Creative thinking in Tucson

Ever since I was a child, one of my pluses from any long driving trip, where I was a passenger, has been time to think about all kinds of things that routine activities don't make so easy. I have used the time to create story lines, most of which didn't last longer than the trip, to work out plans for something, to daydream, and to think about my goals in a philosophical sense.

Of course, that works best when the traffic isn't heavy. If there is a lot of traffic, I think about that which is usually annoying to the driver-- the 'watch out that truck is too close' kind of thing.

On the long drive down to Tucson in April, I spent quite a bit of time thinking why I like to write fiction and how that differs from other kinds of writing I enjoy. I thought more about my goals for such writing than I usually do.

One thing I have acknowledged to myself-- so far anyway-- is I cannot write all kinds of fiction. Although I have completed a lot of fiction manuscripts which range in length from 80,000 to 140,000 words, they mostly fall into what I call romances with an edge. That means two people meet (or break up) at the beginning and the book is about whether they will reunite (it's likely they will) and will they survive whatever danger is part of the story (also likely-- secondary characters not so much). These are also stories of emotional development as the characters grow through the love they struggle to keep. Romance writing, however, is a genre with certain standards and expectations.

When I wrote most of my stories, I liked reading romances-- and then I stopped enjoying reading them and a problem arose for writing them. At this point in my life, for reasons I won't go into, I'd rather be writing anything but romances. Crone lit would appeal to me a lot as it's what I enjoy reading, but the ideas simply don't come except when I read something someone else wrote and I think, wow great ideas-- but they weren't mine.


So I wondered when I started looking at all these old manuscripts, for possibly becoming eBooks-- would they be unappealing even to me? Would they bore me and seem trite? If I can't stand to look at a romance in the bookstore, how would my own fare?

It turns out, at least for me, they are a lot like our children. They are ours and therefore we love them-- no matter what. So far, I have liked the characters and plots although I haven't been through them all yet. The ones I did edit, I felt good about. I tweaked dialogue, added increased motivations here or there, but overall they seemed like stories I'd enjoy reading which is my first criteria for what I write.

On the drive south, I had asked myself what am I trying to do with these stories? To be honest, where it comes to my art or writing, I don't generally do a lot of that kind of introspection. I prefer to do it, not think about why I do it. The drive gave me time to do the latter when I could not do the former.

When I write a story, I feel two obligations. The first is to me as a writer and any potential reader. I want the story to be believable but have the magic that takes the events and characters beyond the mundane to moments (and most of us have had a few of them) where we step out of the ordinary to live something that is bigger than us. Those events cannot, and we wouldn't want them to, come along all the time but through movies and books, we sometimes step into that 'other' realm for a few hours.

One of my goals then with writing fiction is to give the reader that kind of vicarious experience. I am not into tragedies. Life provides too many of those. Dwelling on disasters seems unhealthy to me. How does that improve our own lives?

Except in rare situations, I never liked to read romances with a lot of tears and never where tears are manipulated (and that doesn't just happen in romances). If someone feels moved by something, I want it to feel real, not forced by the author (whether me or someone else). I also want it to serve a purpose that is positive as otherwise it's wallowing.

Then came something I hadn't thought about before. When I write fiction, when I create characters, I feel an obligation to those creations who begin to seem real to me. I want to fairly tell their story and give who they are a full portrait with a set of experiences that stay true to who they are. I want them to learn something through those experiences and be further along the life road.

If you haven't written fiction before, keeping characters true to themselves isn't quite as easy as you might think. What is easy is for the writer to step in and try to help a character along in a way that isn't true to their nature. I never want to do that but have caught myself at it. When I see I did that, I back off and start that section over.

I also don't like to give my characters oratory to make some philosophical point that I really don't think that person would've thought but that I as the writer do. But I love to have a philosophy come from them that I think is very real to them and that will have the reader going-- ah ha.


On every level (except missing my cats), this has been a wonderful time in Tucson. We didn't hike nearly so much as usual, never made it out to the Desert Museum, which is usually one of our first stops, didn't get to San Xavier, which I love visiting, but we got more done on the house than we often have accomplished. It's been a bit of this and that with projects arising that we hadn't planned, and all the big ones working out to more give this house the character we hope for it to have. What I have loved the most are the surprises, things I had no idea we'd be doing when we drove down.

While I have been here, writing has been my main creative outlet. This home is so good for creative work. We have two spaces that work well for two different writers; which is good since Farm Boss, as well as doing the grunt work outside, has been working through phone and computer on his jobs in Oregon (the phone end of his project is why he gets the den and I get the back corner of the living room).

I only did one small oil painting looking toward Pusch Ridge of the cholla and palo verde, from alongside the house, which except for the photo below, is not going back to Oregon as I have a place to hang it in the Tucson house. Painting wasn't really where my heart was this time. That was with those characters, trying to decide what they would do next, and working on digital covers to possible eBooks.

(Photos all from the Tucson house.)

Surprises along the trail

When we hike at Catalina State Park, we always know there can be poisonous snakes. I keep my eyes on the side of the trail-- my side anyway. We have seen a few but they have been rare.


Mostly we are there for the wildflowers, cactus in bloom, views of the mountain, and the desert pools, which will likely be dry in another week or two unless it get rains before the monsoons.


Our second hike got interesting in the way you don't voluntarily choose. We were walking down a part of the trail wide enough to walk abreast. As always, I had my eyes on my side watching for movement or something that doesn't fit, but Farm Boss, as usual, not so much. We both heard the telltale rattle.


Since he was on the side closest to the rattle, he moved fastest, practically stepping on me to get out of the zone. When we got a few feet down the trail we were able to go back and safely evaluate what kind of snake it was (we knew the rattler part) as well as take some telephoto pictures before the source of our adrenaline rush irritatedly undulated off into the brush and rocks.


It was a Western Diamondback which are noted for having feisty personalities. Although I have been close to rattlesnakes a few times when out, this was the closest I was to one that was angry and rattling to let the world know.


There had been a hiker on the trail about a hundred feet ahead of us, and we are guessing the snake didn't like running into him and us even less. It is said that they are one of the more irritable snakes (big too) and will let the first hiker past, second one they rattle at, and third one gets bit. Since I would have been the third one, given how fast Farm Boss moved out of there, I was glad I was on the other side of the trail. Farm Boss didn't like being less than three feet from a snake that could have reached him if it had so chosen.

A few days after that, he was in line at the Ace Hardware Store for some of the myriad of things we have needed here, and the men were discussing all the diamondbacks they had seen this spring as well as their irritable, spring dispositions. People who live further out see quite a lot around their homes, and it's a concern especially for small children or pets.

