Tuesday ramble
Life is Good, and rich and full for those of us who reach extreme old age in accordance with BSA principles, physically fit, mentally alert, and morally straight. At least part of it is not having taken up debilitating addictions, alcohol, tobacco. Although my obsession with the safety and wellbeing of loved ones seems debilitating at Times, I've just not been able to let them go simply because they've grown out from under my roof. A few years ago, what color Mazda were T&J considering for Tass is an example; recently, how many miles on Kristen's aging Volvo is another. Why does Joe have two BMW motorcycles, jiminy jeepers. Frantically following Malinda in one ambulance in 2018 and another five years later. And yet, all things considered, or at least most things, Life and Time have been most exceeding gracious with us.
I'd say Fortunate. Some would say Blessed, but to me Blessed is a blasphemous theological perversion of a God with favorites, that ignores what happens to so many others around the globe. And yet I am thankful, grateful, when, actually, awareness of my relative Good Fortune lays on me the theological responsibility to help ease the sufferings of others, as in Love Neighbor. How am I doing with Love Neighbor? Not so well, it turns out, eh?
But I'm wandering again, aren't I.
Chris Christie is running for President again. Who? Say what? I was impressed with Christie a decade ago, but then ... . But you know me, I was even impressed with Rudolph Giuliani for a while there. More recently I was impressed with Tim Scott until he rationalized our book burning frenzy here in Florida. Ah me, Oh well. Alas, Babylon.
Watched yesterday as father Osprey arrived with a live fish and mother Osprey ripped it to shreds and fed their three hatchlings.
As always, #1 is a growing, greedy little pig who got most of it because, as Bill Weeks taught us about General Nathan Bedford Forrest, he "was there fustest with the mostest." Little #2 was pinned down by a stick over his/her neck and couldn't rise for much. Pathetic #3 was in the background watching and waiting hopefully, and mom Osprey did reach over and feed enough to keep the tiny creature going.
Father Nature is an admirable force who provides backups just in case, and #3 is one such. For example, five or six years ago, we watched this same Osprey Cam as #1 crawled out into snow and froze to death, but the Season was saved because of Father Nature's backup chicks.
Elsewhere in the mind, Ukraine. Folks, war works better if you don't boast for months in advance that you're planning and building up for a grand counter-offensive in the Spring. Sometimes we seem to be our own enemy.
Reading this morning, new discoveries about human evolution - - in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, evidence of Homo Naledi burial rites and cave writings maybe 100,000 years earlier than scientists thought. Image above and further reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_naledi It's a National Geographic read, which reminded me that during a Navy tour of duty years ago, 1966-68, I often attended fascinating National Geographic lectures in downtown Washington DC, evenings with a fellow worker, Russ Graham, a GS-15 in the office where I was working. Russ's wife and 16 year old son had no interest, but the lectures were always given by the explorer or scientist who had done the on site work and prepared the report for the magazine.
Final early morning read,
explains my emotional emptiness any number of Times over my years, as a book or film series came to an end and I surfaced back into whatever the mind makes me believe is Real Life. A Soldier of the Great War. The Chronicles of Narnia. Harry Potter. Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Rings Trilogy, many others.
Enough for Tuesday. Trip to Bonifay on calendar for afternoon.
RSF&PTL
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