Don't forget to look at my blog Living in Black Mountain!

 Living in Black Mountain!

Listen my children and you shall hear

 Once upon a time

Not too far away

And where many people you know have visited,

There was a conundrum over what was true.

This is what happened.

A man became very powerful by telling lies.

He made his lies very funny, and people laughed.

He made his lies in naughty language, and people cheered.

(You see, the people had been told naughty language was not to be shared in public,

And this man told his lies very loudly in public.)

This might have been shocking,

But it became a joke. But his being a clown was just part of his show of lies.

Others copied him, telling loud lies and jokes at the expense of other's feelings.

It became an ok thing to do, though I think many of the people who laughed

Went home and still taught their children not to lie, and not to use naughty language, 

And not to hurt other people by saying mean things.

But an accumulation of lies became a pyramid built on a very shaky foundation.

And another powerful person enjoyed doing much the same thing.

These two became friends, finding the humor in how they duped so many people around them.

The second powerful person telling lies, decided that he could get his armies to invade

 A nearby country that had some things he thought he wanted. So he told the lie that the people

In that other country really belonged to his country and wanted him to come free them.

Funny thing, the people in the other country didn't ever hear his lies, but they did

Hear his soldiers and bombs. 

And they fought fiercely for their freedom from the lying powerful war-monger.

And some of the people in the first liar's country were sorry to see that the smaller country

Was being invaded by a lying powerful bigger country.

So they sent help in the form of guns.

They didn't send soldiers though.

The smaller country was able to push back the larger one's army, and they held on

For much longer than that larger powerful country had thought.

Then...the powerful liar in that war decided to get more of his people to fight against them.

And he made up another lie. He was going to send some of his people into

The area of the smaller country to hold a fake election, a referendum.

The outcome was totally faked, and would show that somehow all the people

Who lived in that small area wanted the larger country to come in and 

Defend them from the army of their own country!

This is how a liar becomes a puppet-master. He can pull strings of

His own government, his own country's army. Then he

Imagines he can set up the smaller country with more lies.

What do you think happened next?

Well, it's September 22, 2022, and Vladamir Putin is planning to move more

Russian troops into the Ukraine where the Russians have just been pushed back.

He has made no secret of his planned fake referrendum. He did this before in

Another small country.

What about the other powerful man who used lies to get into the highest office in the

United States, where he closed down areas of government he didn't like,

Where he fired people who were experts at doing their jobs and put his 

Closest "lie-suckers" into those jobs?

 

There are enough Americans who don't

Believe his lies. 

They never did. 

And they have been telling the truth about what he has been doing. 

There is an ongoing Congressional Investigation into 

His suckers' actions on Jan 6, 2021 when people died and much damage was done to the

US Capitol. 

The Big Lie was that even though he had no evidence, he decided (even before the election was held)

He should have won the election. 

The Big Lie was loud and full of very naughty words that he convinced 

Many people into

Denying the results of that election. They are called Election Deniers.

He is a bully and these people may not really want to do what he says, 

But bullies threaten others' to get their way. A man will do what he needs to for his children,

For his job, his wife. 

The threats that the Big Liar makes are that to side with any issue (anything he disagrees with)

Means that they will suffer incredibly. He makes up many awful things to get people afraid.

So they vote with him, stand in crowds and yell with him,

And hope that way they can maybe someday have happiness.

When Putin makes up lies, he has people beaten and arrested if they disagree.

So far this has not happened in the US.

But if the Big Liar has his way, he'd be more than happy to do the same thing.

And that's the truth.

One more important part of this story is that the cost of everything anyone needs to live on

Has risen higher and higher in the last few months.

It is common knowledge that big business corporations are behind this, since their reports

Show how much profit they have made during the very same time.

Raise the price of one thing a penny, that everyone uses and can't live without,

And do you know by the time a few million people have had to pay that

There are a group of rich people getting all those pennies.

Why is this able to happen?

For one thing the Liar has set up a system where the government doesn't get tax from

Big Corporations. So the government runs on all the smaller entities.

And Big Corporations also represent those who support 

The Big Liar - he's giving them these bonuses for having put his choices of friendly

People into positions of power, like the seats in Congress which make the laws.

He even has the seats on the Supreme Court deciding in his favor. 

His aim is to have autocratic control of 

the Legislature, 

the Executive branch/Presidency, 

and the Legal /Court System, 

the three balances of our Constitutional government.

Then he would also be a puppet-master like Putin.

Unfortunately the Liar actually has become represented by an entire party of our government

And no-one is able to separate from him. 

There have been a few conservative people who didn't agree with him

And they ran in primaries against people that he sponsored.

Most of them never got any further.

But in one state, Kansas,

A very important issue came up for women to choose when and whether they have a baby,

The people voted against having a law tell half the population (the women)

What the women could choose to do.

And that's the truth.

So the conundrum is figuring out where the lies are

And speaking truth such that the frightened people who may repeat the lies but don't really believe them

Will be able to stand up and find the truth also.

 

Well, you've blown it, Mr. Blogger. (This is a photo of a hydrogen bomb explosion.)

I've moved all my links over to Living in Black Mountain.

Just because today you've again let me open blogs in 3 seconds again, and I can make replies to comments, and most of my friends aren't shuttled to the spam area, and I can actually work on my layout again and make new gadgets.

You're

too

late.

Look on other blog for updates1

Blog-full of BOG

If Blogger has somehow become bogged down on this blog site...I'll just take my business elsewhere.

I've noticed before that some blogs take longer to load...not just WordPress kind, not just those with big wonderful photos which must have huge files...

So I'm sending you over to the blog that I have not been using since the spring...

Living in Black Mountain.

And I'll try to open your blogs from there, so I can still make comments. I'll be looking for your comments here, and may make replies. We'll see how much time that takes!

In 2012 my anniversary of When I was 69!

I started this blog as a place that would be separate from my life as a potter, where I could dip into the lives of gardeners, photographers, and writers who blog, and maybe share something different with/from them. Now I'm leaving it...see you over on the other one!

And I left pottery about the time COVID came along...2-1/2 years ago now.

Comment on 9/20/22 - finally blogger is loading this blog in 3 seconds again. Too late.

I'm over at Living in Black Mountain! Come on by, put me on your list, and comment if you'd like!

Let's think outside of a box and into a circle...

 The Donut Hole model...I've always loved non-linear thinking. Please enlarge so you can read what each diagram describes.

Donut Economics:

What is the Doughnut?

Think of it as a compass for human prosperity in the 21st century, whose goal is to meet the needs of all people within the means of the planet.

It consists of two concentric rings:

• A social foundation – to ensure that no one is left falling short on life’s essentials.
• An ecological ceiling – to ensure that humanity does not collectively overshoot planetary boundaries.

Between these two boundaries lies a doughnut-shaped space that is both ecologically safe and socially just – a space in which humanity can thrive.

Quantifying the Doughnut

The image below reveals the current state of humanity and our planetary home: think of it as humanity’s ‘selfie’ in the early days of the 21st century.

Each dimension is measured, where possible, with 1 or 2 indicators, and the red wedges show the extent of shortfall and overshoot of the Doughnut’s social and planetary boundaries.

It shows us that millions of people still fall short on all 12 of the social dimensions, and that humanity has already overshot at least four planetary boundaries (air pollution and chemical pollution are currently unquantified). 

To achieve the 21st century goal of meeting the needs of all within the means of the living planet means eliminating all of the red from the Doughnut diagram, and this must be done from both sides at the same time.

Or here's the PDF file What is the Doughnut?

And all this comes through Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) HERE. I sometimes get their newsletters. And they've revamped their home page, which means maybe it's easier to find things.

I was recently thrilled to see a nearby college (Warren Wilson College) has been offering a place for a group of environmentalists to meet weekly, The Swannanoa Watershed Action Network: When All Thrive, Earth Regenerates. I joined them when their meeting was in Black Mountain (Fri. Sept 16) at the 1st Pres. Church.

It was a meeting without an agenda, and several people attended via zoom...and I was among 3-4 newcomers. I am so bad at remembering names! But the issues discussed had to do with rain water, erosion after storms, building on steep slopes, the map of the area of the Swannanoa Watershed, sources of water, areas of timber farming of old growth trees, building rain gardens; several other groups and what they are doing about climate change. It was good to network with some of these people, who had great knowledge.

Today has been lots of quotes but here's another:

Ruth Reichl (restaurant critic for The New York Times and author) said, "My idea of good living is not about eating high on the hog. Rather, to me good living means understanding how food connects us to the earth."

Tomorrow I'll be at another blog address: Living in Black Mountain.

Neither here nor there...

 

Let's not be serious!

Blue Footed Booby (Sula nebouxii) is such a dear little bird! I can't help but smile when I see him.

