Nine Brazilians and a Corgi

 Twas the day before Christmas. Yes I'm finally writing about that day.

Warm weather, about 70 I'd guess by 3:30 and I just had to go somewhere.

Maybe walk around Lake Tomahawk? But as I drove to the turn off to the lake, 5 other cars took that turn. Nope, I didn't feel like dealing with a busy lake and parking lot. So I stayed straight, going to Black Mountain proper.

It was deserted almost. I noticed the parking was aplenty, and a few tourists were walking along the sidewalks. My friend Sarah Vekasi had her pottery shop open and I parked in front of it. I walked easily across US 70 (State St.) to Kilwins, a chain unfortunately, but it has two things worth my patronage. Ice cream and fudge. I told my patient clerk I was glad she was working today, but I was also sorry she was working today. She confessed to looking forward to 5 pm when she'd go home to a loan soak in a hot bath.

I noticed a whole bunch of people standing near Sarah's shop, but they were focused mainly on themselves.

Once I decided on which ice cream (Butter Pecan) and fudge (dark chocolate walnut) and paid my way, I sat down outside in shirt-sleeves to watch the world go by. And a big bus from the women's prison did go by, with women pounding on the grilled windows and shouting happy Christmas as they drove by. 

Some nice furry friends stopped to say hi.

And then the Brazilians sat down on the remaining spots on benches.

Nine of them. They looked at their phones mostly. I did ask where they were from, it being a southern thing and they were obviously tourists! Brazil! Well, I said, you missed out on getting cold weather this year! 

What was striking about them was not the global phone thing, but their body language. They just sprawled all over the sidewalk area. People walking by had to detour out into the street. Not just one, but everyone! There was a kind of ignorance that anyone else needed to use that space. Maybe an urban thing...maybe South American. But it was obvious to me. Welcome to Black Mountain, and just take over!

They were obviously visiting someone here...I thought. Maybe  that was who went inside Kilwins.

And after I finished my ice cream and no conversation...I crossed the street, read the menu on the new restaurant "Tuscan Table" and took photos of their exterior.

Sharing with Monday Murals.

Then I had a nice visit with my former neighbor Sarah, in her pottery shop.

My little slice of fudge provides me a daily bite...such sugary joy!

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Today's goddess:

Clay goddess figurine, dated ca 4400–4200 BC found at Strashimirovo on the north shore of Varna lake, Bulgaria. It is 11.3 cm high  TMG

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While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered. The question’s not if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together.

AMANDA GORMAN

Calling all Grand Mothers and then some!

Calling All Grand Mothers

We have to live differently

or we will die in the same old ways.

Therefore I call on all Grand Mothers,

everywhere on the planet,

to rise and take your place

in the leadership of the world.

Come out of the kitchen

out of the fields

out of the beauty parlors

out of the television.

Step forward and assume

the role for which you were created:

To lead humanity to health, happiness and sanity.

I call on all the Grand Mothers of Earth

and every person who possesses

the Grand Mother spirit of respect for life

and protection of the young

to rise and lead.

The life of our species depends on it.

And I call on all men of Earth

to gracefully and gratefully stand aside

and let them (let us) do so.

Big thanks to...

~ Alice Walker, from “Hard Times Require Furious Dancing”

www.alicewalkersgarden.com

Art by Jenny Badger Sultan

www.jennybadgersultan.com

Alice Walker

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Republican Senators Who Receive Funding From the NRA

• Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676
• Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380
• Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722
• Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333
• Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355
• Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773
• Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327
• Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582
• Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074
• Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714
• Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448
• Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548
• Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130
• Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486
• Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139
• Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967
• John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942
• Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738
• Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514
• Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007
• John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788
• Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274
• Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262
• Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711
• Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547
• Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680
• Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456
• Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049
• John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352
• John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945
• Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623
• Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758
• Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961
• Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039
• Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718
• John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989
• John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050
• Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638
• James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955
• Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850
• Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
• Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255

Source: Newsweek, 5.30.22.

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Hymn for the Hurting

By Amanda Gorman

Everything hurts,

Our hearts shadowed and strange,

Minds made muddied and mute.

We carry tragedy, terrifying and true.

And yet none of it is new;

We knew it as home,

As horror,

As heritage.

Even our children

Cannot be children,

Cannot be.

Everything hurts.

It’s a hard time to be alive,

And even harder to stay that way.

We’re burdened to live out these days,

While at the same time, blessed to outlive them.

This alarm is how we know

We must be altered —

That we must differ or die,

That we must triumph or try.

Thus while hate cannot be terminated,

It can be transformed

Into a love that lets us live.

May we not just grieve, but give:

May we not just ache, but act;

May our signed right to bear arms

Never blind our sight from shared harm;

May we choose our children over chaos.

May another innocent never be lost.

Maybe everything hurts,

Our hearts shadowed & strange.

But only when everything hurts

May everything change.

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman has an auditory processing disorder and is hypersensitive to sound. She also had a speech impediment during childhood. Gorman participated in speech therapy during her childhood and Elida Kocharian of The Harvard Crimson wrote in 2018, "Gorman doesn't view her speech impediment as a crutch—rather, she sees it as a gift and a strength."Gorman told The Harvard Gazette in 2018, "I always saw it as a strength because since I was experiencing these obstacles in terms of my auditory and vocal skills, I became really good at reading and writing. I realized that at a young age when I was reciting the Marianne Deborah Williamson quote that 'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure' 

Source: Wikipedia