It has rained, and rained, and rained, and rained here in Maine since mid-June, and when it wasn’t raining, we’ve been fogged in. The rain and fog beats the hideous heat in the Southwest, the smoke in the middle of the country, the fires in the West, and the floods in New England and upstate New York, but we’re all a little soggy.
Outstanding image! I love how we look up at the tree but from a puddle’s point of view. I think a person could make a series of paintings of such reflections. Looking at things indirectly gives us a new and objective perspective. Thanks for the image Heather!
I love this and feel connected. I search for reflections and reflections of reflections in everything and anywhere to photograph. That is where other worlds of magic and mystery are found.
"Looking at things indirectly" was the topic of a horse blog post I read this week, as in "don't stare like a predator; rather, see things from your horse's prey animal point of view." Both posts are illuminating. Thanks, Brandy, for yours!
“Eyes in front - like to hunt. Eyes on the side, need to hide”. Probably not an old African proverb, but surely true when you think about the animal world. I think the ability to always be looking - front and side - is enriching.
Or from the other day's DailyOm contemplation, "The Insect Kingdom
As we work together with the insect kingdom, we allow ourselves to be in harmony with the earth and the pulse of nature. . ." 3 paragraphs., another perspective.
I walk many dogs in a given week. The other day I decided to walk backwards. It was quite fun and a challenge, for sure. The dog at hand looked at me quite inquisitively? Like “What???”
The puddle perspective picture (great!) aside, thank you Heather, for adding context to so many stories and offering us all a diversity of ways to look at things, helping us to make sense of the nonsense around us. Though not the religious sort myself, I would offer this (King James) New Testament verse (Hebrews 11:3) about our world: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." A change of perspective can indeed change our knowledge and interpretation of ... "truth". When can killing ever be condoned? When is the use of cluster munitions a moral decision? And abortion? Pick your own eternal truth and look at it through another prism; choose your own - studied - frame for reality.
Hi Heather…I’ve been with you nearly from your first letters and I loved, just now, reading about your grandmother’s mahjong set. I’ve been playing for almost 50 years and currently have 72 seniors enrolled in my two courses at the San Mateo, California, Senior Center. You can find both of my books about learning the game along with the most complete set of strategy, logic, and tactics in the English language. If you ever want to learn…I’d be thrilled to offer my help in any way possible.
I’m definitely not an expert player, but I’m Chinese American, and fell asleep many times to the soothing clatter of mahjong tiles (accompanied by groans and yelps from the players). My mom and aunt never seemed to need to look at the tiles, simply feeling them with their thumbs before discarding them or adding them to their hands. Thank you for the memories, Heather.
Thanks to Heather; this "letter" read like a meditation to me. And sometimes I am in awe of timing in the Universe. I haven't thought of mahjong since the last time I re-watched Crazy Rich Asians. I watched again last night for the first time in over a years(I love this movie!) and I was so entranced by the mahjong scene...everyone knew what to do WITHOUT words.
I couldn't understand the game, but I was mesmerized by the sound of the tiles and the expert placement of them by the women. Surely this same energy of skill and assurance can be available to us as we navigate our time on this planet.
I'm not much of a fan of parlor games, but I enjoyed playing mahjong. Seemed like a it entailed enough luck to please a novice and enough strategy to hold more experienced players. At least the way we played it.
Your photos always touch my heart and make me want to send one back, but if it's possible to attach something to my comments, I don't know how to do it. So you'll have to use your imagination. My kids and grands came down for the weekend, and we walked on the Brewster flats at low tide, the largest tidal flats in North America, measuring approximately 12,000 acres at low tide. It was cloudy, so visibility was limited, but some days you can see from Brewster all the way to Provincetown. It was breezy, so my son's green and yellow kite played tag with the clouds that sped by. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon. : )
Ah Provincetown! My family and I just spent 4 days there- sadly we just missed the Portuguese festival. It was our first time on the Cape and just loved it!
What a lovely story and an equally lovely image of your rainy day. I always enjoy the photos you share and appreciate the artistry. Your letters are, of course, the highlight of my daily reading. You are such a gift to those of us who hunger for scholarly insights, especially during theses chaotic times. Thank you, Heather.
Lynell, there are sites where scholars' pieces are featured. What a slog to get through most of them. HCR's writing is as you say; plain, clear and concise. It is not easy to do, yet easy to read; absolutely perfect!
You bring us good research, in this crazy world, treasure. You make me remember the foot thick Old French dictionary I used to translate a trouvère’s poems. It taught me poetry and his sex life at the same time.
Ah yes, the west of Ireland, look up it's Grey look down it's Green but, on a Sunny day, hiking the jagged peninsulas that slice out into the Atlantic it's spectacular.
A few days ago Esther Perel of Where Shall we Begin had info on her podcast, and it included "Friendship is its own unique love story." This and Heather's friendship story reminded me of Esther. I feel like good, longstanding friendships are one of life's blessings!
Dear HCR, your weather litany sounded something like me. Climate change is in my eyes, heart and mind. Here in NYC, Canada's wildfires have burned bright. But my visage was adjusted long ago, when I started to look at the sky, the wildlife, the trees, the grass, the lakes... knowing they were all being changed. As for fossil fuels...haven't we all had lots of bad thoughts about them.
I’m reading obsessively about climate change - articles and books (non-fiction and fiction). An unexpected dividend is having a stronger love for all things Earth grants us even as we destroy it. Something as seemingly mundane as leaves rustling this evening backlit by the setting sun.
I read a book titled "Rare Earth" written by a couple of U of Washington profs who argue that while the universe is so unfathomably big that surely life has evolved elsewhere in it, the conditions that could be expected to sustain life would be rare, and complex, intelligent life, far rarer. That the very precise and complicated set of conditions we enjoy on our planet had to be just so in multitudinous ways. Life, especially unicellular life, is amazingly adaptable, yet fragile. We just don't grasp what we're playing with.
Fascinating. We've evolved more than enough to understand the existential plight we've put ourselves in. But not enough to make everyone grasp it, much less make the sacrifices needed to save ourselves.
Perhaps this same self-inflicted tragedy has played out on other faraway worlds with the same consequences.
Do you remember that Biden used the word existential in one of his early speeches? I remember thinking Wow! I wonder who heard that, because I can't remember another president who used that word.
When I learned, thanks to finding “The Heat Will Kill You First” is that if we had followed Jimmy Carter and Al Gore (think Reagan removing the solar panels Carter put on the White House and Roger Stone meddling in the 2000 election aided by SCOTUS) we might be in another place. Actually I’ve known and watched climate change for years, but this book lays it out so that I can point to details of the progression. Now President Biden has the fight to get the situation understood because Republicans are determined not to understand science and “existential.”
While Nixon badly abused his powers, he was on board with environmental protection. Reagan loathed the concept, and tried to kill Nixon's EPA. He pretty much set the tone for his party since.
Michael, gives a special meaning to the classic tale (true or not) of Nero fiddling while Rome burned….perhaps now most are too busy gazing at their smart phones to look around & start bailing while the boat sinks (mixing my metaphors!). Of course that is too simplistic, as many folks ARE trying to remedy our collective plight, but don’t have the needed power of nations/governments/corporations & businesses to do so…and still others are scrambling just to survive. I have recently read that the ocean floor is being “opened up” for mining & that there lacks necessary oversight (eg; regulatory) of boundaries, environmental damage and “rights”, etc. Sigh, what could possibly go wrong? I have a fantasy that there are other inhabited worlds with intelligent species and they live in harmony & balance with their fellow species/ecosystems. Maybe they are curious about the wider universe and advances in technology (think Industrial Revolution) but understand to pursue this course would mean exhausting their worlds’ resources & put it aside as, ultimately, a world-killing fantasy & choose instead to appreciate what they have. Suppose anything is possible.
The thirst for profit, no matter the cost, is killing the planet. And speaking of the ocean, I'm reading an intriguing novel, "The Mountain in the Sea" by Ray Nayler. It's set in the not-too-distant future. The oceans have been terribly degraded, in part by overfishing by AI-controlled slave ships in search of scarce protein. The plot centers around the discovery of a highly advanced subspecies of octopus smart enough to strike back again humans for what they have wrought.
