“An inquisitive mind”

Photo courtesy
Young Scientist Challenge

Big news

Anika Chebrolu. 

Remember that name. Anika is 14 years old, lives in Frisco, Texas, and may have discovered a potential therapy for Covid-19. Anika won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge - and a $25,000 prize - for an invention that uses an in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Anika Chebrolu, an “inquisitive mind,” along with self-confidence, thinking outside the box, and other qualities that suggest our youth might have the wherewithal to force change on our current crop of leaders’ old ways of thinking.  

News blues…

Lordy, Lordy, who else is really sick of Donald Trump and his crew, the lies, the obfuscation, ubiquitous presence on TV, social media, and constant presence in our faces….? 
The scariest part? Trump is president until January 20th.
He’ll be at his most dangerous during this lame duck period. I predict he’ll wreak more damage in those weeks than he has to date. For Trump, being Trump, will punish We the People for ousting him via the ballot box…
It’s not just little ole me, opining via keyboard in locked down South Africa. Former Trump administration officials have hands-on experience that they are – finally - willing to share with the republic…  (3:40 mins)
Ah, yes, but… then you have the creativity expressed about Trump. Here, South African The Kiffness has Trump doing the Jerusalema ….  (1:00 mins)

***

President Ramaphosa extends Covid-19 grant.  (2:08 mins)

***

The US, along with European countries, experiences yet another surge in Covid cases.

The third surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is under way. Outbreaks have been worsening in many states for more than a month, and new COVID-19 cases jumped 18 percent this week, bringing the seven-day average to more than 51,000 cases a day. Though testing rose by 8 percent nationally, that’s not enough of an increase to explain the steep rise in cases.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which had previously been creeping upward slowly, jumped more than 14 percent from a week earlier. 

***

Infections are rising in South Africa, too. The toll of confirmed infections surpassed 700,000 yesterday, and that number includes South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize and his wife, both of whom tested positive.  
More than 18,000 South African residents have died of the virus.

***

Cats for Biden/Harris 
Meidas Touch:

Believe in America  (0:55 mins)
Stronger with Biden  (0:55 mins

Healthy planet, anyone?

Meercat Manor  (20:05 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Funny thing about selling a house at this time, in this place in South Africa: no bites. Not even nibbles.
Information about the house sale published on the real estate agency’s web site a week ago. Recently, I asked a friend about her experience selling her house – two years ago and not during a pandemic. She said, “We got an offer within 48 hours” – and that offer was accepted. My friend added, “It took 18 months, and dropping the selling price by ZAR 200K, for an acquaintance in the same village, albeit a different neighborhood, to sell their well-maintained house.”
18 months!
The real estate market in the San Francisco Bay Area is the opposite: a seller usually receives multiple, competing offers within a day of publishing the sales info.
Local realtors handing the sale of this house concur, telling me, “a sale could take months – sometimes 18 months.”

Sobering. 

I can't stay in South Africa for 18 months! What am I going to do? 

Time to take a lesson from "an inquisitive mind": think outside the box.  

Unrelenting

A short post today due to exhaustion – personal and public. A crisis of epic proportions envelopes the planet – almost 40 million coronavirus infections – and effective coordination to manage it is MIA.

News blues…

More than 1,000 current and former officers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed a letter   criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus crisis and demanding “our nation’s leaders to allow CDC to resume its indispensable role.”

The signees were current and former members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, sometimes known as “disease detectives.” Founded nearly 70 years ago, the EIS is a two-year postdoctoral program for epidemiologists to get hands-on experience in the field.
“The absence of national leadership on COVID-19 is unprecedented and dangerous,” the letter said. “The U.S. epidemic is sustained by deadly chains of transmission that crisscross the entire country. Yet states and territories have been left to invent their own differing systems for defining, diagnosing and reporting cases of this highly contagious disease. Inconsistent contact tracing efforts are confined within each state’s borders — while coronavirus infections sadly are not. Such chaos is what CDC customarily avoided by its long history of collaboration with state and local health authorities in developing national systems for disease surveillance and coordinated control.”
The Trump administration has been criticized for sidelining the CDC. It reportedly went so far as to interfere in the agency’s reports as it has largely failed in its response to the virus’s spread.

