Category Archives: Activism/Protecting Animals/Politics

A Glimmer of Hope

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In the midst of this dystopian hellscape in which we’re enmired, something beautiful happened in my little beachy town, a glimmer of hope that humanity is not completely dead.

A hundred or so of our neighbors showed up to celebrate the retirement of everyone’s favorite mail carrier.

When news spread throughout his neighborhood routes that our special and beloved mailman was retiring after forty-two years, a plan was formed to host a potluck in his honor at our local park.

This guy has been more than someone who simply delivers our mail; he’s become one of the family. There are few people who have an inner light that shines brightly. We all have been touched by his many kindnesses and we wanted to return the love, not that we haven’t gifted him with things over the years, but this needed to be a spectacular celebration, a send-off he’d remember.

Families from all of his routes showed up with food, decorations, and gifts. People we’ve said hi to for decades now had a name, and we shared stories about our personal experiences; especially his sweet tooth!

Since I’m known to be extra, I contacted our mayor and asked him if he could possibly create some sort of formal commendation or award to present to this exemplary human. He liked the idea which had actually never been done in the history of our city, and asked me to write a little speech for him, which I did. He took it a step further and created Mailman Steve Day and presented him with a framed award.

It was an old-fashioned community gathering, enjoying a beautiful SoCal evening AND happily for me, a little Leon Russell chat.

I yelled out to a neighbor, “Hey, Leon!” because he has long white hair and a beard, so of course I always refer to him as “Leon”, and another neighbor said, “Why do you call him Leon? That’s Jim.” and I told him it’s because he looks like Leon Russell. His response was, “How do you know about Leon Russell? Do you know Mad Dogs and Englishmen?” I showed him the playlist on my phone and told him to pick a favorite Leon Russell song and he chose two of my personal faves, “Girl From The North Country” and “Cry Me a River”.

Someone else requested “Tight Rope” and “A Song For You” and as a crowd gathered, we had a proper singalong. These guys knew every word and we all marveled at the musical genius of the one and only Master of Space and Time. #goodtimes

Best of all for me is that I’m still referred to as “Jason’s mom” even after all these years. It was so heartwarming to have several forty-year-olds (!) fondly remembering the backyard skate ramp and shared lovely memories about my original angel boy. I am so very proud to be Jason’s mom.

This happy community gathering to honor our mailman shows me that there IS hope for our country, even if it’s hanging on by a thread.

P.S. Next Saturday, October 18, is another day to protest the regime, another NO KINGS DAY, and I’ll be on the frontlines to again gather with my neighbors, this time to protect free speech and save America.

Me Encanta Bad Bunny! Let’s All LOVE Bad Bunny!

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On another topic for a minute, isn’t is awesome that María Corina Machado Parisca won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize? She’s a Venezuelan politician, industrial engineer, and a prominent opposition leader to the authoritarian Nicolás Maduro regime. Congratulations!

Do you know Bad Bunny?

Singer and record producer Bad Bunny has been chosen to perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.

A lot of absolute and total subhuman idiots including that orange POS don’t seem to comprehend that Bad Bunny was born in Puerto Rico and that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated United States territory. To clarify, Puerto Ricans are United States citizens.

The most streamed artist in the world, Bad Bunny’s real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. He was born in Puerto Rico and chose the stage name Bad Bunny after a social media post of him as a child, wearing a bunny suit and a grumpy expression, gained popularity and led him to create a Twitter account with that name. 

His mom is a retired teacher and his dad was a truck driver, about as American as you can get.

This choice for the Super Bowl LX halftime show has been met with a furious backlash from MAGA influencers who’ve complained that he “doesn’t sing in English” and that he has been critical of Donald Trump, something I admire him for doing.

This manufactured outrage and hostility towards Bad Bunny is not rooted in his music, but in his message, and his color.

It’s absolutely disgusting to realize how many racist people there are in this country and how they feel it’s now OK to be vocal about it. Really, really, disgusting.

In a weird kind of way, their faux outrage has catapulted Bad Bunny to the forefront of everyone’s mind; it’s priceless publicity!

Maybe I didn’t really know who he was before, but now that I do, he’ll be added to my playlist. Maybe not at the top because my heart still belongs to Leon Russell, but there’s room for a Bad Bunny song or two; some Latin urban, reggaeton, and Latin trap.

