June = Juno is the Queen of the Heavens
Hi everyone:
Wow, what a dreary spring we’ve had in the San Francisco Bay area this spring. One of the coldest ever. Therefore………
I’m just going to go to Brazil, where it’s warmer. This will be my first visit back there since 2019. I only have one trip this year but in 2024 I’ll plan two trips. It is a remarkable journey to three different ecosystems – the Pantanal, the Chapada, and the Amazon Ecosystem. Brazil is big and the state we visit is Mato Grosso, 3/4 the size of Texas. I am really looking forward to seeing jaguars again. Not to mention those capybaras, spider monkeys, caimans, jabiru storks, Harpy eagles, roseate spoonbills, hyacinth macaws, toco toucans……
Footloose Forays business. There is a little room on the first Mono Lake trip (October 3-5), the second is wait list only. The Tanzania trips in early 2024 now have a bit of room. Bhutan trips are wait list only. See the website.
My friend Mark Trautwein retired from being the editor of the Perspective series at KQED NPR in San Francisco. I started doing them in 1989 and I’m not sure if the new editor would like me to continue. I have mixed feelings. It’s great to connect with the large public radio audience, but it’s also nice to not have one more deadline. We shall see. Here is one from last year on a favorite treat.
Psychedelics are in the news a lot now. My first acid trip (orange sunshine) was in September 1970. Life changing for sure. Here is a professor from Stanford on psilocybin, especially on its therapeutic uses.
The longest living animals on earth might surprise you.
From NASA – the “sound” of a black hole.
From Freakonomics podcast. Ari Emmanuel. Listen to his explanation of dealing with Saudis. Just business? I was impressed until I heard him justify murder because every government does it. But still a good listen.
She is a little too much but she makes a great point about those trying to impose their religion on the rest of us.
John Prine and Iris Dement on getting old– In Spite of Ourselves.
My friend Doug T. sent me these four:
And here is a remarkable LA street artist.
This amazing woman removes fish hooks from sharks. What an inspiration.
Nature does make us happy, from the BBC. Be sure to use headphones and large screen.
Butterflies evolved in North America. Butterfly tree of life reveals an origin in North America – Research News (ufl.edu)
Checkerspot on Yerba Santa
Invented words by fans of Anu Garg:
Averdary: A combination of average, everyday, and ordinary to describe a person or event that is so unremarkable as to deserve a mashup of three adjectives to underscore their plainness.
-Bob Ezrin, Franklin, Tennessee
Textambulate: To text while walking.
-Kevin O’Reilly, Powell, Ohio
Nooning: The moment when your brain resets and you don’t remember what you had been saying or doing. This is based on those old digital clocks that would flash 12:00 when disconnected and reconnected. (This was actually 12:00 AM, midnight, not noon, but midnighting just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
-Nayeli Garci-Crespo, Mexico City, Mexico
Requition: The process of transitioning from unrequited to requited.
-Joe Holland, West Allis, Wisconsin
Nullity: The time spent waiting for someone to scroll through their phone searching for an item after they’ve said, “Just look at this.” I know this already has the meaning of being legally void but I am using it to describe such an utter waste of one’s time.
-Katy Hunter-Choat, Wotton, UK
Hesterton: A person who doesn’t admit that he doesn’t know a word. The test, of course, is to call someone a hesterton. If he asks what that means, he is absolved, but if he defends himself -- “I am not!” -- then he confirms that he is one. My father coined it when he was a kid. I still use all the time:.
-Viveca Gardiner, Brooklyn, New York
Interlegate: To read between the lines.
-Michael Keyton, Aurora, Illinois
Syncopresis: a polite way of saying: getting your shιt together. From Greek syn- (with) and kopron (dung). Pronounced sin-ko-PREE-sis.
Usage: “Not quite feckless, George still remained far from achieving syncopresis.”
-Bob Richmond, Maryville, Tennessee)
Artickle: An article that amuses one.
-Stephen Darr, Winchester, Massachusetts
Olderloaded: Being overloaded not only with incoming information, but shrinking ability to manage it as we get older. My husband Tom invented it.
-Lauri Holmes, Kalamazoo, Michigan)
Monologous: Describing a person who speaks non-stop in a social situation, rather than participating in give-and-take conversation.
-Beth Keena, Pittsboro, North Carolina
Homeopathetic: A spurious form of medicine.
-Stuart Klipper, Minneapolis, Minnesota
EARTH YOUR DANCING PLACE
Beneath heaven’s vault
remember always walking
through halls of cloud
down aisles of sunlight
or through high hedges
of the green rain
walk in the world
high heeled with swirl of cape
hand at the sword hilt
of your pride
Keep a tall throat
Remain aghast at life
Enter each day
as upon a stage
lighted and waiting
for your step
Crave upward as flame
have keenness in the nostril
Give your eyes
to agony or rapture
Take earth for your own large room
and the floor of the earth
carpeted with sunlight
and hung round with silver wind
for your dancing place
-May Swenson
June 9, 2023. Alma’s last day of preschool. Next year it is onto kindergarten. Transitions will keep on coming….. May the Earth continue to be her dancing place.