Political Trails

I hope that our political situation becomes one that is more 'people - centered', than presidential edict - centered. Our sacred Constitution...it WAS - and still should be - our guide; that was it's original purpose. It is - our only hope to continue the democracy we need.

I hope we Americans start to participate in politics as we used to - such that the control over the 'people' in America - gets back into the hands 'of the people', as opposed to in the form of increasing presidential edicts, health organization takeovers and any one else in" charge" of  "mandates".  

Our children; and the fear they have learned with COVID;  how will that affect our future society...world-wide, as they filter into governmental positions, teaching positions...parental responsibilities of their own.?

I hope that COVID herd immunity increases quickly, and that this virus, as with it's cousins of the past, wears out!  I hope that maybe - in 2022, we can ALL get back to some semblance of normal, whatever that will be, after our 2 plus years of fear...infused into our culture .

I hope that we can bring back into our American culture, the respect and support of our aging population. We are a resource to be utilized, not a burden to be shut away into long-term-care places where we wither and die.  Seniors have a lifetime of experience; knowledge, wisdom - a LONG view that can aide our leaders - from government all the way down to schools and community.  That 'view' can assist us all in understanding "changes" throughout all aspects of our culture.  But we have to learn to respect aging again - learn to "listen" again to the experience, wisdom and patience that comes with it. This long-view can greatly assist in preventing the repetition of historical mistakes - in all walks of life.

I hope we all learn to be kinder, more patient with each other...more Loving in ALL the interactions we have in this world...in all our lifetimes.

Nature prevails.

"I lead you into the darkness...so you could find the light."

Buffalo Trails; get in line

 

20 October, 2021

This is no longer America.

This is no longer a free nation where our Constitution reigns sovereign. “Laws” are now dictated through EXECUTIVE ORDER...more and more, rather than through Congress – through the avenue of CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION.

It is not. And it's been coming for a long time.

We have basked in the laurels of the freedoms we had for too long; kept busy with our big boats, our personal problems, and our blind faith that we were safe within our boundaries.

HA!

Our borders are open; we owe just about everything we live by (food, clothing, cars, toys, tools, etc, ) to China; the government now has complete access to our private bank accounts; our medical choices are forced by fear into a confusion of when the next person just might kill us by breathing out in our airspace - by a contrived pandemic to which we are responding as though it were – instead...a plague!

Our entire planet of population – including our children - are being forced to take a vaccine that even the producers of this vaccine admit could change both our immune systems AND our reproductive cycles for the REST OF OUR LIVES!

Did you not suspect an “agenda” when we were URGED by the government to direct deposit our funds – TO SAVE TREES?! And then it became MANDATORY! They did not have access to our bank accounts then. We STILL had a choice to hold our paychecks – the money that WE EARNED...in our hands; not now.

Were you not suspicious when a law was passed in early 2000 that made it MANDATORY to fill out multi-paged census forms (under penalty of jail time) if we did not give the government the personal/private/NON OF THEIR BUSINESS info in these forms?! I spoke to a census CEO in Washington during the time when census workers were climbing fences and engaging in all manner of trespassing to get these forms completed. This CEO repeatedly said to me: ”We would never put anyone in jail for not filling out a form”. And I repeatedly responded...”But now - you CAN!”

Have you watched in disbelief how police are roaming the outdoor – OUTDOOR (where my “air” and your “air” are highly unlikely to be shared), cafe's in France – checking vaccine passports? Are you aware that everyday, law-abiding Australians are being beaten to the ground – regardless of young or old age...simply because they are QUIETLY PROTESTING against the MANDATORY vaccine?

Where are we going as Americans – as a planet – as a species? Why is there such a sudden big push to 'get everyone in line'? Do you not see how we are being manipulated to separate from each other? To distrust each other? The fear – yes FEAR that is being spread over this planet like a bug bomb in a bar...

