Phil's Place: The Weekend Approaches

The Moon Wanes

Blue Moon of the 20th

The blue moon shone brightly after the skies cleared on August 20. It was the 3rd of 4 full moons in the season of Summer.

According to Pope Gregory XIII, there were to be 3 full moons in each of the 4 seasons, and 12 months, so as to make his calendar design balance with the day of Ascension. The moon did not cooperate.

No longer Blue Moon on the 21st

On the other side of earth, their timezone had the Blue Moon on the 21st, but at the same time it was our 20th. Now that we are one big global community, we some of us are more aware of conditions on other parts of the planet.

Hanging in there

When I woke up this Thursday morning, I took a moment to appreciate the greatest gift we are given; Another day of existence on planet earth. I thought about how I would use this precious day, and to appreciate the abundance of joyful moments that lay before me.

I should greet every day with a great big thank you, and plan to use the present to savor and share the essence of life, but that is not always the case. The world awaits my participation and appreciation every day, but sometimes I use this amazing brain to worry about things that won't be moved by worrying. Luckily that negative approach will soon annoy me, and I will drop it like a sack of rocks and move forward in a lighter mood.

Margaret’s Happy Veggie Platter

There are 11 wildfires burning in California at the time of this writing. There are 7 burning in Oregon. All the western states have wildfires today. These are the new ‘normal’ conditions that will get worse as the planet heats up from the greenhouse effect of millions of tons of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere daily by burning coal, oil, and natural gas for our energy needs. We must do something.

Tiny white flower reaches up to a spot of sunlight

Every incandescent light bulb that we replace with a CFL, or LED bulb, means a few less watts of fossil fuel fired power plant electricity are required. Better yet, many of us can put solar panels on our roofs and provide the power for most of our household needs, thus even further reducing CO2 emissions produced by outdated utilities.

When I think of the many ways in which we can stop adding to the already accelerating climate change, I feel good about the future. We can stop making things worse. That is a priceless gift we all have been given.

Steve Ragan’s porch flowers

Steve Ragan, adds a lot to our Treehouse community. He bakes cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and puts them on the kitchen counter in the dining room for the delight of his neighbors. His gardens, allow him to share his vegetables with his neighbors, as well.

His porch usually has some sort of colorful flowers to please the eye of passers by. Sometimes there is a wall of tomato plants providing shade for his patio. He has a smile, kind words, and cheerful greetings for anyone he see’s.

His porch planters are particularly striking this week, (above image).

Thank you Steve.

Rambling rose

I got a ‘thank you’ email from Tom Brown, a teenager in the late 1960’s when I was on radio and TV in Jackson, Mississippi. He wrote to say how much he and his friends enjoyed the FM rock music and recalled the day I “said the word” (on the TV show), and the FM station began broadcasting in 200,000 watts of stereo rock music. ( WJDX-FM Story )

In Tom’s email he went on to say that he “became the Chief Engineer for WJDX/WZZQ during the later part of the 70s”.

That emailed letter certainly brightened my day, yesterday.

Thank you Tom.