Whats the story behind your avatar choice?

Golden Mean - (Wikipedia) The golden mean or golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

Golden Spiral Avatar - (Wikipedia) In geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio.

The two seemed to go together... sorta.
 
I'm sure that was tough duty! Thanks for your service.

One of my close friends was a helicopter gunship pilot during those times and was shot down a couple of times. But he made it out.
I was talking to one of my neighbors recently. He was a payload specialist but would volunteer to be a helicopter door gunner when they needed someone. He has my respect forever.
 
DH and I love the works of Van Gogh and have had the joy and privilege of standing in front of so many of them. There’s nothing quite like seeing great works of art in person. You literally are looking at the paint on the canvas in all its 3-d glory. And you are standing before it at the very perspective that the artist was standing as they worked on it. Bliss.
 
Golden Mean - (Wikipedia) The golden mean or golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

Golden Spiral Avatar - (Wikipedia) In geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio.

The two seemed to go together... sorta.
The golden ratio: more geometry from the Greeks. Pythagoras 570-490 BC used it. Euclid 300 BC described it. Neat avatar you’ve got.
 
DH and I love the works of Van Gogh and have had the joy and privilege of standing in front of so many of them. There’s nothing quite like seeing great works of art in person. You literally are looking at the paint on the canvas in all its 3-d glory. And you are standing before it at the very perspective that the artist was standing as they worked on it. Bliss.
Have you gone to visit the locations that Van Gogh painted? Several towns in France have signs near a historic building or scene that Van Gogh painted. The last town he lived in, Avers-sur-Oise, has many sites including the big wheat field where The Crows was painted. This is not far from the graveyard where he and his brother are buried.

Starry Night was painted from the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum in Saint-Rémy in Provence France. You can visit that building and grounds.

We’ve been to the above locations and others.
 
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Have you gone to visit the locations that Van Gogh painted? Several towns in France have signs near a historic building or scene that Van Gogh painted. The last town he lived in, Avers-sur-Oise, has many sites including the big wheat field where The Crows was painted. This is not far from the graveyard where he and his brother are buried.

Starry Night was painted from the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum in Saint-Rémy in Provence France. You can visit that building and grounds.

We’ve been to the above locations and others.
We have been all of those places, too. Auvers is one of our favorite places.
There are actually two famous “Starry Night” paintings (and they give footnotes to two more which really just have some stars in the background — Cafe du Nuit and the Portrait of Eugene Bosch). Starry Night (St Remy) that you mention (at MOMA NYC) and Starry Night over the Rhône at (Orsay Paris).
Our first great Van Gogh experience was at the old Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a much more wonderful experience than at the new/present museum (although that is a great one, too).
Did you get to the Kroller-Mueller museum in the National Park at Otterlo outside Amsterdam, largest private collection, on display in their former estate home?
 
There are actually two famous “Starry Night” paintings (and they give footnotes to two more which really just have some stars in the background — Cafe du Nuit and the Portrait of Eugene Bosch). Starry Night (St Remy) that you mention (at MOMA NYC) and Starry Night over the Rhône at (Orsay Paris).
There is a 5th lesser known "Starry Night" said to have been painted after a close encounter 😉

Screenshot_2025-02-14-19-38-20-10_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
 
Did you get to the Kroller-Mueller museum in the National Park at Otterlo outside Amsterdam, largest private collection, on display in their former estate home?
Not yet. That one is on the list as well as several interesting places nearby.

We have been all of those places, too. Auvers is one of our favorite places.
We were particularly excited about Auvers-sur-Oise because we got to see that old church that Van Gogh painted which was featured in a very fun (newer) Dr. Who episode that featured Van Gogh.

Have only been to the old museum in Amsterdam.
 
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We have 7 cats, so this is my winter cat avatar. Plus, I love Kliban.
 
I liked the colorful turkey! Maybe you should do a poll on it?
Me too, as I do enjoy having all those turkeys next door. But I’ve changed now and probably won’t change back.

It didn’t take me long to think of an alternative. This was from our 25th wedding anniversary in Maui many years ago. I spent a lot of time on that lanai admiring the view, ha ha. We even had rainbows several times.
 
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DH and I love the works of Van Gogh and have had the joy and privilege of standing in front of so many of them. There’s nothing quite like seeing great works of art in person. You literally are looking at the paint on the canvas in all its 3-d glory. And you are standing before it at the very perspective that the artist was standing as they worked on it. Bliss.
it is also the lyrics of a lovely song (IMO of course) by Don McLean about Vincent, a song that I appreciate much more than his chart topping "American Pie" anthem. Once again, in my opinion. The album did some spinning at our house in my youth.
 
Me too, as I do enjoy having all those turkeys next door. But I’ve changed now and probably won’t change back.

It didn’t take me long to think of an alternative. This was from our 25th wedding anniversary in Maui many years ago. I spent a lot of time on that lanai admiring the view, ha ha. We even had rainbows several times.
It's a great picture. I like the turkey, but I love the ocean view a lot better. Thanks for sharing.
 
It's a great picture. I like the turkey, but I love the ocean view a lot better. Thanks for sharing.
I’m looking southwest over Napili bay, and then across the channel to Lanai. Molokai was on my right, much closer. Gorgeous setting!
 
I’m looking southwest over Napili bay, and then across the channel to Lanai. Molokai was on my right, much closer. Gorgeous setting!
Thanks for the lay of the land. If I could see anything but reef and water as I look out at the Pacific, it would be the Cook Islands. That's a few thousand miles south of Oahu.
 
it is also the lyrics of a lovely song (IMO of course) by Don McLean about Vincent, a song that I appreciate much more than his chart topping "American Pie" anthem. Once again, in my opinion. The album did some spinning at our house in my youth.
Tres apropos, Mon Ami. Thanks for bringing that to my memory ❤️

Vincent
Song by Don McLean ‧ 1971

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of China blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

For they could not love you
But still, your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could have told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn, a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will
 
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