Escalation

Hi, I'm back!  My youngest spent a lot of time with me yesterday.  She really needed to talk and to have some companionship.  So I never made it here...

I don't feel a need to hoard goods. I guess I feel more of a need to hoard tools and skills.  I think that as long as we know how to live where we are, and to live with those around us, we will be okay.  One of my favorite writers/activists is Derrick Jensen.  He observed that if we think our food comes from the grocery store and our water comes from the tap, we will fight to the death to protect that.  Once we understand that our food comes from the land, the gardens, and our water comes from creeks and lakes, we will fight to defend that.  I want to be in the latter group, connected to the land.

My youngest and a friend started to watch a movie called, The Way.  She was so impressed, and she wanted to see the end of it, so she invited me to watch it with her.  It is about a man who goes to retrieve his son's remains - a son who began to walk the camino - and ends up walking the whole length of the pilgrimage.  I was affected on many levels.  And then I spoke with three or four people who have been walking, mostly in stages as time permits.  And so I was inspired.  I expect to be challenged physically, emotionally, spiritually.  It has become a dream.  My youngest says she will bring the baby and join us for a few days. 

I am not familiar with Liberty Hyde Bailey.  I will keep an eye out for this writer.  I am not surprised that there were Quakers in the early days of Cornell.  If I remember correctly, Ezra Cornell was raised Quaker.        

I love Lady's Mantle.  You will get soft green leaves, sort of accordian pleated and ruffly.  And in the morning, or after a rain, you will find perfect droplets of water born on the leaves.  It's very magic.  The leaves are great for the skin of women, of a certain age!  I believe they originally came from the Scottish highlands...

I am up for a good game of match the schedules if you are!

I spent a lot of time walking last weekend.  I love to get up early and get outside.  It's the most magical time of the day.  One problem with working so early is that I miss this time, and I am never as fulfilled walking at other times of the day.  Walking early means we see a lot more wildlife.  On Sunday morning, we slowly walked toward a fawn who was standing in the middle of the road.  I had the baby in her jogging stroller, so we must not have looked human.  And we were bring very quiet.  We got really close before it decided we were not friend and bounded into the woods.

As I was walking I saw some butterflies.  I may have mentioned this before.  If I am repeating myself, I  apologize.  But I saw an article quite a few years ago.  Researchers at Cornell found that corm pollen landing on milkweed leaves was poisoning the Monarch butterflies.  The info was quickly retracted, and since then, more research has disproved the first findings.  (Did you know Monsanto funds research at Cornell?)  Last year I noticed a few more monarchs than in the previous few.  I realized that they were becoming resistant to the GMO corn containing Bt.  That probably means the corn pests are also developing resistance. And so, I sighed, knowing the poison producers would now have to produce a more potent toxin to pour on our foods.  It sort of unfolded...poison - resistance - stronger poison - resistance...the escalation is a war, and I had this explosion of escalation, all war is escalation...Then I thought about families.  That is different.  the escalation is dumped on the subsequent generation, because we rarely feel powerful enough to resist our fathers.  they get more bitter and nasty as they age, just to keep us in our place.  Not sure where I am going with this, but it was something to play with!

Beautiful day here.  I am done with work - rather early.  I'm going to find something to do.

Love you,

Clare