Heavy, But Important and/or Inspiring: Ebb & Flow

 

4/11/26 -NOTE: I started this post a while back. It has morphed and broadened. Let's see where it goes as I try to fit the pieces together here.

FROM DRAFT: Catherine posted a link, quietly at the end of her post, Holding On. It led to a Rumble Strip podcast about the origin of the song. You may have heard it in the news stories about the protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere. But that is not where it began. It is a hard, but worthy listen. So, if you are feeling sensitive, be warned.

Once I'd listened to the Rumble Strip story, I began following links and got lost down the singing as resistance rabbit hole. I found: Singing Resistance, where I discovered the Singing Resistance Songbook. Then I moved on to Rise Up Singing. I listened to the videos here. It is easy to listen while ripping apart magazines for art's sake.

4/1/26: Then Dee shared her story about her son Danny.

AllYouFascistsBoundtoLose 4k BetteMidler 2026

LINK 2:49 minutes

I had dug out the old Camp Kinneret songbook and these two which belonged to my mom. 

CELEBRATING PETE SEEGER: Song & Conversation

Link 1:28:05

This is the music I was raised on. For 3 summers when I was young, I joined with others on a grassy hill at the end of a camp day...and I raised my voice in song and/or listened and absorbed the moment. These (and a zillion others) are a huge part of the heart of me, the authentic me.

"I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield (knock, knock - on the the guitar) down by the riverside...I ain't gonna study war no more..."

Today there was another protest at Good Trouble Corner 2.0. There are protests there every Saturday. We stopped there today while out running errands. Voices rising up.

There were sturdy signs. Signs made to last for all of the days ahead. There were multiple speakers blasting music and folks dancing. There was an organizer with a megaphone. There were only about 20 people there...and a decent amount of horn honking. It was not like a No Kings Day protest for sure, it was more like a constant hum of a people who will not give up.

The river moves away from the fallen tree, yet both tree and river remain. We move away from worries and sorrows, yet they remain too. We travel together, side-by-side.

Anderson Cooper's "All There Is" podcast popped up on you tube. I've been listening to episodes, something I had not done in months. I've found value within them.

Almost home, we come upon a Crow Meeting at the big corner near our place. This is the corner, the trees & light poles...the buildings where we watch the crows sit and swoop and just outright play. They especially love windy days and really come alive in the sky here. This is their day-neighborhood. About 20 crows, give or take stood around under the tree, doing whatever a murder of crows does in a situation like this. Some flew in and landed, others flew off and landed elsewhere (like the tops of buildings). Their coming and going seemed random to this human, but perhaps I was not meant to know any more than what I saw with my eyes and felt with my heart.

LINK about the differences between Crows and Ravens

I'm not sure I can throw a neat circle around these thoughts, which right now seem to be circling around in little dust devils of their own. All I can think of is the idea of ebb & flow. Like everything in life, like everything during these days...ebb & flow.

What makes a strong connection for you?

 

