One Tin Soldier
Listen children to a story that was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain, and the valley folk below
On the mountain was a treasure buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore they'd have it for their very own.
(Chorus
Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven, justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing, come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after - one tin soldier rides away.
So the people of the valley sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure, tons of gold for which they'd kill
Came an answer from the kingdom: "With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain, all the riches buried there.
Chorus
Now the valley cried with anger, mount your horses, draw your sword!
And they killed the mountain people, so they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure on the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it -
"Peace on Earth" was all it said.
Chorus
Saturday, March 11, 2006
In Memory; Saying Adieu to my Dad
My Dad passed Jan 16, 2006. Much more than that I don't want to share here. I made a website to honor him and memorialize the tributes from family. Celebrating Charles L. Ellsworth (Charlie)
The memorial service was well attended by every member of his family along with their families and some of his most dear friends. Everyone contributed and made sacrifices to be there for both Charlie and my mother.
A time of passing and the ache left behind is life-changing. Where does the living essense and spirit that is life pass on to......age old question. Many continue to feel Charlie's presence even after we know his spirit passed out of his body and his body no longer lives. Many speak of strong feeling of knowing he has spoken to them from his new place and reassured them all is well.
I reconcile the loss of him in my own way. ... and for now I'm thankful that I painted several fishing village type scenes with him in mind, including the one I gifted to him while he was alive. I have it back with me now, it soothes me to know the painting meant something to him. I'm thankful that I took time out of busy-ness over the holidays to spend some valued time with him and my mom. ...there is never a way to know if it will be the last memories...
Do Not Go Gentle into the Night
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
poem by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
poem by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
movie; The Village
We watched M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Village, one night in Jan 06. And I don't know what it says about us that we enjoyed it, but we did. I don't bother too much about the critical reviews of movies, as usually I find that I don't enjoy what they recommend and do enjoy what they don't recommend. I am not sure what kind of review or ratings The Village received, but we liked it and would recommend it.
Why, because the ending surprised us, and that is one of the good things about not hearing too much about a movie before seeing it. There were few "clues" throughout the movie to lead us to guess at an ending, and so it was nice to be quite surprised when the ending came and we weren't ahead of the movie. And yes, we talked about it afterwards.
The cast is made up of strong actors and actresses, most whom we follow. Joaquin Phoenix is among the actors that we know we will enjoy watching in any movie. Here is a list of the rest of the cast and you almost can't help but have a favorite amongst them....enjoy the movie, The Village and I'd love to hear what you think:
Bryce Dallas Howard .... Ivy Walker
Joaquin Phoenix .... Lucius Hunt
Adrien Brody .... Noah Percy
William Hurt .... Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver .... Alice Hunt
Brendan Gleeson .... August Nicholson
Cherry Jones .... Mrs. Clack
Celia Weston .... Vivian Percy
John Christopher Jones .... Robert Percy
Frank Collison .... Victor
Jayne Atkinson .... Tabitha Walker
Judy Greer .... Kitty Walker
Fran Kranz .... Christop Crane
Michael Pitt .... Finton Coin
Jesse Eisenberg .... Jamison
Why, because the ending surprised us, and that is one of the good things about not hearing too much about a movie before seeing it. There were few "clues" throughout the movie to lead us to guess at an ending, and so it was nice to be quite surprised when the ending came and we weren't ahead of the movie. And yes, we talked about it afterwards.
The cast is made up of strong actors and actresses, most whom we follow. Joaquin Phoenix is among the actors that we know we will enjoy watching in any movie. Here is a list of the rest of the cast and you almost can't help but have a favorite amongst them....enjoy the movie, The Village and I'd love to hear what you think:
Bryce Dallas Howard .... Ivy Walker
Joaquin Phoenix .... Lucius Hunt
Adrien Brody .... Noah Percy
William Hurt .... Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver .... Alice Hunt
Brendan Gleeson .... August Nicholson
Cherry Jones .... Mrs. Clack
Celia Weston .... Vivian Percy
John Christopher Jones .... Robert Percy
Frank Collison .... Victor
Jayne Atkinson .... Tabitha Walker
Judy Greer .... Kitty Walker
Fran Kranz .... Christop Crane
Michael Pitt .... Finton Coin
Jesse Eisenberg .... Jamison
In the Desert, by Stephen Crane
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter", he answered,
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
- Stephen Crane, 'In The Desert'
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter", he answered,
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
- Stephen Crane, 'In The Desert'
Rising to the morning routines, simple pleasures.
thoughts on a winter morning; Feb 01, 2006
It is one of those crisp winter days this morning. We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work. I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
It is one of those crisp winter days this morning. We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work. I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
Hopi Elders Prayer
Hopi Elders Prayer
From the Hopi Elders
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.
