Look Around You

Cardinal Conclave of One
Keller, TX

 It seems that we are obsessed with leaders who do not merit our discipleship. Their convictions do not warrant our giving up our ethics and values. So to maintain my balance, I choose to look up and observe what is good. I find it in nature. Life is simpler than we think. We live and at some point we die. What’s important is everything that we do in between our birth and ultimately our death. Why waste time on what has no value?

Finding your Blue Bird of Happiness

 

Juvenile Eastern Bluebird,
Keller, TX

Lately, I've come to the realization that I truly don't want to miss out; there's lots happening around me. My senses are awakened by a deluge of news. It seems like I am living in a real life soap opera with villainous political characters and plenty of betrayal over greed, hate, and racism. All are in the mix and soap continues, renews for another season. Religious folk whom I've trusted, simply choose not to become involved because their agenda, abortion rights and all things gay have been addressed. Human rights are not their concern, it seems to me. The rest of us wait for someone else to take care of it. Democracy is more than one issue. It's about our pursuit of happiness.

Female Easter Bluebird
Keller, TX

And so I walk to both exercise George and restore my own sanity. Yesterday, I discovered this bluebird, he was just around the corner. Just what if your happiness is right there and all that's required of you is to just have open up your heart, your mind, and all of your senses. Happiness is fleeting like this bird. Yet it is there.

Make a conscious effort to find it. Get involved with your life. Participate and find your bluebird.

Look Around You

Barred Owl
Colleyville Nature Center
Colleyville, TX

Have been hunting for weeks to spot this owl. I can hear he and his mate. They almost mock me as they call back and forth, "I'm over here." Two hoots each. They communicate but I can't see them. My senses are dull, not sure what to look for.

There's lots going on in life right now. Time to sharpen the senses. Identify the early signals of threats to our democracy. They are apparent. The rule of law applies to all. Give a hoot. Open up your eyes, sharpen your sentences, listen. and act. Be a catalyst for positive change. We The People...

 

The Resurrection of Hope vs the Resurrection of Hate

Death Valley, 
Death Valley, CA

My values are deeply rooted in the Christian faith I was raised in. Easter signifies to me the hope of the resurrection and the crucifixion of hate and evil. Jesus was vilified as an insurrectionist. He was hated by his own people and when given the opportunity to free an honest man, Pontius Pilate, symbolically washed his hands and allowed the mob to choose between the felon, Barrabas, or Jesus. They chose a convicted felon.

Hate is something I can't choose. It goes against my core, ethics, and yes Christian values. I can't simply ignore what's going on. Every immigrant, and every slave has been a victim of hate. Some of us are still targets. Sometimes it's subtle, and other times White Christian Nationalists with Trump banners are quite open about their hate. That's not my America and certainly not consistent with the party I use to proudly proclaim as mine, the GOP. Yes, I am a moderate conservative but liberal regarding social causes.

We have a choice, we can remain silent, thereby complicit, or we can say something, and do something. I choose to speak out. I've witnessed the horrific camp at Auschwitz and have vowed the promise: "never forget.

Auschwitz,
Never Forget Complicity and Hate

Finding Joy

Carolina Wren
Colleyville, TX

Politics and chaos bombard our peace it seems everyday. It sucks the living joy out of us. The financial markets also the geopolitical risks that this administration has thrust upon on us. Ads are being run by this administration, in English,  about how "we will hunt down" illegals to a target audience of MAGA English speakers, I presume. It's all troubling and not new. Tariffs and tough talk on immigration were all part of our depression era politics and experiment in 1928 at the onset of the great depression.

We have choices that we can exercise. First, take control and take action. Do something regardless of your age, you can act, participate and create change. Second, unplug from social media or news however you choose to get it all the time. Third, find your joy. Mine is nature and photography. We were put on this earth to enjoy it. Fourth, find friends who will add to your joy and share with them. Humans need other humans. Do not isolate yourself in your mind.

Blue Heron
Peaceful Pond
Colleyville, TX

Theodore Roosevelt in a day lost both his mother and his wife. He was overwhelmed with depression and grief. He chose to pull away from it all and ventured out to the open spaces of the American West. He reinvented himself and discovered the peace that nature brings. It was triggered by adversity.

We would not have National Parks today, had it not been for his twist of fate. We would not have his progressive ideas that became the catalyst of his cousin's, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, New Deal. 

Tough times happen. Adversity is part of life. It is stimulus. How we react to stimulus makes all the difference. It's a choice and a catalyst for change. You are not a victim. We are not helpless. We have the ability to reason and problem solve. Take charge.

 

Take It Easy

Take It Easy

Cypress and Moss

Caddo Lake

Uncertain, TX

Eagles, Don Henly, was instrumental in saving both Walden Pond and Caddo Lake from commercial development. Few know this.

