 10.4mm 1/2000 sec f1.8 ISO 80

SCG - Simply Saying - Love

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What am I tying to say with the principle-based, love-priorities process and SCG - Self-realizing, Connecting and Giving? I am simply suggesting a template to focus loving self and others. I am not suggesting personal values, but suggesting universal principles for which your personal values will fit.

Focusing our priorities on our passions and proclaimed purpose with SCG is key to loving. We all want to be loved - that is universal. Love can not be demanded. Love is not an entitlement. We don't receive real love by being victims. We can not control being loved. We can, however, control how we love. We receive love by giving love.

Sunrise Dingle Bay, Canon EOS 1DS Mark iii 70mm 1/250 sec f9 ISO 200

An important concept in the process is simplification. Like a fog in the bay, details don't distract. We focus on a center of interest (our passions and purpose) and the details come into play, gently, like sun burns off the fog. A focus on your top priorities - your passions and purpose, by relevant learning, serving, mentoring (the self-realizing activities), exploring, relating, playing (the connecting activities) and protecting, contributing, transferring (the giving activities) is an effective planning process to get the most from your resources of money, time and health!

Like with photography, using a good, easily doable,  process results in continuous improvement and your unique best results. I love it.... and I would love if it resonates with you.

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Images of 2017

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I know you have been holding your breath waiting for my favorite 16 images of 2017!...No more pain...  Here they are: http://www.myscgpriorities.com/best-of-photography-2017. 

Amalfi, PhaseOne IQ 180 80mm 1/100 sec f12 ISO 35

My favorite image of the year is Blue and White, Positano. I've posted the image a few times already, so I am not going to post it here. That said, I must say - I can't get enough of Blue and White - I have printed it, large, as a  house warming present, for our new home on Wolf Lane.

2018 should be a great adventure. We get into our multi-generational home in March-April and the Photo studio should be done by June-July.

I am anxious for the studio to receive the next generation printer to 'go real big' - prints on canvas 40"x 80". 'Bigger is Better' has been my objective and I am finally prepared to do it right. I was going to use 'Bigger is Better' as a logo tag, until my professional photography son said it was tacky. Instead I am using 'Nature inspired imaging' - a little more classy, I guess, and clearly true, too.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR - Symbolism in Proximity

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It is appropriate that Christmas and New year celebrations are so close together - we stop our busy lives, to celebrate the birth of LOVE and start anew, given the possibility of a fresh mindset - to 'love where there is hate'.

I love the words of Francis of Assisi - the Simple Pray - they inspire this simple, but logical, mind. I must learn more about Francis.

"It is in Giving that we Receive". I meditate on the prayer's simple concept, especially during this dual purpose pause. 

On point, at this Holy time, I also meditate about the Jesuit phrase - ALL IS GIFT -  introduced to me by (and lived by) Jim Tures (012345 - 120797) - all I receive and all that I am able to give is divine derived - realization of which, paves the way to my life's purpose - success - The realization of my unique good.  

All my 'revelations' about the power and process of SCG - the Love Priorities, that came to me at the start of this millennium, were made possible by being quiet and listening to the words of Francis and Jesuit Jim. I am grateful. I am open to my Inner Wisdom, from which comes good. I believe.

Christmas and New Year Contemplation

Love and Nature

Splendor in nature is wonder forthcoming. Follow the flow, portage our passions. Open to love, and Love will be with us - certain as springtime streams snow covered mountains.

Stowe Stream, PhaseOne IQ 180 35mm 1/10th sec. f11 ISO 35

We are Nature's gifted souls. Hear Inner Wisdom - Love abounds. All is precious and pristine - reflect - respect and protect. We are bestowed free will to realize our unique good.

Merry Blue and White Christmas... and Happy New Year

from Vermont

May Love be with You

Ryle, Jessica+, Emmett, Mike, Patty Spruce, Bridget, Avi, Michael

 

 

 

 

 

It's Just a Picture.... or is it More?

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Once in a while, a few times a year, I come upon a scene and know I have a fine print, even before I capture the image. It's an exciting feeling. I get entranced by a passing moment in nature. I lose myself in a frantic to freeze a moment I can process, interpret, print and share. 

