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 |  Look around. Let Nature nurture your Soul. I record images I sense and share them here. |
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NURTURE your NATURE  Nature can nurture our writing, can nurture our soul. What is the language of Nature? And how do we learn it? We look at the natural wonders around us and do not see them, hear, taste nor smell them. They do not touch us anymore than we dare touch them. And then we wonder why we feel so dead. To breathe in and live like a child again opens the Land of Wonderment. It's still there after all these years.   |
| It's time to talk hurricanes. In 2005 this weekend there was a storm that some folks only refer to as K. That bad. This year we have Ida brewing. Soon to be a hurricane, maybe before I post this. I follow Yale Climate Connections. A couple days ago "txhurl" wrote "Iffn' Ida known you was a-comin I'da" And a poem spewed forth from the froth: Iffn' Ida known you was a-comin Ida... battened down hatches locked all those latches savored one last look around put up the shutters shouted not muttered and took the train outta town Ida bought me some floats invested in boats and learned how to swim or fly but I didn't do dat so now it's a wrap, time to kiss my sweet-ass goodbye © Copyright 2021 Kåre Enga [178.215] (24.agosto.2021) About that K storm:
I'm sure we have lost WDC members to storms and other weather events... just so you know. Because I grew up in a stormy area known for blizzards I paid attention, delighting in every snowflake. My father, however, had grown up with tornadoes in Oklahoma. He knew what wind could do. We were raised to respect the weather. Hurricanes aren't as focused as tornadoes. They aren't very picky. They can last for days, not minutes and their impact can be felt far inland. Hazel in 1954 killed folks in Toronto and Agnes in 1972 nearly took out Rochester. Perhaps we shouldn't focus so much on wind. Flooding kills more people much more effectively. Ask anyone from Houston about the H storm... or maybe not. So... if you have friends in the path of Ida... make sure they are prepared to hunker down. If they are in NOLA it may be time to leave. Who at WDC is in the path? ~300 words Posted in "Blogville "  1149 |
| I told Joy: "Gold. Very little will combine with the noble metal. Very offish, in my humble opinion. Thankfully we are carbon based, less pure but also much more complicated and interesting and much more flexible than its cousin silicon which is what [Artificial Intelligence] is based upon." Gold Properties: Gold conducts heat and electricity. ... Gold is ductile: It can be drawn out into the thinnest wire. ... Gold is highly reflective of heat and light. ... Gold is malleable, so it can be flattened into extremely thin sheets. Gold is prized for its beauty. ... How are humans like gold then? Do we conduct love [heat] and emotion [electricity]. Do we conduct our inner being by speech and touch. Are we capable of being stretched like a wire [ductile] to cover distance and time. Is our essence never reduced to nothing. We reflect what's around us. But the void reflects nothing. Do we reflect goodness [heat and light] when it is present? Can we be fashioned [malleable] into something useful knowing that no matter how thin we may seem or become our essence remains intact. Are my metaphors too suspect? Are we beautiful? Are we prized? Do we feel that our humanity falls short somehow. We are carbon-based life forms after-all. But what about our souls? I think this quote from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921) may be comforting: "Be thou not sad, neither be thou unhappy; although the divine tests are violent, yet are they conducive to the life of the soul and the heart. The more often the pure gold is thrown into the furnace of test, the greater will become its purity and brilliancy and it will acquire a new splendor and brightness. I hope that thou art thyself in such a position." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá v2, p. 302-303 ~300 words Posted in "Blogville " 1146 |
| The graves in Norway are marked by flowers planted in May and many tombstones engraved with Fred1 and Takk for alt2 appear well maintained. There is no sense of gloom around the old stone or wooden churches. Perhaps in the pine forests where the huldra still lurk, perhaps in the stone caves of the trolls. Not in Solvorn where grass grows and horses graze. Not even in Gamle Oslo. In Sweden where my ancestors are buried there remains not a trace. Graves are reused once the family stops paying for their upkeep. In a corner next to the church in Hesselby there's a tomb for old graves stones, stacked neatly. Nothing remains of the scars left by The Plague that killed off families and towns, killed the Kingdom of Norway3. Even left some with resistance to the modern plague of AIDS4. But Norway and Sweden took divergent paths to controlling the covid pandemic. Norway has a death rate per million of 148; Sweden, 1438. Montana is 1639 with the not-so-honorable ranking of #34 out of 50 US states. Norway closed its border with Sweden, imposed mask mandates, shut down, took an active approach to combating the disease. Sweden was more laissez-faire, depending on the 'common-sense' of its population. Both were slow to vaccinate, but 56-57% are now vaccinated. Montana is at 49% and not rising. I'd be