Photo Blog: 2017

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Nov 23

In this photo, there are mothers & fathers, sons & daughters, grandparents and grandchildren, husbands & wives, even ex-husbands & ex-wives. There are Smiths & Finches, Metcalfs & Monacos, Kuhns & O'Steens, and a future Bravo. This is family, my family. I am truly thankful for them all.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Nov 17

It's my mother's birthday. I know now I am not the hero of my life, she is. All these years later, her tragedies still make me weep. And I cry out, “Behold how she was wronged.” I love you and miss you, Mom.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Sep 7

Reminds me of a friend's daughter.

Sep 7

Over the past several months I have become interested in the two great wars of the Twentieth Century. I think that it can be postulated that they were really the same war, with a twenty-year hiatus in the middle. The causes of the wars were the same as every other war--lust for power, greed, domination, intimidation. No doubt racism played a major part, too.

I've been reading a book entitled Winter of the World, by Ken Follet. It is the second of three books in his Century Trilogy, and it centers on the events leading up to and the horrors of World War Two. What struck me most profoundly was how people in Germany that dissented from the Nazis were systematically eliminated. Some were threatened, some had their careers ruined, some were charged with specious acts, all in the name of maintaining a veneer of order and respectability. The goal was no doubt to silence those who disagreed. Many lives were ruined or taken by these dastardly acts of cowardice. Of course, in the end, The Nazis were defeated and disgraced, but in some quarters, their tactics still live.

We must be mindful of tyrants among us and root them out. We must say in no uncertain terms that their conduct is unacceptable.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Jun 9

June 9, 1869: "Our first pure mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless, — how immeasurable it seems, how serenely wild! ... Along the river, over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm, new life, new beauty, unfolding, unrolling in glorious exuberant extravagance, — new birds in their nests, new winged creatures in the air, and new leaves, new flowers, spreading, shining, rejoicing everywhere." // Joyful words from John Muir, jotted down 148 years ago and later published in "My First Summer in the Sierra." At this point, Muir was just a few days into his trip, and taking in the spring scenery from his camp on the North Fork of the Merced, near Pilot Ridge.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Jun 3

My mother left us 20 years ago today. I suppose that her memory is magnified as the years go by, but she was my mom, and I love her. All her children do. This was her favorite picture of us.