The first title was: Nebraska...

Great pic Diane,eddie,

Many thanks, Eddie!

I like it
... but ... Nebraska?

Nebraska. That's my title and I'm stickin' to it. Thank you!

Ok!!
You have given me a challenge now!

I changed my mind.

Challenge thwarted!
'... just some hosta leaves'
But I would never have thought of it!
And your melancholy thoughts tally with mine these days. The search is always on to find something to cheer oneself up. Doesn't seem to be as easy as it once was!

No, it's not! My grandchildren are a good distraction, because they are mostly disengaged from the worst of it. My grandson said a sad thing the other day. I'd asked him if he heard about the impending extinction of this and that animal (apropos of what, I don't remember). He said, "No, and I don't want to know. It's just more my generation has to try cleaning up later and it pisses me off." His friend nodded in agreement.

Just writing that makes me sick.

Amazing and very beautiful, Diane !!!!!!!

Thank you, Marie-claire!

A Hosta leaf mountainscape?

Correct again, sir! ;-)

Before or after the rain ?

No rain until Wed.! Thank you, Pam!

from Panorama point ?

Do you mean Panoramio?

Oh! Very clever, Sylvain. As you see, that "highest point" is funny!

Excellent work Diane.

Thank you, Jaap!

Hi Diane.
Such a striking and impressive image in itself.
I didn't wonder about what it is , at first, wholly caught up in admiring your masterly artistic work.
Then reading your words below I thought it more and more powerful because of your making of this image an icon of those dreadful events in Vietnam and with the nowadays political catastrophes every where in the world.
I may be wrong saying that :Once mankind or many of them would rebel against that fiercely useless carnage of young lives.. now we seem to lie powerless, with impotente rage.
Thank you .
Bea

Bea, it does seem that way...as if we are in a trance. But, I hope and hope that will end and all of us will find our loud selves again. Grazie mille, my dear friend.

A wonderful abstract and thought-provoking message, Diane.

Many thanks, Valfal, I appreciate it.

During the Vietnam War I used to get down on my knees every day and thank God I was a Canadian. I get the impression that younger Americans don't appreciate the tremendous impact that war had on American and Southeast Asian society, or the carnage. It's not their fault, of course -- I think they weren't taught about it because the country was trying to repress its memories.

You're right, they weren't taught it. I've tried to fill in that gap with my son, who is in his 40s and only read a few paragraphs about it in 9th grade. My grandchildren, 10 and 14, had never heard of Vietnam as a country, much less as a national shame. I tried to explaiin as best I could, not only about the war itself, but the wrenching, violent social upheaval it caused. I doubt it registered, as very young people can't concieve of the old people's traumas - especially ones based on complicated political/historical events. But, I remember knowing quite a bit about WWII by high school. I learned much less about the Korean War, as that, too, was a war without clear purpose and difficult to put into terms of good vs. bad.

I was very grateful I got a high lottery number in 1972--

wonderful!
have a great day

Merci, Annemarie!

Interesting comment you made Diane. I remember the war so well with horrifying pictures in the newspapers every day. I can hardy listen to the haunting music of The Deer Hunter (Cavatina) without a tear in my eye. My son-in-law is often in South Korea with his work, so the present situation is a very worrying one.

Oh, Rosa, he must be constantly on your mind! It would be for me! The sound of a Huey helicopter is etched in my memory from hearing it on the news every night and I think I would recognize it anywhere. The songs of that era still give me a huge emotional reaction. Eve of Destruction, Fortunate Son, Hendrix, Stones, Animals...

Many thanks for your comment and star, Rosa.