How do you think this is affecting our growing, vulnerable children? Think about it! They will now have cemented in their first “life tapes” in their psyches, that – anyone – ANYONE...could kill them if they get too close. OMG. Think about that. How that changes our entire culture, the entire basis that we function within. Gone are the days we felt comfortable hugging someone in the grocery store or on the street when we met community “friends”.

Wake up people; this road we are walking...being pushed ahead on by government...just may follow the trails of the long ago Buffalo hunters on our great plains. And you know what THAT looked like...

from the other side of that cliff.

GMO TRAILS: Where are we going?

 I found an article that speaks to GMO products.  I found it to be concise, factual and comprehensive.

It also happens to be written by my child.  Kudos, Tony, for your knowledge, bravery and Loving soul!

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https://horsegulchblog.com/2013/02/how-can-you-say-genetically-modified-crops-are-safe/

9Feb2013

How can you say that genetically modified crops are safe?

Posted by Tony Schlauch

---

How can you say GM crops are safe?

I am writing this in response to Garth Buchanan’s op-ed piece in the Herald on 1/5/13, titled “Genetically modified crops are as safe as other produce”.  His first assertion is that genetic engineering is a type of cross breeding.  This is almost laughable.  Since when do frogs, spiders, and bacteria breed with corn, soy beans, and beets?  He also states that these engineers have more control over the resulting organism.  This is false.  The engineers have very little control over where the genes get overwritten, and then select for traits they are looking for after it grows, if it grows.

He says that scientists “believe” that risks can be controlled.  Besides not sounding very scientific, most fifth graders understand how plants propagate and understand that once released into the environment these genes cannot be contained in any way.  The Supreme Court also agrees stating that you cannot build a fence high enough to control wind and bees.  Besides the risk to wild populations since most GM crops produce sterile seed, it is a huge risk to the neighboring farmer that saves his or her own seed.  This has forced many farmers to buy their seed from Monsanto, which holds 90% of the market share, or other companies.

He would also have us believe that these GM crops use less water, fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.  This is false.  In fact the majority of GM crops, about 80%, are Round-up Ready, which are engineered to be able to be sprayed with Round-up almost to the day of harvest.  We are seeing large increases in the use of Round-up with each successive year.  These crops also require more fertilizer as Round-up is a chelator which binds to nutrients not allowing the plant to absorb them.  Eventually the soil becomes basically sterile.  We are also seeing the rise of super weeds that are resistant to Round-up (glyphosate). So of course they are developing 2-4-d ready crops.  2-4-d is one of the main components of Agent Orange.  In 2007 over 208 million pounds of glyphosate were applied to US soil.  This is essentially salting the earth.  No GM crop that is drought resistant was approved until last year, and does not show much promise.

We are also supposed to believe that there are no health risks to humans. This is false.  Over the last twenty years the rates of inflammatory related diseases have gone up at the same rates as GM produce usage.  That is because our body does not recognize it as food and attacks it causing an allergic reaction and inflammation.  Until September of 2012, no lifetime feeding study had been performed on any animal.  The FDA has only required 90-day rat-feeding studies to be performed mostly by the industry, not the FDA or independent scientists.  The companies only have to show that the rats did not die at significantly higher rates.  No attention is paid to what happens after 90 days or to the significant physiological changes that happen even in only 90 days.  The lifetime study published in peer reviewed Food and Chemical Toxicology was performed on rats for two years.  The results are scary:  increased mortality rates, tumors, kidney and liver malfunction, just to name a few.  I encourage the reader to look this up.  There are even studies that show the genes are transferring to the next generation, moving from plant to animal.

I am so tired of “scientists” hiding behind the FDA.  The current Deputy Commissioner for Foods is Michael Taylor, a lawyer with long ties to Monsanto.  The FDA has a long history of being headed by the same people who are making untold billions off of this industry.  Surely there is no conflict of interest there.  Yes I am being sarcastic.  The same goes for the USDA.  Look up who has steered these regulatory agencies over the last twenty years.  Then look up where they worked before and after holding these regulatory positions.  The conflict of interest will be clear.  How can we trust the same people making billions off of this industry to determine its safety?  We might as well let the wolves guard the hen house.

