Author Archives: johndiestler

I love the double and triple meaning of words. “It all depends upon your perspective.” What does that mean? Converging railroad tracks in the distance? Or, what you see depends upon where you stand. Generally, I know this to be … Continue reading →

There was a time when we would seek out kosher chicken from the butcher, not Safeway. There was probably not much difference in the quality of the meat, the Safeway chicken had the label kosher so my guess is that … Continue reading →

I don’t usually repost, but this was just too snarky to pass up. British sarcasm! An Obituary printed in the London* *Times…..Absolutely Dead Brilliant!!* Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with … Continue reading →

Been thinking about freedom. It’s a complex issue, always a two-sided coin. You can’t discuss freedom without having constraint. If there is no constraint, then… you just are. In the same way, a lifetime of constraint doesn’t mean much, until … Continue reading →

I am surviving. I come from a long list of survivors. Oh, they eventually died, but before they did, they passed on their DNA. I am so amazed that if just one of my thousands of grandparents had died as … Continue reading →

So, let’s check the boxes. I am old, not terribly old, but old enough not to be confused with young or even middle-aged. I have diabetes. I’ve recently had a heart attack, and heart disease is another box that’s ticked. … Continue reading →

My lovely wife did me the favor of collecting the yearly documents necessary to present to our tax person. Our new tax person, because our old tax person retired after thirty years. This has been a troubling time. For years … Continue reading →

I am of an age where my memory has been somewhat selective. I have professed to my children that the music from the Sixties was far better than any decade since. I had forgotten that the 60’s had its share … Continue reading →

What is it when we are not looking for something, and then we find it? It’s hard to be thoughtless in the literal sense, which is somehow different than the emotional uncaring sense. The pure thoughtless is almost like the … Continue reading →

The Red River flows north between the cities of Fargo and Moorhead. The Greyhound station was in Fargo and my destination was Milwaukee. I had a change of clothes in a small soft duffle, and some art supplies in an … Continue reading →

EL: God Almighty(“mighty, strong, prominent”) used 250 times in the OT. Elah appears in the Hebrew Bible in Jer. 10:11 (which is in Aramaic, and is plural, “gods”). In Daniel (the Aramaic sections) Elah is used both of pagan gods, … Continue reading →

negentropy Noun (uncountable) • The entropy that a living thing exports to keep its own entropy low. Has it always been so? Looking up the definition of a word and not finding the expected simple answer. I feel over time … Continue reading →

en·tro·py /ˈentrəpē/ noun: entropy; plural noun: entropies; symbol: S 1. PHYSICS: a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system’s thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system. 2. … Continue reading →

Some of our students just returned from a week at our nation’s capitol. Can you imagined what they must have learned? What a perfect opportunity to witness history, to actually see the government in action, to hear live presentations from … Continue reading →

I have recently been intrigued by the classic black and white headshots of the 1940s. I’m not familiar with any names of the photographers, but I am admiring their work. Wikipedia sometimes gets the actual names of the actors wrong, … Continue reading →

I once saw a man with a tattoo of a watch on his wrist. Periodically it had the correct time, at least twice a day. The theoretical concept is that if he had more tattoos, it will increase the ratio … Continue reading →

I am inspired by his work http://www.youtube.com/watch

Well, in simplistic terms, I make art. It is art because I say so, not because I have mastered any particular media. It is art because I have recognized that in the making, that the image has crossed the threshold … Continue reading →

A good friend posted an article by Dennis Praeger and suggested that I read it. I’m good with that. I have several of his books and I have enjoyed his writing. No red flags there… Well, maybe one. Praeger has … Continue reading →

Encouragement can be found in a vast mountain lake. A reservoir filled to the brim, more encouragement than you can receive in several lifetimes. And yet it is untapped for most of us, for most of our lives. It is … Continue reading →

I have lost count of what I have done and how many. Apparently my storage system is a little wacky, because I remember working on the image, and then I can’t find it. Later, it pops up like an Easter … Continue reading →

I can’t leave it alone. Gotta try reworking. And I’m really only using two different brush styles. Okay, the last one is my grandson’s.

I wanted to revisit Egon with my Apple Pencil.

I wanted to focus on the Mucha women, mostly their expressions, so I removed the background.s. Then I could see the faces, and naturally I took some liberties to make some changes. Changing color and line weight was a good … Continue reading →

Steve Jobs had very strong opinions. Way back when the Newton was a thing, he liked it but couldn’t stand that it had a stylist. “It could get lost!” Well, yes, Steve. It could get lost, and it did get … Continue reading →

I finally upgraded an old iPad that cracked a screen. On the way to better vision, its getting hard to see detail. the doctor says its all good but I struggle. So i busted for a 12.5 iPad Pro, and … Continue reading →

“The Big Island Today I stepped on new earth. Earth that rose from magma, Mother giving birth to child, As unlovely to look at as can be imagined. Yet time will pass and the child Will change, gaining the Rainaments … Continue reading →

I’m back in the land of new earth. Dirt that is younger than I am. Yes, I know, composting trees, brush and vegetables creates new earth. But this place belches new earth from the core of the world. The Big … Continue reading →

Diogenes was noted for holding a lamp during the day, saying he was looking for an honest man. He often disrupted the teachings of Socrates and Plato, by bringing food and drink to their lectures. He even criticized Alexander the … Continue reading →

Jerusalem We have been back for two or three days. Somehow with the international date line, we may have missed a day. The last few days were a blur but I will try to summarize. It was a great trip, … Continue reading →

Jerusalem I’ve been here several days, and I will stay several more. It is a city of contrasts. In many was it is like most modern cosmopolitan centers. It has traffic, noise, the bustle of people. It also has history, … Continue reading →

Jerusalem The city is filled with wonder, places of history, places suspected of history. When the British general Charles Gordon was here, he brought a piece of land that he felt was important. People had said that this was Golgotha, … Continue reading →

Okay, I have three things to ponder; living water, being hopelessly trapped and living the good life. I am currently in the Judean Wilderness, it’s not sand dunes, it’s ankle twisting, barren brown desert rock. It’s an intimidating place, made … Continue reading →

This is a place of conflict. Conflict in the past, and likely conflict in the future. We were brought to an outpost that looks over the natural path for an invasion of Israel from Syria. It was used in 1948, … Continue reading →