Junior nobody in his "pram" with mom...bundled up for mildly cool weather, and Junior is happily munching on something I believe. In the background is perhaps a garage, and rooftops with chimneys.  Let's see what others have posted on Sepia Saturday this week!

A continuation of last week's post about workers. Here are those who helped build the Biltmore House in Asheville NC, 1898.

The Biltmore Estate - present day. I don't know when it became a tourist attraction, but thousands roam through the halls daily now, and around the beautiful gardens.

House in Houston's 5th Ward, 1973 photo by Danny Lyon

Clover Gap Mine community, Harlan County KY

You may note that the poorer people among us build with wood, while those who can afford to will choose some kind of masonry. 

As I recently showed on my blog, housing these days means clearing lots completely of ancient trees, then perhaps planting some fast growing ones after the house is built. But the logs above were from much bigger trees than I've ever seen in North Carolina...and unfortunately they were probably not meant to become lumber for housing. This was wartime.

This phenomena occurred about 60 million years ago when the Colorado Plateau shifted and felled many trees, which became petrified over that long time.

Another frame house, to which a farmer and his sons are retreating from a dust storm. Cimarron County, OK, April 1936.

Niagara Falls without water, 1969 (Are you getting thirsty yet?)

Woman on frozen Mississippi River, St. Louis, MO 1905

1910s photo of mother doing laundry while baby walks in a wicker frame.

I've now come full circle back to a mother and child, and shared most of the sepia photos that have come across my desk in the last week.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Today's quote:

To bear up under loss, to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief, to be victor over anger, to smile when tears are close, to resist evil men and base instincts, to hate hate and to love love, to go on when it would seem good to die, to seek ever after the glory and the dream, to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about to be, that is what any man can do, and so be great. -Zane Grey, author (31 Jan 1872-1939)

Tomorrow's post will be about thinking outside the box and into a circle!

Early leaf color

For Skywatch Friday, though not very dramatic! These photos were from Sept 9 and before. By the time I post this, there should be more!  Also giving these to Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, which was really yesterday!

Perhaps with a magnifying glass you can see this ornamental pear tree's few colors.

And my lush summer forest of maple trees has one single orange leaf showing already!

I will go looking for more color soon!! But I'm sure my northern blogging friends will share some of their beautiful woods.

Today's quote:

Life beckons us as a flicker. A tendril. A corner of darkness. A bell. A spark of the soul. And curiosity propels us to follow.

ROSE ZONETTI

Another Patti Callahan book!

 My latest read...

An enjoyable audio book, which focused on two time periods intertwined throughout the book, the 1830s and the 2000s. The early dates were about a sinking of a ship going from Savannah to Baltimore, off the coast of North Carolina. The later dates were when a museum in Savannah held an exhibit of the artifacts and how that exhibit was researched by three of the main characters.

I always enjoy historic novels...and this one did not disappoint. Callahan is an author I recently discovered in her two works about C. S. Lewis and his family. I wondered how she would work with this very different subject matter.

I have no way to critique the historic aspects of the story, which all seem quite realistic for the period, while slavery was still alive in the south, but soon to be outlawed. The extreme wealth as a result of slave labor that wasn't paid was obvious in the artifacts which were found from the recent discovery of the wreck of the ship in 100 feet of water off North Carolina's coast.

Calahan had already started to research the wreck and the families of Savannah when that discovery of the wreck occurred. In her author's notes following the narrative, she mentioned how that was an extra incentive factor. Much of the book is a discussion by the various characters, modern and ancient, in the questions of fate, luck, and major life changes that happen by catastrophic events.

The question of surviving the survival was a new one to me...that not just returning to one's old life happened, but that each person had major changes, including one young man who went from being a heroic caring person to becoming a slave trader known as the Red Devil.

Today's quote:

Sometimes you can't see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, TV host, actor, and writer (b. 26 Jan 1958)

Changes on Walker Rd.

 

Looking through nearby foliage to the lot which has been raized by machinery...

This is what it looked like before...

Some of the biggest old oaks were on that property.

If you look to the far edge of the gravel, there is a man and a bobcat at the dropoff.

It's hard to see that at the far edge of the gravel, the dropoff is about 10 feet, then gradual to the far trees. Most of those are bamboo, which perhaps belong on the far home's property. This lot used to be full of trees and undergrowth, all razed now.

On Tuesday all the noise was coming from the two (blue at this point) houses on the next street over.

