Try to enjoy June
It’s a beautiful day outside where I live.
I’m going out. Recent political and world events have been quite miserable, but I’m trying not to let that destroy my enjoyment of things – like spring and summer, friends, family, the arts, nature, all those wonderful things that help make life worthwhile.
In case you’re at home stewing, I suggest you do the same.
I’ve been pretty down myself, yes. I’ve turned to my hobbies and books—but I’ve half a mind to join a movement, or start one, that would aim to increase recognition of the peril of this moment.
We are having, in spite of the nightly AGW propaganda bits about how unusually warm and dry it is, a cool, rainy spring.
We had a couple of warmish days a month ago and got our patio ready for lounging and enjoying our backyard. It’s not been warm enough for us to sit out comfortably since.
I began working on our water feature this morning – it has a leak. Before I could get all my tools and equipment assembled, it began raining. 🙁
So, here Iam at the computer.
Trump’s conviction is a bummer. But it’s not the end of the world. Anyone who has been paying attention knows it was a faux conviction that means nothing in the long run. It will be overturned.
It’s June 1st, the day before June 2nd. For most people June 2nd doesn’t mean anything. For me it’s the 59th anniversary of the deaths over Vietnam of five brave men from the USS Midway. It’s a special day for me.
In their memory:
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=O%20Danny%20Boy%20video&mid=030BED44AC5964D31038030BED44AC5964D31038&ajaxhist=0
Have a good time. People haven’t changed in thousands of years. Those proverb writers are laughing.
Way ahead of you. Wrigley Field yesterday, nice long motorcycle ride tomorrow.
My wife and I celebrate our 39th anniversary today. Hard to believe so much time has passed. My best friend, I’ll love her always. We’ll have a nice bottle of wine and some laughs over a meal at a local Italian bistro.
I presume J.J. is referring to Lt(jg) David Marion Christian (KIA) of VA-23 shot down in a A-4E Skyhawk and Lt(jg) M D McMican (KIA), Lt(jg) Gerald Michael Romano (KIA), PO3 William Harry Amspacher (KIA) and ATN3 Thomas Lee Plants (KIA) of Detachment A, VAW-13 shot down in an EA-1F Skyraider while coordinating the SAR effort for Christian.
Chases Eagles:
Thank you for filling in the details of the five who died serving our country in 1965.
I was not aware that the Skyraider had been modified/configured as a four seater or for the ECM role.
Yes, it was a beautiful day here too, and I spent a good amount of time in my vegetable garden. I thoroughly enjoy your writing and learn so much but I am glad you are taking a respite.
“ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.”
I spend as much time as possible on our lanai which connects to our pool. A true decompression zone. The pool has a bubbler on the sunshelf which makes this very relaxing babbling brook sound.
Walked on a beach in southern Maine today. Sun was shining, tide was low, beach was plentiful, breeze was light and offshore (warm). Plenty of hellos and how-ah-yahs with our fellow beach goers. Doesn’t get much better.
I took a nice hike, 3.25 miles out and back, 250 ft climb, and average HR of 113. I couldn’t have done that a month ago. It was cloudy but clear, nice, but a few days ago it was cloudless and the scenery was spectacular. I’ll definitely do that trail again. As I neared the end, I began to mark brushy spots and have visions of an outhouse. My bladder isn’t what it was 🙂
And I second Coral Jeffries. Very glad you are finding time to enjoy neo. Take breaks. We worry.
Taking it (very) easy with what’s left of my life. Goin’ with the flow, y’know.
Neither my children nor my step-children are going to have children of their own, so my equanimity is encouraged somewhat by the knowledge that I won’t have descendants who are sentenced to live in this f#cked up nation / world.
But I am very sorry for those who do live on into later decades / centuries. God bless.
Following my beloved O’s makes passing enjoyment a breeze these days, and so, I expect, will June be also.
Nice here in CO too. A little humid, temps OK. Going to be hitting mid to high 80’s starting tomorrow. Got a lot of yard work done, small projects that give satisfaction having gotten them done. Lots more to do. New plantings looking good, tomatoes coming along. The yard is my JOB now, and even if things go wrong, it is good.