Thanks for the book rec! Seems we know more about space/cosmos than we do about our undersea world! I’ve read of recent whale aggression against boats—Baja area and also waters in the Pacific off the coast of WA (maybe in the Strait of Juan de Fuca?)…could be misremembering the locations. Heh, maybe the denizens of the deep are punching back?! With the rise in the Earth’s heat and melting ice at the poles (and other places too)—the impact of the melting Antarctic is especially problematic as it is projected that changes in the deep ocean currents (think of them as Earth’s circulatory system)—they have names that are hard for me to remember (but very interesting!)—may have profound climate impacts we have yet to fully discern. If we humans weren’t so full of ourselves and actually sought to communicate with other intelligent/sentient earth dwellers (ie; learn their language) we might actually learn much, but seem to be too busy chasing the next big—squirrel!!!!—thing to pay attention. It is an interesting and sad time to be alive…I find joy and contentment when & where I can (just living life), yet have the burden of realizing where humans/our fellow inhabitants are headed.
Hi Michael, I have had that same thought about the extinction of other worlds. Alternatively, theoretically at least, given the incomprehensible vastness of it all, maybe there are also worlds whose inhabitants were smarter than we are being!
Good point about inhabitants of other worlds. Perhaps they'll come to our aid. And thanks about my grandmother. She spent the last 20 years of her 50-year career working for the Tallahassee Democrat. A journalistic force of nature, she wasn't shy about marking up my early clips with a red pencil.
Out of the billions of species here on earth, a huge number have had brains and do have brains - insects, gnats, spiders, primates, fish, snakes, some humans. But only one of the species developed a brain that allowed the specicies to do what humans have - humans. For several billions of years, nothing here on earth had a brain.
Thanks for the book suggestion. I got two more yesterday, and I'm not sure what I can take in. Somehow it's overwhelming in this intense heat, although my guy says we don't actually have a heat wave unless it's more than 90 three days in a row. On Saturday five people —some of them infants— drowned in a flash flood near where Washington crossed the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
I find it fascinating and appalling that we are curious and intelligent enough to ponder such things and, at the same time, be so clueless/ignorant (stupid?) to keep on with our destructive ways regardless of the impact. I’ve long been interested in both the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation….and those who kick around these ideas & things like the “great filter”. Came across this brief article that encapsulates the current thinking: https://www.planetary.org/articles/fermi-paradox-drake-equation As I have long said “the only reason I want to live forever is to see how it all turns out”….this in one of those areas I’d like to “know” about—-among so so many other curiosities….for instance, will I ever get to read the final volumes of George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” (ie; Game of Thrones)? Ha, a true mystery it is!
Viruses are not living things, yet there is thinking that the first life on earth, LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) sprang forth about 3.5 billion years ago, possibly from a virus through a chemical process. Today, all life on earth (plants, animals, insects, etc.) all share the same DNA. Modern humans first appeared about 300,000 years ago. The strange thing is that they had a soul and didn't even know it. What a waste. Well, perhaps they didn't a soul then. The acquisition of a soul may not have occurred until the Garden of Eden. So what was the fate of the pre-soul humans?
Reading this post reminded me of how much I loved reading James Mitchener who I discovered where I was in high school. Whenever my husband and I walk or drive anywhere - especially back in the states - I am always saying, ¨I wonder what this looked like before humans. My parents use to ride bikes together in high school in southern California through groves and groves of orange trees that are now acres and acres of pavement.
One of my MAGA acquaintances here in central Florida (she switched from Democrat to MAGA) dismisses the issue of climate change on the ground that there has been climate change since the beginning of time here on earth. We had the Ice Age not that long ago, allowing Asians to cross over to the Americas. All that is true. Still, it doesn't mean that we humans are not presently adversely affecting our climate. Humans are gonna believe what we want to believe. That "want factor" trumps the "fact factor."
