December 9th 2018 at 4 PM

"Sitting here listening to Adrian von Ziegler and looking out the windows at the woods behind my building... The the dense cloud cover backlit with the unrecognizable sunshine... the leaves beneath the barren trees racing, on a cold, brisk, gust of wintry air, to huddle among the brushy bushes ... as long, full, evergreen boughs, from tall, mature trees, dance and sway and I stand here, gazing with delight, in my warm kitchen, making ginger tea, and knowing that Christmas is on it's way"

I am the RiverLightRider

HUG A TREE... READ A BOOK

We all know they are pushing us to be beings who don't rely on anything tangible but the devices, and we are biological beings on planet earth... The further away we get from recognizing that fact, the more mental illness there will be. Nothing can replace the need for human interaction and TLC and no technological device can truly comfort the human soul... 

We all need to disconnect from the word around us into a place where there are no commercials or glitches and to hug a tree... even if sometimes it's in the form of a book with words printed on its pages, l which are somewhat lie the words etched into the bark of a tree. 

Books give us more than a story or information glowing from a screen and dependent on electricity. They give us peace...The energy needed to read it comes from the life that once was in the paper, from the pages that hands that assembled, and our own life-force projected into it... They can be right there for us, in an instant and without a glitch, even when the power goes out and we only have a candle to read it by... and the price can be free or a one time fee... with no other obligations... 

Which might be another reason why they don't want us reading library books or purchasing paper books ... They're independent

***

THE MIND NEVER ERASES

“The leaves are falling rapidly they’ll cover all the traces, though nature will make them vanish , the mind never erases “

(Written for Wide World of Sports international motocross championship races)

Race With Wind c Janis Y Eastwood 1969

Janis Spinks I wish that show was still available... ABCTV
but at least there's THIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5E3tGDoeLo

YOUTUBE.COM
pepperell

 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/294071050642878996/?lp=true

PINTEREST.COM
In October 1969, at the Inter-Am motocross race in Pepperell, Mass.,…

 Immediately after it aired, I remember receiving a phone call from a friend I knew from a decade or more of hanging out wtih my father, the announcer at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, that I hadn't seen in quite a while. He was living in Maryland and watching WWS when he said he recognized my voice and said his eyes teared up... He just KNEW that was me singing and called all choked up to confirm it. That meant as much to me as hearing my song on TV ... The personal touch. Unforgettable. ~ Hi Mike :D

 The program was aired around the world and reached 10 million viewers... I remember my parents taking me to the top of the RCA building one beautiful evening when a warm wind was blowing... I had gone there on business and often ate lunch in the restaurant on the lower floor, at the time, waiting for the train home. As I stood there looking out at the sparkling lights of Manhattan, and the other boroughs, and New Jersey, my father reminded me that that's how many people had heard the song. ~ I never really needed to experience more of that. It was awesome enough to last a lifetime

 That's the same time  I first heard of John Denver... in the office of Robert Riger, of THE NOB HILL MOB , when he played me a record with him singing with The Chad Mitchell Trio. He was going solo then

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Riger


EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Robert Riger - Wikipedia

***

A HOUSE DIVIDED SHALL NOT STAND

The problem is the DEMOCRATS brainwashing people to hate... The problem is the REPUBLICANS brainwashing people to hate...

What is that crap... It's not one party or the other... hatred was here for thousands of years before we ever came on the scene ... I suppose it was the Democrats or the Republicans that crucified Jesus too...

AMERICA IS NOT A FOOTBALL GAME, although the corporations that own this country have made it such, for the entertainment of the people... just as Cesar built the Colosseum to keep people entertained as the government was falling apart for the same reasons that this one is falling apart...

A HOUSE DIVIDED SHALL NOT STAND.. it says in The Bible. I don't know the number of the chapter and verse, but I remember the lesson ... and the selfish, evil people who control the money and therefore The People, know this...

Stop rooting for one team or the other... and start thinking UNITY... as in UNITED STATES ... We are not just "America" ... and we were never intended to be a football game... This game started long before the current Democratic or Republican parties were even created... Remember it was corporations that sent the Explorers to find the land ... but it was our forefathers and the Patriots who had the dream and the hand of Divine Providence to assist to create this country and take it from them... The corporations are taking it back...

Wake up and stop this nonsence... Both parties are owned by The Elite ... and anyone who is a citizen of this country is an AMERICAN FIRST AND FOREMOST not a DEMOCRAT or a REPUBLICAN... unless they have chosen to play the game and lose the country... DIVIDE AND CONQUER is the even bigger game being played... keep playing this game and it will be GOOD BYE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ***

If I were rich ...

If I were rich, I would take all those people I possibly could, that God has brought to me, who need that, and give them a place and time to heal without having them have to jump through hoops and struggle to TRY and get it ... and endless paperwork and appointments when they are so tired their exhaustion is to the very core of their being...

More than counseling and doctors, what people need FIRST is comfort and peace, as a sick child needs to rest and to eat and sleep some more and have someone read them nice stories

But that seems to be reserved for Hospice, if they can even get that, then, instead of in the course of life when it's needed too... Especially mid-life for those people who never get vacations or breaks from the struggles, until they are dying

And this is an accepted way of life, for many people in poverty or single parents, and others, who fight a war every day, that noone seems to acknowledge as a war, and never get a break, trying to make ends meet, alone, against wave upon wave struggles and other people and their contempt and icy indifference ... telling them that they made the decisions that led to this and kicking dirt in their faces as they walk away ...