Here are the things that must be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know our garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel like they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off toward the middle
of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of
all ourselves!
For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lonely wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona, Hopi Nation
From the Hopi Elders
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.
Here are the things that must be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know our garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel like they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off toward the middle
of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of
all ourselves!
For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lonely wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona, Hopi Nation
Troubled; Ownership Society; dvd The Corporation
something I posted in June 05 as a thinking out loud after watching dvd 'The Corporation".
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Troubled; Ownership Society; dvd The Corporation
Watched dvd 'The Corporation' last night. It was troublesome contemplating what's ahead and in store for not only our country but on the global scale. As I watched it and let the fullness of the implications wash over me; the words Ownership Society kept coming into my thoughts. This is a phrase that president bush uses which I've construed to mean something closer to what I think I understand. But in watching The Corporation last night, I think the light bulb came on for me in grasping a larger and sadly, a more sinister meaning.
Ownership of what is now considered public domain; commons; free as provided by nature; ie, water, sky, land, trees, lifeforms. An example of water being owned by privatization in Bolivia where residents must actually pay for use of water that was formerly freely available; rivers and the trade off in spending their meager income for either water or food or shelter. Yeah, so, that is already true in our own country. But somehow the immensity of the concept came flooding through for me last night in seeing the beginnings of a much different global concept than I could have begun to imagine.
The Corporation demonstrated with side by side interviews of corporate executives along with people who have reflected on the implications along with some activist movements efforts. It demonstrated the origins of 'corporation' back to the Civil War times and the addition of the 14th amendment intended to honor the newly freed black population. Attorneys at the time read the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness of a person as an opportunity on which they might capitalize by submitting that a corporation was a 'person'. It was recognized as such by judicial review and has been so ever since.
The Corporation showed a bit about the progression of 'corporations' as formed in the earlier days and how different was a corporation in the 1950s (my era) as compared to today's predatory practices. It hasn't been on my radar screen to pay close enough attention other than recognition that big business and corporations seems to have taken center stage in the workings of our country. And of course, Halliburton and Iraq, give a strong clue that something has shifted extremely as the decades have passed.
I can describe a feeling level I've had more on intuitive level than knowledgeable from having information to make discerning judgment. A registering in the not so conscious areas that kick up the sense of survival instincts without knowing what it is exactly I'm trying to outdistance to survive.
1980s is where I began to feel the shift, I think. A time when my own children were coming into their pre-teen and teen years. It seemed to me that suddenly 'labels' on clothing and shoes took on a much elevated importance than I could begin to comprehend. I didn't buy into it and didn't promote it for my children; rather I resisted it as a fad that would pass and began in earnest to try to train my children that the uniting self-identity and self-esteem to outward clothing symbols was superficial and created a vulnerable artificial reinforcement of personal identity and place in the world. But, at the time, I thought it was just me and my personal approach and thought the fad of it would pass in time. How wrong I was....
1990s and my children are coming into their adult years, starting to have their own children. I'm starting to feel like I'm being marshalled into a standard of living not of my own definitions, but pushed by a shift in societal definitions and I don't like it. I start quietly resisting in my own way with no full or clear understanding of what it is I am resisting. I move away from city and urban life to quieter and more remote areas, smaller towns, a less fast paced rythmn. At the time such language as 'meaningful living' is circulating. Yeah, that must be what I'm doing, I think. Sure, yeah, that's it.
The kids are grown now and seem to be doing all right for the most part, the country is in peace time and seeming to prosper and flourish. I'm not sure I agree with what has become important to folks as a measure of their standing based on their acquisitions but the country seems to be happy with it, so it must be me. I'm the odd one, the odd woman out of step.
