The header is a great blue heron (with its reflection) at a place where I always look for life and rarely see it–an occasional turtle. It’s not officially on any trail I walk, but right across the street from a trail, and crossing the street there is slightly treacherous. (Traffic isn’t moving quickly, but from one side they’re coming up and over a hill, and there isn’t a very big strip of land between the street and a drop-off/railing beside the pond here, and what is there tends to have a lot of poison ivy growing along it.) Still, the pond is so beautiful that when I walk this trail I tend to cross over to it, and always hope there’s a heron, and there never is, until this one. The pond is simply too “open” for heron preferences. Seeing this one, I took some photos, and then recrossed the street so as not to walk “behind” the bird, and crossed again some distance on the other side of it for another view, but I think I spooked it then and it flew. Herons are quite shy unless they regularly feed near people.
This is a trail I walk less often since it’s one I drive to rather than walking to, but even it is only two miles away. Twice this spring I have had my husband drop me off at a parking lot on it and then I’ve walked home. (That has me do this trail and then another one, and then 2/3 mile back home, so four to five miles depending on where he drops me off, plus whatever side-of-the-trail wandering around I do to photograph stuff.)
I’m considering leaving the house to walk it again now . . .
The talk about drinks yesterday reminded me of the best commercial I have ever heard.
I may have told you this before;
Backgroung. Some of you may not know it, but Coca Cola once changed it’s formula.
They called it “New Coke”. it didn’t go over, so: After a while they switched back.
No more “New Coke” How to get the people back.
Advertising: There was a popular song at the time, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”
Coca Cola adopted the song and for a commercial, the group ran through the first verse:
“I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony” etc.c
They went through the first verse, but changed the last line to
“I’d like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company, It’s the Real Thing”
For months, Coke was advertising “The Real Thing”
It seems to have worked.
The second best commercial was by Pepsi Cola.
I’m sure none of you remember, but Coke and Pepsi, etc. cost a nickel. Only Coke was six ounces, Pepsi and others were twelve ounces.
But people would still buy Coke.
Pepsi Cola came out with this commercial in the late 1840’s
“Pepsi Cola hits the spot,
Twelve full ounces that’s a lot,
Twice as much for a nickel too,
Pepsi Cola is the drink for you.
nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel, etc
Chas, the national broadcaster plays a show called ‘Under the Influence’ that talks about the world of advertising. Last week, the episode about TV show ptomotion mentioned New Coke. The popular Netflix show ‘Stranger Things’ was set in the 1980s, so brands capitalized on that by bringing back ’80s products as promotional items, and Coca Cola brought back New Coke. Here is the link to the episode: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/the-sopranos-gave-200-fans-their-own-mob-nicknames-1.5412793
Chas-Your timing is off. The “Real Thing” ads were from the 70s, New Coke was in the early 80s. And I believe Coke used the “Real Thing” slogan for a few years before and after using the song.
One reason New Coke didn’t make it is because it tasted too much like Pepsi for Coke aficionados. Pepsi is too sweet for my taste, so I prefer Coke, but I rarely have either.
I nev4er saw the Ssopranos.
It is possible, Peter, that my timing might be off.
But I remember hearing “The Real Thing” on the radio when I was at Purdue.
That was1972
I was very busy at the time and had no time to watch TV. I didn’t have a set in my room and I never visited the “day room” or whatever it was called.
I watched almost no TV in the 1960-70 time period.
I was trying to be a husband, father, church deacon, student and physical scientist, all at the same time.
But it worked out somehow. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure.
Morning! Mumsee just keep your eye on the bird in the middle…he is quite in focus…the rest of the photo makes me dizzy 😂
A day of trying to accomplish at least one house project…not certain which one I will attempt to tackle..I’ll decide after my second cup of coffee. Deck needs painted, front porch paint needs touching up, then there are those garage doors screaming to be painted. The flaking trim around the back door needs scraped and painted….where’s that second cup of coffee?!
