There is a surreal feeling I should be getting when setting about selecting another place to live. Perhaps I should mention that I am the sort of impatient person who gets daunted by too many choices, loathes going into large stores and generally gets a big headache when forced to spend more than twenty … Continue reading Home sweet home, revisited
Author: Rising Over the Smoke
Rising Over the Smoke is me looking for larger patterns, hidden meanings in what goes on all around us. The world gets more conflicted and confused from one year to the next, or so it seems. Some days life feels fresh, open, energized, connected, others more nuanced, confused, distanced, lethargic. To me writing is a way of exploring my place, and perhaps that of others.
I am Baha’i, thus my thoughts are affected by my faith. Beliefs include independent investigation of truth, equality of men and women, the essential harmony between science and religion, that there is one God from whom all the world’s religions spring, that we diverse humans are all of one family. The Baha’i Faith is unlike other existing world religions as it does not claim to be the only “true” path or religion. The Baha’i Faith acknowledges all sacred traditions and religions as equal.
Yosemite Bear is hiding again
Some of Yosemite's wildlife have been getting awfully comfortable during the tourist-free period they have been experiencing. Bears in particular made free with fruit in the park's apple trees. The national park closed to the public for many days while over a thousand firefighters wrestled down a monster wildfire close to the park, two good, … Continue reading Yosemite Bear is hiding again
When it’s 105º… or not
Summer life in the middle of the Golden State For over a month Weather Underground greeted my inbox daily with the message: "Warmer than yesterday", Ummm, yesterday was 103º, how different can warmer feel? .... More like a loaf of bread being pushed into an oven? And a smokey oven, at that. California's catastrophic wildfires, … Continue reading When it’s 105º… or not
Moving, or not, with Craigslist
Even with a fresh t-shirt feeling clammy around my ribs within two minutes of putting it on at 6:30 this morning I was excited about the day ahead. Triple digit temperatures? Bah, get on with it… We, my daughter, her husband and I, were due to sign papers this afternoon to rent a nice house … Continue reading Moving, or not, with Craigslist
A hospital stay for my birthday!
As I start each new decade in life I have asked myself, “Am I grown up yet?” … And back has come the response, “When I grow up I want to [insert one adventurous goal or another]. So okay, I guess the answer could be Not Yet. This year's birthday, though, brought me up sharp … Continue reading A hospital stay for my birthday!
…Prayers … and actions! are with you
"My thoughts and prayers are with you" is a phrase in the air constantly whenever (pretty often these past few years) there is a horrible big event ranging from mass shootings in schools and elsewhere to wildfires and floods. But how much change occurs as the result of the expression? Pretty much none, at least … Continue reading …Prayers … and actions! are with you
Losing touch with the ancients
Lately many miles of protected national lands are being opened to fossil fuel extraction. Opinions are so very divided on how to proceed with this... Native tribes in the southwestern USA oppose reduction of national parks such as Bears Ears in favor of oil, gas and coal leases. To them the "empty" acreage is … Continue reading Losing touch with the ancients
Rising over the …. wildfires?
An occasionally comforting thought to me is the way that nature with its laws goes on doing what it will in spite of the changes wrought (or attempted to be) by human hands. See how golden and, well, fallen the big leaves on this small beginner bonsai gingko tree are? Unlike their midsize street counterparts … Continue reading Rising over the …. wildfires?
Special places of the mind, feet and … wheels
Of late I’ve been thinking of special, secret places I’ve loved in the past, wondering why it’s so difficult to find such a spot now. When I was a child we had a forested area on the hill behind our eastern Massachusetts home. That’s where my grandmother and mother would take my brother and me … Continue reading Special places of the mind, feet and … wheels
Trees and Shuffle Puffling
Fall tends to start off, for me, with a sense of glory. Flaming leaves to look forward to. Bright pumpkins, fresh roasted chili, people seeming to draw closer together as the days grown shorter and cooler. By mid-ish November things are turning more bittersweet, generally, for me. I start feeling cooped up, hemmed in, pushed … Continue reading Trees and Shuffle Puffling
