OT ~ Welcome to Saturday!
on swinging porch
where tin-dippers and
sweet water
in cool touches
meet lips
from hand dug wells.
Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass. ~ John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
So often I dream of the secrets of satellites,
and so often I want the moose to step
from the shadows and reveal his transgressions,
and so often I come to her body
as though she were Lookout Mountain,
but give me a farmer’s market to park my martyred masks
and I will name all the dirt roads that dead-end
at the Cubist sculpture called My Infinity,
for I no longer light bonfires in the city of adulterers
and no longer smudge the cheeks of debutantes
hurriedly floating across the high fruit of night,
and yes, I know there is only one notable death in any small town
and that is the pig farmer, but listen, at all times
the proud rivers mourn my absence, especially
when, like a full moon, you, reader, hidden behind a spray
of night-blooming cereus, drift in and out of scattered clouds
above lighthouses producing their artificial calm,
just to sweep a chalk of light over distant waters.
~ Major Jackson
“I work like a gardener,” the great painter Joan Miró wrote in his meditation on the proper pace for creative work. It is hardly a coincidence that Virginia Woolf had her electrifying epiphany about what it means to be an artist while walking amid the flower beds in the garden at St. Ives. Indeed, to garden — even merely to be in a garden — is nothing less than a triumph of resistance against the merciless race of modern life, so compulsively focused on productivity at the cost of creativity, of lucidity, of sanity; a reminder that we are creatures enmeshed with the great web of being, in which, as the great naturalist John Muir observed long ago, “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”; a return to what is noblest, which means most natural, in us. There is something deeply humanizing in listening to the rustle of a newly leaved tree, in watching a bumblebee romance a blossom, in kneeling onto the carpet of soil to make a hole for a sapling, gently moving a startled earthworm or two out of the way. Walt Whitman knew this when he weighed what makes life worth living as he convalesced from a paralytic stroke: “After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.” ~ Maria Popova
The free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost. Steinbeck, East of Eden
Comments
A soft rains continues, it's Saturday, welcome.
Paintings: ~ Diego Rivera, The Flower Carrier
The Persistence of Memory, ~ Salvador Dali
Photo: Destitute family; five children, aged two to 17 years. American River camp in Sacramento, California, in 1936. ~ Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress
Have a splendid one.
the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes
Well said Mr. Steinbeck.
Have a glorious one!
question everything
Enjoy, QMS, as Ralph Kramden taught us, "How sweet it is."
Rain here too
...but we've been dry for a while and it is a relief...falling softly....a soaker. Killed the flea (Trade Day).
Wow, lookout mountain and gardens mentioned and revered in your piece today. Feels like home. Pretty good session last night. Just the regulars, but that's fun too. We managed to dredge up a few we have not done in years.
The world is green here. The forest seems productive and content. Hope you all are content and happy this weekend!
...the woods are greener over yonder...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKY_GzYEnU]
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thought of you, Lookout, when reading the poem. :)
Just got back from a garden sale, a fundraiser for local progressives, herbs for a buck; but raining rather heavily at present. It's okay, we need the rain and besides makes this a good day to cook something, think i make stovetop biscuits and have country ham and tomatoes.
Thanks for the good tune.
Good morning, smiley7. Happy Saturday.
I love the variety of the recurring threads. Yours starts my Saturday with beautiful poetry, music and visual art. So very smiley7. Thank you.
Have a beautiful weekend, caucusers.
Good morning, Henry, "Travels With Charlie" came
to mind when i ran across Dorothea Lange's depression photo with family relishing simple life for a moment, especially the dog--got me thinking and the rest flowed.
Always a pleasure to provide a placeholder for daily comments and conversations.
Enjoy the day.
Sorry that I am not familiar with Travels With Charlie.
Your threads are far more than placeholders, though. I love the way they start Saturday.
This photo of Lange's depicts a mom and her kids in a far less happy state. The woman's face has haunted me since I first saw it. I first saw it when I was researching an essay that I never finished.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dfghj.jpg
Yes, an iconic photo. the word depresssion crying in lives.
Feed sack dresses and aprons in muddy hell when the cold wind blows and the sky falls relentlessly; and as i write, millions over this earth bear this and deeper burdens often with raging war. Damn, the pusher man and our collective weakness in solving problems, locally and globally.
Peace.
