Last night I watched The Buddha on PBS, the first time I've watched more than the news since David died. I was comforted and felt that yes, I could go on and live the Middle Way. It was beautifully done with poets Jane Hirschfield and W.S Merwin participating in the narrative. The graphics were unlike any I've ever seen, animated drawings of leaves, flowers, spirals, designs. I felt an affinity, a peace, and a hope, and so I ordered four copies for children, sibling, and myself. If they aren't interested, that's okay, but I want to pass on those experiences, understandings, and knowledge that may possibly be helpful. I was pleased because so often PBS programming isn't something either I can watch at the time scheduled or of interest.
A cooler day today, sunny, and wildflowers profuse. Thank you for the new theme, Puddle, I'm laughing. Shirlee, how wonderful that you have such resources, and how much deserved.
Oy that Sessions article! WOW! so true. Excellent!
I'm in San Jose with granddaughter and her surgery. Not much time on the computer and what i do spend, I'm reworking my resume. Retirement might be nice, but I do need some additional income to my SS.
Off to see the Tall Ships in Boston (well, technically Charlestown). We were invited by our nephew and family who live a 15 min walk from the waterfront!
It is so good to see Barb here. Hope you can find a.post retirement job that just Suits your needs. Thank you, Puddle..but you give me credit for more common sense than I have.....just the luck of the Irish in me!
High 80's and muggy here today.....had to confine my walking to going to the mailroom....which is probably the best part of a block!
Happy Fathers' Day for all the fathers we've known and our gratitude for their caring, their love, their gifts of life and companionship.
Hot today. Wildflowers everywhere, coming at unusual times: dianthus,four o'clocks, Indian paintbrush, lupine, all these usually come in late summer. Weird.
Shirlee, let us know how you like the Tolkien book.
Puddle, it's a delight to hear your joy in The West Wing. It is a superb, superlative series.
Yesterday I had lunch with the boys and their families. It was good to see them. I'm learning slowly what it is to live alone and I'm not sure I like it much.
We had some "weather" in New England today. Severe Thunderstorm Watches (some warnings), Flash Flood Watches and Warnings, threat of 1-2" hail, 60mph+ winds, "possible tornado."
And I had a meeting in NH that I was convener for. So off I went this morning.
I was so lucky!! Only hit two bad squalls, one in NH (with lightning) and one in VT. Sweetly, my DIL's Mom called to offer an overnight in NH if the storm seemed too much. That really warmed my heart!
Pat, I thought of you on Father's Day...your first without David since the two of you became parents. I'm glad you could spend some time with your sons and families. Amazing what you two started, isn't it? The Legacy lives on.
As you are someone who finds peace in solitude, I am interested that you find living alone not so likable. Is it mostly missing the one you shared homelife with for so long? Is it the added weight of the chores he did that now fall to you? Or is it mostly the unwelcome silences (so different than welcome Silence), and the lack of easy conversing with one who knows you nearly as well as you know yourself? I'll bet you miss the laughter and the shared memories and references! Yes, the references especially!
Idea: Write down the references as you think of them. ♡ I'll bet there are many!
Thank you for your kind questions. The answer is the sense of a shared life, that together we were part of this world giving each other our attention and love and feeling we had something to offer each other and the world.
Now his settling into his recliner, the conversations we enjoyed before dinner and while listening to the news, the sound of his footsteps, his creativity, feeling I was loved are not here and are the new reality. I'm so grateful for the many years we had, Listener, have no complaints, but feel at a loss, feel like I'm wandering in a very large room with no doors or windows.
I've found it difficult to concentrate and write, but your suggestion is apt and I will try. I have to smile. How blessed I have been for so many years, and now is the time to return to being just me again and finding how I can give and participate.