I read articles, and the book about heat was the lead review in the NYT book review yesterday. I have gardened for 50 years or so and so am well connected to the earth.....well dirt. I am also older and actually thankful for that as I have already seen enough to know we are in big trouble. Here in Salem, Oregon, we have a cloudy cooler day after the low 90s yesterday. We've had no rain for a couple months now. Fortunately, we had a good snow pack, so we are able to water our gardens, (not the grass) every day. I would love to see a reflection in a puddle from a good rain and enjoyed this one from Heather. I actually look forward to what I call the serenity photos each weekend. Here in Oregon, we would love to do more for the climate, but the Rs in the legislature walked out again this session (over abortion and gun control), so nothing much has gotten done. I just read a long article about the political contributions to the R party by Phil Knight who by far, makes the largest donations to them. He may be Uncle Phil at the UO, but he is bane to good governance here in Oregon. I do a lot of escapist reading and have almost finished a bio of George III.
Because you garden like me, I know you've seen the changes in our Willamette Valley growing season. I'm afraid it's just the beginning. And I'm almost afraid to open "The Heat Will Kill You First." As for Republicans in the Oregon Legislature, they personify everything wrong with the party. We've come to expect them not to show up for work because they lack a majority. And they think they're governing.
Even when they have a majority as in the US House, they don't govern; they just fight culture wars and defend death star. And yes, I have seen the changes. I have an olive tree, but confess I haven't tried to cure them. I would like to plant things for fall and winter like kale, but it is too hot right now. Today isn't bad and I picked a container of marionberries. It is difficult to keep the yard watered....about a half acre lot with a big veg garden, fruit trees, berries, and various hedges and flower gardens.
I could tell you what the Mah Jongg tiles mean but I wouldn’t want the winds, flowers and dragons to distract from your warm memories! I hv been playing with some of the same women for 15 years. I am hosting this week!
One of my warmest memories is of my Father reading me a poem The Engineer by A.A. Milne about the rain that made him laugh so much he could never finish it.
Let it rain!
Who cares?
Got a train
Upstairs....
With a brake
That I make...
Google the rest!!
Thank you HCR for a beautiful tree in the puddle. And thank you for all you think and write so we can be smarter and wiser!
Outstanding image! I love how we look up at the tree but from a puddle’s point of view. I think a person could make a series of paintings of such reflections. Looking at things indirectly gives us a new and objective perspective. Thanks for the image Heather!
I love this and feel connected. I search for reflections and reflections of reflections in everything and anywhere to photograph. That is where other worlds of magic and mystery are found.
Ah, you are a painter. Your description of seeing excited me, so I read your profile. Thank you.
"Looking at things indirectly" was the topic of a horse blog post I read this week, as in "don't stare like a predator; rather, see things from your horse's prey animal point of view." Both posts are illuminating. Thanks, Brandy, for yours!
“Eyes in front - like to hunt. Eyes on the side, need to hide”. Probably not an old African proverb, but surely true when you think about the animal world. I think the ability to always be looking - front and side - is enriching.
Like that proverb, whoever first said it. I use my peripheral skills lots but need my fronts to lip read sometimes! Thanks, Betsy.
Or from the other day's DailyOm contemplation, "The Insect Kingdom
As we work together with the insect kingdom, we allow ourselves to be in harmony with the earth and the pulse of nature. . ." 3 paragraphs., another perspective.
I love the idea of being in harmony with the earth and all her pulses...Morning, Sandra!
Lynell, I just read your post after commenting on Bryan’s. Maybe take a look.
I'll try to find it, thanks, Bonnie!
Really appreciate all your comments, Bryan.
I walk many dogs in a given week. The other day I decided to walk backwards. It was quite fun and a challenge, for sure. The dog at hand looked at me quite inquisitively? Like “What???”
I was on a meandering road in a small town where I live in Maine.
