Replacement Theory

I sank deep into my seat on the screened porch at the farm. Toby lay in my lap purring, the end of his tail lazily flipping up and down. I took in the calm of the moment while the warm summer breeze wafted over us. 

Deep inside me healing progressed while sitting there thinking about not much. The threats clamoring for attention in airwaves, on screens, in articles, and cyberspace departed on the gentle zephyrs. 

Toby squirmed onto his side, "Are you going to ask me what I heard this week from the video wire in the barn?" 

The zephyrs suddenly zagged into a few angular bars of a Shostakovich symphony. I answered, "If that video camera wire went live again over there in the barn stall, you probably heard about the January 6th congressional hearings--how our democracy was nearly destroyed, how close we still are to lose our democracy. And pandemic, and war, refugees, food crises, climate crises, gun-crazy culture, floods, droughts, fires, killings, hate crimes...Oh, stop my brain! Is it because I'm old and my brain is just full of more history?" I lamented. "Please, Toby, help me get back to where we were. I need a time-out."

"First of all you're not the only one who is old. In human years, I'm in my mid-60s. Sort of young-old."

"It's good remembering I'm not the only old one. Thanks. But I have trouble getting my head around your age. I guess I haven't been paying attention. When I think about it, I realize you haven't gotten stuck up in any trees lately."

I petted the favorite spot on his head. His purring became louder. "Yeah," he said,"I heard the latest. Will it help you to talk about it?"

"Ummm. Well, I don't know. What do you make of all this going on?" I asked.

"Since my vote is blocked, I pretty much stick to my business: napping, eating, napping, hunting, napping, grooming...napping...napping...his voice trailed off and he dozed for a few minutes in my lap. The warm zephyrs curled around us again and I felt the zigs and the zags inside me smooth out and flow."

Toby woke, stretched a bit, and said, I just remembered a quote I heard from Albert Einstein. 'We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.'" 

The zephyrs must have whispered in Toby's ear.

I asked him, "Do you think we humans are going to solve our problems before we destroy ourselves and everything else with it? "

I don't know. Maybe humans could shape-shift into dogs. I think I'll do that now. He clambered down to his buddy Big Bert asleep on his porch dog bed in front of us. Toby curled up comfortably against Bert's belly and went back to sleep.

My psychiatric session was over.

Then, the zephyrs whispered to me, too. Their several echoey chord notes formed words "... remember the hippies...'Make Love, Not War.'" 

Hmmm. Back in the '60s, the hippies knew about Replacement Theory?!!!

Einstein said "...new thinking."

I'm going with...

Replace War. Wage Peace. Love. 

!!!

***

We still have a democracy...

"If you can keep it." --Ben Franklin.

VOTE!!!

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Please, feel free to forward this voting information to others. One-by-one, vote-by-vote, we'll make democracy work for all Americans!

***

Let's open THE ARTS DESK today with an accordion story book by Paula...

"The Little Book of Self-Care"

She says, "...an accordion book with my favorite Liz & Mollie comics and other inspirational, positive comics...I made the book from 10 sheets of 8.5x11 blue paper, cut each sheet down to about 5x11 in size (to make pages that were approx. 5" square once folded in half), glued these together, then glued in my favorite comics on both sides of the pages (plus left some pages blank for future additions)....this was fun!"

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Also, having fun while Valerie visited Sonja, Jeff, Elijah, and Kingston in Utah...

They painted rocks!
These are Valerie's...

and Sonja's...

...Sonja's...

...Slimer and the pirate ship are Elijah's...Rasta colors are Jeff's.

Sonja sent me rocks! and this one is mine. (So far.)

An update arrived from Sonja today. Jeff put a couple of their rocks out in the yard...

Sonja liked my ladybug and made a friend for her.

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Quilts have been a large part of Valerie's crafts and arts over the years. Here are a couple that are in progress right now...

These are two of twelve squares she's making with Ukraine on her mind.

And one with gradations.

In Missouri, Jeanenne shared pix of the quilt she started making for David and Sarah while she was here helping me out after my January 2017 lung surgery. She was doing the embroidery panels in the evenings...

She has another one in progress for Jackie and Chad. It may be a first for quilting in our present times that the symbols at the top are from a tattoo on Chad's arm,
"God is greater than hills and valleys," which somehow reflects early times as well as our present.

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From Sandy who sent this from FB...

Keoni playing chamber music in the state where his name came from. The shirt says where--Hawaii.

Hiking near Honolulu...

***

And now to The Sports Desk...

Kingston is enjoying his summer basketball camp. Also of note, Elijah is his chauffeur and courtside brother.

All set to go!

From Elijah. Shooting practice. 

After summer camp BB shooting win.

And, Elijah is continuing summer basketball games, too. Jeff shared another write-up he got...

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Today, sportsmen Jeff and Elijah are fishing at Hyrum Reservoir...

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A shoutout to the hikers and walkers out there. It's tick season! Here's one that rode home with me on my teeshirt. Not knowing, I hung the shirt on a hook, then a couple days later I put the shirt back on. A half-hour later I found the tick crawling up the back of my neck into my hairline.

***

There were recent Random Acts of Kindness to note...

In Utah, Sonja and Jeff said they took this little bird they found by their trash can to a bird rescue place. As tough as it looks for this little guy, he survived and got well.

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In New Mexico, Valerie and Tim have been taking note of the nesting bird under a lattice over their patio. The temperatures have been 100+ degrees for days.

That evening when the parents were away for a little bit, Valerie and Tim rigged a white cloth cover above the nest site to reduce the temperature for them. They fastened it some way so the high winds they were experiencing didn't tear it off.