Further up Walker Rd...some small houses.

Coming up Walker Rd. to the construction site. With the two gravel areas, I'm guessing this site will have two small houses on it, much like further up Walker Rd. 

Today's quote:

Bravery can never be measured by a lack of fear. It takes guts to tremble. It takes so much tremble to love.

ANDREA GIBSON

It's Tuesday so you need a laugh, or chuckle, or smile, or whatever!

 

Imagine me stumbling around in the kitchen trying to get that first cup of coffee. I take out the new half and half container, and open the top, and pull out the little safety stopper. Pour the coffee, then shake the half and half like I always do. Except this time no top. So half and half went everywhere. Did you know it makes a nice shine on the kitchen floor?

Yesterday I was a sucker for punishment. I had a mammogram and had to wait to get in and get squeezed in all the wrong places. Then I went to the pharmacy and again waited to get my flu shot in the arm. Home and took some Tylenol 'cause usually I have a bit of reaction to flu shots. Last week's Omacron Covid booster just gave me a sore arm and shoulder. We shall see...

OK that last one isn't exactly funny. More along the lines of Matrix.

Thanks to FaceBook friends for posting most of these.

And today is a special woman's birthday, my granddaughter in Florida. Have a very happy day, and many more to follow!

Today's quote:

Tomorrow, I will continue to be.
But you will have to be very attentive to see me.
I will be a flower, or a leaf.
I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you.
If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me,
and you may greet me. I will be very happy.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

What John Pavlovitz said...

Here's the link  but I'm also going to  post the entire blog from him...an evangelical preacher, who certainly didn't used to see things the same way I do until recent political events changed his mind.

Trump Didn’t Break America, He Revealed Our Brokenness

SEPTEMBER 10, 2022 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ

America is broken.

I’m not sure that’s up for debate at this point.

But let’s be clear about something: Donald Trump didn’t break it.

He didn’t create anything.

Not the unmasked racism so proudly parading itself down crowded main streets, in school board meetings, and on neighborhood message boards;
not the antagonistic, gun-loving bravado still opposing sensible safeguards designed to protect our most vulnerable;
not the white-washed nationalistic fervor screaming its start-spangled supremacy into the ether; not the strident, anti-Science, conspiratorial arrogance refusing to take any measures to preserve life from an insidious virus, not the homophobic, misogynist religion being weaponized against women and the LGBTQ in church pulpits and supreme court rulings.

He is not the genesis of these things, or of hate crimes, book bannings, mass shootings, vaccine opposition, or violent insurrections.

Donald Trump did not invent any of these present national cancers.

What he did, was normalize them.

He removed the social stigma of bigotry by wielding it openly and with a kind of perverse joy.
He continually appealed to the lowest and the worst of humanity until it all became commonplace.
He railed against the educated and the qualified until ignorance became a badge of honor.
He gave people license to celebrate the profound ugliness they’d once concealed for the sake of decorum.
He showed gracious hospitality to the darkness residing in the recesses of human hearts.
Then, he simply let people reveal themselves—and they have.

Since the initial days of his 2016 presidential campaign, this solitary, morally-bankrupt serial grifter has become a kind of moral x-ray machine for hundreds of millions of us: exposing a deeply-embedded cruelty in our families, church members, friends, and neighbors that we never imagined existed.

As those we live alongside and loved have embraced this monstrous man and his predatory movement, we have been forced to reckon with it all:
how close and prevalent the hatred around us is,
how little progress we’ve actually made as a nation,
how little we really knew people we’ve shared staff meetings, church pews, and Thanksgiving tables with,
how many of our relationships were simply misinformed mythologies or marriages of convenience.

And since so many placed their very identity with him from the beginning, for years now they have applauded every bit of moral filth he’s generated, defended each reckless and dangerous act, doubled-down on every abuse of office and every betrayal of country, ratified high crimes against the very nation they claim to want to save.

They have chosen him over former political heroes, historically-revered journalists, once-beloved members of his own party, over any dissenting voice of reason or goodness—and in doing so, they have exposed their own hearts.

I suppose we should be grateful.

Had Donald Trump never been allowed to ascend to the highest levels of the political system and not been so transparent in his contempt for decency, we might never have found ourselves here at this pivot point in our history: not merely a nation politically but a people fractured relationally.