Here at this house, I never go outside without looking before stepping down but have not yet seen one here. Our closest neighbors have talked of seeing newly hatched diamondbacks on their porch; so they are likely around.

Years ago, driving up to the house, I saw a snake that looked like a diamondback on my porch right beside my cat who was sitting by the door and watching the snake with great interest. That cat was desert bred and I am not sure what he was thinking. On that particular trip, I was staying here by myself, and seeing my cat and that huge snake (probably 4 feet in length) with diamondback markings gave me quite a start. I looked though for the rattles and saw none. The snake's head was not triangular, and I heaved a sigh of relief, quickly moved to pick up my cat, taking him and me in the backdoor, and of course, grabbed my camera as the bull snake moseyed off in no hurry but staying long enough to get its photo taken. They are snakes you want as they eat the diamondbacks.

This diamondback we saw on the trail was doing what it should have done. It was not the most frightening thing I ever saw a snake do either. That honor goes to one years back on a highway near the Tucson Mountains. It had evidently had its tail run over and was furious. I had read that they can go nearly vertical, but only believed it when I actually saw it. It lunged viciously at every car that passed, striking about side view mirror height. Those were the days before air conditioned vehicles in our life, and Farm Boss quickly rolled up his window. We passed without harm but neither of us ever forgot it! I had read of horseback riders running into that and shooting the snake with the view it was not a disposition you wanted reproducing.

When I had hiked in Arizona mountains, I used to think I only had to keep an eye on the ground in front of me. Then one year at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum we saw a timber rattler (on the other side of the glass fortunately) curled up for a nap in the branches of a tree. It would have hardly been noticeable if one was walking past. Fortunately they aren't known for having as nasty a disposition as the Mojave and the Diamondback.

I like seeing snakes out, remembering with detail every time it turned out to be a poisonous one. I wouldn't kill any snake unless it was absolutely necessary as I see their value to the ecosystem. I find them actually quite beautiful and am only afraid of them when they are poisonous.

Life Ironies

It has been interesting to me as I have been reading what some are asking about whether to ask for forgiveness for Osama bin Laden or to wish him to be in hell.

As someone who doesn't believe in hell as such, obviously I'd never think of doing such a thing. IF I did believe in hell as a reward for misled human life, I'd even more so not wish anybody to be there forever. The thought of it is abhorrent to me.

On the other hand, no longer being a Catholic, I can't see my prayers for where bin Laden has ended up as having any weight at all. (That is if I did believe in a hell and heaven.) To me if there was, then it'd be what we did ourselves that would determine where we ended, not someone else praying us in or out of it.

Now I do believe it is a very important and positive thing that we don't hold a grudge or hate anyone, but that's for our own benefit not that of the one who we believe has wronged us.

One person said that the only one who should have a right to ask for forgiveness for bin Laden would be those who had been wronged by him. That doesn't make sense to me either as in a lot of ways he wronged all humans, perhaps Muslims most of all, as he misused a religion and deemed human life, including that of his own family, of no value. It appears he saw it all as with only one purpose worth sacrificing for-- and that was to gain power for his version of his religion.

I could agree with someone being executed for a crime when there is no doubt what they did and it is sufficiently horrifying to exact the ultimate price. I could also believe that the victim of that crime should not decide on the physical penalty but rather be decided by the society which has decreed what it must be for an ordered existence. We can after all be fooled and emotionally manipulated by those who claim to be sorry but are not. But to wish bad on the perpetrator in the next lifetime (if there is a next) or even to put them to death in a way that is not as merciful as possible that's beyond me. I would be afraid such a desire would bounce back on me.

Going along with this whole event, which has been pretty consuming, to at least our American and probably the Muslim culture, has been another event that kind of got swallowed in the hype. It was of the Catholic Church beatifying their last pope, John Paul II, because supposedly he has done enough miracles since he died.

I don't know about his 'miracles', but this is also the pope who during his lifetime made it easy for pedophile priests to not be punished, who was evidently part of a coverup which involved paying off victims to keep the misdeeds quiet, who allowed one molesting priest (pretty high up the chain if I remember right) to even live out his life in the Vatican to escape any penalty for his crimes. Despite that, he was much beloved by Catholics.

So on the same day some have been made heady that Osama bin Laden was killed, where others are in mourning that he is dead, there are yet others in ecstasy that their beloved 'Papa' was made into a saint. One (maybe more than one) even suggested it's that new saint who made possible the killing of the villain.

Oh I know... just coincidence that those two events came on the same day. I certainly don't believe one in heaven was making possible the killing of the other to be sent to hell. I do find it ironic though and see that both are from very strong religions and there is some religious ecstasy in both events, don't you think? So doesn't the timing seem just a little weird? It's a perfect plot device in a book-- except it'd seem contrived.

To me, it does point out the difference of two, very differently lived, prominent lives and the reactions other humans have had to them. I do see these events coming so close together is ironic (add in the newspaper announcement of Hitler's suicide May 1, 1945), but I do not think the recently sainted pope had anything to do with the killing of the terrorist (nor did Hitler).

But if it turns out that some someday claim the terrorist is busy doing miracles (would his have to be bad things to qualify?), that the home where he was killed, is being made into a shrine, that he is beatified by some in the Islamic faith, well it won't surprise me.

Arizona vacation???

It has been hard to get my head around writing blogs about what we are doing down here. It's been a busy time with a lot of things we had to get done. We have only gotten in three desert hikes which is unusually low but the energy simply isn't there for taking a long hike and coming back here to do the work. It has, however, been a very rewarding time with a lot of things accomplished-- some planned and many not.

Every time I am in Tucson and at this house, I am reminded how much I love it. I don't know what pleases me most about this space. It's balanced, sits in desert, is visited by many desert creatures and yet is still convenient to stores when necessary. It has a spiritual feeling which my saying might offend non-spiritually inclined readers, but it's the best word I can think of to express what I feel when I am here and that's not in a religious sense-- new agey or otherwise.


This is a very creative space, the land and the home. It has grown even more so with the work we have done this trip. If you are suspicious of anything that isn't biological, don't read the rest of this paragraph *s*. This time the house let us know a lot of things that would make it nicer, stronger, more pleasing. Maybe it enjoys being shared by renters. If you think that sounds too far out, sorry; but I do feel the house let us see a lot of things that should be done which doesn't mean it has a ghost or spirit that speaks verbally, but the vibes are there, one thing revealed another for what would be good next. Maybe feng shui simply revealed one more thing as something else would happen.


