Tag Archives: life

Thank You, America!

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Thank you, America, for standing up and voting yesterday, for people who are FOR THE PEOPLE. We have spoken up, and now others are listening. We now have hope that the people who have faithfully supported that terrible person in power will listen to us and consider the people they are supposed to represent, rather than just the man and his party who hold the reins at the moment. We hope that they will start to think for themselves and not be afraid of him and the crazies out there.

Growing up in a time when women and minorities were treated so badly has given me a deep understanding of people like you know who really are inside. They have no empathy for those in need, only for those who will bow down to him and kiss the ring. I am sad that so many of us don’t understand what a true and progressive democracy really entails. I am sad that we don’t see how people are suffering, and even that some of those people don’t believe he is bad for them. My only hope is that we will continue to strive into the next year to vote for people who will get all of government on track. My hope is that we will survive and learn to support each other.

Michelle Obama’s comments on The Late Show last night hit home as to why I am at a loss like her, why we are allowing this bully to continue. Her conversation with Colbert put it succinctly about what is going on with the demolition of the East Wing—our heritage, and I emphasize ‘our’ as in the people’s heritage, not the one living there at the present moment.

She said:
“People have asked me how I felt about the move.” “What I will remind people is that the house is not our house,” Obama said.
“We never viewed it as our house. We were there for a time. We had a job to do,” the former first lady said.
“We always felt it was the people’s house.”
“And yes, every family, every administration, has a right and a duty to maintain the house, make investments and improvements. And there are plenty of things that needed fixing there,” she told Colbert.
“But the thing — it makes me confused. I am confused by what are our norms. What are our standards? What are our traditions?” Obama said.
During President Obama’s time in office from 2009-17, Michelle Obama said, there were “a whole standard of norms and rules that we follow to a T, that we painstakingly tried to uphold, because it was bigger than us.”
The country, she said, must “decide what rules are we following and who is to abide by them, and who isn’t.”
During her “Late Show” interview, when Colbert mentioned the East Wing, Obama quipped, “Remember that?”
Obama described the East Wing, built in 1942 during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency and which provided space for the first lady’s staff as well as other offices, as “where life happened [emphasis mine].”
“The West Wing was work — sometimes it was sadness, it was problems. It was the guts of the White House,” Obama, author of the new book “The Look,” said.
“The East Wing was where you felt light.”

Michelle Obama on East Wing demolition: ‘We always felt it was the people’s house’

Her thoughts about the East wing being a place where you can be light bring back the memories of a woman in office who cares about her children, about others of every color, and a sense of family we all strive to have. As I reflect on what is going on in this administration, I still have hope that idiot in office will forego his ego and think about what he has done to all the people as a nation, especially those who are the caretakers and the caregivers, and don’t have the power that money brings to them—those everyday people like me that cares about the state of the world. I hope that we are finally considering how to persuade both parties to do what is right and take care of the people they represent.

These last two months have been about reflection, writing for the greater good, finishing up my books and preparing for publication (SOON!), and trying to give back in a way that I know how. Taking a break from the daily sadness has made me realize that I still need to have my say; otherwise, it stews in my head, and I can’t move on. Others don’t always like what I have to say, but all I ask of each and every one of you is to work hard to bring back common decency to those who are being affected by someone who doesn’t obey the rules. As a people of these United States, we generally obey the rules, so why can’t we expect those in power to do the same? Why can’t we expect those in power to be held accountable for their actions? Enough said for today.

I love you all, and I’ll always keep fighting the good fight. I hope you do the same!

GLORIOUS RAIN!

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IT RAINED! GLORIOUS RAIN!
My rain barrel is full and my tomatoes, zucchini, and acorn squash are producing and are finally happy plants! I am watering from the barrel every day and it is a wonderful thing. And ZINNIAS! My Georgia friends, ZINNIAS!