Boom, 2000 and Suddenly there is a peculiar shift with the 2000 elections, a president bush who won by judicial favor and I'm alerted to 'politics' with a recognition that I don't really know much and I better learn more but he'll be gone in 4 years and how much damage can happen in 4 years? After all this country has survived political shifts before and this one will be politics as usual.....
Boom, Sept 11, 2001. The world changes in one day. The world I know, relate to, comprehend and understand has been altered by the incredulous event on that day. The world changes for us all, in ways I could not begin to have had prior knowledge. And now every day since then, I feel like I have been playing at 'catch up' because others did seem to know and have a prior agenda of events to unfold with the changing of the guard as marked by 911.
Well, there is more, but enough for this posting for now. Noting that the dvd 'The Corporation' and the concepts presented will be sitting with me for a long while now as I ponder my own next steps in how to react, respond to our changing world, feeling very much like I'm miles behind the current flowing forth in today's political, religious, corporate, war, global agendas as they meld into meaning one thing with very little lines of demarcation to separate one thing from the other.
I'm not lost, by no means, and I've felt it inwardly for many years now, just lacked a sense of how to express the shifts I was feeling were happening not to me but all around me and how I was reacting to those shifts. I need some time now to pull back and let the inward spirit do it's job of guiding me through some turbulent waters. It's not about me and my survival; it's about my children, their children and the generations to come. It's not about activism, it's not about politics, it's not about even a sense that I as one person am empowered to do much and what it is about is that a shift has decidedly occurred. I'm not sure it can be put back the way it was in a way I used to understand and be able to relate to and I'm not entirely sure that putting it back the way it was is the path to take just now.
As a people among people, sharing life with other life and life forms on this plentiful planet with abundant resources, it assuredly seems we are headed in a direction of shooting ourselves in the heart with an unabated greed. But those are the words of the activists and fall on deaf ears on a large scale. I'm not saying or touting something new there, it just seems the time to quiet my self and wait instead of running into a burning house trying to save the precious life within...it's almost feeling like the fire is in full rage already and I'm perhaps slow to notice it's been burning for longer than my first notice of it engulfed in flames.
I rushed off to grab my garden hose and add my little trickle along with others who had done the same to try to squelch the flames. Now I'm stepping back and looking on and wondering if it is not already a lost cause; is it salvageable. No, that is not pessimism or doomsday talk; I hope it is a more realistic grappling with the new realities that face us all.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Troubled; Ownership Society; dvd The Corporation
Watched dvd 'The Corporation' last night. It was troublesome contemplating what's ahead and in store for not only our country but on the global scale. As I watched it and let the fullness of the implications wash over me; the words Ownership Society kept coming into my thoughts. This is a phrase that president bush uses which I've construed to mean something closer to what I think I understand. But in watching The Corporation last night, I think the light bulb came on for me in grasping a larger and sadly, a more sinister meaning.
Ownership of what is now considered public domain; commons; free as provided by nature; ie, water, sky, land, trees, lifeforms. An example of water being owned by privatization in Bolivia where residents must actually pay for use of water that was formerly freely available; rivers and the trade off in spending their meager income for either water or food or shelter. Yeah, so, that is already true in our own country. But somehow the immensity of the concept came flooding through for me last night in seeing the beginnings of a much different global concept than I could have begun to imagine.
The Corporation demonstrated with side by side interviews of corporate executives along with people who have reflected on the implications along with some activist movements efforts. It demonstrated the origins of 'corporation' back to the Civil War times and the addition of the 14th amendment intended to honor the newly freed black population. Attorneys at the time read the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness of a person as an opportunity on which they might capitalize by submitting that a corporation was a 'person'. It was recognized as such by judicial review and has been so ever since.
The Corporation showed a bit about the progression of 'corporations' as formed in the earlier days and how different was a corporation in the 1950s (my era) as compared to today's predatory practices. It hasn't been on my radar screen to pay close enough attention other than recognition that big business and corporations seems to have taken center stage in the workings of our country. And of course, Halliburton and Iraq, give a strong clue that something has shifted extremely as the decades have passed.
I can describe a feeling level I've had more on intuitive level than knowledgeable from having information to make discerning judgment. A registering in the not so conscious areas that kick up the sense of survival instincts without knowing what it is exactly I'm trying to outdistance to survive.
1980s is where I began to feel the shift, I think. A time when my own children were coming into their pre-teen and teen years. It seemed to me that suddenly 'labels' on clothing and shoes took on a much elevated importance than I could begin to comprehend. I didn't buy into it and didn't promote it for my children; rather I resisted it as a fad that would pass and began in earnest to try to train my children that the uniting self-identity and self-esteem to outward clothing symbols was superficial and created a vulnerable artificial reinforcement of personal identity and place in the world. But, at the time, I thought it was just me and my personal approach and thought the fad of it would pass in time. How wrong I was....
1990s and my children are coming into their adult years, starting to have their own children. I'm starting to feel like I'm being marshalled into a standard of living not of my own definitions, but pushed by a shift in societal definitions and I don't like it. I start quietly resisting in my own way with no full or clear understanding of what it is I am resisting. I move away from city and urban life to quieter and more remote areas, smaller towns, a less fast paced rythmn. At the time such language as 'meaningful living' is circulating. Yeah, that must be what I'm doing, I think. Sure, yeah, that's it.
The kids are grown now and seem to be doing all right for the most part, the country is in peace time and seeming to prosper and flourish. I'm not sure I agree with what has become important to folks as a measure of their standing based on their acquisitions but the country seems to be happy with it, so it must be me. I'm the odd one, the odd woman out of step.
Boom, 2000 and Suddenly there is a peculiar shift with the 2000 elections, a president bush who won by judicial favor and I'm alerted to 'politics' with a recognition that I don't really know much and I better learn more but he'll be gone in 4 years and how much damage can happen in 4 years? After all this country has survived political shifts before and this one will be politics as usual.....
Boom, Sept 11, 2001. The world changes in one day. The world I know, relate to, comprehend and understand has been altered by the incredulous event on that day. The world changes for us all, in ways I could not begin to have had prior knowledge. And now every day since then, I feel like I have been playing at 'catch up' because others did seem to know and have a prior agenda of events to unfold with the changing of the guard as marked by 911.
Well, there is more, but enough for this posting for now. Noting that the dvd 'The Corporation' and the concepts presented will be sitting with me for a long while now as I ponder my own next steps in how to react, respond to our changing world, feeling very much like I'm miles behind the current flowing forth in today's political, religious, corporate, war, global agendas as they meld into meaning one thing with very little lines of demarcation to separate one thing from the other.
I'm not lost, by no means, and I've felt it inwardly for many years now, just lacked a sense of how to express the shifts I was feeling were happening not to me but all around me and how I was reacting to those shifts. I need some time now to pull back and let the inward spirit do it's job of guiding me through some turbulent waters. It's not about me and my survival; it's about my children, their children and the generations to come. It's not about activism, it's not about politics, it's not about even a sense that I as one person am empowered to do much and what it is about is that a shift has decidedly occurred. I'm not sure it can be put back the way it was in a way I used to understand and be able to relate to and I'm not entirely sure that putting it back the way it was is the path to take just now.
As a people among people, sharing life with other life and life forms on this plentiful planet with abundant resources, it assuredly seems we are headed in a direction of shooting ourselves in the heart with an unabated greed. But those are the words of the activists and fall on deaf ears on a large scale. I'm not saying or touting something new there, it just seems the time to quiet my self and wait instead of running into a burning house trying to save the precious life within...it's almost feeling like the fire is in full rage already and I'm perhaps slow to notice it's been burning for longer than my first notice of it engulfed in flames.
I rushed off to grab my garden hose and add my little trickle along with others who had done the same to try to squelch the flames. Now I'm stepping back and looking on and wondering if it is not already a lost cause; is it salvageable. No, that is not pessimism or doomsday talk; I hope it is a more realistic grappling with the new realities that face us all.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz
From Information Clearing House
(Answers below)
by Bill Quigley
02/11/05 "Information Clearing House"
1. In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation?
2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?
3. The US is composed of 3,066 counties. In how many of the nation's 3,066 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?
4. How much must the typical US worker must earn per hour hour if they dedicate 30% of their income to housing costs.
5. How many million workers in the US earn poverty-level wages of less than $8.20 an hour?
6. What are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee?
7. What are Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia?
8. In 2001, the average financial wealth for black householders was about what % of the average for white households?
9. The median financial wealth for blacks is how much of the corresponding figure for whites?
10. Over the entire 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. In the ten years since the Clinton administration implemented the current U.S. border strategy with Mexico, how many people have died trying to cross?