Mine, too, NancyJill, and I can no longer do the ceiling line. Been trying to get my husband to hire a painter we used in our bathroom to do the whole outside. It really needs it. I may do my doors outside, but it is too warm right now, ironically. I wanted new ones, but that did not work out way back when. Long story short. Of course, all the home shows were cancelled this spring when I planned on ordering them. Life is strange.
As I sat visiting with my family yesterday, my sister asked my stepmom about what she does each day, besides quilting and gardening. She told about some exercises she does every morning. Then she mentioned that she does the plank, which I can do for about 5 seconds. She does it for a minute or longer everyday!!! at 89!
Guess I’d better get planking. Oh, and then she maintains her weight at 140. She is shorter than I am, but yikes.
It never ends. Twenty one year old son came home this past weekend and said he would fix our lawn mower. A quick easy carburater deal. His roommate drove his truck up and took it home for son on Sunday. But it is still in the back of roomie’s truck which is at work. Mike was hoping to head home today. What was son doing that took his time? He had to go check out the protest. And while there, of course, had to climb a pillar at the capital which led to him falling from the top of the pillar. Witnesses said fifteen to twenty feet. He landed in a bush. Husband thinks he has a concussion for sure and nurse daughter cautions about internal injuries from a fall that far.
Meanwhile, husband got a text from eighteen back in North Carolina. He commented that his brother (one of the twenty two’s) broke his collar bone. I would not be surprised if it was another car accident or if he was participating in a protest on the looting side.
Yep, the popular ‘teach the world to sing’ Coke commercials were early ’70s.
It made for a fun, final ending to the retro series Mad Men, as well.
Protests went off without a problem yesterday around here. Longshoremen volunteered to guard the downtown businesses. I’m sure they would have been more treacherous to encounter than the police.
I may request a PT referral from my doctor for the knee. I’m in week 3, it’s gotten better but not by leaps and bounds. The X-ray came back saying only that I had ‘mild’ arthritis in that knee, so nothing broken or any injury-related signs there.
Donna, you haven’t heard any war stories until you hear of my brave encounters with Yankees in the Civil war.
I invented the machine gun.
And spied on the Yankees from a hot air balloon.
Other magnificent, heroic adventures.
Well, I walked both trails, four hours and it was 85 or so by the time I got home. I do OK with heat, but I was feeling it a bit at that point.
Near the end of my walk, birds were really putting up a fuss about something. I know that the biggest threat receives the loudest alarm calls, and this one had several species of birds shrieking. But the trees are dense and I couldn’t see whatever caused the commotion. Looked through my photos when I got home to get rid of the blurry ones before I put them on my computer, and one or two of them have the culprit in them: a snake that looks enormous. I’m guessing it raided someone’s nest and all the other birds with nests in the area have something to say about it too. Yesterday I was standing by my pond photographing a dragonfly when a snake slipped into the water below me and swam across. So one day I see my first swimming snake and the next day I don’t see but do photograph my first snake high in a tree. I’ve already seen a garter snake this year, so that would seem to be three snakes and three species already–about as many snakes as I usually see in a whole year–and we’re barely into June.
But there were several new wildflowers blooming, and butterflies were out. I saw squirrels and rabbits and chipmunks and a fair number of birds (though no herons). And I got to talk to someone from church who works at a building a block from our home, since she was sitting in her car on her lunch break. A good way to spend a few hours, though I am very glad to be home now.
I was out for awhile trying to fill another trash bin with the tree trimmings. I saw no bird, and it was quiet like usual. Now I have been listening to a mockingbird go through every song it knows. It must be giving lessons to its babies. I never hear them do that until near the end of the day or early.
The guy who has been calling our church prayer line daily got one of the ladies who texted that he had asked for a “regular prayer.” I told her that when I speak to him that I ask up front if he has a specific request or if he would like a general prayer. I am thankful he keeps calling back.
I heard something today about Covid being more easily caught in less humid conditions. It’s the first time I have thanked God for Atlanta’s humidity.