***

The Green Goddess is so green right now that some days she just takes my breath away.

***

More. Again and Again. Now it's Philly.

I was just about to edit a final draft and launch this post when an email alerted me to killings and shootings in Philly last night. Sick with worry, I texted Keoni to see if he was in Philly between travels in New York and then Hawaii, but there was no reply. Further texts—Wendy and John texted back he is out of text range in upstate NY and he will be taking off from Boston to the new destination. What devastation people are going through! It's unholy. Now I'm angry. 

MYTH AMERICA 

gun poster boy John Wayne 

died years ago.

Get over it, gun supporters! 

What you're doing is 

wrong, 

WRONG, 

WRONG!

Seven years ago after the June 17th slaughter in Charleston's Mother AME church, I thought we could come together and turned to writing to help sort the pain in my mind and heart. I thought then there was hope for getting this sick gun culture out of our society. 

On June 20, 2015, I wrote:

"FEAR AND HOPE

The events of last week in Charleston cannot go unnoticed or unremarked. It is murder no matter by what hideous scales it is measured and added to the heap of our violence. The stunning frequency of violence among ourselves invokes fear in me that harm, at any moment, will take away or ruin a life or lives of those I cherish. Will some inebriate on a colossal high of bigotry kill or maim my African-American granddaughter or great-grandsons, kill or maim my Caucasian grandsons. Slaughter them just because any of them happen to be there that day, that minute, that second? Will my African-American son-in-law be dragged behind some Confederate-flagged pickup truck just because he was driving in his car with his Caucasian wife--my daughter?

I am fearful.

The hope I hold out is that the hideous aberrations in so many terrible, recent events are the darkness before dawn when America has grown up enough to see to it that there is justice and support and succor for all who live among us: black, white, brown, red, yellow without regard for gender, age, status, or spiritual pursuits.

It can be asked that the more that murderous events, dreadful injustices, and wanton insanity have appeared, is there some tipping moment ahead when we all, collectively scream stop! enough! Then, make that happen...?

If there is anything I'm able to drag out of this mountain of death, it is to see that every living day I have a responsibility for what goes on in my head, what words I use, what attitudes I strike, how I treat others, what spiritual, cultural or political platforms I support. And if at bedtime I can see that these intangibles and activities of my day are on the positive side of the ledger, I'll have moved one day's step ahead for my brothers and sisters with whom I share this planet.

My hand is open. Let me take yours and we'll walk together."

Now it's seven years on. Guns. Killing. Maiming. Harming. Now it's Philly. Repeal the damnable Second Amendment, throw the guns in furnaces so people can walk the streets, go to school, go to houses of worship, dance together, shop for groceries, LIVE! without continual worry that the next argument, the next umbrage taken, the next bully, the next grievance, the next despair will put a bullet in their heart or their child's, or someone they love.

I need kindness and love and shelter and food and safety and stability. So does everyone. The only way we'll even begin to grow people to approach a solid, decent, dependable society is to get rid of the poisons of hatred, bullying, grievance, and guns.

*

I need The Arts Desk...

From Tucson, Paula gives us another look at the springtime there which now in June is a look back. The months of Fall-Winter-Spring clement weather have given over to soaring summertime temperatures. But what a Springtime it was! illustrated by a day's entry in her backyard journal. Paula and Carl's cultivation and natural restoration of their desert foothills homesite now affords the desert flora and wildlife a place to flourish, and also an ongoing treat for their observers...

And the Palo Verde trees have had their bloom-time, too...

Paula and Carl evaded the early summer 100+ temps with a couple of drives up the Catalina mountainside to Rose Canyon's 70-degree high-altitude comfort, documented with a brief video...

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Keoni's wildly active music life in April spilled over into May. He sent from Peenemünder, Germany some photos of the venue where he played in the viola section of the New York Philharmonic...

NY Phil Viola Section in Germany.

They played in what was once a munitions factory during WWII that has been converted into an arts venue. 

Keoni found time to bicycle around the area...

Here he was standing in Poland, looking back across the border into Germany.

It brought home the reality that what appears in the news is way more than words and pictures in cyberspace.

Back in the USA some time ago, Keoni played in the NYPhil viola section while Yo-Yo Ma played cello and John Williams conducted a number of recordings. From this NPR Story & 8 Minute audio of "Shindler's List" portion of the recordings, I learned the album they made, A Gathering of Friends, is now released and available on a number of music services and also some purchase options.

At home, Aidan continues his summer teaching commitments with an age spread of grade school age to retired persons. Lately, he put together some more music and tech...

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Sometimes, I get to hang out with musicians...

Keoni and Aidan, one of our walks at the farm.

Keoni on a walk here at Dock.

...and sometimes I hang out with a cat...

...Toby hunting varmints...Aidan captured these on one of our walks...

I told Toby, "I hang out with musicians."

He replied, "I hang out with dogs."

Furry friends. A portrait from Aidan.

*

We move now to The Sports Desk to report that Elijah is keeping up the beat with his basketball games and tournaments. He has captured some attention, too, which Jeff has shared with us...

And here is a composite of pictures from texts shared during Elijah's most recent games...

Elijah's young brother Kingston took advantage of moments between games to keep up his skills...

Later, with Grandma Valerie at Costco.

And now to The Farm Report:

Wendy has been busy this spring making her garden grow another season...

Lettuce and arugula are already on her menus.

Chives and geranium.

From Wndy the first strawberry of her 2022 garden.

And, I'll leave you with these farm moments sent from Aidan...

Peace be with you.

☮