TUESDAY TUNES this week speaks loudly to the one who makes it easy to come back to bed even if you are an early riser. Whether it's a Sunday morning or in retirement, hey, it could be any day. And what says it better than a country song ? This one is sung by Jason Aldean.
MONDAY MUSINGS: The 10 days of repentance following the beginning of the New Year allows one time to ask for forgiveness to those one might have hurt in words/actions.
The Day of Repentance begins this week on Wednesday October the first and ends at sundown on the 2nd of October. So if I have hurt you either knowingly or unknowingly, please forgive me. I am sorry.
I will try to be a better person in this upcoming year.
Bubble machines delighted all ages with a family-friendly atmosphere in the WARM '90' degree day. But those who braved the temps enjoyed kid-friendly music, games, activities (including face painting, henna, origami, dreidel, blowing bubbles, balloon animals, a church tour, etc...) and even possibilities of a shwarma box lunch/mini pancakes and koolpops. YUM!
Everyone's dessert serving trays were emptied!
In addition to nourishing our souls and stomachs at the block party, canned goods and staples were donated to the food bank to nourish those in need. As an interfaith Council no matter what one's denomination, we all need to work together to eradicate food insecurity.
It was a successful afternoon reaffirming the fact that peace begins at home...
We actually don't even have to be in Tokyo to enjoy her work in her own museum but if you are, it is located in the Shinjuku Ward, in the western suburbs of Tokyo. Her exhibits travel worldwide.
Yayoi Kusama grew up near her family's plant nursery and I have a feeling that had a lot to do with this themed exhibit.
She moved to New York '59 and was part of the avant garde circles with Warhol and Kapow. Yusama returned to Japan in 1973 and has quite a cult status.
Feast your eyes on these wonderful whimsical botanical sculptures.
Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.
–Yayoi Kusama
Surely you can understand why I would love any one of these for the grands to climb on in the backyard.
Last week TUESDAY TUNES did not get posted. It was an emotional, weepy week as two of my friends each lost a son. Ed Sheeran's I See Fire... has a multitude of messages. Interpret them as you wish. It's very powerful. May the message be your own.
TUESDAY TUNES this holiday week is a dream for a better world when war will be no more, and we can appreciate nature's beauty vs the sadness and destruction of man-made war.
PEACE.
TBT: Five years ago in the End of the Rainbow Valley we had just picked apples and besides making apple sauce / apple juice/ dehydrating them, we were using some to welcome a new sweet year, the Hebrew year of 5781.
It is amazing how much life can change in five years. The 100 year old apple press was sold to the Amish and I gifted the dehydrators to family and friends.
Some traditions stay the same such as dipping apple slices in honey to welcome a sweet new year. Rosh Hashonah begins on Monday night this year.
May your 5786 be filled with sweetness and good health for you and yours.
Happy New Year !
MIDWEEK MUSINGS: It was definitely time for a road trip since an entire month had passed since I quenched the wanderlust side of me. Time to head to northwestern Arkansas where it would be a bit early to see Fall, yet hints of color are beginning to appear and it is beautiful scenery regardless.
This is where the impatience of some drivers leads to some crazy driving. And there was one in particular zigzagging back and forth over the speed limit between the two lanes. Not safe. What a jerk!
I have to confess my glee to see that same car pulled over by a state highway policeman up ahead.
Wanderlusting just doesn't allow for inconsiderate drivers.
MONDAY MUSINGS: As a teacher, September was always a crazy month with classes beginning and the Jewish holidays. I won't say I have been missing that, yet all of a sudden that September feeling is back!
*Finishing up a month of PT ( Physical Therapy) for parathesia, a tingling feeling radiating up my entire arm. Thanks to one of my foster dogs, who they forgot to tell me wasn't leash trained, whipped my entire arm backwards after seeing a squirrel. A pinched nerve changed my daily life. The numbing has lessened with home therapy and visiting the therapist 2x/week. Now, I will be substituting water aerobics as I prefer the resistance water provides and Jazzercising continues, of course!
