Thanks for this. Today was a hard psychological/emotional day for me -- what's going on in our country and what's going on in our natural world, including the loss of birds in my own neighborhood and yard. Just a tough day and the remembrance of what Lady Liberty was actually intended to be is useful. I appreciate you.
I'm sorry about the loss of birds in your yard. Strangely enough, what I'm noticing is the absence of 🐝 bees, although I blame the birds mobbing my feeders this season for some of that.
If I could I would send some of my birds your way and invite you to send if you have them a couple or more bumblebees my way.
In the meanwhile let's look to those parts of nature that prevail, no matter the circumstances around them and celebrate their resilience.
There is evidence of the strength of nature all around us. All we need to do is look for it, and know that it can never be defeated.
Cylvia, after the fires in Southern Oregon a few years back, we saw birds at.our bird feeder in wine country we had not seen before.
I pray the birds come back to.your neighborhood soon!
I get so much joy from the birds at our feeder. (Jay's, Towhees, Finches, Nut Hatches, and more, including a Flickr who loves our Ponderosa Pine).
We also have bees on our lavender. My hubby even said that was one reason why he wanted to buy our house so he could watch the bees on the lavender in the front yard. Oregon is so beautiful and unique. We must love and protect her and bring the birds back to your yard and anywhere else that needs healing for their habitat!
I hope so too. This is the second spring with very little bird activity. Central Oregon is having all of it's urban habitat destroyed in so-called "development". I work from home and up until two years ago, I had so much bird song and chatter in my yard that I would sometimes not be able to do a Zoom session out on my deck because of the wonderful cacophony. Part of the problem I think is that two years ago a huge new housing project destroyed an important urban forest and rock outcroppings a couple of blocks from here. Shortly after, rats came in -- packrats and brown rats, both. Also crows and ravens became more present. I think the sparrows and song birds got pushed out by the predators. I love them all, but am now trapping rats, which sucks. At some point, our human sprawl, footprint, and consumption has to stop, but too few humans are willing to recognize ecological limits.
This is so sad. Parts of Central, OR has been experiencing development on steroids since the 90's it seems.
Here we are with this reputation of being uber environmentalists, yet here we are.
I was remarking in another comment on this page about something in one of the books we are reading for the book club.
It talked about people praying together for political and social change. This issue seems ripe for the situation.
While we wait for the hand of God to heal, be good to yourself and go visit another area in the state where you can see and hear our fine feathered friends.
Yes, part of my coping mechanism is to get out into the still relatively healthy, wild places in nature. I'm writing my next piece on the eco-grief associated with the sad silence. Thanks for your compassion.
One of my greatest blessings in life was that my late parents loved the outdoors and it presented an inexpensive way to entertain the kids.
My earliest memories are of camping in the forest and I still love nature.
Your piece on the eco silence could provide you a bit of healing and certainly raise awareness with others.
Our last trip to the hot springs south of Eugene was heartbreaking.
Fires were still burning. The dead trees had not yet been removed. (It makes me want to spend my summers cooking for the firefighters. I have no idea how to get hooked up w/something like that.)
Thanks for raising your voice about this important situation.
Perhaps, together we can figure out how to begin to heal some of these habitats we have so heavily damaged.
I so understand. I travel over the Oregon mountain passes a lot and the burn zones are still hard to take. Maybe harder still is feeling that it's now the new normal. Thanks for dropping this note.
So far, even with all the USAID cuts the US is still funding our Peace Corps. This beautiful govrrnment program(of which I am an alum) gives so many committed Americans young and old the opportunity to serve our country and develop a world view of life on our planet. So all caring US citizens, let's do everything we can do flip The House and The Senate in Nov!
Let's promote Oregon's Jeff Merkley from ranking minority member on the Senate appropriations committee to CHAIR!!!
I can't imagine how it must have felt to you, so nearly an American Birthday Girl yourself, to see that statue in Paris, the home of our dearest international friend.
In terms of culture and language the English are family for America. But the French our family of choice who have chosen us.
May we remember at least a small part of what makes that so valuable, and find a way to choose them as well. 🙏 💟 🙏
Have you seen the meme of Kamala Harris walking forward carrying the torch as Lady Liberty?
