Exploring our Sameness

        Spring has come to the mountains, and that prompts ideas.

     Do you think we can tolerate a few more? Especially about race?      

    

    Splendid revival is underway in the western Sierra. New life buds and blooms, rivers are swift, despite a low snow pack, and the Red Bud trees are painting the mountains.

    Warnings were posted about the cold and dangerous currents, but riparian life is thriving.  

 Kaweah river, Three Rivers California 

Kaweah river Sequoia National Park

    Some ideas are simple, but in the mountains they seem more grand, at least to this scribe. 

    Could we begin to "solve" racism, or even awaken ourselves to how deep and systemic it is, if we elevated our view? 

    If we could manage a cosmic perspective, seeing planet earth from a vast distance, would it have an ameliorative impact? 

        If we had the capacity to see our blue and mostly water planet in the context of a milieu that embraced galaxies, even rich with life, would we see life here, differently? 

    For the sake of this post, assume life exists in some form elsewhere in the known and unknown reaches of all creation.

   How would we think about each other down here, if "we" realized how same and alike we are, compared to another life form from out there?

        Do you think we can or should be trusted in space bustling with life, or might we disdain that not like us, be it any image of an "alien" you can imagine? And see, right here from the start, we have this problem of calling it or them or they, an "alien." Alien connotes something other than relationship.

         If you are a person of faith and discover there is indeed life, then do you have any other choice than to recognize a spiritual kinship with that life, also a product of the forces of creation. C.S. Lewis nailed the idea when he said,  "Our loyalty is not due our species, but rather our God."

    

         So with that as a frame, could we not better see how much alike we truly are, down here on planet earth as we travel the highway of life? 

    I've driven these roads in Sequoia but never before when the Red Buds were blooming. Another cosmic treat.

        Be kind to each other. Offer hospitality to strangers.

        See you down the trail.

Budding-A New Bi-partisanship

 celebrating new

    Grape vines too are showing new energy in this spring of what we hope is the first of the year of post pandemic life. 

    A new political reality appears to be budding as well.

   While it was a splendid day for a flight over the wine regions of the central coast, we drove for a look-see in the Edna Valley south of San Luis Obispo.

    We then headed north to the Paso Robles west side District and took in the Adelaida and Willow Creek Districts as well.

   Some vines are ahead of others. These 4 regions offer Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Cinsault, Counoise, Picpoul, Viognier, Chardonnay and more, so the degree of budding is highly variable. 

    Producing a massive volume of grapes, including those bound for Napa Valley wineries, Paso Robles growers and wine makers have become among the most awarded. 

    The freedom to blend brought French wine making families to the region to do what they cannot at French Chateau wineries. 

    A winemaker's art flourishes here where creativity reset standards and where a history of growing and oenology blend to redefine wine making as California tends to do.`

     Thousands of miles from these picturesque settings, a Washington veteran is channeling history and political skill in an artful redefinition of bipartisanship, "Bidenpartisanship." 

        Biden's public approval rating soars, with both those who self identify as Republicans as well as Democrats. 

        Approval of the Covid Relief Plan and the proposed Infrastructure package is high with a majority of US citizens. He get's high marks for his handling of Covid. His support cuts across party lines. 

        Senate and House Republicans dicker but the majority of their voters support the Biden package. Biden has popular bipartisan support while the Trump infected party on Capitol Hill, already divided, becomes feckless. Their scorched earth partisanship is destructive if for no other reason than weakening a legislative process where give and take and compromise makes better laws and budgets.

        If the shoe were on the other foot and Republicans controlled the legislative branch they'd push their agenda. History certifies that; blocking even a hearing on Obama's Supreme Court Nominee, reversing their "principles" by jamming through a Judge in a presidential election season. Their tax cut for the rich is now targeted by Biden, another reason the party of the wealthy and the wacky do their obdurate whining. 

         They whine when they are not embarrassed by another Republican sex and morality scandal. Sleazy Matt Gaetz makes headlines and Mitch McConnell talks about corporations, and then walks that back. Their whining is amplified by the Trumpian insanity that infects their House members. Then there is Ted Cruz, Scott Hawley and Ron Johnson. American voters are moving toward the Democrats as Republicans fail to stifle their anti American, regressive and Jim Crow tendencies. 

        The revelation of the week is the Republicans caught on tape admitting even their own party rejects the dark money game of Billionaires trying to block the For the People Act, the election reform bill. A McConnell aid is heard worrying that even Republican voters like the legislation. A little known portion of the bill would stop the money from the most wealthy. 

This would also affect Democrat fund raising, further evidence of Biden bipartisanship. Biden is eying history. Republicans are eying a bunker.  

bunk mates

Hemingway and Joy made quick use of a car seat that spent a night in the garage.

a passage

Photo by Ralph Heimans/Buckingham Palace

        Being no fan of the idea of royalty or aristocracy, I am nonetheless duty bound to say Prince Philip lived a well tailored life. 

      See you down the trail.

When Mother Nature Paints

 

Spring revival in Lana's garden

Color and texture is abundant in our annual look

Mother nature's assistant at work

Wishing you all the best of spring's rebirth!

See you down the trail.