Hola smiley! Thank you for brightening Saddleday and getting
Goya's black period picture of Saturn off of my mind with my favorite Dali. Farmers' market today with an early evening dinner party here. I'll be grilling whole chicken legs (chicken quarters), which I've never done before, but I'm guessing 40 minutes indirect or so, and of course the obligatory bone-in half breast for the "I only eat white meat" conwasseur of inherently tasteless food. Supposed to be 85 later.
Great Steinbeck on the mind's freedom to roam, one of he eternal verities, if not THE eternal Verity. One persistent memory, for me at any rate, for today is the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal on June 7, 1494 which divvied up the so-called "New World" between them. Backed by the Pope it caused untold grief and misery for untold numbers that is still not over. Having just returned from Spain, including Toledo, where Their Catholic Majesties (Isabella and Ferdinand) went on a rampage against reason and reasonableness and loosed horror upon the world, one can't forget that Columbus' earlier journey was not one of idle curiosity and was everything but benign. Ah well, there's today's rant, the daily dose of unpleasantness buried in the tyranny of history.
Have a wonderful weekend and thanx for the Mozart.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el.
Hum, uncovered grill, forty minutes, maybe, covered about half as much, my guess, temperature and distance from heat making a difference.
Recall learning the most about colonization from reading Conrad in the teens; better to join Peter S. Beale and 'celebrate the colonizers of dreams."
Hope the weather treats the cookout with respect and maybe use the fire to roast some veggies from the market, beets are a favorite on the grill.
Onward.
See comment below, I got today's date wrong. Beets on the
sounds like a wonderful idea, but I'll cook the legs indirect on a standard Weber kettle, 8 of them, so not too much room for beets, which are also starting t get runty and woody at our local. Carrots however ...
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Well, now that I'm awake, it's June 8, ain't it. Nothing
particularly odious about June 8, so rewind that and save it for 364 days hence. Oops.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I seem to have a small kitten
under my house. I am headed to the feed store to get some food for it.
Good grief.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Ah, thanks for the rescue.
I live at least
1/2 mile from anybody, and am surrounded by woods filled with foxes and coyotes.
Someone dumped the little kitten.
Bastard.
Anyway, lucky kitten.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey, otc, did the kitty come out yet?
I heard it in some tall brush
behind my back yard, but couldn't find it.
I placed food and water in the exact place I saw it this morning.
So far, the food is untouched.
I check the yard every hour or so.
I am at a loss for any way to find it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Wish i had a good sugestion; not easy for you not to know.
Trusting kitty will find it's way.
good day smiley
and everyone!
Flowers are for inspiring creativity and joy...
Mountain flowers
Meadow flowers
Here the rains have past and the heat is upon us. Not sure for how long, but it is glorious today.
Best day, all...
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Love the flowers, magi,
forgot to tell you how much i enjoyed the Moyer's piece, thank you.
Got that unsettled feeling this afternoon; brewing good tidings, hopefully, something's afoot, in the air, a new idea amid the lost cells would be welcome.
Have a great evening.
"Justice" in Iraq
link
understand that we, the U S of A refused to get involved,
as if we can escape blood on our hands for Iraq ...
What a world?
Inspirational as always . . .
I only take photos from my phone, so they are not as good. However, this shot of the garden is pretty cool.
I am eating greens, cherry tomatoes, onions, boiled eggs from our chickens with balsamic vinegarette dressing and goat cheese . . .
A dear friend told me that Lambsquarter (what I have always cut down as a weed) is a delicious green. I finally tried it yesterday and OMG! Tastes like spinach and growing all over here.
Best wishes for a fabulous weekend everyone!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
be back in a little while to chat, Marilyn, got to run out .
Love your raw photos, enjoy being able to
enlarge them; you folks inspire me to get the camera out and charge the batteries; i did get a new card for the camera at xmas. Have to learn how you post the raw images, Marilyn.
Thought of your new trellises when posting today's garden shot.
Now, if we could get by your place for dinner, wow, a treat that would be.
Hope to get the windowsill garden going in earnest over the next few days as i've all i need waiting for transplanting and seeding.
Good start on trout in the freezer this year; freeze in water for best keeping.
Wild cherries ripe down a couple thousand feet from here, need to trek a bit.
Can taste those greens from here ... onward.
I noticed your trellises in the photo
Those are massive ones.
Trout. Wow. We would have the ability to harvest fish from local lakes as well. The women in our family like fish, but the men do not. However my husband loves fishing as a sport. Hmmm . . .
Gardening is important, but also hunting gathering IMO.
