Mom's Day

Or Night As The Case May Be

Cascade Theater Friday night

I have 13 min left before midnight, so I had better get moving while it still is Mother’s Day.

The Phil Seymour Band had a good time playing on Friday at the Post Office Saloon. The band sounded good and everybody was happy we were there.

We thought the crowd might be a bit thin since Stephen Stills was playing around the corner at the Cascade, but we had a room full. It was a good night for music in Redding.

Bright colored awnings cheer up Placer Street shops

I took a few pictures before we started. It was a windy, but very pleasant evening.

I call him “Lumpy”

Most of the day Saturday was spent listening to the recording of Friday’s performance.

I did take a few breaks to snap a picture or 2. The dove family was out by the dog playpen. Dad was on the fence while mom and the youngster were scratching and pecking in the grass. The dad, I call him Lumpy, didn’t seem to think I was a threat, so I got some nice pix of the family.

Baby dove takes a look at me without fear

It was a good day for Lassen pictures. There were designer clouds adding good light and shadow to deep blue colors.

Saturday afternoon Lassen

The clouds were looming over our surrounding mountains, but overhead the skies were clear and blue. The sunlight on some of the driveway roses was exceptional for photography.

Roses along the Treehouse driveway

What a place for enjoying the splendor and magic of this world we are lucky enough to live in. After a few hours of mixing and editing recordings, I looked outside and there was Mars in the night sky just left of the Moon.

Mars and Moon

I took many pix of our satellite and the planet, but I thought the one above would be the most fun to see on this blog.

Traditional Mother’s Day Breakfast

Yesterday I read a couple of my previous Mother’s Day blogposts and noticed that each had a picture of fresh fruit and cereal. It was fun reading the research results found regarding the day in May when we honor our mothers. You can find those posts HERE, or just use the blog search feature box on the upper left of this page.

One of the surprising things about this blog is who is reading it. I initially wrote these posts for friends and family who like to read and see how I am doing. It is also a journal to record events I have experienced throughout the years with the intention of someday writing a book. Over the years people around the world have let me know they read this blog. That is fun to know.

Last week, I got an invitation/comment from the ahamoment video production team to come to their traveling studio this Tuesday to film me describing my ‘aha’ moment(s). That was certainly an interesting surprise. I wonder which aha moment will come to mind at the time?

Tonight’s Mother’s Day Moon

Today’s Video;

Hoof It from Seth Boyden on https://vimeo.com">Vimeo

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Wild Wonderful World

Mothering Sunday

A 16th Century Holiday

Treehouse rose dressed up

Mothering Sunday is a Christian holiday celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent.

The modern Mother’s Day is a story of American 19th century history, war, songwriting, intrigue, and ultimately a 20th century entrepreneurial woman named Anna.

Mother’s Day Sterling rose

We begin with the woman who wrote the “Battle Hymn Of The Republic” lyrics to the melody of “John Browns Body”, Julia Ward Howe . You might find it interesting that the Julia Ward Howe lyrics indicated the “end times” would be coming during the civil war.

She started Mothers for Peace Day in 1870.

Looking for love?

Anna Jarvis succeeded in getting Mother’s Day proclaimed as a holiday in 1914. She publicly stated her disappointment in the commercialization of the holiday soon after. The fact that two years earlier in 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "Second Sunday in May", "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association, makes her protestations about commercialism seem a bit disingenuous.

“Little Angel”

Males get to go about the happy business of “sowing seeds, visiting flowers, pollinating along their merry way”, but it is Mothers who have the power to use that seed for creating life. 

Evidently that distinction gets lost among societies where women are treated like property and second class citizens. Even here in America, there are members of a right wing political party who keep introducing legislation to take away women’s rights.

Fluttering from flower to flower

The Scent Of A Mother

Aromatic rose

Find out how, why, and what makes neonates happy, as you follow the trail of discovery with Malcolm Campbell in his enlightening, and heartwarming post, Mom And Apple Pie

Today’s Spring Video;

CHERIE 25 Habillage from MATHEMATIC SAS on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo

.

Mothers Give Us Life

Indescribable

Beyond Containment


Jordan becomes part of the Air Show

How I see it.

There is this infinite and timeless entity of which all things are part.

Whether a rock, a bug, a star, an atom, or a thought, it is all one thing.

This thing does not need my ego, (self defined awareness), to exist.

It, (God?), just is.


Soaring birds are part of the Air Show

The universe as defined by my ego, doesn’t actually exist in the big scheme of things.


This A-10 Warthog was part of the Air Show

Operating in both ego described life and conscious contact with God simultaneously, is how I like living.

I am getting better at letting the duality simply happen instead of trying to hang on like I am afraid I might lose what is already lost.

Klaatu Barada Nicto


This lenticular cloud was part of the Air Show

I spent an hour watching the Redding Air Show with Stuart and Sandi Taylor, in Sandi’s mother’s backyard. There were sisters, cousins, Mom’s, Dad’s, kids, dogs, birds and a barbecue by the pool while the Air Show entertained from the airport, a quarter mile away.

On the drive back, I saw the flying saucer from The Day The Earth Stood Still, hovering over Mt Shasta, (Well, a lenticular cloud that looked a lot like it, anyway).


Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;




Flights Of Fancy

Sky Watching

Camera Ready


Doris’ blooming cactus bloom

I was lucky to have been told that Doris had flowers on her cactus today. The last time it was blooming I was tardy and the bloom was off the cacti. This time I wasn’t late.



I even went back a few minutes later and took some more shots with a white background. It was a fine day for cactus blossoms.

The Fresher Roasted Beans



This week I tried some coffee beans from a new, relatively local, coffee roasting company. Northbound Coffee Roasters located in Mount Shasta. They had some of their beans at our local health food store, so I dug through the little 120z sacks and found one that was stamped, “roasted on August 16”. I tried it, and I like it. The aromatic freshness makes a flavorful cup using fewer beans in the grinder.


The driveway rose makes more blooming buds.

Fewer beans, and a medium grind produces some of the sweetest coffee one can brew. It also offsets the higher price of fresh roasted organic beans from a small, local coffee company. If I can afford it, I plan to take the 1 hour drive up to scenic Mt Shasta to get some same day fresh roasted beans, maybe even wade in the waters of Lake Siskiyou, take many pictures, and shoot some video, too.


Sundial Bridge

Even if I don’t have the gas to get up to Shasta this week, there are plenty of beautiful sights and exciting events going on within a 5 minute drive.


Sundial Bridge

This weekend is the air show, (minus one p-51 Mustang and pilot). I have been invited to watch the show from Sandi’s mother’s backyard air show barbecue, guaranteed to be 20 degrees cooler than out on the airport pavement.


Sundial Bridge

On Saturday, at Lake Redding, it’s the annual Rubber Ducky Derby. Another great photo opportunity close to home, (about a minute drive).

Look. Up In The Sky

As the crows fly over the Treehouse Apartments

The UARS 6.5 ton space lab is expected to de-orbit in a fiery display somewhere over the earth on Thursday, (probably). If it happens where I can see it, I will have my cameras ready.

I recorded the band playing the song I wrote for falling satellites when we played last Saturday. The dancers participated in the, ‘call and response’, as well as improvising a dance to go with the song.

After a little post production, I managed to upload it to Soundcloud this evening so I could post it here as the song of the day. I even put together some cover art this evening as well. I hope you enjoy this blues tribute to falling satellites everywhere, (and when).


Artwork for falling satellite song

Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;

 What Goes Up by Phil Seymour



Coming Soon

Space

Unlimited



In the last blog post, I wrote that I was headed out to find a Mother’s Day rainbow, and I was rewarded with a spectacular display of clouds, sky, precipitation, and light. What a world we get to experience, here on earth.



The next day brought clearing skies and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.
 


Today was astounding, too. What can I say? I am so fortunate to be surrounded by all the glorious sights, sounds, and smells that fill this part of the world.  I am happy that I was ‘called’ to live here.
 


There were so many striking images of all that I saw just walking from the car to my door, that I feel like the wealthiest person on this planet. Such priceless abundance, and it’s free. All we have to do is open our eyes and hearts.



I think if more people could understand and appreciate all that God has provided for us, we might not have wasted a decade and $385 billion dollars, “getting even”,  with a guy who caused us harm.




Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song;





We Can Do Wonderfully Good Things, Too

Happy

Mother’s Day

We had a beautiful day in Redding for this Mother’s Day.

“One of the early calls to celebrate a Mother's Day in the United States was the "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe. Written in 1870, it was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
In the years after the Mother's Day Proclamation, Ann Jarvis founded five Mothers' Day Work Clubs to improve sanitary and health conditions. In 1907, two years after Ann Jarvis' death, her daughter Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother and began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the US. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commericalization by the 1920s.” (More)

Mother’s Day Breakfast



I had a delicious breakfast in celebration of Mother’s day. In addition to the usual Natures Path organic cereal with banana and strawberries, this years blueberries from the Family Tree Farms are now at Raley’s. They are big, fresh, and tasty.

One year I wrote to them and inquired as to where I might find a blueberry tree. They got the joke, and responded with a very nice reply and an invitation to come down to Reedley and see the farm. I just might do that, one of these years.



Part of my waking process each day is to take a cruise through the newspapers,  magazines, and blogs on the Internet. I got up relatively early and looked for Mother’s Day stories. I looked and looked and saw that the regular stuff that passes for news these days, was there, but Mother’s Day was way down on the Totem pole, (if it was even mentioned at all).



I would list all the newspapers, magazines, blogs, and websites I look at each day, but it would take up way too much space and time for me to type. Suffice it to say that; “If you are a regular reader of my blog, I read your favorite, and local papers, plus some of my more esoteric sources, nearly every day.”



Not one news source had a Mother’s Day headline. (Except Mother Jones magazine!)



I attended a regularly scheduled district meeting today. I thought it should have been rescheduled, but it wasn’t my call. Nevertheless, it did get me out and about on this 70 degree, gorgeous day.



As I am writing this, this evening, the forecast thunderstorms have arrived. I am soooo glad I didn’t get the Buick washed earlier.

Some of today’s pictures were taken by the river at Caldwell Park.

Sterling Rose Update
 

The thunderstorm is a wonderful soundtrack on this 97th official Mother’s Day. There are occasional shafts of sunlight appearing on the tree next to my balcony, so I think I will go out and look for the rainbows.

Happy Mother’s Day