Sunday, January 10, 2020 (In 10 days Biden officially will become President)

I’m looking for an online course designed to improve learning skills. It’s difficult for me to absorb technically-oriented information, aside from momentary “Ah ha’s”. The part of my brain that should focus tightly doesn’t. It relinquishes itself to another part that enjoys diffused information. I do like to interweave big ideas, but want also to focus tightly on specifics. Maybe help will come from understanding more the brain’s capabilities, and by practicing new learning skills.

Heavens! I must be at work in an hour. Got lost in my inability to focus on details. Hey, Self: Gotcha!

Dear Friends: Keep creating ideas for the New Year to offset its dreary start. Diana

Saturday, January 09, 2020 (In 11 days Biden officially will become President)

Little makes me happier than leading the horses safely, about a quarter-mile from home, and then releasing them to graze all day. After hanging their halters on the dormant cherry trees, I’ll go home.

That pasture belongs to a kind neighbor who grants us free access in winter-time. Frozen grasses aren’t full of sugar and thus my easy weight-gainers may eat all they can hold. The pasture is large and they can run, sometimes bucking and kicking. Through the daylight hours as horses should, they graze and stroll, or stand and doze.

Yesterday’s early morning light snow created a fresh, pretty landscape. By the time my horses reached pasture, the snow mostly had melted. After making sure their water wasn’t frozen, I headed home. That would be a working day, but I didn’t want to think about this, and instead, considered a book I’m reading: Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl. Her reflections are thoughtful and powerful, and her prose is poetry.

My travel home included bumping into my next-door neighbor, Frank. Before I began working longer hours, and before his wife (a schoolteacher) began working from home, Frank and I chatted daily over the fence separating our properties. This year we’ve been busy and preoccupied, yesterday’s quick catch-up was fun.

Toward evening after work, we met again, Frank in his truck returning home from errands, and me out to fetch the horses. I thanked him for letting me and the horses travel through his property, a short-cut to my home. Once on his place, I can quit tugging to make the donkey track faster with the horses. Now safe from vehicle traffic, donkey set free follows the horses home.

After feeding the large animals and nearing the house, there was my handsome tabby, Maxwell, waiting for his dinner and focused on something invisible to me.

Dear Friends: That was a day when it felt good simply to feel good. Diana

Friday, January 08, 2020 (12 days before Biden is inaugurated)

It’s hard imagining what this year may look like. We’ve no clarity as to whether in a short time adequate vaccines may be produced to quell the pandemic. We don’t know how long it may take to administer vaccines to all needing them. Those and other open questions may interfere with plans for the new year ahead.

Well, I’m moving on anyway. I’m printing recipes for sourdough bread, and printing instructions on how to knit. I’m rearranging art supplies and might again try to draw. Preparing for self-isolating is easier now than last year. Now, we know ways to maintain a distance from others. We’ve figured out how to self-entertain, and can stay busy even if we’re not learning much that’s new.

I wonder if last year I did learn anything new. I wasn’t successful as a bread baker, failed at trying to knit, and didn’t manage to draw adequately. The irony is that these activities still hold my interest, and likely, I’ll not accomplish them any better this time.

Earlier today, I ran across several handheld calculators, complex and heavy-duty, unused and forgotten. Immediately, I wished to learn how to use them–a recurring old response. Using the calculators requires math skills and an understanding of numerical complexities. Higher math is learning I’ve tried to absorb, over and over by taking courses, before giving up.

Math is easy to the right kind of brain. Gaining savvy with numbers relies on abilities to memorize and categorize. That isn’t how my brain works, it doesn’t do numbers. Here’s the rub, I always yearn to know math and to interact creatively with modern capable, handheld calculators. Okay, I’ll add “learn math” to this year’s self-isolating activities.

Ahead an activity that pleases will be horseback riding. My horses carried me through last year’s social constraints. They and my dogs alongside made me happy. Nowadays, the dogs are aging and signs of arthritis limits their activities with horses. The dogs will make me go hiking, carrying a good camera. On this year’s list, activities with horses and dogs will really be my do-ables!

