Just doin' it

These cool nights and mornings are delightful for sleeping.
But this morning it worked out that no bright sun was blasting in windows yet at 7:30, so I rolled into some warm clothes, put on shoes and coffee, and headed out the door!

Yes, I walked my favorite half mile walk, around Lake Tomahawk and was done by 8:15.  I took photos as geese took off from their swims on the water.  First they made a big racket.  By the time the third flock did this, I had the phone ready. But geese against dark foliage doesn't work that great.  Finally got a shot of one flock that took off north, then did a 180 and came back over the lake going south.  I'll add that as soon as the cloud and computer sinc up.

Now I am so proud of myself, especially since I did this before breathing treatments. Which comes next, with real food.  I only had decaf so far, and an Aak Mak cracker with honey on it.

Happy 20th birthday to the Dripoltor coffee shop in Black Mountain! Yes I celebrated by having a decaf Americano!

Another senior oops

I felt a bit wobbly on my feet as I stepped onto the gravel road from the gravel path along the creek. I saw there was a butterfly bush that I wanted to take some photos of.  And I slowly put my feet down one by one, and walked across the gravel road, then got my camera app on the phone and tried to point at some of the bees and butterflies. But because the light was shining on the screen, I wasn't sure I captured anything much.

Then I saw a pinkish cast on one end of the bushes, and wondered if it was a different bush entirely, and walked a couple of steps toward it.  Still taking photos, I heard some people's voices in the distance. I hadn't seen a soul on my half hour of walking around and taking photos.  And out of the corner of my eye I noticed a big black dog downhill on the same side of the road as I was, and thought that was nice people were taking their dog for a walk.  It was just about where Elizabeth Trail goes up off of the gravel road.

I took my remaining 2 photos, then walked in the direction the "dog" had been, and realized it had been a small bear. There were no people visible on the path. Duh. I looked in all directions to see if it was still around. But it must have thought I wasn't interesting, because I couldn't find a trace of it.  By then I was really apprehensive, and glad to go straight to my car.

There hadn't been another person in the woods, though there were 2 other cars in the parking lot.  And some swimming gear (mask, children's shoes, a towel and a shirt) spread out on a rock near the parking lot. They could have been left there since yesterday.

So between feeling wobbly and the adrenaline of just supposing a bear was a big dog, I had to go get some lunch right then. I wasn't in any hurry, though almost all the rest of the traffic was.  I was just glad that I was alive.

Living it

I try to live the "Golden Rule."
I try to be charitable and open minded, and tolerant of all.

I fall somewhere below my aims...don't we all?

So I noticed if I'm working on being open to everything, I find more opportunities to offer my helping hand more often.  A former neighbor who still has interests in common with me now uses a scooter to get around.  The other night he was perched on the back bumper of his car, with his scooter in its 2 parts, base and seat, on the ground at his feet. He bent over to pick up the seat, but he slipped to his knees.  I walked over and offered to give him a hand.

He gratefullly sat back up on the bumper and showed me how the seat was put on its pedestal on the base.  It wasn't heavy at all.  He just said "my legs don't work any more." So I replied, "that's why you have the scooter."

And off he went to the elevator to ride up to the art show, which I was also attending.

I wondered how often I don't see other people who need help that isn't all that hard to offer.

I find that when I'm slighted in any way, I do still become defensive and want to have "my rights" upheld.

I was given a number to be in line the other day. The man who had the number ahead of me decided to not stay for the opportunity for free food from our local food bank.  The numbers are drawn out of a hat each week.  So when it was my turn, I found another person had the number that the man who left had had.  I got irritable, she hadn't arrived early enough to even draw a number out of the hat, and here she was ahead of me in line! But after my initial outrage (it was not that bad, but my ire was expressed verbally) I gave her a hug and said since she was my friend it was alright.

But the ire still comes up.  I'm so far from able to really live with other people in peace!

Today's quote:

We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.

DESMOND TUTU

Home stay-cation-ing

Son No. 1 and friend in Ybor City, FL

Wife of son No. 1, in St. Petersburg, baking up a storm!

Son No. 2 in Bermuda on a cruise with wife and 3 daughters

The whole family on the Bermuda cruise.  I don't even know a few of them!

