I am not a formally educated man, but neither was the author of my blogs name sake Thomas Paine. In one 48 page pamphlet, he galvanized an entire nation of scared and confused people into one mind, using language everybody could understand.     While my aspirations are not quite that high, I have been told repeatedly that I posses a gift of being able to see and explain events to people in a light that they had not previously viewed.

I have been a life long student of history, a knowledge base crucial in understanding what is happening in the world around us.  Again, I am not expert, just a guy with a view of the world and the people in it. My goal would be for some readers to say  hmmm……I never thought about it that way.   And I think all of us could agree that we all could use a little more Common Sense.

I also have a passionate view of the natural world around us that I will share in my photographs. I have always been in awe of the physical world and the creatures in it.  Blues music, cooking, cycling, soccer, baseball and just about anything that is outdoors would round out my interests