Palate cleanser

 I feel like I - and you - deserve a reprieve from the political,

so I'll show pictures from a trip 'Up North'

to Chicago and WI

to visit family. 

 

It was a wonderful visit and allowed me the chance to catch up with great nieces

and nephews as they get ready to move on to the next chapters of their lives.

Al Fresco dining in Chicago is terrific -

I was actually cold and could have used a sweater -

unlike here where you sweat to the point of drippage!

 

Of course, we went treasure hunting

 

and this plain white vase was the only thing that came home with me

since I need nothing! 

 

You can never go wrong with Lake Michigan and a farmers market -

and I always love the chance to see things growing in other peoples gardens.

 

Getting away for a few days was exactly what I needed.

Even if there was an unexpected visit to a car dealership (for 3 hours)

and being told that the heat shield of my car had cracked in half.

Since they no longer make my car (a Honda Fit),

it would take 3 days and almost $700 to repair .

What!!  

Who needs a heat shield?

Not this girl...

carry on.

making cherry cordial!

striped stones from the beach.

There were also four footed companions.

and Demon Kitty.

Coming home and transitioning to life here was rough;

although what made it better was that my family and I recently "dotted" my kitchen 

with watercolored decals.

 

It was such fun and everyone pitched in.

Maybe I'll get sick of it in a few months -

in which case they'll be easy enough to remove -

just un-peel.

For right now, it makes me happy

and that's enough.

The summer is going by way too fast

and I'm delighted that I was smart enough to schedule my 'real' vacation

for after Labor Day.

 

Headed to the Eastern seaboard

in quest of finding the best lobster roll!

Stay tuned. 

 

Hope you're surrounding yourself with people and places

that make you remember how much good there still is in the world.

No matter what the idiots in government are doing.

Peace out!

To historians who will be writing about this era as our democracy was lost:

I just listened to a podcast with historian, 

Heather Cox Richardson,

who described how she was feeling today as

"incandescently enraged"  -

and all I can say is, 

"Preach, sister!  Me too".

 

As the felonious, sexual predator (who is cosplaying our President)

takes over yet another urban city,

armed with fake statistics and parts of the Armed Services 

that SHOULD be protecting us from foreign dangers,

all many of us can do is shake our heads in disbelief.

What the fuck is happening to our country??

 

We KNOW;

we've seen the warning signs for the past decade.

We've marched,

we've petitioned,

we've rallied, 

we've made 5 Calls a Day - or more-

to the Supreme Court,

our elected officials on both national and state levels,

States Attorneys,

the DOJ...

 

We've written letters,

 postcards by the hundreds ...

anything we could think of 

to say this downward creep 

to authoritarianism 

and dictatorship is NOT OK;

is NOT American,

is anti democratic.

 

We've had countless people

in our personal lives 

as well as in the public sphere,

"tsk tsk" us, saying we're overreacting,

we're being too emotional.

 

Worse than that, we've seen fellow citizens 

welcome the militarization

against ourselves, 

saying "since they haven't done anything wrong, 

they have nothing to fear";

 as if by taking away due process, civil rights,

 equal protection under the law

and allowing our government to disappear whole swathes of people,

(to concentration camps, for Gods sake) 

most of whom have brown or black skin,

they couldn't decide on a whim du jour

to come for you too! 

 

We see our fellow citizens delight in inflicting terror,

and the pain of separation upon families and children. 

Citizens who are OK with masked men kidnapping people off the streets,

with no provocation, and disappearing them to other countries -

behavior that is antithetical to my understanding of what it means to be an America . 

 

We've watched in horror as those in power 

try to rig the system for generations to come 

so they can stay in power,

effectively disenfranchising everyone who actually believed the Pledge of Allegiance

when we said in school -

"with liberty and justice FOR ALL!" 

 

Those in power are rewriting history,

erasing any contributions, in any field,

made by females, minorities or gays.

 

The laws, or proposed legislation, in many states,

including my own,

will reduce women to chattel, controlled by men, 

and base our worth as citizens upon the functioning 

of our reproductive systems.