The cactus are blooming everywhere which is always a lovely time to be here. The palo verde are likewise full of yellow blossoms. Temps are between the mid-80s F. to now mid-90s which makes mornings and evenings the best time for getting work done. Naps for me have often been afternoon fare as we tend to wake up at first light which is about 5 AM.


Our first set of jobs involved getting the three back rooms ready for carpet layers to strip out the old (boy did it look bad) and install new. We took our time moving out all the furniture and of course, after the carpets were installed, we had to reverse the job. Much as I miss my cats, and boy do I, I am glad they hadn't come as they would have hated the drive and then to get here with all that disruption would have been even more horrifying.

Arranging for that carpet job had to all be done before we arrived; so we were taking a bit of a risk with what we chose, but it worked so well with the colors in the house and the new bedding we had brought down for the two queen beds.

Then came one of the first tasks that we hadn't planned when we saw that the den needed a better desk. I don't know why we didn't see that earlier but we went shopping. Now it looks like a real den, not a makeshift space. It would be a wonderful place to write a book although it actually is Farm Boss's space when he's here. I write in a back corner of the living room. Actually it's a perfect arrangement for two writers.

Most of the hardest work since that has been outside with cutting back plants that have been too ambitious and removing freeze damaged plants (we still have to get the canopy off the truck and take all of that to the landfill). The bougainvillea doesn't look good at all, sparse sprouts of green at the base. That was the biggest winter plant loss for me as they are usually so lovely. I hate to dig them out though until we know they can't come back as they have been here many years.

We had decided to remove the diving board and when we told our neighbor, he told us that made him very happy as he said when people have one in a small pool with a steep incline up from the deepest part, when the diver jumps out, they hit the slope up and break their necks. So removing it was both an issue of wisdom and looks.


As Farm Boss was working in one area, he found that we had a sunken, stone patio that had been covered by dirt. It was a lot of work to scrape the dirt off but has added a nice space for reading on a warm afternoon as that's below the pepper tree and pretty much has shade all day to some degree. It also has a fire pit which we will have to be sure we warn renters to only use with briquettes as mesquite trees are above it.


To further secure the fenced pool area, we had brought down a role of tight wire which Farm Boss put wherever small animals could escape. Since we are a pet friendly house, that will give the owners another secure zone for their pets to be safe. The risk of letting them be on open desert, besides all the thorns, would also put them potentially alongside coyotes, bobcats, and javelina (We've seen all three this trip but only the javelina stuck around long enough for a photo).


Going along with the improvements in the pool area, we bought a second table and chairs which has required redoing one of the brick surfaces where it had deteriorated making it not level enough for a table.

As an example of how one thing has led to another, in the pool enclosure, we have some spaces that plants just won't grow with too much clay right under the sand. We started looking for cement garden sculptures. I have several on the farm.


Then the plan changed when we came across these rusted metal sculptures. We bought two little ones and went back later for the big one. I think they were made in Mexico and imported to Tucson. They were nothing we had originally thought of being able to afford; but we got a good deal and they fit the feel of the house. Now instead of the pool area having these lost spaces where trying to grow a plant only led to its demise, the spaces have meaning and purpose.

From all of this, I have gotten a little sunburn, some sore muscles. Farm Boss has more. It is a good kind of sore though. It has limited the chances to go hiking or do anything else I normally like down here-- such as we have not yet been out to the Desert Museum. I am not sure if we will make it there at all which is too bad since we are members making it free to go; but it also is 25 miles from here and until we have this all done, it's not on the agenda. In fact, I am amazed how little we have actually gotten away from the jobs involving the house.

Anyway I am taking photos and will get more together somewhere for those who like to see them all (which might not happen until we are back in Oregon). Second blog from here coming on something interesting that happened on one of those few desert hikes.

(All photos taken at our Tucson home.)

Yes, it matters

Although I try to keep this blog from upsetting topics, I have to write about what I just heard tonight. I understand there are those who feel no death is ever justified, but I believe that of Osama bin Laden was, not just for the potential he had to kill again but because of for what he stands.

We in this country, and really anywhere around the world, should have the attitude that when someone acts like an animal, they are treated like one. Obama said he made getting Osama bin Laden a priority as I would imagine did Bush. We went where we had to go to finally get him and frankly territorial borders should not have stopped us and they did not.

Sometimes we, as caring human beings, have to do things we really don't want to do. When someone attacks us, when they kill people around the world, they are a threat to all human beings. You take out predators, ideally before they take out you.

Our military and our intelligence has once again proven their strength and value to us and yes to the world. It found him and then Obama took the kind of nuanced approach that I expect from him-- he ordered the action to take him out.

This action might cause some to attack us, might make it more dangerous to be Americans with a certain segment of the Arab population, but it was the right thing to do; and I am glad they didn't take him alive. This business of alive or dead isn't so great when it's someone like him. This is a man who had no respect for human life and he deserved none from us.

When I heard that the president had an announcement to make, I turned on the television to hear what it was. When I learned what it was going to be, I knew, as with 9/11, I would always remember where I was when I heard it.

Yes, to Americans, I think it does matter. It is the kind of thing that makes us proud to be Americans. I feel a sense of resolve that it is done now. I understand there are more out there, they may attack us, but this one, he won't order it again.

Obama took responsibility for the action and that meant for ordering someone's death, for putting others at risk. That's not a light thing to do, and he's a deep enough man to know that. I though take that responsibility alongside him as do most Americans, I think-- regardless of partisanship.

Yes, I am glad Obama authorized the action that let our amazing American forces take him out. Good for the men and women who had the capability to do that job. It is something for which I am glad as I would be glad when I killed a coyote going after my sheep.

And yes, I feel proud to be an American tonight and it's not with joy but with a sense of satisfaction that the job was done. John Wayne would have been proud!

Springtime on the Tonto

The morning we left Kohl's Ranch and the area where Zane Grey had built his ranch, the question became-- is there anywhere we can buy breakfast? That kind of country really isn't one that provides snacks or restaurants every so many miles although we had hard boiled eggs, bread, butter, cheese; so we would not have starved.

At Christopher Creek, we turned off the new four lane expressway (which will connect more of Phoenix to the casinos in Showlow and Pinetop) where we had been told we'd find a cafe. There it was, one of the delightful, old-fashioned structures, run by friendly people. If I never appreciated places like that years ago, I sure do now, as they are dwindling in numbers.

