Compassion, Love and Peace

This is going to be my last political posting for a while....  the news just keeps getting more disgusting, appalling, and hopeless each day.  We, humanity, seem to be degenerating at a great rate at this point in time.
   I am still reeling from the attacks made by all the groups that poured in to Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend for the "Unite the Right" gathering.  We are having a march in Denver, tomorrow, to celebrate the life of Heather D Heyer, the paralegal killed last Saturday by a professed Nazi supporter.  This is too little, too late, but we will honor the memory of a young woman who was protesting hatred by marching quietly on a street with her friends.
   There has been an outbreak of attacks against innocent people this week.  First, Thursday evening, the van attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain - that left 14 dead and over 100 injured.  Then the attack in Camblis, a two hour drive south of Barcelona. (Camblis was where some of the planning for the 9-11 attacks took place.) There was also an explosion there the night before the attack at Las Ramblas, and police now believe that the people involved in the Barcelona attack had been planning to bomb several places before "something went wrong" at their manufacturing site, and they decided a vehicular attack was in order.  The driver of the van at Las Ramblas is still at large and being sought throughout Europe.
   Then there was the knife attack in the market square of Turku, Finland the following day.  An 18-year-old man from Morocco attacked several women with a knife, killing two. He reportedly targeted eight women, one of which was pushing a baby carriage.  Two men tried to intervene, and both of them were stabbed, as well; one of whom was so severely cut that he may lose his arm.  The suspect was shot in the leg, arrested and taken to the hospital.  Four other men have been arrested with suspected ties to the attacker.
    This morning, a man in the Siberian town of Surgut, in Russia, stabbed at least eight people, seriously wounding two of them. The Russian police fired shots at the man and killed him.  They are investigating the incident.
   Friday night:  In Kissimmee, Florida, two officers responded to a call and were apparently ambushed.  One officer is dead, the other in serious condition.  A man has been arrested.
     In Jacksonville, Florida, two officers responded to a call about a man considering suicide.  He greeted them with shots from a high-powered rifle, shooting one policeman in both hands, and the other in the stomach.  The man was killed by the officers.
     In Fayette County, Pennsylvania, two officers approached a man to serve a warrant.  The man reached into his backpack, pulled out a gun and shot both officers. The officers shot and killed that man, also.
      Too much death and destruction for me, folks....   I know this happens every day in our country, and around the world.  But I want PEACE  for all.
      Then there is the ousting of Steve Bannon from the White House - he's going back to Breibart News to spew more hatred and ignorance.
      The world needs help - compassion, love, and peace need to rule this place.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In the Catholic church, today, 14 February, was designated the Feast of Saint Valentine, by Pope Gelasiuis I, around the year 496.  However, 15 February was the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was an annual fertility celebration.  Which St. Valentine Pope Gelasius I  wished to honor is unknown.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints with that name; and, strangely, all three were said to have been martyred on February 14.  The first known Valentine was a priest in Rome, the second was a Bishop in Terni, and all that is known of the third is that he met his death in Africa.  Maybe Gelasius wanted his followers to pick one of the triad?
   Geoffrey Chaucer was the first author known to link romantic love and St. Valentine's Day - and that was in poetry celebrating birds that mated for life, back around 1380.  Hmmmm...   Did earlier people realize how frail and false the human flesh was?  We cannot trace romantic love and St. Valentine's Day back to the Age of Chivalry; that Code of Conduct was established between 1170 and 1220.
    So why do we celebrate "romantic love," as human beings?  For dreams and seemingly wonderful fairy tales?

   In any event, I wish all of my readers a very happy Valentine's Day !

Miscellaneous Photos

Sunrise at Wadi Doan in Yemen

The stretch of a short-eared owl

Sunrise at Beaufort, South Carolina

Love knows no boundaries

Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgard

Animal Thoughts

Pets and Love; Accomack Arson

I am becoming more perturbed each day with the arsonist in Accomack County, Virginia. Last night, he/she/they/it burned an historic building to the ground - a turn-of-the-century wooden school house in Cashville. I currently live in Boulder, Colorado - but my heart is in Accomack County, Virginia. My ancestors have lived in Accomack County since the 1640s. We are losing history with each and every fire that occurs. Old family homes, barns, sheds, restaurants, and motor courts all have intrinsic value. Hopes, dreams, loves, losses, and memories are lost with each and every fire. I cringe every time I see a new case of fire being reported. This is my history going up in smoke. Whoever the arsonist is, they need to be stopped. Stopped cold.