I am taking up more grass, and increasing the vegetable garden for next year. And I ordered my Colorado red flagstone to finish my path in the dead grass zone. Thanks to Colorado Materials in Longmont for providing me with the best experience! Kiddo is coming home and his buddies are helping me lay it. Yea!
https://www.coloradomaterialsinc.com/

I have to admit to you that writing about the future post-apocalyptic world has freed my current worrisome mind. There is still so much to do to avoid a real downfall of the republic in my lifetime. But in my make-believe future world, adults are working together to make sure kids are safe, don’t starve, are educated about everything, know how to use tools, and know how to get along. The kids in my book have an incredible life. There are no mean and unreasonable parents or their offspring in my book. There are no color barriers of any kind and they are all loved in equal amounts. No religious pressure, no hate, just love. The last vestiges of civilization should have places like this.

And let’s all realize that this is also the type of world we should have today—a place where we can feed, dress, and keep all children safe, no matter who they are or where they are from. That is what we should wholeheartedly strive for every day that we are alive on this planet! Parents should teach children how to create that better world, and help them understand how to embrace challenges without anger and strife. We can all make a better world if we listen to each other. So stop the hate, love everyone equally, and let’s just get over ourselves!

I hope everyone is enjoying the little things that make you happy today. No doom and gloom. No drama. Just glorious rain! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Be Who You Are

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BUT HELP THOSE IN NEED
In continuing my theme from my last post, FEELING RETRO, I have been pondering about why we strive so hard to fit into someone else’s definition of who we should be. We are all unique in our own way and where we should be right now. But people want to work and do and achieve, and be recognized for their achievements. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do with all the competition out there for fewer and fewer jobs.

I am reading Kristin Hannah again. In the book I am currently reading, The Four Winds, she has researched the Dust Bowl thoroughly and the lands and people who were hit hard during the Great Depression. Her description of the protagonist and her family trekking all alone from the Oklahoma Panhandle all the way to California is a wake-up call on how things could get worse in this day and age. The successful post-WWI farmers lost everything, including all of the topsoil. They had farmed like everyone else who came out of the east coast, scraping the land of the prairie grass and planting wheat and corn, among other things without irrigation. And then the rains stopped. For TEN years. The dust storms not only buried everything that they owned, but people also became sick and died. During the Roosevelt years, they tried to help, but many of those didn’t want to be on the dole. They had been taught that it was wrong. And, they didn’t use irrigation like their current farming methods; and that is yet another subject that needs to be addressed.

When so many people left home and moved to California, they were turned away or shunned. They lived in horrible conditions, camps by the road, and were ridiculed. They had no money for gas or new clothes. The locals said they carried disease and treated them horrendously. Their life was incredibly difficult. (Grapes of Wrath is a must read if you don’t understand).

And even when these Americans worked their fingers to the bone for 10 hours a day, like the woman portrayed in the book, they were given a pittance salary, a handful of coins, which was not enough for gas, and not enough to move out of their situation. They all had hoped for planting or picking jobs, or any job that paid them a wage to move out of the camps. But sometimes they just starved to death.

So the reason I am telling you this, is in reality, this could happen again. The stock market could crash, and many of us on the margins could wind up in a similar situation, especially if there are no services provided by our government. The working class that are being ignored by the Silver Spoon Class will suffer like they have over the past 100 years. There has to be a balance between the upper 1% and those in the middle class and especially those at poverty level. They are not bad people. They just have bad situations. Why can’t we all see this?

We all want to be these entrepreneurs and hit it big! But cheap foreign goods cut us out of the market. Small businesses can’t grow because they can’t get the capital. The largest industry today is the financial or banking industry. Since 1980, the economy has shifted from making real products to making financial products. In other words, the working class suffers once again, blames the past democrats, because every president in office listened to Wall Street instead of providing stability and focused on balancing the government budget. Folks that lost their jobs reason they still shift to the people like you know who. In reality, he has created a situation that is absolutely worse than any democratic president in office. And who benefits? The upper 1%.

“According to the latest official poverty statistics, the poverty rate in 2023 was 11.1%, representing approximately 36.8 million Americans living below the federal poverty line.”
https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/statistics-on-poverty-in-united-states/

36.8 million Americans! Why?
Unfortunately, the government isn’t going to solve everything because they are cutting programs every day. They are creating new rules for the upper 1% to keep their wealth. Working class America will always suffer if we don’t help each other.