LOS ANGELES — California, where health experts warn of a potential second wave of the coronavirus as the economy reopens, is seeing cases rise at a raid clip, even as other states have seen the first wave fade, it was reported today.
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that, according to Johns Hopkins University, California is one of about 20 states where new cases are increasing over the past five days. …
… Officials are not sure whether the new cases reflect a larger spike as the economy reopens or the result of increasing testing, or perhaps a combination of both, The Times reported.
L.A. County reported a notable spike in cases on Friday — 1,824 new cases — a one-day record. But it included a backlog of 500 cases filed by a single lab.
“If we do see an uptick in cases in a couple of weeks from now, it will likely mean that there has already been two to four weeks of increasing transmission by that time,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services of L.A. County. “So at this point, we could be in the midst of a new upward curve, or transmission may not have increased at all. We just don’t know yet.”
Experts are already worried about the potential for new surges of disease as California reopens. Not only have churches and restaurant dining rooms been allowed to reopen in many parts of the state, political demonstrations in recent days have raised new concerns about rapid spread of disease.
“I’m always worried about a surge,” Barbara Ferrer, the director of public health in Los Angeles County, said Monday. “We’ve always known that as more and more people are going to be out and about, we run this risk of there being a surge.” …
________________________
I planted three ornamental grasses, pulled weeds, cut out some annoying ground cloth the previous owners put down…everywhere!….removed everything from the deck, cleaned it and now the floor of the deck is painted…skies are dark and foreboding. And there is thunder. But, it was warm enough that the paint is nearly dry before the rain begins…and there is the rare humidity! (Sweat of the brow mixed with paint on the deck!)
Donna, it will be over in half a year.
But it isn’t the year that’s causing trouble.
It may be worse in 2021. I don’t know.
There may be riots when Trump wins again.
But disaster if Biden wins. It isn’t Biden’s politics. But Biden.
I don’t think the man’s all there now. He would be under the control of someone else.
That’s what would worry me if I were young enough to care.
And you are right, almost guaranteed that 2021 won’t be a rosy picture with a return to any kind of normalcy or peace in the U.S.
Covid & the economic spiral, riots (yes, riots, amid some peaceful protests; but enough already?). And the year is only half over. It could, indeed, get worse.
All of it will leave some serious open wounds at the least — or will open the door to even more destruction and unrest and economic collapse at worst.
The upcoming election will be explosive and ugly, at least half the country will not believe or accept the outcome, and that will create a dangerous environment. With all mail-in ballots, we will not even know who won for, how long?
Where it’s all headed? I don’t know, but God does, thankfully.
All I know right now is this is beginning to make the late ’60s, early ’70s look like a blissful walk in the park.
Then again … “But God … ”
As for us, it seems to be a time for lament and for beseeching God for his mercy and a fresh move of the spirit.
And, always, seeking what we’re to learn from all of this, how we are to respond.
I’m just really having a discouraging day. I’m tired of the knee pain, tired of not being able to do so much as walk my dogs (I miss it!), tired of work and writing about the same things over and over again for months on end now (today I’m on the county covid numbers updates again; due to my knee someone else is out at today’s local demonstration, sounds like these will continue for the time being, terrific).
Activists are asking that 90% of the LAPD be replaced with health workers.
Yes, that sounds reasonable.
It’s like we’re stuck in some kind of dystopian, recurring nightmare.
BTW, the header photo isn’t blurry . . . nearly all of that background is water with reflected trees, and reflections usually don’t look exactly like the things they reflect, because of ripples and such.
The 18-year-old daughter of a friend posted this on FB.
“I am.
I am black, and white. Biracial.
So I will not chose a side upon race.
I am daughter, cousin, and friend of police officers.
So I will not say all cops are bad.
I am hurt and saddened by all that has happened.
So I will not sit back and say nothing.
But I also will not stand in a protest that people have twisted the meaning of, or start violence either.
Yes black lives matter. ✊🏽 Yes I hear and stand with those who are hurting more than me. I refuse to pick a side that would divide me.