"Trump has been ruled by compulsions, obsessions and vindictiveness, expressed nearly daily on Twitter. He has demonstrated an egotism that borders on solipsism. His political skills as president have been close to nonexistent. His White House is divided, incompetent and chaotic, and key administration jobs remain unfilled. His legislative agenda has gone nowhere. He has told constant, childish, refuted, uncorrected lies, and demanded and habituated deception among his underlings. He has humiliated and undercut his staff while requiring and rewarding flattery. He has promoted self-serving conspiracy theories. He has displayed pathetic, even frightening, ignorance on policy matters foreign and domestic. He has inflicted his ethically challenged associates on the nation. He is dead to the poetry of language and to the nobility of the political enterprise, viewing politics as conquest rather than as service."
Such is the verdict of Michael Gerson, writing in the Washington Post. He is not some liberal critic but a proud Republican who was a top aide to President George W. Bush.
Thanks, Puddle, for posting this. Too true. I just finished watching The Story of China on PBS, an excellent, absorbing production of two hours. It began with the Shang kingdom and mytology and finished with the demise of the Tang Dynasty. It will continue next week on Tuesday.
How did we as a country elect this amoral, narcissistic, destructive man? How can any one who can reason, who knows that governance is complicated, difficult, and dependent on good reasoning and ethics support this man? I am sick at heart and at my stomach at what we have for governance now.
I must say I am encouraged that a Republican can see it and can name it. We are further along that I imagined. Of course Gerson must be a real Republican, of the Jim Jeffords era, not one of these new, pseudo-repubs.
On the other hand...I just heard that the pseudo-Repub won in Georgia, and she's thanking DT. Sigh.
Perhaps a new sort of Civil War in which we simply let the Confederate states go?
Pat, thank you for telling us what you are feeling.
That loss of the day to day sounds, conversations, easy companionship, belatedness ... to have no complaints yet be at a loss ... so well said, even while I'm sure it hardly says what you are experiencing.
It can take a long time for the deeper things to be articulated. So, rather than have to put these things into writing in your own words, maybe keep a quotes journal, into which you tuck the quotes you come across that relate to this time. Maybe let others find the words for now and use your energy wisely.
Docs arrived and departed. Skin tear is healing fine, despite the pink/puffy. AND I lost four pounds! So fear has been vanquished and good times abound! (Okay, I'm easy. . . .)
Pat...my new Tolkien book is lovely....I am, however, taking it bit by bit in order to understand.....it is on my bed and must compete with other books...and a re-listening of the Lord of the Ring trilogy. I sometimes feel a bit like Puddle and her West Wing. I have many peoples and she has politics...which I assume includes all kinds.
Lovely warm, slightly muggy day...re-couping from trip to RA doc yesterday, and massage therapist who comes in weekly to keep my neck, shoulder and lower,legs in working condition. Always results in a fine nap afterwards.
Love to all... congrats to Puddle on medical results :)!
Shirlee, my go around with the Rings was in high school. Marked me for life. Want to leave it there in all its glory, lol! Though I did have a black jeep I named Shadowfax. . . .
Did you see the Tolkien movies? I'd watch them all over again just to see the scene where Arwyn says of Frodo, "What grace is given me, let it pass to him."
Thanks for posting the website from your son. Thoughts and prayers his way. Beautiful photos, and we're grateful for the knowledge, the skills, the commitment and efforts for wildlife and nature. I'm sure it must be hard to be in such cold and windy weather.
Puddle, the Tolkien trilogy as movies is magnificent, in its way as wonderful and mesmerizing as the books. David and I shared the discovery of the trilogy when when we were in our early 20s. He had read The Two Towers, I had read The Fellowship of the Ring, recommended by my roommate from Virginia. I've read the series five tiems and finally gave it away. I couldn't ask for a more brilliant production of Tolkien's work.
Finally some rain here after three weeks of heat and sun.
One of the things the skin tear did was make me realize how out of date my first aid kit is, so going about fixing that. Evidently, I'm neither clumsy nor sickly, lol! Been many many years since it's been used. At all.
Thanks, Pat. I very much appreciate your words about my son and his work, and your thoughts and prayers are cherished.
Let us not forget The Hobbit in book and in movies!
I'm on the run this week...more responsibilities than I have energy for, and Mah*Sweetie has it even worse. His vacation begins Wednesday and we haven't even had time to discuss what we'll do for vacation. Heh.