My Brother was on the Midway (sister to my Ship, the FD Roosevelt). But on a little later I think. He was TDA to AirSea Rescue out of DaNang?.
sdferr (8:30 pm), at some point I figured that the baseball figures on your logo (for want of a better term) were Baltimore Orioles. [I couldn’t be sure because they’re tiny.] They look to me like Jim Palmer and Brooks Robinson. Did I get it right?
Anyway, you’ve got a fellow Orioles follower here; been one since 1970. How wonderful to have a quality team (and now ownership!!) again. See ya . . .
Jim and Earl, laughing it up. A bigger version: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9c/22/19/9c2219d1634525dbc31d4ef84a7fca0c.jpg
Got it. Earl (Weaver) was somethin’ *else*. The Earl of Baltimore.
And Jim and Earl’s complex relationship was somethin’ else. Those were the days . . .
It was a gorgeous day here in Carolina, and we just returned from a wonderful Italian dinner in celebration of our upcoming 53rd wedding anniversary. Blessings and happiness to all!
Kate:
Congratulations!!
sdferr,
Did you ever hear the reason Earl generally stayed in the hall between the dugout and clubhouse during games?
Weaver would smoke during the game — especially when Don “Full Pack” Stanhouse was pitching.
Chases Eagles, you have it right.
om, the A-1, particularly the A-1E, was the Swiss Army Knife of airplanes. All weather/night attack, all weather interceptor, airborne early warning, ECM, personnel carrier, and just straight attack were the different configurations/roles.
Douglas built a workhorse, and the Navy used it to the fullest.
Flanny, the story goes, came up with “Stan the Man Unusual” for Don, as well as “Two-Pack”. Flanny, god love him, was a nick-namer nonpareil.
We have had beautiful weather here in Wyoming, beginning on Memorial Monday – cool but not cold, mostly calm during the day, wind picking up in the afternoon – rather than the miserably cold gales we had the week before.
A little rain this evening, but no snow, sleet, or slush.
Springtime!
Our first youth treks were on Thursday: three groups, only 50-100 apiece. The bigger contingents will be later in the season.
Snakes are out, now that the temps are in low 70s – rattlers are a constant threat, but we also have huge bullsnakes wandering all over the site.
I had a little time to catch up on the news — how often does a former president get convicted of a (totally fabricated) felony, not something to miss!
Back to lurking and sporadic reading until something else important happens.
WWIII is looking like a contender, if we don’t start with CW2.0 first.
Next week is supposed to have every day over 100 here in Tucson. Just the usual but a little early. A couple of years ago we had two weeks in July over 125.
Wind and rain yesterday and today means I can watch baseball. My long suffering Mariners are semi-good this year. They played their first game a couple of years after I moved here so I have watched them through thin and thin since the beginning in 1977.
I did walk in the rain along the shore this morning. My dog likes to sniff around and she is not supposed to go by herself so she doesn’t. There are hundreds of small dead crabs today. The largest about the size of a quarter. Maybe 5-6 every foot along the high tide line.
“The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.”
The full text of “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad” is here:
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/some-thoughts-on-the-common-toad/
https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/opinion/nih-scientists-made-710m-in-royalties-from-drug-makers-a-fact-they-tried-to-hide/
Ubi Est mea
An important part of life really is just living.
I don’t know how many Junes I have left. I’m not weepy about that. I’m 72 with good health and low blood pressure. Eventually the party will be over, but not just yet.
I find I’m making more of my decisions in view of life with a deadline.
I am enjoying June.
huxley, me too. I am 70 and Mr Whatsit is 69, and like you we’re in decent health, so far. I’m not weepy either. I’ve lost people, and I miss them sorely, and their absence makes me glad we’re still here. This weekend we’re with our daughter and two small grandsons, while their father/husband is away on business, but coming home soon. I spent a blessed hour with the little boys this afternoon at the swing-set in the late afternoon warmth, pushing swings and encouraging. That deadline you mentioned defines my life these days, and I find I’m glad for it. It sharpens the point of everything. And yes, I’m enjoying June. You’re right: an important part of life truly is just living. James Taylor said, the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Mrs+Whatsit:
I don’t know when I’ve ever felt so well understood online! Bless you and your grandsons.
Part of my crazy French quest is to persuade my niece that her 72 year-old uncle is still shooting for a star or two.
And maybe she might too.
J.J.
SAD, Sandy and Jolly go to the head of the line. Plus, they drink for free. Forever.