The puddle perspective picture (great!) aside, thank you Heather, for adding context to so many stories and offering us all a diversity of ways to look at things, helping us to make sense of the nonsense around us. Though not the religious sort myself, I would offer this (King James) New Testament verse (Hebrews 11:3) about our world: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." A change of perspective can indeed change our knowledge and interpretation of ... "truth". When can killing ever be condoned? When is the use of cluster munitions a moral decision? And abortion? Pick your own eternal truth and look at it through another prism; choose your own - studied - frame for reality.
That’s one heck of a puddle image, Heather! Well seen and shot. Sleep well.
Hi Heather…I’ve been with you nearly from your first letters and I loved, just now, reading about your grandmother’s mahjong set. I’ve been playing for almost 50 years and currently have 72 seniors enrolled in my two courses at the San Mateo, California, Senior Center. You can find both of my books about learning the game along with the most complete set of strategy, logic, and tactics in the English language. If you ever want to learn…I’d be thrilled to offer my help in any way possible.
https://www.amazon.com/Mahjong-Secrets-Beginner-Expert-STRATEGIES/dp/B0BYGWS6JH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2RQFZ5BZHPXVB&keywords=larry+kistler+mahjong&qid=1689566684&s=books&sprefix=Larry+kist%2Cstripbooks%2C141&sr=1-1
I’m definitely not an expert player, but I’m Chinese American, and fell asleep many times to the soothing clatter of mahjong tiles (accompanied by groans and yelps from the players). My mom and aunt never seemed to need to look at the tiles, simply feeling them with their thumbs before discarding them or adding them to their hands. Thank you for the memories, Heather.
Thanks to Heather; this "letter" read like a meditation to me. And sometimes I am in awe of timing in the Universe. I haven't thought of mahjong since the last time I re-watched Crazy Rich Asians. I watched again last night for the first time in over a years(I love this movie!) and I was so entranced by the mahjong scene...everyone knew what to do WITHOUT words.
I couldn't understand the game, but I was mesmerized by the sound of the tiles and the expert placement of them by the women. Surely this same energy of skill and assurance can be available to us as we navigate our time on this planet.
Aloha, thank you for the reminder of Crazy Rich Asians, one of my all-time favorites, too. I love the mahjong scene, and thought this was a super explanation: https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/8/17/17723242/crazy-rich-asians-movie-mahjong. Like you, I hope we choose the winning strategy.
Thank you! I'll check this out!
I'm not much of a fan of parlor games, but I enjoyed playing mahjong. Seemed like a it entailed enough luck to please a novice and enough strategy to hold more experienced players. At least the way we played it.
Your photos always touch my heart and make me want to send one back, but if it's possible to attach something to my comments, I don't know how to do it. So you'll have to use your imagination. My kids and grands came down for the weekend, and we walked on the Brewster flats at low tide, the largest tidal flats in North America, measuring approximately 12,000 acres at low tide. It was cloudy, so visibility was limited, but some days you can see from Brewster all the way to Provincetown. It was breezy, so my son's green and yellow kite played tag with the clouds that sped by. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon. : )
Largest tidal flats! Very cool. Worth pulling out the Atlas for sure.
Oh I would love to see photos!
Ah Provincetown! My family and I just spent 4 days there- sadly we just missed the Portuguese festival. It was our first time on the Cape and just loved it!
We ❤️ Provincetown!
I hope you get excellent, restorative sleep. The photo is spectacular. Glad you shared it! And thank you for all you offer us. You are a treasure!
What a lovely story and an equally lovely image of your rainy day. I always enjoy the photos you share and appreciate the artistry. Your letters are, of course, the highlight of my daily reading. You are such a gift to those of us who hunger for scholarly insights, especially during theses chaotic times. Thank you, Heather.
And also there are those of us who are not scholars who benefit from and are grateful for Heather's plain way of speaking.
Lynell, there are sites where scholars' pieces are featured. What a slog to get through most of them. HCR's writing is as you say; plain, clear and concise. It is not easy to do, yet easy to read; absolutely perfect!
Exactly, Fern. Always enjoy your plain, clear and concise commentary!
You made me smile so wide this early morning. I don't deserve your wonderful compliment, but I'll take it. Thank you, Lynell.
