Alone in the crowd . . .

Thursday, May 22, 2025. It's Thor's day … and forecasts indicate moderate Easterlies, mid 70's and a 50/50 chance for storms this afternoon in TulseyTown.

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place. Nothing outside you can give you any place. You needn't look at the sky because it's not going to open up and show a place behind it. You needn't to search for any hole in the ground to look through into somewhere else. You can't go forwards nor backwards into your daddy's time nor your children's if you have them. In yourself right now is all the place you've got. If there was any Fall, look there, if there was any Redemption, look there, and if you expect any Judgment, look there, because they all three will have to be in your time and your body and where in your time and your body can they be?”

― Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood, Harcourt Brace,1952

Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters From An American provided an update after an all night session in the House. Trump's “big beautiful bill” is headed for the Senate.

Today is “Harvey Milk Day” in California. https://nationaltoday.com/harvey-milk-day/

It's Sir Laurence Olivier's birthday. The internationally acclaimed and legendary stage and film actor was born in 1907, Dorking, Surrey, England

Speaking of legends, today is also the birthday of Richard Wagner. The German composer who had a revolutionary influence on the course of   was born in1813, Leipzig, Germany.

And, it's the birth date of Mary Cassatt. The painter and among the leading artists in the impressionist movement was born in1844, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.

The solitary act of making art involves intense, wordless dialogue. – Stephen Batchelor, in Maria Popova's Margialian

Solitude

– after Thomas Merton

It may be necessary for some of us to live alone.

Silence is our boon companion

and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world

becomes our love.

Out of the heart of that dark warmth

comes the secret that is heard only in silence,

but is the root of all the secrets

whispered by all the lovers in their beds

all over the world. Well may we be obliged

to preserve this stillness, the silent pure nothingness

arising in each moment-by-moment

at the center of all loves.

That we have chosen this task

may escape us in the doings of our being

amid the contradictory joyous burden

which sustains and drains our earthly life.

— jab

Fly me to Oz . . .

Wednesday, May 21, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . Easy Easterlies are forecasted to bring TulseyTown a warmer day today – in the mid 80's – with yet more Spring sunshine. There's slight chance for a rain shower increasing tomorrow and into the weekend.

I cannot express how important it is to believe that taking one tiny — and possibly very uncomfortable — step at a time can ultimately add up to a great distance. – Tig Notaro, in her memorir I’m Just a Person, Ecco (publisher) 2016.

Administration officials continue with I their utter disregard for the work their jobs require and their refusal to govern for Americans. Instead, they see their offices as ways to get access to large amounts of money and power they can use to impose their will on the country. – Heather Cox Richardson, in yesterday’s Letters From An American.

Now they want to gut Medicare by $500 Billion. As if Medicaid wasn't enough.

And, of course, Trump wants you to believe he's bringing on a new Golden Age. But, like the Great Oz behind the curtain, he wants a return to the “Guilded Age.” What's the difference?

Today is the birthdate of Henri Rousseau. The French pioneer of “naive art” was born in 1844 Laval, France

Charles Lindberg became the first person fly solo across the Atlantic on this day in 1927. It took him 34 hours.

Five years later, in1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She did it in 15 hours.

Flight time today is just short of about 5 hours depending on departure and arrival locale.

I Wanted to Be

I wanted to be so many things.

Bigger than I was.

A tall tower of building blocks.

A shoelace tied so fast.

Jelly spread smoothly

to the corners of the bread.

I wanted to be so good.

[…]

So, what happened?

– Marc Kelly Smith, “I Wanted to Be,” in Rattle, Summer 2007 and online 5.20.25

Yakety Yak . . .

Tuesday, May 20, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . Moderate to strong Northwesterlies have cleared the skies over TulseyTown. The weatherfeather says sunny and upper 70's. Clear and easy breezes tonight, mid 50's by dawn tomorrow.

“I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.” – Rilke

Ok, so you sometimes talk to your plants. Are they listening? Do they talk back? Well, yes, sort of …

Are we listening?

Shakespeare's sonnets were first published today in 1609.

Perhaps the greatest novelist of all time, Honoré de Balzac (The Divine Comedy) was born in 1799 Tours, France.

The English-born poet W.H. Auden became a U.S. citizen today in 1946.

The whole world heard this one: The Krakatoa volcano in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia began a 3 month eruption on this date in 1883.

What if your body unravels but no doctor can name the disease, much less provide successful treatment?

You don’t get a new heart valve so you can go play golf, I say. Make yourself useful. Grandma would approve of that. She had high standards and I’m still trying to measure up. – Garrison Keillor, The Column.

Where do all these words come from?