11. Where does the US rank worldwide in the imprisonment of its citizens?
12. In 2004, the direct reported US military budget was how much for each second of the year?
13. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender?
14. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times as large as the combined spending of the seven so-called "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria)?
15. The difference in income per head between the richest nation and the poorest nation in 1750 was about 5 to 1. Today the difference between the richest nation and the poorest nation is what?
16. Of the 6.2 billion people in the world today, how many live on less than $1 per day, and how many live on less than $2 per day?
17. The richest 1% in the world receive as much income as what percentage of the poorest?
18. The Congress under President Bush has been more generous in helping poor countries than under President Clinton. In 2003, the US increased official development assistance to poor countries by one-fifth. Where does the US contribution rank in the top 22 countries in proportion to our economy?
19. Americans give how much per day in government assistance to poor countries?
20. Americans spend how much on soft drinks each day?
ANSWERS
Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz
1. The minimum wage would be $8.70 today if it had kept pace with inflation. Brennan Center, NYU Law School, November 3, 2004.
2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned 185 times more than the average worker. "Wages" in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
3. In four of the nation's 3,066 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment. New York Times, "Study Finds Gap in Wages and Housing Costs," December 25, 2004.
4. In fact, the typical US worker must earn $15.37 an hour if they dedicate 30% of their income to housing costs. New York Times, "Study Finds Gap in Wages and Housing Costs," December 24, 2004.
5. How many people in the US earn poverty-level wages of less than $8.20 an hour? More than 30 million workers. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 24 (Temple 2003).
6. What are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee? The total population of these states represents the number of people in the US living below the official poverty line. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 23-24 (Temple 2003).
7. What are Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia? The total populations of these state populations must be added to the states above if you count all the people below 125% of the official poverty line, a total of 22 states. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 23-24 (Temple 2003).
8. In 2001, the average financial wealth for black householders was about 12% of the average for white households. "Minorities," in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
9. The median financial wealth for blacks was $1,100, less than 3% of the corresponding figure for whites. "Minorities," in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
10. Over the entire 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. In the ten years since the Clinton administration implemented the current U.S. border strategy with Mexico, more than 2,500 people have died trying to cross. Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego. Marc Cooper, "On the Border of Hypocrisy," December 5, 2003, LA Weekly.
11. Where does the US rank worldwide in the imprisonment of its citizens? First. The US imprisons over 700 persons per 100,000. Russia is second with 584. Sentencing Project, Facts About Prisons and Prisoners. www.sentencingproject.org
12. In 2004, the direct reported US military budget was over $399 billion, $12,000 a second. www.globalissues.org
13. In 2003, the US military budget was more than 8 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender. www.globalissues.org
14. The US military budget was more than 29 times as large as the combined spending of the seven "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). Even if you add China and Russia's military spending to that of the seven potential enemies, all nine nations together spent $116.2 billion, 27% of the U.S. military budget. The US military budget is more than the combined spending of the next twenty three nations. www.globalissues.org
15. The difference in income per head between the richest nation and the poorest nation in 1750 was about 5 to 1. Today the difference between the richest nation, Switzerland, and the poorest nation, Mozambique, is about 400 to 1. (David S. Landes, THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS, xx, W.W. Norton 1998).
16. Of the 6.2 billion people in the world today, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 per day. 2002 UN Human Development Report.
17. The richest 1% in the world receive as much income as the poorest 57%. 2002 UN Human Development Report.
18. The Congress under President Bush has been more generous in helping poor countries than under President Clinton. In 2003, the US increased official development assistance to poor countries by one-fifth. Where does the US contribution rank in the top 22 countries in proportion to our economy? Last. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
19. Americans on average give how much per day in government assistance to poor countries? 15 cents. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
20. Americans spend how much on soft drinks each day? 60 cents. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing" oriented society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies." Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Time to Break Silence," April 4, 1967.
Bill Quigley is a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at quigley@loyno.edu
Copyright: Bill Quigley
(Answers below)
by Bill Quigley
02/11/05 "Information Clearing House"
1. In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation?
2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?
3. The US is composed of 3,066 counties. In how many of the nation's 3,066 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?