So today, I am asking everyone to think about how all of us who aren’t millionaires or billionaires are going to prepare for the inevitable changes to our economy. I am asking us to be prepared, but help out those in need, even when they say they don’t need your help. Don’t blame them for their misfortune or their poverty. Help them climb out of poverty. Give them a clean pair of clothes, and help them get off the streets. Most people are truly just trying to find work and a safe place to sleep. You can save lives if you just care. Give to support shelters, give to mental health centers and drug rehabilitation centers, give to education, and give goods to your local food banks. Help those who need help. Thank you.

Common Good

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I finished and printed out the first draft of my book, Silver Lore, the last Caitlin Ferguson mystery,  and it is now in the hands of the readers and editors. I am excited to wrap it up and move on to the next project. I will finish up the final Canyon Rangers, Rudy Gordon, novella in a few months, so hopefully all will be online before Christmas!

So right now, I have more time for blogging and my brain is bursting! I was thinking about the state of the world a lot today and this 80-year-business of slowly destroying industry and housing for the middle class in North America. When large corporations take over industry, and housing, people suffer, period.

When manufacturing was booming, the middle class was starting to get ahead of the curve. When the big corporate raiders took over (in the 1980s it was called Hostile Takeovers), they not only gutted the employees, laying off millions of people, they also invested their pension funds and lost a lot of the workers’ money in the stock market. They sent the work overseas, and huge losses were felt by the cities that created infrastructure and investment into these businesses. People had to move to find work, so these cities shrunk as a result of closing facilities and factories and sending the work overseas. This has happened over and over again, and today people are hurting. I am told that the Gen Zs who will be graduating in the next few years will walk into a stagnation job market and we will lose a lot of our talent to overseas firms, like Australia, the UK, etc., because there is nothing for them here, or at least jobs where they can afford to have food, housing, and all of the amenities that are necessary to live here.

And don’t get me started on housing! These corporations and pacts buy up houses and apartment complexes, evict and even arrest people to clear the buildings out so they can raise housing prices, are despicable. The new owners would rather keep them empty, because they get huge tax cuts, instead of fixing them up and selling them, therefore decreasing the available and affordable housing to people who need them. The community suffers as a whole, and owners who live out of state really don’t care. That is a sad state of affairs all because of greed. The Greed is Good! mentality is back and we let it happen.

So my questions to all of those who support you know who and his ilk are:
-Why are we letting them gut businesses for sheer purpose of the billionaires making more money at the expense of the workers and the cities who gave so much to bring industry in?
-Why are we letting them ignore the stakeholders at the expense of their shareholders making more money than they will ever need, increasing prices, and decreasing wages, and thus making the middle class become the low income class?
-Why is that right?

We lose our brightest minds to other places because they can’t find work. (Remind you of the Great Depression?) Today these practices are even more evil and it seems that We the People have accepted this as just business as usual. Good working people of all walks of life suffer, and have no resources to turn to because of Federal funding cuts. We are a divided people and that is just too unbelievable to me in this day.

“When the only purpose of business is to make as much money as possible in the shortest time, regardless of how it’s done, the common good is sacrificed. There can be no social balance. In pursuit of high profits, CEOs have ignored, circumvented, or worked to change laws intended to protect workers, communities, the environment, and consumers. They have abandoned the principle of equal economic opportunity [emphasis mine].”
[Reich, Robert B. Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America (p. 195). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.]
READ HIS BOOK!

So I am reaching out to those who have small businesses and are feeling the pressure to sell out to reconsider. Please think about it before you take the big bucks from some corporate conglomerate. I understand that you want to make more money, but think about all those good workers who you employ. Think about the neighborhood that you live in and what you bring to it. I am sure what those corporations can offer you is more money than what you would see in profits of your business, but for the common good, think about that sale and the people that will suffer as a result. Think about the common good of your community if it is thriving in part because of your business. Just… think about it!

I love you all and hope you are continuing the good fight to keep democracy alive and well in these times of hurting humankind!

Thoughts of Friends

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Last night, I found this in my stash of miscellaneous thoughts and bad poems so I wanted to share:

Friends
When things are tough,
You’re all alone and it’s so rough,
Just remember your friends,
Who are always known.

They’re always there,
For you to share,
No need to hide,
They’re always inside.

They lead their own lives,
You may not hear,
From ones so dear,
For many years.