I will not listen to the media, I will educate myself.
I will not let any one or any social standard decide what I do and don’t fight for.
I can’t be silent in a time of struggle and hurt. It is not okay. I’m tired of being afraid of people who are supposed to serve and protect me. Tired of being told I’m not black enough to have an opinion on things that have to do with people. Tired of being told I act too white, or the fact that the way I was raised puts a label on me. I’m NOT picking a side.”
If somebody walked up to me on the street and demanded that I kneel and recite the Nicene Creed to show my Christian bona fides, I would refuse. I am a Christian who recites the Creed every Sunday … but I refuse to let *anybody* tell me what I have to say.
michelle, no, I hadn’t connected that but now that I think about it — I’d done a story on a local art studio (owner grew up in Australia) where people were gathering to take up fire relief donations for people and animals.
Seems like right after that, like weeks after that, we were covering the studio again for making Covid-19 face masks.
Did anyone catch the mass group chant assenting to disavow their ‘whiteness,’ and pledging allegiance to a host of other social statements? It’s a scene that leaves one speechless.
I hope we snap out of this soon.
I’m happy that there’s a regular harbor commission meeting in the morning I can cover. I just want to ignore this as much as I possibly can.
It’s been in the 80s today, but now there’s a very cool breeze coming in through the windows, thankfully. I’m not ready for summer heat quite yet.
There was the cutest lizard on my front porch steps today, I was watching him from inside the house. He would “rise up” on all 4s, bouncing up and down. Too funny.
The staff is putting Carol “to bed” by 6:30 p.m. these days, so I have’t talked to her much. We chatted for about 5 minutes tonight before they arrived for her. She had a nice birthday, she said, and felt “happy,” but the boyfriend “forgot.” I sent her an ecard as did some other folks, I know, from her former church.
Was also texting with a former co-worker last night; she’s found herself ‘stuck’ in Arizona where she went late last year to help her mom out with a few things. Complicated, but now with Covid (she’s high risk with underlying conditions) and her mom’s slow recovery from a fall, she’s found herself somewhat trapped. She said she was battling “sorrow” a lot. Her boyfriend (he’s a page designer for our group of papers) is here, they live together, so that separation has been hard for both of them.
For so many, the hard part is that there’s no real end in sight to any of this.
Praying this may be another way, though, for me to broach a spiritual discussion with her, she has a Christian Science background so many misconceptions about God and no real understanding of Scripture, I’m afraid — she doesn’t really “get” sin at all (I’m not sure what all else she she actually believes or doesn’t believe now, though she speaks of “God” and “prayer”).
I’m also feeling a bit off-center, with this stubborn knee pain and having to cover so much of what’s going on now (which I’m fairly well entirely sick of at this point).
Well I did accomplish a couple of the house projects but there is still much to do. That thunderstorm sort of put a wrench in the painting completion…that will wait until Saturday. I had a lovely walk with my neighbor this evening…a “walk and whine(wine)…in paper cups!” At the end of our walk we stood at the end of her drive and she opened up about the pain of losing her Dad a couple weeks ago…we both cried and the Lord presented an opportunity for me to share on a personal level of my deep trust and faith in our all knowing all loving Father. She doesn’t like to speak of “religious” matters, but you know I saw the hunger of wanting to know that He is real in her. That He moves in our lives in the same yet different ways. So thankful He was navigating our conversation… ❤️
Wandering Views 
Good morning everyone
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The header is a great blue heron (with its reflection) at a place where I always look for life and rarely see it–an occasional turtle. It’s not officially on any trail I walk, but right across the street from a trail, and crossing the street there is slightly treacherous. (Traffic isn’t moving quickly, but from one side they’re coming up and over a hill, and there isn’t a very big strip of land between the street and a drop-off/railing beside the pond here, and what is there tends to have a lot of poison ivy growing along it.) Still, the pond is so beautiful that when I walk this trail I tend to cross over to it, and always hope there’s a heron, and there never is, until this one. The pond is simply too “open” for heron preferences. Seeing this one, I took some photos, and then recrossed the street so as not to walk “behind” the bird, and crossed again some distance on the other side of it for another view, but I think I spooked it then and it flew. Herons are quite shy unless they regularly feed near people.
