Necessary choices . . .
Tuesday, July 21, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . In spite of moderate Northerlies, Green Country forecasts indicate record heat. Real temperatures of 102º with an index of 116º are to greet TulseyTown this afternoon. The triple digits are to extend into the late evening.
Hope isn't a mood that shows up first and convinces you to act. It's what you find growing once you’ve already stepped up. – Pete Buttigieg
Everybody wants a transformation. Nobody wants the hundred boring, thankless days it actually takes to get it. Progress feels like nothing’s happening when you're mid-journey. You only see how far you’ve come once you stop for a moment and look back. – Mark Manson.
Today is the birthdate of Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Hemingway, born in 1899, Cicero [now in Oak Park], Illinois.
Canadian television and film director and producer Norman Jewison was born today in 1926, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Among my many mentors from far, Marshall McLuhan was born on this day in 1911 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
It's also Hart Crane's birthday. The poet was born in 1899 Garrettsville, Ohio.
The novelist and poet John Gardner was born today in 1933 Batavia, New York. He was the author ofGrendel, a retelling of Beowulf from the viewpoint of the monster.
And, poet Tess Gallagher is 83 today. She was born in 1943 Port Angeles, Washington.
Choices
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don’t cut that one.
I don’t cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
– Tess Gallagher, "Choices" from Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems. Graywolf Press. 2011.
Cat Stevens is 78 today.
All of us made this our choice.
Hot town, Summer in the city.
Monday, July 20, 2026. It's the Moon's day . . . a near 100º day is forecasted for Green Country. Moderate Southerlies, bright sun, and for TulseyTown a heat index of 109º mid afternoon into the evening.
It was 57 years ago today that the first people landed on the Moon and walked the lunar surface.
It's also the date in 1976 when the first space craft made a successful landing on Mars.
It was on this day in 1875 that the largest recorded swarm of locusts in American history descended upon the Great Plains.
Today is the birthdate – debated but best guess – of Alexander the Great in 356 B.C. Pella, Macedonia [northwest of Thessaloníki] Greece.
It’s the birthday of the Italian humanist, scholar, and poet Petrarch, born in 1304 Arezzo, Italy.
It's also the birthday of New Zealand mountain climber and Antarctic explorer Edmund Hillary in 1919, Auckland, New Zealand. He and the Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Carlos Santana is 79 years old today. A multi-Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was born in 1947 Autlán de Navarro, Mexico
Sandra Oh is 55 today. The multi awarded actor was born in 1971 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Uniquely recognizable, she was the co-lead in the series “Killing Eve,” among many other roles. My fave is the sleeper support role in the small independent film “Sideways.”
The multi Academy nominated actor Natalie Wood was born in 1938 San Francisco.
And, Pulitzer prize novelist Cormac McCarthy was born today in 1933 Providence, Rhode Island.
Hot as it is, sometimes at the same time it can be cool and smooth.
In the midst: a feel-good moment . . .
Sunday, July 19, 2026. It's Sol's day . . . a hot Summer Sunday is in the forecasts for Green Country. Moderate Southerlies, bright sun, mid 90's with an afternoon index of 105º in TulseyTown.
Today is the 178th anniversary of the first women’s rights conference in history, organized in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.
Benedict Cumberbatch is 50 years old today. The multi-laureate awarded British actor was born in 1976 London, England.
It's also the birthday of Edgar Degas. The French painter, sculptor, and printmaker was a prominent Impressionist, born in 1834, Paris, France.
The heated debate in Europe over air-conditioning, and other climate adaptations for us all. – Nathan Gardels, Noema, 7.17.26
Godlike Technology Is Breaking Your Brain: How to manage the information-overload-on-steroids-world. – Steven Kotler – co-founder of the Flow Research Collective – in conversation with Jeff Krasno at Commune.
Integrity. – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought, 7.19.26
In the midst of it all, Joyce had a feel good moment. – Civil Discourse 7.18.26
The Sun
...
everything
that made me
has been
a sun to my growing
…
– David Whyte, from “The Sun” posted on substack today, 7.19.26