4. How much must the typical US worker must earn per hour hour if they dedicate 30% of their income to housing costs.
5. How many million workers in the US earn poverty-level wages of less than $8.20 an hour?
6. What are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee?
7. What are Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia?
8. In 2001, the average financial wealth for black householders was about what % of the average for white households?
9. The median financial wealth for blacks is how much of the corresponding figure for whites?
10. Over the entire 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. In the ten years since the Clinton administration implemented the current U.S. border strategy with Mexico, how many people have died trying to cross?
11. Where does the US rank worldwide in the imprisonment of its citizens?
12. In 2004, the direct reported US military budget was how much for each second of the year?
13. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender?
14. In 2003, the US military budget was how many times as large as the combined spending of the seven so-called "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria)?
15. The difference in income per head between the richest nation and the poorest nation in 1750 was about 5 to 1. Today the difference between the richest nation and the poorest nation is what?
16. Of the 6.2 billion people in the world today, how many live on less than $1 per day, and how many live on less than $2 per day?
17. The richest 1% in the world receive as much income as what percentage of the poorest?
18. The Congress under President Bush has been more generous in helping poor countries than under President Clinton. In 2003, the US increased official development assistance to poor countries by one-fifth. Where does the US contribution rank in the top 22 countries in proportion to our economy?
19. Americans give how much per day in government assistance to poor countries?
20. Americans spend how much on soft drinks each day?
ANSWERS
Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz
1. The minimum wage would be $8.70 today if it had kept pace with inflation. Brennan Center, NYU Law School, November 3, 2004.
2. In 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 2003, CEOs earned 185 times more than the average worker. "Wages" in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
3. In four of the nation's 3,066 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment. New York Times, "Study Finds Gap in Wages and Housing Costs," December 25, 2004.
4. In fact, the typical US worker must earn $15.37 an hour if they dedicate 30% of their income to housing costs. New York Times, "Study Finds Gap in Wages and Housing Costs," December 24, 2004.
5. How many people in the US earn poverty-level wages of less than $8.20 an hour? More than 30 million workers. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 24 (Temple 2003).
6. What are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee? The total population of these states represents the number of people in the US living below the official poverty line. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 23-24 (Temple 2003).
7. What are Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia? The total populations of these state populations must be added to the states above if you count all the people below 125% of the official poverty line, a total of 22 states. William Quigley, ENDING POVERTY AS WE KNOW IT: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job at a Living Wage 23-24 (Temple 2003).
8. In 2001, the average financial wealth for black householders was about 12% of the average for white households. "Minorities," in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
9. The median financial wealth for blacks was $1,100, less than 3% of the corresponding figure for whites. "Minorities," in State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute, www.epinet.org
10. Over the entire 28 year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. In the ten years since the Clinton administration implemented the current U.S. border strategy with Mexico, more than 2,500 people have died trying to cross. Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego. Marc Cooper, "On the Border of Hypocrisy," December 5, 2003, LA Weekly.
11. Where does the US rank worldwide in the imprisonment of its citizens? First. The US imprisons over 700 persons per 100,000. Russia is second with 584. Sentencing Project, Facts About Prisons and Prisoners. www.sentencingproject.org
12. In 2004, the direct reported US military budget was over $399 billion, $12,000 a second. www.globalissues.org
13. In 2003, the US military budget was more than 8 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender. www.globalissues.org
14. The US military budget was more than 29 times as large as the combined spending of the seven "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). Even if you add China and Russia's military spending to that of the seven potential enemies, all nine nations together spent $116.2 billion, 27% of the U.S. military budget. The US military budget is more than the combined spending of the next twenty three nations. www.globalissues.org
15. The difference in income per head between the richest nation and the poorest nation in 1750 was about 5 to 1. Today the difference between the richest nation, Switzerland, and the poorest nation, Mozambique, is about 400 to 1. (David S. Landes, THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS, xx, W.W. Norton 1998).
16. Of the 6.2 billion people in the world today, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 per day. 2002 UN Human Development Report.
17. The richest 1% in the world receive as much income as the poorest 57%. 2002 UN Human Development Report.
18. The Congress under President Bush has been more generous in helping poor countries than under President Clinton. In 2003, the US increased official development assistance to poor countries by one-fifth. Where does the US contribution rank in the top 22 countries in proportion to our economy? Last. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
19. Americans on average give how much per day in government assistance to poor countries? 15 cents. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
20. Americans spend how much on soft drinks each day? 60 cents. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Land of Penny Pinchers," New York Times, January 5, 2005.