It's like telling someone that they decided to walk to work today, for whatever reason, in freezing cold so it's their own fault they got sick... when these days we know it's not the temperature that causes the illness ... it's the microbes and the lowered resistance to them due to a need for rest and supplies to keep them strong enough to fight it off.... Do you see the comparison?

Ignorance is like a rabid dog, and it's running rampant, among those who have a good life and are educated, biting and infecting other people and bringing them down, one by one, to suffer from a brain disease and a lack of love

The only true way to learn about life and the world in which you live , is to love, and the only way to cure the rabid dog is to learn... but so far, there is no cure for the rabid ignorance, though miracles happen every day ... The power of LOVE is just not courageous enough and willing to sacrifice to save humanity (yet people are willing to take up arms to kill to defend a country) People are not courageous and strong and loving enough to save the right to happiness and joy and prosperity in the land they think they are defending ... The enemy isn't them over there... It's ignorance (lack of love, and wisdom) right here...

"God Bless America" is only a slogan for a corporation if there is no strength and courage borne of LOVE to back it ***

The Joy of doing Handwriting

I remember how desperately I tried and never could really write as beautifully as others... my hand was never that fluid for whatever reason.. and as I got older and began doing things like lifting boxes at work, the muscles in my hands got bigger and I feel like I have winter gloves on because of that... Try writing neatly when you have big clunky fingers. or you use the muscles in them or hard tasks and not the little bitty ones. like hand sewing, doe instance.... THAT is one factor... 

I have found that the more I do little tasks and write instead of typing all the time, the better my writing is is, but knowing how and being sloppy aren't the same thing

I studied handwriting analysis for several years and used it as a fun game for people who wanted to see if it worked, many years ago and maybe you should be prod that your son has messy writing, if it shows a swift penstroke as well...because another factor effecting handwriting is factor is the swiftness of the mind. Highly intelligent people tend to have messy writing because their hand is slower than their mind when they are writing and trying to put the thought down before it flies past and is forgotten..

People DO need to know how to read and write cursive.

If they don't like doing it, tell them, as my mother (an artist) did, that it's like having your hand figure skating and to feel the freedom in it as you release thoughts to paper. ~.There is a wonderful feeling that comes from designing words and creating mental pictures with them, and at the same time, creating a visual work of art, and feeling the feel of different pens and pencils and tips while moving your arm and hand and flexing your fingers, as your mind glides across a piece of paper, feeling even the various textures of that, and the different pressures used, and the color s and kind of ink or "lead" used... 

No two handwritings are alike... so you are also leaving a bit of yourself wherever you have left a piece of handwriting ... Typing something and having a computer print it all that  individuality is lost

Printing is needed as well, of course, but printing is like walking through the woods when you have time and handwriting is like swift figure skating on a big wide lake covering a lot of thought in a little time

***

The Running of the Wild Dog Packs

 I remember the running of the wild dog packs (as a child in the 50s) in the early Spring when the snow was still on the ground. We would hear them coming through the woods and my parents told us to stay close to the house. They said that there were packs of wild dogs (probably coyotes too along with any dog that happened to want to join in, I suppose, since there were no leash laws to speak of, back in the 50s) and that they were hungry and killing deer weakened by the winter.so that only the strongest and healthiest would have babies and that would ensure that there was enough food and shelter to keep the herds from dying out... I remember that happening in the early Spring when the snow was still on the ground. We would hear them coming through the woods and my parents told us to stay close to the house

But as progress moved in more and more, with wild dog packs becoming a thing of the past, leash laws keeping other dogs from joining in, and only the coyotes still around, mostly in small numbers for a long time, and with fewer people hunting, the herds grew and in the 1980s I remember many of them were scrawny and sick and began to die off (again) which is why they have the 'events' such as the culling at Vassar Farm these days... and we who live in the Hudson Valley know that the herds grow very fast around here, these days, even so, considering we find them in the streets and on the lawns in cities and towns, as even more of their natural space is diminishing

***


https://www.americanheritage.com/.../return-white-tailed...

For L.N. .... BLAZE THE LIGHT I KNOW YOU ARE

Some of us are going through very difficult times lately..... again

The worst they can do is make life miserable and make us suffer, so kill them with kindness... and ignore them asap... because there is also love and there are blessings... and this life isn't forever... but Life Itself IS... I know this to be true... I have seen the other side... I have had past life memories...

....and I met again one I knew who died when he was 12 and we met again when he was in his 40s... He had problems then and he never let them go... They seem to have come from ancient times, in a dream I had soon after he died at 12... where he was a prince who killed his father by pushing him as he said NO to being a warrior...The king slipped and fell and broke his his head on a stone floor and died, so he ran away...because he didn't want to be a king and have that kind of power over people... He was a musician and a gentle one then......

