Sunday October 16 2022

Back to work this morning after a very-short, one-day weekend. The house and grounds are looking nice. We're preparing of course for the winter but it's been sunny and in the 80s in Vancouver, way hotter than average. Sunny and beautiful, birds chirping - but where is the rain? A random woman we met at a taco stand yesterday insisted it was "cyclical" that we have a warm, dry October but also said, " I don't recall it being 80 in the middle of October before." I'mma thinking the forest is thirsty for a drink and I hope it gets one soon. I had a nice morning before work with Henry. We watched part of Sunday Morning on tv while I had coffee and took in the feel-good news that was trying to address the divided feelings in our country. I feel like news is always trying to paint the sunniest picture of our world while also dropping stats like, " most incarcerated persons in any country in history..." grappling with reality versus image, a problem I have as well. I usually hesitate to post any of my individual thoughts or opinions online since that makes one vulnerable to attack or - even worse - having to defend my opinion. My opinion is mainly - I don't know if we - humanity - are going to be able to solve our own problems, that we won't be able to pivot from greed and exploitation in time to avert a climate disaster that will delete us and much of the animal kingdom in the process and leave a smoldering planet, in the throes of a climactic feedback loop, growing hotter all the time until we become more like Venus than like an ocean world full of incredible, diverse life. Is that an opinion? Or am I just partaking in hertical knowledge that really isn't doing any good to anyone - better to be blissfully ignorant and continue going about our business. See? It's better if I don't opine. Forgive me though because I feel like I've got to write my way through my thoughts and maybe come to a better conclusion. I do like meditating on impermenance, the fact that we and our planet will be dust someday - whether that happens this centruy or a billion years from now. I start every day at my job with a gratitude list, something I've been doing for years. I used to think I was programming myself, out of my old, negative mold, hopefully to become a more positive person with a good effect on those around me. Today, I will say I am grateful for my rustic, country relatives and ancestors, all the work and foibles they went through to bring my generation into existence. And also grammar - I be grateful for that too. Sometimes, it's quiet enough in my neighborhood that you can hear all the different kinds of birds chiming in, with only the occasional jet provided a little man-made noise pollution.