More when I can... Subbing at the Library on Saturday...
My husband as Captain and Root*Center*Son as First Mate were in a sailing race at the Sailing School on Saturday. It's the annual race though the Inner Bay, the Outer Bay, then through the Cut in the Causeway (bike path; former railroad track), out across the broad lake of Lake Champlain to and around Valcour Island on the NY side of the Lake, then back again. It's over 22 miles, so usually takes about 4 hours. Well, today it took 9 hours, due to light, flaky, shifty winds which represented nearly every point on the compass before the day was done. Our heroes were on one of the two Solings, which are cabinless and motorless boats, along with a bunch of cruising boats with cabins and motors. Apparently all the Cruisers gave up at some point. The two Solings vied for first all along the route, with our heroes first of all the boats going through the Cut on the way out. But the wind blows where it will and much depends on exactly where you are when it shifts or gusts or quits altogether. And much depends on the condition of your boat and it's sails. So I find it remarkable that the two Solings finished just two boat lengths apart. Our heroes came in second. I would feel happy for their nemesis, it being his first time ever winning this race, while our heroes have won many times...but for the fact that their nemesis arrived extra early and took all the new sails, then asked that instead of the usual method of drawing lots for who gets which boat, they could see who could bail out their rowboat first and get to pick their Soling first. Our heroes, being sporting, agreed. Turned out the nemesis' crew member had his private rowboat waiting that didn't need bailing. so they got out first and took the best (classroom) boat. I call that cheating. No doubt they will get some sort of award for it. Like the year the guy who gave my family the finger during a race won the Sportsmanship award that year. (Somehow I found myself incapable of applauding.) I am super proud of my guys who sail honorably!
But today we learned that one of the Cruisers did finish the race...and first! So the guy who was dishonest came in second after all. Our heroes came in third. But somehow that still feels better! Ha!
In the past week or two, I've been seeing pickup trucks sporting a large American flag coloured all black and white. Sometimes it's flying off one corner of the back of the truck while the true red, white and blue Old Glory is flying off the other side. Today I Googled it. It seems to have come into popularity at the time that the Confederate flag was banned most places. American flag experts and traditionalists consider it disrespectful. Some police departments have been flying a black and white American flag with the white stripe, that would be just below the stars, coloured blue.
Sunday..and waiting for Brenda to arrive with groceries and supplies for the week. Things would not function as well here if not for her planning. She learned that in her various jobs in the theater...organizing, people, equipment, schedules, events etc.
Your sailing son sounds brave and adventurous, Listener....too bad about folks who cheat... I am blaming all that on Trump ...so sick of him...
Many little birds fluttering around the bushes outside my window today...love them.
Puddle, I just finished listening to On Being with Krista Tippet on NPR. Martin Sheen (real name Ramon Estevez) was the person she interviewed and he talked about his six years on West Wing as well as his activism and spirituality. He has been arrested more than 60 times protesting and Dan Berrigan was his mentor. It was so interesting and inspiring. Sheen has a good sense of humor, is as you know, highly articulate. He talked about filming in the National Cathedral and smoking a cigarette. The priests were upset, and Martin was too, but that's what the script called for. He looked up at the stained glass window, and there was Job, and he told them, yes, this was a Job moment. I know you would have enjoyed this.
Hi Shirlee, good to hear from you.
Yes, Listener, cheating, stealing, lying are so discouraging. I think we learn early how to do this especially when competition is involved. I can empathize with your dismay.
I think it was NBC national news and a discussion of the Alt Right and how we have to be aware and watch them. Scary. One comment was that a hundred years ago they would have been wearing whit hoods.
That an eagle flew at my shoulder for a quarter of a mile That I have seen them fly below me for an afternoon That I found a salamander like a midnight sky, studded with gold stars?
Who will know I startled a young deer a yearling splashing up the river the last time I left?
Or that Ludmilla the beautiful spicebush swallowtail's granddaughter just showed up to play in the last of the phlox?
That is what we want. Seek. Search. Pray and pay for. The one who can hear, and see.