As we ate and drank our coffee, we debated what to do about going south. What we wanted was take a gravel road we saw on the map that led to Young, south of where we were, the site of one of the worst family feuds in the United States. We had been there before, but it'd been years, and the question always has to be, especially after winter has barely left the land, how good will that kind of road be.

Two turkey hunters were eating at the table across from us. They assured us the road was passable even if it often was a 10 mph road or less. *chuckle chuckle* The waitress didn't agree. She thought the snow had only left it two weeks earlier and expected it to need 4-wheel drive. Of course, we had that, and it had cost us a pretty penny to get it through California as well as carrying it well-loaded, which would be to its good if it was a really bad road.

We kind of went back and forth about whether it'd be worth it but neither of us wanted to go to Showlow as it had been a disappointment several years earlier with how little of its original spirit was there. So we took the gravel road with the added advantage of it leading to Haigler Creek, another one about the size of Tonto Creek.

Well the road was as rough as the two hunters had joked and the waitress had warned although it didn't require 4-wheel, there were many places it made the going easier. The difficulty was worth it to see Haigler Creek although next time we want to go, I think we would come the five miles up from Young and skip the rough part.


We had passed the lonely grave of the first person killed in the Tonto Basin War, a Navajo shepherd who had been part of a plan to bring sheep into the basin which had always been exclusively cattle country with an unwritten rule, no sheep south of the Rim. He was shot from ambush by the Grahams or so goes the legend.


The story of any feud like the one between the Tewksburys and Grahams is full of he said-he said. The gist though of what triggered the war was when the [Daggs] brought in the sheep and hired (or otherwise co-opted) the Tewksburys, who had been before that time small cattlemen, but more gunmen, to protect them. With the shooting of the shepherd, the feud was on between them and the Grahams.

The feud and the danger to the area, known ironically as Pleasant Valley, lasted about ten years with it being said 29 men died in the ensuing violence, most of the deaths occurring between 1886-87. All but one of the men in the two families was murdered which led to Zane Grey using it as a plot device in his book, To the Last Man. This kind of a war is not particularly heroic, with gunfights in streets, but more shots from ambush.

Grey was researching it not that many years from it happening and talked to those who still remembered a lot of it first hand. It wasn't easy back then, maybe not now either, to get people to talk about it. Revenge has a long reach. Most likely it's like the Tombstone, Arizona stories with it depending on which side you were on as to who you saw as the villains in the events. Besides Grey's fictionalized story, there are other books about it.


The land is still beautiful; but it has an edge to it, as far as I am concerned, even today. The community lies in a basin with high hills all around it. People who live there had better be pretty self-sufficient, or they won't last there as it's a long drive to anything else.

When we drove out the south side, heading generally southeasterly, we didn't expect it to be quite as rough a road as the one coming in. It was every bit and to add to it the road had a few miles of something I tend to equate mostly with Arizona backroads-- single lane in the steepest stretches, no way to see too far ahead, and guardrails? What are those? They just wreck the view, right? The drop off on a road like that always makes me tense (Oregon has some too but not sure anywhere near as many) as if your vehicle got over too far, it'd start to roll and be a long time before it quit-- probably longer before anybody found the rolled vehicle and your body. Not surprisingly, Farm Boss likes those kind of roads and hence I have been on more than a few of them in my lifetime...


It had gorgeous views though, and a lot of wildflowers. It was worth the longer and rougher drive but not sure I'll be wanting to do it again anytime soon.


The photos are from Tonto Creek, Haigler Creek, looking down on Young, and the other direction toward the Salt River country. It's a tough land, one that doesn't suffer fools gladly-- even today. It requires tough people to live there. Traveling through, people should use good judgment, carry water, as there is a consequence for the alternative.

Zane Grey country

Between trying to get things done down here, restoring personal energy spent on the trip (made tougher by an interesting detour through Arizona backcountry), and writing on that manuscript, I earlier mentioned, I have had a hard time getting anything here. It's not that I don't have desert photos to share but more what gets in the way of sitting down with them.

First of all there are the immediate household tasks which means to take all the furniture out of the three bedrooms (made easier by their small dimensions) before the carpet layers arrive Wednesday morning. Farm Boss has been trimming back freeze damaged plans to determine what is salvageable, and I have chosen the replacement plants for those we lost. I am thinking next time not only will I make sure the plants are freeze resistant (as well as unpopular with bunnies) but also that we have some protection available to put around them when the temperature drops.

Despite not personally liking to spend time in malls, this trip necessitated some of that since I managed to forget my sandals. This is strange because I wear sandals a lot but most of this year, with our Oregon winter being wet and cold, I've pretty much lived in boots, Uggs and tennis shoes. I was wearing the tennis shoes when we left; so they weren't possible to forget. I decided if I had to buy some, they'd have to be ones I didn't already have waiting at home; so that meant mall time. Sandals for me have to be comfortable first, easy on the feet, moderately attractive, and not the kind to sprain an ankle.

Despite my desire to finish typing in, along with some editing, one my manuscripts (with which I am making progress), I do have a couple of things I especially wanted to share about Arizona's backcountry.

I love high pine country anywhere and everywhere. Arizona has prime pine country in the middle of the state to the NW corner and the Grand Canyon as well as on many of what are called mountain islands throughout the state. Love it? Yes, I do.

We really hadn't planned we'd even get there this trip until we changed our plans driving toward Needles. Instead of going directly south from there, we turned east into Arizona and spent that night in Williams, which definitely qualifies as Arizona high pine country. It also is less than a hundred miles south of the Grand Canyon but going that direction didn't have the appeal this trip-- gorgeous though it is.

From Williams we headed for Flagstaff and then took a back road out of it to the southeast and heading toward Strawberry, Pine and Payson. Our destination was Zane Grey country with no specific idea exactly where.


We stopped to view the Tonto Natural Bridge which is now a state park. It's not the kind of bridge seen in Utah but more like one in Montana where not wind but water has formed a hole under a land bridge.


For anyone who didn't grow up reading Zane Grey stories, the land below the Mogollon Rim probably wouldn't be so meaningful. The rim is a tall escarpment that separates Arizona into one of its many sections. Below that rim used to be Zane Grey's hunting, fishing and writing cabin before it was destroyed by the dry lightning caused Dude Fire of 1990. Not only did it destroy his cabin but a lot of other buildings and killed six firefighters. [YouTube Tribute to the Alpine Hotshot Crew].

Twenty years later, you only see traces of the damage that fire did to the region.

I am lucky enough to have been to his cabin twice when it was still there. The first was when our children were small. We were camped with a small vacation trailer down along Tonto Creek. My desire was to get up to the cabin I knew should be on the mountain. We expected to be able to drive to it from the campground (couple of miles on a gravel road), but the road was closed due to storm damage.