  And I received some dire news from a very good friend - after having lived by herself for the past 23 years, she is giving up her life, her house, her past, and her pets to move in and care for her parents. This decision has wracked her for days. I will happily adopt her cats - if I could, I'd move in and save her house, doing the needed repairs and paying the taxes... but every one knows how it is in this economy. When your parents are ill, you love them, and can't deny them their requests for care. I left all behind me in Florida to care for my Mother on Chincoteague, who had had a massive stroke and then had Alzheimer's and then developed Parkinson's Disease on top of that. At least I didn't have to forgo my pets. Mom slipped back and forth through time, and my cat Bibbin Tucker became her "Sally," from her youth. Bibbin stayed with Mom, on her lap, or beside her all day, and slept next to her pillow all night. That was a wonderful thing to see and observe... Bibbin would respond to me, if I called her Bibbin, but not if I called her Sally. All Mom had to do was whisper, "Sal..." and Bibbin would be there, at Mom's hand, in an instant.

   Lovey and Nedi are doing very well. So are Boo and Rosie and Remy. Nancy and I spoke about Remy today, and we both agreed that we think he got depressed when I was ill and couldn't walk the Rs. He is so happy to see me, and even if he's tired, and not walking well when we return to the house, he seems very happy and content - and will happily eat for me, even if he disdained the food offered before our walk. I am so happy I can make Remy happy.

Mom's Birthday

If my Mother were still alive, she'd be 92 years old today, and that just doesn't seem possible.  It is true, however, even if my mind doesn't want to stretch time back that far.  Dad would turn 90 in March.  It just doesn't seem right, somehow.  I can easily accept the fact that I'm 56, heading for 57 now; but Mom and Dad being that age? No way!  My first real recollection of their faces comes from when I was four years old and we were living in Kingsville, Texas; Dad was still in the Navy, and every two weeks he took Kathy, my sister, and I to ride horseback at King's Ranch Livery stable.  Kathy rode a beautiful bay mare named Cricket, and I rode an old-timer whose name was White Cloud.  Kathy and the other kids would walk, jog and lope around this huge field - since I was so small, and was sitting on a 16-hand horse, White Cloud just sort of ambled about - he went where I wanted to go, because I knew about reining, and he was an old cow horse, but we walked slowly. Everywhere.  We just walked.  One day, I caught White Cloud in the flank with a corn stalk, and he crow hopped a little bit.  I was ecstatic!  We had done something other than walk! I looked back toward my parents, and Mom's face was blue-white, while Dad was laughing hard with a red face.  Mom was scared that I'd fall off, and Dad was laughing because I was laughing. ....
   Mom gave me life, and taught me to love books and reading.  She inspired me with tales of hardship of early Chincoteaguers, and things she could easily remember, as the Island was so isolated.  She planted the seed for love of knowledge of the past, for the love of art work and creative sewing.  She was never an epicurean, but she definitely taught me how to cook and bake.  I was always amazed to hear what simple, small things brought her pleasure when she was a child - and now I find that I find those same things endearing and heart-warming.  Mom taught me to love totally, and to forgive those that hurt me, and to give as generously as I am able to good causes and things I believe in.
  Here's to Mildred Louise Johnson Nocks, a woman who was good, in every sense of the word.

Merry Christmas!

   Merry Christmas! - God Jul! - Feliz Navidad!
It's 7 degrees outside, humidity is at 86%, and there's about four inches of snow on the ground. It started to snow about 6 last night - if you were looking west, toward the mountains, you could see the snow, looking like mist, begin up on the mountain tops, and slowly creep down to the level of Boulder. It was beautiful. Other than my three trips over to spend time with, and feed and medicate, Sasquatch and Tugger, I plan on being home with Lovey and Nedi. I had thought I'd have a car to use, but they left me the stick shift, which I can't drive... So I'm travelling by bus and foot today and tomorrow. At least I'll have the Audi beginning Thursday (an 8 minute drive is preferable to a 45 to 90 minute bus ride, with connections and walks at both ends, when it's this chilly outside).
  I hope this day brings you laughter and love, the companionship of family members and others that you hold dear, and the feelings of peace and tranquility when you can finally collapse in your bed at the end of the day. I wish you the best of everything in life today and always!