Very nice, Puddle. I like your opening question, like your descriptions, and the comment "Pray and pay for" a nice contrast and alert perspective. Well done.
And Listener, the image Hopkins creates is memorable.
Pat, thank you for the Martin Sheen notes!! That episode is one of my favourites, and I've heard him speak of it before, too. I didn't know the priests were upset, though. I'm a little surprised by that. It was SUCH a brief amount of smoke, and I felt it was essential to the message. SOOO good to see a secular show deal with the depths and struggles of spirituality so poignantly. That President Bartlett did it as a protest to God is actually testament to his great faith. After all, lack of faith would have suggested there wasn't anyone to be upset with, so why protest? Instead, it revealed a relationship. I deeply appreciated that.
Hallo! 🌻 Bill and I are on vacation June 28th thru July 4th, celebrating our 43rd Anniversary 🕯💙💙🕯, gardening 🌿, maybe checking out a few museums 🏛, taking on a few projects 🔨, maybe a theatre production 🎭, moseying 🍭, muddling along ☕️, sleeping in 😴 and generally doing very little slowly 😎. I will not be doing social media 💻, but will post a photo link afterward. 📷 I hope you all have a gentle week! 🌹
Enjoy, Listener, you and Bill, you give so much to family, projects, friends, and life. We'll be thinking of you and smiling.
I just finished watching episode 2 of The China Story on PBS. It was extraordinary. The Song and Ming Dynasties were the subjects. It's just fascinating, and something that Michael Edwards stresses over and over is the idea of virtue, the Mandate of Heaven and how central it is to Chinese society. The next episode will air on Tuesday next week.
This fall Ken burns will air a program on the Vietnam War. I'm impressed with PBS in ways I haven't been in years. They are doing some wonderful things.
Lovely weather here....sunny...high seventies. I woke this morning with a ladder outside my bedroom window, a strange zap, zap noise. Finally realized it was a workman...probably regrouting the old bricks that this building has. Built in 1870....probably needs it ...our new manager and maintenance man are keeping on top of projects....always good to see.
Annual wellness visit to primary care doc...wiped me out in the effort to be both thorough and efficient!
Have a new keyboard. Hate it. Has a shiny background w/matte keys. Also, a couple of new keys with throws off where you put your fingers. Background shows fingerprints. Bad, bad, bad design. Amazon brand. However, the up/down keys work, so that's sumpin.
56 comments:
Good Morning,
Last night I watched The Buddha on PBS, the first time I've watched more than the news since David died. I was comforted and felt that yes, I could go on and live the Middle Way. It was beautifully done with poets Jane Hirschfield and W.S Merwin participating in the narrative. The graphics were unlike any I've ever seen, animated drawings of leaves, flowers, spirals, designs. I felt an affinity, a peace, and a hope, and so I ordered four copies for children, sibling, and myself. If they aren't interested, that's okay, but I want to pass on those experiences, understandings, and knowledge that may possibly be helpful. I was pleased because so often PBS programming isn't something either I can watch at the time scheduled or of interest.
A cooler day today, sunny, and wildflowers profuse. Thank you for the new theme, Puddle, I'm laughing. Shirlee, how wonderful that you have such resources, and how much deserved.
Ah, Shirlee, Christopher Tolkien has done his father proud, and more than once.
Have you previously read The Silmarillion, and The Children of Húrin?
He does seem to find lovely work for the cover and binding.
Another day of biggol rains. Just now, lotsa thunder tigers prowling alla round. Otherwise, hottish and moist. ugh
love the lipsticked monkey, very cute.
Oy that Sessions article! WOW! so true. Excellent!
I'm in San Jose with granddaughter and her surgery. Not much time on the computer and what i do spend, I'm reworking my resume. Retirement might be nice, but I do need some additional income to my SS.
so glad I can see you ladies on FB!
much love to all!!!
Off to see the Tall Ships in Boston (well, technically Charlestown). We were invited by our nephew and family who live a 15 min walk from the waterfront!
Howdy, Barb! Nice to find you here!!
I sure hope our elected officials figure out how to get rid of DT soon. He just gets worse and worse.
Barb! Tis so nice to see you here!! Sorry about the job hunting, though.
AND Ms. Shirlee is smart, and sussed out her living arrangements very very well. And then well deserved luck kicked in, too, lol!
Bit of sun before our rain today. Got the A/C on just in case.
Finished up on The West Wing #15, and beginning #16--God, I love the pilot!
It is so good to see Barb here. Hope you can find a.post retirement job that just
Suits your needs. Thank you, Puddle..but you give me credit for more common sense
than I have.....just the luck of the Irish in me!
High 80's and muggy here today.....had to confine my walking to going to the
mailroom....which is probably the best part of a block!
Happy Fathers' Day for all the fathers we've known and our gratitude for their caring, their love, their gifts of life and companionship.
Hot today. Wildflowers everywhere, coming at unusual times: dianthus,four o'clocks, Indian paintbrush, lupine, all these usually come in late summer. Weird.
Shirlee, let us know how you like the Tolkien book.
Puddle, it's a delight to hear your joy in The West Wing. It is a superb, superlative series.
Yesterday I had lunch with the boys and their families. It was good to see them. I'm learning slowly what it is to live alone and I'm not sure I like it much.
Take care, friends.
We had some "weather" in New England today. Severe Thunderstorm Watches (some warnings), Flash Flood Watches and Warnings, threat of 1-2" hail, 60mph+ winds, "possible tornado."
And I had a meeting in NH that I was convener for. So off I went this morning.
I was so lucky!! Only hit two bad squalls, one in NH (with lightning) and one in VT. Sweetly, my DIL's Mom called to offer an overnight in NH if the storm seemed too much. That really warmed my heart!
Made it home, though.
Pat, I thought of you on Father's Day...your first without David since the two of you became parents. I'm glad you could spend some time with your sons and families. Amazing what you two started, isn't it? The Legacy lives on.
As you are someone who finds peace in solitude, I am interested that you find living alone not so likable. Is it mostly missing the one you shared homelife with for so long? Is it the added weight of the chores he did that now fall to you? Or is it mostly the unwelcome silences (so different than welcome Silence), and the lack of easy conversing with one who knows you nearly as well as you know yourself? I'll bet you miss the laughter and the shared memories and references! Yes, the references especially!
Idea: Write down the references as you think of them. ♡ I'll bet there are many!
Oops, typo. Let me try that again:
Barb, what would you most like to do as a job in retirement?
Dear Listener,
Thank you for your kind questions. The answer is the sense of a shared life, that together we were part of this world giving each other our attention and love and feeling we had something to offer each other and the world.
Now his settling into his recliner, the conversations we enjoyed before dinner and while listening to the news, the sound of his footsteps, his creativity, feeling I was loved are not here and are the new reality. I'm so grateful for the many years we had, Listener, have no complaints, but feel at a loss, feel like I'm wandering in a very large room with no doors or windows.
I've found it difficult to concentrate and write, but your suggestion is apt and I will try. I have to smile. How blessed I have been for so many years, and now is the time to return to being just me again and finding how I can give and participate.
A beautiful if warm day here.
Beautiful, moderate, sunny and warm June day here. Everything a day in June should be (for a change).
"Trump has been ruled by compulsions, obsessions and vindictiveness, expressed nearly daily on Twitter. He has demonstrated an egotism that borders on solipsism. His political skills as president have been close to nonexistent. His White House is divided, incompetent and chaotic, and key administration jobs remain unfilled. His legislative agenda has gone nowhere. He has told constant, childish, refuted, uncorrected lies, and demanded and habituated deception among his underlings. He has humiliated and undercut his staff while requiring and rewarding flattery. He has promoted self-serving conspiracy theories. He has displayed pathetic, even frightening, ignorance on policy matters foreign and domestic. He has inflicted his ethically challenged associates on the nation. He is dead to the poetry of language and to the nobility of the political enterprise, viewing politics as conquest rather than as service."
Such is the verdict of Michael Gerson, writing in the Washington Post. He is not some liberal critic but a proud Republican who was a top aide to President George W. Bush.
Thanks, Puddle, for posting this. Too true. I just finished watching The Story of China on PBS, an excellent, absorbing production of two hours. It began with the Shang kingdom and mytology and finished with the demise of the Tang Dynasty. It will continue next week on Tuesday.
How did we as a country elect this amoral, narcissistic, destructive man? How can any one who can reason, who knows that governance is complicated, difficult, and dependent on good reasoning and ethics support this man? I am sick at heart and at my stomach at what we have for governance now.
I must say I am encouraged that a Republican can see it and can name it. We are further along that I imagined. Of course Gerson must be a real Republican, of the Jim Jeffords era, not one of these new, pseudo-repubs.
On the other hand...I just heard that the pseudo-Repub won in Georgia, and she's thanking DT. Sigh.
Perhaps a new sort of Civil War in which we simply let the Confederate states go?
Happy summer solstice in a half hour.
Link for Gerson: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-hard-messy-options-for-destroying-trumpism/2017/06/19/d6483a56-5517-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.5f04e7175dc9
Why Georgia may not be a disaster. . . .
http://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/georgia-special-election-results-2017-ossoff-handel-race/
☀️ Happy Solstice, dear friends! ☀️
Pat, thank you for telling us what you are feeling.
That loss of the day to day sounds, conversations, easy companionship, belatedness ... to have no complaints yet be at a loss ... so well said, even while I'm sure it hardly says what you are experiencing.
It can take a long time for the deeper things to be articulated. So, rather than have to put these things into writing in your own words, maybe keep a quotes journal, into which you tuck the quotes you come across that relate to this time. Maybe let others find the words for now and use your energy wisely.
The words will come when they come. ♥
Docs arrived and departed. Skin tear is healing fine, despite the pink/puffy. AND I lost four pounds! So fear has been vanquished and good times abound! (Okay, I'm easy. . . .)
puddle, how did you get a skin tear? (How did I miss this?!) Soon glad to hear it's healing fine!! Relax and party a bit!!! ♥
Soon = Sooo
Pat...my new Tolkien book is lovely....I am, however, taking it bit by bit
in order to understand.....it is on my bed and must compete with other
books...and a re-listening of the Lord of the Ring trilogy. I sometimes
feel a bit like Puddle and her West Wing. I have many peoples and she
has politics...which I assume includes all kinds.
Lovely warm, slightly muggy day...re-couping from trip to RA doc
yesterday, and massage therapist who comes in weekly to keep my
neck, shoulder and lower,legs in working condition. Always results
in a fine nap afterwards.
Love to all... congrats to Puddle on medical results :)!
Dancing dog meets old lady. . . . He's very sorry.
Shirlee, my go around with the Rings was in high school. Marked me for life. Want to leave it there in all its glory, lol! Though I did have a black jeep I named Shadowfax. . . .
May you keep getting well, puddle.
Did you see the Tolkien movies? I'd watch them all over again just to see the scene where Arwyn says of Frodo,
"What grace is given me, let it pass to him."
Nope, haven't seen any of 'em. Maybe I should think about it.
Well, watch the first scene of the first one, at least. Bilbo's birthday where he turns 111, and Gandolf at his most twinkling. Very much worth it!
Maybe you could each, in your own way, tuck Son and his crew into your hearts and prayers?
Done!
Thanks, puddle!! 💖
Thanks for posting the website from your son. Thoughts and prayers his way. Beautiful photos, and we're grateful for the knowledge, the skills, the commitment and efforts for wildlife and nature. I'm sure it must be hard to be in such cold and windy weather.
Puddle, the Tolkien trilogy as movies is magnificent, in its way as wonderful and mesmerizing as the books. David and I shared the discovery of the trilogy when when we were in our early 20s. He had read The Two Towers, I had read The Fellowship of the Ring, recommended by my roommate from Virginia. I've read the series five tiems and finally gave it away. I couldn't ask for a more brilliant production of Tolkien's work.
Finally some rain here after three weeks of heat and sun.
Just ordered.
About to rain. Warmish.
One of the things the skin tear did was make me realize how out of date my first aid kit is, so going about fixing that. Evidently, I'm neither clumsy nor sickly, lol! Been many many years since it's been used. At all.
Thanks, Pat. I very much appreciate your words about my son and his work, and your thoughts and prayers are cherished.
Let us not forget The Hobbit in book and in movies!
I'm on the run this week...more responsibilities than I have energy for, and Mah*Sweetie has it even worse. His vacation begins Wednesday and we haven't even had time to discuss what we'll do for vacation. Heh.
More when I can... Subbing at the Library on Saturday...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/opinion/how-tinder-could-take-back-the-white-house.html?smid=fb-share
My husband as Captain and Root*Center*Son as First Mate were in a sailing race at the Sailing School on Saturday. It's the annual race though the Inner Bay, the Outer Bay, then through the Cut in the Causeway (bike path; former railroad track), out across the broad lake of Lake Champlain to and around Valcour Island on the NY side of the Lake, then back again. It's over 22 miles, so usually takes about 4 hours. Well, today it took 9 hours, due to light, flaky, shifty winds which represented nearly every point on the compass before the day was done. Our heroes were on one of the two Solings, which are cabinless and motorless boats, along with a bunch of cruising boats with cabins and motors. Apparently all the Cruisers gave up at some point. The two Solings vied for first all along the route, with our heroes first of all the boats going through the Cut on the way out. But the wind blows where it will and much depends on exactly where you are when it shifts or gusts or quits altogether. And much depends on the condition of your boat and it's sails. So I find it remarkable that the two Solings finished just two boat lengths apart. Our heroes came in second. I would feel happy for their nemesis, it being his first time ever winning this race, while our heroes have won many times...but for the fact that their nemesis arrived extra early and took all the new sails, then asked that instead of the usual method of drawing lots for who gets which boat, they could see who could bail out their rowboat first and get to pick their Soling first. Our heroes, being sporting, agreed. Turned out the nemesis' crew member had his private rowboat waiting that didn't need bailing. so they got out first and took the best (classroom) boat. I call that cheating. No doubt they will get some sort of award for it. Like the year the guy who gave my family the finger during a race won the Sportsmanship award that year. (Somehow I found myself incapable of applauding.) I am super proud of my guys who sail honorably!
What a day!! Hope it was more fun than it sounds like!
It wasn't.
But today we learned that one of the Cruisers did finish the race...and first! So the guy who was dishonest came in second after all. Our heroes came in third. But somehow that still feels better! Ha!
In the past week or two, I've been seeing pickup trucks sporting a large American flag coloured all black and white. Sometimes it's flying off one corner of the back of the truck while the true red, white and blue Old Glory is flying off the other side. Today I Googled it. It seems to have come into popularity at the time that the Confederate flag was banned most places. American flag experts and traditionalists consider it disrespectful. Some police departments have been flying a black and white American flag with the white stripe, that would be just below the stars, coloured blue.
American Flag etiquette
http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html
Sunday..and waiting for Brenda to arrive with groceries and supplies for the week.
Things would not function as well here if not for her planning. She learned that in
her various jobs in the theater...organizing, people, equipment, schedules, events
etc.
Your sailing son sounds brave and adventurous, Listener....too bad about folks who
cheat... I am blaming all that on Trump ...so sick of him...
Many little birds fluttering around the bushes outside my window today...love them.
Happy Sunday!
Hi Friends,
Puddle, I just finished listening to On Being with Krista Tippet on NPR. Martin Sheen (real name Ramon Estevez) was the person she interviewed and he talked about his six years on West Wing as well as his activism and spirituality. He has been arrested more than 60 times protesting and Dan Berrigan was his mentor. It was so interesting and inspiring. Sheen has a good sense of humor, is as you know, highly articulate. He talked about filming in the National Cathedral and smoking a cigarette. The priests were upset, and Martin was too, but that's what the script called for. He looked up at the stained glass window, and there was Job, and he told them, yes, this was a Job moment. I know you would have enjoyed this.
Hi Shirlee, good to hear from you.
Yes, Listener, cheating, stealing, lying are so discouraging. I think we learn early how to do this especially when competition is involved. I can empathize with your dismay.
I think it was NBC national news and a discussion of the Alt Right and how we have to be aware and watch them. Scary. One comment was that a hundred years ago they would have been wearing whit hoods.
Beautiful day here today.
Today was verging on outright chilly. Nice change, and good sleeping weather. Several more in the forecast. Life is good.
6/10/2007
Who will care
That an eagle flew at my shoulder
for a quarter of a mile
That I have seen them fly below me
for an afternoon
That I found a salamander
like a midnight sky, studded with gold stars?
Who will know I startled a young deer
a yearling splashing up the river the
last time I left?
Or that Ludmilla the beautiful
spicebush swallowtail's
granddaughter just showed up
to play in the last of the phlox?
That is what we want. Seek. Search.
Pray and pay for. The one who can hear,
and see.
Share
Just one
.
Shirlee, your little birds reminded me of the end of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins..
"the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."
Ah yes, puddle, and I watched a Swallowtail butterfly in our Catmint for an hour this week! Bliss!
Photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155984264861754.1073742401.637766753&type=1&l=068fa4f87d
I dearly hope I can pick up my new lenses tomorrow and see well again!
Very nice, Puddle. I like your opening question, like your descriptions, and the comment "Pray and pay for" a nice contrast and alert perspective. Well done.
And Listener, the image Hopkins creates is memorable.
Nice day here. Hope your day is good.
Pat, thank you for the Martin Sheen notes!! That episode is one of my favourites, and I've heard him speak of it before, too. I didn't know the priests were upset, though. I'm a little surprised by that. It was SUCH a brief amount of smoke, and I felt it was essential to the message. SOOO good to see a secular show deal with the depths and struggles of spirituality so poignantly. That President Bartlett did it as a protest to God is actually testament to his great faith. After all, lack of faith would have suggested there wasn't anyone to be upset with, so why protest? Instead, it revealed a relationship. I deeply appreciated that.
Hallo! 🌻 Bill and I are on vacation June 28th thru July 4th, celebrating our 43rd Anniversary 🕯💙💙🕯, gardening 🌿, maybe checking out a few museums 🏛, taking on a few projects 🔨, maybe a theatre production 🎭, moseying 🍭, muddling along ☕️, sleeping in 😴 and generally doing very little slowly 😎. I will not be doing social media 💻, but will post a photo link afterward. 📷 I hope you all have a gentle week! 🌹
Enjoy, Listener, you and Bill, you give so much to family, projects, friends, and life. We'll be thinking of you and smiling.
I just finished watching episode 2 of The China Story on PBS. It was extraordinary. The Song and Ming Dynasties were the subjects. It's just fascinating, and something that Michael Edwards stresses over and over is the idea of virtue, the Mandate of Heaven and how central it is to Chinese society. The next episode will air on Tuesday next week.
This fall Ken burns will air a program on the Vietnam War. I'm impressed with PBS in ways I haven't been in years. They are doing some wonderful things.
Lovely weather here....sunny...high seventies. I woke this morning with a ladder outside
my bedroom window, a strange zap, zap noise. Finally realized it was a workman...probably
regrouting the old bricks that this building has. Built in 1870....probably needs it ...our new
manager and maintenance man are keeping on top of projects....always good to see.
Annual wellness visit to primary care doc...wiped me out in the effort to be both thorough and
efficient!
Thanks for news from the outside world!
Love to all.
Have a new keyboard. Hate it. Has a shiny background w/matte keys. Also, a couple of new keys with throws off where you put your fingers. Background shows fingerprints. Bad, bad, bad design. Amazon brand. However, the up/down keys work, so that's sumpin.
All the seventies are gone from the forecast. Only eighties left. LOW eighties, though.
With a bit of luck, the kiddle's coming on the 4th. That could change.
Either it's hotter this summer or I'm handling it less well. Or mebbe both?
New thread!!!
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