This is a trail I walk less often since it’s one I drive to rather than walking to, but even it is only two miles away. Twice this spring I have had my husband drop me off at a parking lot on it and then I’ve walked home. (That has me do this trail and then another one, and then 2/3 mile back home, so four to five miles depending on where he drops me off, plus whatever side-of-the-trail wandering around I do to photograph stuff.)
I’m considering leaving the house to walk it again now . . .
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The talk about drinks yesterday reminded me of the best commercial I have ever heard.
I may have told you this before;
Backgroung. Some of you may not know it, but Coca Cola once changed it’s formula.
They called it “New Coke”. it didn’t go over, so: After a while they switched back.
No more “New Coke” How to get the people back.
Advertising: There was a popular song at the time, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”
Coca Cola adopted the song and for a commercial, the group ran through the first verse:
“I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony” etc.c
They went through the first verse, but changed the last line to
“I’d like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company, It’s the Real Thing”
For months, Coke was advertising “The Real Thing”
It seems to have worked.
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The second best commercial was by Pepsi Cola.
I’m sure none of you remember, but Coke and Pepsi, etc. cost a nickel. Only Coke was six ounces, Pepsi and others were twelve ounces.
But people would still buy Coke.
Pepsi Cola came out with this commercial in the late 1840’s
“Pepsi Cola hits the spot,
Twelve full ounces that’s a lot,
Twice as much for a nickel too,
Pepsi Cola is the drink for you.
nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel, etc
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Chas, the national broadcaster plays a show called ‘Under the Influence’ that talks about the world of advertising. Last week, the episode about TV show ptomotion mentioned New Coke. The popular Netflix show ‘Stranger Things’ was set in the 1980s, so brands capitalized on that by bringing back ’80s products as promotional items, and Coca Cola brought back New Coke. Here is the link to the episode: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/the-sopranos-gave-200-fans-their-own-mob-nicknames-1.5412793
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What a blurry picture! I feel like I am seeing double, but upside down. Weird.
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Chas-Your timing is off. The “Real Thing” ads were from the 70s, New Coke was in the early 80s. And I believe Coke used the “Real Thing” slogan for a few years before and after using the song.
One reason New Coke didn’t make it is because it tasted too much like Pepsi for Coke aficionados. Pepsi is too sweet for my taste, so I prefer Coke, but I rarely have either.
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I nev4er saw the Ssopranos.
It is possible, Peter, that my timing might be off.
But I remember hearing “The Real Thing” on the radio when I was at Purdue.
That was1972
I was very busy at the time and had no time to watch TV. I didn’t have a set in my room and I never visited the “day room” or whatever it was called.
I watched almost no TV in the 1960-70 time period.
I was trying to be a husband, father, church deacon, student and physical scientist, all at the same time.
But it worked out somehow. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure.
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Morning! Mumsee just keep your eye on the bird in the middle…he is quite in focus…the rest of the photo makes me dizzy 😂
A day of trying to accomplish at least one house project…not certain which one I will attempt to tackle..I’ll decide after my second cup of coffee. Deck needs painted, front porch paint needs touching up, then there are those garage doors screaming to be painted. The flaking trim around the back door needs scraped and painted….where’s that second cup of coffee?!
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Can you come over here, NancyJill? All the walls need paint.
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Mine, too, NancyJill, and I can no longer do the ceiling line. Been trying to get my husband to hire a painter we used in our bathroom to do the whole outside. It really needs it. I may do my doors outside, but it is too warm right now, ironically. I wanted new ones, but that did not work out way back when. Long story short. Of course, all the home shows were cancelled this spring when I planned on ordering them. Life is strange.
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Chas was watching Coke commercials in the 1840s.
