The Longest Night. The Shortest Day

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 and find one. I was about 12 at this time and I followed his advise. One day I found myself in a Baptist Church and it felt comfortable so I became a Baptist. Easy as that.

I have understood for a long time why the church has it's “Do's” and “Do not's”.  However, after many years I have eliminated the guilt in my own life, the guilt my mother could not. She always felt that she was a sinner and anything bad that happened in her life was a punishment by God for her disobedience to His will. I recall several times in her life when she was “Born Again” or “Saved by the Grace of God” and yet she continued to believe that she was a “sinner” and unworthy of His love. One of the last things she said to me as she was fighting a losing battle with cancer was the question “Why is God doing this to me?”. I cried because I had no answer and yet I knew in my heart that “He” was not doing this to her or anyone else.

You see, at this time in my life, mid 30's, I was grappling with my own beliefs. I had been in and out of churches but always left them feeling incomplete. When I asked the difficult questions I was always told that it was “not for us to know” and that lead to the question “How do you know it's not for us to know?” I felt that there was a god and that he was a loving god, not the vengeful god of my parents. Throughout my life I was open to other possibilities. I listened to other ideas and read other philosophies. I applied logic to these ideas and became ever more pragmatic and little by little they began to make much more sense.

By the time of my mid 50's I still had more questions than answers and my friend said that was a good thing. I asked him why and he said that questions keep us moving forward but when we have no more questions we start digging our own grave.

More than 20 years after my mother died I found myself going through the same thing with my dear brother. He was only 58 and by the time he was diagnosed with cancer it was too late. The final year was one doctor appointment after the other and one treatment after the other. This changed his physical appearance and of course it affected his mental health too. I knew he was wrestling with his own beliefs but he would not talk about it with me. We went to visit our parents graves in Texas and Louisiana and I watched him kneel at each one, head bowed as he communed with them in his own way. I hope it gave him some peace as I know he was in pain.

  Today I celebrate the Winter solstice, the longest night and the shortest day. People talk about “The reason for the season” and yet they ignore the real reason IS the season. We know the reason that the seasons change. We know that the vernal equinox will signal the end of winter and that the summer solstice will be the longest day and the shortest night. No questions. No dogma. The things like the earth circling the sun and the moon circling the earth are more certain by far than any Johnny Come Lately religion. I am now free from the chains that have bound me to my ancestors beliefs.

It's not something you have to believe in, it is as certain as life and death. Happy Winter Solstice.

Guns

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 performance."

A spokesman for the two participating gun rights groups, Come and Take It Texas and DontComply.com, told the site the event will involve using fake blood and bullhorns to mimic gunshot noises.

"In the wake of yet another gun free zone shooting, Obama is using it to aggressively push his gun confiscation agenda," a Facebook page for the event read. "Now is the time to stand up, take a walk, speak out against the lies and put an end to the gun free killing zones."

In June, state lawmakers made Texas the eighth state in the country to allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus grounds. Saturday's event comes amid ongoing concerns about the new law.

"We want criminals to fear the public being armed," spokesman Matthew Short said. "An armed society is a polite society."

All of these people need to take a moment to read about the Austin Tower Sniper 

5 years in Mexico

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.

Finding family

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.

James Thompson Walls Sr. (1851-1922) was a dentist in north Portland before moving to Coos County.The family returned to Portland and they lived in the Maplewood area of SW Portland. His son James Thompson Walls Jr.(1897-1950) was also a dentist. However James Thompson Walls III (1919-?) I have not been able to trace (maybe he moved to Estacada).

George Henry Walls (1869-?) also lived in SW Portland and his occupation was listed as Carman. Most likely he was an operator on the electric trolly line in the area.He had two sons;

Phillip Sherwood Walls (1902-1943) and his son Michael Sherwood Walls who I believe lives in Lake Oswego.
Kendall T Walls (1910-1959) who died in Mobile, Alabama.

So I still need to investigate the Walls family in Estacada and on my next visit I plan to make personal contact with the family just out of curiosity.(Update 4/13/17; I made contact and they said they are from a different Walls family line.)

A side note: While examining documents I became aware of the fact that when you have someone writing things down for you (i.e. a census taker, hospital worker, etc.) it is very easy to have your name spelled wrong. It is also a problem when someone has a heavy accent and/or doesn't speak the native language. I found a distant cousin named Samuel who lived in Kentucky and his name was listed in the 1850 census as Saml which was probably how he pronounced it (this was not an abbreviation by the census taker as all other names were fully spelled out). With this in mind I can just imagine what it must have been like for European immigrants coming to the US at Ellis Island without any documentation and not speaking the language. It's no wonder so many names were changed when they arrived.

Putting things in perspective ....

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.

Please check out tsu.co

http://www.tsu.co/
http://www.tsu.co/jimwallsZman

Loathes and Feces

  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.
  Death seems like an easy fix but we know, from experience, that killing them only makes the other members of Loathes and Feces more determined in their misguided cause.
  Education seems like a good idea but that their motto appears to be "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
  In these days of instant communication I see too many "loose cannons" thinking they can silence these rantings when they are only adding fuel to the fire. I want to say "People, you are being baited by a hate monger. A died in the wool member of Loathes and Feces.

                                         Ah and alas, what to do. What to do.

  After all, well meaning people who respond with opposing hatred are rarely heard. And when a person is ranting it's best to let them rant to exhaustion because it is difficult to stop a train moving at full speed.
  I have decided not to respond to these people and always remember that a soft spoken word, uttered with a loving heart, at the appropriate time is a good place to start.

Visit: April 2015

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

 

Alternative medicine ...

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.
It was difficult to get onto the treatment table but I was ready. The doctor put four or five needles near my spine on my lower back, one in the back of my knee and one in my ankle. He put a light, warm cover on my lower back and turned on some soothing music. After about half an hour the pins were removed and he said I could get up when I was ready. I laid still for a few minutes and slowly began to get off the table. No pain. I twisted gently left and right. No pain. I bent forward. No pain. When I got home I laid down in bed on my back, turned to my left side, turned to my stomach and then to my right side. Still, no pain.
I have an appointment for tomorrow but at this moment I don't feel like I need it. We'll see how well I sleep tonight and what tomorrow brings.

UPDATE Monday, Feb 9 2015:
What I've learned about Sciatica and Acupuncture
First of all I want to say that Acupuncture is very good for temporary relief from the pain of Sciatica. It can give the body a much needed break during the healing process.
Second of all Sciatica can be dealt with by just keeping the back and stomach muscles in good tone. Strength and stretching exercises can prevent many of the common back problems and also eliminate the pain of Sciatica.
I am continuing the Acupuncture treatments while I am doing the physical therapy and already I can feel a lessening of the pain.

UPDATE FRIDA Feb 13 2015:
The pain relief from the 4 Acupuncture treatments has allowed me to continue the stretching/strengthening exercises and although I still have some pain it is manageable. I will continue with the program and hopefully the problem will be a thing of the past for ever.