Dear President Trump, This morning Laura and I took a not-rainy walk (finally!) with the dogs in the part of town we call “Swale-land.” It’s on the way to the grocery store and it feels kind of exotic because every other street is lined with richly planted swales instead of the usual plain grass nature … Continue reading Associative learning and Joe Biden
Positives
Negative and positive implications: discuss
Dear President Trump, I did include the tag “Climate Change” with yesterday’s postcard on my blog since it’s almost certain that the freeway ornamental cherry is routinely blooming in January when its holiday lights are still on it because of global warming. I didn’t, however, have it in me to call this angle out and … Continue reading Negative and positive implications: discuss
Cherry blossoms and fairy lights
Dear President Trump, All I’ve got time and energy for today is a short postcard-like letter so here are two quick things. First, today is our 7th wedding anniversary of the legal sort (1/1/20 was our 31st real anniversary), and second, the blossoming trees around here have really started doing their thing. Actually, some of … Continue reading Cherry blossoms and fairy lights
Sunshine and shadow, shadow and sunshine
Dear President Trump, Just a few minutes ago out the back window to the East, the light on the huge fir trees (and one birch) in the distance was doing this incredible glow/shadow thing where some of the faces of the trees were bathed in golden light and other faces were charcoal-looking, like they couldn’t … Continue reading Sunshine and shadow, shadow and sunshine
“Adulting” is hard
Dear President Trump, This morning on my walk I’d turned towards home and was going past a favorite tree (the old low-slung ornamental cherry whose major roots are exposed and look like they are doing the splits) on the corner of 21st Ave and 77th St when I heard a cat-bell sounding, as though the … Continue reading “Adulting” is hard
Dreams, identities, and democracy
Dear President Trump, After I wrote to you about Ruby Sales last night, I watched her TED talk from September, 2018. She opened with the story of the attack on her and her friends back in 1965 that resulted in the deaths of Jonathan Daniels and another man. She explained that the sheriff had jailed … Continue reading Dreams, identities, and democracy
Another wise woman
Dear President Trump, If you’ve not gotten this before, I’ll tell you plainly that Laura is a terrific finder. I see things that happen to pop up right in front of me and I regularly sleuth out what I need for paper and letter writing, but she actively searches out new stuff all the time … Continue reading Another wise woman
Polka dots of wonder
Dear President Trump, Yesterday’s sore throat seems to be gone and all that’s left is a little bit of snuffley-ness and a light cough. The snow, however, is still here – and then some. We got maybe another half inch overnight as the sidewalks and side streets are all blanketed this morning. Feeling fairly (at … Continue reading Polka dots of wonder
An ordinary, boring respite
Dear President Trump, Unlike the White House’s weirdly delayed snow-Tweet showing a few lame flurries that happened last Tuesday (seriously – you all are so out there), we got actual snow here overnight (3” in our neighborhood). I got to duck driving in it because I woke up with a sore throat and had nothing … Continue reading An ordinary, boring respite
Guided by poems
Dear President Trump, Our church celebrated its 150th anniversary with a doozy of a service this morning. We opened with a short poem by Hafiz: Everyone Is God speaking. Why not be polite and Listen to God? Pretty dang provocative, right? And radical. And incredibly hard for me to wrap my head and heart around … Continue reading Guided by poems