Friday, April 16, 2021 (In eleven days April’s full “Pink Moon” will appear.)

A general consensus is that an almost-best video series was “Breaking Bad”. The series initially aired from 2008 to 2013, over five seasons with 62 episodes.

I didn’t watch the initial airing, but comments about the show matched in popularity another compelling series, “The Sopranos”. When “The Sopranos” appeared on Netflix, I tuned in and loved it. Later when “Breaking Bad” landed on Netflix, I checked it out. And Oh My Gosh!

I couldn’t pull myself from sitting through episode after episode. All was good about “Breaking Bad”, the script, directing, acting, photography, and its ending.

It’s a story about an underpaid high school chemistry teacher who suddenly is diagnosed with stage-three lung cancer. He worries about dying soon, leaving his family with nothing, and so, turns to a life of crime. Partnered with a former student and user who’s peripherally involved in the drug world, the chemistry teacher manages to create, produce, and distribute, a very powerful version of crystal meth. Their success quickly forces the two men into navigating the dangers of a criminal underworld.

Meanwhile the chemistry teacher leads a double life. He’s a family man, tells his family nothing about his involvement with drugs and the underworld. At the same time he continually produces meth and is under a heavy burden of having to launder incoming scads of cash.

His is a compelling story.

Now today, in the Washington Post is a story about one Barney Dale Harris. He’s a 40-year-old, popular Charlotte, NC, Spanish teacher, who also is the men’s varsity basketball and track coach, and is a student adviser. He has died from gunshots.

According to The Post: “Barney Dale Harris, a beloved presence at the Monroe, N.C., high school since 2017, [was] killed in a gun battle while trying to steal drugs and cash from a Mexican drug cartel.”

More about this: “Authorities found the body of Harris inside a mobile home in Green Level, N.C., on April 8. He was wearing a bulletproof vest that that failed to save his life during what Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson likened to ‘an old Western shootout.’”

Married for 21 years, Harris was the father of three children and leading a double life. His wife knew nothing about his involvement with the underground drug world.

This is a fascinating story because it mirrors “Breaking Bad”. It raises questions about when, why, and how Harris became involved with a drug cartel. The robbery attempt that led to Harris’s death included his brother-in-law. There’s no suggestion that either were users. These men seem to have been intent on stealing from someone associated to a Mexican drug cartel.

The Post also notes that this episode might have another chapter. Mexican cartels don’t forget, they get even.

Here’s a link, https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/04/15/teacher-cartel-shootout/

Dear Friends: This story suggests influence by a fictional series, we only can wonder. Diana

Thursday, April 15, 2021 (12 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

I’m about to go outside and feed the large animals and my last remaining chicken, Welsummer. Today’s header photo from several years ago shows an earlier flock hen and not Welsummer. It’s a pleasing capture.

Welsummer is on my mind because she seems amazing. She’s just turning eleven years old, looks thrifty and is energetic. Still occasionally she lays an egg. Mornings, I prepare chopped salad for Welsummer and my Cockatoo Peaches. They get mixed greens, and kale aplenty, with peas, beans, and shredded carrots.

You never know what’s on Peaches’ mind. His foot reaches into the bowl and he tosses pieces least interesting onto his cage floor. I don’t worry because the cage floor becomes a storehouse for his eats through the day.

But I’m outside and carrying a food bucket. Welsummer races to greet me unable to contain her excitement over the food container. She leaps and pecks at it, follows me to a feeding spot, and begins eating the instant salad bits hit the ground.

From yesterday, here’s Welsummer diving in.

My African Dwarf twins who share space with Welsummer are interested in what she’s eating. For some reason, probably because they’re untrained, aren’t into veggies. I’ll start working and teach them.

Some years ago my neighbor, Frank, allowed these goats onto his pasture. To my surprise, the animals didn’t seem to know what to do. They didn’t nibble grass, just followed me around with their heads up. I recognized that pasture grazing was new and they needed an introduction to it. Well, now I will work on introducing the goats to salads.

Dear Friends: After years and now down to my final hen and last goats, I’m still learning from them. Diana

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 (13 days until April’s full Pink Moon)

As a sucker for souped-up old vehicles, I laughed on finding myself parking beside an elderly Dodge pickup. It’s painted bright orange, with a lowered body. Best, its energetic nonviolent decals render it semi-ferocious.

Here’s its front view.

Some of its fun decals.

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This orange truck put me into mind of one I saw a couple of years ago. I was parking next to it and astonished by the creative modifications. Someone very artistic had it updated into a vision of gorgeous.

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While considering these recreated and loveable vehicles, I recalled long ago spotting an old Cadillac parked nearby. This photograph captures a perfect paint job that confuses where it might rank on a beautifying spectrum.

Fortunately, the art world offers plenty for individuals to like or dislike, which keeps Facebook massively popular.

It’s great fun to behold art social in nature.

Dear Friends: With time to gaze around, we find the big world offering much that astonishes. Diana

Tuesday, April 13, 2021 (In two weeks, April’s full “Pink Moon” rises nearest earth, becomes highly visible.)

