Canada Geese and Music
February 28, 2025
Today was really about the president and vice president of the United States bullying an ally (Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine) in the Oval office on live TV. Today also marks a radical departure from a foundational, 80-year commitment to our European allies in favor of a cozier alliance with Russia.
So.. putting a pin in that. Will likely be talking about this again and again. It’s huge news and very disturbing, on top of all the other very unsettling developments in the past 5 weeks.
For a photo, and in lighter news, we drove up to Dutch Flat this evening to hear our friend Bill play with two other guys at the Monte Vista Inn. Now, that was fun. We met Sarah and Gabe, Susan and Jim, met some friends of theirs, and even saw Jimmy Johnson in the bar. Felt warm, comfortable, joyful.. all an exceptional antidote to the dread that’s slamming us daily.
A couple pics…
First, as we crossed the causeway, the skies were just thick in migrating, honking geese heading back North.. that stream of birds filled the flyway and kept coming and coming and coming … it was a remarkable site.
Right out the window, overhead
And here’s a shot of Bill (Edwards, in the middle) playing with Rob Bonner and Peter Wilson at the Monte Vista…
Crystal Clear
February 27, 2025
Sally gave me this stunning crystal vase (yup, it’s Baccarat crystal from France). She said it was a delayed wedding gift, and a nod to decades of friendship, and a make-up for anything bad she ever said or did to me. LOL. It caught me by surprise. All I could do was accept it and appreciate the symbol and generosity.. which I did. And now I just have to make sure I don’t break it!
White Bird
February 26, 2025
On a grayish log, on a springy day, in the sun.
It’s Spring Now
February 25, 2025
Orchard at corner of F and Rd 29. Shot through the windshield, so it’s got that blueish tint (I was stopped, but cars were coming and I didn’t have room to pull to side and get out).
But.. the orchards are popping. It is so pretty out there.
Bulbs are Bulbing
February 24, 2025
A few days ago, I noticed a speck of purply blue on the mound.. and sure enough, the first bulbs are coming out (not counting the narcissus that started blooming before Christmas). Mary planted dozens, and maybe dozens more, in the fall.. excited to see how many come up. We have a regular crop that’s been regularly blooming for a few years now. If the plan holds, we’ll have a riot of continuous color for the next couple of months.
Kindergarten Pals Turned Great Photographers
February 23, 2025
Chuck Babbitt and Lance Kinney are two of my favorite photographers. I went to elementary school with both of them! We reconnected over Facebook and have been FB friends for at least a decade, maybe more now. Much as I have come to dislike Mark Zuckerberg and what his platform has become, I’ve been deeply grateful for the connections with friends, old and contemporary.
Chuck and Lance post a lot of photos on social media (grateful for that, too). I’ve been a fangirl since my jaw first dropped lo those many years ago.
Here are two shots posted in the past couple months. I can hardly take my eyes off them.
Lance’s photo from Whidbey Island area:
Chuck’s from somewhere on the Big Island:
Gorgeous, no?
It Helps to Look Up
February 22, 2025
It’s stunning to me, and a good reminder, that if you take a moment to look up, you will likely be rewarded. At the very least, looking up will take you out of your present reality and deliver you to new views, new perspectives, or at least something different, maybe even pretty.
As I walked out of the coop this afternoon, this blooming tree drew my gaze upward. Glad it did.
More Derangement
February 21, 2025
Meanwhile, at the head of our government…
This clown in black tee shirt and coat, ball cap, heavy gold chain and sunglasses who’s on god knows what , wielding a chain saw in front of frothing, maniacal crowd at CPAC, pants-wetting giddy about all the cuts he’s making to the federal government and all the career civil servants he’s firing.
Good effing Lord.
I wasn’t there (LOL), but did a couple of screen captures.. so forgive the poor resolution.
Bye Sheep Ranch, Hello Town Hall
February 20, 2025
Bade farewell to Sally and Ron….
.. and headed back down the hill. During my two hour commute, I caught up on the firehose of news — every day is a shock to the system — then tuned into the weekly online Indivisible gathering for the latest on the resistance movement. Listened to Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin — the founders of Indivisible — who are the respected epicenter of the movement, smartly summarizing the state of play and throwing out toolkits and plans of attack (peaceful tactics, always) each week to not only keep people engaged and informed, but armed with actions aimed at reminding our members of Congress who they work on behalf of (hint: not the deranged president). This has become one of my favorite things to do each week. It’s a great and inspiring, productive hour.
Got home, took care of some home stuff, then headed out to an in-person town hall with Congressman Mike Thompson, and our State Assembly and State Senate reps, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Christopher Cabaldon. I don’t know how many folks fit into that massive room at the Woodland Senior and Community Center, but it was at least a couple-three hundred. Packed with overflow standers and lots of anger-fear-anxiety.
It lasted 90 minutes and gave me a huge headache (literally). I will say Thompson was a different guy tonight from the Congressman who spouted pablum a week ago in the online Zoom town hall. I have maybe a shred of hope that maybe our reps are getting the message that their CONSTITUENTS are not happy and their jobs (as our representatives!) are on the line if they don’t stop this madman and his freight train of presidential overreach.
Good to be 95
February 19, 2025
We visited Sally’s mom today. Mrs. Alden was a huge part of my village growing up, like all the moms of my best friends, especially those in the neighborhood.
At 95, Sue is such a champ! Were it not for an unfortunate case of macular degeneration, which affects her vision, Sue would be living the life of a 60-something, or at least some 60-somethings, including me on certain days. I mean, she’s 100% present, lives alone, manages her property and household chores, and would do all that and much much more if she could see better. As it is, she can’t drive and struggles to read (though she finds a way to keeps up with social media). But other than those kinds of site-dependent activities she handles most of life’s load of tasks and activities just fine. So, yeah.. a champ.
She turns 96 in April.
And so cool… she’s just down the road from Sally in Mountain Ranch where she and Holt built their home I don’t even know how many decades ago.. prob in the 80s sometime. It’s an absolutely gorgeous home on 10 acres.
As we drove through the Gold Country, between their two places, there was a lot of fire damage, reminding me that those beautiful hills, peppered with trees, is so very vulnerable to fires, especially in the golden rolling hills (as Kate Wolff used to sing) part of the year.
Here’s a photo of where the Butte fire destroyed so much of Calaveras County back in 2015.
Sheep Ranch is on about that southeastern-most point, halfway between Murphys and Mountain Ranch. It takes about 15 minutes to get from Sally’s to Sue’s place.
Life of Wry 