Breaking routines to find treasures

Funny how, when a friend comes to town, you experience your home city with new eyes. So, when my friend Derick came to town, I broke my routine and did something I hadn’t done in a long while.

We hiked up Mount Bonnell, and viewed the Austin skyline.

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Then off to Contemporary Austin Laguna Gloria to visit nature and sculptures. And nature through sculptures.

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We followed the paths …

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And discovered a beautiful mermaid …

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solitude,

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and a renewed passion for nature.

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Oh, and as a friend once told me in Florence, NEVER FORGET TO LOOK UP!

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One-upping the pretentious- Priceless

Miss Pompous puffed out her chest and said,  braying,

“My Chanel suit and shoes are all new!!!”

I lifted my chin at her neighing,

saying,

“You should buy a kazoo.

Or a kangaroo.

‘Cause THIS woman you CANNOT outdo!”

And with the last word, I showed her the bird-

Not a finger, you silly,

My emu!

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 (painting by C. Dennis-Willingham)

daily word prompt: Priceless

 

What do YOU see? Can you see FARTHER?

 

Is this a puppy asleep on a couch, OR

 

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a moon through an open curtain?

 

Version 3

The same photo from a different perspective

The same “fact” with opposing views

 

No wonder it’s difficult to convince others of what WE believe is true.

 

It is rumored that Native Americans never “saw” the “invisible” European ships coming toward them, that it was too “alien” to their experiences for their minds to grasp the concept.

However:

There’s a more obvious answer for the odd times when Cook’s ship didn’t spur a reaction from people on the shore. While we can’t disprove the extraordinary notion that the ships were indeed invisible, I think the more prosaic solution is that the natives were living on the edge of survival, and that anything that wasn’t a threat or didn’t contribute to their well-being could be safely ignored.

And as panhandlers and wheelchair users can tell you, just because you’re ignored doesn’t mean you’re invisible.

(reference)

Our eyes only see what our mind wants to tell us. Let’s tell our mind to see things anew.

Nothing is invisible.

Backstabbing during a hurricane

In case you haven’t heard, Trump continues to posture and force Mexico to build a wall on the Texas border to “keep Mexican immigrants out” of the U.S

Meanwhile, just over the border, Mexico has offered to help get Texas “back on its feet in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.” Apparently, vehicles, boats, troops, medicine, water and food are soon to arrive.

Trump has not said anything publicly about their offer, nor has he officially accepted the it. He did, however, accept Singapore’s offer to lend us Ch-47 helicopters for rescue efforts and spoke directly to their Prime Minister.

Here:

It’s unclear how Trump, who arrived in Texas on Tuesday to survey Harvey’s catastrophic damage, will react to Mexico’s offer to help. The president and Mexico have had an acrimonious relationship dating back to Trump’s first day as a presidential candidate, when he referred to Mexicans as rapists, murderers and criminals.

Mexico is still more than happy to help its Texas neighbor.

But here’s where it gets weird.

Although our (ahem) Governor Abbott has accepted Mexico’s kind offer, he has been working to implement Senate Bill 4 which would give ...

local law enforcement the authority to ask about a person’s immigration status during routine interactions such as a traffic stop.

It also required local officials to comply with requests from federal immigration authorities to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Local law enforcement officials could be fined and removed from office if they did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities

 

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Luckily, on Wednesday a US District Judge ruled that  “Texas officials may not implement Senate Bill 4, a controversial measure designed to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” in that state.

Ha! Take that, Trump and Abbott.

But Abbott promises to get the ruling appealed. It’s like he’s saying, “Come on in, Mexico. Help us out! Done? Now get out.”

Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project praised Garcia’s ruling.

“The court was right to strike down virtually all of this patently unconstitutional law. Senate Bill 4 would have led to rampant discrimination and made communities less safe. That’s why police chiefs and mayors themselves were among its harshest critics — they recognized it would harm, not help, their communities,” said Gelernt.

Friday, activists are planning a statewide protest against this discriminatory bill.

Ricardo Ainslie, director of the Mexico Center at the University of Texas at Austin said, “Mexico has been the brunt of a lot of highly pressured, hostile rhetoric. So I think it’s very interesting that Mexico is saying in so many words ‘Hey, we’re present, and we’re critical to things that happen in Texas.’ They’re showing real political maturity.”

Yes, Mexico has taken the high road and many Texan, like myself, are grateful.

As to the ungrateful, fear-mongerers — I just hope it’s not too hard for you to cross your own Rio Grande River without help.

References:

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/weather/2017/08/29/mexico-awaits-abbotts-response-offer-hurricane-harvey-relief

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/30/547459673/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-sb4-texas-law-targeting-sanctuary-cities

A loving parable

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Painting by  C. Dennis-Willingham

In the past when Papa was healthy,  I learned of this parable in the Bible. I was so Enamored by that kind of love that I would ask if he or Mama would like for me to wash their feet. Only a few times did Mama succumb to my request. Even at night, her feet were  too busy moving, rarely still enough for me to wash.

Papa, on the other hand, would sit in his favorite chair in the parlor and lay down the newspaper he had been reading. He would smile and laugh as I placed the soaped cloth between his toes. Our conversations would move from one subject to the next as quickly as a hummingbird searches for nectar. The ritual seemed to both invigorate and relaxed him. 