There was no way I'd let that stop me and we all started walking. I was wearing sandals, a backless halter top, and bright pink stretch pants. What an outfit for a hike up a gravel road in warm, May weather. It turned out to be a fine choice as two young rangers came along and when they found out where we were heading, offered us a ride to the cabin in the back of their pickup.

That visit the caretaker was there, and we were able to go inside, to get the feel of the wood on the walls, the big stone fireplace and even a possible writing desk which he may or may not have used but would have been the right sort. I also purchased a couple of his books in paperback, not because I didn't have them, as I had them all, but because I wanted them to be from there.

Grey, who preferred tents, rarely if ever slept in his hunting and fishing cabins (he had one on Oregon's Rogue River also). They were big rooms made for gatherings of friends,hunting partners, or shelter from particularly bad storms. They also would have provided good places to safely write and keep his handwritten manuscripts which was how all of his stories were written-- before being edited by his wife.

The second time I was there, we were able to drive up, but the caretaker wasn't home which meant we only could look in through the windows and stand on the porch. Our kids were teens, and we all enjoyed the pristine setting.

Our third trip back we could still drive to the cabin's location, but it had been totally destroyed by the Dude Fire with only the chimney standing if I remember right. Fortunately the ranch below, not as much in the tall pines, had been saved.

This trip, we spent the night at Kohls Ranch, situated along Tonto Creek and below the road up to the cabin site. It is typical of the old style of Arizona for motels, built of logs, a main building in a chalet style with a nice lobby. It may not stay as it was this time as it was purchased by a major Arizona land developer and who knows what he'll do with it. Will he see its value as it is? It was lost by the family who had owned it during the downturn and construction of a four lane highway above leaving it on an off road. Seeing those parts of Arizona lose their unique personality is really heartbreaking but it's how life goes, I guess everywhere.


The next morning we drove up toward the cabin for what would have been the fourth time. We found the general area, but the last hundred feet to the burned out cabin had been dozed to make it no longer show up as a road. The road to the old ranch had a big gate on it and a lot of no trespassing signs compliments of the Zane Grey's Homeowner's Association, whatever that is. They even blocked parking at the turn around under threat of being towed. Friendly not, but we did at least get to the land near the cabin.

A replica of the cabin has been built in Payson on a city park with a lake behind it. From the outside, it looks exactly as I remembered the original. It's now part of a museum honoring him and the pioneers of the region. I had no interest in taking a tour as I'd seen the real thing and the setting mattered more to him and to me than the building itself.

Zane Grey was a youthful inspiration to me about values and character. He wrote about strong men and women. He was the first real romantic western writer and a big influence on both those who love nature and romantic adventure stories. A lot of women romance authors have talked about the influence his stories had on their own creativity. Those stories and the films spawned from them helped create the mythology of the old West.


His books aren't timeless in that the stories could not be set in today; but, you know, some stories really are meant for their time. They often have an attitude that might not be called politically correct for today. In the case of Grey, the language is almost poetic as it describes its era and the people as they were then. Because Grey was an outdoorsman, he knew the country and wrote about it as lovingly as he did the characters. Really, I think the stories were just vehicles for him so he could write about what he truly loved-- the land of the West.

Driving south

South of Bakersfield, going over Tehachapi Pass looking toward Bear Mountain.

Still unwinding (back-wise) from the drive down from Oregon as we settle into our Tucson house and get used to 89°F.

When driving between our farm in Oregon and Tucson, we have alternate routes we can take. The decision this time to take I-5 through the big valley of California was made the morning we left for no particular reason. Weather was great for traveling whichever way we had chosen. California though did offer split pea soup at Anderson's in Santa Nella which is where we spent our first night.

I love the drive through the Siskiyous. Mt. Shasta is below, pretty mountain country with red soil from its volcanic past and especially at this time of the year, redbud blooming all over the hills.


Once we got south of Sacramento, it was interesting to see all the crops being raised but also irritating that the whining signs from past drought years were still up. Congress is turning this into a dust bowl. Excuse me but that's a lot of fields under irrigation for a dust bowl. I'd guess more like 3/4 of what can be seen from the freeway is in fruit, nut trees, and other crops. Not enough apparently and it's all Boxer and Pelosi's fault-- that is the few pieces of non-irrigated land but the crops that are planted and producing, not to their credit.

It gives me a bit of a smile to think how frustrated those sign producers must've been that both won their races. This area produces almonds, pistachios, citrus, rice, olives, and not sure what all else.

The whining signs popped up the whole route during the drought years when interests concerned about northern California rivers and farmers came into conflict. Irrigate or fill those big canals? The Klamath River went to such low levels that the salmon runs still haven't recovered as millions of fish died in water with insufficient oxygen. That didn't matter much to the farmers but fishermen get their living from that water also.

With the signs, I get that these folks are not happy because they are red state folks living in a state where most of the population is on the coast and that's blue state country. I feel their pain (actually not) except when I see all the land under usage. Lot of the ones that are not are so rough that it would take a lot of work to change their usage from cattle to crops.

To put land into production, to level, plow and put in the watering system is often subsidized by the USDA, which means those evil taxes. It's one of those instances of where government is bad except when it's doing something directly for them-- and a lot of people have no idea all it is doing directly for them.

Doubtless they were also unhappy (no signs yet on this one) about the price of gasoline. Wow, that was quite the travel expense. I heard one right wing radio type trying to blame that on Obama due to insufficient new drilling in the Gulf after the big spill. Amazing what they will come up with as a reason that somehow ties to him. Vote in Trump. He'll conquer countries to take the oil he wants.

The high cost of fuel (I think the most we paid was $4.29 for diesel) also though contributed to far less traffic on the freeway. It has been many years since I had seen so little traffic on I-5. Lots of semis but ordinary drivers seemed to be cutting back or taking that high cost into consideration before going somewhere.

Road work was everywhere in the northern part of the state. It seemed some team was working on a road project every so many miles. At least those jobs are doing well unfortunately everyone doesn't have the skill or strength to do them.

Those freeways, with all the heavy truck traffic, would be potholes from end to end without government. The motto of the right has been government stay out of our business-- until we personally need something and that often is something they don't even know they are using.

Try individually arranging for canals that can deliver and manage the kind of water it takes to run all these agricultural projects going on in the central valley. In California they were mostly paid for through bonds voted on by the people, which the users will repay fully. In Arizona the canal was a federal project begun under Carter.

