customer review… Jim always accommodates on a very short notice…which is ALWAYS very helpful. His massage space is relaxing and extremely comfortable. I am always provided, not only with a professional massage, but one that is custom tailored to my needs. Jim is BY FAR the best massage experience I have ever received. Danael
I grew up on a small farm in Southeast Kansas. Although I wasn’t your typical farm boy, I certainly did my share of farm chores, including raising livestock mostly swine and sheep and lots of farming… wheat, milo, and soybeans. The photo of me to the left was taken when I was 17. I’m holding twin lambs. Sheep were always my favorite farm animal. I connected with their gentle spirit. As a young photographer I would position them for photographs and they would typically stand still for me as I photographed them unless something spooked them then it was total chaos.
The animal kingdom is a wonderful gift from God. Animals have a innate spirituality and a deep capacity to teach us much about embracing the great mystery of the universe. They are masters at living in the moment and don’t hold grudges. Farm animals came and went but there were always a few with a special spirit that seemed to select you as their pet human and say hey… I like you. Let’s be friends.
Rufus was my special pig… a mother pig, a New Hampshire sow to be exact. I gave her the name of rufus because she sounded more like a dog than a pig when she squealed. That’s Rufus below on a very warm summer day in a the hog waller. Pigs don’t sweat. That’s why they love to “waller” in mud. It’s their form of air-conditioning. Pigs are actually very intelligent animals. Heck if i couln’t sweat and it was 100ish degrees outside, i’d find some cooling mud too.
Once while doing farm chores I heard one of Rufus’ piglets squealing very loudly and I went to investigate. The piglet had a hoof stuck between two wood planks in an “A framed” pig house. I stepped inside the house to rescue the piglet who was squeeling very loudly. Suddenly Rufus appeared (barking like a dog). At that point I was totally trapped in the corner of the A framed hog house with no escape. Rufus momentarily thought I was harming her piglet and started to charge at me until i looked her in the eye and said “Rufus! It’s me” and she backed off and the piglet scrambled away. Was a profound moment in my young life. I was probably about 13 when that incident occurred. The children’s book series by Hugh Lofting characterizing the adventures of Dr. Dolittle was always a favorite childhood read… talking to animals was Dr Dolittle’s first language. As a kid talking to animals was WAY easier than talking to adults… and now as I think about it, it still is.
At any given moment in time we probably had 10 to 15 cats on the farm, true farm cats that lived mostly on what the land provided them and kept the mouse population in balance. Cats were probably my favorite play toy. I loved to teach them fly and was alway amazed by how they always landed on the paws. I even once had a baptism cermony for my cats which didn’t work out too well. I quickly learn that cats and water don’t get along and the ceremony was canceled.
Ok… one more animal story. No farm boy’s life would be complete without a dog…. Tammy was my favorite dog. She would let me ride her like a horse until I pulled her tail then it was game over. She was a german shephard dog and probably the best watch dog we every had. No one entered our farm without her approval, not even the ocassional rattle snakes. She would pick them up with her mouth and sling them way.
The photo of the pond below I took in 2006 on a rather warm Christmas day in Kansas. As a boy on the farm I frequently chopped an ice hole on that pond on cold winter days to water the sheep. Just to the right of the photo is a well that was hand dug by my father’s dad. Even in the driest of years the well never went dry. It was our only sourse of water when I lived on the farm. The barn in the background was built by my dad when I was a small boy. The picture of me at the top of the page with the sheep was taken outside of that barn.
The farm was a wonderful place to grow up and taught me simple yet solid values that remain with me today. I am still a simple guy. I honor my parents and extended family for the solid values taught to me from which I live my life today. Much of my ability to remain grounded or connected comes from the values learned on the farm and my connection with the animal kingdom. Extraordinary bodywork connects the client with this simple yet profound place (like my childhood farm) where wellness resides.
I always lived on a farm miles away from the local town so as a substitute for hanging out with the neighbor boys and playing team sports… I aquired a lot of solo hobbies. Photography was always my favorite. I took the money I earn from sacking groceries at the local grocery store (for $1.90 an hour) and bought my first 35mm SLR.
I quickly became the school and community photographer and shot most events in the community. I even converted my closet into a darkroom installing a very large bogen enlarger requiring a whole to be cut in the ceiling of the closet to accomodate the arm of the enlarger. I frequently dominated the bathroom I shared with my sisters with prints dangling on a wire above the bathtub.
I like how I see life when behind the lens of a camera. I love getting lost with a camera and seeing where it takes me creatively. If bodywork is my Zen… Photography is my Art.