Not until a print is processed and produced do I fully understand my feelings at the time of capture. Sometimes I create affects in a image to enhance my interpretation. It's more than snap and share, for me. I love it - the capture, interpretation and presentation. Big and Beautiful, with a lasting good feeling, is my quest.

The gift for me is the moment, offered by nature, for personal interpretation.  My images are not created with talent to originate and emote. Rather - I am very grateful for the messages I feel from the gifts I receive from the natural world. 

Blue and White, Positano has held my attention since I saw the scene upon approaching the beach on the Mediterranean sea, in Positano, Italy, last March. (maximum print size - 43" x 50")

Blue and White, Positano PhaseOne IQ 180 80mm 1/40 sec f18 ISO 35

The blue and White floating companions are a perfect foreground to the blue and white of the infinite sky and seemingly endless sea. The white vessel, love - the guide.  The sea - life's journey. The sky - culmination. The blue boat - humanity (me), leans to love for courage, in anticipation of the, sometime, stormy seas.

Walking - by Thoreau

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Methinks, sauntering, about nature, is my new speed.... and that is good.

Thoreau talks of sauntering in nature as a spiritual crusade, seeing the "Holy Land". "We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure , never to return - prepared to send back our embalmed heart only as relics of our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again - if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man - then you are ready for a walk.... a noble art...."

"Some of my townsmen, it is true, can remember and have described to me some walks which they took ten years ago, in which they were so blessed as to lose themselves for half an hour in the woods; but I know very well that they have confined themselves to the highway ever since."

Thoreau had a high, desirable, spiritual expectation of his frequent sauntering in nature, with little expectation of what was ahead, while seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and feeling the sensual present. I love it. 

Field Road, PhaseOne IQ 180 120mm 1/13 sec f12 ISO35

"My vicinity affords many good walks" - Thoreau speaks of the "Old Marlborough Road", a discontinued road that most communities have two or three such pathways. Our Field Road is my Old Marlborough road, leading, perchance, southwest - sunsetting light seeking, across the field, by Johnny Brook, to Green Mountain foothills. 

Late in the light, a short while ago, I found myself walking on a new path in the woods, a short distance off my Old Marlborough Road. I was sauntering on a new bike path, watching the sun penetrating the woods, wishing to capture a moment, with the light just right on a memorable site.

Golden, PhaseOne IQ 180 80mm 1/25 sec f11 ISO 35

I lost myself in the woods - literally - it was soon after the sign for a new path alternative - The Grim Reaper. I blamed getting lost, on the fallen leaves and the newness of the path. I thought about Thoreau speaking of the safety of the America Woods, then I thought about the reports of Bobcats and Bears in The Green Mountains. I walked North East - opposite of the venture out in the woods. A while later, I saw a house. I moved to it, found friendliness and walked the roads two plus miles back to home base. Needless to say, I am not one with the wild - not just yet. I can say I got lost in the woods though. Thoreau would be proud of me, being kind, as he was. 

"So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn."

I wish to go to Walden Pond in Concord, MASS and hope I will wish to go again and again - to walk in the steps of Thoreau, and learn more, as have many before.

Secrets Scar - True Stories Heal

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While contemplating this writing, about the Giving principle activity of transferring - stories, values, and other valuables,  I reread chapter 8 of my book ADVOCATE PLANNING, To Do What You Love To Do - The value of histories and life stories.  The read is worthwhile wisdom to ware, ..... if I must say so myself - better than I remembered. I invite you to go to Book on this site, download the book, and read chapter 8 - it doesn't take long to read. It confirmed to me logic, motivation, and ways to transfer - give value - to people we love.

Scars, Hasselblad Stellar 21.77mm 1/2000 sec f3.5 ISO 400

"It's our little secret", said dad, on his death bed, to his secretary/mistress , with unintended ears present - worth a laugh or two... later... with siblings. The condoned close relationship with Shirley, over a fifty year period, was no secret. We just acted as though it was.

The "little secret", was emblematic of many of my parents realities needing to be secret. Mom and dad were secret souls, treating us a bit as 'subjects'. Yet, evidence of great influencing attributes, is all ten of their children, productively doing their passions. Method in their madness?

"Who was that mask man [woman]?" I asked mom, after dad's death, why she tolerated his relationship with Shirley. She said dad would have gone crazy without Shirley. An act of love? Or, a reprieve from madness?

