A Parting Shot and The Rising Storm

     Poster children for the unvaccinated enjoying the fog and drizzle between rain storms that have left us with 12 inches of rain in two weeks while our brethren and sisters up in Sierras are buried under record snow.

    We take the good where we can find it and we'll be tightly gripping our "cup of kindness" as we limp more deeply into the '20's. 

    We've wandered many a weary foot children, so drink up the cup and remember the good old times, stingily parsed these last couple of years. The trusty hand of a friend is a companion wise on the rough road ahead.

    Maybe it just me, but there's something regal here.

    Sunny and Hemingway making the best of it, on a rare moment to be in fresh air, as crises of nature and the human kind beat the old year to a pulp. 

    Another variant, bad behavior and now our precious care givers are beset again. Putin is up to little dictator games, and it's suddenly election year in America. Pass me another cup of kindness there and then I'm headed for safety.

        Whoops! Well, any box in a storm! 

    I've been paying attention the animals around here because people are either disgusting, or they are my friends, who I rarely see except on Zoom or masked, or at social distances and they too are worried about the rise of the disgusting. My tennis pals are an exception as we can put all human foibles out of mind as we rock and roll on the court-except two weeks of rain have stopped that. 

        So Auld Lang Syne 2021. You were supposed to be the year of healing and normalcy. Do you think humanitie's karma is catching up with us?

    

        So I've been looking up, as the storm clouds clear, and I can't stop from trying to make my phone work like a telescope.

        These are meager offerings especially when we have some genuine astrophotographers living in these parts, but they point you in a good direction. We can celebrate the launch of the Webb telescope this month. That will do more for human knowledge than all of the weasel heads in congress, all of the unmasked, and unvaccinated combined.

        Grasp this, Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977 are still moving through the heavens. In about 14 thousand Years V 1 will be leaving the Oort cloud. Give it another 280 thousand years and it will be approaching our next nearest star, still in our galaxy of course and we just don't know how many billion galaxies there may be. So there's a perspective to apply to 

the life and times of planet earth in these days of uncertainty. 

        A friend who worked on the Hubble telescope, one of the brightest scientific minds around said often as he aged, "you've got to have a sense of humor in this life." Frank was frequently bemused when it came to how the inhabitants of this planet conducted themselves. 

        So let's take a right good draught for auld lang syne and for the good old days to come.

        Slainte'

    See you down the trail. 

OUT WEST and HOW WOMEN ARE TREATED

High Sierra range fence on California 245

Delta, framed by nature

Sap-

So where are the yellow bellied sap suckers?

Remember that line from old cowboy movies and shows?

 Out of business and left in a hurry

      Great memories from kid hood are the summers we spent in the Rockies. Now that I'm in a second edition of kid hood, I can't get enough of the Sierra.

       The timeless architecture and vast expanse of the mountains tend to open my mind similarly. 

       

        In earlier life I was on the board of the President Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis. I took pride that Harrison was the President who signed Yosemite National Park into existence. I always reflect on that when wandering the through the Sierras. 

        Cultural norms were vastly different from 1889 to 1893 when Harrison was President, which only underscores the historic and contemporary importance of what he said. 

         This point alone demonstrates how far Republican Presidential values have plummeted under the current occupant.

         Millions of US citizens await the fall of this president who seems to become more atrocious by the hour. The majority of voters did not want him, but there is still the almost unbelievable support of those who voted for him. It is as if there is nothing that will dissuade them.

        I share here a letter I penned to the editor of the local paper. As noted, it seems to encapsulate this matter of trumpistas.

       

       The Letter to the Editor section on Thursday, October 26 (Opera SLO-an accusation and a response) is a perfect capture, in microcosm, of the "roots" of the divide and rancor threatening America today.

       Elise Cassel and Juan Hovey of Santa Maria talked about being "...stunned-appalled" to see a character in Madame Butterfly drag an American flag across the stage floor. 

       The writers then castigated Opera San Luis for a willingness to "exploit" and "make gratuitous and contemporary political statement." That's venomous enough but they said they would end financial support.

         What followed was an eloquent response from Brian Asher Alhadeff of Opera San Luis explaining the scene was part of the story and script dating to 1898 and was how Giacomo Puccini staged it beginning in 1904. 

         It is American to express points of view, but it is intelligent to speak with a sense of knowledge, history, context and understanding. Sadly this is an age when people are full of self righteous indignation and opinions which are not grounded in fact or truth. Still they spew. They even vote motivated by anger and ignorance.

         I hope Mr. Alhadeff's detailed analysis and kind and sympathetic response to those who feel aggrieved may assuage their bitterness and hair trigger response. His letter is an example of how to respond to those who are  judgmental, without knowing of what they speak. 

         Taken in a larger context, that is to include the White House and those who support the present occupant, it is a lesson of how to relate to the self righteous, narrow minded and bigoted who are bereft of intelligence, reasoning, knowledge of history or logic. 

         While the accusations of the writers are symbolic of what is epidemic in the US, being as intolerant in response will not dissuade "true believers." The way out of the deadlock just might be a demonstration of kindness laced with genuine knowledge. 

          I hope the writers will reconsider their support for Opera SLO.

       Well, we can hope, right?

      See you down the trail.