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As I sat visiting with my family yesterday, my sister asked my stepmom about what she does each day, besides quilting and gardening. She told about some exercises she does every morning. Then she mentioned that she does the plank, which I can do for about 5 seconds. She does it for a minute or longer everyday!!! at 89!
Guess I’d better get planking. Oh, and then she maintains her weight at 140. She is shorter than I am, but yikes.
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It never ends. Twenty one year old son came home this past weekend and said he would fix our lawn mower. A quick easy carburater deal. His roommate drove his truck up and took it home for son on Sunday. But it is still in the back of roomie’s truck which is at work. Mike was hoping to head home today. What was son doing that took his time? He had to go check out the protest. And while there, of course, had to climb a pillar at the capital which led to him falling from the top of the pillar. Witnesses said fifteen to twenty feet. He landed in a bush. Husband thinks he has a concussion for sure and nurse daughter cautions about internal injuries from a fall that far.
Meanwhile, husband got a text from eighteen back in North Carolina. He commented that his brother (one of the twenty two’s) broke his collar bone. I would not be surprised if it was another car accident or if he was participating in a protest on the looting side.
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Oh, Mumsee. So very sorry. He was taught better, I know that.
(Is that what God thinks about me?)
On exercise news, the Navy has now removed situps and is advising planks, so Jo’s stepmom is ahead of the game.
They’re hard. I’d try one now, but . . . the housecleaners are coming so I need to keep things off the floor. 🙂
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It has been a mild spring in NC.
That just occurred to me when I turned the AC on for the first time today.
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Yep, the popular ‘teach the world to sing’ Coke commercials were early ’70s.
It made for a fun, final ending to the retro series Mad Men, as well.
Protests went off without a problem yesterday around here. Longshoremen volunteered to guard the downtown businesses. I’m sure they would have been more treacherous to encounter than the police.
I may request a PT referral from my doctor for the knee. I’m in week 3, it’s gotten better but not by leaps and bounds. The X-ray came back saying only that I had ‘mild’ arthritis in that knee, so nothing broken or any injury-related signs there.
1840s, hmmm. Chas is lying about his age
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Has it come to that? We can’t trust Burt Lancaster?
I’ve been posting this on social media, the only thing I have to say:
https://www.michelleule.com/2019/10/08/imago-dei/
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Donna, you haven’t heard any war stories until you hear of my brave encounters with Yankees in the Civil war.
I invented the machine gun.
And spied on the Yankees from a hot air balloon.
Other magnificent, heroic adventures.
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I didn’t say I WAS Burt Lancaster.
I said I LOOKED LIKE Burt Lancaster.
But that was before photography was invented.
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so nice to have some humor to relieve the stress of these days.
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Well, I walked both trails, four hours and it was 85 or so by the time I got home. I do OK with heat, but I was feeling it a bit at that point.
Near the end of my walk, birds were really putting up a fuss about something. I know that the biggest threat receives the loudest alarm calls, and this one had several species of birds shrieking. But the trees are dense and I couldn’t see whatever caused the commotion. Looked through my photos when I got home to get rid of the blurry ones before I put them on my computer, and one or two of them have the culprit in them: a snake that looks enormous. I’m guessing it raided someone’s nest and all the other birds with nests in the area have something to say about it too. Yesterday I was standing by my pond photographing a dragonfly when a snake slipped into the water below me and swam across. So one day I see my first swimming snake and the next day I don’t see but do photograph my first snake high in a tree. I’ve already seen a garter snake this year, so that would seem to be three snakes and three species already–about as many snakes as I usually see in a whole year–and we’re barely into June.
But there were several new wildflowers blooming, and butterflies were out. I saw squirrels and rabbits and chipmunks and a fair number of birds (though no herons). And I got to talk to someone from church who works at a building a block from our home, since she was sitting in her car on her lunch break. A good way to spend a few hours, though I am very glad to be home now.
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I was out for awhile trying to fill another trash bin with the tree trimmings. I saw no bird, and it was quiet like usual. Now I have been listening to a mockingbird go through every song it knows. It must be giving lessons to its babies. I never hear them do that until near the end of the day or early.