By choosing Bad Bunny, the NFL not only secures a global superstar, but also aligns itself with a narrative of inclusion and representation. I didn’t think anybody can top Prince’s electric performance in 2007, but I support the NFL’s choice.

Bad Bunny says, “Sin mucha labia, sin mucha cotorra. Cuando estoy contigo dejo que la vibra corra,” which translates to “Without much fluff, without much chatter. When I’m with you I let the vibe flow”. 

I love Bad Bunny. I hope you will. too!

World Animal Day – Remembering Jane Goodall

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Save Animals, Save the Planet

This year marks the 100th anniversary of this global celebration of animals.

For a century, people have come together to show kindness, compassion, and care for the creatures we share our planet with. The mission of World Animal Day is to raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe.

World Animal Day started in 1925 when German writer and activist Heinrich Zimmermann organized the first event in Berlin on March 24. The date was officially moved to October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, in 1931, becoming an international celebration of animal welfare. 

This seems like a perfect day to honor the life and legacy of Jane Goodall, who died this week of natural causes. We can aspire to follow in her footsteps and speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall was an English primatologist and anthropologist. Regarded as a pioneer in primate ethology, she was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.

“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Jane Goodall

Animals are our teachers. They show us how to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature, how to trust our instincts, and how to be fully present in each moment.

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.” Jane Goodall

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Autumnal Equinox and Rosh Hashanah 

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Falling (get it?) on the same day is the autumnal equinox and the Jewish New Year.

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the birthday of the universe, year 5786, and is the beginning of the High Holy Days.

Fall weather in SoCal usually brings our hottest Santa Ana winds and high temperatures, but yesterday was a drizzly, showery day and we were all so grateful for it because we hadn’t had any rain in months.

Today, the first day of autumn, is still a bit gloomy, but it’s heating up again. The leaves are turning yellow so we know change is on the way.

Mythically, the autumnal equinox relates to the story of Persephone and marks the moment the goddess descends into the underworld to rejoin her husband, Hades.

It’s a good day to write down what we want to release alongside what we want to attract. It’s all about balance.

Happy New Year and Happy Autumn!
L’shanah tovah! Remember to eat apples dipped in honey and hope for an end to war and long lasting peace.

When The Towers Fell – September 11

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I don’t approve of using animals in war or police work. I think it’s cruel to send dogs and horses in harm’s way, especially since these sentient beings don’t have the ability to consent — decision-making capacity –and are merely used as expendable, cheap fodder. In my opinion, that’s clearly abusive.

However, the rescue dogs who searched for victims of the 9/11 attacks saved many lives and then took on the task of providing therapy to survivors.

On September 11, 2001, when the towers fell and the sky turned to ash, more than 300 search and rescue dogs stepped into hell on earth. They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t flinch. They climbed through fire and steel, through suffocating debris and deafening silence, searching for life with every breath, every pawstep, every heartbeat.

They entered with pure hearts and fearless resolve—no armor, no agenda, just the unshakable instinct to help. They worked until their pads split, until the air burned their lungs, until their handlers broke down and hope ran dry. And still, they kept going. Because that’s what heroes do.

When the searching stopped, the therapy dogs arrived. Quiet. Steady. Healing. They didn’t need words. They curled beside the broken, leaned into the grief, and reminded shattered humans that love hadn’t died in the dust.

These beautiful dogs didn’t just serve. They bore the weight of our sorrow. They carried our hope. They were the silent saints of Ground Zero—unspoken, unshaken, unforgettable.

We don’t just remember them. We thank them. For their courage. For their comfort. For showing us, in our darkest hours, what selfless devotion truly looks like.

To the hero dogs of 9/11: your legacy lives on in every rescue, every comfort, every life saved because you showed up when it mattered most. Curated from houndsinpounds.org

The Circle of Life and Death

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In the corner of the garden close to the back gate, I found a wing that belonged to a Monarch butterfly. Poor tattered little one, colors dull and listless; I carefully picked her up to bring inside the house to spend eternity resting in a pretty box of similar treasures.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

When I went back outside to finish a yard clean-up project, I had a visitor — this magnificent Monarch who stayed still long enough to spread her wings for a picture, vibrant and alive:

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

It’s a blueblue sky circle of life day here in SoCal.