Meanwhile, in Europe, global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time, a record one-day increase even as the region enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak.

Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre in recent weeks and is reporting on average 140,000 cases a day over the past week. 
As a region, Europe is reporting more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined.
Of every 100 infections reported around the world, 34 were from European countries, according to a Reuters analysis. The region is currently reporting a million new infections about every nine days and has reported more than 6.3 million cases since the pandemic began.

***

The good news in the US? We, the People are votin’ ….   Will a change in administrations make a difference? Or is it too late to divert the trajectory of this deadly pandemic? 

***

The Lincoln Project Swamp  (0:59 mins)
Really American Blame Trump  (1:08 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Bee brokers broking bees. 'You never stop learning about bees, they're just incredible.' 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Temperature rose to 34 C yesterday. My physical exhaustion equaled my psychological exhaustion. I took the day off from selling and moving related action to potter around the garden and the pond. It was the right thing to do.
Tomorrow = renewed efforts.

Dreaming compost

News blues…

'On the brink of disaster': Europe's Covid fight takes a turn for the worse. 

Europe’s second coronavirus wave took a dramatic turn for the worse this week, forcing governments across the continent to make tough choices as more than a dozen countries reported their highest ever number of new infections.
In France, 18 million people in nine big cities risk a fine from Saturday if they are not at home by 9pm. In the Czech Republic, schools have closed and medical students are being enlisted to help doctors. All Dutch bars and restaurants are shut.
Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland are among countries to have broken daily case records, prompting the World Health Organization to call for an “uncompromising” effort to stem the spread.

***

US passes 8m coronavirus cases as death toll approaches 220,000 

The US passed 8m recorded coronavirus cases on Friday, another unwelcome mark for the country with the most cases and the worst death toll from the global pandemic, approaching 220,000.
Despite there being no sign that the pandemic is under control in the US, on Thursday Donald Trump said that the virus would “peter out”.
Cases are increasing in 32 states, holding steady in 15 and decreasing in just three: Louisiana, Kentucky and Vermont.

***

My trusty coronavirus daily reporting app reports South Africa’s toll of new confirmed infections yesterday: more than 2,000.
The third wave?

***

Rats abandon the sinking ship that is the Donald Trump presidency. Watch for a new CNN special scheduled to air [US time] Sunday night, "The Insiders: A Warning from Former Trump Officials," in which former senior administration officials - including former national security adviser John Bolton, former Health and Human Services scientist Rick Bright and former Department of Homeland Security general counsel John Mitnick - explain why they think the President is unfit for office. 
The big question: why did they wait so long? Fear? Self-interest? Readying to exploit any power that came their way?

***

The Lincoln Project:

• Donald Trump Jr. With A Brutal Edit of His ‘Crazy Ad’
• Girl in the mirror  (1.25 mins)
• American family (0:55 mins)

Don Winslow filmsTrump attacks black women  (1:23 mins) 

Meidas Touch:

• Trump the Grave Dancer  (0:40 mins)
• Bye Tiffany  (0:44 mins)
• Don’t Gamble on Trump  (0:53 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Qanon. What the…? As conspiracies grow… protect your body from coronavirus best you can – masks, sanitize, distance - and protect your brain from the conspiracy virus. You, and our planet, cannot afford the time sink these conspiracies require. Jitarth Jadeja’s story 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

First snake this season: Rhombic night adder. 

The area I live in now is 1050 meters/3445 feet above sea level. The area where I grew up – Valley of a Thousand Hills - is 799 meters/2621 feet. Those 250 meters/820 feet make a difference in snake populations: fewer snakes here than there. This young Rhombic night adder  toured the perimeter of the ground floor verandah, I used a stout stick to encourage it toward the garden and pond (frogs are a favorite food). It hissed and  squeaked - like air escaping a too-tight suit. I kept my distance, took photos, and enjoyed its lovely markings. 

***

Fruit cake is back! Also known as Christmas cake, South Africa’s dark, rich fruit cake is not found in California. Subsequently, it’s a big attraction. It disappeared from shelves the beginning of Lockdown and re-appeared yesterday. Let the feasting begin!