Dear Friends: We do what we can, hope to do more, and try to keep our sights high. Diana

Thursday, January 07, 2020 (13 days until Biden’s inauguration)

Yesterday in D.C. occurred the most brutal event most citizens have witnessed since the 1960s when America’s Civil Rights Movement got underway. Early television technology in those days revealed citizens being beaten by police and trampled by horses. Television created a widespread awareness of the South’s inhumane Jim Crow environment.

Yesterday, television captured a violent assault on America’s Capital. We in our homes, drinking coffee and watching a special joint House/Senate meeting, saw a murderous huge crowd on a binge of violent terror. That crowd’s instigator and de facto leader was/is the current President of the United States.

You know, saw it for yourself. I’m compelled to write because of first-hand experience that showed me the hold and sway over a group that may be gained by a seriously mentally-ill individual.

Ages ago, my eldest sister and her husband (both now deceased) adopted an infant–a beautiful and bright baby boy. Over time, he began demonstrating uncontrollable behaviors, some that verged on violence. My sister and brother-in-law tried every way they could to make the child happy. Nothing calmed this boy. Before he reached adolescence, he’d been diagnosed as paranoid-schizophrenic.

Increasingly, his reasonably-affluent family tried to accommodate the child. His parents spent great amounts of money and sought to calm him with musical instruments, outdoors gear, and anything to help him achieve a healthier state. Nothing helped He began to demonstrate violence against animals and threatened his parents. I lived nearby and had to distance myself.

While still a teenager, the boy in a fit of anger murdered my brother-in-law, point-blank with a pistol. Afterwards, he strolled through the house for car keys as my sister hid. After the police picked him up, he was sentenced to a state mental facility. Perhaps he still lives there.

America’s four years of Trump have reminded me of my nephew. Trump’s term exemplifies how one mentally ill may gain control of an environment. Through his four years as America’s most powerful politician, Trump has held all citizens hostage. Many have wished for him to lose the recent election. Others have wished differently and supported Trump. They’re also hostages, still doing his bidding. Yesterday, and wanted only by Trump, his supporters en masse overcame America’s Capital. In a spirit of violence, carrying destructive weapons, waving Confederate flags, and gleeful, they were intent on destroying an entrenched democratic process.

May America stay safe through the next thirteen days and see Biden inaugurated. May we hoping for that transfer of power be spared more hate and fury episodes–from Trump himself, and/or his rabid followers.

Dear Friends: Documented hatred and violence lives forever. “Can’t we all get along?” Diana

Wednesday, January 06, 2020 (14 days until Biden’s inauguration)

Georgia voters have managed to tamp down America’s middle-age anxieties. This morning, the runoff watchers awakened to welcome news of victories by Georgia’s Democratic Senate candidates.

Whew! Goodbye, Mitch. Bye, bye, Donald.

And Stacy Abrams, welcome to a future role on the world stage, also powerful. Your efforts for years to ensure fair and open voting in Georgia have yielded success. Your passion has demonstrated a model worthy of accolades.

This is a morning of breathing easier. Sure, Coronavirus continues to threaten and kill, but now Americans are gaining able and educated national leaders. They understand the importance of listening to science and appropriately making decisions.

America’s middle-age anxieties won’t end, for a large percentage of citizens still unhappy will continue generating unrest. Hopefully, most of us have come to understand, during DJT’s heavy-handed administration, that an established democracy seriously can be threatened, and worst, potentially dismantled.

Historical experience has helped us understand. It’s made us aware of past and present, social and political situations in other countries–especially Nazi Germany. We understand that social and political situations in civilized units do influence wellness and progress. Ironically, social media that foster turmoil, also teach, by revealing to citizens larger views of situations for them to consider.

Dear Friends: Slippers are Ugg with humor, but an ugg to those in power is bad. Diana

Tuesday, December 05, 2020 (15 days until Biden’s inauguration)

Today, voting will determine who are Alabama’s next two U.S. Senators–high stakes for America.

