I have a group of regular readers who have been reading and commenting pretty much since I started blogging in 2014. The size of my readership fits my personality as I enjoy getting together with a few friends at a time. I appreciate the followers and readers I do have and especially those who drop by, like, and comment on my posts. Thanks guys. ❤
Notes On The Sagebrush has 501 followers
We don’t always have to be perky bunnies, do we? We can have low times. I am not talking about Depression. Because full blown Depression is not a mood to luxuriate in. I read an essay The Case for Melancholy by Loren Stover, which had some good points. That there is this big push to be Happy :))))) all the time and if you are not then you can read an article in Huffington Post, and just follow these 3 easy steps, and find your bliss.
There is something to be said for quiet, down days, when you can take it slow and think deep thoughts, or take naps, or watch old romantic movies, or read old romantic books, and recharge your batteries.
Stover says Happiness is overrated and bit much for us to aspire to continually, “Happiness, like the sun, is ridiculously bright, a hope you can never live up to, or even look at straight on.” At least not all the time. I am grateful I have experienced joyful times and some happiness but not continually. That would probably be a little weird, like Stepford Wives.
Her advice: “Should melancholy descend, you may as well welcome it, wear your finest lounging outfit; give it your finest fainting couch or chaise to lounge in, or that hammock stretched between two elm trees. Let it settle in….and no running shoes under any circumstances.”
Yes, no running shoes. No braggy, happy face of you on Facebook completing your 5 K or whatever.
A little quiet music:
Via DavidFarandWide on You Tube:
and
via evie 1942
and via disc 070s
What are your thoughts?
Sensors detecting transmission 3 solstar rotations ago, Tribune.
Orb 3 of it solstar you saying.
Yes, Tribune. We monitoring from small dwarf orb at edge of it solstar system. It signaling to our solstar structure at Zonar 3.
Transmission image by Ryan Somma
So indicating action you proposing, Centurion?
Yes, Tribune. Transmission meaning techno evolving. It understanding basic techno. We have needing, slave labor for completing Zonar 3 project. The Empress be pleased for completing.
The Empress
Will causing insurrection, our native workers?
If causing we know how we eliminating.
Let us going forward. Transport the new slaves in from what calling…What do it calling orb?
Earta, Sir.
Such strange naming and such strange species. You say it walking on two legs?
Yes, Sir.
Will it adjusting to appearing are we?
If it not we having way to exterminating.
Desire we finishing Zonar 3 before we must the exterminating.
Our first transporting to occur this night. Our vessel approaching Earta now.
It not detecting the transport and be warning?
No, transport disguising and it naming The Halloween Asteroid.
Strange, so very strange!, the Tribune’s mandible made a clicking sound.
The Centurion bowed and performed the ritual antennae touching with the Tribune.
Ancient Cave Painting
Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosting by Linda G Hill
I love movies and have a special love for classic films. Even though they do not have the special effects of modern films they often make up for it with the writing, acting, and cinematography. The film makers of those days had to work harder to create the effects with set decoration, lighting, music, and the acting itself. There are times when I watch a modern film with all the bells and whistles of computer generated effects and feel that that is all that is carrying the picture. Like “where’s the beef? ”
Via Jack T You Tube:
A classic film I just watched again is Drums Along the Mohawk, (in color), based on the novel by Walter D. Edmonds, starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert about the first pioneer American settlers of the Mohawk Valley in New York State. William Faulkner was an uncredited contributor to the screen play. It takes place during American Revolutionary War times. I was reminded about this film by the blog Cinematically Insane. The restored film was chosen to be among those shown at the 53rd Annual New York Film Festival this year. The settlers have a beef with the British (The Revolutionary War) and some of the Native Americans the British have convinced to fight with them. John Ford is the director. I am a big fan of John Ford movies and the cast is made up of some of his regulars like Ward Bond, Chief John Big Tree, Francis Ford, and Arthur Shields. Edna May Oliver is very funny as the widow Mrs. Mc Klennar. There is a scene where two Seneca braves raid her house and she orders them to carry her bed downstairs before burning down her house. The film is not historically correct in that the Seneca did not raid with the British in the Mohawk Valley. But the British did send in a small force. There is a battle that the local militia men are involved in in the movie which is based on the Battle of Oriskany (1777) which was one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. I love the performances of many of these great character actors. I have wanted a copy of the film for a while. After seeing the post about the film’s screening at the festival I decided to order it, and I did.
This is the original trailer for the film and I do not know why it is in black and white via retrotrailer on You Tube:
Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill.
Has anyone else been following this story? A star has been spotted between the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra during a joint survey of 150,000 stars by the Kepler Space Telescope and amateur astronomers. They have been looking for signs of planets circling these stars. What is unusual about this star according to an article in the Atlantic, The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy, is that there was a strange light blocking pattern seen that may indicate not a planet but a very large alien made structure or structures that are blocking the light of the star as it orbits around it. The SETI Research Center at UC Berkeley is planning on pointing a very large radio dish toward the star in January to see if they can pick up any electronic transmissions. This is scary to me because what if it is an alien structure and they get wind of us pointing our listening devices toward them. And then decide to see who is listening. Dr. Michio Kaku says that if this is an alien structure, it may be as big as our planet Jupiter, and they are far advanced to our civilization. I think I am going to start wearing an aluminum foil hat.
