Clouds got in the way...

[Peter Grossetti]

wow, sorry about the size of those pics. If someone at The Observation Deck wants to resize them, please do.

[Jim O'Bryan]

wow, sorry about the size of those pics. If someone at The Observation Deck wants to resize them, please do.

Peter

When we made the Deck smart phone friendly we also set it to automatically resize for the screen. Check it out!

Thanks for sharing.


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[Brian Essi]

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On Walden Pond

[Alex Belisle]

The Walden Pond I know and have been to looked nothing like this! LOL

[Peter Grossetti]

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[Peter Grossetti]

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[Peter Grossetti]

Its been nearly nearly nine year since the first post in this thread ... a Jim O'Bryan photo and the lyrics to Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" (misindentified as "Clouds" in that OP). http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... f=7&t=4568

Thanks, Jim, for inspiring me to look at (and photograph) clouds from both sides ... and for reminding all of us that we really don't know life at all.

I don't think the lyrics have been re-posted since that first posts. Take a few minutes to watch, listed ... sing along (go ahead; no one is watching you) ... and let these lyrics sink in.

I found this brief story of how Joni came up with the song very interesting: "I was reading a book, and I haven't finished it yet, called "Henderson the Rain King." And there's a line in it that I especially got hung up on that was about when he was flying to Africa and searching for something, he said that in an age when people could look up and down at clouds, they shouldn't be afraid to die. And so I got this idea 'from both sides now.' There are a lot of sides to everything, and so the song is called "From Both Sides, Now.""

[Peter Grossetti]

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[Peter Grossetti]

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[Gary Rice]

Jim, Peter, all...

With all that's been going on in Lakewood lately, and with a good number of our equally good citizens being highly concerned about the future of our city, threads like this one can be a great positive-thinking oasis in the desert of Lakewood's crises.

That's no accident either. Right from the start, Mr. O'Bryan was well aware that there would be a certain amount of feudin', fightin', and hollerin' goin' on here on the 'Deck, as people cussed and discussed the challenges facing our fair city. All that dramatic stuff needed to be balanced off with some positive dreamin' too. This thread is a glowing example of keeping that hopeful higher vision, in the midst of whatever else comes our way.

I had the great pleasure, many years ago to meet and get to know a tall banjo player named Pete Seeger. The more I learned from Pete, the more amazed I was how much a folk-singing sing-along banjo player can do in order to make a difference in the world. I did not always agree with Pete's points of view, but wow, you had to respect the fact that he knew how to roll up his sleeves and get everybody around him thinking about how people of very different political, religious, geographic, and economic persuasions could put aside their differences in order to work together for the common good.

Pete loved Joni Mitchell's song "Both Sides Now", but when he arrived at the age of 50, he felt that the song just needed another verse. Here's a link to a great video of that whole story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YjfUqyV5xE

I do believe that Pete's last verse could well have been written just for us here in Lakewood.

By the way, some of you may know that Pete and his friends got heavily into environmental issues. Pete built a home in Beacon, N.Y. with his own hands, overlooking the Hudson River. Later on, he got everybody together to build a replica of an old Hudson River sloop. They called it the "Clearwater". Over the years, thousands of people have sailed up and down the Hudson, helping to raise awareness of the importance of clean water. Clearwater is just completing a hull-up restoration, and she should be back on the water soon, so if anyone would like to contribute to that fund, here's the link, and the address:

http://www.clearwater.org/

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
724 Wolcott Ave.
Beacon N.Y. 12508

Thanks to many good people the fundraising efforts have been really wonderful, but there's still a bit more money to raise. (There always is, isn't there?)

Over 2 decades ago, Pete and I played music in the Cuyahoga Valley (see photo) when we were trying to help to clean up our own Cuyahoga River.

You'll usually still find me playing on the banjo down in the Cuyahoga Valley at least once monthly at the fantastic Canalway Visitor's Center in the reclaimed industrial flats for our 3rd Saturday song circle/sing-a-longs. (1-3 p.m.) Hope to see you there!

(check your monthly Metroparks calendar as times and dates can vary)

Thanks to Jimmy, for this thread, and Joni and Pete for the song. You've all always tried to see both sides........now...

...and now you know why I've tried so hard to understand BOTH sides too.

Back to the banjo...

[Peter Grossetti]

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[Jim O'Bryan]

06.17.2016 10pm. That is Mars, the red light just to the lower right of the moon.





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[Peter Grossetti]

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Seen this evening over Howe Meadow in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Did you know that the National Park Service is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Nice shots Peter, thanks for sharing. Here are a couple from down by the lake.


Nikon


Nikon


iphone


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[Lori Allen _]

Since we're talking about solstice steps:


Padding coming to Solstice Steps!

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We can now relax on the Solstice Steps with some bedbug and cockroach-ridden padding, courtesy of some of our generous Lakewood neighbors!

Solstice Steps defined: Summers' way of trying to appease us so that we won't complain about everything he's doing wrong. Another cover-up. Rah Rah!

Awaiting my fifty lashes!