RELIEF OR THERAPY?

     We are mindful of the weather misery being visited on so many places this winter, so as a momentary refuge we offer an image to warm you.

      Palm Springs in winter is a slice of heaven. We know the opposite. There were so many days when ice and snow crud slashed the view from my office windows, or when I bundled in extra layers and pulled on thermal boots to field an assignment that I would resort to looking at screen savers of California climes. For readers who find themselves needing a change of scenery, these are for you.

Photo courtesy of Marcos

        We wish you the best as you endure. Your summer scenes will return, in time.

      It was about this time of year when I wondered why pioneers and settlers pushing west didn't consider the assaults of winter back east, in the mid west, or in the Great Plains and decide to get the heck out of there as soon as spring arrived.

a tale of two women

      I try to avoid seeing Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy press secretary. I've watched decades of White House press briefers and she must be among the worst. Maybe she's smart, but it is not evident. Maybe she has class and a great personality, but again they are not in evidence. She's a horrible mouth piece and the fact she's working for who she does just lowers any skills she might possess and be hiding. 
      It happens I got a glimpse of one of her abusive sessions as I was about to take a stroll along Palm Springs' Walk of Fame. I guess I was grousing to myself about how far we have fallen when, serendipitously, I came upon a star, made poignant by a recent passing in Palm Springs.

what a difference

photo courtesy of uproxx.com

 sour

photo courtesy of allmusic.com

sweet

    I was 12 or 13 when I caught Keely Smith with Louis Prima on television. I was hooked. Rock was in its infancy and if we were tuned to the right radio station we could hear Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, Duane Eddy, Elvis, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, and a lot of other stuff that wasn't rock. Female singers were rare. Connie Francis had a hit or two, but she did not smoulder like Keely Smith.

    Prima's band, featuring Sam Butera was hot. A hybrid of sorts-jazz, R&B, big band swing and all with a New Orleans accent and that beautiful Cherokee Irish lass. Hybrid indeed, my introduction to jazz and the start of a young teen lust for Keely Smith.

    In the mental mumbling and rambling I do at the turn of the year, especially this year, that juxtaposition between Huckabee Sanders and the Keely Smith memory lane underscored how much of a chasm there is between how a young lad thought things would turn out and the absurdist reality of the world today, especially datelined Washington.

     So here's some therapy-take a stroll back, even to black and white television when the future looked good, and the present felt good and when it sounded great-and maybe even a little sultry. These are all short-as songs used to be.

Bet they'll make you smile.

Just A Gigolo 

and here's the oldest version of Old Black Magic

(might have been what I saw on tv)

      See you down the trail.

TREATING THE DIS-EASE

    Spoiler alert-there is a bit of positive thought ahead but first the news.

    Child psychologist Dr Ava Siegler says we are in the midst of a "national disaster" and parents are the first responders.

    Dr Siegler and others in psychology says decency, civility, knowledge and truthfulness "are not values of the trump government."

data points

     The recent George Washington University poll finds

• 71% of voters say trump's behavior is not what they expect from a President
• 68% of Americans believe his words and actions could accidentally get us involved in an international conflict
• 63% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track

    Another study tells us what we learn from the news, most Americans are anxious about trump's affect on the surge in white supremacy.

the therapy

    David H. Rosmarin a professor at Harvard Medical school and the director of the Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital has good advice.

    Rosmarin says we should set aside 1-3 minutes a day to worry about the worst things that can happen and accept the reality that we are not in control. 

     He suggests we take time off from the news and social media. 

     Dr Rosmarin and many of his colleagues tell us that in these days of trump we should eat well, work out, and work on personal relationships.

     There is a consensus we should spend time with friends and loved ones and focus on enjoying the company and the good feelings of the moment.

     

     Indeed many of us feel a sense of depression. Normally mellow and relaxed people are trapped in a sense of anger and even rage. 

     As parents and grandparents we should tell children the meanness, selfishness, ego centricity  and lies of the president and some of his supporters and advisors are anti American, wrong and-this is important-will eventually be punished or corrected. 

     This reminds me of the "bad things happen to good people" advice and help books. Most of us have faced challenges and difficulties, uncertain of outcomes. In those periods we are counseled to rely on those we love and care for, people and belief, to understand however desperate a situation there are things for which to be grateful and to remember, all things change, this too will pass. 

     I'm not advocating this, but simply reporting-as we have communicated with our grand daughter, and even with  adults, about how wrong is the behavior, tone and mood of the president, especially his pathological lies, we feel better.

    Telling the truth and affirming the positive values that once undergirded this democratic republic is a one day at a time way of combating the tension, toxicity and corruption of this time in America.

catch the good beams when you can

    See you down the trail.