safer in Sweden these days, safer still in Norway this past year. The battle lines have been drawn in the USA. Americans would rather retreat to their tribal enclaves than seek solutions. I don't see how one side can live with the other if they are perceived as killing them off. Rather than politicians and media, I suspect it's traditional dogmatism versus investigative science. This schism runs deep in American society. It morphs with every generation but it's underpinning is an us-versus-them zero-sum mentality that in my opinion goes back to the Old Testament. There are modern nations that don't play this tribal game. Personally, I don't have much of a choice because of where I live5 I'm feeling trapped again. A tourist town is a curse when the tourists show no respect. So, let them rest-in-peace. All those who curse the sun and choose to live in the darkness of ignorance. May they die soon and allow the rest of us to live in peace. ~430 words Posted in "Blogville " 1144 |
| A white pall shrouds Mount Dean Stone. The weak sun tries to break through, carressing the yellowing locust leaves lighting the way towards an early autumn. The river runs slow and whispers low as the flag hangs limp and listless. Smoke stings my eyes as they shutter. I abandon this lost day to others. tomorrow hides beyond the smoky haze that chokes us KE [178.205] (15.08.21) With an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 167 it's hardly safe to go out. 150-200 is considered hazardous. Tuesday may bring forth rain and a few days of cooler temperatures. Wednesday 61°/46° may feel like autumn. We'll try to send some relief east to bless QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham  .It's 10 a.m. There will be no Pulitzer Prize blog posted today. At least not by me. Posted in "Blogville " 1139 |
| I huddled in the deepest darkest corners of my cave during the Years of The Kovid. I barely ventured out. For an extrovert/introvert like me I just curled up and depression-napped. So... I've poked my head out. Still dangerous for some ... like old-timer me. By interacting with people today, by taking a long walk in the heat yesterday, I'm hopeful that I can rejoin society soon. When I'm not napping (hibernating or estivating) I'm a social bear. I'm busiest in spring and autumn. Missoula has sidewalk dining and now that the sidewalk across the bridge acts like promenade to view the river kayakers/surfers/tubers not to forget the sunset it's a wonderful place for people meeting and viewing. Today I stopped in at the Break Espresso to see friends, checked my post office box and dropped off a postcard to Neva in Nevada, strolled through Butterfly Herbs, spoke with a different friend, bought two books on Thai and Thailand at Shakespeare & Co. When I got back Angie was sitting with Billie Jo so I sat with them. That should be enough for today. Joy  mentioned that Paris was a great place to people watch. It is. Other good places to sit and watch: Storgata in Lillehammer, Norway; Mother Tereza Mall in Prishtina, Kosovo; Manuel Antonio Beach in Costa Rica (and most small town central squares like the ones in Grecia, Ciudad Quesada, Perez Zeledon, Heredia); Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan... hope to travel again soon. Her blog entry today "August 12, 2021" inspired the above.But. Our covid numbers are soaring in Montana. Eastern Montana has been spared but after the rumble and roar in Sturgis, South Dakota, that may change. Some counties are only 25% vaxxed. 393 new cases today. We were down to 50/day. 30% of those hospitalized die. Our hospitalizations are up. The center of the outbreaks is Flathead County (Kalispell/Glacier Park) which is still only 40% vaxxed due to anti-vaxxers. Why should I be concerned. Anti-government folks here will say that it's none-of-my-business what they do or don't do. But it is, it is. I'm an old bear with not the best pair of legs nor lungs. I can't outrun covid. I shouldn't have to. I'm thinking of my options: a place where people are less scientifically-challenge or just never going out. Kovid Konsernz in Mississippi as beds run out: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we-re-going-to-see-a-lot-of-deaths-covid-leave... ~390 words Posted in "Blogville " 1136 |
| "We need Joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share." — Maya Angelou I'm joyful each time my stick plant blooms in February, each time I see a meagre bloom on the geranium in Summer. When I'm hugged I feel a connection. Some might call it love. I'm energized each time. So few times this past year. Yes, we need each other in our lives to survive or thrive. Except here. Here writers retreat into their caves of depression or hide with their fantasies behind thick fortress walls. They eschew interaction. And I feel abandoned on my Isle of the Lonely, begging for visits as ships pass by barely leaving a thumbs up. At a distance I can't distinguish that from a middle finger at attention. I realize that people don't want to listen to the same lament stuck on replay. Yes, we need each other. Yes, we could show more love. Yes, we flourish with joy. Repeated ad nauseum. Air and water and fertile soils are nice when there's access to one's needs. Without your joy, love and hugs, I'm barely surviving. ~200 words For "Blogging Circle of Friends " Posted in "Blogville " |
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