***

After mixing another large bag of compost, I checked in with the realtor regarding an approximate date I might move into my new small living unit. She reports, “perhaps by the end of November.” I’m looking forward to spilling this gorgeous, fecund compost into my new garden. The plants I intend to grow will love it!

***

Talking about compost… A life goal is, one day in the future, to lie on my bed, review my life, and marvel at the wild ride it has been.
I’ve discovered I was gifted with remarkable resilience and determination and I put these to work each day.
Moreover, I’ve been meeting semi-regularly with a local psychotherapist to guide me through the thickets, roots, and manure that made me who I am. To this end, I began another Dream Journal – recording dreams to examine and make conscious presentations from my unconscious.
Last night’s dream is memorable, not so much for the actual dream, but for its manifestation on paper (photo, left).
How to decipher this mess?

We’re voting – bigly!

John McDonnell/
The Washington Post
via Getty Images

Pundits predict a blowout election for Biden and against Trump. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over… but if the lines for early voting are any indication, punditry is correct.
(Left) On the first day of early voting in Virginia, a long line of voters wait to cast their ballots at the Fairfax County Government Center.

News blues…

In the US, more than 12.8 million people have already voted. 
As many as 80 million Americans are expected to vote early, by mail or in person. 

Thousands of people, some braving hours-long waits, glitches and politically motivated obstruction, are flocking to cast early ballots and writing the story of a pandemic-era election that may change how America votes.
Heavy turnout at early voting centers in Georgia and Texas comes as many voters elsewhere take advantage of mail-in ballots, defying President Donald Trump's misleading attempts to cast the election as the most corrupt in history.

***

Call it what it is: voter suppression.  (3:25 mins) But, voters persevere – some standing doggedly in line for up to 11 hours. 

You go, voting Americans! 

***

An extraordinary feature of this election cycle is that, for the first time in my more than four decades living in the US – first time ever in the modern era? - honorable Republicans are speaking out, fiercely, publicly, against dishonorable Republicans.
Republican ideology is, in general, not “my cup of tea.” Republican policies and goals are inimical to mine and also, I believe, to a healthy planet and healthy societies over the long term. Nevertheless, I applaud the goals of individual Republicans (Michael Steele, below) and groups of Republicans (The Lincoln Project’s ads and efforts regularly shared). 

It’s comforting to know that ideology differs, but agreement exists on core principles and ethics.  
Michael Steele, in his latest news interview, tells Americans, “Remember The Elected Officials Who Made You Stand In That Line" (4:20 mins)

***

South Africans have been under Lockdown since March 15. Level 1, currently in effect, was due to end October 15, but let’s stay safe. 

***

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the Western Cape has experienced 40 attacks against staff since the start of the lockdown.

According to data  … attacks occur in hotspot areas. In a recent incident…a crew was robbed of their personal belongings at gunpoint while waiting in traffic in Philippi, Cape Town. In these hotspot areas, known as “red zones”, EMS staff need to wait for police escorts before entering a high crime area in order to provide emergency health services.

***

The Lincoln Project states:

In our ever-growing movement, we’ve joined forces with an incredible list of patriotic Americans in our mission to defeat Donald Trump and end Trumpism.
Now, we’re proud to present "Commander in Chief" by Demi Lovato.
Demi's new song is a fierce rebuke of the president’s lies and corruption, and a lament for the Americans who are suffering and dying on his watch.
The Lincoln Project is honored to have produced this music video, and we’re giving you an exclusive first look:
"Commander in Chief" by Demi Lovato  (3:11 mins)
We’re proud to stand with you, with Demi Lovato, and with the rest of the patriots who will defeat Donald Trump on November 3.
Our coalition is growing larger by the day; momentum is building for those of us on the right side of history.