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing" oriented society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies." Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Time to Break Silence," April 4, 1967.
Bill Quigley is a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at quigley@loyno.edu
Copyright: Bill Quigley
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Rising to the morning routine, simple pleasures
It is one of those crisp winter days this morning. We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work. I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.Well time to start the day..............
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.Well time to start the day..............
Rising to the morning routines, simple pleasures.
It is one of those crisp winter days this morning. We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work. I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in. I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights. I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part. I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep. Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds. And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq. See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
Morning meditation on Our Life on Willapa Bay
It is one of those crisp winter days this morning.
We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work.
I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in.
I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights.
I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part.
I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep.
Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds.
And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq.
See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
written by Lietta Ruger
We wake up, immediately turn on our respective computers, catch up on what's new or better said, more of the same, and as the sun comes up, we are drawn like a magnet to beginning the day. Husband goes about the business of morning preparations to go to work.
I, on the other hand, mentally lay out the plans for my day. I send him off in our usual morning routine. What that looks like is stepping out on the porch into the bracing chill, calling for our dog Jake, to make sure he is around and not off chasing an adventure somewhere in the neighborhood, and locating our cat, Lance.
Jake, as usual, comes trotting out of where-ever he chose to sleep for the night, sometimes on the porch, sometimes outside. Lance is either inside, curled up someplace or outside and ready to come in.
I give Jake his morning "treat" and he waits patiently, wagging his tail. He knows the routine...Daddy will go get in the truck and Mommy will give the dog a bone.
Our little entourage then waves Daddy off as he heads down the street and I take in the morning sights.
I take a look at the sunrise to see what kind of day we will have, look over to the bay water to see what color it is this morning and how the water is moving or not moving. I look to the neighbors' houses to see who is up and about, who has left for the day. I check to make sure the cat has food in his dish and then am reminded to remember whether I fed the two beta fish last night. I often forget to remember to feed those two, as it's hard to have a relationship with a couple of fish swimming in vases. The two beta fish and the cat are inheritances, acquired when my daughter's family was finally able to move to Germany.
So quietly my own day begins. Which is exactly the way I like it to be, for the most part.
I used to be part of that morning preparations to get ready for work and remember well that "morning rush" which I rarely enjoyed. The hair, the grooming, the make-up, choosing the clothes, putting on what I called the "uniform" constricting the flow to focus on the taskings as set forth by employer/employment. Rushing to the car, checking the time, flying down the road so we wouldn't be "late" and then arriving, stepping into the office, and that whole aura of 9 + hours and this place owns me.
This quiet and leisurely way to start the day is a contrast which I still relish and savor. As the sun finishes it's rise, I now know the tone of the weather for the day. I decide if I will open the blinds and curtains or let it remain awakening time a bit longer. Today it is sunshine, and light streams in, so the blinds and curtains are opened. We get a fair amount of rainy days here and sometimes I like to open the blinds where I sit at the computer to watch the rain fall and listen to it hitting the metal roof.
Lance isn't sure what he wants to do, and Jake has a strange gift to attend to outside. I closed up the porch last night, meaning to keep him in only long enough to eat his food, since he likes to share it with all the neighborhood dogs, and forgot to open the porch door last night before going to sleep.
Jake then was rather locked in then last night, not his usual routine. So I know he could not have brought that hooved deer leg into the yard, yet there it is this morning. Where did it come from? Which dog brought it and now, of course, Jake is seriously interested.
Meantime the birds are busy on the metal roof making a racket and doing whatever they do on the roof. I take Lance outside to do his bird-monitoring thing and he is busy now prowling on the deck railing trying to keep up with the movement of the birds.
And I thought I'd just blog about how our mornings begin. I'm so weary of blogging my other blogs and the war and the politics which have highjacked my daily life simple wonders in my own consuming focus to try to influence getting our troops home, thus hopefully ending some of the carnage and destruction that go on daily in Iraq.
See how those thoughts creep in even as I write to the simple pleasures of my morning wake-up routine.
Well time to start the day..............
written by Lietta Ruger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)