Life of Wry

Dianne Feinstein passed away late last night, first news of the day for me. I’m a progressive democrat, but I can also greatly appreciate and never begrudge the need to govern from the center, and DiFi was one of those.. a moderate/centrist dem. The tributes pouring in highlight her work on assault weapons; her “firstness” (woman: mayor of SF, senator from California, chair of a couple powerhouse senate committees); her taking on the CIA’s torture practices. All impressive.

I like this little tiny factoid: she was a supporter of the Nepalese people, through an organization her husband Richard Blum founded, The American Himalayan Foundation. I didn’t know about this before I trekked in Nepal, but imagine my huge surprise and delight when in a tiny, remote teahouse* high in the Himalayas, I saw photos of both Dianne Feinstein and Bill Clinton, photos taken on a shared trip to the Kumbu (a region at the base of Mt. Everest, inaccessible to cars). I’m like, I KNOW THOSE FOLKS! Which… as a Californian/American traveling in such a remote place, surrounded by Nepalese folks who could not possibly have related, they were like my people. Funny.

The AHF sent this out today:

As long as we’re on the subject of DiFi…. here’s a photo a high school friend posted today. Winter is a horse person (among other things!) and was a sorority sister of Dianne’s daughter when they were both at Cal. I really love this picture. She was a junior at Sacred Heart High School in SF and a member of its horse drill team.

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Here is a shot of one of those iconic tomato trucks we in the Central Valley are SO accustomed to, esp at the end of summer as the tomatoes have come ripe and are harvested and hauled off to some tomato processing plant (alas, no longer in Davis). I like this shot b/c you can also see the last days of a corn field.. all spent and brown.

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The above was shot on our way home from Kaiser, where Jim and I got our Covid shots. We’re feeling all smug and bullet-proof. We are good public health citizens. Take that, Rick!

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The government looks to be on the verge of a shut down. I’m so very, very tired of all of this. Just hate politics and this extreme polarization. The far right flank of the congressional repubs most certainly have no interest in service and their role in government. It’s all performative. And they’re all controlled by the crackpot puppet master himself. Pure dysfunction and not a shread of principle.

That, and I’m seriously annoyed because it actually threatens our trip next week… flights (airports and airport security could be choked up); our tours of the White House and Capitol may not happen; they will close national parks (Acadia!)… and who knows what else. They have a week to sort this out. Chop chop!!

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Our boy is flying sky high…. he’s on the idea-pitching end of an impressive grant application (that resulted in an impressive award), he’s deep into stimulating research that he loves, he’s got a girfriend whom he loves even more, he’s living a full life (they attended a vocal concert last night .. Renee Fleming .. and enjoyed it, and paddled boarded last weekend with L&C), Maya’s beyond happy in her new job. How great is all that.. for just this moment’s snapshot?

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And speaking of snapshots.. that’s mine on the day.