May you bear witness

May you join in

May you ebb and flow

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

THIS Moment in Time

 ~~~✊🏾~~~

LINK

May we each find our way to do right.

xo

A New Year ~ 2019

                                            

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On         

⃔⃕⦽ 

It is another New Year and I, like many,

have so many mixed feelings.

A new start versus Just going

Hope versus sameness

Plans versus attempting not to plan 

Dreams versus muddiness

Ya know, the usual.

It is kind of funny to me how we are so willing to step into the 'newness' of it,

with wishes, intentions and glimmers of some Divine Magic.

Then a few months, days or even hours in, we discover that 

we are we.

Change may come, but it comes slow and when it wants to.

Or when it is time.

Or whatever you believe.

And in the end, we carry on however we do.

⥹

 We heal.  We become ill or sad.  We become well again.

And so on.

Really, to expect anything different is just not reasonable.

⥻

So this year's beginning, I just plan to move forward 

and discover how that looks and feels.

No pressure, no big plans.

Recent sunset (not the turn of the year though)

2018 began with that quite unpleasant eye surgery.

Ugh!  What a memory!

I'm grateful to report that the eye remains well at this time.

Phew! 

2018 ended with with some equally unpleasant, 

rather traumatic family events.

In between, there was life.

Fun, mundane, exciting, plain

Deep, shallow,

regular and extra special.

Life.

Overall, I am glad for a new year though.

I feel like I always am ready to turn the calendar page. ☺

Doctor's office screen portal

  ⥴

Tomorrow is another commuting day.

I am still hanging in observation of the goings on of #somefolks as I drive.

I saw this last week or so and had to record it:

 "19 motionless motor homes

in less than 

5 city blocks

A few with trailers filled with: what looks like trash

One trailer with 

Christmas Lights

I ponder the use of limited energy on decorative lights

Today a few police and

other specific enforcement vechicles

A few trash trucks and

a port-a-potty on its trailer

...all pulled up next to a collection of these homes

These homes

I ponder what will I

see on my way home tonight?

What am I witnessing?"

⥳

Happy New year to the many, many, many #somefolks,

may their 2019 be better than bearable.

May their New Year hold it's own kind of magic.

 ⥀ 

Michelle in NYC shared this link with me.

Timely.

You may like it too.

 ⥁

Winter feet

 So, here we go, off to another year.

A time of more and of gratitude for what with have.

A time to reach and a time to settle in.

A time to share and a time to receive.

A time to be.

The long view

May 2019 be for you as well.

xo

Photographs by NAE ©2018/2019 

Last Thing First

Inspired by Dee's past post, I'm doing my own...waaay after the fact!  I haven't been too current or frequent in my posting.  Nor have I been too current or frequent in my blog reading.  I've been on a different, quite unproductive, tangent.  It is okay.  I suppose there is a season for everything.

↔

On Saturday June 30th, we attended our local March for the Children...
"Families Belong Together"

right here in our own Valley!  This was really something as we live in a Republican Rich area, so to Even Have a March Here was Something!  We were not only glad to March here for that simple reason of it shockingly being here at all,

but for the more selfish (at least I can speak for me) reason that I did not have to deal with the getting to and being in the one in downtown LA.

↔

Okay, enough of the logistics.  We went because among all of the other things we believe in, and among all of the other things we can't stand about this administration and their beliefs, policies (do they have those?) and their Actions...

This was for the CHILDREN!

And children is what I've been about since I was nine years old.

It's what I do everyday.

Children and Families and Staff...humanity.

 ↔

The turnout was WAY MORE people than we expected for a local event.

We were pleasantly surprised here was so much diversity represented.

Old  ↔ Young  ↔ Middle-aged 

 ↔Varied income (guessing here!), skin color, level of participation, level of health and religious beliefs  ↔

 ↔ Just about, maybe 500 people standing up for CHILDREN and Families  ↔

IN OUR AREA!

The crowd begins to grow

Protest sign

In the moment

Every age and mode of marching!

Artifacts

*AS ALWAYS:
 CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

We marched on both sides of the street...there were lots of folks!

There was a drummer, keeping the beat going!

Protest shirt

Here, here

Starting young

Lots of emphasis on appropriate VOTING!

Creative expression

Katie Hill

Katie Hill spoke passionately from the heart.

So did Christy Smith and Brad Sherman (from our neighboring Valley).

↔ 
← HUGE BREAK →
Well, I almost completed this whole post in one sitting, in a timely manner.
HA

Okay,  I'm back after days and days of work, exhaustion and illness...
along with just plain old not getting it done.

During all these days, thoughts have swirled in my head.

Ideas Shared

For some, maybe an A-Ha moment, yes?

Yes!

Protest family

The children shall lead??

Shouting it out!

At the close of the speeches, the organizer's daughter (I believe) 
led us off for the return walk with the familiar call and response chant:

"SHOW ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE"

"This is what democracy looks like!"

"SHOW ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE"

"This is what democracy looks like!"

"SHOW ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE"

"This is what democracy looks like!"

↔ 

As the day closes, we were so grateful to have attended, so proud to act on our strong beliefs...and  so full of passion.

J. and I discussed the pros and cons of the young activist 

and the children attending with their own range of knowledge and understanding.

I'm glad for the families that feel this is an important enough issue to educate their young ones.  I'm glad there will be a next generation of those with a social conscience.  Overall, I was pleased to see the huge turnout and be a part of it.

↔

The next day, I went with a friend to see "Won't You be My Neighbor?", 

the new(ish) documentary movie about Mr. Fred Rogers.  I've seen it a second time since then.  If you haven't seen it yet...and you can...DO!  It is so worth your time and money.

That weekend, I was filled with warm love feelings from the joining of many to support children and families...from the true gem that is Mr. Rogers, so beautifully shared in this film.  The whole "Love Wins" or "Love trumps Hate" thing.

However, one scene, towards the end of the movie, has really stuck with me in a way I didn't expect.  Mr. Rogers is talking about seeing young children holding hateful signs protesting during that era.

This led me to further consider the role of young children today, in the hopes of a better tomorrow.  I kept thinking: What if the children holding handmade signs were supporters to the 'other side'?  How would I feel then?  Do those parents have a right to teach their young their equally passionately held beliefs, when they clearly, truly believe them to be fact, to be right?  When are the ideas of the children, really those of the adults?  Who has the right to lead, mold, inspire and how?

Of course, you can probably guess where a lot of this pondering led me, especially upon seeing the twin girls and other children at the recent rally in PA.

But, it is always good to keep an open mind and to entertain many ideas.

Even if you return pretty much right where you started.

↔

I find it fitting that I've managed to finish this off on the one year anniversary 

of the protests in  Charlottesville, while protest attempt to rage in DC.

The low turnout there had me chuckling, as did this protest sign from today:

CTRL ALT RIGHT DELETE

May your days be filled with love, goodness and something to believe in.

xo 
Photos by NAE ©2018