Suddenly, they reappear,
When you thought they’d forgotten.
How nice to see
Them in eternity.

Here are some others that I found enlightening from a blog site called Unwritten
https://www.readunwritten.com/2023/03/09/quotes-live-by-life-rough/
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”—Theodore Roosevelt 
Focus on what you can do, and do it with pride.
“No matter what happens in life, be good to people.”—Taylor Swift
You never know if anyone is struggling. Everyone’s struggle looks different, and some hide it more than others. Don’t underestimate the power of kindness.
“Wherever you are, be all there.”—Jim Elliot 
As cliche as it sounds, it’s true: all we have is now. All we can really do is live in the present. You don’t have to love every moment you’re in, but try to be in every moment.
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”—A.A. Milne 
You are amazing. It can be easy to forget when you compare yourself to others, but we’re all different in unique ways. The world will never have someone like you, someone with your exact talents and strengths. Never forget this.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”—J.R.R. Tolkien
How many of us can truly say we know what path we’re going on? I know I can’t, and that’s okay! Uncertainty is one of the few guarantees we have in life. can. Life is a journey, a book that hasn’t been fully written, so we may as well make the most of it.
“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”—Robert Frost
It may seem impossible, but it’s true and worth repeating—life will go on. History shows us how much we’ve already been through. Whatever the future holds, we’ll make it.

So when the hazy days, bad atmosphere, and hot temperatures keep you inside and in your head, know that your friends are out there and will be there for you when you need them. It’s strange how they know when to call you (I have had visits from several this last week and connected once again). It’s amazing how life goes on and how you make it possible to continue to live and create wonderful life lessons.

Know that your first draft of your book is complete and out to the readers. Know that progress has been made and connections are happening for the book cover. Know that the zucchini and acorn squash will continue to give to you. Make something delicious and don’t worry about the rest. Have a terrific weekend and enjoy your friends and family. I love you all!

It Has Been Happening for over 80 Years!

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I have been holed up in my office for the past week wrapping up the final novel of the Caitlin Ferguson series, with only tiny breaks to swim and work outside in the heat of the day to give the old brain a rest!

I also delivered the knitted scarves to all the beautiful folks who I briefly worked with early in the summer. I am grateful for them and all of the work they do. Thank you again City of Louisville’s Finance group for being such hard working people!

All the while life is still limping along outside of my quiet bubble and I hate to turn on the news. So I turn to my reading once again to learn about why the horrific things the government and people do and have been doing these things for over 80 years. I recently started reading an incredible book by Robert Reich called Coming Up Short.

Reich is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and he served as Secretary of Labor in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton. He was also a member of President Barack Obama’s economic transition advisory board. Time magazine named him one of the Ten Best Cabinet Members of the century; in the same year, The Wall Street Journal placed him sixth on its list of Most Influential Business Thinkers. He is board chair emeritus of the watchdog group Common Sense and blogs at Robertreich.org.—Wikipedia

There have been so many moments in history that should have affected change. Currently, with the atmosphere of “we don’t want to hear about it anymore” these moments are long lost. These moments become hard to digest for us sensitive types, but it needs to be said because it has been happening for over 80 years! Here are a few solid and horrible things that are happening. I feel they are important to mention here based on what he had to say:

Rise of Fascism
Rise of the Rich Getting Richer
Blaming the Poor
Blaming those who are not White
Rise of the white supremacists attempting to re-create their version of the “Master Race”
Making the BIPOC citizens, immigrants, the poor into the bogeyman and the enemy

Reich also thought that the majority of people accepted this more and more after decades is that the working class who started making money, becoming the middle class, felt ignored since the sixties. Our generation wanted more for the disadvantaged people and tried to make a difference. But those that felt hurt that we ignored them, started voting for those that they believed would support them. In reality, they didn’t care about them and ultimately the working class got poorer as the richest men got richer.

But there are a few good signs that maybe we can turn the corner. The struggle to prevent bullies attacking and exploiting the weak is happening. Maybe we can get back to a civil society where we stop the brutality and exploitation. Good people are filing lawsuits to stop abuses. Reich states the he has “…come to believe that there is no moral equivalence between bullies and the bullied, between tyranny and democracy, between brutality and decency. No individual can be free in a society devoid of justice. There can be no liberty where brutality reigns. The struggle for social justice is the most basic struggle of all because it defines how far a civilization has developed.” [Reich, Robert B.. Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America (p. 67). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.]

