Good News

Rate Of Death Worldwide

1/4th of the 80th

1/7th of the 70th

Poverty

90% Lived In Extreme Poverty - 10% Now!

Survival

95% Less Likely To Be Killed Than 100 Years Ago.

Life Expectancy 

30 Average - Past

71 Worldwide - Now

80 In Developed Nations

Education

90% Read & Write

under 25 worldwide

Good News

Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology Author, 

on Real Time with Bill Maher 8.10.2018

Old Man - Garrett

Neil Young wrote his song Old Man for a guy just like Garrett, an old Ranch Hand that fixed and mended everything needed on a ranch. Almost 70 years old, he is too old to find work on a ranch, so he found a job at a hotel in downtown Santa Fe where they treat him well he said. 

I loved that song in my youth in the seventies, when I had no idea how it originated and was barely able to comprehend the English words, but the feeling ...

March For Our Lives - Santa Fe

The tailend of a long line of protesters about to reach the plaza.

Hey-hey, ho-ho, the NRA has got to go!

Plenty of Pets

Glad that I left our aging Isabella-girl at home.

I did observe one tiny dog snapping at another exuberant tiny pup.

Comfort animals offered much needed emotional support

especially as we listened to New Mexican school kids 

reading out loud the names & the ages of kids 

victimized by gun violence.

I had tears in my eyes.

A 15-year-old girl that came over to sit with me on a bench

shared that a kid showed up at her school with a bomb - for the fun of it!

Since then she is scared. Only 3 more years before she can vote!

A girl sitting on the edge of a sidewalk, holding a huge sign that told her story
of a bomb scare at an airport that now has her scared going to school.
Yep, she confirmed to me she was afraid.
Shocking.
I never had to experience such fears, not growing up and not as an adult.
My generation, Boomers, failed these kids.
While we protested for peace,
we got discouraged by being ignored and did not push enough for change.
Loudest Silence in US Social Protest
Emma Gonzalez
6 Minutes 20 Seconds

We Call BS on your inactions. YES!

Ban Assault Rifles

If it were up to me, ban all weapons,

but having to accept the 2. amendment right

we will settle for a ban on assault-style weapons.

Military-style weapons do not belong in civilian hands.

No,

the majority don't want all weapons banned.

We want effective & enforced background checks.

We want the loopholes that allow for illegal gun sales blocked.

We want recent legislation reversed 

that allows for those with mental disabilities to own guns.

Most important we want the see the political will in our politicians

to do what it takes to stem what amounts to a public health crisis,

gun violence. 

We support further studies on the matter,

but not on cost of delaying legislative action NOW.

Yes, guns are weapons of destruction.

Guns kill.

Knives & cars can kill but are not designed for such,

are not as effective in killing as weapons are.

Guns are not toys.

Ownership of guns needs regulations.

Same as ownership of vehicles needs regulations.

Guns are fun for some,

I urge those to put their entertainment aside

in favor of safety for us all, 

especially for our kids.

2016: NRA: $1,053,050 Total Contributions

 $1,052,550 - 99.0% to Republicans

Top Republican Beneficiaries: Senator Marco Rubio & Ted Cruz

2018 NRA: $309,168 Total Contributions 97.7% to Republicans

Support Senator Sanders' current bill 

S.2095 - Assault Weapons Ban of 2017

Bernie Sanders supported a ban on assault weapons since 1988!

Change The Culture - YES!

Slash the bloated military budget - YES!

Vote! Vote! Vote!

#MarchForOurLivesSantaFe

live via our Mayor Alan Webber @MayorWebber

#VoteThemOut - #VoteThemIn

Mellow Yellow

Steamed plantain with pan-fried tilapia made for a feast for me and made for special, hand-fed treats for my furry friends. To my surprise, this included our finicky kitty, who got the least contaminated (by my liberal use of turmeric and peppers) bits of fish. Tumeric turned the tilapia bright yellow, blending perfectly with the yellow of the plantain. There is something especially appealing about the color yellow in food for me. I love bananas and have to hide them out of my sight, or their cheerful yellowness will beckon to me. Canaries, golden yellow melons, hold a much stronger attraction for me than any of the other kind. There probably are deeper reasons to our attractions and our use of colors, even in food. Van Gogh's often interpreted use of yellow related to his physical and psychological health does come to mind. Whatever it may be, we enjoyed our monochromatic meal.

SUMO 12 Years Old

Today Sumo is 12 years old

which would make him 64 in human years.

My little guy caught up with me!

Yes, this year Sumo aged.

In March Sumo's Vet took an educated guess,

Cancer!

The vet did not expect him to live to June.

But here he is, still among us,

still curious and taking an interest.

But Sumo slowed down a lot, 

sleeps a lot,

seems to conserve his energy

by sitting and waiting,

rather than moving and exploring. 

My high-energy buddy, 

that ran 12 miles in front of 10 dogs

now attempts half-hearted spurts after bunnies.

My formerly fearless guy now gets spooked easily. 

The clanging of his bowl against the brick floor

will make him hesitant about approaching his food.

