Fall 2024

It has finally become fall in the garden near the Little Park.

The temps started in the fifties and it will be a lovely, sunny 70 this afternoon.

It’s also a new moon day with a “ring of Fire” annular solar eclipse occurring over the South Pacific, the tip of South America and Southern Atlantic. It’s a good day for introspection and planning the month ahead.

Some steps to consider:

I can reach out with love to someone.

I can step out of my comfort zone and help.

I can be joyful, creative, and appreciate every day.

Winter is Hard

Winter is hard.

Dragging lugubrious time spread out over frozen ground.

The landscape set in variations of black and gray conceals

Latent life buried below, silent and waiting under a chill.

And mirroring a sky brushed with wind.

I find myself getting fat for no reason and I am always cold.

The urge for hibernation is strong.

I want to curl up, hide away.

Instead, I go out swaddled in the heavy scarf and black puffer coat.

Insignias waved, not only by me, of temperature extremis.

I smile behind the layers.

If anyone can see the useless effort there is no acknowledgement,

My false optimism is wasted.

One more indignity or could it be a reprieve?

Few can tell my age.

An introverted sun behind clouds sinks, too soon, towards the horizon,

Without cozy gatherings of friends or family around a fire.

Only weather marks the passing of daylight, evening and night,

I am tired and darkness calls me to my bed,

Repeating the mantra through the falling snow,

Winter is hard.

101 Things To Do In Ohio

Call your elected officials!

Senators: Robert (Rob) Portman (202) 224-3353

Sherrod Brown (202) 224-2315

House of Representatives: Pat Tiberi (202) 225-5355

            Note: A look at Mr. Tiberi’s district is to see gerrymandering at its finest. If the boundaries were drawn in a normal fashion I might be in Joyce Beatty’s district. I am sure she will not mind a call.

Joyce Beatty (202) 255-4324

            This week I am going to request my elected officials look into getting rid of the Electoral College.

(Where is it? Can I attend? Do they have a football team?)

Some years ago when another candidate won the popular vote but was denied a victory by this body, I asked myself why, why is it still in existence when it seems its purpose in modern times is to deny the power of the individual vote and foster corruption? In the last election one candidate holds a victory margin, as of today, of 2,841,862 votes, the “popular vote”. These votes represent 2,841,862 people who are basically told “Sorry your vote does not count.” To my mind this fact constitutes voter fraud at its most egregious. How can we as a nation promote the values of democracy throughout the world when our own system is so completely flawed? The time for the Electoral College to be dismantled has come, perhaps too late, but it should still be done.

Governor of the State of Ohio

John Kasich (614) 466-3555

            I include his number, because in the next few weeks bills will be crossing his desk that detrimentally effect the women in the State of Ohio.

I am going to give him a call too.

101 Things To Do In Ohio

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2.Vote!

It is a beautiful day to vote. Ohio is a battleground state and we have spent the last nine months and more being inundated by robocalls, mass mailings, rallies and political ads, the rhetoric of these, often nasty and degrading. I will vote today not only because it is a privilege, and my right, but also in celebration of the end of such torment.

101 Things To Do In Ohio

161 in the fall 2016

1. Appreciate the trees.

What better thing to do on a lovely warm day but view the fall leaves.

I grew up in a place where large hardwood trees are not plentiful. Now I live in a place where if you fail to weed your garden over the space of the year a small forest will spring up.

I am a bonafide tree lover.

The suburb where I live is known as tree city, and as there are several large trees right outside my window, I get to appreciate not only the fabulous display as the seasons change, but also the wondrous ecosystem of birds and mammals and insects that inhabit them.

These are the trees in my neighborhood putting on a show.

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Solstice 2016

Today is solstice day.
I love the warm months in the first half of the year, in part because the light grows making each day feel like renewal.
Today we hit the peak, this year a day of sun and a short night with a full moon.
Happy Solstice Day!
Today let’s store up enough energy and warmth to power us through the darkest winter months ahead.