Enjoy,

• Big  (0:55 mins)
• Randy Rainbow Parody IF DONALD GOT FIRED  (4:05 mins)
• VOTE THE BASTARDS OUT - The Spooky Mens Chorale (3:50 mins)
• Meidas Touch: Don’t worry  (0:53 mins)
• RVAT: Trump's Lying About Fauci  (0:33 mins)
• Don Winslow Films & Bruce Springsteen  (2:13 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Daily Maverick webinar: The Climate Risks We Face . Hosted by Kevin Bloom with Bob Scholes and Makoma Lekalakala.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I delivered what I though was the correct chair – and cushion - to my mother at the Care Center. Alas. Wrong! No arms rests. I asked Center staff if they had a chair with arm rests my mother could use. They did. Alas, she did not want that chair. Deflated, I returned the “wrong” chair – and cushion - back to the house.

***

With a potential sale of the house looming, I’ve expected my brother to claim and collect sundry tools – including his elderly concrete mixer I’ve used in the past to mix compost. With many collection dates scheduled then not cancel without notice - including Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday this week - tools remain.
I modified the adage, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” to “when no-shows hand you dirt, make compost.”
I wheeled out the elderly concrete mixer and mixed up two large bags of compost. 

I tossed in kitchen scraps, recycled potting soil, bone meal, swamp cypress needles, kraal manure, vermiculite, peat, assorted leaves, handsful of pond weed, sawdust, ash, fertilizer pellets….
It’s heavy work for an old lady, and dusty, but filling bags with sweet smelling home-made compost is fulfilling and joyous.
I imagine the plants that will enjoy snacking on this fecund feast in the future.

Satisfaction!

Scamdemic

There’s no good news about Covid-19. More than 200 days – 29 weeks - of lockdown in South Africa and deadly infections continues to spread, here, there, everywhere. A new global high in infections with resurging cases in Germany, France, UK, US, other countries… 
The US is at high risk as flu season approaches…  (5:45 mins)
Protect yourself and others. Wear a mask, sanitize, keep your distance. Be wise, be practical, avoid conspiracy theories and “scamdemics” (see below).

Worldwide (Map) 
October 15 – 38,426,375 confirmed infections; 1,091,250 deaths
September 17 – 29,764,000 confirmed infections; 939,450 deaths
US (Map)  
October 15 – 7,911,500 confirmed infections; 216,860 deaths
September 17 – 6,631,650 confirmed infections; 196,800 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal) 
October 15 – 696,420 confirmed infections; 18,155 deaths
September 17 – 653,445 confirmed infections; 15,705 deaths

News blues…

Texan Tony Green dismissed Covid-19, contracted it, survived it, and - after hosting an event that led to multiple infections - lives with the knowledge that he was likely responsible for at least 14 members of his family contracting it – of which two died.
“I used to call it the ‘scamdemic.’ I thought it was an overblown media hoax. I made fun of people for wearing masks… [Now] The feeling that I have is kind of like what a drunk driver would have if they killed their family.” 

***

The Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt’s latest email blast:

The United States Senate has historically been revered as the world’s greatest deliberative body.
Indeed, there was once a time that was true.
But today, the Republican Senate Majority has turned it into a clown show, full of grandstanding, self-aggrandizing, indolent, power-hungry cowards who have neglected their duty, evaded accountability, and betrayed their oaths to the Constitution.
Donald Trump is an acute and especially perilous threat to the pillars of our democracy, our national security, and the very fabric of our Republic. But he could not induce so much destruction to our nation and desecration of his office if not for the dereliction of duty by these obsequious enablers.
That is why they must go.
And we have them on the run.
Mitch McConnell is scrambling as he watches his majority crumble before him, with the likes of Lindsey Graham and Joni Ernst nearing defeat.
These Senators made a choice. Instead of affirming their loyalty to the Constitution and to the American people, Mitch, Lindsey, et al. shirked responsibility in lieu of greed and the brazen pursuit of political gain.
The Lincoln Project is working day and night to defeat Trump and Trumpism. Nobody who threatens the survival of our country will be safe hiding in the Senate.
Victory is within reach; the finish line is in sight.

Trump TV  (1:55 mins)
RVAT: Remember when  (0:33 mins)
Trump’s Voter Fraud, Sexy Superspreading & Biden-Bashing  (13:30 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Leading scientists urge rewilding to mitigate the climate crisis. 

***

Let’s hear it for voracious goats… 
The problem, however, is larger than goats. A root problem? Lack of agreement on root causes, even on terminology, along with ideology – including capitalism – hamper any progress.