If you really want to "Take It Easy" visit either place. Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. Lighen up while you still can. Friends, today, take it easy, it will ultimately, get better. Control your own destiny and your mind. And take it easy.

 

What Will People Think

Minneapolis  Skyline

 "What will people think or say?" It's something I've never worried about. I used to be a Seventh-Day Adventist and observed Saturday as my sabbath and didn't eat pork, and shellfish, and shunned alcohol, and caffeine. For the most part, It was a healthy life style but I stuck out like a sore thumb in a mostly catholic town with other protestants scattered about. I constantly was having to defend my religious views, not to mention defend myself from bullies, including teachers.

Not only, did I learn to argue my beliefs, but something happened to me, I learned that I didn't have to follow the crowd. I learned that being different is ok. I learned to think for my own and that I didn't have to confrom. I was ok accepting myself.

My issue, however, was that while I yearned for acceptance, I wasn't willing to do the same. That was a failure of my religion and my beliefs. You see my friends accepted me as I was. It wasn't up to me to convert them. If you want acceptance, be accepting. You don't have to conform, be you. Don't be judgemental. It's not good enough to be saved and live in a world with no friends. Practice your ethics and be lead by your inner compass. Let your light shine, don't snuff it out by your blind self-righteousness.

What does Democracy look like?

Hands-off Dallas

Dealey Plaza,

April 5, 2025

Dallas, TX

I've never protested for nor against anything my entire life. As a Boomer, I know that many of the benefits I enjoy today, stemmed from non violent protests by people who believed in civil rights, the end of the Vietnam War, and Women Rights (both in the workplace and the birthplace). It's a sacred first amendment right to assemble peacefully when we do not agree, and want change.

Today, the government is waging a class war against the average person and households of four earning less than $100,000. Families simply trying to pay for groceries and keeping their jobs. We've not seen this antipathy towards the average person since the 1920's and Herbert Hoover. We have an administration that claims it is smarter than economists on Wall Street and definitely smarter than folks on Main Street who voted for Trump and his congressional sycophants. Simply put, they've lied their way into power by dividing us by our fears, religion, and even bigotry. We were baited by hatred. Not since the 20's have we seen such an effective playbook used.

Senior Activist

The irony of all of this is that they want to play Robinhood with Tariffs to pay for the extension of the 2017 tax cuts which were supposed to be temporary. They are not worried about the deficits nor the inflationary impact of these policies. Tariffs are a tax on consumers. Pure and simple. Wall Street is baffled by the financial impact it will have not only on consumers but corporate supply chains. Economists know that this will not work and it will impact US workers and the American farmer worse. In the meantime, the same administration guilds the Oval Office with gold trim takes golf outings that cost have cost us more than $22 million since he has come into office and ordered a new AirForce One. We may be poor but we are not that stupid.

Our economy is being tanked over an antiquated believe that tariffs will provide some discomfort and prosperity down the road. We know from history, that's not the case. This is bogus and why we would believe anything this man say's when he said publicly that "they are eating our pets". Hello that was a huge clue that he's deranged. Unfortunately, this time he's surrounded himself with only people who agree with him. We've been duped.

There is outrage in America today and rightly so. This is not about red or blue, this is about US. We The People. Congress, if you are listening, repeal the tariffs that tax the American consumer. If you are that concerned about deficits restore the old tax rates. We don't need to stimulate the wealthy and corporations. If you want to create jobs, provide small businesses with less than 100 employees tax credits, if you want inexpensive labor, create a sensible immigration program go ahead and charge immigrants they are already paying coyotes $10-15K to come into our country illegally and risk being deported. Charge them $25K and cut out the traffickers and provide them with a revocable "Visa" card. Vet them. We can do this our demographics point to a declining population and we need the labor pool to be competitive.

There are solutions, but we need to think again. We need politicians who work for us and not special interests. We certainly, don't need billionaires with no emotional IQ about us.

It's Been A While

 

Peaceful Stream
Colleyville Nature Center
Colleyville, TX

Nothing like missing two old friends, my camera, and my computer/typewriter. Most of you don't recall the joy of watching each keystroke come to life on a sheet of paper in front of you. We all for some uncertain dubious degree become Hemingway, writing compound and complex sentences, wishing that we were somewhere else perhaps even in a different time, enjoying an extraordinary adventure to be told after a few drinks at a later date amongst comfortable friends like a well worn shoe.

This is me the dreamer, the romantic, the man burdened by the arduous task of saving several souls from Nineveh without consideration if they merit saving or not. Still working on trying to save souls and my own after all these years. 

So I drift, and let my mind wander, for a bit of time, I get to paint images with words and whatever camera I've got at my disposal. I choose to escape and dream and experience a life different from the routine and mundane suburbia and homogeneity. For a moment, it all becomes different. I become someone else and lead a different life filled with the adventure I imagine and create. No one can take that away from me.