I was still hoping to see another form of intelligent life here on earth close up last weekend, whales. I was a bit disappointed in my whale watching expedition. I went out on a whale watching boat this past Sunday with my daughter. It was a beautiful sunny day off Monterey for the most part. We did hit some fog out at sea on the way back to Monterey Bay harbor. I had high expectations and I think that was the problem. I expected to see huge whales breaching right near the boat. I wanted to get fantastically exciting photos. I realize now that you do not get to see breaching whales close up every day and that taking a photo, from a boat that is moving up and down, of whales and other sea life who are also moving up and down and various other directions requires luck and probably the talent of a professional photographer and at least a camera with a telescopic lens. Our whale watching was originally planned for Saturday but was canceled by the tour company due to rough weather at sea. So on Saturday I attempted to find the Monarch butterflies and found some at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. There were not many near ground level and I had to look through a telescope, assisted by a sanctuary worker, at the top of a eucalyptus tree. She helped me get a nice photo through the telescope as well.
One of the things I learned on the whale watching boat is when the guide sights a whale or other interesting sea life and calls it out, all the people go to that side of the boat and, unless you are fast, it is hard to get a good view. Like when he sighted a pod of orcas and a dolphin stampede. That’s right, I said a dolphin stampede. The dolphins were in the hundreds and were stampeding because they knew the orcas were around. The stampede caused a large patch of turbulence and some of the dolphins were leaping out of the water. Unfortunately some of them swam straight to the orca pod. Next the orca pod is chasing a dolphin and it did not end well for the dolphin. I am glad I did not see it all close up. Then we went out quite a distance in the ocean to off of Moss Landing. We saw some Humpback Whales, dolphins and sea lions there. We saw a whale in the distance do a partial breach, saw others spouting and some flukes. A dolphin popped up doing a partial breach, called spy-hopping, as well. Later we went to a different location and saw the orca pod again. The guide called the large male orca “Fat Fin.” This orca had already been identified by scientists. The whole trip was about 4 hours. This is a video from the Monterey Bay Whale Watch website. We did not have the owner or her dogs on our tour. Their research vessel was near us at the different viewing locations.
And here are a few of my photos:
This is my contribution to Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by the intelligent Linda G Hill.
Do you believe in miracles? This was from my generation. But I think many of us lost some of our beliefs along the way somewhere. “If only you believed in miracles baby we’d get by….”
Jefferson Airplane via Vevo on You Tube:
Reblogging this post because I love the song and the founder of the group Jefferson Airplane and lead singer for this song, Marty Balin, just died 9/27/2018. This music still holds up today.
I am off, driving up the coast on my trip to the Monterey Bay, California area, this weekend. I heard the reports that there are many whales and other marine animals in abundance there. Taking a whale watching boat to see for myself. There are a few species of whales I hope to see, Humpbacks, Blue, Orcas, and maybe some Grays. Will report when I get back. Due to the weekend of whale watching and possibly Monarch Butterfly watching I may not be posting my usual writing. Get back to you next week….
Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by the lovely LindaGHill
“Sonoma County chefs love their local ingredients and supporting independent farmers. Menus sing with produce grown in Wine Country gardens, meats from Wine Country ranches, dairy from Wine Country creameries, and seafood from Wine Country rivers and oceans.”
Source: Top Farm-to-Table Restaurants in Sonoma County
I get this newsletter from Sonoma. Are you a foodie like me? You will love reading about all this wonderful food. One of these guys makes his own salami. I felt like sharing. Must be because I have read too many books about anti-dieting lately. In California we go kind of nuts about local grown, farm to table cuisine. (OK we go very nuts.)
Mike Barnacle in his post on the Daily Beast, “As Thousands Die Trying to Reach Freedom, Where is the US?,” brings up a good point. He says, “The US used to be beacon for those looking for a better life. Right now the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world is just a news clip.” In the post he goes on to talk about the people is his neighborhood, when he was growing up, being from countries all over the world. Those people had escaped from the ravages of war to make a new life here.
“America provided things that form the foundation of who we used to be: the prospect and potential of hope, mercy and freedom for strangers who came carrying not much more than a determination to survive in a big country with a bigger heart. The question is: Who are we now?”
And I have been thinking the same thing. Why are our leaders so quiet about this crisis?
I could not write about something all light and airy. I did not feel like writing at all. The world has been too heavy and dark this week. I hope there can be light after seeing the images of the continuing humanitarian crisis from the Middle East into Europe. People desperate to escape, with their families, from all the war and terrible oppression. The terrible image of a dead child washed up on a beach in Turkey. Scenes of people trapped in a Hungarian train station blocked from traveling on into Europe. The hope is that maybe now the world will start to work on better solutions. A glimmer of light is that Germany and Austria have opened their boarders. Hungary has allowed the refugees to take the bus out of their country. I don’t get the distinction from taking a train but it is better than the refugees being held in some camp or prison. I noticed that Huffington Post Canada has a list of organizations that people can donate to for the refugees. I looked for a similar list for the US and found one on Today.com . Hillary Clinton, during a recent interview, called this a global crisis and “the entire world now sees doesn’t just affect the Syrian people; it affects all of us.”
It does affect all of us and we can not close our eyes. The Washington Post has several articles on this topic. One is a story about a Syrian family making their way to Austria with the help of smugglers, called The Black Route.
Sometimes I don’t think things can’t get any worse.
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