Vicki Lane Mysteries
Words and pictures from the author of And the Crows Took Their Eyes as well as the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries . . .
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Dear (Local) Sirs
Friday, June 20, 2025
Summer Solstice
I consider my life well spent, watching the sun in its yearlong creep back and forth across the morning horizon. Today it's at the far northern end of its invisible tether and will begin its stately progress south.
May we all find peace in these troubled times.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Defending Women
Every day brings more outrageous decrees from Dear Leader as the so-called party of small government extends its reach ever farther. The following article is from The Guardian (a quite reliable source.)
VA hospitals remove politics and marital status from guidelines protecting patients from discrimination
Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’
The Department of Veterans Affairs has imposed new guidelines on VA hospitals nationwide that remove language that explicitly prohibited doctors from discriminating against patients based on their political beliefs or marital status.
The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.
Under federal law, eligible veterans must be given hospital care and services, and the revised VA hospital rules still instruct medical staff that they cannot discriminate against veterans on the basis of race, color, religion and sex. But language within VA hospital bylaws requiring healthcare professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated from these bylaws, raising questions about whether individual workers could now be free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not expressly protected by federal law.
Explicit protections for VA doctors and other medical staff based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity have also been removed, documents reviewed by the Guardian show.
The changes also affect chiropractors, certified nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, licensed clinical social workers and speech therapists.
In making the changes, VA officials cite Donald Trump’s 30 January executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”. The primary purpose of the executive order was to strip most government protections from transgender people. The VA has since ceased providing most gender-affirming care and forbidden a long list of words, including “gender affirming” and “transgender”, from clinical settings.
Somehow, I don't feel safer . . .
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Josie Does a Blog Post
Hi this is Josie speaking. I am making a doll house for my Chelsea doll . here it is so far .
I am reading this book.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Looking East--around 6 AM and 7 PM
And then, in the evening . . .
Monday, June 16, 2025
Sexual Cannibalism . . .in Spiders
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Flag Day
The Stars and Stripes used to evoke in me a feeling of pride, of community, of a Norman Rockwell sort of well-being.
Not any more. Our wannabe dictator surrounds himself with flags and his more rabid supporters fly them from their giant trucks.
"When fascism come to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."
(Attributed to Sinclair Lewis)
Maybe we could add "and enjoying a costly parade of military equipment while cutting aid to veterans (aka 'losers.')
Friday, June 13, 2025
Cons and Criminals
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Wild Daylilies
Early June and the wild daylilies are ablaze along roadsides and branches. I planted his particular clomp during our early years here and they always make me smile when they begin to open.
Back when we were living in the barn, I experimented with tempura daylily flowers--delicious and slightly oniony tasting but a lot of trouble--and we also added the buds to stir fry--pretty good but, as I recall, a tad slimy.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Half a Century Ago
We said goodbye to Odessa and the little house (already sold) that John had built on Lake Juanita.
The poster on Mark's trailer says "Damn Everything But The Circus." and somehow it seemed appropriate for our adventure.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Monday, June 9, 2025
Some Questions, Dear Sir
Dear Senator Tillis, Senator Budd, and Representative Edwards,
Is this our USA? A place where unidentified, masked, armed, and armored thugs snatch people away from court dates, worksites, family gatherings, churches schools? And then, usually without due process, these detainees are whisked away to points unknown.
Who are the terrorists here? And why are ICE wearing masks and no ID?
And the recent power move by the regime of sending troops into California "to quell a rebellion" is right out of a dictator's handbook.
The fact this extraordinary act is at the whim of the president--the same one who pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters who attacked law enforcement and damaged government property while trying to disrupt the lawful business of the government--underscores the massive hypocrisy at work in DC.
What are you enabling? When will you take action against the terrible chaos of this regime? Where are your morals? Who has the bravery to stand against this wannabe dictator?
Why are you silent?