Always a good read, that you are, Fern! (The End)
You bring us good research, in this crazy world, treasure. You make me remember the foot thick Old French dictionary I used to translate a trouvère’s poems. It taught me poetry and his sex life at the same time.
Sounds rather like the west of Ireland.
You have to learn to see rain as a Blessing, a Cleansing.
Otherwise you could go a bit potty.
Ah yes, the west of Ireland, look up it's Grey look down it's Green but, on a Sunny day, hiking the jagged peninsulas that slice out into the Atlantic it's spectacular.
"The rain, in Maine falls mainly on the brain...tadaaa tadada"
🤣😂🤣😂
Love Annie Hall!
Lovely childhood memories and friendships. Playful and poignant. Sweet dreams.
A few days ago Esther Perel of Where Shall we Begin had info on her podcast, and it included "Friendship is its own unique love story." This and Heather's friendship story reminded me of Esther. I feel like good, longstanding friendships are one of life's blessings!
I took my 81 year old neighbor out for a car ride and an ice cream cone today.
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
So thoughtful, kind and FUN!
Dear HCR, your weather litany sounded something like me. Climate change is in my eyes, heart and mind. Here in NYC, Canada's wildfires have burned bright. But my visage was adjusted long ago, when I started to look at the sky, the wildlife, the trees, the grass, the lakes... knowing they were all being changed. As for fossil fuels...haven't we all had lots of bad thoughts about them.
Sleep well, HCR and Buddy.
I’m reading obsessively about climate change - articles and books (non-fiction and fiction). An unexpected dividend is having a stronger love for all things Earth grants us even as we destroy it. Something as seemingly mundane as leaves rustling this evening backlit by the setting sun.
I read a book titled "Rare Earth" written by a couple of U of Washington profs who argue that while the universe is so unfathomably big that surely life has evolved elsewhere in it, the conditions that could be expected to sustain life would be rare, and complex, intelligent life, far rarer. That the very precise and complicated set of conditions we enjoy on our planet had to be just so in multitudinous ways. Life, especially unicellular life, is amazingly adaptable, yet fragile. We just don't grasp what we're playing with.
Fascinating. We've evolved more than enough to understand the existential plight we've put ourselves in. But not enough to make everyone grasp it, much less make the sacrifices needed to save ourselves.
Perhaps this same self-inflicted tragedy has played out on other faraway worlds with the same consequences.
Do you remember that Biden used the word existential in one of his early speeches? I remember thinking Wow! I wonder who heard that, because I can't remember another president who used that word.
When I learned, thanks to finding “The Heat Will Kill You First” is that if we had followed Jimmy Carter and Al Gore (think Reagan removing the solar panels Carter put on the White House and Roger Stone meddling in the 2000 election aided by SCOTUS) we might be in another place. Actually I’ve known and watched climate change for years, but this book lays it out so that I can point to details of the progression. Now President Biden has the fight to get the situation understood because Republicans are determined not to understand science and “existential.”
I believe that understanding of potential "greenhouse" effect goes bak more than a century, but this early warning (1958) was pretty spot on. http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/frank-capra-warns-of-global-warming-1958
While Nixon badly abused his powers, he was on board with environmental protection. Reagan loathed the concept, and tried to kill Nixon's EPA. He pretty much set the tone for his party since.
Good question, so I did a little research. John McWhorter wrote about this very topic in “ Astonishing Rise of Existential Threats
Have 2020 candidates been reading too much French philosophy?” in an Atlantic essay. Hint: it was JFK. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/2020-candidates-say-everything-existential-threat/591967/
Thanks for this! It's a great read, but I still don't believe all threats are created equal, and I wish we had a better way to say so.