Life Imitates Art

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It’s been an insane couple of days here on Earth, hasn’t it? A lunar occultation, double meteor showers, giant earthquakes, tsunamis — in addition to retrograde Mercury and the Lion’s Gate portal — and we are definitely in the midst of a massive amount of cosmic energy. I’m not sure what it all means, but I’m on high alert, that’s for sure.

There were no earthquakes or tsunami damage around here, but check out this crazy photo! I was in the garden near a brick patio cleaning fallen leaves from the eucalyptus tree. It’s a really annoying job because my stupid city planted the wrong sort of street trees decades ago and not only do eucs make a giant mess, they’re also a fire hazard. I have to constantly pick up the leaves and the incredibly painful-to-bare-feet seed pods (known as gum nuts). No matter how many times neighbors and I lobby the city to get the tree removed, we are always turned down; another stupidstupid city decision.

In and around the bricks and rocks, I had positioned a few random tiles to add some color when a friendly real lizard stopped by for a visit. I’m glad my camera was close by to memorialize the meeting between art and reality.

Does art imitate life or is life imitating art?

Yes, you are beautiful!

You can see some of the offending euc leaves that fell right after I had cleaned up this area. It’s SO annoying!

Photo by Enchanted Seashells
#WordlessWednesday

Federal Agents March Through L.A. Park, Spurring Local Outrage

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Why isn’t this a bigger deal? Have you heard about what happened in Los Angeles? Your city could be next. Mine, too.

This isn’t a crew on location shooting a scene of a disaster film, this is real life. We are living in a nightmare.

APNews

Federal officials said it was an immigration enforcement operation, though it was unclear if anyone had been arrested. “It’s the way a city looks before a coup,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said as she condemned the action.

It had been a quiet morning in MacArthur Park, a hub in one of Los Angeles’s most immigrant-heavy neighborhoods. Children at a summer camp were playing outside, but the park was otherwise largely empty.

Then, dozens of armed federal agents began marching over soccer fields and grass berms, based on footage of the incident. Military-style vehicles blocked the street and a federal helicopter flew overhead.

They wore fatigues, masks and helmets and marched in lines. Some were on horseback. Camera crews followed alongside them.

Los Angeles leaders have grown weary after thousands of National Guard troops and Marines arrived nearly a month ago and immigration raids have become a regular, visible occurrence. But they took particular umbrage at Monday’s extraordinary show of force in MacArthur Park and issued a swift and furious rebuke.

“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,” Mayor Bass said in a news conference on Monday afternoon, adding that she had traveled regularly into conflict zones as a member of Congress.

Dozens of federal agents were observed in the park, many arriving in armored military vehicles. They were joined by 80 California National Guard troops under the command of President Trump, according to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom, who criticized the effort and has tried to stop the federalization of Guard members through a lawsuit.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to specific questions about the purpose of the operation at MacArthur Park or whether anyone had been detained.

“The operation is ongoing,” she wrote in an email. “So that should be a message in of itself.”

Asked to clarify that message, she responded that it was an immigration enforcement operation and that such efforts “are not in one single location.”

To many local leaders, the Monday march through MacArthur Park seemed designed to intimidate immigrants and residents, rather than to carry out targeted enforcement. Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the president of the Los Angeles City Council, derided the display as a stunt made for TikTok.

“If you want to film in L.A., you should apply for a film permit like everybody else,” he said during an afternoon news conference. “Stop trying to scare the bejesus out of everybody who lives in this great city and disrupt our economy.”

Ms. Bass said that once she arrived, she had demanded to speak to the person in charge of the operation at the park. She was handed a phone, through which, she said, Mr. Bovino told her that he would be “getting them out of the park,” apparently referring to federal agents.The agents left the park a short time later, she said. From New York Times by Jill Cowan and Mimi Dwyer

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These questions need to be answered: when are good people going to rise up and put an end to this dystopian nightmare? When is enough, enough?

They ripped away health care. They denied food assistance to children. They exploded the nation’s debt, shuttered Social Security offices, rural hospitals, and decimated federal employees and the VA, along with kidnapping mothers and fathers and students. When is enough ENOUGH?