That was my favorite meme image during the summer of 2024.
I had so much hope for our future back then and Great Hopes that she would win the election and somehow preserve the American dream in a multicultural world. But it was not to be. 😥
However there is still strength in us... And in US 🇺🇸.💟😎🌞 🎉
Thank you for the other name for Lady Liberty - Mother of Exiles. I savor that term as that is in away what us Democrats have become according to Donald Trump.
Stirring and helpful words by the designer and sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The date 1898 just fills my mind with thoughts of people, relationships, countries, and living.
Thank you, Marianne! A few days ago I, too, posted Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus! Growing up in NYC The Statue of Liberty 🗽 was a beacon of hope for all of our families who came to America for a better life! Her light was a guiding force that gave hope and courage to our families who came! Today’s meditation is, “there is no order of difficulty in miracles”. Here our pray dear God and heal our world! Sending love, peace, justice and freedom for all!💕🕯️🕉️☮️🙏🏼💕
Thank you Rebecca! I hope one day these sacred words of The New Colossus will ring true in everyone’s heart! Then we will once again have a world of peace and love!💕☮️🕉️🙏🏼💕
This is a lovely essay and it was a lovely gesture of yours to literally gift both of those books to your Substack readers.
I already have both of them in paper and electronic form but it occurred to me recently that audiobooks are a new way to absorb information that may have grown stale by encountering it in other ways.
So I'm going to get the audio books, and keep them in my phone for regular listening throughout the summer.
Thank you for lighting the lamp of spirituality and casting it on the American Dream in your politics books. They are Treasures. 🙏 💟
Thanks for this. Today was a hard psychological/emotional day for me -- what's going on in our country and what's going on in our natural world, including the loss of birds in my own neighborhood and yard. Just a tough day and the remembrance of what Lady Liberty was actually intended to be is useful. I appreciate you.
I'm sorry about the loss of birds in your yard. Strangely enough, what I'm noticing is the absence of 🐝 bees, although I blame the birds mobbing my feeders this season for some of that.
If I could I would send some of my birds your way and invite you to send if you have them a couple or more bumblebees my way.
In the meanwhile let's look to those parts of nature that prevail, no matter the circumstances around them and celebrate their resilience.
There is evidence of the strength of nature all around us. All we need to do is look for it, and know that it can never be defeated.
Cylvia, after the fires in Southern Oregon a few years back, we saw birds at.our bird feeder in wine country we had not seen before.
I pray the birds come back to.your neighborhood soon!
I get so much joy from the birds at our feeder. (Jay's, Towhees, Finches, Nut Hatches, and more, including a Flickr who loves our Ponderosa Pine).
We also have bees on our lavender. My hubby even said that was one reason why he wanted to buy our house so he could watch the bees on the lavender in the front yard. Oregon is so beautiful and unique. We must love and protect her and bring the birds back to your yard and anywhere else that needs healing for their habitat!
I hope so too. This is the second spring with very little bird activity. Central Oregon is having all of it's urban habitat destroyed in so-called "development". I work from home and up until two years ago, I had so much bird song and chatter in my yard that I would sometimes not be able to do a Zoom session out on my deck because of the wonderful cacophony. Part of the problem I think is that two years ago a huge new housing project destroyed an important urban forest and rock outcroppings a couple of blocks from here. Shortly after, rats came in -- packrats and brown rats, both. Also crows and ravens became more present. I think the sparrows and song birds got pushed out by the predators. I love them all, but am now trapping rats, which sucks. At some point, our human sprawl, footprint, and consumption has to stop, but too few humans are willing to recognize ecological limits.
😥
Cylvia,
This is so sad. Parts of Central, OR has been experiencing development on steroids since the 90's it seems.
Here we are with this reputation of being uber environmentalists, yet here we are.
I was remarking in another comment on this page about something in one of the books we are reading for the book club.
It talked about people praying together for political and social change. This issue seems ripe for the situation.
While we wait for the hand of God to heal, be good to yourself and go visit another area in the state where you can see and hear our fine feathered friends.
