I was finishing sewing up the new batch of masks...

...when I received some art work in the mail from young Kingston.

From the Art Desk:

Sonja says that Kingston liked the cards I sent with Toby's picture on them.

When he's not engaged in the house, he is learning basketball moves from his big brother Elijah...

Elijah, Kingston and parents do something together on the weekends. This time, it was at the lake...

Good water and flotation devices.

Sonja shared a photo of a different visit to the lake when Dimetrios was still with them...

And, one of Dimetrios' teachers recently came by their home to give Sonja his last school ID card...

*

Keoni and Wendy drove to Keoni's apartment in NYC to gather his belongings since he'll continue virtually through the fall...

They moved fast and got it all into the truck from the multi-story walk-up. 

Keoni sorted his things out in the barn and stored them in the house.

Now he and his friend Michael are visiting their friend Tiana in Michigan. They drove straight through with minimal stopping and are distancing from others, except, of course, Tiana. We have a view of them all still healthy (all praises) and smiling at the edge of Lake Michigan...

Michael, Tiana and Keoni.

*

From the Weather Desk: Hurricane Isaias was here...

The weather broke and I drove to the farm to walk. There, the whole family was busy shoveling and removing soaked bedding from the stalls. The gutter drain had come apart in the wind and deluge.

Walks at the farm are still one of my mainstays in this time of altered existence...

It's always great to see Wendy for a couple of distance minutes.

V & W from this spring are now almost fully grown.

It's interesting that the goats eat nearly anything that grows out of the ground, except the Queen Anne's Lace.

Here are two of Paula and Carl's photos of the "pink cactus" blooms this summer. They're from the original plants that were becoming dinner for the herd of urban Javelina where I lived at the condos in Tucson...

...they were blooming at the same time as those that Gloria had from the pups of the original plant I got at a farmer's market in Oro Valley.

*

From the Vote Desk:

John Lewis gave his all to gain voting rights. Through the days ahead until November 3rd, I will include reliable links to voting information. We know now, ever more acutely, deep down remedies of many, many kinds are needed. Remedy lies in a ballot box. Each vote is a vaccine. 

ELECTION INFORMATION from League of Women Voters Education Fund
See what's on your ballot anywhere in the US, the office function, the candidates, each ones' answers to their background, why they're running, and answers to questions on current issues. There's a side-by-side, visual comparison of candidates tool. Plus, each ballot issue is there, stated in succinct, plain-English summaries with both Pro's and Con's supporter views on each one. While you're reviewing the candidates and issues, the interactive lets you check choices, print the list out or email or text it to yourself so you'll have your own personalized, informed list--no matter your political affiliations! no matter where you live! Plus...
   *Check Your Voter Registration
   *Register to Vote
   *Find Your Polling Place
   *Discover Upcoming Debates in Your Area

U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
For assistance, accessibility.

Election Official Directory & State Voting Requirements & Information
If the United States Postal Service is unable to overcome its recent cutbacks and restrictions, this is where to find where your district's Election Board offices are so you can hand carry your mail-in/absentee ballot to the office or designated drop boxes to avoid the virus and make sure your vote is counted on time. [Most] ballot deliveries must be done in person; no proxies. Call them for the current status. (In PA, lawsuits were brought in June to block drop boxes--outcome pending.)

              Go USPS !!!

The next two repeat what is also available in LWV's vote411.org. But I'll include them anyway.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
To see if you are registered.

https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/
To get your absentee ballot.

Rules and adjustments are changing fast, as never before. I hope these links help you vote your conscience.

_____

I voted in 1960 for the first time. I was 21 years old--voting age then in Missouri. I can scarcely believe that 60 years later, for the first time, I'm experiencing direct efforts to impede my vote, or make it too difficult or health-threatening for me to cast. It's shocking. It's personal. What is happening to us?

A shoutout to my Black friends and family, citizens of color, LGBTQs, women everywhere: That my ballot might not be counted is my own small taste of what you have felt and are feeling about voting, and, feeling on a much larger scale, plenty of other misbegotten travesties endured over great blocks of your lives and our national history. Votes count. Votes matter! You count! You Matter!

Be strong! We can get to a better place together. Power to the People!