Let us touch on the labeling issue.  Mr. Buchanan would have us believe that this will cause people everywhere to starve.  Why is it, then, that over 80% of the world’s population already has labeling?  If countries like India and China can feed their populations with labeling I think America can.  Look at the next packaged food that you buy; there is a large amount of information there that is required by law.  Will adding the words “Contains GMO,” really cost the industry so much that food prices will skyrocket?  No, it will not.  What they are afraid of is that people will become informed and stop buying GM foods, which is what happens in most countries where labeling is required.

I am not a Luddite.  I do not believe that technology is inherently bad.  However, over the last 120 years we have been inundated with new technologies at an ever increasing rate with little or no oversight.  Each time we are told it is completely safe and not to worry or listen to the “Luddite” naysayers.  Then we find there are significant dangers and we pay the price with disease and death.  Do not worry though technology has a fix, then we find out that the “fix” has problems too.  We need to start analyzing new technologies, especially food and drug related ones, extensively and long term before accepting them into our lives or possibly even allowing them at all.  Of course this will slow “progress,” but it will result in a better quality of life for all of us, instead of just the heads of these companies and their stockholders.

Tony Schlauch

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Well said, Son! I am SO proud.

Nature prevails....

SPIRIT TRAILS: Do it anyway...

My spirit is 'wandering' today...having PEACEFUL PRESENCE, after a long, quiet spiritual walk. I was in touch with 'my spirit' as I walked – and my guardian angel, Tanya – and a bit with Mother Mary, too. Tho I walked fast and taxed my heart and lungs a bit (finally, after 2 weeks of pushing every other day – just to GET OUT THERE!), today I felt I was in a different “space'.

My body was more a leader than a participant. I was more in tune with my inner feelings...inner energy, which is why I believe I had that extra energy, greater than usual.

My counselor and I trade book titles and sayings and poems – we boost each other (or at least she boosts me!). I hope I help...

Anyway, we shared several poems which I now share with you below. I hope they help your day to be more Loving, more 'energized'...filled with ethereal thoughts of the 'greater good'.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the best you've got anyway.

You see,
in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

MOTHER THERESA

Some say this was rewritten by her from a poem by Kent M. Keith;

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
   Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
   Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
   Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
   Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
   Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
   Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
   Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
   Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
   Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
    Give the world the best you have anyway.

© 1968, 2001 Kent M. Keith

************************************************************************************

Then there is one of my favorites...a poem whose words sustained me several times along my earlier life-road, when the world weighed heavy on my heart and soul;

INVICTUS …A POEM FREQUENTLY RECITED BY NELSON MANDELA

by English poet   

William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

 

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

Nurturing Verse

Poems on nature
put beauty in reach;
their paintings may bid us reread!

But verses of nurture
can morally teach
to beautify life with a creed.

— David L. Hatton, 5/31/2018

https://allpoetry.com/poem/13920183-Nurturing-Verse-by-Pastordavidrn

May your day be filled with all that Nature has to offer. Talk to a bird nearby; notice the perfection in a cloud; feel the temperature of the breeze as it passes your cheek; appreciate your home, family and friends - while remembering there are many on this Earth without these blessings!  Smile at your neighbor – even as his dog roams your lawn; pull over and let the tailgater behind you - buzz past you; give your mailperson a warm hello (they may especially need it today); tell your spouse he or she is your sunshine – even if they are scowling today.

BE your spirit today – give out as much Love and kindness as you can. 

As Mother Theresa said...”Do it anyway”!

Nature prevails....even in the shadows.

Vaccine Trails: TO YOUR DOOR!

It sounds SO "community" oriented - so "helpful".  But is it really?  Might it be the CDC, WHO and your "caring" local health organization taking - yet - a bit more freedom from us?  Getting us just a LITTLE BIT more used to the "government" ((in this case the LOCAL government)) used to being told what to do.  It is hard to refuse HELP...when it is at your front door!!!

 Please read the following article.

https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/frontlinenews/door-to-door-covid-shot-pushers-report-unvaccinated-to-government-health-departments/

Question this new approach to KEEPING US SAFE.  Ask yourself - if there is another - more FREEDOM ORIENTED way to do this?  Could - maybe...the shots be AVAILABLE at the local (EACH TOWN/COMMUNITY) building, and do a 911 call as they do with a tornado and OFFER rides for anyone INTERESTED in the vaccine?  Or do a MASS MAILING telling. ..OFFERING EVERYONE the vaccine locally? 

AT YOUR DOOR....think about it folks.  IT IS OUR FREEDOM WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!

WAKE UP!!  This SAFETY thing is WAY out of control.

My Real Estate broker from years ago when I was a Realtor in Denver, a wise, intelligent, educated person said to me one day, when there was a Police car out front of the building that said  TO SERVE AND PROTECT; 

"Danielle...see that word PROTECT?  Be careful, just be careful, as the years go by".  

I was young - in my 30's - the world looked FREE and available to me.  The IGNORANCE of youth.  It was the 1970's...right after the 1960's...when people could march for their rights - speak up without the fear of today.  I marched in Washington in 1974 - along with about 50,000 other citizens. We talked to Congress-people, stated our requests - our 'redress' from our REPRESENTATIVES. Is that still possible?  NO!!  Back then...I thought I could do anything!  FOREVER.  After all - I lived in the USA!!!

Am I overreacting?  Or are we really letting our precious freedom of movement, decisions about our bodies, our freedom to speak on any subject - respectfully and openly (WITHOUT BEING CENSORED BY SOCIAL MEDIA!) slowly slip away - under the umbrella guise of SAFETY?  

Interesting....first we are ENCOURAGED to put our communications with each other - away from private HOUSE phone conversations...into public arenas...THEN - we are censored in those arenas.   Are we being led like sheep, to do someone else's bidding so we are more 'transparent' to the 'powers that be'?  This is a question EACH AMERICAN MUST ask themselves; HOW FAR WILL WE COMPLY...to be SAFE.  

STAR-TREK anyone? The BORG...RESISTANCE IS FULTILE!  You MUST COMPLY!

This PANDEMIC is only several points higher in death toll than the regular yearly FLU. Why the worldwide scare that transformed AN ENTIRE PLANET- into overwhelming fear and hiding - in only 2 months?!  AN ENTIRE PLANET, FOLKS! 

What if it REALLY WAS A PLAGUE?!

JUST HOW SAFE must we be...from ourselves...

***********************FROM OURSELVES?!************************

THE GOVERNMENT'S JOB IS TO KEEP US SAFE FROM OUTSIDERS - NOT OURSELVES!  There is a LARGE - VERY LARGE price to pay for "ourselves safety".

As I drove out of New York State years ago - the seat belt law had just passed there.  I recall the then - Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the radio.  The crux of his comment was..."The government just got their hands inside your car; how long till they have them...inside your house?"  Door to door vaccine push?...gettin' pretty close, me 'tinks. 

Think about that.  

Read serious articles about how we are "connected" to the Chinese government.  Then - read how easily the Chinese Government CONTROL THEIR CITIZENS.  Do we want to live under that type of "governing"?  Just how dependent are we to the Chinese?  If our nation chose to say NO to them...how bad would it be if they stopped ALL CHINESE PRODUCTS that we use in the USA from coming into our country?  THINK ABOUT THAT.

There IS a price to pay for GROWING UP and being RESPONSIBLE FOR OURSELVES!  We are not-so-slowly...giving up that responsibility.  Along with that goes - our FREEDOM. Aren't we supposed to wear our BIG BOY/GIRL PANTS WHEN WE TURN  21?!

We are allowing ourselves to be treaded like CHILDREN...safe but controlled.