Yes, part of my coping mechanism is to get out into the still relatively healthy, wild places in nature. I'm writing my next piece on the eco-grief associated with the sad silence. Thanks for your compassion.
One of my greatest blessings in life was that my late parents loved the outdoors and it presented an inexpensive way to entertain the kids.
My earliest memories are of camping in the forest and I still love nature.
Your piece on the eco silence could provide you a bit of healing and certainly raise awareness with others.
Our last trip to the hot springs south of Eugene was heartbreaking.
Fires were still burning. The dead trees had not yet been removed. (It makes me want to spend my summers cooking for the firefighters. I have no idea how to get hooked up w/something like that.)
Thanks for raising your voice about this important situation.
Perhaps, together we can figure out how to begin to heal some of these habitats we have so heavily damaged.
I so understand. I travel over the Oregon mountain passes a lot and the burn zones are still hard to take. Maybe harder still is feeling that it's now the new normal. Thanks for dropping this note.
The depth of your mind and heart is so often touched when you travel and see the best of us. This writing is heavenly.
Thank you so much. And it's so true...being outside your own country, you can sometimes see it even more clearly.
So far, even with all the USAID cuts the US is still funding our Peace Corps. This beautiful govrrnment program(of which I am an alum) gives so many committed Americans young and old the opportunity to serve our country and develop a world view of life on our planet. So all caring US citizens, let's do everything we can do flip The House and The Senate in Nov!
Let's promote Oregon's Jeff Merkley from ranking minority member on the Senate appropriations committee to CHAIR!!!
I can't imagine how it must have felt to you, so nearly an American Birthday Girl yourself, to see that statue in Paris, the home of our dearest international friend.
In terms of culture and language the English are family for America. But the French our family of choice who have chosen us.
May we remember at least a small part of what makes that so valuable, and find a way to choose them as well. 🙏 💟 🙏
Beautiful to hear that backdrop and let it illuminate this present, fragile but hopefully fertile
moment in our history...
A mighty woman with a torch … yes. That female strength, leading with light. ❤️
Have you seen the meme of Kamala Harris walking forward carrying the torch as Lady Liberty?
That was my favorite meme image during the summer of 2024.
I had so much hope for our future back then and Great Hopes that she would win the election and somehow preserve the American dream in a multicultural world. But it was not to be. 😥
However there is still strength in us... And in US 🇺🇸.💟😎🌞 🎉
Thank you for the other name for Lady Liberty - Mother of Exiles. I savor that term as that is in away what us Democrats have become according to Donald Trump.
I'm more in the mood for Mother of Dragons these days lol. 😆
Timely + timeless
I did cry. Thank you, Marianne. This is so beautiful, profound, and true.
Stirring and helpful words by the designer and sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The date 1898 just fills my mind with thoughts of people, relationships, countries, and living.
Sacred feminine in action
Thank you, Marianne! A few days ago I, too, posted Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus! Growing up in NYC The Statue of Liberty 🗽 was a beacon of hope for all of our families who came to America for a better life! Her light was a guiding force that gave hope and courage to our families who came! Today’s meditation is, “there is no order of difficulty in miracles”. Here our pray dear God and heal our world! Sending love, peace, justice and freedom for all!💕🕯️🕉️☮️🙏🏼💕
Sigi's substack on "The New Colossus," is beautiful . Everybody should read it at Sigi's substack.
Thank you Rebecca! I hope one day these sacred words of The New Colossus will ring true in everyone’s heart! Then we will once again have a world of peace and love!💕☮️🕉️🙏🏼💕
This is a lovely essay and it was a lovely gesture of yours to literally gift both of those books to your Substack readers.
I already have both of them in paper and electronic form but it occurred to me recently that audiobooks are a new way to absorb information that may have grown stale by encountering it in other ways.
So I'm going to get the audio books, and keep them in my phone for regular listening throughout the summer.
Thank you for lighting the lamp of spirituality and casting it on the American Dream in your politics books. They are Treasures. 🙏 💟
🙂🙏
https://music.apple.com/us/album/showdown-at-big-sky/1440905693?i=1440905696