Keeping in touch with Jim

At the time of writing this I am in my 69 th year. In those years I have been introduced to many thought processes and concepts that have effected or infected my life and I want to give some thought to these concepts. My grandparents were life long members of the Salvation Army and we were taught the strict language of the church such as “Don't sin” and “Honor your mother and father”. My mother fell away from the church in her teen years yet she wanted me to be the “Good Christian” that she was not able to be. So my life was “given” or “dedicated” to the church through a baptism service performed by my grandfather. This was before I was able to walk, talk or reason. My mother didn't take us to church but one day when my father came for a visit he said he wanted me to go to church and I asked him which one. He told me that it was my decision. He told me to ask my friends if I could go with them to visit their church or on a Sunday just to walk around ...

Guns: Right now there are so many conflicting ideas on all sides of the issue. Today I have a haunting feeling that soon, very soon, there will be a mass shooting where the police are shooting criminals and citizens are shooting criminals and police because they can't tell who is who. And then the police will start shooting the citizens who will retaliate in kind and on and on it will go. I only hope that my loved ones and I can stay out of harm's way. I read the following today and it seems like these people have no knowledge of the Austin Tower Sniper : "Gun rights activists in Texas are planning to stage a mock mass shooting at the University of Texas this weekend in protest of both gun-free zones and President Barack Obama's continued calls for tougher gun control legislation. According to the website  Statesman , gun rights supporters will begin the day by marching through Austin with loaded weapons and conclude their walk with a "theatrical performan...

It's hard for me to believe that this week I celebrate 5 years in Mexico.  I have not done exactly what I had planned to do but I must say it has been pretty good. I had planned to travel more but I feel like that part is just around the corner. Looking back over the last 3 years I can see how I have been taking a lot fewer photos and my sense of creativity has ebbed. I started a project a few years ago which has languished in the back of my mind but now I feel the need to continue with it. I need more and different subject matter so now it's time to stretch my legs and see some places I have only dreamed of or seen in other people's photos. I don't want to take anything away from the family, I only want to continue with my love of photographic art.

For several years I have been doing research on my ancestors mostly using the internet and Ancestry.com. I also made two trips back to Carlisle, KY where the family lived during the late 1700's and early 1800's. From there many of the family moved to Missouri and my line moved from there to Texas. I have reached a block moving backwards into Virginia, Maryland and possibly Delaware. The problem is that there were so many documents destroyed during the wars and of course natural disasters. In 1969 we moved from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Portland, Oregon. As far as I was aware there were none of my ancestors who ever moved to Oregon and yet there were two other James Walls; one in the Beaverton area and one in Estacada. Since the name Walls is so common I just wrote it off as coincidence. This week, while doing research on another line of the family (my great grandfather's brothers) I found that two of them moved from Missouri to Portland, Oregon. Well, how about that. ...

In the late 1980's I got my first computer from my dear brother when he upgraded to a new 486 PC. I was quite impressed that the 386 PC he gave me had TWO 500 megabyte hard drives. It used the new 3.5 inch floppy discs that had a 1.44 megabyte storage capacity.    Today, in my pocket I have a flash drive that stores 16 gigabytes. That would be the equivalent of more than 11 thousand 3.5 flopy discs .... in my pocket.   I remember how impressed I was when 700 megabyte CD's came out and then 4.7 gigabyte DVD's WOW. But that would still mean that I would have to carry 4 DVD's in my pocket to equal this one little flash drive. I almost bought a 64 gigabyte flash drive last week but, like I said in 1989 .. "I'll never use more than 500 megabytes of storage space." P.S. I also have a 3 TB backup drive on my desk.That's more than 192 flash drives (16 gb) and more than 7 million floppy disks. It's good to put things in perspective.

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  There are people in the world who seem to be members of the same club that I will call "Loathes and Feces". They are filled with hate and stinkin' thinkin'. ("They are always willing to help people to hate anything that needs hating" Thank you Robert A Heinlein).   When I hear/read/watch the outpourings of these people, I know that there are others who are willing to be drawn in and poisoned by their rantings and will certainly join the club as a full time member. It makes me wonder; What is lacking in their lives that makes this type of action so appealing? I only wish there was a simple solution to this problem.   Many would say they lack religion but I believe quite a bit of this is caused by religious fanaticism. Some would say they lack love but I believe they are in love with themselves and their hatred of others.   Some would say they lack family values but from what I have seen of many families this is where they get their misguided ideas. ...

Every six months I am required to leave Mexico in order to renew my tourist visa which gives me a chance to visit friends and family in the Portland/Vancouver area. I have had so much fun watching my little great grandson, Lucas Sky Walls as he grows and develops. He is just now 20 months old and I have posted a video of some photos that I have made of him in these last two weeks. HERE  

I have believed for many years that there are as many beneficial as well as bogus treatments in both modern medicine and alternative medicine. One of those alternative treatments, namely Acupuncture, I felt was bogus but never having experienced the treatment I reserved judgement. Well, earlier this week I started having severe pain in my lower back and hip. The next day I felt shooting pain down through the back of my thigh and the next day it continued into my shin and ankle but the hip was the worst. It got to the point that I couldn't find a position to sleep in where I was comfortable and yesterday it even began to be painful to stand in one position without pain. I did some research on-line and it was obvious that it was Sciatica. Ivone has been going to her doctor for acupuncture treatments for several weeks and I was in doubt as to their effectiveness but I was in such distress that I scheduled an appointment for this afternoon. The doctor agreed that it was Sciatica....