Current Affairs

After a negative time last week, I hoped to write something more positive this week. Well... I didn't come up with anything, and still recuperating from what went wrong. Still, this was on my mind, but it might be shorter than at a different times.

Because talk of nuclear weapons has been on the table, both from Russia and now Iran, it's hard not to think of it.. I don't really think it was more than talk from Putin, but whoever knows for sure. 

The world is well armed with known nuclear weapons in 9 countries (Russia; United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Pakistan, North Korea, and India), After the US hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII, no one has used them against another nation. I think the caution hss come from concern of being hit back.

Not just the US, but other nations do not want a country to have nukes when it has no hesitance to use the bombs. There are some joke cartoons about it and here is one I found online.

Kind of humorous except nothing involving a nuclear bomb is funny. There are other kinds of attempts to get Iran to stop trying to get a functioning one. Attempts were even made to buy peace. It can't work, not when Iranian leadership sees the United States as the Great Satan; so named by Khomeini when he took power in 1979. When religion enters into, who gets killed and who does not, logic goes out the window.

So, where are we now? I found this online. As with anything we find, how much do we really know?

Again, I got the image from a newspaper; but how much do we really know, ordinary citizens in Iran or the US? Just what we are told and what we know of history. 

As a way to better understand the Iranian Revolution of 1979, I suggest: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. It gave a better understanding of what that time meant to one woman.

Why does Iranian leadership hate us so much? I can give some info on that next week. It's though like so much-- complicated.

Of course, there are more concerns where it comes to Iran. Like sponsorship for worldwide terrorism, but that's not new for the world. 

Why did Trump choose to strike now? I've read that intelligence said the Iranians have 10 nuclear bombs almost ready to go. Iran has declared they can strike anywhere in the world, at their choice. So, we wait to find out or try to prevent that strike-- if it can be done. More next week on what I know of Iranian history and us...
 

negative times

 This was a bad week for me on multiple levels, which makes doing a blog I can feel proud about not a good idea. Hopefully next Saturday will give me more positive energy. I hope you all did have a good week. If you want to know more about what went wrong for me, leave a comment. Otherwise, I'll try to move on. 

I did want to put something positive here. It's from October '23. The photo is from our Arizona home.

 

mercury retrograde?

How much attention do you pay to astrology? I've spent time trying to understand it, but came to feel it relates too much to math for me. I do know my 'sign' and it does kind of fit. As for reading daily astrology tips for what to do, I don't check that. I have visited psychics, some years back, but not for years. 

There is, however, one thing I tend to pay attention to, if I see it-- Mercury Retrograde. The warnings are out regarding it starting February 26 until I think March 20. It is supposed to be a tough one; so I looked for a link to share here,for those who may be unfamiliar with it.

If it interests you, check it out at: https://www.thecut.com/article/mercury-retrograde-february-march-2026-predictions-survival-tips.html  

 old photo looking out toward the farm and a rainbow coming to our creek

some play time

As a kind of fun break, at least for me, from a lot of the upsetting news, I thought I'd share an app i got some time ago for play. I haven't actually used it on a book cover, nor do I use AI. I just play with it. 

You order it and then can use it as you wish. FotoSketcher. It lets you alter your original photos as I have done with a recent photo of me as well as photos from our desert home and the farm. For me, it's about play with many possible options to try. 

The following are all pencil sketching, but there are many others. Sometimes play is a good diversion from things we can do nothing about anyway.

  

farm from years ago, creek and barn before it collapsed due to old age

 

I obviously have many more. Here is a simple pencil drawing example, not one of our photos obviously. I think it does its best work with animals like us. 

 

a day for love

 For this blog, I had in mind a subject, then remembered it was Valentine's Day and felt this was better. We have so much pain out there, and sometimes in our lives, that it's good to have at least one day to take deep breaths and concentrate on love. It's not about cards, flowers, candy, etc., not even about having a special one. Instead, we need to take a break from being mad or afraid and let love seep in and fill us.

Regarding love, I've had two quotes that I carried with me through life, but especially when I was raising children. The first is:

 Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and yet give you illumined freedom. Rabindranath Tagore. 

I think its meaning is pretty obvious. I wrote it on a small piece of paper for my wallet.

Then, there was this one, which I tended to keep on refrigerators.   

"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it does not, it was never meant to be." the quote is often attributed, in one form or another, to author Richard Bach.

 To me, the important part is not love that profits us but rather what we freely give. If the one we love no longer wants or needs to be with us, set it free without guilt. Not easy to live, but I believe at the heart of true love. It can leave a bit of a hole.

The second quote, by the way, does not apply to pets, cows, horses, etc. 

Black Swan

 

 

 Have you heard of black swans, not birds, but events? I learned of them some years back in relation to my writing. Recently because of some events, I did a search online for a succinct definition and AI provided this one:

"black swan" refers to a highly unpredictable, rare event with massive, paradigm-shifting consequences, popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who defined them by three traits: they are outliers (beyond normal expectations), have extreme impact, and are rationalized with hindsight as if they were predictable. Examples include the 2008 financial crisis or 9/11, with the name stemming from the historical European belief that all swans were white until black swans were discovered in Australia. While often negative, black swans can also be positive, like the rise of the internet, but the common usage focuses on major disruptive events.

