Lucky

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity

Seneca

I was lucky this week in that an unexpected opportunity brought me the Olympus E-3 I've been wanting. It's a demo model, but it looks brand new. I picked it up late this afternoon and it's been love at first sight. It will challenge me to pick up my game. I had gone out earlier this morning into the foothills to photograph and was lucky to find some great shots. One of which is todays theme. There was also great food. In a small town I stopped at what was a burger drive in and had the most wonderful burger, crinkle fries and a cherry coke (they put in the syrup). They had a couple of small pet roosters who would come up to the diners at the picnic tables to investigate what was on the menu in terms of stray crumbs. On my way home I stopped at a sausage shop in another small town. It was packed. They had almost every kind of sausage you could think of made fresh on the premises. Again I was lucky and a couple of guys in line who were regulars guided me through a selection to take home. Fresh apple sausage and waffles are now on the menu for tomorrow morning.

As I drove on my adventure this morning and home this afternoon, I reflected how lucky I am to have a job that has some flexibility in that I have a four day work week. That I have my health, people who care about me, that I can do things I love and I have so many opportunities everyday to find enjoyment in life.

I hope others can be as lucky.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "You Got Lucky":

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Uneasy Sentinels

People just don't have a clear understanding of nuclear energy and how it works. It's not something you see every day or talk about every day.

Rita Sipe

A few weeks ago on a trip with friends we went the wrong way and suddenly thrusting up from the valley grass lands were a couple of eerie towers. Right away I thought nuclear power plant, my friends weren't sure. So I researched them knowing I would be heading that way. Sure enough, it was the cooling towers from the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station. As I went to a photo shoot that didn't work out (that's another horror story) nearby, I decided to visit it again as there is a County Park at it's edge now.

I am a child of the nuclear era, i.e. very much educated over the risks and horrors of what nuclear energy/weapons can engender. Today there seems to be a much more blase attitude about it. This week nuclear issues were in the news. Out of curiosity I asked some younger twenty somethings that I ended up with today what they knew about Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and so on. It was scary how many of them didn't have a clue as to what had happened or even what a nuclear accident could mean. They perceived me as some sort of alarmist, i.e. that I questioned the use of nuclear energy. Further several said that they trusted the government to take of the issues with it and thought it really quite safe. It was worrisome to me. I really hope they are not representative of their generation.

The Rancho Seco cooling towers stand over a green rich land. They are uneasy sentinels, a reminder of a past attempt that failed. I hope some of the individuals I talked to, went home and looked up some history and will begin to understand what it means to their future. My father taught me to be a steward of the earth and so I will continue to question how we can met our present needs without sacrificing the next generation's legacy.

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Keb'Mo' and Ben Harper, "For What It's Worth":