... When I saw him in his 40s,in this life, I saw his mannerisms and heard his words... He looked different, but I recognized him as surely as I would someone I met in the dark that I had known before...He was terribly wronged ... but he nurtures that pain and anger ... I don't know why but he cannot seem to let go of the pain and anger, and he is only getting angrier because noone can get through to him.. and he feels very alone, but refuses to let go...
Our friendship picked up where it left off, and we really helped one another for a few years, but it was sooo difficult to deal with his "demons"...and I know he loves me as a friend and person, but then he gets angry and pushed me away and I couldn't bear it anymore... He was so caustic... I had to let go...He repeats his story of pain and suffering and anger like Gollum... It's boring to see and hear him digging the rut ever deeper... He could do nice things but he would never really SAY nice things and many times he would just turn like a snake. .. so great is his fear of loving and being so horribly betrayed again ... It may take many lifetimes for him to change... I know he will but when I don't know...
Don't let that happen to you... Never let them turn you from who you REALLY are...THIS world isn't all there is... Be the LIGHT you really are

I know you are hurting and so tired and it's ok to be angry ... You have no idea how angry I get toward those who have no compassion and tell lies, but I fight with myself not to think about it. Sometimes we are living the hell and it's impossible not to be very angry and say things like this... I know.... Inside myself, I do it too... and in the past I said it aloud to those who were making me suffer, but most of the time I didn't shout it, I frowned and grumbled it and growled it under my breath... and then went and sat with nature or alone in a room where I felt safe and warm and slept a lot..

Sleep and eat and and be silent for a time., as you can.... and remember YOU ARE UNIQUE ... THERE IS ONLY ONE YOU... AND YOU ARE PRECIOUS... BORN OF THE LIGHT

Snippets of Memories of Mrs Roosevelt and My Father

Yes, I remember the day my father introduced me to Eleanor Roosevelt  at Luckey Platt's Department Store in Poughkeepsie, NY (now a Social Security office on the corner of Main and Academy Streets)... She knew my grandparents really well, and we ( my parents and brothers and I)  were shopping for a ballet dress for me for my 4th birthday when she drove the  car up to the side door, and parked at the curb on Academy Street.... 


My father stood at the door watching her get out of the car (which had been FDRs and still had the special equipment in it so he could drive it) and opened the door for her  and her housekeeper. The first thing I heard as he opened the door was WHY DONALD IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!! HOW ARE YOU? HOW'S YOUR MOTHER/?  YOUR SISTER? YOUR BROTHER?!

They stood there talking for quite a while Mrs. Roosevelt was a VERY nice, very REAL person.

 I remember being introduced to her and  her bending down to my level to speak to me. My father said SHE'S SHY... and Mrs. Roosevelt bent down and as we looked at each other she said, THAT'S OK. I WAS VERY SHY WHEN I WAS YOUNG TOO.. and she smiled and asked me a few things and I answered and smiled back. I knew about Presidents and First Ladies even at that young age, and I was thinking of how other people not even as important as she was were more stiffly formal than she was and most wouldn't have bent down to speak directly to me to hold a little conversation. She was very personable and treated me like a PERSON. I looked her in the eyes and knew she was someone who had a real heart and she had mine from that day on

As I got older and learned more about her life, and after reading her life story, I realized how shy she HAD been, and all the things she had delt with, and learning about how she overcame it, along with remembering what she said to me and how she was that day, is one way I conquered my shyness. I thought IF SHE CAN DO ALL SHE'S DONE, AND BE SO FORTHRIGHT, SO CAN I. 

If you go to Roosevelt Cinemas in Hyde Park, (located directly across from SPRINGWOOD) you'll see Eagles hanging on the walls in a couple of the threatres. My father designed and made them out of plywood and bolted them together, at her request, that day at Luckey's. 

I remember him cutting them out and painting them... Asking for opinions on what color to paint them... and being concerned about how he would assemble the various parts and hang them. Then he had the Eureka moment and smiled and got bolts and long screws and a drill and did the assembly and painted them in the sign shop/barn behind our house. They are hung with strong wire attached to hooks in the walls. The evening of the day he hung them on the walls, we were her guests for whatever movie was playing. I wish I could remember what it was! 

He also designed the lettering and painted the sign on the front that says ROOSEVELT ... It has been repainted since then, but it is still the same exact sign. I remember when he finished that, taking us in the car to see it one evening. That was all in 1954 and 55. 

As I recall, her son, Elliot, had the theatre built for her and she used to go there and sit in "The Cry Room" (now one of the projection rooms) which was a room with glass front, overlooking the theatre, which was only one in those days.It was quite simple but very comfortable... with reclining seats and etched glass and grass on the half-wall that divided the actual theatre from the hall and doors, to the rear. The doors on the front of the lobby are the same ones I remember being there when I was a child. (I remember marveling at them... Metal doors with all glass in them!...In those days all doors were made of WOOD)  My mother said that they were a new metal called Aluminum) But as with Luckey's, it's basically a shell of  what it used to be.

