Covid schmovid

News blues

Move over, Covid pandemic… for war, crazy politicians, guns, shootings, massacres, more crazy politicians, looming famine, outrageous inequality, scorched earth tactics….
We’re living in a world gone mad, falling apart at the seams, heading towards calamity.

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On war

“Russian … using scorched-earth tactics” >> 

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The Lincoln Project: Retire  (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Recent posts have mentioned the murders of noisy crows in the park near my home. (“Squawk-fest”  and “Keep the bribes comin’" ). Turns out crows have a very legitimate reason for squawking: they’re baby-sitting. 
Talking about birds, check out these Australian budgies  and English parakeets.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Linda, a woman I met by chance last Sunday, revived my flagging respect for American womanhood. That sounds pompous – or worse – but, in general, I find American woman not prepared (as opposed to unprepared) to carry large rocks around a garden.
I was out walking when I spotted Linda, not a young woman, placing rocks the size of watermelons, one by one, around the building’s entryway lighting system.
We chatted and I commented on her hard work. She explained that she’d dug the rocks out of a back section of her apartment building, piled them in the wheelbarrow, and pushed the heavy load to the front of the building with the aim of beautifying the entryway.
Amazing.
I commented on how unusual it was to see an American woman doing such hands-on work. (It’s the kind of thing I do – love to do – in South Africa. Here, my apartment dwelling lifestyle disallows such gardening.) Linda explained that she’d once been married to a Ukrainian gardener and they’d worked happily in the gardening business until he’d died. (Gardening hadn’t killed him, cancer had. Alas.) During that time of her life, she’d learned about – and how to use – her physical strength.
Linda. A gal to admire.

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SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:29pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:49am
Sunset: 5:07pm