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Sirius-ly Star Light ⭐ Star Bright…

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If I could, I’d wish everyone a happy 4th of July, but in our current USA climate of ICE kidnappings, lack of due process, total annihilation of our Bill of Rights and Constitution, it’s more of a sad, funereal, and tragic day than a celebration.

Instead, I’m looking to the skies for inspiration, hopefully some “as above, so below” joy, the kind you get from wishing upon a star…

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
⭐

It’s time for Sirius to shine as the brightest most twinkliest star in the night sky. Also known as the Dog Star, it’s a binary star system consisting of Sirius A and Sirius B. Sirius is located 8.6 light-years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major. 

Each year from July 3 to July 7, the Earth experiences a powerful energetic alignment known as the Sirius Portal. This five-day window marks a period of increased cosmic energy, spiritual awakening, and inner transformation.

During this time, the Sun aligns with the star Sirius, the brightest star visible from Earth, often referred to as our Spiritual Sun. Sirius has been revered by ancient cultures for thousands of years for its connection to divine intelligence, spiritual activation, and higher consciousness.

In astrology and energy work, this alignment is known to open a cosmic gateway or energy portal, allowing a flow of high-frequency light codes to reach Earth. These light codes are energetic patterns that support soul remembrance, intuition activation, emotional release, and vibrational upgrades on both a personal and collective level.

While this energy is available to everyone, those who are more energy sensitive or actively working on growth may feel it more strongly.

During the Sirius Portal, many people feel a mix of emotional, mental, and physical shifts. These are signs that your energy body is adjusting and upgrading in response to the alignment.

The energy coming through this gateway often reveals what needs healing, highlights what is ready to shift, and strengthens your connection to your higher self. It can be a time of deep insight, emotional clarity, and powerful intention-setting.

The Sirius Portal represents a connection between the Earth and higher realms of consciousness. While our physical Sun sustains life in the material world, Sirius is seen as a source of spiritual light, providing insight, healing, and guidance from the soul level.

This alignment is considered sacred as it opens a brief period where access to wisdom, clarity, and transformation becomes easier, faster, and more direct.

It is believed that spiritual downloads, energetic healing, and intuitive insights are more accessible during this time. People who actively work with this energy may experience a breakthrough, make an important decision, or feel deeply inspired to move forward with something they had been holding back.

To make the most of the Sirius Gateway, it helps to take time out to pause and reflect. This is a perfect time for journaling, meditation, or stillness. By asking focused questions, you open a dialogue with your higher self and invite answers that may come through thoughts, dreams, feelings, or synchronicities.

Here are some powerful questions to ask during this portal:

⭐ What parts of my life feel out of alignment with who I am becoming?
⭐ What am I ready to release so that I can grow emotionally or spiritually?
⭐ What would it feel like to fully trust my inner guidance right now?

Asking these questions from a place of curiosity, without pressure, allows answers to flow naturally. Sometimes they come right away. Other times, the answers appear gradually through signs, intuitive nudges, or conversations that confirm what you already feel inside.

While the Sirius Portal is deeply energetic, the way you respond to it physically and mentally will shape what you get from the experience. Choosing to be intentional during these five days helps direct the energy toward your goals.

You might take time out each day between July 3 and July 7 to do one or more of the following:

⭐ Write down one intention that you want to manifest before the end of the year.
⭐ Meditate on your highest self and visualize living your next-level life.
⭐ Clear out old clutter, thoughts, or habits that no longer match your direction.
⭐ Pay close attention to your dreams or signs and write them down immediately.

What we do, say, think, and feel during these days carries extra weight. Approach the portal with clear intentions, openness, and trust. Curated from Alex Myles

I guess all we can do is manifest and set intentions for a positive future with decent humans making better choices for us and our planet. Fingers crossed!

⭐ Best of all, I discovered a Leon Russell (as Hank Wilson) song about stars!

Incoming Tide

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Photo by Enchanted Seashells

There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide. — Rachel Carson

This particular beach is a favorite for locals to surf and tidepool, so we are always a bit vague as to the specific location to protect it from being overrun by ill-mannered tourists who trash our beaches.