I spent years in 'therapy', culminating with ten page letters to each of my parents. I stood up to them - to power. I pulled the curtain down. I was looking for truth - not about Shirley - about love - love of self and love of others. I confronted each, separately - faced resistance, learned about power and self-esteem. It was an extremely growing experience for me - maybe why I came up with SCG - the Love Priorities, and dedicated so much time in writing the book and doing this blog. I am grateful. I can't speak for my parents, but, I felt closer to both of my parents, understanding better their story, having confronted them. I value love more having worked at it.

I had to fight to get a glimpse of my dad's love. At my dad's death bed, I asked, with interest, not demand -  Do you love me? - He never before, expressed, in so many words,  his love for me. He sobbed, repeating five times - I love you. I believe it was a cleansing moment.... for both of us.

Docks in a Row, Hasselblad Stellar 11.18mm 1/25 sec f4 ISO 80

My experience with my parent's and my own story, as well as learning from client situations, has convinced me that 'the true story' is as valuable as money transferred to our loved ones - especially where there is the expression of love. Even where love is absent, dealing with the true story, provides the logic of the story, giving a base to build love relationships.

I am telling my story. I am expressing my love. I am getting my docks in a row, to love more, before my next season. I love it.

The Weight of Hate

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Why so much hate? I don't understand. Hate hurts - not something someone would voluntarily choose. Is it an uncontrollable human condition? Is it societally agravated by Hollywood, political opinion newscasts, religious zelots, social media, or even video gun games?

Why is there so much divisiveness? Many seem to not want to even listen to 'the other side', more less study alternatives to their own positions and learn from thought diversity. 

Splash, Hasselblad Stellar 16.2mm 1/2000 sec f4 ISO 80

I am concerned. The weight of hate is affecting too much, even long-time friendships are axed with an opposing political position.

Instead of celebrating differences, some people hurt so much they lash out at innocent bystanders, knowing the consequence is their own demise. Is this their cowardly escape from powerful influences that contribute to their weight of hate that they feel is futile to face?

Are societal stresses so great that hate is becoming vogue? So many questions!

I can think of but one remedy for hatred - LOVE - While hate hurts, love heals, and delights the psyche. Love invites diversity of thought. Love listens. Love lasts. God is Love. Love is Light.

A couple years ago, the devastated parishioners of the Charleston Church expressed the power of love. I am hearing the same from the survivors in Southerland Springs. Do we have to be pushed to the brink, to see the power of love? 

Do we need guards at the gates of all our churches!

Serenity, Canon EOS IDS 90mm 1/640 sec f11 ISO 100 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIME

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Where does time go? I seem to be going to bed, to sleep, constantly. Every night I feel another day has gone, SO FAST! Maybe it is just a, end of Fall foliage, false feeling. I don't think so, though.

LADDER FALL HASSELBLAD STELLAR 12.8MM 1/100 SEC F 2.5 ISO 80

Thirteen years ago, after protracting prostate cancer, I decided to look at life in five year rolling increments. In doing so, I felt I would better do my passions now, rather than deferring gratification. Hard as it is, for me, to think so short term, it has helped me perceive the preciousness of the present.  Having a short fuse is always good for getting going on my good - doing what I love to do.

I also believe, the shorter the time and the clearer the focus on my top SCG priorities, the faster time will seem to pass. Now, after my 2016 stroke, Patty's Alzheimers's, and my niece Mary's death at 61, I think it is best, for me, to begin thinking in three year rolling increments! 

A short time view of life is not bad. Life is good. All is gift. The other side of the fence - albeit,  unknowable, and with a bit of trepidation, I trust, is as good as God.

 

Vermont Roadway

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Some of my favorite images are drive-by, peripheral views, that catch my conscious and result in me braking and backing up. Such is the case with Vermont Roadway. I love it.

Vermont Roadway PhaseOne IQ 180 35mm 1/3 sec f11 ISO 35

My ongoing objective is always -  capturing a photo-of-a-lifetime that, when enlarged and hung on the wall, strikes all who view, with a feeling of wonder in beauty that is seeded in our God given world. Vermont Roadway has that feel for me... at this moment.