Son No. 3 went mountain biking in Colorado.  This is not him.  He probably was in the mountains, though he lives in high desert.  He slept in a hammock, so the must have been around trees.   Photos are from Wikipedia.

 My balcony each morning with laptop and coffee, and birds and sometimes a chipmunk. Me, I am retired and live in a vacation town. So I am on a stay-cation.

 I am careful about moving around so I don't toss laptop or coffee off the railings.

Today's quote:

Be pliable like a reed, not rigid like a cedar.

RABBI SIMEON BEN ELEAZAR

Coming up from the ground

We have piles of mulch applied to the various planted areas of the apartment complex.
I love seeing the rose bushes, which fortunately were allowed to remain when other plants were removed, like the big hibiscus bush. Gone. But this week, right about where it used to be, there was a disturbance in the earth.

 Taken Sunday July 21, 2019

A bit closer...no ants are to be seen, though that was my first thought.

Then after the thunderstorm this afternoon...a big change!

Taken 6 pm Mon. July 22, 2019

It's turned black on top...not at all fuzzy like mildew...very strange thing.
do you have any ideas?

Connecting through time

As I move in my mind away from linear time, where the past is on one end of a charted line, and the future on the other, with this wonderful present just a dot between the two...I try out different ways of feeling and knowing time itself.

It's all relative, as some famous person (Einstein ?) said.

So when I meditate I often have visions of past persons from my life.  And at times I'm open to what they might be bringing me to consider.

What if I were to think of my own self in the past?  Actually I spend a lot of time doing that.

I have no intention to change my life, it's already been the way it is, and though I may have regrets, I am accepting of the mistakes I made.

But what if I were to talk to myself from years gone by? What would I want to say to myself?

Obviously, coming from the Zen outlook of all is Now, I want to explore the past as another now.  I can see myself sitting in a kitchen with 2 little boys in the 60s.  I have several neighbors who are friends, and a husband who goes off to work 5 days a week.  I watch our black and white TV and go to the library to get interesting science fiction to read.  I am not particularly a good housewife.  Where is my joy? I think my children probably.  They have so many needs, their care is my number one focus.  And I don't always know what the best things to do might be.

I know to feed the kids...I'm still breast feeding the youngest.  My 3 year old is another matter.  We watch some of the cartoons and children's programs on morning TV.  We play in the back yard and do the laundry.  Is this the time that I have a puppy? No I think not.

So here comes my future self knocking on the door.  An older me, dressed in simple clothes. I'm not with another partner, like the various religious sects. I'm wearing a dress and black tied shoes.  I smile and offer what? How about magazine subscripions? Somehow I talk myself into the kitchen with my past self.

She is friendly, offers me coffee from her coffee pot which percolates along.  I greet my baby sons...they are so sweet at those ages.  I offer her a brochure about magazines, offering a special price that appeals to her.

I wish I could tell her what may be happening already in her mind, her dreams.  The move from Connecticut to Florida, the divorce that is coming.  But her yearnings are hers to have, mine to remember.

What is the point of my visit to my past self? Not just to satisfy my present feelings that want to connect to the past.  I want to give her a gift.  So I offer her a free magazine, and receive her thanks.  (Of course this magazine will never come, nor will she be billed for it.) My gift? Not the magazine, but the hug I give her as I leave. She's so thin then. I notice her brown hair, compared to my white hair.

I look into her hazel eyes. She looks back to mine, smiling with her goofy smile, and I say..."If you believe there are an infinite number of possible earths happening at the same time, know this."

She smiles at me, somewhat curious.

"This one possible life line that you are on, this one possible earth that exists now, is just one of many possibilities.  And what you choose now, today, gives you the next step for your life going into the greatness of that possible future."

So this wasn't exactly time travel.

My past self was reading a lot of science fiction, as well as Scientific American. I saw the magazines on the coffee table that I made, ceramic tiles in an undersea fish pattern.  That table would travel with me beyond the time when my sons lived with me, and I would let it go about twelve years in the future.

That Barbara fifty years ago was already thinking of all kinds of possibilities. I was happy to nudge her along in her explorations.

50 years ago

Here are the photos I was going to share yesterday, but I got a bit carried away with the Tailgate Market's 25th anniversary.  (After all, it's closer to my life!)