My gandparents knew the Roosevelts, and used to go to Sunday Dinner at Springwood. My father and his sister and brother also went but ate in the kitchen with the Roosvelt children... and played in their playroom (the big room with all the windows, in the front, on the north end) when they were finished so the adults could retire to the livingroom to talk. This was before he became President, but also, afterward, when he came home to visit

Somewhere among the family memorabilia, there is a photo from a local newspaper that shows a red-haired freckled faced boy, grinning and standing on the running board of FDR's car, clinging to the side of the car. He had just voted for himself at the Hyde Park Town Hall. The boy is my father, having just turned 10 years old in November

After serving in  WWII, and being with the First Infantry Division( He was among those of 2nd wave to land on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day)   my father became a National Park Guard for several  years and guarded the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt Estates, before going to IBM where he worked as an artist for 45 years.

(Among other things, he was also the announcer (and later alternated weekends with Mike Fisher... who I hear is still there) at Old Rinebeck Aerodrome for over 20 years. Having met Cole Palen in the winter of 1961, he helped to promote the aerodrome and painted all the billboards and signs and the little buildings that were part of the show. He sat at the head table with Cole for the retirement dinner. They both retired from it that same year, and my father died in January 1993 and Cole in December of the same year.)


I have many fond memories thanks to my parents and grandparents, on both sides of the family ... These are only a few of them, inspired by a photograph of that November day when I met Eleanor Roosevelt

1950's Winters in the Country, as a Child

They say it might be a REALLY COLD and SNOWY winter this year... If only I had a house with a nice woodburning stove to cook on and sit by, I wouldn't care how cold and snowy it got ... I remember being little and living in our big old farmhouse and sitting by the woodburning cookstove in the kitchen all day when it was really REALLY cold, and during blizzards. . Yes we had a furnace.... a coal burning furnace, but my mother felt it best to save the coal for when we were going to bed and through the night. We'd sit there and watch the fire flicker and color in coloring books and play games and many times, we'd bake with her. The crackling of the fire and the smell of the wood burning was so comforting... relaxing... especially on those days when the winds were whipping 50 to 70 mph and the snow was building drifts over the top of our two-story house, on the north side.

After it ended (usually the next day, when we had snow days off... and in those days the snow was so deep and the plows had to work overtime, we could be off almost all week) we'd go out and play in the snow as soon as we had breakfast or lunch.. and we'd go in and out every half an hour for 3 to 4 hours, usually... while Mom dried our gloves and gave us another pair, and warmed our shoes and boots by the stove before putting them on. In those days, getting ready to go out took TIME to get ready

... two pairs of socks, the regular ones and men's woolen ones, flannel lined corduroys, a T-shirt, a shirt and a sweater and then the snow pants that were flannel lined with cotton batting for added warmth, and made of wool, with straps to keep them up. They were a real chore to get over the pants.... and it was always a big giggle fest when Mom had to reach up our pant legs to pull legs on the corduroys down, and reach up our arms to pull the sweater sleeves down. She must have gotten quite a work-out doing that for 3 kids. Then there was the hat ( the ear lapper kind) and a scarf wrapped around our necks and covering our mouths. ... and finally pulling the rubber boots with the clips on the over the sneekers .... and trying not to scratch... as the wool chaffed around the neck and face... and the finishing touch was the mittens... which we had several pairs of, and when they were all on the rack drying, we resorted to using socks... two or three pairs at a time... including Dad's lol

When we'd had enough (4 hours or so usually) and our feet were about to get frostbite, we came in and stripped down to undies and bathrobes and put our feet in a tub of warm water ... and talked and dreamed and recounted the highlights of our adventures for the day

Then came cookies, or cinnamon toast, and cocoa while coloring in coloring books, working on plastic models, or reading comic books and resting, or napping for a while, sitting by the stove, with with our heads on the table... til lunch, or suppertime

At night we always had a bath before bedtime, but when it was really cold, we'd get into our PJs, slippers and bathrobes, and go down to the kitchen for a snack before bed, and to grab the brick wrapped in a towel that Mom had heated for each of us to put under the layers of blankets, by our feet... and she'd make the rounds, and read us each a little golden book before tucking us in, kissing us good-night, and turning out the light... and then we'd say our prayers, and round s of good nights, and go to sleep... ZZZZZzzzzZzzZzzzzz

Nine Eleven two thousand and one

The night before the Twin Towers fell, I went for a walk on Vassar College campus. it had rained. It was warm and the clouds were moving overhead, breaking up and moving on...

There was a very noticeable stillness there that night that I had not experienced before. There were few students out and about. No noises coming from the dorm rooms. Of the few students I saw, none spoke as they passed on the walkways. Heads were tilted down. and the students just moved in silence... The sounds of doors opening and closing was muted ... but it wasn't eerie. In fact it was very very peaceful... It was as if the whole earth was in a hushed mode.

I had walked on the roadway there, from the North Gate, past the dimly lit Walker Field House, on the hill, to the rear of the campus,... past the dark hills of the golf course,... starting down the hill, nearing Sunset Lake... listening to the sound of water droplets falling and the soft sound of my sandals on the pavement.... and the silence... sencing something, like all nature was trying to tell me something...but what? To myself, in a loud whisper, I said "GOD WHAT IS IT?"

The passing clouds seemed to be almost at eye level, just above the trees in front of me... to the west ... Suddenly, I was stopped, frozen by what I saw.... There, in the clouds, was something I had never seen before...a, HUGE, burst of bright orange and gold, as if something had exploded and caught fire in the cloud... I stood, staring, for a moment, thinking maybe it was lightning... but there was no sound of distant thunder and no other flashes... I senced something... I had seen something ....