I say 'at this moment' because I don't know how I will feel in the future. Does Vermont Roadway have staying power? I think so, but frequently, images lose my interest over time. That is why I wait until next year to pick my favorites from the previous year.

I list my favorites each year  at www.MikeSipe.com to see style refinement and, what I consider, learning. I am learning. Theoretically, my last image should be my best image. I know it doesn't work that way - all the talent in the world, that I may obtain, is not going to order the beauty that will be gifted me.  Soon I will refine my yearly favorites - after all, I know not the gifts that follow.

Pine Tarring New Home!

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Pine tar is sticky stuff, produced by high temperature carbonization of pine. When pine tar is mixed with some turpentine and linseed oil it makes a cool (actually warmed when applied) stain. The Scandinavians have used the application of the material to weather-proof wood for hundred's of years. Who wood have thought? 

This is what you get into when you build a multi-generational home - new ideas from the younger generation. I'm open to new ideas - after all, learning is one of my proclaimed Self-realizing activities I speak of with the Love Priorities! A little risk taking is necessary, I guess, in applying new ideas to get fun and beneficial results.

Black stained house though - not in Patty and my, many home, tradition. I am a bit anxious to see the boards up on the house. I am enjoying the process - being part of the making of our place in the woods is very special. We'll be one with the woods on wolf lane. We'll leave the lights on, so you will be able to find us, while we blend in with nature. I love it.

You can see images of the Pine Tar Project at pinetarsidingproject. Seeing the grain show thru the  stain looks natural and finished. Perfectly imperfect is the result I am looking for.

Please Don't Judge Me

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Love me - Judge my ideas, my photographs - that's how I learn, better understand. As for me, "grant that I don't seek, so much, to be understood, as to understand".

We, as humans, have a tendency to leap to a conclusion - we hear a few facts, abstract, and leap to a conclusion. Now it seems the tendency goes beyond a leap to a conclusion about a fact, but a person - almost to the point that if a person thinks differently than me there is something wrong with them - I hate them - Why doesn't everybody think like me? - Like what I like?

Sun Rain Birch Canon EOS IDS Mark III 90mm 1/10 sec f18 ISO 100

Daily, I affirm my mantra - Love in the Moment. Part of my mantra is an affirmation of contributing my uniqueness, and accepting the uniqueness in myself, as well as that of others, without judgement, with respect, patience, and a sense of humor. That is easier said than done. When I am 'in the zone' with it, though, it sure feels good. I love myself for who I am, what I feel and think. And, I love others, unconditionally, for who they are, with all that they differ from me. How sad it would be if all were me.

A Worthy Cause

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Patty said, once, "I'm not walking - how embarrassing." Then she said "I don't have Alzheimer's, I just don't pay any attention." We did walk, in both Minnesota and Vermont.

It is easy for Patty to do for others, and hard for her to have others do for her. We walked for others ... for us. I deal with this daily with Patty. Sometimes, I wish she were more self caring. Maybe she knows best - that "it is in giving that we receive", as in the simple prayer. Yah, but a little self aware and care might be good, too! Is she using a defense  mechanism? I hear denial is common. I can understand.

It's too complicated for me. The Alzheimer's Association has been a big help in giving me counsel and comfort - direction. They are dedicated people; dedicated to not only the research to finding a cure - the first person to survive the disease - but helping deal, for all involved.....and, this is big. HELP WANTED - more patience and seeing more humor....and reaching our fundraising goal.

Alzheimer's walk, Vermont

Alzheimer's walk, Vermont

Our team, The Whichwayers, fundraising goal is $10,000. Between Minnesota and Vermont we have raised $9,145 - close, but no cigar. Wonderful help from wonderful people. I asked family and some friends for money, in conjunction with celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, and received this great support. I feel good about the way we celebrated our fiftiehth- thank you very much for those who celebrated with us, in-kind and/or a contribution.

Now, I ask again, to a wider audience, so we can reach and go beyond The Whichwayers goal!

Will you help us and the Alzheimer's Association reach our goals -a cure, counsel, comfort? You can donate on-line by going to http://act.alz.org/goto/Whichwayers or send the Alzheimer's Association a check in the mail: Alzheimer's Association National Office, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601 in the name of The Whchwayers, Minnesota or Vermont.