 

Its the worst version of every dystopian novel I've ever read -

well, maybe not as bad as Octavia Butlers, but we'll be there soon. enough. 

(If you haven't read her 2 book series about 'the future'

(Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, 

both written 30 years ago, do it now - 

both terrifying and eerily prescient about our current time.) 

 

And the thing is, there are MILLIONS of us who don't want this;

MILLIONS of us doing everything we know how to do to fight against this -

yet our system is such a monolith,

being operated BY and FOR the benefit OF billionaires  -

that it feels impossible to have an impact.

 

 For too long, 

people have been pinning their hopes on the midterm elections;

I, for one, do not believe we'll have elections anymore.

 

Our system of government is being changed and, for one side, at least,

the 'old rules' don't apply anymore. 

 

As it is, the other side is late to the game;

its time for the gloves to come off and to play by their rules.

"When they go low, we go high"

sounds like a quaint idea from the distant past. 

And it's not going to get us anything close to a functioning democracy back

 and millions of us

WON"T go back to a white supremacist patriarchy

without a fight. 

 There ARE some things worth fighting for ...

but for tonight,

I have to keep breathing and get some rest,

so I'll concentrate on the beautiful abundance 

of a recent farmers market.

 

(Hello, Green Bay) 

 

and live, in hope, 

 to fight on another day. 

  

Gotta be honest

 I've never been a big fan of the Fourth of July;

too much privilege wrapped in a flag;

too much glorification of military might -

by people who went out of their way to avoid the draft

and military service

back in the day. 

 

I used to volunteer to work in the ER,

just so I wouldn't be available/required to watch our small town parade.

I've always been fascinated though by Grand Entry at a PowWow

and how seriously and lovingly their veterans participate.

 

 If ever a group of people had a right to complain about this country and how it treated them,

its our indigenous brothers and sisters.

Attempted genocide - check

Cultural erasure through boarding schools - check

Exclusion from mainstream society into remote poverty deserts - check

Lack of access to decent services - check.

 

Yet service and the opportunity to protect this land is seen 

as honorable and heroic.

They don't love our government -

which, lets be honest is made up of pretty flawed humans beings,

yet, they fight for our LAND,

Mother Earth;

its their home 

and they feel duty bound to protect it.

Their approach makes sense to me. 

I DO love this country,

the physicality of it -

from sea to shining sea;

its the government that sucks so often! 

 

I continue to be heartbroken by ways in which our current regime

AND our earth are being changed and deliberately destroyed. 

Freedom, Liberty and Life itself are on the line in ways

they never have been before -

at least not in my lifetime.

Heaven knows where we'll all end up. 

 Against that backdrop, 

it was hard to celebrate even the basic trappings of the holiday

although, 

at least this year,

 it was inside in AC, with no mosquitos around 

and a drink in hand.

 I've been scrambling for those glimmers of joy -

and they're definitely still

 out there -

                                Don't you love those rare shots that make it look like you're 

both a great gardener and a great photographer? 

When you were actually just standing in the driveway and got lucky?! 

 

I took a quick trip up to see where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi River;

its a MO state park - and frankly, it was underwhelming.

 

Not without beauty of its own kind

but also not what was expected.

Especially with a drive 5 miles deep into a cornfield.

and what seemed to be away from the river! 

Truth be told,

 the road also leads through what can only be described as petrochemical alley.

 Whatever you do, don't light a cigarette.

 

You finally get to a parking lot and then, down a short trail -

there it is.

The Missouri River on the right,

the Mississippi River on the left.

That's it ...

No metaphors about how two great powers come

together without fanfare;

just water seeking its own. 

With more corn and soybean fields on the way out.

Oh well,

it got me out of the house 

and away from playing with paper,

making more anthropomorphic creatures. 

 I also thought two of Edward Hooper's paintings could use a refresh.

 

 I recently discovered my 'art practice' philosophy.

 Thank God for these two;

they always keep it real. 

 Keep creating and finding joy, my friends.

It's gonna get rockier.