Since 2019, catastrophic fires have afflicted the Amazon, the Congo basin, Australia, Siberia, Argentina, and countless other places. While some on the political Right were in denial that anything unusual was happening, today the entire political spectrum is in agreement that something is horribly amiss. In the US, the Right offers candidate explanations like poor forest management, while Democratic politicians emphasize climate change. What they both agree on is that the current state of affairs in abnormal, unacceptable, and requires action. This, at least, is progress.

Read Charles Eisenstein’s essay World on Fire 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

On a scale of 1 to 10, packing up someone else’s home is a 9. It could be worse, but it’s not easy. Forays into the garden – to weed or simply to appreciate plants, birds, animals – help tamp down the anxiety.
I’ll make another trip to the Care Center today – this time to deliver a chair so my mother can more easily access her closet. For a former project manager, an added stress is the lack of attention to what was, briefly, a coherent plan for execution. Instead, we have constant changing of mind about objects needed, not needed, and essential – at least, until tomorrow.
Each morning, I review my litany of stress-related aches and pains – particularly from clenching my jaws while asleep. Then I promise myself that today I’ll find time to relax. Inch by inch, we move forward. But, oh, it hurts!

***

Latest news about the drunken son of my mother’s domestic worker (who threatened to kill, abuse, etc., me). He relocated to Mpophemeni, a local township. According to our gardener and remaining live-in domestic worker, the drunk’s abusive antics in the township are raising eyebrows and ire. Residents urge our staff to “call his mother to come get him – or someone will kill him.” 

Already, he has been beaten and bruised by angry township residents. Alas, his mother’s family do not want him in their township either. A case of chickens coming home to roost?

“…too small for walls”

While art objects are out of the usual parameters of this blog (the pandemic, the era, and the effects on our collective home), this expression - one of many - is pertinent: Fragment of the Berlin Wall - the End of Division of Germany and Europe 1990, on site at the Muzeon Park of Arts in Moscow, Russia.  

News blues…

Totally Under Control — how the United States (and South Africa) screwed up the coronavirus response

South Africa needed a lockdown to save lives. We did not, however, need the lockdown we got. We required something gentler, more progressive, more human. The cruelty was underscored by the staggering corruption of the PPE procurement process, which resulted in at least 10% of the R50-billion disbursement being squandered by connected cadres. Rightly or wrongly, South Africans will remember Covid-19 for the orgy of thieving and greed that has studded Johannesburg and Cape Town with high-end vehicles and proud new mansion owners.
Worse, like so many countries, we’ve learnt something essential about ourselves. The postmodern capitalist technocratic state is a chimera. In its endless dedication to fake parsimony, it is always broke, and has no scope to deal with emergencies.

Read on…  

 ***

Need a pick-me-up? Here it is: Jerusalema by All Africana Kids Best Dance Challenge  (9:25 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project:
Names  (0:55 mins)  
Chyna  (1:00 min)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Half Of Corals On The Great Barrier Reef Have Died Since 1990s. 

Dr. Terry Hughes, a professor at the ARC Centre and a co-author of a recent paper, has long said climate change remains the single greatest threat to the future of the Great Barrier as we know it.
“The word ‘threat’ is funny,” he said. “If you threatened to punch me on the nose, it’s something you might do. We’ve been measuring the impacts on the Great Barrier Reef for 22 years … it’s certainly not a future threat. It’s been part of the ongoing saga for a long time.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The newly purchased double bed with drawers purchased specifically for my mother’s small room at the Care Center didn’t work out for her: The Dog refused to sleep on it. Yesterday, I arranged for a mover to exchange it for a lighter-weight twin bed without drawers. The Dog is happy. The Mother? Happy-ish.
On Friday, I propose driving a former neighbor to the Care Center to visit my mother. Always uplifting to have neighbors visit.
The realtor informed me that the sale of the house could take “at least six months.” I’m not prepared to stay here beyond January 2021, so I need a plan to ensure the house is occupied although not rented. How to do that? I’ve a few months to figure it out.

