Surgery Over - Healing Begins

The tendon hadn't pulled away from the knee cap completely. The tear was repaired. Now my left leg is wrapped up and a brace is holding my leg straight. The long road begins - healing and then rehab. With the help of family and friends, I will heal.

The watercolor painting above was possibly the last watercolor painted by my father Simeon Zigler in 1968. Today, June 30, 2011 is the 100th anniversary of his birth, June 30, 1911. This painting speaks to healing for me and so I thought it appropriate for this occasion.

Out of Commission For A While

Tomorrow I am having my tendon reattached to my knee cap on my left leg. I torn the tendon on June 17th. They say it will take 3 months to complete the rehab. My golf clubs will get a rest until October 1st. I probably will not be writing much for a while.

You all take care and be well.

Simeon Zigler's First Art Show is Today - 6/26/11

Skirball Museum 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. 4 to 7:30 pm.

Eye will see you there.

Mature Pupil by Simeon Zigler, watercolor on paper.

Saturday Is For Art: Simeon Zigler's Show is Sunday

Sunday, June 26 at the Skirball Museum on the campus of HUC-JIR, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45220. 39 pieces of Simeon's art work from the early 1930s to the end of the 1960s.

Self portrait of Simeon Zigler, black crayon.

Too Big To Fail Is An Ever Present Danger

There is an article on the Internet about banks and the reserve requirement. What is a reserve requirement? Quite simply a reserve requirement is a percentage of money that a bank must keep on hand in cash or free reserves. This simply means that a bank must at all times hold some on it money, money that is on deposit, back and that that money can not be loaned out. The Basel III Agreement wants banks to hold on to 14% in reserve, but the banks want to only hold 7%. Naturally, the less money the bank keeps in reserve the more they can lend and the more money the bank can earn. Banks must make money otherwise they can not operate and they go under or they are sold to a larger bank that then assumes their deposits and loans (assets and liabilities). The CEOs of banks get a bonus based on the earnings of the bank or perhaps on growing their earnings. The strong incentive to make more money is the carrot they all chase. Unfortunately, there are ways to game the system and not even hold the 7% reserve requirement. It is also unfortunate, in my opinion, that the death penalty is off the table for what I like to refer to as "economic treason". Destroying our domestic economy and taking millions of families down to poverty because a select few want to be super rich is no way to run a railroad. But, the super rich influence the politicians who make the laws and so unless there is overwhelming public outcry for reform, nothing will be done to overt the next financial crisis. People that hold cash in the present banking environment are not stupid. The super rich that collect art that sells for millions of dollars are in essence putting cash under the mattress. The only difference is that there cash is on their walls and not under their mattress. Liquid assets is something more people need to give some thought to because the banking system in the United States is being run for the benefit of senior bank management and not the good of the shareholders or their depositors. The geniuses that did away with the Glass-Steagall Act of the 1930s, surgically removed the protections that prevented a major financial crisis as we experienced in 2007-08. With the end of Glass-Steagall, everyone is on their own now. The banking laws are a bad joke. Too Big To Fail is an ever present danger!!!

Simeon Zigler Art Exhibition For June 26, 2011: Is Up!

Thursday, Sam Hollingsworth, the curator of the exhibition, and I hung the pieces for the Simeon Zigler Art Show that will open Sunday, June 26, 2011 at the Skirball Museum on the HUC-JIR campus at 3101 Clifton Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here are a few photos of Sam at work. This exhibit would not have happened if it was not for my friend Sam Hollingsworth's help from the very start of this project.

The Price of Gas is Holding Back Our Domestic Economy

Our country runs on petroleum. Whether it is gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, it is all petroleum base. The high cost of all these fuels mean that consumers must pay a higher price for the fuel they buy, but also a higher price (or get less product for the same money) for the products they buy that are either manufactured with petroleum or have petroleum in their content. Oil is removing billions of dollars of discretionary income from the domestic economy. The affect is the same as a tax on consumers very much like a consumption tax. Until the United States controls its supply of oil, or is able to change the mix from petroleum, as the key ingredient for our economic survival, we are going to continue to export dollars to oil producing nations and not control where our dollars are spent. At this point, we do not control our own economy. The price of a barrel of oil is influencing our domestic economy and making discretionary spending for far too many people unaffordable.

Hanging The Show

Today we are hanging the pieces for the Simeon Zigler art exhibition. Everything is ready. The pieces will be spaced. This show is something I have wanted to do for my father for over 40 years. Nice that it is happening in what would have been his 100th year. I am looking forward to the opening Sunday, June 26th at the Skirball Museum.

After The Ride 2011

Sunday I rode in my 5th RIDE CINCINNATI. The weather cooperated in that it was on the cooler side for a June morning in Northern Kentucky. The workouts paid off as I knocked off the 26 miles without breaking a sweat. After I cooled down, I felt pretty exhausted as I rode hard and kept moving at the best pace I could manage. Riding along the Ohio River is a relatively flat route with an occasional hill, but nothing like cycling through Cincinnati where the hills can eat you up. Hopefully, I will ride next year too. The challenge now is to keep riding the rest of the summer and build on what I have developed. Above is a photo of me after the ride in the park by the Ohio River. I know, I look like an old man, but I can still pedal.