Disney’s long standing theme song originally written for the 1940 children’s movie, “Pinocchio”, is titled, “When you wish upon a star”. Sung by Jiminy Cricket in the popular movie, probably everybody worldwide knows the song and remembers its first stanza.

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you….

Today we’ve become much more familiar with astronomy and some events occurring regularly in space. Maybe it’s not too odd to consider that old musical image as less provocative and thus less powerful Nowadays, maybe we’re more likely to want to wish upon a full moon.

The April full Pink Moon is called a “supermoon”. Named so for appearing larger than average when its orbit puts it at a point nearest to earth. Its near position makes a supermoon appear up to 30% brighter than full moons normally positioned in the sky. Supermoons are about 221,905 miles from the Earth, versus average full moons at distances of about 240,000 miles. The approximately 20,000 miles make moon sightings quite distinctive.

Here’s the April Pink Moon, nearest to earth and eyecatching. I’m eager to photograph it.

To be honest, every full moon, those nearest or most farther away, draws me in, compels my vision. During a full moon’s visibility, I look to see it through daylights and night skies.

Having written this, I’ll be on searches for more or better rationale for wishing upon moons rather than on stars. While it’s a funny project, all imagination, we do want to wish!

Dear Friends: Childhood images have so shaped our lives, Disney was a true genius! Diana

Monday, April 12, 2021 (15 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

Who in this town knows there’s a street sign identifying itself as “Bee Tree Lane”? Did those in the know learn about that street by accident?

Well I did, while driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I’d chosen to take a scenic route toward my destination. Shortly thereafter and feeling a bit lost, I turned suddenly onto Bee Tree hoping it would lead to an area more familiar. Instead, I found myself on a dead-end short street and a small neighborhood.

The area surrounding Bee Tree is former farmland. The dwellings are fairly new. Annoyed about my wrong turn, I headed for the street’s end with space to turn around. I’m attracted to historical remnants and sighting yard ornaments from earlier times stopped me short. I got out of my vehicle and carrying a camera trespassed.

Get a load of this ancient Fire Truck.

Behind the fire truck an old wagon with a team pole for hauling by horses. The pole’s length suggests that the wagon, fully loaded, needed a four-horse team.

There was more. These working mailboxes have posts of old farming equipment.

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I’m concluding that there are few wrong turns. Even in places seemingly uninteresting, open eyes find rewards. For me, the photos are enough. These capture historical artifacts, record creativity, and suggest use variations to collectors of ancient implements.

Dear Friends: A rapidly changing world makes it essential to grasp our disappearing past. Diana

Sunday, April 11, 2021 (16 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

Little is like a first tasting Guinness Irish Draft with a friend who previously has visited the Dublin Brewery, and who loves the beer. So my friend, Susie, introduced me to the stout. She knows I’m a habitual Coors Light drinker and cautioned that I might not enjoy the brownish drink. Oh, but I did.

I learned something new and cool. It’s seeing a newly poured Guinness taking shape in its glass. An initial darkness at the bottom foams upward and on reaching the top produces a lovely head.

Thus began a pleasant sharing whatever came to our minds. Spinning ideas like the foaming in a beer glass, we reflected and predicted. This included drinks and eats. Following the Guinness a lovely Argentine Malbec perfectly accompanied snacks of good cheddar and fresh cheviche piled on low-carb tortillas. Yes, we did the event right.

What’s best though is the mutual confidence bringing us together. I air mixed feelings about suddenly quitting a job and dumping a months-long re-fi process. She loosens a preoccupation with producing and marketing her family’s Heliladder (www.heliladder.com), and instead, speaks of what she’s learning from books and movies, from her kids and friends, and describes her sheer happiness while adventuring outdoors.

Soon we’ll be sharing an outdoors adventure. We’ll be chasing April’s full Pink Moon, hoping to capture the sky’s beauty as that moon begins to rise. The days will be longer, and we’ll find how lingering light may influence our vision.

Dear Friends: If happenstance I drifted home a wee bit tipsy, t’was worth it. Diana

Saturday, April 10, 2021 (17 days before April’s full “Pink Moon”)

I’ve completed a couple of serious changes. Quit a part-time job after working at it on and off for fifteen years. And, cancelled an online refinance project after my application lingered open for months.

Stopping work was difficult. It meant being among long-time friends less. Extra income is pleasing, but situations do change. It was time to leave and so I did.

The other event, arranging for a refinance online, began easily. The interest rate and terms were right, the mortgage broker was pleasant, and things began progressing nicely. Here’s the upshot, we initiated this process seven months ago, and clear to this week my app didn’t become closed.

The broker and underwriter explained that re-fi’s have slammed their system because of low interest rates, causing the longer time to close my app. Finally, I began complaining about the wait, they were reassuring that my application was in its closing stage, would complete in a few days. I waited but with continuing complaints and they reassured continually.

Here’s what got to me. Over six or seven months a life will change. One might marry, divorce, have a baby, switch jobs, and etc. Each time the mortgage reps requested updates to my application, they called for documents not needed in the beginning, maybe a way of continuing their stall. The lagging time became more problematic, until it felt best to bail, and I did.