Thanks to The Atlantic Dot Com for these shots of men first walking on the moon.

Yes there is one female engineer at Mission Control...center of photo.

Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins - Jan, 1969 had been just selected to be crew for Appolo 11.

Liftoff July 16, 1969 from Cape Kennedy, FL aka Cape Canaveral.

The Saturn V rocket takes men into space quickly.

Buzz Aldrin and the flag

First photo (?) of earth taken by man as they sped toward the moon.

Lunar module as it goes toward the moon

Neil Armstrong who did most of the camera work, so has few photos of him

The men rode this capsule back to earth from the moon!

Aldrin working on data collection on the moon

25 years or 50 years ago

Today the Tailgate Market of Black Mountain celebrated it's 25th anniversary.

I went intending to purchase some honey. As I waited, a rather grungy colorful man said he'd never tasted honey. So here he is...of course we all get a free taste anyway, but he didn't end up buying any. I did.

 Russ is a real beekeeper. He only had creamed honey today, said this is the end of his spring crop, but in 2 weeks there will be another crop available.

My friends, Shelly and Ruth had fun discussing something, while Baxter Frome waited patiently.

 The Mudbuddies had a great display, as always.  It was terribly hot by 11, and one vendor lay down on the job and put her feet up, while Roger took over applying fairy-hair for a customer. Roger is known for selling seafood, so we joked that cats would be following this woman around.

 There was a huge crowd, and entertainment at 11 was by the Black Mountain Community Band. They were a bit lame on some of the pieces, but a good effort, and I could recognize the tunes usually!

 Two rows with tents on both sides of walking area, as well as on the far end, mostly under the shade of the big oaks.

 Potter Bette watches me take photo of one of potter Cathy's bowls which she made for all the regular Tailgate members.

And today is the celebration of man's first walking on the moon! So I'll share some great photos that I took of it...well, that I took off the internet. Manana.

For shame!

Actually I am ashamed to be associated (once again) with the state of North Carolina.  Last time it was the bathrooms issue.  (Yes, the Republican legislature passed a law saying people must use the bathrooms that represented their birth genitalia.)  I also was chagrined at NC for having such low pay for its teachers

This time it was a rally with the president, (Wed. July 17, 2019)  in which many citizens of my state yelled in unison, "Send her back," as Trump looked on smiling.

It was so similar to the way Trumpers yelled about Hillary in the campaign in 2015.

It is so sad that those GOP idiots can be so hateful. (Yes, they come to my mind as idiots at this time.)

Can I in any way forgive them? No.  Hatred and sexism and racism are unforgivable.

I am ashamed to have friends and neighbors who support Trump.

At one time I could respect people who made their own choices, even if their decisions were not based on logic. No longer. Supporting someone who constantly lies and elicits hatefulness is being part of the GOP misogynistic, white supremacist movement. I cannot condone this attitude, nor their actions.

The chant echoed racist tweets from Trump on Sunday that called on four progressive Democratic lawmakers, including Omar, to "go back" and "help fix the totally broken and crime infested" countries "from which they came." Three of the lawmakers — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — were born in the US.  

Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in US history to serve in Congress, was born in Somalia. She fled her native country as a child because of a bloody civil war and spent some time in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the US at the age of 10. Omar became a US citizen when she was 17....

Meanwhile, the president on Monday said he was not concerned that his tweets were being called racist because he said that "many people agree with me." Trump's Wednesday rally, as well as a national poll conducted after the tweets that showed his approval had gone up with Republicans, seemed to support that notion.  

The House on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning Trump over his tweets, with all Democrats and just four Republicans voting in favor of it. The GOP has been overwhelmingly silent in the wake of Trump's racist tweets, which have prompted condemnation from not only US politicians but also world leaders — including those of close US allies.  Source: Business Insider

I am no longer going to call myself a North Carolinian, because it might be inferred that I would have anything in common with those shouting people who couldn't think for themselves to see how wrong their shouts were.

It has to stop. 

Jon Favreua tweeted:

The crowd at Trump’s rally chanting “send her back” after the President viciously and dishonestly attacked Ilhan Omar is one of the most chilling and horrifying things I’ve ever seen in politics.

Ilhan Omar herself quoted Maya Angelou:

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.