The guy who has been calling our church prayer line daily got one of the ladies who texted that he had asked for a “regular prayer.” I told her that when I speak to him that I ask up front if he has a specific request or if he would like a general prayer. I am thankful he keeps calling back.
I heard something today about Covid being more easily caught in less humid conditions. It’s the first time I have thanked God for Atlanta’s humidity.
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Chas is an American version of Doctor Who… Can’t be a timelord, as Americans don’t have a nobility. A timesheriff, maybe?
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Worrisome
___________________
LOS ANGELES — California, where health experts warn of a potential second wave of the coronavirus as the economy reopens, is seeing cases rise at a raid clip, even as other states have seen the first wave fade, it was reported today.
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that, according to Johns Hopkins University, California is one of about 20 states where new cases are increasing over the past five days. …
… Officials are not sure whether the new cases reflect a larger spike as the economy reopens or the result of increasing testing, or perhaps a combination of both, The Times reported.
L.A. County reported a notable spike in cases on Friday — 1,824 new cases — a one-day record. But it included a backlog of 500 cases filed by a single lab.
“If we do see an uptick in cases in a couple of weeks from now, it will likely mean that there has already been two to four weeks of increasing transmission by that time,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services of L.A. County. “So at this point, we could be in the midst of a new upward curve, or transmission may not have increased at all. We just don’t know yet.”
Experts are already worried about the potential for new surges of disease as California reopens. Not only have churches and restaurant dining rooms been allowed to reopen in many parts of the state, political demonstrations in recent days have raised new concerns about rapid spread of disease.
“I’m always worried about a surge,” Barbara Ferrer, the director of public health in Los Angeles County, said Monday. “We’ve always known that as more and more people are going to be out and about, we run this risk of there being a surge.” …
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I planted three ornamental grasses, pulled weeds, cut out some annoying ground cloth the previous owners put down…everywhere!….removed everything from the deck, cleaned it and now the floor of the deck is painted…skies are dark and foreboding. And there is thunder. But, it was warm enough that the paint is nearly dry before the rain begins…and there is the rare humidity! (Sweat of the brow mixed with paint on the deck!)
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We get to stay up late tonight. Our curfew has been moved from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Woo-hoo.
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when will 2020 be over?
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Ok, I feel better now.
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Donna, it will be over in half a year.
But it isn’t the year that’s causing trouble.
It may be worse in 2021. I don’t know.
There may be riots when Trump wins again.
But disaster if Biden wins. It isn’t Biden’s politics. But Biden.
I don’t think the man’s all there now. He would be under the control of someone else.
That’s what would worry me if I were young enough to care.
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But Biden’s son needs for his dad to win.
He is likely running out of money. Hardly enough to pay child support.
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And you are right, almost guaranteed that 2021 won’t be a rosy picture with a return to any kind of normalcy or peace in the U.S.
Covid & the economic spiral, riots (yes, riots, amid some peaceful protests; but enough already?). And the year is only half over. It could, indeed, get worse.
All of it will leave some serious open wounds at the least — or will open the door to even more destruction and unrest and economic collapse at worst.
The upcoming election will be explosive and ugly, at least half the country will not believe or accept the outcome, and that will create a dangerous environment. With all mail-in ballots, we will not even know who won for, how long?
Where it’s all headed? I don’t know, but God does, thankfully.
All I know right now is this is beginning to make the late ’60s, early ’70s look like a blissful walk in the park.
Then again … “But God … ”
As for us, it seems to be a time for lament and for beseeching God for his mercy and a fresh move of the spirit.
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And, always, seeking what we’re to learn from all of this, how we are to respond.
I’m just really having a discouraging day. I’m tired of the knee pain, tired of not being able to do so much as walk my dogs (I miss it!), tired of work and writing about the same things over and over again for months on end now (today I’m on the county covid numbers updates again; due to my knee someone else is out at today’s local demonstration, sounds like these will continue for the time being, terrific).