The problem with canals has always been not always taking into account droughts. In California, the northern part doesn't have uniform, guaranteed rainfall (which is why some looked greedily toward Oregon who glared back.

This year it appears there has been plenty to keep the canals flowing. Lake Shasta was as full as I've seen it recently; but whenever there hasn't been enough flowing into the dams from the rivers, a new motto appears-- blame government. What matters is all about us. That's what the right wing should admit they stand for these days. This is all happening in a region that naturally would only produce beef (they still have those big feed lots that turn the stomach of anybody who loves cattle).

The first time I was on I-5 was not long after it opened and there was nothing along that road except grass and once in awhile an exit with some food and gasoline-- and I do mean once in awhile.

Today acre after acre are full of orchards with only a few blank spots for the signs to whine. I thought maybe they'd take them down in the rich water years and reapply them next time there isn't enough water but no. There was no end to the complaining, and it lasted until Wasco area when agriculture was replaced by industry (the prison one is booming).

So the orchards are beautiful to see as we drove south. I wondered where all the produce was sent. I was amazed at the evidences of different agricultural methods (they trim the top of orange trees evidently so they can be picked mechanically, we guessed). It is a very productive region due to that water and most in the hands of corporate farms which doesn't mean they aren't family owned but does mean they are big.

The plan for driving to Tucson changed at Needles, well a few miles outside of it. Photos and more on that coming.

what I'm doing

Everybody who writes blogs goes through times where it simply seems there is nothing to say. Although I have been writing in my political blog, Rainy Day Things, it's all 'political' which means controversial.

Rainy Day Thoughts has become, in my mind, like a refuge more than a battle zone. While I believe it's important, for those of us who can, to stay informed and believe our country is basically in a struggle to determine its soul (which is why I have Rainy Day Things), I also feel our daily lives must be led without thinking of that all the time. It's unhealthy to be bombarded or bombard ourselves with negatives. If a person can read the news, do what is possible about upsetting events, which might mean phone calls or writing something, and then let it go, that's the key. Letting it go can be hard but is easier with interesting distractions.

The thing is a person should want those distractions to be positive and helpful to improving their lives. It looks like too many people are choosing things that are shallow and not bringing out the best in those doing the shows or those viewing them. It's almost as though we are becoming the ancient Roman empire in its decline and that's not a very encouraging thought.

The most positive distraction of all is exercising our personal creativity which can be in many different ways. For me, the best of those have been painting and writing. Beginning in March and extending now into April I've done a LOT of writing as I have edited four out of fourteen of my earlier (80-140,000 word) manuscripts. I have a desire to upgrade those stories with the skills and life knowledge that I believe I have today but didn't when I wrote them. You'd think I would have but boy what I have learned in the last twenty years has been a whole different realm from what I had learned in the twenty before that.

So I have been rereading these stories, plan to redo them all and change what is required. Doing this takes me totally away from my own life for the time at least that I am working on them. To update contemporaries involves inserting the place computers and cell phones have come to take in our lives-- especially that of younger people. Can you believe that at one time when you needed to call home when you were out on the road, you had to find a pay phone? It's hard to believe it today.

Besides the ones I had felt were complete but now don't see it quite that way, I had another from the very beginning of writing book length manuscripts. The last time I had looked at it, I put it aside as although I liked the basic plot, felt the characters had potential, I saw the story as shallow not fleshed out, more like a juvenile story than one written by an adult. I wasn't sure it could be brought into anything I'd be proud of writing.

This week it has seemed a little more possible, maybe because of having spent all those hours upgrading three others. I have a powerful urge to see it completed and on my hard drive with its sisters and brothers. I did though decide to base it in the year 1974, which was only a few years after I wrote it, as that was a different time for the influences on our culture. I don't think it'd be the same story today. One good thing about stories based in a historic period, you don't have that problem

Writing really does tell a person where they are in so many ways. My first historical manuscript was begun when I was the age of the female protagonist. When I edited it and improved it (the only manuscript that I paid a consulting writer to help me edit and I learned soooo much from her), I was the age of her mother. Next month when I will likely be looking at it again, I'd be the age of her grandmother. The person I am has changed a lot during those years and it probably has influenced some of how I see her even though she stays young.

When I began this work, it was just with the desire to see the stories in one place and written as well as I could do it today. As I worked on them, I began to consider different ideas. Submit again to publishing houses was, of course one. The thing is publishing houses mostly have niche publishing. Books have to fit into that. Although mine are kind of like one genre, I don't think they totally are.

Publishers operate on a margin and must make money. They figure out where that money is and look for books to fit in. The buyer is the decider although buyers aren't always given all the options they might want either.

The question for the writer is can I fit what they need and still be doing what I need? When a writer fakes what they believe to sell books, I think it shows. I want to be proud of what I write and don't think my stories fit current niches-- which, of course, might mean they are not actually marketable.

That's when I began to think about doing it myself through eBooks. It has the advantage of not being as expensive as printing the books through a vanity publisher. It would let me put out books I have enjoyed writing and think others might like to read but without my making a big investment or having to charge a big price. It has the drawback of no big publishing house behind them, not being in bookstores, and wondering how I get the books seen. It might also limit my chances of ever seeing future books published on paper.

As I researched eBooks, I discovered you have to put together covers for each book. This was both an uh oh moment and an ah ha one. There are ways to get a cover, for anybody who doesn't feel they can do it themselves, but I am assuming that'd be pretty generic (which many are coming out of the publishers also). I'd also have to put more money into books that might not even bring back even the cost of getting them the ISBNs or into the format required for eBooks.

Since I have spent the last couple of years learning how to do digital painting, the creating of a cover soon became an enjoyable activity. I read some tips on requirements. One writer said it should tell the potential reader, within 2 seconds, what the book is about. 2 second is all you get when someone is perusing the covers. It must look good in thumbnail as that is all most readers will ever see if it doesn't attract them further. From a writer that they don't know, they will have to have something draw them to find more about the book even when the price is less than $2. Frankly free wouldn't convince me to download something either. It has to have curb appeal in a computer sense.

Creating covers has been interesting on a level besides the logistics. Basically, although I have written many character descriptions, I have, with only one exception, never visualized these people. They existed only in my imagination, dreamlike images. Creating covers has meant digitally giving them a more physical dimension. In some ways I didn't like that and in others, I did.

The covers I have been creating are different than most I have seen as they are brightly colored and painterly which might or might not be a plus. For some books, it seemed an icon was more apropos, something that represented the soul of the story such as the above rose of sharon.

