for the usual Monday morning walk and then it seemed to take an unusually long time
getting out of town which with an unintended Sacramento misstep made for a longer
than usual trip up over the hill to the usual minimalist lunch off 89
before Sierra Valley,
and Doyle. The rest of the way, around the Fort Sage Mountains [earthquake warnings on the phones[!] as we were still in California {even though the earthquake was in Nevada}], over
Sand Pass, up the desert, over the Smoke Creek Bridge
and home went easily though the trip, already late, took an unprecedented 5 1/2 hours…
The next day, sunny, I got everything unloaded
and a chill [twenty degrees] walk in
in winter with
the studio briefly visited
and an evening walk to the chairs, all watched over by Elon’s inexorable symbolism.
Wednesday was even more wintery and also more populous; just at watercolor time
Chris Mahannah turned up with his friend Kurt and energetic airedale Gus to measure the wells’ flow, talk water and mountain bikes then late afternoon I had an online zoom “class” at Kaiser soon followed by Seth and Sonny for duck soup and a mellow time catching up…
The next morning, nearly snowing
and certainly wet
we walked the ponds, after which the cloud descended to the valley floor.
It all turned briefly bright after noon
though that didn’t last…Dark Days ahead, all around.
I’ve neglected to mention the TimeLife Corporation’s recently anointed “Man” of the Year here which is something I’d rather avoid as long as possible but suffice it to say that his or their textbook Dismantling of Democracy [accomplished despite a disturbing setback in 2020] is well documented. Especially if one is using Noah Yuval Harari’s “Nexus” as the textbook; Chapter 5, “Decisions”, pp. 118 – 190.
I ask for more mantling please. Less “dis-“.
I especially like this set of photos, Mike. As for Time’s cover, I didn’t see that coming, but I didn’t see Trump winning either. It’ll be a shock to the system, that’s for sure. But we both know the country could use a little shocking; I had hoped it would come from the left, not this conman. Hopefully, the country will be resilient enough to get through this.
I didn’t even see the cover [will go look for it] and certainly hoped it wasn’t coming but I’m not sure a vengeful dictatorial kleptocracy aspiring to be an all-seeing vengeful totalitarian kleptocracy is survivable…suddenly all a person can hope for is the inertia of the Deep State after all. On the other hand since about the only thing the dude is good at [and VERY good at it] is what his name implies he now has enough resources at his disposal to trump pretty much anything. Fear THAT!
Time’s 2024 cover is certainly unsettling and foreboding…but not unsurprising since “Man of the Year” picks have included these “most influential people for better or WORSE”:
Hitler (1938), Stalin (1939), and Putin (2017).
At least this year’s odious pick was somewhat mitigated by the many beautiful blue skies at Wall.
I guess I’d better read “Nexus”, but I assume it will keep me up at night, worrying about the next “Person of the Year”. My money is on Elon, but my money will probably worthless since I got zero crypto.
What’s with the Sultan oil can?
I find your Man of the Year info reassuring; I was just assuming the Man insisted and they delivered…as for “Nexus”, really clear and eye-opening but I’m confining my readings of it to afternoons after lunch. Bedtime might be a bit much [and as I said to Janet, I’m not even to the AI part yet].
The Sultan can is a one-stringed instrument I traded for years ago at a show I was in at Refusalon. An occasional studio diversion as a way to avoid the Evils of Instagram.
So that was the Harris to whom you referred a few blogs back. I loved Sapiens and will try to get this book. I am currently disgusted and ignoring the news wherein I am appalled at the normalizing of Mr. T.
Harari, actually…there was a link to the book. I’m not even into the AI parts yet and it’s scary as hell…
I wrote Harari…..but Google thought I meant something else.
Google has a mind of it’s own…and grows more willful by the nanosecond!