*****Where are we going?  Look at history.  

*****What PRICE are we paying - and willing to continue paying....to be "SAFE"?  SAFE from what; more importantly - safe from WHO...ourselves?  I myself - an Italian who will hug just about anybody - given half a chance; even I am more cautious now when I approach ANYONE;  Where are my 6 feet?'  I hear in my mind.  OMG...what enculturation in less than 2 years!  

OMG, what have we taught our children?!!!!!

NATURE PREVAILS.

 

100 years: a long trail

 22 June, 2021

(I wrote this on the above date but could not post till today, 26 June, 2021

Happy Birthday, Mommy.  You are now a centenarian! Wow, it's been a long ride...

Know that you are Loved.  Know that I respect, honor and consider myself blessed with the amazing genes you passed on to me.  They have taken me thru a few of life's corners - without which I might have fallen.

I see some of your beauty and strength in my child - how he perseveres thru life's struggles and always wakes up on the positive side of his bed - a trait straight from your heart.

I recall your strength as you raised us; your perseverance as you worked hard and long to keep food on our table; how you Loved and cared for us with all that your heart and soul could bear.

I see Grandmere in your smile, Grandpere in your steadfast ability to not give up, tho Grandmere had those qualities as well.  I recall your sorrow as you told the story of watching your parents stand together next to their home that had burned to the ground, crying together like lost souls.

I thank you for allowing me to spend time with Grandmere when I was in my early teens; I recall sitting with her on her back porch, drinking strong Italian coffee from her beautiful little demitasse cups, overlooking her large garden of flowers that she tended to, so devotedly; her plum trees across the driveway from the porch.  I recall the smell of her kitchen when she made her spring salads - the spices she put in her dressing that you passed down to us.  I recall the sound of the well hand pump in her sink years before she changed out to a more modern pump - how it sounded as the water came slowly up from its depths....how cold it was and how wonderful it tasted.

I keep in  my memory the early morning dawns as you and I hung laundry in the back yard in Lower Bank - how you taught me to tighten my tummy muscles every time I reached down to the basket for another piece of clothing; I recall how you and Pat slowly, diligently, built that $50,000 house (in the 1960's value) from a simple chicken coop.  My memory holds the warmth of your care when I had a bad cold - how you made me perspire with loads of blankets, PJ's and then would change out everything for another natural and successful battle with the fever.  

I recall the event when Daddy broke your favorite end table and how I reacted; a freeze-frame moment for all three of us.

I recall the bell you installed at the end of the house that called us in for meals and other necessities and how you insisted we stay outside and play.  Tho we moaned and complained, that taught us to be creative, taught us to get along and play together, gave us fresh air and sunshine...while it gave you your necessary time to reboot as "Mommy".

Your picture on Gabby, our beautiful Egyptian Arabian Mare that we took in Las Animas when you visited us at Road 17...how you Loved to ride; I recall your stories of your rides in Central Park, NYC, I can still see in my mind your riding jodhpurs and boots that you kept in Lower Bank.

Your picture taken at Grumman Aircraft in your welding outfit - holding your welding hat -your gorgeous smile.  

I recall your sad story about how you and your first husband, Nick Simone had such a close and 'together' relationship before your wedding, and how you did everything together during an era when women were separate and segregated;  and how that allowed you to make your decision to marry him, and how that situation changed after the wedding, and the sadness that ensued for you.

I recall your drinking, and the pain and separateness that it caused - for all of us.  But now, in my 70's, with my own "age" and life struggles around me...I understand so much better.  And I give you my apologies for the coldness I gave you thru those times/years. The chasm of 'age' in this life and the loneliness and pain it engenders...is sad, beyond words.  If only I could hold you one more time and ask your forgiveness for my ignorance of youth.

One last thing; I ache every time I think of all your birthdays that I did not celebrate with you as you so deserved. I am sorry. But today - on your hundredth birthday...I salute and hug you with all that I am.  I miss you with a vengeance that will follow me thru forever.  And I look forward to meeting you in our future - wherever and whenever that may be.

Happy hundred dearest Me-Mere.  Love and kisses forever. 

