Category: manhood

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #702 – NEVER TOO OLD TO BLOOM IN THE SPRING.

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“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” 

― William Blake

I do long for the new start that comes with Spring. I so enjoyed and envied this big specimen at Ft Davis National Historic Site that was beginning to show sign of becoming green. Despite all the warning signs around it that cautioned me to stay away because of the danger of falling limbs, it was becoming Spring itself.

Ah, that I should  be so old and be considered dangerous. As a man, I flat out love that hope that I could be dangerous.

Enjoy life!   en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #682 – LIVE TO BECOME A CLASSIC!

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I don’t know what age this truck is, but I am pretty sure that I am older. In the span of seeing this old truck and in the short time walking towards it, I saw more than a couple of men with their wives stop as they passed by this classic. You could see the awe and pull of the truck through through the pauses and attention to some details that they would share with their disinterested partner.

Men love to look at old trucks. I don’t quite follow the appeal. Yet, while saying that, I had an old 56 chevy truck that I bought and worked on. While it was nice to have, it was a lot of work to keep it on the road and looking good. It was a head-turner and for that same man logic, I loved having what other men wanted.

So the question I have is at what point to men become classics themselves? We share a lot of the same high maintenance.  We require a lot of upkeep. Parts are always breaking, rusting and falling into disrepair. Somewhere along our timeline, we have to put in the same efforts into ourselves in order to become a classic. Or we might as well  be rusting away on cinderblocks in a field awaiting someone to come bye and take pause, give a low  whistle and say “I can fix this thing up!”

Take care of yourself. Become a classic!  en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL – THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #658 – SOMETHING OLD THAT MY GRANDFATHER USED TO HOLD.

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I am a sentimental old fellow. I am blessed to have many tools and such that belonged to my dad and my granddad. I even carry the name of both of them in my first and middle moniker.

I have had this old Millers Falls drill for a good while. It’s design and mechanism have always cried out to be photographed. It also gives me the tender grace of feeling my PaPa Jim’s solid hands upon it.

The best hand drills ever made came out of the Millers Falls factory in the first half of the 20th century. While many people used these drills for boring holes in metal, the tools proved remarkably adept at becoming the first generation of cordless drills for woodworking.

These drills are today called eggbeater drills because of the way the drive mechanism works. The main gear turns either one or two pinions on the tool’s shaft to turn the chuck backward or forward , just like an old kitchen eggbeater.

Be warmed by connection to your past! ††† en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #630 – WHAT WILL YOU FIGHT FOR?

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I am in the midst of a terrific read, Die Empty by Todd Henry. I am absolutely loving this book, but it forces you to take a look at your aimless tendencies and to find and close the loopholes through which you allow your true purpose to slip through.

I want to be like this much smaller Redwing Blackbird who was just tearing the heck out of the Blue Heron for being in his territory. In the animal kingdom you kind of don’t have a 911 or a way to file a grievance when someone tries to move into your space.

What are you aspiring towards on behave of others?

What will you stand for today?

What will you refuse to compromise on, no matter what?

What will determine your terms of engagement?

What do you know you should be doing, but have been ignoring?

These seemingly simple questions just have me frozen. I’m having a hard time facing up to truthfully answering them. They make me feel weak and a bit like a wimp.

So, what are you standing for today? Share some answers with me, it might help to empower me and find my purpose…. en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #619- FORGED BY FIRE?

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As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

So who are you allowing to shape you today? Be shaped and sharpened by those that forge you into yourself, not them!

Hone that blade! ††† en theos ††† jimwork

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #595 – My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius

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This creature caught my attention when he flew by me on my morning walk. It was just hard to miss a leaf hopper that had bright pink wings. After chasing him down his Gladiator look far out weighed his wear it pink look.

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

Be bold, look like a gladiator while doning the wear it pink! ††† en theos ††† jimwork

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #593 – Leaves fall atop our lives.

