From rhis morning… Purple flowering plants on a grassy slope.

Beach grass on a slope illuminated by early morning sun.

Party balloon with stars amidst rocks on a shore.

Yellow hand truck with Coors beer can sitting on it. Early morning sun.

Ropes supporting traps suspended in water below.

Moped with Captain Nick’s sticker on it.

Del’s lemonade mini car and sales cart on a brick terrace.

From this morning… Verdant landscape with rock wall, grass, shrubs, and large boulder in the distance.

Green and yellow net mostly buried in sand.

Timbers lying on the ground in shape of cross at the top of a grassy knoll.

Log and timbers partially buried in sand with beach grass in background.

Closeup of flowering dune plants.

Flowering dune plant surrounded by dune grass.

Pieces of timber laying on dune, surrounded by beach grass.

Dune plant with purple blossoms.

Closeup of beach rose.

Landscape with dunes, vegetation and water.

Boulder at the top of a small grassy embankment. Shrubs in the background.

From this morning…

“Lookout” platform projecting over sand dunes in early morning sun.

Old rusted steel tank and platform on the beach.

Fluid sand patterns created by water flowing over the sand.

A feather stuck in the sand with 2/3 of a circle pattern drawn in the sand around it by the feather pushed by the wind.

Old work glove embedded in the ground.

Swirls of current visible on the surface of the water as the tide comes in.

Three boats in protective plastic in a verdant landscape.

Electric car charging station with utility pole and communications tower in background.

Wooden dock projecting into a small pond from an opening in the reads around the pond.

Reflection of a piling and boat in water.

“One gasps in admiration at the ingenuity of it all—the housewife can participate in science itself just by buying something new—or something old that has been given a brand new personality.”

(Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique)

“The right hemisphere view of proof derives its value from the context, and so can never be absolute, regnant for all regions of space and time, and never single or immune from evolution.”

(Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)

“Freedoms that save the saviors also save the degenerates and allow them to tear the whole society apart. But restrictions that stop the degenerates also stop the creative Dynamic forces of evolution.”

(Robert M. Pirsig, Lila)

“Reason cannot be the creative principle, unlike intuition: it is the quality control department only.”

(Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)

From this morning…

Water, docks and boats in the fog.

Dock, ramp and pier structures in the foreground, water, point of land and house in the background.

Red and silver mopeds parked on an asphalt wharf area.

Various sizes of chain piled on top of a wooden dock surface.

Recreation yacht tied up to a pier in Older Harbor on Block Island in fog.

Dock and pier structures from right to left with fog in the distance.

View of Old Harbor on Block Island, with docs, piers and boats in the foreground and a point of land with houses in the distance.

Dilapidated wooden structure in a verdant landscape with houses in the distance.

Two wooden outbuildings on the left in a verdant landscape, corner of a porch on the right, framing a communications tower in the distance.

Dunes with newly planted dune vegetation.

May 23, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Today, by a vote of 6–3, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision and signed off on the new South Carolina congressional map that dilutes Black votes. It approved the map because, it said, the gerrymander was politically, rather than racially, motivated. And, it said, “as far as the Federal Constitution is concerned, a legislature may pursue partisan ends when it engages in redistricting.”

… why should any group have the right to disenfranchise any other group from its fair share of representation?

From this morning’s walk in Rodman’s Hollow on Block Island…

Boulder standing in the midst of shrubs and small trees.

Twin tree trunks in early morning sun in shrub filled field.

Tree and shrub in a grassy landscape.

Trail running from bottom to top then turning right and disappearing behind shrubs

Meadow landscape with sea and bluffs in the distance.

Twin tree trunks on a grassy knoll.

Trail across grassy landscape with small sign saying “walkers only.”

Closeup of grasses.

Old tree in morning sun in a meadow landscape.

Meadow landscape with trees in the distance and a trail running from the lower left corner and disappearing into the middle of the trees.

My new cooking apron with a map of Block Island!

Man dressed in pink shirt, multicolored headband, and cooking apron with a map of Block Island.