***

Chard and parsley are ready to eat from the veggie garden. Zucchini and snap pea plants are flowering. And, for the first time since I planted it three years ago, I’ll be here to enjoy the sweet smell of the jasmine. A benefit of the pandemic?
Glorious spring is in full swing here.

“Cowori”

In an Amazonian language, “cowori” has come to mean “man knows too little for the power that he wields, and the damage that he causes.” 

Ain’t it the truth?  (Read the piece, below.)

News blues…

• Is South Africa heading towards a second wave of coronavirus? “The risk is there,” says the health minister. 
• Covid-19 infected and diagnosed, US Congressman Mike Lee attends the Supreme Court confirmation hearing without a mask. 
• Trump campaign recontextualizes Dr Fauci’s words from months ago – and creates a self-serving political ad. 

***

The Lincoln Project: Walk of Shame  (0:55 mins)
Inside the Lincoln Project's campaign against President Trump  (13:33 mins)
Don Winslow Films: Memo to Trump  (0:34 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

According to a report by insurance firm Swiss Re, trillions of dollars of GDP depend on biodiversity, and a fifth of countries are at risk of ecosystem collapse. 
Along with Australia and Israel, South Africa ranks near the top of Swiss Re’s index of risk to biodiversity and ecosystem services; India, Spain and Belgium are also highlighted; countries with fragile ecosystems and large farming sectors, such as Pakistan and Nigeria, are also flagged.

One-fifth of the world’s countries are at risk of their ecosystems collapsing because of the destruction of wildlife and their habitats, according to the analysis. Natural “services” such as food, clean water and air, and flood protection have already been damaged by human activity. More than half of global GDP – $42tn (£32tn) – depends on high-functioning biodiversity … but the risk of tipping points is growing.

***

Dear presidents of the nine Amazonian countries and to all world leaders that share responsibility for the plundering of our rainforest,

In each of our many hundreds of different languages across the Amazon, we have a word for you – the outsider, the stranger. In my language, WaoTededo, that word is “cowori”. And it doesn’t need to be a bad word. But you have made it so. For us, the word has come to mean (and in a terrible way, your society has come to represent): the white man that knows too little for the power that he wields, and the damage that he causes.  

My name is Nemonte Nenquimo. I am a Waorani woman, a mother, and a leader of my people. The Amazon rainforest is my home. I am writing you this letter because the fires are raging still. Because the corporations are spilling oil in our rivers. Because the miners are stealing gold (as they have been for 500 years), and leaving behind open pits and toxins. Because the land grabbers are cutting down primary forest so that the cattle can graze, plantations can be grown and the white man can eat. Because our elders are dying from coronavirus, while you are planning your next moves to cut up our lands to stimulate an economy that has never benefited us. Because, as Indigenous peoples, we are fighting to protect what we love – our way of life, our rivers, the animals, our forests, life on Earth – and it’s time that you listened to us.

Read Nemonte Nenquimo’s letter. 

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I arrived in KZN from California on 28 January, intending to assist my mother, get things in order, ensure her appropriate health care (she was treated for oral cancer a year ago), and return to my American family 28 May, to work, live… until next year.
Instead, a global pandemic and lock down followed.
I’m still here. My mother is in a Care Center, I’m packing up piles of stuff, working with auctioneers, realtors, and municipal and legal bureaucracies, to ensure the sale of her house, settle her pets, down to details such as today’s activity: move, remove, and replace one of my mother’s beds with another – and find sheets and bed clothes that fit the replacement bed.
Two weeks ago, I made an offer on my own retirement unit in KZN. It was accepted so, at a distance of 14,000 miles, I’m organizing my life in California so that I’m not financially bust when I return, organizing my gear here so that I’ve a place to move into when this house is sold, organizing my thinking so that I can return to California - and an income generating job – as soon a possible.
I’m also discovering and deeply exploring the dynamics of my family of origin. It ain’t pretty. One misses a lot in four decades.
Simultaneously, I’m deeply grateful that I have this opportunity. I’m learning I’m resilient, unflinching, and, yes, even compassionate.
Life is complex.

***

Life is also diverse.
Yesterday’s sojourn in the garden included a Brown hooded kingfisher.