"As long as you're still smiling"

Doing what I often do -- which is to say, drifting off on a tangent into Neverland -- here is a series of photographs of one obvious tomahawk head and what I believe is a variation -- albeit smaller and in a different configuration -- of another hatchet or tomahawk head. In the interest of brevity, I will not enter into the realm of history other than to say I believe the style of the obvious implement evolved through the Vikings and followed them into Normandy and, generations later, the French carried them on to North America for personal use and for trade with the Native American tribes. The heavily encrusted one, if I am right, is a much older style and had been submerged underwater for a few hundred years or more before being found. It was discovered on a rock-lined riverbed at a depth of about three feet at the confluence of two rivers in, shall we say, rather remote country. It will be undergoing metallurgical and other tests too numerous and complex for my pedestrian mind to explain. The obvious "hawk," incidentally, is what might be described as sort of a family heirloom. You will note the edge of a coin at the head of the handle. The date on the coin is 1818. It has been around for a while. Enough about tomahawks for today.

A thought about David Bowie: He never seemed old to me, much less old enough to die, but cancer does not pause to inquire about the age of an individual before it strikes. I suppose the illusion of youth was personified through his video performances, and here is one of them -- one I have posted a few times in the past because it long has been among my very favorites and because with it comes a memory of a few wonderful, happy hours in a place called The Duval in another time in another city in another country.

Moving right along .... Happy Birthday, SLHVN ....

And, finally .... I still will be gone for a while, ya know .... sort of incommunicado .... later, baby ....

A bit of dialogue to ponder

from the film
"Full Metal Jacket" (1987):

Pogue Colonel: Marine, what is that button on your body armor?

Private Joker: A peace symbol, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Where'd you get it?

Private Joker: I don't remember, sir.

Pogue Colonel: What is that you've got written on your helmet?

Private Joker: "Born to Kill," sir.

Pogue Colonel: You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?

Private Joker: No, sir.

Pogue Colonel: You'd better get your head and your ass wired together, or I will take a giant shit on you.

Private Joker: Yes, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.

Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.

Pogue Colonel: The what?

Private Joker: The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir.