James Bethel James Bethel

Love is more frequent than to fail. . .

Wednesday, April 8, 2026. It's Odin's day . . . Moderate Southerlies, sun and clouds, low 80's for Green Country and TulseyTown .… such a day!

What if the freedom you seek isn’t found by changing your circumstances but by embracing life exactly as it is? – Pema Chödrön, Another Kind of Freedom, Shambhala, 2026.

Trump claims he has an agreement with Iran. Iran says the agreement is based on it's ten point plan. If the terms are correct, they leave the United States significantly worse off than it was before the war and leave Iran significantly stronger. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, posted for today.

Trump's defeat. This time is like every other time. – Robert Reich, Every Time, substack 4.8.26

Buddha's birth is celebrated today in Japan. The date for the celebration of Buddha's birthday varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar, but it is usually celebrated in either April or May in many different locations throughout Asia.

Barbara Kingsolver turns 71 today. She was born in 1955 Annapolis, Maryland. The novelist posted her own autobiography on her website.

[love is more thicker than forget]

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win

less never than alive

less bigger than the least begin

less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly

and more it cannot die

than all the sky which only

is higher than the sky

– e.e.cummings “love is more thicker than forget” from Complete Poems 1904-1962. Liveright Publishing 1991.

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James Bethel James Bethel

The thing with feathers . . .

Tuesday, April 7, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . another lovely Spring day for Green Country. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate a sunny day with some clouds along with moderate Southerlies and mid 70's.

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining. – Anne Lamotte

Follow your own path rather than your parents’ fears or society’s expectations. Live truthfully. A wholesome life grounded in ethics, courage, and openness is possible. – Venerable Gotami, “ Why I became a nun at 23,” Tricycle, 2026.

Today is the birthdate of William Wordsworth, born in 1770 Cockermouth, England. The poet with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature and was one of its most central figures and important intellects.

Billie Holiday was born today in 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The American jazz singer is considered one of – if not the – the greatest from the 1930s to the ’50s.

Francis Ford Coppola is 86 today. The American motion-picture director, writer, and producer was born in 1939 Detroit, Michigan.

I long for the day – coming sooner than later, I trust – that the mailbox isn't overflowing with necessary political harbingers.

Another surreal day in the second Trump administration. Heather Cox Richardson reflected in Letters From An American, posted last night for today.

The Iranians know Trump has actually lost his mind. – Robert Reich, Final Thought. 4.6.26

Across the United States, the landscape of local television news is undergoing a profound transformation that signals the start of its slow-death decline. The aim is a smothering of America with MAGA ideology.

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment is a fantasy dressed up as democracy’s savior. Believe me – considered and dropped in the first term, won't work now. Our only hope — at least right now — is an election that smothers the MAGA movement. So let’s get to work. – Miles Taylor, in Defiance.

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

– Emily Dickenson. This poem is in the public domain.

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James Bethel James Bethel

The secret road of love . . .

Monday, April 6, 2026. It's the Moon's day . . . forecasts for Green Country and TulseyTown indicate ten days of upper 70's and low 80's with mainly sunny skies and moderate Southerlies. Rain chances are increasing over the weekend and next week.

Not merely figuratively: Your life and your love will always and forever have the final word.  

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Today is the birthday of Merle Haggard. The Kennedy Center honoree and multi-grammy award singer/songwriter was born in 1937, Oildale, California.

The master painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance, Raphael, was born in 1483, Urbino, Duchy of Urbino [Italy].

The molecular biologist James Watson was born on this day in 1928, Chicago, Illinois. He and three others – should have been four – received the Nobel Prize for their work on the discovery of DNA.

For you: An hour long, enlightening discussion/interview with Ken Burns, courtesy of Gavin Newsome. The focus revolves around Mark Twain's advice: If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.

The world could use more loving-kindness. We can do that.

Portrait [Machado]

. . .leftist blood moves through my body. . .

my poems rise from a calm and deep spring. . .

I am not one of the blue jays who sing so well. . .

I fall silent so as to separate

voices from echoes.

I listen among the voices

to one voice and only one.

I talk aways to the one

who walks along with me. . .

my soliloquies are discussions

with this friend, who taught me

the secret of loving human beings.

– Antonio Machado, “Portrait,” in the longer poem “Retrato” in Campos de Castilla, Renacimiento Madrid. 1912. [this translation by Robert Bly and edited by James Allen Bethel, in the anthology The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart, Harper Collins. 1992.]

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