Finally, here are the questions posed by Edward Abbey in the 1960s that are still valid today that we need to ponder:
“Suppose we were planning to impose a dictatorial regime upon the American people—the following preparations would be essential:
1. Concentrate the populace in megalopolitan masses so that they can be kept under close surveillance and where, in case of trouble, they can be bombed, burned, gassed or machine-gunned with a minimum of expense and waste.
2. Mechanize agriculture to the highest degree of refinement, thus forcing most of the scattered farm and ranching population into the cities. Such a policy is desirable because farmers, woodsmen, cowboys, Indians, fishermen and other relatively self-sufficient types are difficult to manage unless displaced from their natural environment.
3. Restrict the possession of firearms to the police and the regular military organizations
4. Encourage or at least fail to discourage population growth. Large masses of people are more easily manipulated and dominated than scattered individuals.
5. Continue military conscription. Nothing excels military training for creating in young men an attitude of prompt, cheerful obedience to officially constituted authority.
6. Divert attention from deep conflicts within the society by engaging in foreign wars; make support of these wars a test of loyalty, thereby exposing and isolating potential opposition to the new order.
7. Overlay the nation with a finely reticulated network of communications, airlines and interstate autobahns.
8. Raze the wilderness. Dam the rivers, flood the canyons, drain the swamps, log the forests, strip-mine the hills, bulldoze the mountains, irrigate the deserts and improve the national parks into national parking lots. Idle speculations, feeble and hopeless protest. It was all foreseen nearly half a century ago by the most cold-eyed and clear-eyed of our national poets, on California’s shore, at the end of the open road. ‘Shine, perishing republic.’”—Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire published in 1968

And here is a poem that has relevance to this conversation:
“While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.
Out of the mother; and through the spring exultances, ripeness and decadence; and home to the mother.
You making haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it stubbornly long or suddenly
A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed than mountains: shine, perishing republic.
But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening center; corruption
Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster’s feet there are left the mountains.
And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master.
There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught—they say God, when he walked on earth.”— Robinson Jeffers, Shine, Perishing Republic, 1925

I strive with all my heart to see signs of change. I talk to young people and see that they are reading and asking questions. I see my generation going to town hall meetings, standing up and booing those people who were supposed to represent them when they continue to tow the ridiculous non-factual party line. I see them starting to speak up. My hope is that all ages see the faults in whom they have voted for in the past and realize we can all come together to have a better society if we keep up the good fight. This past year made us realize that by giving up, we put a bully in office. Now is the time to speak up. We can’t give up, or lie down and take it. Keep pushing, keep asking good questions. Keep reading and writing.

So I am asking everyone out there with a conscience:
Don’t give up! Take a minute and sit down and write!
Tell your story to your children and family. Make the impossible possible.
Let’s return to Truth, Trust, Civility, and Compassion.

Put Robert Reich’s book Coming Up Short on your reading immediate list and keep exploring how we truly can accept each other, protect each other, and stop hating those that don’t deserve our hate. We are all fallible and we need to learn to be brave.

I love you all and hope you will continue to read, observe, ask good questions and speak out!

We Are Not There Yet

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I have been finishing up my final novel in the Caitlin Ferguson mystery series these last few weeks. (I know – it’s about time!) All of the research that I have completed over these past few months, really years, led me to thoughts of why we are where we are at this point in the wheel of time. I just have a few questions today to put out to the world that are in need of answering:

  • Why didn’t we accept women and immigrants sooner and why have we returned to that place of non-acceptance?
  • What will happen when the money runs out?
  • What will happen when the media can no longer spew nonsense into the atmosphere?
  • Will we learn from this disastrous election, and figure out how we as a species work together?
  • Will we learn from past literature how to accept each other to accomplish mutual goals?
  • And what’s wrong with seeing both sides of our nature?
  • Why can’t we love literature and science at the same time?
  • Why can’t we have beautiful conversations without always trying to one-up each other?
  • Where has all the wonderful learning gone?
  • Why can’t we teach young people to love each other and learn to be uncomfortable with conversations to learn more about the world we live in? Why are we so uncomfortable with making our children uncomfortable?