Alzheimer's - Looking for a Cure

This is my Purple Purpose image - I am reaching out for others, for myself, to come together and contribute, or add a bit to your already generous contribution.  Patty is in this image, as family and others support. Human kindness will prevail, and progress, with this mean disease, will be made. Thanks for your consideration........and, I promise, I won't ask again.....at least this year.

 

 

 

 

Horizon Revisited

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I'm thinking clearer today....In my blog of July 25th I defined the Horizon as the area where the sky appears to caress the earth - not so my small minded photographer. The sky caresses the earth, and some times pounds the earth.... note Harvey! 

While thinking deeper about the horizon, I feel a desire to go beyond the skyline - the sky, air and all that comes with it, like water, is vital to our being. Water and Air can also be powerful and dangerous forces. We can't live without either, and how little control we have over nature, doing it's thing.

Respect, Protect, and Connect - we are all in this together. We have God-given strength to deal, and how sweet it is to see people, non-dualistically, come together and help each other.

The earth is a spec in the sky, non-recognizable a relatively short distance into the Cosmos. This blows my mind and reminds me of the lyrics of the song I Believe - "every time I touch a leave or see the sky, I know why, I believe"elvis presley i believe the gospel masters

Lakeside Hasselblad Stellar 10.4mm 1/2000 sec f2 ISO 80

Lakeside Hasselblad Stellar 10.4mm 1/2000 sec f2 ISO 80

50 Years of Bliss! 8/25/1967 - 8/25/2017

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50 years of bliss - I got a hefty laugh with that comment - I knew I would. We've had our share of struggles in our marriage, and much growth and love. I am grateful for the time.

50th with Family at Inn at Shelburne Farms

My life is dedicated to the "the love priorities" - SCG - a principle-based, love of self and love of others, priorities process. As you know, I wrote a book about it as a retirement gift to clients, friends and family. Patty inspired me with much of what I learned over the years about love and advocacy. I make the process seem so complicated. Patty makes love seem so simple.

If the action of putting another person’s interest in front of your own is a sign of love, Patty clearly loves me much. If only I could be so pure.

 

It's Golden

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50 years seemed so long and seems so short. Patty and I met on a blind date, 12/31/1963, arranged by my brother John and Patty's sister Florrie (who married in 1965). We were in high school. We married less then four years later, August 25th, 1967, between my junior and senior years at SJU - The three plus years until marriage seemed so long - couldn't wait until college graduation, like most reasonable people (of the time).

We were kids ...... and grew up together, probably over, about, the next twenty years.....for that matter, probably, hopefully, still growing.  It's been a real adventure and I can't imagine having a better advocate. I wish I were half the advocate, to her, she has been to me. I love you Patty.

At the top - 250 Main, Rockland Maine

It's funny now, and makes a lot of sense - Patty wouldn't look me in the eyes and say she loved me, for about the first ten years or so of marriage. She eventually did and explained her philosophy, or reality.....she said "first comes like, then lust, then love, and then in-love". Now, I hear, at bed-time, (sometimes two or three times, within five minutes or so)  " I love you. Good night. God Bless. I'll see you in the morning, God willing......and if not, I'll be pissed". Those are sweet words....and I am lucky to hear them over and over again!

Horizon

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Horizon - the area where the sky appears to caress the earth.  

3000 Sun Rays Canon Power Shot G-10 8.9mm 1/400 sec f6.3 ISO 100

I was not aware that skies were dominant in my photos (www.MySCGpriorities.com) until one of my biggest photo fans, my brother Richard, said he is seeing more skies in my images. By God, I am looking to the skies more - over 60% of my favorite images, over the last few years, include sky as an important element. Richard delighted me by inviting me to submit 24 representations of skies of the day, for his next book of poems. I love it! And....thank you Richard, for causing me more self-awareness.

Natural beauty has always been the draw for me; gifts, if you will. I go to a place that I think will catch my eye, and freeze, for a life-time, a passing moment that delights me. I don't create beauty, I capture it.. 

Amalfi Coast Phase One IQ 180 80mm 1/500 sec f11 ISO 35

My photography continually reminds me that "All Is Gift" (012345) - All that I receive and All that I am able to contribute.