Renee C Arcuri was born on June 22, 1921. She died on October 18, 1998 at 77 years of age.

https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/renee-c-arcuri-birth-1921-death-1998/9094689htt

Danielle

Nature prevails....for infinity

..

TRAILS OF LIVING: Questions

 “Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to live the questions themselves. Don't search for the answers which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. The point is to live everything. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” Rainer Maria Rilke

This came in my email today. At 74, I hear it's familiarity...”Don't rush answers”...”Think through the question before you seek to answer it”.... “Have patience with yourself”, etc. We've all heard different versions of this basic thought process.

But to LIVE this process – throws a new wrench into this more bantered around way of giving ourselves yet another 'tool' in our life 'toolbox'. ”One can NEVER have too many 'tools'! Harbor Freight has this understanding down pat! Just ask my DH.

Ms. Rilke widens, deepens, gives this process more power to enable us to find our way in life. After all - “living”...is what we do in this life, right? RIGHT!

Reminds me me of an old Beatles song...”Let it be”...INDEED.

Maybe at times...we ARE our worst enemy as it were; maybe WE are the ones who place boulders in our paths, create the hill we cannot climb, make our life-plate too heavy, make our lives more complex and difficult to manage.

I've heard biblical quotes that speak to this process; to be STILL so that we can “hear” answers, be quiet enuf to understand how the “divine” in us is guiding. That – INMO, for me anyway, is why meditation is so difficult; that “monkey-mind” will not shut up! It wants to RUN through life, and we follow behind like perfectly performing little puppies! When any three of my cats jumps up on the computer table near my keyboard; I get wound up and attempt to gently push them away with accompanying LOGIC such as...”Please – not now – I am right in the middle of a thought”...or – “Not now, I'm on my bank line and you might step on the keyboard and mess something up!” What I am doing is missing THEIR moment - which COULD be mine - if I slowed down - LIVED instead of ran.

Then I recall Hugh Prather in “Notes to myself”; “I am holding my cat so it can sleep; what else is there!” Indeed! Life is all about LIVING each moment; being at peace with each moment – NOT what we WANT in that moment...but just the unadulterated, “Thy will not my will”, the BE STILL NESS of LIVING - JUST THE MOMENT. And then, as Rilke suggests, before we know it – we are Living the next moment...and the next, and the next.  The point being, we do not have to run to that next moment...and the next, etc.  They come regardless; life stops for nothing or no-one. So pretty soon those answers we sought oh so long ago...are already here! Amazing how that can happen.

When we are “STILL”, moments/life fill in around us. Our way becomes more filled with wonder and sunshine and imagination and beauty and just all the “roses” we may normally miss because we “ran” past them. And yes – the “thorns” may become more prominent as well. But up-close-and-personal, “thorns” have their own, unique beauty...and purpose. Rain and sunshine...cold and hot...big and small, etc.

The bottom line being...LIVING. LIVE your moments. And maybe sometimes, we may receive “answers” to what “questions' you were totally unaware.

Peace be with you in each of your endless LIVED 'moments' today.

Nature prevails...

Life trails: Jan Verhoeff

 Jan Verhoeff died the other day.

She was a teacher, a friend, a blogger, a Mom, a wife, a student, a champion of conservative values.  Her honesty, kind and caring heart, her astute and discerning intelligence touched many hearts and souls.  

She will be remembered for her courage of convictions; she had a winning way of explanation and understanding that brought many listeners around to her train of thinking. As a pupil of her writing expertise, I enjoyed her writing classes and learned a great deal about many phases of writing, particularly with online ins and outs.

She wrote several books, worked many, many blogs on a daily basis - actually made her living in part, from them.  I was amazed, years back to understand that she wore through keyboards on an almost monthly basis. Writing was her forte - began at an early age and continued until her passing, a few weeks ago.

