Dog Days

Still too hot.

 

Still True

 No man is an island, 

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know 

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

                     John Donne, 1572-1631

Chicken Salad Memories

Hot weather like we're having requires cold meals. I've done cold potato soup and gazpacho and last night was chicken salad. (And potato chips--a traditional accompaniment and rare indulgence.)

As we sat on the porch watching veils of rain sweep across the valley and disappear, we remembered another hot summer.  

It was the summer of 1966, the last three months of John's enlistment in the Marines,  and he was stationed at an air base in Beaufort, SC. (That's Byew-fort, not Bow-fort. Bow-fort is in NC.) We were in half of a non-air conditioned duplex and it was godawful hot. 

I evolved a routine of preparing dinner in the early morning before the house heated up, then spending the rest of the day reading in a hammock out under a big oak.

We cycled through chicken salad, tuna salad, and shrimp salad, broken by chicken or hamburgers done outside on a hibachi.

When the heat was unbearable, sometimes we went to a movie (air-conditioned!) The movies changed once a week, but sometimes we saw the same movie twice.

There was a Dairy Queen across the street that we patronized. Our dog Juno , we learned, was also a patron--on the lookout for kids who might drop their ice cream if bumped. And sometimes she bumped them.

On John's days off, we went to a mostly deserted beach and set up camp in the dunes. We could often see porpoises frolicking close to shore. It was pretty idyllic.

By the end of the summer, John had been accepted at University of South Florida and had turned down an offer to re-enlist and go to Officers' Training School. I had my teaching position  (Mistress of English) at Berkeley Prep in Tampa to return to and the future was set--for a few more years, at least.

Old times they are not forgotten.

 

Too Hot for Words

 

Greensleeves

                                            

I always loved the old tune Greensleeves--in fact I wanted to use it as part of the music at our wedding. The Episcopal church would only allow liturgical music, but as it happened, there was a hymn with the Greensleeves tune. .. . but because the title of the hymn was What Child Is This? I reconsidered.

When my FB friend Mario posted a video that tells the story behind the old song and details the meticulous recreation of the various items the besotted lover gives to the lady, including a sumptuous gown, well, I had to see it.

It's a delightful treat for a hot day. Actually, there are two videos. One, showing the work of the various makers of historically accurate apparel and confectionery; the other a sumptuously mounted, tongue in cheek acting out of the song.  You can find them HERE                                

 

No Nobel for You, Donnie

After a truly unhinged rant bemoaning his lack of a Nobel Peace Prize despite his YUGE successes in diplomacy,  Dear Leader has dropped many YUGE bombs on Iran -- without congressional input and without reliable intelligence concerning Iran's nuclear activities. He was disappointed with his parade so now he flexes his military might.

This is what happens when a man with all the emotional control of a toddler is given power.

Worth a Silver Spoon

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.

A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.

A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly.

I was thrilled when John told me he'd spotted a swarm of honeybees at the edge of one of our fields. We've often seen them browsing on clover but this is the first swarm we've noticed. Thanks to Justin for the pictures! (I have no idea if the video will play.)

The old nursery rhyme is a reminder that the earlier swarms will have more time to establish themselves and make honey to get through the winter.

 

Dear (Local) Sirs

To the Madison County Board of Commissioners:

I would like to understand why you feel it necessary to take control of the current Board of Health. At present we have a Health Department to be proud of and willing, volunteer board members with medical backgrounds. 

What makes you think you can improve on this? Have you not enough to oversee already? Your stated reasons regarding liability simply do not ring true. 

Yes, this is a very local issue but it seems to me to be part and parcel of GOP overreach and GOP disdain for qualifications other than a fervent worship of their Dear Leader.

Our local Health Department is excellent, receiving high ratings. What is behind this projected power grab? Will a politicized BOH deny vaccines and refuse to treat LGBTQ patients?  What might they change about Family Planning? 

There are petitions to sign and folks are encouraged to make their feeling known to the commissioners. There will be a meeting on July 8 at which the public will have a chance to be heard. 

An excellent article HERE.

 

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.

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’

Aaron Glantz

Wed 18 Jun 2025 15.55 EDT

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.

Trump LA protest response risks turning US military into political force, veterans warn

Read more

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 . . .

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 .

                                                         
there is a bed, some shelves and a rug. this is my Chelsea doll. 

                                                         

she has a mom and a sister but I did not bring them today.

💖💖💖💖💜💜💜                      🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭

 I am reading this book.

                                                

I love  fancy Nancy. 

This is all Josie. She took the pictures and did the keyboarding. Meema helped her spell: speaking, Chelsea, sisters, and shelves.

Looking East--around 6 AM and 7 PM

I'd hoped to catch the actual sunrise but the mist blocked everything within minutes of this shot.

       

 And then, in the evening . . .

                                                     

Sexual Cannibalism . . .in Spiders

Early morning and I found what appeared to be a paralyzed  or dead spider on the mat by the door out to the deck. And there on the door above me was the biggest Wolf Spider I've ever seen--the size of my hand with fingers outstretched. 

I carried the mat outside and got a closer look. Yep, definitely deceased. And eviscerated.

By the time I got my camera, the giant spider had disappeared and has not come out of hiding. 

I hypothesized that perhaps this was a situation like preying mantises and the male spider had paid for his fun. A little online research confirmed that this is a definite possibility. Read it for yourself HERE.

She did a thorough job.