Life provides more than a few of them at certain times, but we are never really prepared for them or they'd not be black swans.

 

Most recently, not far from where I live, a woman, living alone, was taken from her home, in the dead of the night, stirring up more than a little concern, added to by the fact of her daughter being a television news celebrity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kidnapping of an 84 year old woman would be considered unusual in the US, but what would be the motive in this case? It is a black swan event for the family at the least, but this has impacted the country beyond the loved ones  and friends. I relate to it because it's not that far from where I live,

maybe five miles by air, and in my kind of home situation. Ours is not, of course, a million dollar home, but is in the desert terrain. The photo of her home is probably from a drone or helicopter.

 

There are few clues, other than some blood splatter at the front door, that police have identified as hers. Scary as well as rare. It has ended up with the FBI and other agencies besides Pima County Police. It is on the news, far and wide. 

 

I relate to it for the location but also her age. So far, no return but some probably fake ransom notices but no proof that she's still alive. Hers is considered to be a safe neighborhood, but what is safe these days?

 

On YouTube, I've gotten into watching two true crime networks, A&E and 48 Hours, but try to only look where the killers have been caught and usually been found guilty. Things like this Black Swan provide no such comfort. What I have seen on those crime programs is how often illegal drugs are involved. Unlikely to be the case here. The other reasons murders are committed are within families, desire for money, hiding a secret. Ex relationships seem to sometimes end in violent results, male or female. Finally there are pedophiles and sexual predators, along with random killers, who do it for the experience... 

 

Here is a link to one of the news investigators with more info she has gotten from a reliable source.  The Suspect according to that source.  Personally, I have no clue and have heard multiple theories.

 

Below is one of the stories that I've watched. Not connected, but an example of police work, sometimes, with cold cases, years later. Hope the one in Tucson is solved sooner and with the return of a live victim. The longer it goes on, the less likely that this Black Swan will have any kind of happy ending.

 

Janet's Secret

Imbolc

With so much going on in the United States, it might seem what I'd write about. I've learned the hard way that it's best not to write in the heat of a time. When more comes out, and it always does, it can turn everything upside down. Besides, two things can be true but what do they end up meaning? So, at least for now, I am sticking to truths closer to home and things that I think can lead to a positive way to live. Hence--

image from Stencil on the aspects of Imbolc

 

 

It's not today, but rather tomorrow. A Celtic seasonal time, when the ewes have their lambs. We, as sheep owners, often saw the first lambs at this time. For those of us who celebrate a Celtic Year, Imbolc, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is from February1st to the evening of the 2nd, and the true beginning of spring. (I know, much of the US might find that ironic at the snowy moment.)

Imbolc (you do not pronounce the b) means ewe's milk. Whether on a farm or not, this is the time of stirrings of new life, what might be called the quickening when life comes back from where it's been dormant. 

"It is the promise of renewal, of hidden potential, of earth awakening and life-force stirring. Here is hope. We welcome the growth of the returning light and witness Life's insatiable appetite for rebirth. It is a time to let go of the past and look to the future, clearing out the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings." from the Goddess and the Greenman

This is one of four festivals to mark the seasonal changes to the year. Imbolc being first, followed by Beltane, Lamas/Lughnasadh, and finally Samhain- each oriented to a part of the

harvest as is fitting for the agrarian culture from which these celebrations came.

Imbolc may also be the time to celebrate the pagan goddess Brigid (she has been woven into the Church as St. Bridget). She is the goddess of healing, poetry, of fire, of the sun, and of the hearth. Hence it's appropriate to celebrate this time with fires. Brigid brings fertility to the land. As a Triple goddess, at Imbolc, she appears in her maiden form. 

Appropriate symbols for this day are snowdrops, swan feathers, white and green candles, and if you have a hearth, of course, a fire in it. The colors are traditionally white, red, and black. Smells associated with the day are cleansing and healing-- frankincense, mugwort, and sandalwood make good incenses. I've also seen dragon's blood suggested-- where would you get that? lol

As for foods, bake bread or rolls with sesame or poppy seeds. Dried foods like raisins, apples, and sun-dried tomatoes symbolize the sun. Serving your meal on sun-covered dishes would make a good accent. 

As happens with a lot of pagan celebrations, the Catholic Church turned February 2nd into a holy day-- Candlemas. It has aspects in common with Imbolc and can be traced back to the 4th century in Greece when it was a purification holiday, celebrating the return of the light. Candles are used in its observance. 

Because of the importance of Imbolc in one of my paranormals, here is the link to it for a bit more on the celebration. https://www.amazon.com/Ever-Before-Mystic-Shadows-Book-ebook/dp/B08411KB1B/