Noticed a Bernie discussion downline. There are other good people running - which is great - but Bernie has the track record and he is still working. Like going to the Walmart shareholders meeting and speaking for the workers. And his proposals to help family farmers - wow. And his positions on education. As far as his relationship to the DNC . . . I don't think there is much he can do about that past what he is already doing. It is the nature of the ugly beast.
As for the pics I post. I have a bunch of websites so I ftp them to a website and link from there. If you wanted to do that too sometime I could help you.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
DKos web traffic
I wonder if anyone at TOP has noticed
Chuck Todd? :)
I don't understand the scale...
...on the y axis. Looks like use has grown from 4000 to 6000, but I think that may be counter intuitive since the line is showing it fall?
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It's a scale of popularity
I also do not understand how to read the graph.
The downward trending line goes to the higher trending number.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Don't either, inverted, it is; but i do recall seeing a ranking
profile few months back and in hayday, in top 1,000 in USA websites falling to top tens of thousands if i remember correctly. Not wasting time to look; i go for the Bernie backroom conversations, lately.
At least you remain interested.
I was all in for Bernie, but now, I honestly don't give a shit what he says or does.
I worked my first election campaign for a Democrat when I was 4 years old.
I am 67.
I would have to think long and hard about any specific law or policy that benefitted me, my family, my friends and loved ones, and the 99% of my fellow Americans.
You may be on the right path.
I may be on the wrong path.
Time will tell.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Left the party, having served; Bernie, we've known,
grew together in times of burning inner-cities; he hardly wavers. In comparison to most, sadly, he's unique in honesty and that's why i stay involved with him. He's also keen as a good pair of hiking shoes.
I do not fault the man.
At least in his life's goals, his decades of consistency. He has never said a lot that I disagree with.
If he is on a ballot, I might roll out of bed and go to the voting booth.
But he caved to the DNC, and I thought that was a betrayal.
So, he isn't saying anything he hasn't been saying forever, I know his amendment history, know his "no" votes cast.
I just have zero enthusiasm, will not contribute a red cent, but would, as I said, go cast a vote for him just to spite fucking Republicans.
Bernie is my spite vote, nothing else.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
If i could write the climax, i would. Strong feelings that
Sanders can get the world to a better place faster than anyone else from which to choose.
In a nut shell, plus, he's an old hippie, like me.
An old hippie
like me.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
a couple of tunes: :)
DON'T DARE FORGET
THE BAND!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
or ...
Bernie won the WV primary
He won 55 cities, but because of the super delegates who Hillary had already lined up he lost by one vote. Hillary had lined up delegates a year before she declared that she was running which might have been illegal because she was still giving paid speeches to the banks. This is against election laws, but so what? Hillary does whatever the hella she wants to.
This system is just one of the reasons I don't vote. No person should be allowed to override the will of the people, but here we are. The DNC decided that they will have no role during the first vote, but that is why 22 people have climbed into the DNC clown car. No one will come out a winner and so it will be up to the super delegates to decide who gets to lose to Trump.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
I snapped to the graph!
At least I think I did.
Top 4,000 dropped to top 6,000 website hits.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Gjohnsit is quoting Alexa and i know she lives at my son's
house in a small speaker shell; good at deciphering equations quickly, i asked a few squared ones and surprisingly, she answered faster than a slide rule in Dodge city.
It's saying how popular or relevant is DK
Back in its heyday DK was very popular or relevant to the "system', but after kos kicked people off his website it has gotten less and less relevant and it just keeps going down. The better writers moved on to greener pastures and their absence is noticeable. I think that's what the graph means.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Hey, how's snoopy?
Don't get out much and you wake late.
Had to hang up the skis by early Feb. Oh well, maybe next year as Susan sang.
Hope you are well and in good spirits. Great to see you.
Hiya, smiley
I'm doing as well as I can be doing. Thanks for asking. I've been hanging around here and reading the comments in the OTs, I just don't usually comment in the morning. My brain takes awhile to wake up and start thinking coherently.
Sorry to hear that your ski season has come to an end. I think people will be skiing here until the 4th of July. We had the second wettest spring on record and there is still lots of snow on our mountains. It's weird how it's in the 80's in the valley and see snow on the hills.
Hope you're doing as well as you can be. How is your rehab going?
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Meant to ask, any word from Arrow?
Gosh I haven't heard from arrow in a long time
I wonder if his ankle ever healed? Lots of friends missing from the blue blog these days huh?
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Been worried about Arrow.
Time moves on when not expected as do people, but i miss 'em when they're gone.
Hugs to the little ones.