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 Men Improve with the Years

I AM worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams;
And all day long I look
Upon this lady’s beauty
As though I had found in a book
A pictured beauty,
Pleased to have filled the eyes
Or the discerning ears,
Delighted to be but wise,
For men improve with the years;
And yet, and yet,
Is this my dream, or the truth?
O would that we had met
When I had my burning youth!
But I grow old among dreams,
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams. 
William Butler Yeats

 

A nice fall morning, no sunrise, covered in clouds that drift into and over my heart. Questions of dreams dropped by Yeats weigh upon me. ††† en theos ††† jimwork

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #586 – I was so elated, at last a place to find the answers to all the questions about being a real man.

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Ah, at last a place that might have the answers to the long embered questions I walk around with. Yes, it was on an off-placed road in a small New Mexico town, but I had this hope that I could wander in and find answers to all my wonder.

A real man! What is it, how to  become it and had I at last arrived? Would I be applauded when I entered or be asked “man what took you so long to get here”

Would I at least find the things that make “a real man”. Would in instantly I find the knowledge to do man things: fix cars, discern wisdom from knowledge, to truly find when to hold’em and when to fold em?

Alas, the store was closed and the answers still lie in wait. Man up, you can get The answer in only one place and the door is always open, “Seek and ye shall find.”Matthew 7:7

Knock and the door will be opened. ††† en theos ††† jimwork

Images of small things from the biggest county in Texas #550 – Time on your hands, time for prayer

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I had no idea as to what this image was going to be when I started to craft it. It didn’t take too long, but I was wasting a lot of time with using my hands. Makes it easier, I don’t have to talk or ask someone for help.  I was setting the self-timer (ah great word for another post) then racing against time framing my hands to get them in focus and before my self timer ran out of time.  I kept missing getting it all together by a tick or two. Just a little off, a little off center, a little off angle.

My wife walked in and I desperately asked her asked for help. Why we men are so reluctant to ask for help or directions. We are always determined to screw things up, waste more time and remain lost, by fault of our own, thank you very much.

I asked her if she would trip my camera for me. It then all fell quickly into place by just by making that one little plea, HELP.

I found way too many time quotes that I wanted to share so you will just have to ask google for help. But three jumped out:

“Time is an equal opportunity employer.  Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day.  Rich people can’t buy more hours.  Scientists can’t invent new minutes.  And you can’t save time to spend it on another day.  Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving.  No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow. ” ~Denis Waitely

“Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all!…. his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes.”  ~Charles Dickens

And my favorite,

When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said, “Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.”  ~Author Unknown

enjoy your time, tick tock! ††† en theos ††† jimwork

Photos on the journey #473

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Mom & Dad on their wedding day, July 5,1941 Anne Mae EnWright  Work & Lawrence Oakley Work Jr.

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads, you know who you are!

Well happy fathers day to you dad – seems like forever that I have seen you, touched you or smelled you. But, in reality you come alive to me several times everyday. Today is  no exception. So hard to find that you have been gone 22 years, you would be 96 were you still here.

I can remember so clearly the day that you left. Checking on you early that morning, you were sleeping soundly and breathing peacefully. I went to make us a cup of coffee. In the midst of it brewing, while gazing out your kitchen window, I felt you pass bye.

I went back to your room, you had a far off stare, now sleeping peacefully but not breathing. I knowingly searched for an unfelt pulse, realizing that once again I would not find what I was looking for. I put my head on your chest and heard nothing but the solitary echo of my own heart. It was a loud and solitary beat. I savored the moment, once more finding myself somewhere I was not ready to be. I had a lot of growing up to in what felt like much too short a time.

I told mom you were gone, we cried together on your bed, tears falling on the bed covers, mixing with your smell. I called the funeral home and finished brewing coffee for one. I went outside for a walk pondering the change. Trying hard to put on clothing that felt too large a size for me.

I rounded a corner to witness your best friend and neighbor lowering his flag to half mast. My worry came down along with the flag. I walked back to your home my vision sharp through the blur of unending tears.

I have tried to fill your shoes even though your were an eleven and I a nine. As always, I found myself two bricks shy of a load. I know that I could never totally fill your shoes, but now mine fit me just fine.

PEACE ††† en theos ††† jlawrence