Michael, gives a special meaning to the classic tale (true or not) of Nero fiddling while Rome burned….perhaps now most are too busy gazing at their smart phones to look around & start bailing while the boat sinks (mixing my metaphors!). Of course that is too simplistic, as many folks ARE trying to remedy our collective plight, but don’t have the needed power of nations/governments/corporations & businesses to do so…and still others are scrambling just to survive. I have recently read that the ocean floor is being “opened up” for mining & that there lacks necessary oversight (eg; regulatory) of boundaries, environmental damage and “rights”, etc. Sigh, what could possibly go wrong? I have a fantasy that there are other inhabited worlds with intelligent species and they live in harmony & balance with their fellow species/ecosystems. Maybe they are curious about the wider universe and advances in technology (think Industrial Revolution) but understand to pursue this course would mean exhausting their worlds’ resources & put it aside as, ultimately, a world-killing fantasy & choose instead to appreciate what they have. Suppose anything is possible.
The thirst for profit, no matter the cost, is killing the planet. And speaking of the ocean, I'm reading an intriguing novel, "The Mountain in the Sea" by Ray Nayler. It's set in the not-too-distant future. The oceans have been terribly degraded, in part by overfishing by AI-controlled slave ships in search of scarce protein. The plot centers around the discovery of a highly advanced subspecies of octopus smart enough to strike back again humans for what they have wrought.
Thanks for the book rec! Seems we know more about space/cosmos than we do about our undersea world! I’ve read of recent whale aggression against boats—Baja area and also waters in the Pacific off the coast of WA (maybe in the Strait of Juan de Fuca?)…could be misremembering the locations. Heh, maybe the denizens of the deep are punching back?! With the rise in the Earth’s heat and melting ice at the poles (and other places too)—the impact of the melting Antarctic is especially problematic as it is projected that changes in the deep ocean currents (think of them as Earth’s circulatory system)—they have names that are hard for me to remember (but very interesting!)—may have profound climate impacts we have yet to fully discern. If we humans weren’t so full of ourselves and actually sought to communicate with other intelligent/sentient earth dwellers (ie; learn their language) we might actually learn much, but seem to be too busy chasing the next big—squirrel!!!!—thing to pay attention. It is an interesting and sad time to be alive…I find joy and contentment when & where I can (just living life), yet have the burden of realizing where humans/our fellow inhabitants are headed.
Hi Michael, I have had that same thought about the extinction of other worlds. Alternatively, theoretically at least, given the incomprehensible vastness of it all, maybe there are also worlds whose inhabitants were smarter than we are being!
Hope you are well. Love your grandmother's story!
Good point about inhabitants of other worlds. Perhaps they'll come to our aid. And thanks about my grandmother. She spent the last 20 years of her 50-year career working for the Tallahassee Democrat. A journalistic force of nature, she wasn't shy about marking up my early clips with a red pencil.
Out of the billions of species here on earth, a huge number have had brains and do have brains - insects, gnats, spiders, primates, fish, snakes, some humans. But only one of the species developed a brain that allowed the specicies to do what humans have - humans. For several billions of years, nothing here on earth had a brain.
Thanks for the book suggestion. I got two more yesterday, and I'm not sure what I can take in. Somehow it's overwhelming in this intense heat, although my guy says we don't actually have a heat wave unless it's more than 90 three days in a row. On Saturday five people —some of them infants— drowned in a flash flood near where Washington crossed the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
I find it fascinating and appalling that we are curious and intelligent enough to ponder such things and, at the same time, be so clueless/ignorant (stupid?) to keep on with our destructive ways regardless of the impact. I’ve long been interested in both the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation….and those who kick around these ideas & things like the “great filter”. Came across this brief article that encapsulates the current thinking: https://www.planetary.org/articles/fermi-paradox-drake-equation As I have long said “the only reason I want to live forever is to see how it all turns out”….this in one of those areas I’d like to “know” about—-among so so many other curiosities….for instance, will I ever get to read the final volumes of George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” (ie; Game of Thrones)? Ha, a true mystery it is!
Thanks for the posting. Sounds like the authors have it right. If I can't find the book at the local library, I will buy a used copy on Amazon.
GOD ! , Has MADE US !,
and Such a BEAUTIFUL CREATION !, For US !,
to TAKE IN. and LOVE. !
