Poets true and false . . .
It's the Satyr's day . . . a cloudy, cold day in TulseyTown with rain chances increasing and more Winter on The Way.
Heads up readers... yers trooley is taking a Winter vacation break that will affect the regular blog postings for the next 18-20 days depending on weather and airlines. There will be some postings, but likely not daily as has been the habit of late.
Birthdays today:
Isaac Newton was born in 1643 Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
Jacob Grimm, he of The Brothers Grimm, was born in 1785 Hanau, Germany.
And, the French educator who developed a system of printing and writing, called Braille, extensively used by the blind, Louis Braille, was born on today's date in 1809 Coupvray, near Paris, France.
Crises get a lot of attention, but the quiet work of fixing them gets less. And if that work ends the crisis that got all the attention, the success itself makes people think there was never a crisis to begin with. Twenty-five years ago, In the aftermath of the Y2K problem, people began to treat it as a joke – It wasn't. The fix had taken a decade. As we launch ourselves into 2025, one of the key issues of the new year will be whether Americans care that the U.S. government does the hard, slow work of governing and, if it does, who benefits. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Joyce Vance outlines Trump's plan for Mass Deportations & The Return of Family Separation, in Civil Discourse.
...the true poet is like a man who is happy anywhere, in endless measure, if he is allowed to look at leaves and grass, to see the sun rise and set. The false poet travels abroad in strange countries ... and is dissatisfied. He is not as happy as the man who stays at home and sees the apple trees flower in spring, and hears the small birds singing among the branches. ― Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Ignorance yields to wisdom . . .
It's Frigg's (Freya's) day . . . a wind-chill in the 20's started the day in TulseyTown.
On this day in 1841, the whaler Acushnet sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, with Herman Melville on board.
The Irish playwright Oscar Wilde docked on this day in 1882 New York, beginning a now famous tour of the U.S.
Today in 1920 the second of what would become known as The Palmer Raids took place conducted by J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Investigation (now FBI), the first two months earlier.
The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was born on this date in 1920 Petrovichi, Russia.
And, Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien born today in 1892 Bloemfontein, South Africa
Musk, the world’s richest man, has eclipsed Vice President–elect J.D. Vance and sometimes even Trump himself as the face of the incoming administration. --Heather Cox Ricardson in Letters From An American.
God grant me the serenity to accept that people are ignorant, the courage to uphold the law when I'm hostile, & the wisdom to realize that murder is illegal. – Oscar Wilde
To the moose in Montana . . .
It's Thor's day . . . on a long, slow glide into real Winter here in TulseyTown.
Be grateful for today. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow's day is … well, tomorrow. Today is the only one you have. – Br. David Stendl-Rast
We are about to get the government that Texas voted for. – Garrison Keillor
The good news for humanity is that people have the power to stop these mass extinctions and stave off the worst consequences of climate change. The bad news for our species is that we are not doing any of those things beyond allowing climate change to become a pretext for fascism.
The awakened heart begins with the wish to be free from whatever gets in the way of our helping others. We long to be free from the confused thoughts and habitual patterns that cover up our basic goodness, so that we can be less reactive, less fearful, and less stuck in our old ways...We may still be going through strong feelings and reactions on the inside, but if we know how to work with these emotions without falling into our usual ruts, then we can be right there for others. And even if there’s nothing dramatic we can do to help, other people will feel our support, which actually helps a lot. – Pema Chödrön
A moose in Montana sent a clairvoyant greeting [mistaking me as its cousin], quoted by Tara Brach who asks us to trust who we truly are. It's a longish piece but worth the time if you have it to spare. Keep your ear tuned for the moose.
No beginnings, no endings, no fear.
There are no substitutes for happiness and peace. They are here in this moment, or not at all.