I got Sumo a big whole chicken as a present.

I boiled it, took off the meat and made the rest into a stew.

I offered smallish size portions through the day,

so I can check how he digests.

Today, I decided to add Isabella's supplement for joints, Connectin,

to Sumo's diet as I had observed an unfamiliar stiffness in his limbs.

Yesterday, we picked up another bottle of CBD oil

it seems to make a difference.

I sure wish we had more scientific research on the medical benefits,

but the anecdotal evidence seems overwhelmingly favorable.

Observing Sumo's changes made me sad - and glad he is still among us.

Taking shorter walks in less familiar places

I discovered this charming entry yesterday.

Small Pleasures

I treated myself to a small pot of mini-roses, the kind that over several years filled up a big ceramic pot that over-wintered outside our entry. Those roses would come back into bloom year after year in surprising and delightful patches of colors, but our pot got stolen exactly one month ago. So here is to new beginnings.

Usually, I treat myself to another orchid this time of year, but I got this one early in June and it has been doing great and I sure hope it too will come back year after year like most of my orchids did.

No, I am not enraged, the painted rock is what I found placed on a natural rock among others in the middle of the Santa Fe river last year. It's the closest I got toward anything associated with a natural body of water on our special day today. I like this rock and I like the idea of setting our especially most challenging feelings at Buddha's feet for contemplating. Eventually, the time will come to pass on this gem for someone else to do with as they please.

 A simply delicious spinach/feta quiche with a tossed salad was for lunch.

Pure & Simple

Odd to me, to be compared to a Daisy,

as my mentor Dwuno did, about 44 years ago

when she seen a seeming simplicity and purity in my nature

that reminded her of this most common flower, a Daisy.

Odd, since I had just started to discover via the expressive arts

my fascination and 'fatal attraction' with the power of the unconscious,

with the brilliance and complexity that lies within and beneath us all. 

The correlation never made quite sense to me, but it clung to my mind

and was what compelled me to take these images yesterday.

Blooming Century Plants Spectacle

Agave Americana

Century Plants shoot up to 30 feet at the end of their life cycle. 

They bloom once only in their 10 - 30 year lifespan.

These Century Plants were planted about 10 years ago in the Santa Fe Railyard Park.

The buzz of busy bees in and around those blooms, way up there, is audible below.

Reaching For The Moon

Not Feeling Patriotic 

Late Low Light Last Night

Us

We took a break from the horrific news that assaulted us daily with seemingly not a moment to catch our breath. I looked matronly in my disguise of a green, patched together, cotton dress that made me act and look like a farmer's wife, except hard labor was never really my thing. A cool breeze had me still wear my winter shawl. Isabella looked ridiculously happy and fluffy having gotten her shower only recently. Sumo found the most comfortable spot to settle on, my lap. My neighbor had offered to take some pics of us, the first ones in years, so with Sumo's recent health crisis, I was glad to accept.

Sumo seems fine, while according to the vet his 3 months are up and he is supposed to be a goner by now. Instead, he again runs after the bunnies, but with a bit less enthusiasm, with a bit less stamina than he used to have. I guess that is o.k. considering both of them will be 12 years old this year. He still has a hard belly, I assume a fibrous mass inside, probably cancerous and he is still on his CBD oil, albeit less of it.

Since we just celebrated Father's Day, a pic of us about 60 years ago!

Rogue Hollyhock

Sadly this rogue hollyhock blooming out of the middle of a pretty blue pot of mini roses, collected over several years, got stolen in the early morning hours today. I woke because Pretty Kitty asked to come indoors. Wide awake, I sat at my computer when I noticed the sound of a truck with bright head lights on right outside our driveway. My dogs barked, which is rare for them during nights. Next, the truck drove off, I can still hear that sound in my ears. Later this morning, as I still wondered and got outside to check, our lovely pot of roses was gone, the hose dribbling water toward the concrete driveway. 

I reported this to the police, for the records, not because I harbor any hopes of recovery of that pot, but because my neighbor reported his loss of everything stolen out of the side pocket of his Harley Davidson motorcycle to me the week before. The cop told him that burglaries were on the rise in our neighborhood. We both were aware that there has been a lot of comings and goings of late with all kinds of constructions and people moving in and out. Correlations of burglaries with concurrent construction sites have been noted by both of us before. 

Oddly the very friendly, female cop asked me for my for proof of ID, my social security number and if I worked, was employed or retired, something outside the norm of sanctuary cities. Something that might prevent undocumented citizens from reporting crimes. Something I don't remember having been asked before. So, I reported this to our Mayor's office who confirmed that this was not usual and that they would look into it and get back to me. 

Meanwhile, I feel vulnerable and wonder why anyone would steal a pretty, but funky, blue terracotta pot of an assortment of colorful mini roses with one rogue hollyhock in the middle in full bloom?

Abstracted Antique

Abstracted

Take Refuge

in beauty

in fluffy, furry friends

in good company

in good food

in reflection

and the knowledge that this too shall pass.