Counting the ways . . .
Thursday, May 7, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . Moderate Southwesterlies return to Green Country today. Sunny skies and mid 70's are in the afternoon forecasts for TulseyTown.
Yesterday was not a banner day for members of the Trump administration. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
The New Jim Crow. – Joyce Vance in Civil Discourse.
Two giants of classical music were born on this date, seven years apart: German composer Johannes Brahms was born on this day in 1833 Hamburg. And, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 Votkinsk, Russia. The two were rivals with little respect for one another.
Today is also the birthdate for Victorian poet and playwright Robert Browning, born in 1812 Camberwell, England, His relationship with fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett is one of the most famous in English literature.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
– Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43. This poem is in the public domain.
How not to get lost . . .
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
It's Odin's day . . . Strong Northerlies, mid 60's, sun and clouds mixed: Spring in Green Country and TulseyTown.
To live without roads seems one way not to get lost. – Naomi Shihab Nye
The Hindenburg disaster occurred today in 1937 Manchester Township, New Jersey.
The numbers are starting to come in. The grift and greed is staggering. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Thoughts and reflections for a younger generation. – Robert Reich, 5.5.26
Broadway's 2026 Tony Award nominees were announced yesterday.
The innovating motion-picture actor, director, producer, and writer Orson Welles was born on this day in 1915, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Welles wrote, directed, produced, and acted in several of his films, including that of Citizen Kane—one of the most-influential films in the history of the art.
George Clooney is 65 today. The laureate actor, filmmaker, director and screenwriter was born in 1961, Lexington, Kentucky.
Its the birthday of silent film matinee idol Rudolph Valentino, born in 1895, Castellaneta, Italy.
And, today is the birthdate of Sigmund Freud, born in 1856, Freiberg, Moravia, Austrian Empire [now Příbor, Czech Republic].
Fairytales, Metamorphosis, and Relational Ontologies. – Sophie Strand, Make Me Good Soil, 5.5.26.
Gate A-4
. . .
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This
is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that
gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—seemed apprehensive about
any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too.
This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
– Naomi Shihab Nye, “Gate A-4,” in Honeybee, Greenwillow Books, 2008.
True freedom . . .
Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Its' Tiw's day . . . Strong Northerlies and a chance for morning rain started the day in Green Country. After Noon the rain chances end and forecasts indicate clouds hanging around as wind chill drops to the 50's.
True freedom arises not in escape but in developing our natural capacity for presence, openness, and wholehearted acceptance. – Pema Chödrön, Another Kind of Freedom, Shambhala Press, 2026.
The revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist Karl Marx was born on this date in 1818, Trier, Rhine province, Germany.
Its the birthdate of Søren Kierkegaard. The recognized founder of existential philosophy was born in 1813, Copenhagen, Denmark.
The confidence — that the law cannot reach you because you are the one wielding it — is the oldest and most dangerous delusion in Washington. It’s the delusion under which Todd Blanche and Trump are now seemingly operating. – Miles Taylor, Defiance, 5.4.26
You can't gerrymander $5-a-gallon gasoline. — Mat Kerbel, in Wolves and Sheep, 5.4.26.
Today is the birthdate of journalist Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864 Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
Matinee idol Tyrone Power was born on this day in 1914, Cincinnati, Ohio.
One of the first female country artists to record songs told from a woman’s perspective, Tammy Wynette was born in 1942, Itawamba county, Mississippi.
Adele turns 37 today.
And, Today is Cinco de Mayo, the Fifth of May, with celebrations that began as commemorating the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The celebrations embracing Mexican culture generally have grown world wide.