Mixing metaphors in a blender . . .
Monday, August 4, 2025. It's the Moon's day . . . Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate a chance for a thunderstorm this afternoon. Otherwise a mix of clouds and sun with upper 80's and light Easterlies.
Birthdays
Barack Obama turns 64 today. Our 44th President was born in 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Billy Bob Thornton is no doubt celebrating his 70th today. The multi-laureate award winning actor, writer, director, and musician was born in 1955, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
It's the birth date of Louis Armstrong. The leading trumpeter and one of the most influential artists in jazz history was born in 1901 New Orleans, Louisiana.
And, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on this day in 1792 Sussex, England.
Percy
Our new dog, named for the beloved poet,
Ate a book which unfortunately we had
Left unguarded.
Fortunately it was the Bhagavad Gita,
Of which many copies are available.
Every day now, as Percy grows
Into the beauty of his life, we touch
His wild, curly head and say,
“Oh, wisest of little dogs.”
– Mary Oliver “Percy” from Dog Songs. Penguin Books. 2013.
At the bottom of the blender . . .
What is “gerrymandering?” Heather Cox Richardson explains in Letters From An American, posted Sunday morning.
Trump is already moving to undermine the upcoming '26 and '28 elections.
“Go jump in the Gulf of Maine...”Joyce Vance focuses on voting issues in The Week Ahead.
Texas Democrats decided to get the hell out of Texas amid a legal “piss-fight” over redistricting with national ramifications. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, Monday morning.
In spite of the bleakness, Robert Reich has some hope.
Always brief distractions from the various forms of change in all its metaphorics . . .
“Wednesday” is back for season 2 on Netflix.
And here's a bit o' reinforcement for the few renegades reading today ...
Love stole my prayer beads . . .
Sunday, August 3, 2025. It's Sol's day . . . Light Southerlies are in the forecasts for TulseyTown today, with overcast skies and mid 80's. Yes, it is early August. That said, these recent cool mornings with the noisy geese flying overhead are reminders that there is a Fall to come.
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. – Blaise Pascal , Pensées, the Édition de Port-Royal, 1670
Jedi mind training for the rest of us. – Jeff Krasno, 8.2.25
Birthdays
Rupert Brooke was born on this day in 1887 Warwickshire, England.
"If I should die, think only this of me, / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England." – “The Soldier”– Rupert Brooke
The author of “Exodus,” Leon Uris, was born in 1924 Baltimore, Maryland.
One of America's first embedded reporters, Ernie Pyle, was born in 1900 near Dana, Indiana.
And, Martha Stewart is 84 today. The entrepreneur maven was born in 1941,Jersey City , New Jersey
Our secrets sometimes feel so vile and hopeless that we should all jump off a cliff. – Anne Lamott, “The Thorn Is A Gift,” in Meditations, The Center for Action and Contemplation, 8.1.25.
Love, You Stole My Prayer Beads
Love, You stole my prayer beads
and gave me poetry.
[…]
What mountain can withstand your winds?
[…]
We are blind men under a blue sky.
[…]
Saints...move unrecognized through the market.
Unseen, the soul moves through the world.
Praising You, we praise ourselves.
Whoever praises the sun
praises the eyes that see.
Praise is an ocean.
Our words, a boat on the waves.
[…]
Tender waves carry us.
– Rumi, in Water, transl by Haleh Lza Gafori, New York Review Books, 2025
The distrust of educated independent minds . . .
Saturday, August 2, 2025. It's the Satyr's day . . . Northeasterlies are forecasted to bring back some sunshine amidst some clouds over TulseyTown today. A cool morning and warm afternoon.
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. [Then you discover] that the things that torment the most [are] the very things that connect [us] with all the people who are alive, who have ever been alive.”
―James Baldwin, quote from a profile interview for LIFE magazine, published in 1963.
… while the job numbers have looked good, in fact the economy has been weakening for months . . . Predictably, Trump lashed out. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, posted last night.
Isabel Allende turns 83 today. The sometimes “magical realist” novelist was born in 1942 Lima, Peru.
Mary-Louise Parker is 61 today. The multi laureate award winning actor was born in 1964, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. She's a product of the North Carolina School for the Arts.
Today is also the birthdate of Peter O’Toole. Another laureate award actor, he was born in 1932, Leeds, Yorkshire, England.
And, it's James Baldwin's birthday. The essayist, novelist, and playwright was born in 1924 poverty-stricken Harlem, New York.
“It is very nearly impossible to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.”
―James Baldwin, essay in The Creative Process, UCLA, 1963.