I am going to keep reminding everyone to read and learn and read and learn and pass it onto the next generation, the ability to think many thoughts at one time. I am going to keep reminding people to learn the ability to marvel at science but also respect and marvel the beautiful works that have come from both good and bad fiction. It’s okay to love people for their beautiful lines of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. I am amazed every day at the works of writers who make the effort to create magical works of art.

And here are a few things that are good to know about this day:
Notable Birthdays for August 1
William Clark (1770-1838) – Explorer who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804.
Francis Scott Key (1779-1873) – American lawyer, poet and composer who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) – Novelist who wrote Moby Dick.
John Friend Mahoney (1889-1957) – Physician who pioneered the treatment of syphilis with penicillin.
Ann Calvello (1929-2006) – Professional roller derby racer.
Terry Kiser (1939-Still Living) – Actor who made several appearance over his 50 year acting career, but none more memorable as the character Bernie in the movie Weekend at Bernie’s.
Robert James Waller (1939-2017) – Author of The Bridges of Madison County.
Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) – Musician and founder of the rock band Grateful Dead.

Memorable Events for August 1
1855 – Castle Garden (NY City) opens as first receiving station for immigrants in the U.S.
1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th state to join the Union.
1881 – Angel Island (San Francisco Bay, CA) becomes U.S. Quarantine Station to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.
1911 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman in the U.S. to earn an Aero Club of America Aviator Certificate.
1933 – is founded with plans to stimulate the economy during the Depression. The National Recovery Administration.
1941 – The first Jeep is produced.
1946 – President Truman established the Atomic Energy Commission.
1981 – MTV begins broadcasting and airs its first video, Video Killed the Radio Star (The     Buggles).
https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/august/august-1-birthdays-and-events

So on this fantastic Friday, hug the ones who are near you and put out good vibes for anyone out there who is struggling with the day to day. Remember that the past cannot be changed but we can change our futures if we have the courage to do so. Love to all and hang in there!

Ultimately It Is How You Perceive Yourself That Will Solve the Problem

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On this day of whirlwind writing, doing, exercising and going full force, I re-visited this quote from one of my characters that got me pondering life’s mysteries. I want to keep on pursuing truth to the best of my abilities and help others when I can. When I look at myself in the mirror, sometimes I just see an old lady, with old lady skin. Other times, I see a person who has lived a wonderful life, solving problems when I can and helping out as much as I can. I want to others to experience what I have experienced. I keep on pushing people to see that we must continue to do the monkey wrenching from days of old, but in a more subtle way. We don’t want to get disappeared by those masked secret police (you know who I’m talking about). We must do it in the daytime, with our voices, and our written word. We must continue to make people care about each other and not hoard our wealth. (Are you listening billionaires?) We cannot be complacent! Complacency is the new evil of humankind. If we just wish it to go away, it won’t happen. We have to do and do and do. If we create some chaos, we will be become uncomfortable, but we must continue to increase that uncomfortableness and strive on. I hope you all are listening. Give those a push, those who need to get out of a rut. Give to those who are trying to do better. Give to yourselves for caring.

  • “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • “The tragedy of life is not found in failure but complacency. Not in you doing too much, but doing too little. Not in you living above your means, but below your capacity. It’s not failure but aiming too low, that is life’s greatest tragedy.”—Benjamin E. Mays
  • “It takes courage to speak up against complacency and injustice while others remain silent. But that’s what leadership is.”—Rosabeth Moss Kanter

I reach out when I can and give an abundance of zucchini to others. I make wonderful meals with my bounty and share it with my family. It’s been a good life and I hope I live to 100! I will fight the good fight as long as I live. I hope you are doing the same. I love you all on this cloudy, smokey night.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

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How many of us are moving forward even in this bad news crazed world? How many of us are trying to rectify injustices that keep on happening? How many of us are just about ready to give up? Well, today I’m going to urge you to just keep moving forward, and do the best you can every day that you live. Don’t let your brain rest one bit. If you rest, you die. If a bear or mountain lion is chasing you in the woods (or out in the world such as your back yard – really happened to me), stand up and fight! Stand up and shout them out of your domestic domain! No more zoning out until you die! Blissful moments will come when we finish the fight!