            Yet, when Papa had lain in his bed with a pneumonia-fed bad heart, it was not the same. Nothing was the same.

            Nor will it be again.

Excerpt from Naked, She Lies, by C. Dennis-Willingham

daily word prompt: Enamored

The Smart One in the Bunch

“You think Miss Primrose has the end of the year party planned out,” I say, changing the subject like I wish my teacher would when we’re studying mathematics.

Scooter stops blowing his harmonica. “Crowns,” Scooter says. “Stupid crowns.”

Last March, when Scooter turned fourteen, the handmade crown Miss Primrose gave Scooter never stayed on his head. I’m not so sure it was the crown’s fault.

“I agree, Scoot, ol’ Buddy,” Frank says. “We should wait until we’re real kings to wear crowns.”

King Scooter Hutchings.” Scooter chuckles. “King Scooter Hutchings doesn’t walk on crutches.”

“Frank,” I say. “Are you teaching Scoot to Rhyme now?”

Frank shrugs and smiles.

“All the time,” Scooter squeals.

We laugh our way to the final steps of the schoolhouse. “Scooter, remember about tonight. We can’t tell Bernie about our plans. It’s a secret,” I tell him. “I want our plans to come to fruition.”

Scooter crinkles his nose.

“You know—”

“Work as planned,” Scooter says, pulling out his pocketknife.

Scooter is the smart crust around the apple pie that holds everything together.

 

Excerpt from The Moonshine Thicket by C. Dennis-Willingham

 

Daily word prompt: Rhyme

Hurricane Harvey, it’s time to go

Houston, Texas (photos) is about three hours south of here (Austin). Those poor souls are struggling for survival.

27-houston-floodwaters-neighborhood.w710.h473.jpgWhile some people are receiving the help they need, others are still stranded in their homes waiting for rescue.

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Meanwhile in Austin: Last week this creek near my house was cracked and bone dry. This is what it looked like today:

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Let’s hope Hurricane Harvey dries up for the folks in Houston and surrounding areas.

Folks, this Harvey ain’t no rabbit

In this case, Harvey is not the name of Jimmy Stewart’s imaginary rabbit in the film by the same name.

No, Harvey is the new tour de force in my home state of Texas.

In Austin, where I live, we are only seeing peripheral proof that the storm exists.

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But the folks south of here are experiencing the full-blown power of the hurricane.

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Stay SAFE out there and whatever you do …

 

An FYI:

What are the hurricane names for 2017?

Atlantic hurricane names for the 2017 season are: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, and Whitney. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

Eastern North Pacific hurricane names for the 2017 season are: Adrian, Beatriz, Calvin, Dora, Eugene, Fernanda, Greg, Hilary, Irwin, Jova, Kenneth, Lidia, Max, Norma, Otis, Pilar, Ramon, Selma, Todd, Veronica, Wiley, Xina, York, and Zelda. The eastern North Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30.

 

1960’s and back from Vietnam

(click play for full impact)

If he were going to jump, he’d better do it now.

One, two, three.

Piece of cake. He rolled down and through the growth of weeds beside the tracks, his backpack cushioning him. Only a short walk and he’d be “home”.

He digged living under the overpass. The new highway was far from being built. In fact the overpass didn’t even pass over the street yet. No rumblings above him. Peaceful, just like he wanted. Who needed a fancy ass pad when he had this?

After climbing the cement incline, he perched himself in the shadows against the wall where he could watch but not be seen. He lit the doobie scored yesterday from a dude at the Stop ‘n Go nearby and toked it slowly.

The rumblings of the Missouri Pacific train line, now off to his left, didn’t bother him. Perhaps one day he’d climb that train and truck it the other way to California. See what all the hoopla was about, besides the weather being perfect for a man of the streets. What had ole Machine Gun told him? “California- you could ‘find yourself here’”. That was it. Good ole Machine Gun. Such a drag, him getting blow up.

Austin’s five o’clock traffic crept below him. Sometimes, he’d count the trucks until he got sleepy, like counting sheep with engines. Today, he’d keep track of the number of Volkswagen Beetles, the new cars his favorite. So damn hard to decide which color was best. Maybe when he breathed in the world the way it was supposed to be, it would be easier to decide.

To make choices.

A chick to his left held her thumb out but no one stopped. She kept walking his way, keeping her thumb out and her back to the traffic.

Safe in the shadows, he took another toke and blew out slowly letting the drug take effect. Not bad for being free.

Prissy little thing in her cutoffs. Her ass swayed in rhythm to her blonde ponytail, carefree and cluelss. The yellow halter-top showed off her bra-less points. Many a night he’d dreamed about a girl like that. Probably nineteen, twenty. Probably just a hand-full of years younger than him but fifty worlds apart. Probably never had to wash herself in a damn swamp.

She was right below him now.

If you don’t move, you’re invisible.

The explosion pierced his ears forcing him to curl into a fetal position. He covered his head, forearms over his ears. His heart pumped bile into his throat while his mind waited for the blood to Ooze into a puddle.

He moved, inching up to a sitting position. How could he be so stupid? He was state-side now where cars backfired.

Daily post prompt – Ooze