So, there’s a new me, no outside work and still with a long-time mortgage arrangement. I’m relieved. The years have taught that when matters cause discomfort, it’s appropriate to assess, to zero-in on what’s causing the most distress, and then, make mind-easing decisions.

Sometimes I’m wrong, and after cooling down have felt sorry. But another six or seven months pass and much changes, for time introduces unanticipated rewards.

Dear Friends: Appreciating more, home and neighborhood, embracing what’s most real. Diana

Friday, April 09, 2021 (18 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

While driving on a dead end-street, curious about where it might lead, I stumbled onto this emblem of the Old West. The wagon is parked in a weird place. One must know where to fine it, or like me discover by accident.

It’s nearly hidden in a large parking lot emblazed with No Trespassing signs. My first time seeing the wagon, I was trespassing. I had to use the no-trespassing area to turn around my vehicle and reverse direction on that dead-end street. I didn’t have a camera then but kept thinking about the wagon. A few days later I upped my courage and again trespassed, this time taking a camera.

The wagon in great shape evokes the period it represents. Sighting it makes a viewer’s brain dredge up images of this Central Oregon town’s early days, say that period between 1900 to 1920, or so. That period was true frontier living. This magnificent lumber environment really popped once finally rails were laid successfully the entire way, over mountains and canyons between the Hood River and Central Oregon.

Yes, this wagon is a magnificent reminder.

I love the local history and fortunately some of it remains evident. While out and about my eyes always are open to spot relics that draw up those old years and create a visual relationship to the past.

Dear Friends: Feeding arcane interests also teaches more about living today. Diana

Thursday, April 08, 2021 (19 days before April’s full “Pink Moon”)

Yesterday afternoon while mucking out around the barn, on catching sight of Broken Top I paused. From my viewpoint some twenty-odd miles away, its details seemed unusually vivid. Trying to understand why, I looked closely at the collapsed volcano. It was framed in late-day thin light. In the mild weather that unusual light revealed the profile differently. I went for my camera.

Broken Top on any day is an eye-catcher. It’s an identifiable, long and rangy structure among Central Oregon’s Cascades. It has standout jagged peaks surrounding its lower, beautiful center area. That spent volcano attracts hikers, bikers, and horseback riders, traffic that keeps it a busy destination.

Intrigued and hoping to capture more details, I focused-in closely and achieved this surreal image. It draws me in, tickles my imagination.

My direct line of vision from the barn to Broken Top always rewards. Its unusual profile attracts my gazes and stimulates my recalls of pleasant horseback riding there.

In these photos Broken Top seems more dreamy-like. The images stimulate new imaginings.

Dear Friends: It’s less about what’s being seen, and more about how it’s being seen. Diana

Wednesday, April 07, 2021 (20 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

I’ve always been a reader, grew up following mostly male writers, didn’t become introduced to modern women writers before discovering Ernest Hemmingway. My first reading of his work (I forget which one) set me back on my heels. The writing, clean, specific, and sparse but powerful, re-set my standards for “good writing”.

After my eyes had opened, I searched for other writers using sentences that seem sparse, but create impact. One of my favorites was the Southern writer, William Faulkner. There were others excellent, too, who represented the Harlem Renaissance, James Baldwin and Zora Neal Hurston, among others.

Soon I discovered Twentieth Century women writing in styles sparse and impactful. Initially topping my list were Jean Rhys and Tillie Olson.

This ever growing pursuit of fine writing I attribute to having read Hemmingway. He was a genius and brilliant writer, whose novels and stories deserved every accolade they achieved. Like many others interested in writing well, I studied his sentences and story structures.

Other than his writing skills, I can’t stand Hemmingway. My feelings are refreshed by the now-streaming Ken Burns television series, “Hemmingway”. Aside from being a writing genius, Hemmingway was a bully, a drunkard, an unabashed slaughtered of African wild animals, and a needy womanizer.

I hesitate to add this, but as much good as Theodore Roosevelt did for us all by establishing America’s public lands, his persona otherwise reminds me of Hemmingway. It was no accident that Hemmingway’s hero was Theodore Roosevelt.

Both got away doing “manly things”, before public consciousness grew to today’s levels. Nowadays we worry about the environment, its wasting resources and disappearing species. We dislike those who poach and plunder.

Maybe it’s wrong to apply today’s standards to yesterday’s heroes. Can’t help it though. I had to cringe physically and squint my eyes to avoid witnessing Hemmingway’s now-terrible “sports-killing activities”. In the Burns telling, besides a viewer having to see the fun of slaughtering gorgeous wild animals, try watching as bulls are slaughtered by a human dancer who’s surrounded by protective teams of humans.

If my writing is readable, has value and impact, I owe much to having read Hemmingway. After writing now about him, maybe I’ll revisit old favorites, “The Sun Also Rises” and “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. I’d read in a modern light, I’d re-think the meanings that might underlie his sentences. Maybe I’d even manage cut the man some slack.

Dear Friends: “New wine in old glasses”, or views over time altered by experience and learning. Diana