Being creative

Here's the link for more photos from the Art in Bloom exhibit at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, on my blog, Alchemy of Clay.

 

Summer solstice 2026 is at 4:22 am eastern daylight time, which is 2:22 am UTC. In the southern hemisphere of course it's winter solstice. 

That's what the records indicate, except for one. I've also seen this 2 hour difference, and another one with a 4 hour difference.

Since UTC is 4 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Savings Time, this means it doesn't occur actually at the same time on different parts of the world. If it did, the ESDT would be 4 hours different...earlier in the east of the US. making it 10:22 pm of the prior day. 

But the fun thing is, it takes a couple of days to actually have different amounts of daylight after this change happens.

Here's a picnic celebration we had in 2022 along the stream in  Montreat NC. Do you remember how nice it was to again gather with other people and no masks after the pandemic?

It's probably the opposite for oldest sons...

And that reminds me, Happy Father's Day to all the people who have helped raise children, and still are fathers even after they're grown!

Oldest son and my granddaughter, Cayenne and grandson,Will

Doug, the father of my two oldest sons.

My second son, father of three beautiful smart daughters.

 Granddaughters, Kate, Caroline and Audrey

My father standing between his parents, Dallas TX about the time I was born.

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The Marginalian is a newsletter edited by Maria Popova. Today's post includes an article on Creativity, featuring my mentor Mary Caroline Richards (though she didn't actually mentor me, I was inspired by her!) On Creativity

Obama speaking at the opening ceremony of his Presidential Center (not just a library!)

The Obama family

Malia and Shasha Obama

Obama speaking at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center on June 18, 2026. 

What are the words at the top, everyone asks.

The words on the Obama Presidential Center serve as a lookout point for visitors of the center to the South and West Sides of Chicago, are from a 2015 speech given by President Barack Obama that marked the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

The quote reads: “You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.”

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Helen speaking with friend and docent, Dawn Wilson, while I grab their photo at the Art in Bloom show in the gallery Saturday. We ran into so many old friends, most from having been members in the past of the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Black Mountain NC.