For any of you who might be interested in creating eBooks also, there is a lot of information online. There are many companies that do the conversion for providers like Google, Amazon, etc. As it stands, if I go the eBook route, I will do the conversions-- actually Farm Boss will-- as it looks like it's not necessary to find a company for that part. The bigger question for me is how does one promote the book, get it seen when it's just one of several million. That's the one I haven't yet figured out and why I haven't decided for sure I want to go this route.

So that's what I've been doing and will be doing. Blogs here will come less frequently for the next month; or if they come, they're going to be photos more than ideas. Usually I have several blogs or more written ahead of where I am publishing. This time, drafts are as blank as my mind. Of course, an idea might come to me as soon as I finish this one up.

We have to make a trip to Arizona for work on the vacation rental property there. Other than some hiking in between jobs at the house, getting inspections done, possibly changing our wireless provider and the telephone set up, I hope to get in a visit with a Tucson blogger(Darlene), but it's not a pleasure trip. It is to get that house up to snuff for future renters which means replacing plants that got frozen and having new carpeting installed in the bedrooms and den. I will try to post when I can but it will likely be more photos than ideas. Someone is looking after the farm and really it's that which has delayed our getting down there. The farm... don't get me started on the farm.

If I decide to put my my stories online, I will let readers here know what I learn about the process-- although I have been thinking of using a new blog that will just be about that so it doesn't bore those who don't have that interest. Blog readers though are often writers which means some might find the process of this all interesting .

Publishing ourselves online is a whole new world for writers with possibilities we never had before. I read that this winter more eBooks were sold than paperbacks. That's where the world is going but the question is how to go along if you are not part of a publishing conglomerate or don't have a famous name already?

In the midst of those questions, I also have to figure out what eBook reader to buy for myself. I am leaning toward either a Nook or getting an ePad kind of device which can read books and do other things. I have reluctance for it to be an iPad as I don't want another monthly bill; but my daughter-in-law has one and it sure is nifty. I definitely need something that can let me read books but would like it to also let me check email and read the news. Kindle is out as I want color.

So don't worry if there's some time between posts. I'll be back to it... sometime.

The Basis of Astrology

Okay, I know how many skeptics there are on what astrology does. Most of this, I think, comes out of not knowing much about it and basing what they do know on horoscopes in the newspapers.

So I thought, hey I'll give a whack at discussing it even though I am not an astrologer. I look at it from the outside as one who has had horoscopes done by others, bought quite a few books on astrology, done natal charts for friends using a computer program (which was more about my ability to create characters than understanding the star combinations), and had an interest in what it all might mean and why. I especially think that when I see my own life reflecting big changes without anyway for me to explain it.

Here's the first personal opinion. I don't think much of horoscopes either especially not those in newspapers. That's simply too general to have much meaning for anybody. I have had a horoscope that was specific to my birth time and it still didn't seem to hit on what happened to me on those dates. I think there are too many variables in our lives to have the planets explain any given day.

Natal charts, now those are closer to having meaning. That means on the date you were born, here are the general characteristics of people born at that exact time, place and date. That turns out to be surprisingly close if you have ever had one done. The question would be why is it close, and why would I believe astrology has value in a general sense for trends that are impacting humans as a whole, not each individual sign specifically?

First of all, here is what astrology actually is in the sense of that age old method of looking at the stars and planets to determine some trends. The planets move around the sun as does the earth and all orbit in a mostly predictable way. In the sky, way out there, the constellations, they are on a different pattern. So as our universe moves, those constellations don't have the same apparent movement. They move too but so far out that it's not like our rotations that form more regular cycles. Same way with the planets that are closer to us changing more often in our sky than the ones farther out.

Let's take Neptune, which is being much discussed right now because it is moving into what is considered its own sign-- Pisces. This is not some arbitrary imaginary thing. Neptune, if you looked up into the sky, you would see it in the constellation Pisces. You could measure where it is there. You could also measure where it was compared to other planets.

"From now until 2026 with only a brief retrograde back to Aquarius from September until Feb 2012, Neptune will be a strong influence for basic escapism from the uncomfortable, fearful aspects pressuring our shared reality, and at the same time, the arts and creative imagination and expression will flourish as artists tap into the inspiration of the muse, and the vast, dry spiritual emptiness of our cultures open themselves to direct experience of Spirit." Patricia A.Liles

If you get an astrology reading from one who really is good at it, they will have the degrees of these planets which is measurable. Astrology is more about mathematics than mysticism. The theory on astrology is that these combinations, as they naturally occur in the skies, coincide with certain trends on earth. They repeat themselves over generations. Some birth signs might feel some of these impacts more than others but the overall impact is universal.

Here's where the skeptic goes-- ridiculous. But wait. Supposing that this is all based on observations of human life as it is with say the Vedic school of astrology which goes back thousands of years. Supposing that it's not so much that the planets make this happen as it is that these naturally occurring combinations are part of the trends of human nature. Suppose some observed this and kept records of the impacts, and over generations, the patterns were repeated.

I have a book on life in the United States since its beginning. Generations The History of America's Future 1584-2069 by William Strauss & Neil Howe. Their theory, which has nothing to do with astrology, is that each generation impacts the next and we have had in the US eighteen American generations. Within the generations are four repeated types with certain characteristics.

In each cycle, there will be Idealist, Reactive, Civic, and Adaptive. One impacts the next. It is a cycle that continually impacts who the next generation will be based on the one ahead of it.

For example, my parents were of the Civic generation while (they calculate the start of this differently for the year) I am of the Idealist (which other social engineers call Boom and say starts a few years later than this book has it).

Understanding this was of particular interest to me as a writer who wanted my historic characters to seem real, but I can see another implication to it.

Supposing that astrology, rather than some mystical set of numbers with no meaning, actually is using what has happened over and over again, patterns that are repeated. We can, when we look at the skies, take measurements, then look at the likely trends to come, how they are impacting our lives, and use the information. This isn't going to tell us when an earthquake will come but more how humans will likely react to it.

To me, that's what astrology is about. And if you find a good astrologer, follow what they are saying, observe what the patterns have been and are likely to be, it serves a purpose. It helps you understand why friends or family member might be acting seemingly irrational, why the world seems to be going loopy. You don't have to be fearful about a time that seems particularly upsetting to you because you know that cycles come and go. This too will pass. If you are a sensitive person, you probably already were feeling some of those vibes.

Two very different men

Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. Thomas Merton

Last week I had ordered two different documentaries to come one after another. The first was the story of Frank Lloyd Wright. I had been in his home, Taliesin West in Arizona, many years ago and found it quite interesting in terms of its connection to the land. So I thought it'd be good to learn more about his life-- of which I had known little. Creativity sounded good to me as one subject to explore. It was a Ken Burns special, which normally means good.