I went home and told of my experience ... wondering if there had been any news of a plane exploding over Newburgh ... No there was no news of anything like that... Discussing what it might have been and finding no sensible answer, I went to sleep...

In the morning, when I was awakened being told what was happening, it was as if I knew...There was no sence of shock, only that feeling that says I AM REALLY SEEING THIS ... IT'S HAPPENING...

For months after, as I sat by the river looking at how peaceful and unchanged it was, I thought abut what had happened and what it looked like just 80 miles to the south...

In my own home state... RIGHT HERE... IN AMERICA

... and that way is always WIN

the pain I feel, from head to toe
the burning,
vibrating,
   you don't know

I keep on smiling
I keep on trying,
even though
   my body's dying

A soldier never gives up
a soldier never gives in
a soldier only knows one way
and that way  is always
WIN

When I go,
I'll go face first
no more to hunger
no more to thirst

because

 I AM
the RiverLightRider

Forever Waves of Change

I just watched a video that broke my heart for the Farmers and for the Native Americans before them...
There is nothing sadder than losing the history of your family, your way of life, your closeness to LIFE ITSELF, and the feeling of your ancestors presence in the land, along with  all you knew and loved, and "are", to "progress"


I remember all the little dairy farms that once were all around here... I remember Gilbert's most of all because I passed it on the school bus every morning and afternoon and went to school with one of the sons... I mean, I knew who he was, but we really had never talked

One day I saw him at school, probably in 1963, and he was so depressed... I asked him why... and he told me that his father was selling the farm... I said OH NO and how I felt for him...

At first he was defensive saying people say that but noone really knows how it feels to lose your home and way of life like that , that had been in your family for generations and you felt all of that history and family around you when you were there... and then I said, " Yeah, well I do!" and he stopped and looked at me...

I told him I knew how it felt, because we had had 9 acres of land and my father and grandparents had had their own little farm there before I was born, and I was one of the 5th generation to live there... It wasn't a farm like his family had, but it was still natural and felt like HOME because I knew every tree, many of the animals, and every part of the land and the cycles of nature there better than I knew the back of my own hand... It was my heart and soul, my peace and my dreams, but we'd had to sell it too... in 1959

He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and in the silence and a few words, we had bonded in some way... and he was so glad that someone understood how he felt, and so was I... finally someone who knew what it felt like...

... Most people in the area had never known what that was like. Farms were few and far between... Population density had been low... but new people had been moving in and building new houses on small parcels of land and they knew nothing about farming and hated the smell of the cows... which was like perfume of the gods to us

I didn't really see him much after that and I don't remember if we ever spoke again... but it made a difference to both of us... I felt it, and I saw it in his manner and in his eyes

I don't even know whatever happened to him... but that moment stands out in my mind and lingers with memories of former times that are who I really am, in a world I have merely adapted to since then ...

... like this farmer, who knew every generation of cow as individuals on his dairy farm... and lost them all... to slaughtehouses... and his whole way of life AND his livlihood as well.... Making it even more tragic for people like them, and the boy I knew at school, than it was for me

Maybe That's the Way God Planned it

I am always hearing how people who aren't employed should do this or that menial job like mowing the lawns at municipal buildings, but do you know that those are, County, State and Federal insured jobs with pensions and medical and all? They are skilled laborers and must also know the maintenance of all equipment and have a license to operate such machinery ...

For the most part, the little voluntary jobs are things at local churches, such as setting up tables and chairs for Bingo once or twice a week, or helping at the secondhand store, but someone has to get them there, or pay their way there, which they do, but does anyone notice them?
 .... Of course there are other volunteer jobs such as such as Firemen ...

Many unemployed people HAVE worked and understand the concept of work but cannot cope with it. Even a minimum wage job which requires more than you may think about, at their level of coping  ... and I don't mean that as an insult. I saw 10 people OF VARYING AGES, and levels of education and life experience, fired in the past month because they could not manage to clock in on time, and cope with all the little details that go with a job...

But they'll continue to try things and some will "make it" but others never will. People say GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US... Well maybe because that's the way God planned it ...

The sad thing is that people will judge them and complain that they are paying for them. We are paying for every critter in the woods too. I see people feeding them, making little nests and homes for them and taking care of them when they are injured...  and I don't see any of them working ...

The Firefly

Years ago, I was standing outside  after dinner, visiting with a dear friend and her young daughter... We were watching the fireflies dance. She said they didn't have fireflies in CA where they lived... and suddenly... one came over and lit on her daughter's arm... then it moved to her hand as she spoke to it...It nodded it's head to her and tapped it's front foot three times, and b;inked his tail... Then it flew and we thought it was going... Then it did the same thing to my friend and then to me... Then it flew in the middle of us (We were standing in a circle) and stayed in the air in front of each of us and bowed again to each one... It went back to her daughter... nodded and tapped three times again... and then flew at a bit of a distance... nodded to us all and flew away... And that's TRUE

Now I know where they got the idea for The Harrier (military jet) from ;)

WHY DO I CARE?

