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My body aches,
shoulders and back.
Is it a disk problem
or my sacroiliac?

A hot shower helps,
as does CPD Creme,
which is a must,
for my aching hands,
both have arthritis.

"It's hell to get old"
I've heard many say,
but look at the alternative,
than have a good day.

A bend in your elbow,
a bend in the river,
a bending of the rule,
nothing like this,
for a doddering old fool.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes stand out in this colorful telescopic skyscape. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues. The emission line and color combination has become well-known as the Hubble palette. The atomic emission is powered by energetic radiation from the central hot stars. Their powerful winds and radiation sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes and clear out a characteristic cavity light-years across the center of the natal cloud. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field of view spans about 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

Photo by Mark Carter

Cheese-filled tortellini covered in a heavenly bacon alfredo sauce, Enjoy! Click to read the recipe

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy. Even at some two and a half million light-years distant, this immense spiral galaxy -- spanning over 200,000 light years -- is visible, although as a faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. In contrast, a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, and expansive spiral arms dotted with blue star clusters and red nebulae, are recorded in this stunning telescopic image which combines data from orbiting Hubble with ground-based images from Subaru and Mayall. In only about 5 billion years, the Andromeda galaxy may be even easier to see -- as it will likely span the entire night sky -- just before it merges with our Milky Way Galaxy.

Photo by R. GendlerR. Croman

Unknown author

I can't write,
meaningful words
as a mental healing,
is now in play.
There's no satisfaction,
when I attempt to
explain my feelings,
day after day.

All the water, in the Sea,
along the coastal plain,
with odors of life now past,
rise from the Ocean floor,
softened with Winter rain.
Long were the days and nights,
as wind sang it's sweet sounds.
Walk the dunes with shortened stride,
sandy beach, smooth and slack,
resurfaced by an incoming tide.

A Lonesome Pine,
a single tree,
a sad respite,
do not pity me.

A smattering of light
spreading across floor and stair,
as if water had spilled, everywhere.
It was in early evening
in the nights, crisp air,
when I dreamt of you
and you were there.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This is a sky filled with glowing icons. On the far left is the familiar constellation of Orion, divided by its iconic three-aligned belt stars and featuring the famous Orion Nebula, both partly encircled by Barnard's Loop. Just left of center in the featured image is the brightest star in the night: Sirius. Arching across the image center is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. On the far right, near the top, are the two brightest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way: the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Also on the far right -- just above the cloudy horizon -- is the constellation of Crux, complete with the four stars that make the iconic Southern Cross. The featured image is a composite of 18 consecutive exposures taken by the same camera and from the same location in eastern Australia during the last days of last year. In the foreground, picturesque basalt columns of the Bombo Quarry part to reveal the vast Pacific Ocean.

Photo by Lucy Yunxi Hu

"The evolution of cooling technology helps to explain why supposed solutions to global warming have only made the situation worse." Read more

Image source: "New Students Reference Work, 1914 Brown Bros. - Wikimedia Commons" - Public Domain