Activists are asking that 90% of the LAPD be replaced with health workers.
Yes, that sounds reasonable.
It’s like we’re stuck in some kind of dystopian, recurring nightmare.
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Today, I want to go live in Oz with NancyJill or go watch birds with Cheryl.
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BTW, the header photo isn’t blurry . . . nearly all of that background is water with reflected trees, and reflections usually don’t look exactly like the things they reflect, because of ripples and such.
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You do remember those terrible fires in Australia?
They happened in 2020.
😦
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The 18-year-old daughter of a friend posted this on FB.
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michelle, no, I hadn’t connected that but now that I think about it — I’d done a story on a local art studio (owner grew up in Australia) where people were gathering to take up fire relief donations for people and animals.
Seems like right after that, like weeks after that, we were covering the studio again for making Covid-19 face masks.
It’s just been a fun ride all year so far
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Ok, we’re having some fun out here in LA County where at least 2 conflicting curfew times have gone out so far. We’re anticipating more.
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49,000 cases in Georgia now.
I wonder what it will be two weeks from now after all the protests.
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I’m embarrassed for my state to learn that a DA in St. Louis dropped all charges of rioters and looters arrested there.
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It’s all quite mind-boggling, eh?
Did anyone catch the mass group chant assenting to disavow their ‘whiteness,’ and pledging allegiance to a host of other social statements? It’s a scene that leaves one speechless.
I hope we snap out of this soon.
I’m happy that there’s a regular harbor commission meeting in the morning I can cover. I just want to ignore this as much as I possibly can.
It’s been in the 80s today, but now there’s a very cool breeze coming in through the windows, thankfully. I’m not ready for summer heat quite yet.
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There was the cutest lizard on my front porch steps today, I was watching him from inside the house. He would “rise up” on all 4s, bouncing up and down. Too funny.
The staff is putting Carol “to bed” by 6:30 p.m. these days, so I have’t talked to her much. We chatted for about 5 minutes tonight before they arrived for her. She had a nice birthday, she said, and felt “happy,” but the boyfriend “forgot.” I sent her an ecard as did some other folks, I know, from her former church.
Was also texting with a former co-worker last night; she’s found herself ‘stuck’ in Arizona where she went late last year to help her mom out with a few things. Complicated, but now with Covid (she’s high risk with underlying conditions) and her mom’s slow recovery from a fall, she’s found herself somewhat trapped. She said she was battling “sorrow” a lot. Her boyfriend (he’s a page designer for our group of papers) is here, they live together, so that separation has been hard for both of them.
For so many, the hard part is that there’s no real end in sight to any of this.
Praying this may be another way, though, for me to broach a spiritual discussion with her, she has a Christian Science background so many misconceptions about God and no real understanding of Scripture, I’m afraid — she doesn’t really “get” sin at all (I’m not sure what all else she she actually believes or doesn’t believe now, though she speaks of “God” and “prayer”).
I’m also feeling a bit off-center, with this stubborn knee pain and having to cover so much of what’s going on now (which I’m fairly well entirely sick of at this point).
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Re politics, demonstrations: Maybe everybody just needs to stop talking, stop bickering (please), stop tweeting. Just for a little while?
OK, there. With a hat tip to Forrest Gump, That’s all I’m going to say about that. lol
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Well I did accomplish a couple of the house projects but there is still much to do. That thunderstorm sort of put a wrench in the painting completion…that will wait until Saturday. I had a lovely walk with my neighbor this evening…a “walk and whine(wine)…in paper cups!” At the end of our walk we stood at the end of her drive and she opened up about the pain of losing her Dad a couple weeks ago…we both cried and the Lord presented an opportunity for me to share on a personal level of my deep trust and faith in our all knowing all loving Father. She doesn’t like to speak of “religious” matters, but you know I saw the hunger of wanting to know that He is real in her. That He moves in our lives in the same yet different ways. So thankful He was navigating our conversation… ❤️
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