26 June …
Well, the bicycle event last saturday went better than I had expected. I was up and in the park by 0540 and left to come home about 1840. That made for a long day. 
I was pooped, but I had good company (someone characterized Stephen and me as John and Yoko because of our glasses).
I brought home a box of leftover, unreturnable goodies such as melons and homemade cookies. Participants at these events snack well.
There had been no real central control except what I did as Net. I have plans for next year (you knew I would).
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I spent most of Sunday napping and reading except for the couple of hours I went to the church to watch the local Chancel Players tell the story of John the Baptist.
“Chancel Players” date back to the Middle Ages. They do presentations in the style of the old First Drama Quartet who performed back in the 50s (about which I have written before). They speak their lines from stationary places. Little or no physical acting. Voices do it all.
They did a good job of putting a slant onto the old story which made you think. Mark spoke the Baptist and, of course, did a great job bringing the Baptist to life
Kamille was in the “Greek” chorus. Paul, my friend Joyce, and I were part of the appreciative audience.
And to top it off, the proceeds went to the local animal shelter.
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The “Free Lunch for Kids” program has begun. Another way for me to be useful. I am to go every Tuesday morning through July and August and help pack the lunches for that day. There is a different set of volunteers each morning and the work runs from 0700 to 1000.
It gets set up like a production line. Yesterday we prepared 240 lunch bags with a green salad (greens, olives, salami, turkey, tomato, grated cheese, and Ranch dressing), a slice of watermelon, a small cluster of grapes, half a whole wheat-raisin bagel, and milk. Quite a balanced lunch. Part of the idea is to teach nutrition … teach kids they can like what is good for them.
The packing takes place indoors in a school cafeteria so weather is not a factor.
And speaking of weather … My bout with heat had been tuesday a week ago. Thursday I was chilled all day and had to add a layer.
It’s been “normal” ever since.
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I’ve been reading a treatise on racism. Its title is “Stamped from the Beginning”. The book deals mainly with the history of American anti-black behavior and is by a professor at the American University, a private research university in Washington D.C.
He divides people into three groups regarding racism … segregationists who blame black people (he spells Black with a capital B), antiracists who blame discrimination, and assimilationists who blame both. He also points out that there are members of all groups in both white and black populations.
While reading it, I came across a thought elsewhere which made me ponder. That thought was …
“Without knowledge there is no commitment. One cannot love what he does not know. A person cannot do or understand what he has never learned.”
Folks are likely to repeat what they are taught.
To quote lyrics from Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” …
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear.
You’ve got to be taught from year to year.
Its got to be drummed in your dear little ear.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate.
You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve got to be carefully taught!
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On a lighter subject …
Somehow I got onto You Tube a bit ago and found a Liza Minelli cut which caught me. Watch it and then tell me who you think Michael Jackson wished he was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns6YbcoRy2U&ab_channel=jaykay
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Last week I asked what was wrong with a scene from a tv show I watched. Two of you responded with the correct observation.
Look again and see if you can see it.
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Solstice has come and gone.
The sun was shining in through the windows on the north side of the house … up and glorious by 0545. I’m out opening the chicken house a bit after 0600 every morning.
The Sun is as far north as it will be this year.
I have crystals hanging in my east window and Friday morning there were rainbows all over the room.
On Solstice I gathered yarrow from the neighbor’s meadow at noon for drying.
Then on the 24th (St. John’s Day) I gathered St. John’s wort also for drying … as well as some lemon balm.
The catalpa is in full leaf with flower buds showing.
I have two new plants in my room … an aloe and a jade plant.
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I recently read that …
Grief is strange and sometimes make you think you’ve gone completely mad. It ambushes and echoes and it’s impossible to anticipate how and when it will strike. That hollowed out place that grief creates in our souls isn’t for naught. If we are present and quickened to it, we may just be surprised by joy. … Author Unknown
All in all life is good.
So … ‘til next week …