One day, years ago, when I was working lunchtime at McDonald's, a young businessman came up to the counter and he was rather slow moving, shaking and fumbling with his wallet, and had a rather pained look on his face. I told him it was ok... to just take a breath and take his time ...

I said I could see he wasn't having the best day, and he said,"WHY DO YOU CARE?!!" I reached a hand out to him and said," BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE A BAD DAY AND NOBODY THERE TO CARE AT THAT TIME, AND I HATE SEEING ANYONE ELSE GO THROUGH THAT" ...

Then he told me why he was upset, that he was from out of town, and he smiled with a glow and looked me in the eyes and told me that he was sure it would all be better now... and thanked me for caring.... He was at peace... I saw the way his whole manner changed...as he waved and smiled, with his bag of burgers, going out the door... For real... and it still makes me smile all these years later, when I think about it

Many times it only takes a sincere touch to turn someone's day around ... and it's like magic

One summer night 1971

P&G's in New Palltz a summer night in 1971 .. There we were little group of us, nameless friends, united in our dreams and smiles and common bond to as song .... The young bartenders smiled as they cleared the tables , gathered the glasses and, swept the floor as LAYLA played ... over, and over, and over again... We swooned in the heat of the night, to  the music that, alone, took us on a ride to places no words can describe... and as they were playing it for the final time that night, I went outside and sat on a bench, under a soft streetlight, alone, in the college town deserted for the season, and heard it waif out on the night air and dance with the stars in the soft night sky... and I followed

Have NO doubt ... I AM THE POWER ~ God

I remember going home from Kentucky, in 2003, through Ohio, on the Interstate,on a beautiful, clear, hot summer's day. The whirr of the tires on the road... the vastness of the fields of corn and soybeans on both sides of the highway peacefully basking in the sun.... as we were just cruising along... talking about our wonderful experiences of the past couple of days ... Ahhh...

Well, the car I was in had a temperature gauge.and as we were cruising along at about 80 mph, the driver (I was in the backseat) with his eyes still on the road ahead, reached up and tapped on the inside gauge... He was drawing our attention to the rapid change in temperature... As we (passengers) watched it it fell from 90 to around 55 in a matter of seconds.

We looked out the back and saw people had pulled over under underpasses. We thought THEY KNOW SOMETHING! IT'S LIKE THEY KNOW A TORNADO IS COMING! But we could't slow down! There were other cars and tractor trailers behind and alongside us.

Then suddenly the driver said something like OH SHIT and we looked out the front and there was a DARK CURTAIN in front of us... It was swallowing up cars . They were there one second and totally obscured the next. The driver said, WELL WE HAVE NO CHOICE, and we went into it too. I said MAINTAIN SPEED AND JUST KEEP GOING! FOLLOW THE TAILIGHTS OF THE CAR IN FRONT OF US AND DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF THEM... PRAY THEY KNOW THE ROAD AND DON'T GET INTO AN ACCIDENT OR TRY TO STOP ! We could barely even see the taillights of the car right in front of us... and the last time I'd looked, there was a tractor trailer behind us! There was no way they would be able to stop! They might not even be able to slow down! It was like we HAD to trust the one in front of us who was following the car in front of them, and so on... as if we were all on a string... OR A PRAYER CHAIN! .. We had no option but to HAVE FAITH AND KEEP ON KEEPING ON. The RAIN was torrential to say the last.

Then there was a deafening BOOM and a BRILLIANT flash of light... FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER ... AND ANOTHER!... then it dawned on me ...WE HAD ENTERED A SUPERCELL! WE WERE DRIVING THROUGH IT AT 70 MPH!! ... and e we all said, "OH MY ... GOD! " or something similar

Then suddenly we were all silent.... Focused... Praying... It was only a matter of maybe 5 minutes but it seemed like an eternity, and finally we were through it!

We were all breathless and full of exclamations, like HOLY HELL WE MADE IT! DID YOU SEE HOW THE TEMPERATURE DROPPED? THAT WAS A THUNDERHEAD WE JUST DROVE THROUGH! etc. and we wondered (for a moment) if the people behind us had been hit with a tornado, because just as we entered the DARK CURTAIN OF RAIN there was a sudden BLAST OF WIND ... but we were so relieved to find the sun shining DAZZLING BRIGHT on the other side and joyful that THE RAIN HAD WASHED EVERYTHING CLEAN AND SPARKLING LIKE DIAMONDS IN THE BRILLIANT SUNSHINE, that we forgot everything else and merely rejoiced saying WE'RE ALIVE! WE MADE IT!
(*Two days before, we had just gotten to our motel in Kentucky when Iwe heard about the BLACK-OUT that had hit several states,including NY, PA and Ohio and other areas nearby, leaving the people back home in NY without power, and in a humid, oppressing heat... We had watched that on the news in the lounge after dunner, with mouths open and making comments and muttering WOW.... but the area we had been in was like an island in that we still had power and TV. We thought that was weird and remarkable, until we experienced THIS! )

I have been through some interesting times, but nothing has ever really quite matched this... Thankfully, by the time we got home, the power was back on...It had been coming back on to the towns and cities we passed through, just minutes before, each time... ... It was like we had been visited PERSONALLY by GOD, and he was telling us something like REMEMBER THIS ... I AM GOD AND I SAW YOU THROUGH ALL THIS! LO I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS! The power had been out, but not for us, then we had been ENGULFED IN THE POWER, and when we got home, THE POWER WAS ON....

