President* Trump,

So I couldn’t find a nest up in the ornamental cherry in the backyard where all the bird drama took place last night. It’s pretty dark in the interior of the tree most of the time so there may actually be a nest in there, but if so, it definitely blends in well. This morning, though, the sunlight is streaming through the tree canopy, making the inner leaves and those that are hanging down on the East-facing side glow bright red, popping against the West-facing, still dark maroon leaves. It’s pretty gorgeous. I got Laura to come over to the window to check it out and she agrees.

The other morning sightings of note include the following: #1 Up by the bus stop at the corner across the street there are about 10 small Italian sunflowers planted in the narrow strip of grass between the reservoir fence and the sidewalk, three of which have single little yellow sunflower blooms going. The plants aren’t even knee high and given the suboptimal growing conditions, they likely won’t ever be “tall flowers”, but it doesn’t matter – their main function is to be cheerful and sweet in an unexpected location. I’m betting they were planted by the same person who planted and tended the tulip bulbs, which were such a hit right there this past spring. I told you about them when one of the bus drivers on the route left a note on the fence thanking the planter for adding such a bright spot to her day. No new note (yet), but definitely a new bright spot.

Then, #2 — in the adjacent bus stop shelter right there I noticed a little sticker with a manga image of a young girl with a speech bubble. It’s small enough that I had to stop and crouch down to read it. Here’s what she’s saying: “There is no such thing as a non-racist cop because they are all enforcing a racist system.” Someone behind her out of the frame responds “Indeed.” Indeed.

And last but not least, sighting #3 was at the bus stop three blocks down from the one noted above. This bus stop just consists of a metal pole with the bus numbers affixed to it, so it’s a regular old, spare deal where people try to time their arrival just right so they aren’t standing in the rain very long waiting for the bus. Anyway, on the metal pole there is a very cute, very pink Hello Kitty sticker that reads: “Hello Kitty says Mayor Jenny Durkan failed us again and must go.” Dang. Indeed.

Somebody is on it. Actually, it’s more likely that a lot of somebodies are on it. There are chalked admonitions to “End Mass Incarceration,” “Stop State Violence,” to remember that “Black Trans Lives Matter,” and to “Vote” all over the sidewalks in our neighborhood along with BLM and defund SPD (Seattle Police Department) graffiti and stickers on utility boxes and telephone poles. There are lists of Black owned restaurants and businesses stapled to other phone poles and I’ve even seen a list of contacts, by state, for registering to vote absentee stapled to a phone pole. And it’s only the middle of August.

Clearly many, many of us recognize that you and your precious-to-you patriarchal White supremacy have to go and clearly we aren’t being quiet about it. We also aren’t leaving it to chance that the tired and tuned out among us won’t get the memo.

By the way, I was wearing another of the USPS t-shirts Laura got to support the Post Office when I saw all those pro-social, pro-democracy, antiracist messages this morning. I’ve got several and cycle through them along with the one from Kamala Harris that says “We the People. She the President,” which is a fav.

May we all be safe from state violence.
May we be willing to speak up and out about what is right and true.
May we be healthy, strong, and spunky for the duration.
May we absolutely not take the outcome of this fight for our democracy and our future for granted.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson