'Twas the last blog post before Christmas

when all through the house,

clutter reigned, but luckily no mouse. 

 While at home, to herself, the writer asks,

 (therefore no need to wear any cloth masks)

will there soon be heard massive outrage and clatter?

We've wanted so much change that matters!

Yet four such difficult years are now ending.

Give us fortitude for the future that's pending.

On to equality, fairness, compassion!

On putting democracy back into fashion! 

Stay safe, stay brave and stay healthy, too.

Be grateful I can't sell this to get wealthy! Whew!

 

 post #522

not a Christmas photo, but I'll try for one this year

This was a trial Christmas photo one year, in Denver, but it happens to be a favorite of mine. Can't remember what in the world I was saying to them....

          We have had a single day this year with visible snow on the ground.  So far.

 

 

 This last photo is from a few days later, going for a walk across the road from my place, on the neighbor's hay field. My house is sort of visible through the trees.

All best wishes for the season to everyone, but please stay patient and believe that we will need to wear masks for many more months. More than a few people I know well have had to deal with the virus. I just found out yesterday that, sadly, my niece, in Los Angeles, is one of them.  I'm so sorry for the hardships this pandemic brings to people across the world. America has not done as well as it could have. Different leadership will have a big impact, and thank goodness, as I have said before, for the hard work of so many health provider teams everywhere. I hope they are getting their vaccine pronto.    

I also hope you enjoyed my poetic effort, with more emphasis on the effort part than on the poetic. Once I got started, I couldn't let it go. 

I'm not going to do a post next Sunday -- will take a week off, especially since no one will have time for it. But I'll be back in the new year! Again, all best wishes.

a statement of fact

post #521        

             All I want today is to speak up for truth.    

            Truth is what keeps us upright. It nourishes us even when it's painful.

            A serious sadness comes from hearing truth abused, again and again.

            It leads to severe harm from the shredding of trust, the next basic part of our being.

            Working together to overcome the pandemic would at least give us something to practice                 in common -- rebuilding together, after truth has been so maligned and trust so                            shattered.             

            You may know where I am headed. 

             

            We have had four years where truth has been severely abused, over and over. 

                     Our nation is in shock.      So many have died.     So many are deceived.  

                     Over 100 legislators and attorney generals have forgotten how to count!

                     What were they thinking?!   Are they ready to discard democracy?

                    Instead, what is left behind are potential threats of violence, and fear, the kind that insinuates itself throughout our daily lives. The world's health suffers from neglect, especially in our United States.  We should have been ahead of the game instead of so behind.

                   The pandemic doesn't care about any of this. 

              

        Look at all the blossoms opening at the same time! Working together! Doing their best! Looking after each other! Trusting where they are. Just showing up (along Sideway Road!)  Celebrating their moment in the sun!  Offering the simple truth of who they are!

 
          Basically, I'm pretty trusting, I have been a truth nut since I was very young, and all the time I try to figure things out. These days I am stumped by how could so many have been conned by our president who is more mean than presidential, more a bully than anything else, and who has been badly damaged along his own life's path.  

        I'm going to publish this now even if I end up deleting it in the morning.  I'm not trying to criticize anyone, but I'd love to see more of us actually thinking this through and examining the pieces.  It's always interesting and important to increase one's understanding of the one precious life we have been given.

 

 

 

missing family

post #520

        I'm a pretty tough cookie, but sometimes it's the pits to not be able to touch -- or be in daily touch with -- my family.  Because of the capricious and nasty virus, not touching is definitely the healthy and necessary thing to do.  However, some days the feeling is weirder than others. SO my advice to someone else would be to own the weirdness, and DO something that "speaks to your condition."  So I'm switching gears for this weekly blog post of mine to (drum roll...  ) FAMILY.  I have spent time with them today by seeking them out within the maze of thousands of photos on my laptop.  I'll be sharing about 18 photos, without giving many names or positions on the family tree. I'm going for the random wonder of who we end up with. (Not everyone is represented here. Therefore I hereby give myself permission to do this again in a second post in the future!)

 

what was on the screen

 

 

 

 and where the face actually was, in my office room! (notice blue curtain...)

 

 

                                       practicing outside distancing last spring ......

Thanks go today to my tolerant family. I feel much better..... I can't wait to surprise you and others again in the future......