Time for rebirth

The snow cover is leaving, again. This time perhaps until the start oof next winter. We’ll see. It’s about time, since sandhill cranes should arrive soon. Signs of open water have appeared on the creek north of the property. The Sunrise river has been at least partly open for more than a week now. Perhaps the rebirth of nature will help trigger a similar rebirth of sanity and what passed for democracy for US. The continued and increasing insanity emanating from Washington, D.C. and Mar-a-Lardo has put me in a deep funk. I may have done better anticipating the outcome of last November’s election if I had kept in mind H.L. Mencken’s all too true observation: “No one in this world, so far as I know... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” I doubt we’ll accomplish much to increase their intelligence by banning books, words, or ideas but that won’t stop kakistocrats from trying.

ice and snow melts, open water flows

Photo by J. Harrington

I continue to hope that what we’re experiencing will turn into a non-fatal wake up call that facilitates a societal, economic and cultural transformation for US. Money has become too dominant a measure of success in life. I continue to look toward (the original) Robert F. Kennedy’s assessment:

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

Perhaps the current malaise among Democrats could be eased, even erased, if they read, contemplated, and responded to Kennedy's entire speech from which the extract above was derived. Some of US are reaching a point at which we are no longer “proud that we are Americans.”

Rebecca Solnit has written about “Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities.” For any who ever claimed democracy was easy, they probably changed their mind when they discovered the barbarians inside the gates. We can do better. We have done better. We will do better. We must. It’s imperative for US to share why we are proud too be Americans as we work together to fulfill the promises embodied in our Declaration of Independence as we recognize our interdependence on each other and the air, water, soil and habitats on which we are totally dependent.

Narcissus

Patricia Hooper

Near the path through the woods I’ve seen it:
a trail of white candles.

I could find it again, I could follow
its light deep into shadows.

Didn’t I stand there once? 
Didn’t I choose to go back

down the cleared path, the familiar?
Narcissus, you said. Wasn’t this

the flower whose sudden enchantments
led Persephone down into Hades?

You remember the way she was changed
when she came every spring, having seen

the withering branches, the chasms,
and how she had to return there

helplessly, having eaten
the seed of desire. What was it

I saw you were offering me
without meaning to, there in the sunlight,

while the flowers beckoned and shone
in their flickering season?

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.

Advice for these times from times past

There’s an old piece of advice that goes something like “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.” There will be no political commentary forthcoming from this source today. if we had a third major political party in our country, we could call the parties: Larry, Moe and Curly.

On to better news, we’ve made it to meteorological spring. Astronomical spring begins locally with the seasonal equinox on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 4:01 am CDT. Snow is in the forecast for this coming Tuesday and, a week later, the high temperature is forecast to reach the low 60’s. Make of that what you will. I see few options but to try to ride the roller coasters of weather and politics as best I can and try to follow another old piece of advice: Illegitimi non carborundum [Don't let the bastards grind you down].

spring greening, life reviving

Photo by J. Harrington

Last week I successfully completed my two major objectives, I policed the dog droppings and, in a frustratingly similar effort, organized and delivered the tax data to the preparer. I’ll pick up the results from the preparer tomorrow. The dog’s materials are in the trash can for collection tomorrow. May all bad luck go with them to repeat another old phrase.

Back in the days when I went to grammar school, I was taught by nuns. They always counseled us kids if someone we knew was sick, we should pray for “a happy recovery or a speedy death." [Either would end the suffering if the individual was in a state of grace. If not, and a speedy death occurred, suffering could be eternal.] I can see no way that those who support #45 a&b [aka #47] could continue to do so unless they were suffering from some sort of disease. I think that means the Christian and humane behavior for US is to follow the guidance the nuns provided. Let’s all of US pray for a speedy recovery or happy death for all those supporting the current regime in D.C. and Mar-a-Lardo. It should do US a lot of good if our prayers are promptly answered. Maybe we could even avoid the worst of March’s snow jobs.

Instructions on Not Giving Up

Ada Limón
1976 – 

More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out
of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s
almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving
their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate
sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees
that really gets to me. When all the shock of white
and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave
the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath,
the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin
growing over whatever winter did to us, a return
to the strange idea of continuous living despite
the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then,
I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf
unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all.

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.