I finally subscribed to Audible. Too little free time for the favorite activity of sitting, holding a book, and reading, I need to stay in touch with others and learn from their thoughts, research, and creativity.

Our years of semi-terror politics-gone-wild are winding down, as indicated by changing popular writings. Many modern books, instead of complaining about current politics, are examaining anew nature’s environmental and human perspectives. These short, easier-to-read books deal with topics like modern philosophy and ethics. They hope to encourage the articulation of arguments, solidly based on reasonable thinking.

These short easier books teach in friendly ways. In my old school days, I waded through tombs, obtuse and difficult for a young mind. Today, after years of confusion about how to support large societies, I’m primed, open to ideas that foster truth, common sense, and logic.

This new year has gnawing world hunger for social intelligence. Popular reading preferences may nourish it. We’ve seen societies trying to foster new ideas and being foiled. Nonetheless, boiling beneath the surface still is a common yearning for better.

Realistically and symbolically, Georgia’s election reflects social unrests. Both sides have campaigned in ways beyond-intense. In these last moments, predicting outcomes isn’t possible because of the huge ambivalence among voters. Until late tonight, outcomes will be coin tosses.

Dear Friends: Changes in popular topics support larger hopes for a saner world. Diana

Monday, January 04, 2020 (Countdown: 16 days until Biden’s inauguration)

Pelosi survived yesterday’s House votes and will remain Speaker at least for two more years, after which, she has stated her intent to step aside.

Georgia residents will vote tomorrow. The outcome will determine which party will control the Senate during Biden’s administration. Frankly, I hope Mitch McC will disappear.

Just sayin’, and reminding, although we’re all weary. Twenty-twenty-one has been hoped for, the reality so far is that a New Year isn’t changing enough that still concerns us. ‘C’est la vie’.

Those are my rambles this morning before heading outside in darkness to feed horses. That’s prior to my heading away and trying to arrive early at work. Sigh. Afterwards, I’ll have two days off, to wallow happily or sadly in American politics. Go, Georgia!

As an aside, one can’t help wondering what the future holds for Stacy Abrams. She’s turned herself into a powerhouse in Georgia, and deservedly so. She’s extremely bright, articulate, passionate, and skilled to handle ongoing a huge role in domestic political and social issues.

Dear Friends: Whatever your viewpoints, may tomorrow deliver your preferences. Diana

Sunday, January 03, 2020 (17 days until Joe Biden’s inauguration)

Early today, fifteen minutes of monsoon-like wind and rain, could hear it hitting windows and landing on the roof. In a little time it continued, settled and more quiet, like a horse that’s been well fed.

Aside from the weather, today will be tough. It’s one of my two early-arrival days at work. My next early day is tomorrow, but this morning I don’t want to think more about that morning.

Of note is that on PBS Masterpiece Theater tonight the brilliant actress, Glenda Jackson, returns to TV in a movie, entitled “Elizabeth is Missing”. It’s Jackson’s first screen performance since 1992, when she left acting to become a member of Parliament. Now, she’s 84 years old and returning to her roots. She recently has appeared in several highly regarded theater performances. The Times describes her as “one of the most technically accomplished and ferociously intelligent actresses of our time”. I agree. Jackson, like no other, is way up there with Streep, but always unique and holds her own.

It’ll improve my day, anticipating tonight’s special Masterpiece Theater.

Today’s NYT carried a lovely photojournalism piece with stunningly beautiful photos. I’m including a link, but meanwhile, eagerly sharing these outstanding captures of Zambian wildlife.

These are as close as I’ll ever get to experiencing Africa in real time, and they very well lend a sense of the place that boosts my yearnings to go. They’re good enough to make my mind escape having to hurry this morning. But, real time tugs.