Even when times are so dark and wild that you can't see The Light. and there is no shelter from the storm, KEEP THE FAITH ... and MAINTAIN SPEED AND KEEP ON GOING... KEEP FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE and FOLLOW THE GLIMMER OF HOPE WITH FAITH... THIS TOO SHALL PASS and the BRILLIANCE on the other side will be DAZZLING, AND THE ROAD AHEAD WILL ALL BE MADE NEW... 'Your FAITH has seen you through this...Welcome Home. .. The Power is ON ... AND I AM THAT POWER! ~ God'

My Quest for the The Ghost of Gettysburg

I had an experience in Gettysburg in 1957, as a small child.... I saw a soldier jump out of a trench and run in front of the car my father was driving. I thought he was a real person. I yelled at my father to stop... but he hit him... only he didn't ...because he turned to look at me and continued to the other side of the road. . My father knew I had seen him. I described him and later learned that he was from the north, from the area where I grew up in NY. I still wonder what his name was and why I saw him so clearly... and why he turned to look at me... But he never frightened me

*Go to "GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG (DOCUMENTARY)" on YouTube  ( The URL won't hyperlink)

The experience I had was definitely of a ghost. He jumped out of a trench and dashed in front of the car, and the car went through him . When I described him as wearing a red shirt, my older brother teased me and said this was the Civil war and the English wore red in the Revolution... But my father pressed me for whatever other description I could offer. I said that his bayonet was fixed and his rifle was very long... His hat was the style of the north... and his pants were rather baggy and dark... He was tall and lean...His hair was a sandy color and his eyes were a grey/blue,,,.

and just a few years ago, when my son was a firefighter, something prompted me to search on Google , and lo and behold.... there was the uniform I remembered... Zouave soldiers from NY...For whatever reason, I had always focused on THE BLUE AND THE GREY ... I never knew there was such a thing as a Zouave soldier until then... and they were FIREFIGHTERS who volunteered to fight!

"The second uniform was issued when the first, not made of quality materials, fell apart on most men.[13] This uniform was issued by the federal government, and to the disgust of the men, was not of the true Zouave style, but an American Zouave style. The new uniform had a dark blue Zouave jacket with red cuffs and red trimming with sky blue trimming inside the red. Blue fezzes with blue tassels were issued to provide greater flair to the uniform, as well as dark blue sashes, an issue of red overshirts (not firemen's shirts), and dark blue trousers.[11] Before the First Battle of Bull Run, most of the Zouaves left their jackets in camp due to the July heat, however, they all retained their blue and red fezzes, and their red blue banded kepis."

... I also read that most fought without their jackets on because it was July... one thing my father had told me... as he said to imagine fighting in that heat.... It was really hot when we were there ... the end of June 1957 , when I was 6 years old

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_New_York_Infantry

Years later, when I was 13 or so, and we had moved into a new house, I would stay up late and play my guitar and write songs after everyone else was asleep... and I began hearing what sounded like heavy booted footsteps coming up the stairs... Dad said maybe it was the soldier I had seen and that he might have followed me home... I hadn't even thought about that in years, but HE remembered... and a year or so later, we went on vacation, and when we got home there were black streaks up the stairs and down the hall and into my room...as if someone had dragged their feet a bit waling down the hall. (They didn't come right off either, although the floor was shiny and waxed.).As I looked in my room, I saw the impression of someone laying on my bed... It was there for a few minutes, but when I called to others in my family to come ans see it... it began to fade...

Weird? but true

And another few years passed and my mother caught sight of someone about to sneek up the stairs... He saw her as she saw him and he took long steps and dashed up... He had sandy color hair and was tall like the soldier was... She took him to be the guy I was dating at the time, until she realized .... he wasn't really there


Examples of Fire Zouaves 11th Infantry from NY with their red shirts and blue pants:
(Copy and paste to browser for photos)


https://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+zouave+soldiers+red+shirts&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:Cfz7eOlWGGIqIjhQVExU_1FklUnJ050GhCH7hl1-o5-xmjDtvYRbE3zK6Z-8ASzF1AevIi8etDrkAaG1zM5jQZ0LzaSoSCVBUTFT8WSVSER3reSwk7PiIKhIJcnTnQaEIfuERVGd5udedMxsqEgmXX6jn7GaMOxF8VuS1P7G4QSoSCW9hFsTfMrpnET87WubzIA8_1KhIJ7wBLMXUB68gRwu_1p0TuQtbIqEgmLx60OuQBobRGe3IXGiGkTDyoSCXMzmNBnQvNpEXDeremMmn7-&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOivGS7_faAhVum-AKHeanDnkQ9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1152&bih=602&dpr=1.25

Time doesn't FLY... it JETS

                                    Time seems to go by faster than ever all the time, right?