Stand up and make a statement about civility, fairness, equity and inclusion, and loving one another! Stand up for people who just want the same things your family wanted when you came to this country. Fight for them as well as all of the scientific community who are trying to tell you about changes in our environment if we don’t stop those who are destroying it for us. Just keep moving forward no matter what. I know it’s not easy, but if you trust my words and make your own movement count, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We only move toward that end of the tunnel when we die! Even if we just don’t get there when we expect to, we must stop wasting time on silliness and retribution. We must keep striving for an end to the madness so we can go into the next plane of existence in peace.

Find that one beautiful and meaningful thing you can do every day that you live that will make a difference for future generations. It can be as simple as using less plastic, composting, or recycling. (HELLO! Wake up restaurants! Make it happen!) It can be planting a backyard garden or feeding others with the fruits of you labor when you have extras. Or it can be big such as all the protests we’ve seen of late. Anything is better than ignoring those in power who hurt the little guys in the end.

“If you do not have an absolutely clear vision of something, where you can follow the light to the end of the tunnel, then it doesn’t matter whether you’re bold or cowardly, or whether you’re stupid or intelligent. Doesn’t get you anywhere.”—Werner Herzog
“Sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.”—Charles Barkley (Good ole’Charles….)

So don’t wait for that train to run you over. Keep on living, keep on doing what’s right. Love the one you love, but love everyone and everything else equally. Enough said. I’m going to make more delicious zucchini recipes to be at peace for the evening.
Zucchini Boats!

I love you all tonight and hope for peace in the valley (and the mountains!) for everyone.
Jim Reeves Peace in the Valley

Do Birds Have a Cerebrum?

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I have been re-reading The Monkey Wrench Gang and one scene got me thinking. During their monkey wrenching, Bonnie is on lookout while Hayduke is destroying equipment that are clear cutting pine trees (not native) in the middle of the Kaibab forest. She drifted and started reflecting on the universe, and the birds quieting down for the night. “She…listened to the cries of birds, unknown and unseen birds, off in the forest, retreating to their nests for the night, heads nestled under fold of wing, retiring into the simple harmless dreams of avian sleep. (A bird has no cerebrum.)” [Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang (p. 238). RosettaBooks. Kindle Edition.]

Which lead me down the deep dark conundrum of a path. If humans are so smart and have a large cerebrum, why do they destroy everything that keeps them alive? Is it so simple that it is just about the money? The rich getting richer? I keep coming back to the air quality of late. A lot of it is due to the fires, but the brown cloud that we see in our big city and now the Foothills is disheartening. People used to come out here for health reasons (as well as New Mexico and Arizona) and now it only aggravates their poor lungs. I know when I first came out here the air was much more pure than Atlanta back in the coal-burning power plant and factory days. (Yes, I am that old!) According to a recent report: “Nearly half of the country lives in areas that received a failing grade for either particle pollution – fine particulate matter created when things burn – or ozone pollution, according to the report. Almost 43 million live in places that failed both pollution measures….The study comes as the new administration of President Donald Trump’s administration cuts jobs at the Environmental Protection Agency and sidesteps regulations on oil, gas and coal development.” USA Today Air Quality Report

And do any of us really have simple harmless dreams? Lately, I have had many anxiety dreams. The most recent one was that I am trying to check out at the old S. H. Kress Five and Dime in Athens, Georgia, in a line that goes all the way back to the toy aisle (where we spent a lot of time when we were children). People keep pushing in front of me and I never get to the checkout. And of course, I wake up in a sweat! And what does that dream have to do with my current state of mind? (I think this was because I was at Costco and there were a bazillion people there yesterday!)

So this week has been a whirlwind of weirdness, trying to come to grips with doctor’s appointments, completing things, fighting the heat, weeds, and rain, and generally feeling like I need to go out and hit something! (Take up boxing perhaps?) But, alas, it will get better as my eye heals and I can get back to exercising in the pool! My mecca, my peaceful time, my cooling off period. I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. Do something wonderful out there! I love you all and hope you are well.

And by the way, I looked it up. Birds do have cerebrums. Funny.