Here’s a link to the incredible journey: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/travel/world-through-a-lens.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210103&instance_id=25601&nl=the-morning&regi_id=68981391&segment_id=48251&te=1&user_id=fcaa975f25ad07269658faaa47d2a8c6

Dear Friends: May your today be wonderful, though winter chores and commitments. Diana

Saturday, January 02, 2020 (18 days until Biden is confirmed)

It’s a short wait for Biden’s confirmation, but meanwhile on Sunday (tomorrow), the House will vote on its next speaker. Pelosi’s spot is up for grabs, she’ll likely keep it. In 2020, she did a masterful job of keeping the House together, and achieving legislation designed to help a majority of Americans. The Senate’s McConnell consistently has blocked most legislation from the House.

My sense of what’s optimal ahead is: Go, Georgia Dems!

Shifting to what seems a related editorial in today’s New York Times. Annalee Newitz reports on “What New Science Techniques Tells Us About Ancient Women Warriors”. What’s new is that long-held beliefs about so-called natural gender roles in ancient history are challenged recently by archaeological studies. Scientists increasingly are finding evidence of women as leaders, warriors and hunters for thousands of years.

The remains of a 9,000-year-old big-game hunter buried in the Andes, like others of the period, was buried with a specialized tool kit for stalking large game. It had projectile points, scrapers for tanning hides and a tool that looked like a knife. Scientists long had assumed the hunter was male. They recently applied a method used in forensics to analyze tooth enamel, finding a female version of a protein called amelogenin. That identified the hunter as a woman.

 The researchers then re-examined evidence from 107 other graves in the Americas, from roughly the same period. They discovered, among 26 graves with hunter tools, that 10 were women. Experts say the findings show that women have always been able to, and have hunted. This crumbles a long-held theory, of men and women in ancient societies having strictly defined roles. Men hunting, and women gathering.

Newitz points to the misguided theory of a “new evolution” of women in leadership roles. Her editorial enlightens, and forces readers to consider accomplishments by modern women, like Pelosi, Harris, Abrams. And, to recognize the extent to which AOC, whose career just has begun, sparks in younger generations courage and activity.

America is being forced to recreate itself in essential ways, in order to maintain its large populations, sprawling cities, connective infrastructures, and methods of processing for adequate production and distribution.

Of course, the future isn’t just about women. Men are adapting to new needs, by recognizing the need to to modify old, ancient and stubborn world views. Male leaders are starting (again?) to team visibly with women.

Here’s a link to the Newitz article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/opinion/women-hunter-leader.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Dear Friends: We hope with bated breaths for “a best-leadership team” this New Year. Diana

Friday, January 01, 2021 (29 days to Biden’s swearing-in)

This morning, with hope and a cup of “Organic Rainforest Blend”, I’m considering our chaotic transition to this New Year. Such a messy turning might seem unprecedented, but not so. This date is very historical. It’s been witness to Castro’s revolutionary takeover in Cuba, Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the official beginning of a United Nations. Chaos tends to precede New Years Days.

That’s because we’re into transitions at a personal level. Wanting “new starts” of sorts, we target to change unwanted habits in the New Year. Mostly we fail for setting too tough personal goals, but with determination, as a year progresses, we re-plan for the new appearance of that key date.

As of midnight last night, the earth has begun an annual renewal of its travel around the sun. Thus, it makes sense that all life on earth, very sensitive to light and weather, begins yearning for renewals. All species survive by accomplishing such basics as hunting, planting, nurturing, protecting (these may vary in order of importance). They’re best accomplished in appropriate light and weather.

Each New Year signals the beginning of our world’s transition–from varying degrees of cold and darkness, to renewals of warmth and light.

Socially, this season’s slide into darkness, aided by technology, has emphasized within and among populations the existence of extreme differences and dislikes. Technology enables a more widespread audience to witness the realities and outcomes of great differences, and widened eyes and minds to the influence of power. It’s illustrated how the more powerful may help or hinder the “stuff of living” (e.g., hunting, planting, nurturing, and protecting).

American politics in 2021 will determine much, that greatly will be significant to this nation’s future.

I enjoy brilliant cartoons. They uplift my spirits, or like this one, hit the spot:

Dear Friends: Wishing for us all, a Happy New Year! Diana