What can I say

post #524

        Such a week, besides COVID, besides the cold weather, besides the sane and saving election in Georgia, and besides the miseries in all parts of the world.  However, currently, we are not hearing all that much about anything except the intense attention to the terrible, harsh reality of the break-in Wednesday at the USA Capitol building.  There are deaths.  There's law breaking with abandon.  There's super-charged racism. A maelstom is in progress, monitored around the world. We will survive, but it will require an enormous amount of work and clearheadedness. 

        SO, I think I will share some photos from trips to other countries, as a reminder that there are places across the globe that look up to us and our democracy. There are other lives affected by our choices instead of just yours or mine. In adddition, we share the same earthly climate, the same pollution, the same pandemic, and the same love and hopes for our children.

 

ENGLAND -- the Cotswolds

waiting for the morning milk delivery

 

very early Sunday morning newspapers delivered but not yet on the shelves of Chipping Camden's small community Coop grocery store

 

 

FRANCE -- Paris

an early start at the Louvre

NOTRE DAME

see Steve's comment about these books....

FRANCE - St. Malo

 

French student group

my good friends Mariko and Christian

COSTA RICO

I hope everywhere good health is possible, and that we are up to the task of working hard to keep our democracy in good working order.  We will always need to keep on learning.

    

mothers day, a prom and graduations

post #431
       Sunday evening has come and is going. It has been a full day -- phone calls from my two kids, my sister, and from a friend in Lexington, two friends from nearby coming by to help me and visit, since I am still healing from the broken foot. (It has now been 3 weeks since I have been upstairs in my own house. It's getting harder to remember to keep weight off the foot since it is less swollen now and there's no on-going pain. But it will be awhile before it heals enough to allow me a more regular life.)  
        Even without Mothers Day, I have felt I wanted to share some family photos, mostly of kids. Having a close call of any kind, including falling down some stairs, can make one appreciate some of the daily things we might be unintentionally taking for granted. So I rummaged around in my photos to find a few images that spoke to my current pensive condition. 

 

feeding young'uns

feeding young'uns

a photo from a few years ago -- and this weekend his college graduation!! 

I meant to add this photo to the Notre-Dame post of a few weeks ago.

          I know I won't be able to resist adding a few photos during the week to come. Advice of the day: be careful walking down the stairs.....

Notre-Dame, Paris, August, 2016

post #428
       Next week: flowers. This week: Notre-Dame photos, since I happen to have some from a week's visit to Paris 2 1/2 years ago, thanks to my son and his family. We stayed in an Airbnb very nearby, and we also took a boat that goes around the island where Notre-Dame has stood since 1163.  In light of the tragedy of the terrible fire last week, I wanted to honor this Parisian landmark for those who have not ever had a chance to visit there. Like many other people, I was close to tears when I saw what was happening, even though it is not my country and not my religion. 
      Notre-Dame has instead some kind of universal stature, some significance for having stood there for so many centuries, through so many wars, as a reminder of beauty and human persistence. Today it is true that the money to preserve the church as it was may now be better spent helping us in other ways. A fire reminds us that things can change very quickly. Like our climate that is changing faster than we are willing to admit. Keeping things the way they were is no longer a good enough solution to anything. 
      Anyway, some photos:

The tall tourist is my son.

an inside chapel

incense from a church service that was ending

        I may add a few more photos tonight, including one of us in Paris. But the time has come to spend time with my family here today. I do hope these photos give a personal feel to what can be a lot to take in.