And that’s really the story here: not only a Republican Party and Evangelical Church that have fallen prostrate before this barren, empty husk of a man, disgracing both their oath and calling—but the mothers, uncles, sons, and best friends who have revealed something that we simply could not fathom being true before he appeared.

And no matter what transpires in coming elections or how the courts rule or what legal ramifications come or what legislative alterations take place, we are going to be left with this mess:
the social media separations,
the wordless disconnections,
the silent ghostings,
the expletive-laden terminations.

Even after he is gone, we who remain are going to exist in an America that is grievously broken, perhaps permanently so.

And as terrible as that reality is to contend with, it is still better than living in the numbed sedation of ignorance and denial that came before him; a veneer of politeness belying a terrible truth.

That truth is out now. We know who we are. We have no illusions. We have all declared our allegiances and chosen our hills.

Every facade has been torn down, every phony trapping of religiosity or patriotism stripped away. Now, there is only the sickening, unvarnished truth of who we are as a nation, and staring at it in the raking daylight is the only chance we have to confront and repair it.

In his craven lust for power, his absence of morality or character, his complete disregard for human life, his stratospheric narcissism, his full rejection of the law—Donald Trump has not broken America but revealed our brokenness.

He doesn’t deserve our thanks, but we are indebted to him just the same.

Now, we have to decide how we mend ourselves.

The water producing philodendron

 You must be like me, sitting for a long time looking at this "ivy" type plant. Then near the base of that white stick, you might see the drip coming off the end of a leaf. And you might also see that a drip had already fallen on the leaf below it.

This one is harder to see, on the tip of second to bottom horizontal leaf. My little iPhone tried to focus on many background things, but I think there's even the beginning of a drip on the next leaf up, which shows against another philo leaf.

So I get to meditate on these strange drops on my plant. I only water it once a week, down in the center of the plant.  And there are more...but not on every leaf!

It's a mystery to me.

This last week started with a holiday on Monday (Labor Day). Then I bought my new car on Wednesday (Blue Ridge Roadrunner.) Then the Queen died on Thursday. THE QUEEN is dead, now there's a King. What will that mean? And Friday it was chilly when windows were open...so autumn is here...sort of. Saturday much rain and high of 64 F, and Sunday church with water communion where each person can bring a small amount of water from their summer activities to share into a big bowl. See, I can write up a whole week in one paragraph!

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley, Sept. 9, 2014. Rev. Michael Carter is to the direct right of the sign in a suit, and I'm wearing a red shirt directly behind and to the right of him.

Today's quote:

When we learn to attune ourselves to our inner compass, we follow a map that only we can see, our own path.

Daily Om

Our Labor Day last Monday

 

Last weekend was our Labor Day weekend in the US. This Sepia Saturday photo shows a lot of men and maybe one woman with her head turned away, in line to get on a bus.  I don't think I have any bus photos...oh wait, maybe one horse drawn one...ok, off I go to see what comes up via my cursor and a click or two!

London, Piccadilly, Eros, 1895 (I must assume the statue has something to do with a Greek god of love perhaps called Cupid in modern times) I found this photo on FB, where it was posted without any recognition of the Francis Frith Collection (after enlarging a lot I could read at the bottom, which could easily be cut off. 

And Piccadilly in the 1940s - I never can resist a  then and now shot! Do you see the orange and white double decker on the right? It may have been red, with the film perhaps turning reds to orange.

Mine laborers at the end of their shift.

Normal Rockwell's Labor Day cover for 1943 Saturday Evening Post, Liberty Girl, to honor all the jobs women had been doing while men were off fighting WW II.

Some folks have said unions don't have much place these days in the job market. But I certainly cheered for the workers at Amazon who formed a union, as well as those in Starbucks. The working conditions did need to be improved. And this is the only way a group of workers can have a voice.

Happy Labor Day America!

The first Labor Day was held in 1882. Its origins stem from the desire of the Central Labor Union to create a holiday for workers. It became a federal holiday in 1894. It was originally intended that the day would be filled with a street parade to allow the public to appreciate the work of the trade and labor organizations. After the parade, a festival was to be held to amuse local workers and their families. In later years, prominent men and women held speeches. This is less common now, but is sometimes seen in election years. One of the reasons for choosing to celebrate this on the first Monday in September, and not on May 1, which is common in the rest of the world, was to add a holiday in the long gap between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Today's quote:

As the pain that can be told is but half a pain, so the pity that questions has little healing in its touch. -Edith Wharton, novelist (24 Jan 1862-1937)