A Truly Silly Diversion

 We are overwhelmed with dread and fear about the future. So... what do we do? We find things that take our minds off such heartbreaking things. A dear friend posted this image on Facebook:

What an interesting thing to consider. Is it possible that Stonehenge and Easter Island are truly at opposite ends of the earth like this? How would we find out. Roger set out to discover the truth of such an idea. He spent some time getting the coordinates and trying to place them on an imaginary globe in his mind. Then he discovered a website called Antipodes Map. Oh what fun that is. If you go to the link it will show you two maps. You enter the information about a place, like Stonehenge or the city where you live, and it will show you what is directly on the other side of the earth from you. 

The answer to the question is it true that Stonehenge and Easter Island are directly opposite each other is NO. Now, go and see what's on the other side of of earth from where you are sitting. See how much fun that is? And for five minutes we didn't think about you know who or our future or anything else!

A Song For My Mother

Today would've been my mother's 95th birthday. It's only been 2 1/2 years since she left us, and my siblings and I miss her everyday. I wrote my sibs and told them that I wanted to post a song for mom for my Friday Music posts. I asked them what song I should pick. And so a wonderful loving discussion ensued about all the music she and our dad loved. I was leaning towards something by Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman. My sister recalled how much our mother loved Neil Diamond and how she fantasized about seeing him in concert. My twin brother recalled that she loved Barbra Streisand. My older brother and I remembered all the albums of Broadway show tunes we had in the house and grew up listening to. Which song? Which song? It was hard to choose until the phone rang. It was my brother calling from Virginia. I picked it up, "Hello Marc, what's up..." He started singing this song. 

So a loving happy 95th birthday wish to our mom, we shout out to the universe.

Four Days Of Sky

The air started to clear a bit a few days ago, so we went for our early morning walks. It's interesting to look back at these photos and see what we considered clearer air. 

Sunrise September 15

Sunrise September 16

Radiation Fog Sunrise September 16

Ah really clear air September 18

Moon, looking west September 19

The few days of clear skies have been so good and uplifting in every way. We may be getting more smoke in the next few days, but we're hoping it won't be as bad as it's been. 

I am purposefully avoiding writing about politics here. It's really all too much, and you all know how we feel about all of it.

Friday Music: Sequoia

I had never heard this song before a dear friend posted it on Facebook. It is so beautiful and especially in these times when the forests are burning. It is a love song to our ancient redwoods.

How Things Look...

... from a satellite view. 

I annotated this photo with an arrow to show where we are in relation to the smoky coast and the surrounding fires. On Monday we actually had some sunshine, although the air was still an unhealthy mess. We went for a walk for the first time since last Wednesday morning when the skies were dark red all day. It felt so good to get out of the house. I wore two masks, one to protect me from Covid and one to protect me from all the smoke. I figured that the double protection would make me feel less crazy about being out there. We'll see how that works out. The news reports are saying that we may get rain some time later in the week which may clear up the air here. We're hoping. Not much in the way of photographic opportunities, but believe me, it's been gray in every direction for as far as the eyes can see. Dark enough to make us turn on the lights during the day. If you've ever wondered what a dystopian future looks like, wonder no more... it's happening right here right now. 

Before  I publish this post I'll share this story with you. I mentioned last week that old friends of Roger's lost their home in one of the fires in the mountains north east of us. We heard the details of it the other day. The wife got out and traveled the back roads into Oregon while her husband stayed to quickly gather things before he fled. The house caught on fire and was incinerated in 15 minutes. He wisely got out fast enough and drove his car into an open green meadow on their property and kept the engine and air conditioning running. He was there for three hours. He was rescued by his two sons-in-law, both forest service workers, who made their way to him. He suffered some burns but survived. The fire he was in is the one that is burning on the California/Oregon border. Just one of the millions of acres burning in our western states.