Viruses are not living things, yet there is thinking that the first life on earth, LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) sprang forth about 3.5 billion years ago, possibly from a virus through a chemical process. Today, all life on earth (plants, animals, insects, etc.) all share the same DNA. Modern humans first appeared about 300,000 years ago. The strange thing is that they had a soul and didn't even know it. What a waste. Well, perhaps they didn't a soul then. The acquisition of a soul may not have occurred until the Garden of Eden. So what was the fate of the pre-soul humans?
Reading this post reminded me of how much I loved reading James Mitchener who I discovered where I was in high school. Whenever my husband and I walk or drive anywhere - especially back in the states - I am always saying, ¨I wonder what this looked like before humans. My parents use to ride bikes together in high school in southern California through groves and groves of orange trees that are now acres and acres of pavement.
And now you're reminding me of Steinbeck.
It is my seeing, Michael. My eyes are writing and screaming and loving and very sad.
Beautifully said.
😔Michael, it was good to join together. Thank you.
One of my MAGA acquaintances here in central Florida (she switched from Democrat to MAGA) dismisses the issue of climate change on the ground that there has been climate change since the beginning of time here on earth. We had the Ice Age not that long ago, allowing Asians to cross over to the Americas. All that is true. Still, it doesn't mean that we humans are not presently adversely affecting our climate. Humans are gonna believe what we want to believe. That "want factor" trumps the "fact factor."
I read articles, and the book about heat was the lead review in the NYT book review yesterday. I have gardened for 50 years or so and so am well connected to the earth.....well dirt. I am also older and actually thankful for that as I have already seen enough to know we are in big trouble. Here in Salem, Oregon, we have a cloudy cooler day after the low 90s yesterday. We've had no rain for a couple months now. Fortunately, we had a good snow pack, so we are able to water our gardens, (not the grass) every day. I would love to see a reflection in a puddle from a good rain and enjoyed this one from Heather. I actually look forward to what I call the serenity photos each weekend. Here in Oregon, we would love to do more for the climate, but the Rs in the legislature walked out again this session (over abortion and gun control), so nothing much has gotten done. I just read a long article about the political contributions to the R party by Phil Knight who by far, makes the largest donations to them. He may be Uncle Phil at the UO, but he is bane to good governance here in Oregon. I do a lot of escapist reading and have almost finished a bio of George III.
Because you garden like me, I know you've seen the changes in our Willamette Valley growing season. I'm afraid it's just the beginning. And I'm almost afraid to open "The Heat Will Kill You First." As for Republicans in the Oregon Legislature, they personify everything wrong with the party. We've come to expect them not to show up for work because they lack a majority. And they think they're governing.
Even when they have a majority as in the US House, they don't govern; they just fight culture wars and defend death star. And yes, I have seen the changes. I have an olive tree, but confess I haven't tried to cure them. I would like to plant things for fall and winter like kale, but it is too hot right now. Today isn't bad and I picked a container of marionberries. It is difficult to keep the yard watered....about a half acre lot with a big veg garden, fruit trees, berries, and various hedges and flower gardens.
Sounds like a very nice plot of land. Nothing like growing your own food!
Heard this on Amanpour this past week,
'"The heat will kill you first': Author tracks climate crisis in real time | CNN
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/07/10/amanpour-golodryga-goodell-heat-will-kill-you.cnn "
Really nice reflection and reflection. I appreciate your perspective in all ways. Thanks Heather.
Photo and story -- a nice way to end this week. Love the glimpse.
I could tell you what the Mah Jongg tiles mean but I wouldn’t want the winds, flowers and dragons to distract from your warm memories! I hv been playing with some of the same women for 15 years. I am hosting this week!
One of my warmest memories is of my Father reading me a poem The Engineer by A.A. Milne about the rain that made him laugh so much he could never finish it.
Let it rain!
Who cares?
Got a train
Upstairs....
With a brake
That I make...
Google the rest!!
Thank you HCR for a beautiful tree in the puddle. And thank you for all you think and write so we can be smarter and wiser!
Thanks, HCR. There is poetry in your writing but you know that of course.
I like what you write.
It will be 103 here in Albuquerque tomorrow and at least 100 the rest of the week. So ready for a bit of rain.
I'll bet.