A lap full of love . . .and feet
Thursday, July 9, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . dangerous heat is in the forecasts for Green Country today. After a few morning showers, the sun, humidity and moderate Southerlies are to push the afternoon heat index to 106º. Heat warnings are in effect.
Popular psychology describes “falling in love” in pathological terms as a matter of our projecting onto the blank screen of another all our hopes and dreams about romantic love, rather than seeing the person for who she or he really is. Poet/song writer/singer Leonard Cohen disagreed with this analysis. Rather, he said, when we fall in love, we are seeing truly. As time goes by, the veils of our ordinary conditioned consciousness begin to drop again and obscure the clear vision we were gifted with at first. – posted by Mirabai Starr, in Slipping Away. 7.8.26
From the “been-there-done-that” files: Leonard described my love life (at least until 30 years ago).
The woman whose feet are in my lap. – Garrison Keillor, “A summer night on a porch,” The Column, 7.8.26
The “forever war” that Trump criticized when he ran for office in 2024 is now a full-blown reality with no end. – Robert Reich, The Never Ending War, substack, 7.8.26
Trump’s election-takeover schemes are becoming dangerous. Blue state Governors are now being told to turn over their voter roles, or their citizens’ lives will be put at risk. – Miles Taylor, Defiance.
E. Jean Carroll is going to outlast Trump's delay game. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
Today is the birthdate of one of the most famous journalists of the 20th century, Dorothy Thompson. She was born in 1893, Lancaster, N.Y. and was the first journalist Hitler threw out of Germany before the start of WWII.
Neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks was born on this day in 1933 London.
And, Italian composer Ottorino Respighi was born on this day in 1879, Bologna, Italy.
He loved The Pines of Rome.
What a love-fool would do . . .
Wednesday, July 8, 2026. It's Odin's day … Southerlies return to Green Country today, bringing a heat index of 107º this afternoon to TulseyTown.
Laughter is carbonated holiness. – Anne Lamott
Today is the birthdate of psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. A pioneer in the study of death and dying, she was born on this day in 1926 Zurich, Switzerland.
Author Shirley Ann Grau was born on this day in 1929 New Orleans.
ICE is worse than ever. – Robert Reich, substack, 7.8.26
Trump's approach to gun safety is like writing a report on flood safety never mentioning the rain. He gives veto power to the NRA. And even law-abiding gun owners are worried he's gone too far. – Miles Taylor, Defiance.
Taylor Sheridan is an immediately recognizable name to the Paramount video drama nerds. Arguably the most gifted screenwriter/director/producer among the likes of Aaron Sorkin and David E. Kelley. If you're new or only vaguely familiar with Sheridan, he presently has 11 creations now streaming.
What a love-fool would do: Cultivate a Honeymoon Mind. – Sophie Strand, Make Me Good Soil, 7.6.26
Transcending time . . .
Tuesday, July 7, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . Summer forecasts have a habit of repeating themselves. Today's for Green Country are a good example: Sun, a few clouds, hot, humid, mid 90's afternoon. The only differences tend be where our breezes, if there are any, come from. Yesterday's easy Nor'easters are to continue in TulseyTown today.
Resentment is the compound interest on conversations you were too afraid to have. — Mark Manson.
While climate change makes extreme heat more dangerous, the Trump administration is fighting to remove or alter national park signs and exhibits that tell the truth about the crisis unfolding around us. The efforts are part of a broader push to censor national park materials about climate change, slavery, Indigenous history, immigration, racism, and other essential parts of the American story. That is not public service. It is political censorship. But, maybe, you knew that. If not, now you do.
Trump has taken to saying that those Americans calling for the government to maintain the rule of law to make sure the economic playing field is level, rather than working for corporations and the wealthy, are “communists.” So he is looking to put a thumb on the scale of the midterm elections as he did in the FIFA match and the economy. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Why Is He Using the Communist Trump Card? – Robert Reich, He's Run Out of Cards. Substack, 7.6.26
Today is the birthdate of historian and author David McCullough. The two time laureate of the Pulitzer and National Book Awards, he was born in 1933 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Marc Chagall was born on this day in 1887, Vitebsk, Belorussia, Russian Empire [now in Belarus]. The Belorussian-born French painter, printmaker, and designer composed his images based on emotional and poetic associations, rather than on rules of pictorial logic. Predating Surrealism, his works were among the first expressions of psychic reality in modern art.
Its also the birthdate of science fiction writer (Stranger in a Strange Land) Robert Heinlein. born in 1907 Butler, Missouri.
And, composer and conductor Gustav Mahler was born on this day in1860 Kaliště, Bohemia. One of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, that position has sustained into today. He wrote some of the most intense, powerful and large scale symphonies in all of music history.
Mahler and Bernstein = Transcendence