      I got to thinking about that today... The reason is because life is more hectic with more being forced to our attention... It's like a quiet day at work can make the day seem long, but a really busy one speeds past

That can be ok sometimes, but not all the time, as it tends to be IN LIFE these days... sometimes becoming just a big smear which is like a blur but denser and harder to see the Light through when you need a focal point

Homelessness ... DON'T BE IGNORANT

as i said IP #1

A LOT of the time they get some help for a while then the advocates and social workers don't show up because the decided they don't get paid enough or don't really care about their JOB, and doctors start leaving them without the treatment or medications because they went on vacation and never even rescheduled an appointment or transportation to the clinics they need doesn't show up and they get the blame and get their benefits cut out off...They are constantly bullied and beaten down by just about everyone including others who are in their situation and steal their medications and whatever else they can get their hands on, and by police and staff at shelters and "decent" people who say they are just milking the system and complain that they need t get a job...

If they are going to get help it needs to be a safe place to sleep at night and regular treatment... They can't be coping with trying to beat the mental illness (which is often due to violence or prolonged stress) or drugs while fending for themselves in a life or death situation all the time, and trying to do the loophole dances the system puts them through so they can just kick them back into the streets

I know many kinds of people from many walks of life... but this has taken my attention more than any others because people simply do not understand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INVISIBLE PEOPLE 2
Susan Wyman Because they feel no sence of pride when someone else does it all for them... It makes them feel like children but they have been through too much to go back to being treated or viewed as a child (in any sence of the word), They have lived in a warzone which most other "decent" people really can't relate to...I'm sure he felt guilty for taking what you had to give...

They just need to be in a safe place and able to get the treatment and guidance they need without all the hassles and threats all the time...and to be treated with respect, as people who are survivors of the war they are living or have survived so far.

Most of the time whatever money they get goes right to rent on their shelter and their food stamps go to a program where they cook and serve the food in a cafeteria and the quality can be really bad and the amount really scant... different cooks every month or so..They don't get to choose what they will eat day to day... They are treated like prisoners... Most of time having to go through signing in and out at the front door ... ( Which is understandable, but to eat what what they want and need ...maybe buffet style with choices... would be nice)

They need to have a few dollars left after paying the rent to get the other things they need... and just because they are poor doesn't mean they don't want and need the basic things that everyone else has... including toilet paper, and dish soap. ..

You probably brought him into your home like he was a dependent child and one of the family...but it was too much for him... to much the opposite extreme, all at once... from "strangers" He felt as uncomfortable there as you would living the life he has led... These things need to be transitioned slowly and steadily... with a safe hassle free environment, regular treatments with no loopholes, and some money left after the rent is paid... and a lot of respect for the fact that they are able to survive things average people have never experienced and never will

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~as AND AS I SAID ON HVW ...

PS ... GET A JOB... GO TO COLLEGE... MAKE IT BETTER FOR YOURSELF.. uh yeah

I had a friend who struggled to pay her way through college continuing to raise her kids, to become a teacher and in the end, she ended up as a salesclerk. She is very intelligent and got good grades but there were no job openings and later if she wanted to try again, she had to have more college because things had changed. She couldn't just move and try to reorient the kids and herself (alone) and risk that not working out... nor could she even afford to make a move

... and another intelligent, decent woman, who went to college and struggled through, being told they had job placement and she was guaranteed a job when she got out... but all she got was bills and a minimum wage job ...at least that's how it stands 10 years after her graduation, with good grades...

And both of these women came from middle class families but ended up divorced when their husbands decided to pick up with a younger woman and take off, because they said worked hard and wanted to have some fun and someone to go along with them ... and this is the kind of thing the kids of this world are going through

This is one-sided because I am not saying how it is for men, but often times, you can just insert he and him instead or she and her

THE WAY

It never made sence to me that JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS... That he PAID THE PRICE for our sins..

This is how I see it (as best I can convey it tonight)

People were paying for animal sacrifices that were given to the priests to eat, as if the priests would put in a word for them so their prayers would be answered and their salvation would be guaranteed. They did make a sacrifice of money that could have been used for other things they needed or wanted, so they WERE going without something, but it had nothing to do with sacrificing lusts of the ego or from Love.., but more as a duty

So in essence, it always seemed to me that if people were thinking that Jesus died for us and paid the price for our sins, that they were still doing as they had been doing but replacing many animal sacrifices with the ultimate Sacrifice (Jesus) and still going through rituals and continuing to pay money to the churches that provide for the priests (still paying money for that one Ultimate Sacrifice) to those whom they believe would intercede on their behalf.... (So much for having a personal relationship with God!)

But Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb to be the example.... I AM THE (animal) SACRIFICE and you need to be the sacrifice too... to teach us that the only way to become one with God was to be willing, with Love, to sacrifice the lusts of personal ego, by giving and doing all for Love consciously and by choice, directly ... Sacrificing the lusts of the Ego for the Love of God

I was always taught that this is not something anyone can do for you... That you have to do it yourself... following the example Jesus gave... LOVING and not acting from the Ego... and the way to Eternal Life is through HIS EXAMPLE... Because his heart was not on finite material gains or lusts, but on the Spirit within, and Eternal Life....Therefore through his lessons, his example, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life ever-lasting... because he was one with these things, just as an evil person is one with their evil deeds....They ARE the evil they do