James Bethel James Bethel

Waiting for the echo . . .

Thursday, August 14, 2025. It's Thor's day . . . Forecasts indicate a return of his 100º+ indices for TulseyTown starting today and for the next week. Sunny, of course. Easy Southerlies today with real temps in the upper 90's.

… the greatest enemy of ordinary daily goodness and joy is not imperfection, but the demand for some supposed perfection or order. There seems to be a shadow side to almost everything. – Fr. Richard Rohr

The prolific writer, Danielle Steel turns 78. She was born today in 1947 New York City.

Sophie Strand considers the – to many writers – seeming impossibilities of publishing. The secret? Finish. “On Finishing Books” Make Me Good Soil, 8.13.25.

Today is Halle_Berry's 59th birthday. The multiple award laureate actress and film director was born in 1966, Cleveland, Ohio.

Steve Martin turns 80 today. He was born in 1945, Waco ,Texas.

Today in1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Heather Cox Richardson posted a perspective last night in Letters From An American.

Congress may have the spending power, but Trump can usurp it. – Joyce Vance takes us down the rabbit hole of this important and complicated governmental aspect in today's Civil Discourse.

Speaking of finances, Robert Reich sees hope in recently adopted progressive polices around the country. “Bread and Butter and Hope” online 8.14.25.

Rose Petal Echo

Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” ― Don Marquis

The Song of the Universe

is an echo beyond sublime.

and,

worth waiting for.

jab What’s that sound?

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James Bethel James Bethel

Getting it together . . .

Wednesday, August 13, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . Sun, clouds, mid 90's are in the forecasts for TuseyTown today. The heat hammer returns tomorrow and for the next seven days before a respite is indicated.

No one has it all together all the time. No one.

Alfred Hitchcock was born today in 1899, London, England, and Fidel Castro was born in 1926, near Birán, Cuba.

New inflation data: It's worse than you think.

Living in 1984? … We must be able to trust the retelling of our history, because the truth matters and should never be feared. The story of America is our story, not just Donald Trump’s, and maybe his version, least of all. – Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse.

Amen, sister.

Saying it out loud:

Even Trump’s attack on Washington, D.C. … has not managed to distract attention from the possibility that the president of the United States sexually assaulted children. – Heather Cox Richardson updated the distractions, posted last night in Letters From An American.

Trump “hates” Taylor Swift. He wants what she has: worshipful fans.

There's something in the air . . .

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James Bethel James Bethel

Seeing in the dark . . .

Tuesday, August 12, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . After overnight thunderstorms, rain chances diminish for TulseyTown today but remain into tonight. Cooler, in the upper 80's. No wind to speak of. Mixed cloud cover. A slow return to the heat tomorrow and into the weekend. If you find yourself somewhere other than TulseyTown with its cloud cover, you might get to see the Perseids meteor shower. The sky show reaches its peak on tonight through Wednesday morning.

The gift of darkness.

We forget that darkness is always present alongside the light. We know the light most fully in contrast with its opposite... There is something that can only be known by going through [that “dark night of the soul.”] … In many ways, the struggle with darkness has been the church’s constant dilemma...It does not like the shadowland of our human reality. – Fr. Richard Rohr, Meditations, The Center for Action and Meditation.

Trump's declaration of a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., taking control of the Metropolitan Police and announcing his intent to bring the National Guard, is unique, and it’s important for us to understand what it is and what it isn’t. D.C. is not New York or Chicago. – Joyce Vance, Civil Discorse.

Heather Cox Richardson offered her perspective on Trump's power grab, in Letters From An American, posted last night.

Today is the birth date of Erwin Schrödinger. The Nobel laureate – for his contributions to physics and the fundamentals of quantum mechanics – was born in 1887, Vienna, Austria.

And, one of the founders of American cinema, Cecil B. DeMille, was born on this day in 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts.

Night Creatures

Poetry brings light to the night creatures

who, exposed, scutter away into corners

fearful of being shown their identities.

At first blush,

silence may be about death

but it is also about peace.

Perhaps it is that poems are not so much about silence

as much as they imply to those elements of darkness

an allowance -

the silence of ourselves -

to be exposed to the light

even if there are no words.

– jab


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