Shrinkflation?…

Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Jalapeño Kettle Style Potato Chips bag from the front.

Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Jalapeño Kettle Style Potato Chips bag opened from the top.

From this morning’s walk…

Landscape with driveway, shrubs and trees, and a house visible beyond.

Water visible through shrubs.

Signage for entrance to Dicken’s Farm Nature Preserve. Trees and shrubs surround.

Meadow landscape with ocean visible beyond and trail on right edge.

Shadow of a person cast on meadow grasses. Ocean visible in the distance.

Rolling hills meadow landscape, ocean visible on the right side.

Tree trunk illuminated by morning sun. Shrubs surround it.

Dirt road receding into distance right of center, dilapidated split rail fence on left side of road. Trees and shrubs line the right side. Trees in the distance.

Sun on the side of a building, yellow folded table umbrella and white picket fence in foreground. Sign spelling Persephone’s on the side of the building.

Display case full of morning pastries.

My shadow, the meadow and the sea… yes, Block Island is mostly like this.

Shadow of a human being in early morning pointing across a grassy meadow to the sea beyond.

From this mornings walk…

Verdant landscape with a medium fog. Grass in foreground. Stone wall and shrubs in middle ground. Trees and the roof of a house in the distance.

A dock and its reflection inn water moving from lower left to upper right of frame.

House on a point of land with large rocks on the embankment below and water in the foreground. A small fishing boat passes in the distance. Fog softens the light and scene.

pies of tires on a wooden dock with ropes draping down, against a concrete wall, water and docks and boat inn the distance on the left.

Docks, boats and buildings in middle distance. Water in the foreground. “Mobil” painted on the end of a white building.

Small motor boat on a wooden dock section on dry land. Bottom of boat and motor encrusted in mussels and other marine life.

Harbor-scape, wooden docks and pilings in foreground, boats and landscape in background. Water reflecting everything.

Boats and docks and pilings, water in foreground, houses and landscape in the distance.

Boats and docks and landscape and water.

A boat in dry dock, a piece and trees, in foreground. Water recedes to landscape and houses in the distance.

Good morning from Block Island. We had a nice fog this AM so I drove down to New Harbor for my photo walk. Have a beautiful day!

Early morning at New Harbor on Block Island. Fog softens the light, a house sits above water and stone covered embankment, a small fishing boat motors by in the distance.

May 20, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

This one is a good read… full of quotes of Trump telling us who he is…

It is not clear to me how anyone can any longer deny that Trump is promising to destroy our democracy and usher in authoritarianism.

Loaded up and ready to go… 1 1/2 hours till departure. This is a whole new level of prepared. Now if the cat will come out from under the bed…

Well, basically all ready to leave on vacation tomorrow morning and it’s not middle of the night. We must be forgetting something big.

From today’s walk…

Close up of a pink peony flower.

Closeup of light purple iris flowers.

Closeup of window with closed vertical blinds and two pieces of tape stuck to the window casting shadows onto the blinds.

Closeup of pink and white foxglove blossoms.

Closeup of display of small multicolored toys in a shop window, among them a couple of trolls and an astronaut with a fracture visor.

Close up of a pink bust of a woman with green cats eye sunglasses decorated with flowers on the corners of the frame.

Spray bottles in a shop window. The wooden frame of a window screen in front of them. Reflections of the street overlaid.

So, tonight at a party I was in almost full feminine mode. Only lacking lipstick. An acquaintance said to me, “you have a different look,” to which I replied, “yes, I am exploring trans-feminine space.” I much prefer being asked about my changes to polite silence. Just saying.

Flirting with Disaster - by Mona Charen - The Bulwark

Those are the stakes. It is tragic and shameful that so many fail to see it.

Flirting with Disaster - by Mona Charen - The Bulwark

We are staring down the possibility of putting someone back in power who has demonstrated that he is willing to use informal violence to achieve his anti-democratic ends. He attempted a coup with a mob of enraged zealots. How tragically foolish must you be to give him the power to wield formal, state-sanctioned violence? Think the president hasn’t the power? Read the Insurrection Act.