I look to the horizon more now than ever, the next moment - a mystery - literally and figuratively. Thank God I see so much beauty!

 

We Protect What (Who) We Love

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Sorry for using the presumptuous, all-inclusive, pronoun we, in the title of this blog, but that's how I feel - "protecting" what (who) we love is a universal truth and a natural phenomenon - as natural as a mother bear protecting her cub. 

PROTECTING is one of the nine activities that I define as the LOVE PRIORITIES in ADVOCATE PLANNING; To Do What You Love To Do (a free down-load, under BOOK on this website www.MySCGpriorities.com). I feel passionately that a simple process of focussing on our love priorities will be most productive for us, result in doing, what we love to do. "Protecting" is all I am addressing in this blog, because that is where my mind is now; having just past a kidney stone and appreciating the value of drinking a lot of water - I love water. I want to protect clean water (a topic for another blog).

THE LOVE PRIORITIES

THE LOVE PRIORITIES

For those of us with limited assets, income and time, we think about the two market crashes in the last decade, cringe, and plan to protect some assets, so we don't run out of money to live happily now, and maybe even, leave some money to love ones in our estate. How do you do that? Well maybe you want to read the book and/or talk to your financial planner or personal advocate, about your unique situation. As a personal advocate and having been a professional financial planner, I offer what I do for me, for whatever it is worth for you, in your dealing with this protection issue:

I won't deal with all my details here, knowing that a lot of my actions are unique to my situation. What I think is critical for everyone, is knowing which of your assets are "stable assets" - those that will not reduce proportionally, with a market crash, and secondly, how many years of your investment distribution needs, the stable assets represent. If you are young and will be living on your earnings for sometime, you could, theoretically, have no, or very little, stable assets.

I have seven years of distribution needs in what I determine are stable assets. What I include in stable assets are contract receivables, predictable rents, cash and cash equivalents (very short term bonds). I do not include intermediate and long term bonds because I believe bonds are in dangerous territory and may vary proportionally with an equity markets decline. Also, the value of bonds will decrease with increases in interest rates, and rates are unnaturally low presently. Since bonds are tenuous and cash yields nothing to speaks of, I believe in having some, maybe half, of the stable assets in broadly based large cap index funds with a trigger to get out. The trigger I use to get out is the S&P against the 10 and 12 month moving average of the S&P. In other words, when the S&P is lower than the moving averages, I am in cash and when the S&P is greater than the 10 and 12 month moving averages of the S&P I am in the S&P index with some of my stable assets. Does this make sense? Not that history necessarily repeats itself, but, this approach protected the downside, nicely, during the crashes of the last decade. 

Protecting is one of the three activities of Giving, in the Advocate Model. Insurance costs are frequently identified with "protecting". And, who wants to spend money for insurance....until we think about our loved ones and the possible ramifications of loss. Giving is one of the three principle-based Love Priorities in the Advocate Planning Model. "It is in the giving that we receive" (Francis Assisi). Giving - Love, feels good - the opposite - hate, feels bad. I'd rather drink an ice cold water now than Rat poison. Think about it!

 

 

 

It's Not All About the Size

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Bigger is Better was the tag line I was going to use for my Logo when I started to get more serious about making large landscape images for commercial and residential walls. After a comment from my professional photographer son, Michael, I ended up with Nature Inspired imaging - a fundamental truth for me, bigger picture (pun intended) view, and certainly more professional than Bigger is Better.

The fact is, I have focused, with equipment and technique to facilitate large prints. Being able to print big is key for me and remains the objective.

However, I don't want to miss an opportunity for a cool image. I carry a compact camera that has enough mega-pixels to print 20 inches, long edge (substantially more than my iPhone).

I now have a number of compact camera taken images that have risen to my favorites.

Golden Gate Hasselblad Stellar 10.4mm 1/320 sec f3.5 ISO80

I love Golden Gate! I have learned that it is not always about capturing an image with a zillion mega-pixels, so I can print the size of your couch; it's about the impact on me, my feeling, with seeing the results.....and not all images (I take) are best printed big anyway.

Nature presents so many wonderful moments - it is no wonder that there is a proliferation of great digital images. My differentiation, and passion, is to print a fine piece of art that I, and other viewers feel good about and want to have around for others to feel good about too!