Farm Boss and I were tired that night. The farm has had more than a few upsetting hassles recently due to weather and who knows what all. So we turned it off after maybe 40 minutes with the intention of watching the rest the next night.

The next night, I asked him, do you really want to see the rest? He felt as I did. No. Wright was such an obnoxious person, even in that 40 minutes, that it was hard to separate that user of a personality from his work. To us, it was nearly disgusting at how he had gone into his career, used people, demanded his way. It was simply not bearable to spend more time with him

The next video to arrive was Merton: A Film Biography, which was the polar opposite from Wright. Thomas Merton, a prolific writer, philosopher, spiritualist, and humanitarian was as opposite from Wright as I think it's possible for two men to be which makes it rather interesting that I had chosen them to be watched so closely together.

If you have read any of Merton's writings (70 books, numerous essays), you know that as a Trappist monk, he had a dedication to first the monastic life which spread out into a love for mankind and a desire to speak out on what he thought it took to live life fully.

He moved on though in his thinking and that's part of what makes him so profound. He was willing to grow, to challenge even his old ways of thinking. He was a mystic but not religiously bound to any one system even as he remained a Catholic. If he had not died prematurely, one wonders where he might have gone on this lifelong hunt for spiritual truth.

His concern went beyond the Spirit to how this all impacted human life. It was flesh and spirit. Basically he believed it was impossible to have such a life without standing on your own feet, without having a certain sense of liberty. When others rule your life, and most frequently in our country, that could be corporate rulers, you cannot have a true openness to the spiritual truth of life. You are bound up in what you must do. He spoke out about that, against war, and for an understanding that religious similarities of beliefs that he found in a deep study of Buddhism and Christianity, as practiced by Christ, were very similar.

The documentary is by necessity cursory about a lot of Merton's life, but it really is inspiring. I felt, especially in our day and age where it's easy to become very disillusioned with life and all that is going on in the world, it was worth watching and spending some time thinking about.

'In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for "finding himself." If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence.' Thomas Merton

Image from Joy of Propaganda

What is justice? II

My thinking about what is justice comes from a combination of many things. There is what justice means, whether it is possible to find in life, and should it be fought to attain? The questions go behind legal systems to all of life. It also recognizes that people see what it is very differently often based on their culture but maybe other things.

One example that leaps to my mind was the Koran burning and its aftermath. That had human injustice written all over it at every possible end. An American freaky pastor decides burning a Koran is what he must do. That alone is filled with injustice as why attempt to desecrate what is holy to someone else? It makes no sense, does it? His personal sense of justice requires him desecrating that of others?

Then you get the president of Afghanistan discussing it when American media had deliberately not covered it for obvious reasons-- it wasn't news. What possible justice was the leader of Afghanistan hoping to provoke?

Well he proved that not only were some Americans savages, and frankly that is how I define what that pastor and anyone who supports him did, but also some Afghanis. They attacked the UN compound, killed twelve people there who had absolutely nothing to do with burning their holy book and I guess called that justice.

Then there is our legal system. What Obama ordered done by saying we cannot try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in a civil court says something important about our whole justice system and for once the Republican leaders and our Democratic president are in agreement-- except it's the wrong thing they agree on. If we cannot try accused terrorists in our public courts, who can we try fairly? Does it mean our system is faulty? Ask yourself what that means about justice in this country.

If you look at life, pretty much any aspect of it, finding justice can be in short supply. Is there justice in nature? It might be biological, but is it just? Nature, unless you are as nutty as the Koran burning pastor, just does what it does, which is usually reacting to balancing something else. You could have spent your whole life doing all the right things, following all the rules, but that earthquake, tsunami, or the cougar waiting in a tree, none of it cares. It might be balance but the word justice doesn't fit with it. There is no negotiating with nature. Justice, unless you want to think everything nature does is necessarily just because it doesn't have a personality behind it, doesn't apply to nature. I know there are those who want to force it into that mold-- god did it-- but that thinking simply doesn't work for me (with one possible exception which I'll get to later).

In a lot of life, justice seems in short supply. Yes, sometimes we do reap what we sow. Some diseases are like that. Some relationships, but we are born into a particular family. We maybe have certain genetic weaknesses built into us-- how does justice fit into that? It simply is what it is.

That's what my friend and I discussed the other day without using the word justice. We both talked of our knowing we had been born into nurturing, protective families. It's not like that meant we never had problems, nor that our families were perfect, but it means we understood our luck as it's not that way with all babies. We don't really deserve our families when we are born, do we?

That day, she and I talked of many things that had happened in our lives, in our community through the years. We could see that yes, some people had reaped what they had sown. For others, it was just the luck of the draw. The rain falls on the just and unjust.

The one exception to all of this would be if there is reincarnation, which I can't say is true or not. Reincarnation and karma would mean there is cosmic justice and eventually what goes around, comes around. It is, in my opinion, the only way there could be justice in life. It's not so much that I'd like to think we live again as it is I'd like to think there was cosmic justice of the real sort. In a lot of ways it would mean what happens to us makes sense and has purpose.

If there is not reincarnation, if this is a heaven-or-hell earth or a dust-to-dust one, then justice is not part of what happens here. The very idea that saying some words that give a get out of jail card for doing the things some humans do to others, well it will only be seen as justice by someone desperate to twist it into that form and fearful of saying that religion's god wasn't always just.

Now this all doesn't depress me (other than what my government does) as some might think I am heading toward saying. It's just a fact. We live with what is and getting all upset at the idea of there being justice, worried when we see it's not working out, well to me that's a waste of energy.

However, as individuals, we still try to live our own lives justly. We can do what we can to make sure our own culture is just in how it treats people. We do that all for many reasons which go beyond hoping to get a payback for it. We try for it because it's a better way to live and maybe that's the only way the world at large (excluding nature) will be a place of human justice at least.

Living that way though has a complexity built into it. What if someone decides that to be just means they burn someone else's holy book? What if their idea of living justly is to kill strangers because someone, thousands of miles away, burned a book holy to them?

There needs to be a lot more teaching about what real human justice is, what a country should have in the way of laws and enforcing of them, a legal code that means they can and will try any accused criminal in an open courtroom. If we can't do that, what exactly do we have in a sense of communal justice?

I have said I am not religious but there is an idea, taught in many religions that fits a way of living that would come as close as I think is possible to yielding justice-- treat others as we would like to be treated. It's at least a start.