* BIG NEWS:Got flights arranged for my 2026 month-long stay in Costa Rica with one of the largest International Volunteer organizations. It's not too late to sign up if you would like to join me mid-January through mid-February. There are 16 meaningful projects across two locations:
in San Jose & surrounding areas:
Childcare, Teaching English, Healthcare,Construction and Renovation,Animal Care, Eco-Agriculture Conservation,Turtle Conservation,Special Needs Care, Dentistry, Women's Empowerment
in Manuel Antonio:
Childcare, Teaching English, Healthcare and Animal Care
In my free time, besides exploring the pueblo life, I will be signing up for cooking classes, dance lessons and mini trips of zip lining, tropical botanical and animal walks.
* Rosh Hashonah :
For first night baking strudel and rugelach for the big reception It will go in the freezer meanwhile with extra batches for my nephew's upcoming wedding!
1st night dinner : Veggies from this participant.
*LifeQuest classes begin this week
Signed up for Socrates Cafe, Social Justice, Leisure Sketching, Line dancing and a Special Chef's Dinner
No foster dogs until after October.
Whew, who said retirement is free time?
MIDWEEK MUSNGS: HATE BEGETS HATE
Ironic that I have been re-editing my summation of Dowd's talk a couple of days now, and then yesterday this shooting occurred.
Below my words, I have also included an article from the Hungry Black Man, much more articulate than mine. Dowd's message and his are the same.
Matthew Dowd had an unorthodox beginning to his presentation as he asked us to take the hand of a person sitting next to us, close our eyes for a minute to visualize ourselves with family/friends living in a time of peace and what that would look like. You could have heard a pin drop. A tear rolled down my cheek. A calmness replaced the once frenetic chatter.
Dowd began stating we need the TRUTH and to understand, we search for Truth with our own prejudices.
History is cyclical, composed of economic, technological, multicultural, and institutional changes. We need to recognize we are in crisis and need a new united vision full of values. Truth is in our heads and our hearts. Hate perpetuates hate and our efforts need to start at home with love. Love thy neighbor, as change needs to start from the bottom up versus the top down.
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| L) Matthew Dowd (R) senior editor Ar Dem Gazette Rex Nelson |
93 year old Annie Abrams, long-time civil rights activist, was also in attendance with comments and her telephone booklet of legislator numbers, of which she has distributed 1000 copies from her front porch. May we use those numbers to be heard.
"The Hungry Black Man
America lost Charlie Kirk a couple hours ago, violently, tragically, and in a moment that was recorded, and is circulating socially. I will not post it because it’s absolutely horrific.
Charlie was not a figure of grace or empathy. History will not remember him as a voice of unity or a champion of justice. He will be remembered for the words he chose, words that often wounded and divided. As he lay bleeding out onstage, those words, once weapons, became dust.
When he was shot, he was speaking about one of America’s deepest wounds: mass shootings. When asked about school shootings, his response was not measured compassion but deflection. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” he said, as if the grief of families who send their children to school only to bury them could be minimized by a technicality. And then, almost instantly, a shot rang out. He fell, his voice instantly silenced.
This is not eulogy-flattery. This is memory.
We remember the things he said about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “MLK was awful. He’s not a good person.” We remember his calculation on gun violence: “I think it’s worth … some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.” These are not the words of healing, not the words of unity. And yet they, too, are part of the ledger he leaves behind.
So what do we do with a legacy like this? First, we tell the truth. We acknowledge what he said, how he said it, and the hurt it caused. Second, we resist the temptation to let violence beget violence. For if this act tells us anything, it is that political violence has become a siren call to the unhinged, a spark they would gladly use to ignite the tinderbox of racial and class resentment. Today it was a conservative voice silenced. Tomorrow, it could just as easily be a progressive one. We must not let this become the currency of politics.
We should also understand the warning buried in this moment. What we say matters. How we live matters. The words we choose, the causes we defend, the way we treat one another, these become the bricks of our legacy. Kirk’s words were often sharp, sometimes cruel, but they are now etched into his memory as surely as his death. Let the rest of us take note: legacies should be rooted in love, in justice, in equality, not in division or deflection.
Rest, if you can, Mr. Kirk. May your final act teach us something lasting: that even in grief, we are called to choose better."
TBT: NEVER FORGET