She also championed home schooling - was a part of the administrative end of homeschooling in Colorado, as well as a homeschooler of her four children.  Her children all went on to be amazing citizens, Loving, caring parents and kind spouses.  Her immediate family embraced the true Christian Love of family and the values therein. She was a "Mom of Mom's"! I saw a saying that was quoted as a "Sudanese proverb"; in my opinion, it sums up Jan's mothering to a tee: 

 "We desire to bequeath two things to our children; the first is roots, the other is wings." (1)

Her talents were diversified and wide, including riding and caring for horses, running small businesses, a seamstress of quality fare, etc.  She had the ability to remain calm in many types of "storms".  She was a MEMORABLE caregiver to her Mother through her sickness and passing.  She balanced pleasure with business, friendship with reality, intelligence with finances.  Her capacity for strength was innately deep.  She enjoyed cooking and eating; she found fun and creativity in her kitchen as well as in many other areas of her life.

As I write this, it is surreal to re-read my words - a seemingly fictitious story of unimaginable reality.  But it is true, Jan has passed. When I dialed her phone a few minutes ago, I broke into tears as I heard her voice on the answering machine.

Rest well, dear heart.  Know the presence of angels and the Love of your Creator. No more life stress; no more pain.  You are in our hearts and memories forever.

(1) Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell, THE ORACLE

Political trails: kindergarden "in session"

 

My rant for today.  But - you decide; is is REALLY all just "rant"?

Each day I awake and wonder at the changes occuring in the world today.  As a "senior citizen", I watch an already "alien" world around me - just from the normal changes that occur over a 50-plus year span.  All "seniors" have to deal with 50 years worth of changes in their lives; it is "reality". Therein - the "alien-ness" around us.

We are told to 'get with the times'...'let go of the past'...'grow up' (that's always a trip to hear at our ages), etc.  Indeed - just how much of the impact and 'reality' of your upbringing, your enculturation, your mor`es, your values, your beliefs, etc., can one ignore/change/let go of, before you are no longer YOURSELF!  And then - who the h__ are you instead??!

I have witnessed infantile humanness in the political arena for many years; it shows up now and then; after all - we are all HUMAN.  But - what I am watching on the current political front...for several years now...is more than deeply distressing,  it is dangerous.  Why? Because there are Constitutional issues getting trampled and thrown about like confetti. As the Constitution erodes...where goes America?....

Truthfully...it reminds me all too much of a kindergarden recess; Aren't the ELECTED supposed to behave professionally? Name-calling, all the EMOTIONAL ranting, the time/money - OUR MONEY folks, spent in Washington on who's right - who's wrong, etc.  What about American issues - REAL ONES?!  Like the messed up tax system? Like the national debt?  Like the no-accountability of corporations these days? Have you tried to resolve an issue with a utility or other large business lately?  IF...you can ever get released from the PHONE TREE...

But back to real issues, like the steady rise in prices - at the store, at the garage, at the parks, online, etc?  How does that match the extra 5 dollars most seniors received in their new monthly income over the past few years?!  You know... the REAL issues - the ones that address our eating and working and - oh yeah - being free?! Oh,  I just remembered...."get with reality, Grandma; this is the NEW NORMAL!!!".

This 'growing up' at 70 something is hard; maybe I should go back to school.  OOOPS...they're closed  now...to keep us SAFE! Back home...to watch kindergarden on TV.  HOME school...there you are., as my Grandmere used to say in her broken French accent. Now THERE was a lady with brains!  A whole lot more than I hear coming from...you know where.

But - this a a rant, a blog, a personal opinion; I can call life...as I see it. Unfortunately, there is a much bigger RANT going on; by a WHOLE LOT more people...back east; yup - you know where.

And the media?! Where is the factual, issue-driven content that NEWS is supposed to share with the people?  When I took my journalism courses in college, YELLOW journalism was a no-no!

Oh, that's right...I need to 'get with the times'...GROW UP.  Oh my, but I DO have a great deal of GROWING UP to do.  

I hope I die of natural causes LONG before I have GROWN UP....A SECOND TIME in my life. Once....was enuf.  

At least then...there was hope.