Category Archives: News and Serious Stuff

Death Valley is HOT

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Photo by Athena on Pexels.com

Right now, visitors are flocking to Death Valley National Park to experience the forecasted EXTREME heat.

Death Valley is projected to set a verified world record for the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded, with Furnace Creek expected to reach 131 degrees with a low temperature at night of 101 degrees.

I’ve been to Death Valley a few times. It’s an otherworldly and mysterious experience. It’s a whole mind/body connection, the kind of heat that permeates down to a soulful, cellular level. Along with the magnificent silence, there’s really nothing to compare to desert heat.

Ten thousand years ago, Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, was once a hundred-mile long lake. It’s now a vast expanse of salty ground.

When you visit Death Vally, make sure you stop at Artists Palette, a technicolor, kaleidoscopic display of multicolored rock in that makes you feel you’re at an art exhibit.

Of course, as with the rest of our country, there were Indigenous People here before us.

The Timbisha Shoshone Indians lived there for centuries before the first white man entered the valley. They hunted and followed seasonal migrations to harvest pinyon pine nuts and mesquite beans. To them, the land provided everything they needed and many areas were, and are, considered to be sacred places.

I always thank the first people when I camp or hike, no matter where I am.

The shamanic ground markings of Death Valley tend to be found in the more remote parts of this already remote region – probably the reason why any trace of them survives at all. They are ritual and magical features left by long-ago shamans, probably of the ancestral Pima and Shoshone peoples, and they are fragile, so much so that their precise locations are not advertised.

They take various forms – ritual pathways, shrines, vision quest beds, scraped ground markings, strange sinuous lines, and weird patterns of rocks.

Vision quest beds are remote, subtly-marked locations where an Indian brave or shaman would go to spend a solitary vigil seeking a vision – a personal spiritual gift. He would go without food or sleep for perhaps three or four days and nights until the vision came. If it came at all, it would most commonly be in the form of what we would call an auditory hallucination: he would hear a chant or song.

Ritual pathways are probably the rarest of the shamanic features. a loose group of boulders.

The most enigmatic of all the shamanic relics in the valley are markings etched into the hard, sunbaked ground (‘intaglios’) or laid out with small rocks on the surface of the ground (‘petroforms’). Such features are collectively known as ‘geoglyphs’. Both types in Death Valley mainly show meandering, abstract patterns, but a few seem to depict mythical creatures. (Curated from https://www.ancient-origins.net)

If you make it to Death Valley, no matter what season, take more water than you think you’ll need to stay well hydrated!

OPINION | Ban Fireworks #July4th #IndependenceDay

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There’s nothing to celebrate on the #July4th when traditional fireworks cause environmental pollution, scare wildlife, pets, and veterans.

Instead, let’s be smart and kind and use laser light shows. It’s virtually the same experience with zero #cruelty. #BanFireworks#IndependenceDay

Fortunately, a growing number of cities and counties are opting to prohibit fireworks, including recently adopted bans in Portland, Oregon; San Jose, California; Detroit, Michigan; and King County, Washington (home to Seattle).

The Animal Legal Defense Fund advocates in favor of such bans to protect animals and the ecosystems in which they live.

Companion Animals at Risk

Every July like clockwork, news articles and social media posts are published sharing advice for animal guardians about how to keep their companions as safe and calm as possible on the Fourth of July.

And, every July like clockwork, municipal animal shelters fill to the brim with dogs and cats who’ve escaped their homes and yards, becoming lost as they try to flee the sounds, smells, and vibrations of fireworks.

Wildlife Suffer for Fireworks

As for animals in the wild, they face perils of their own as a result of fireworks. “We know what to expect, but wildlife don’t,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes, adding that “[t]he abrupt lights and sounds are often seen as a threat by nesting bald eagles and easily startle great blue herons and other colonial nesting birds.”

Additional Problems for Humans and the Environment

Fireworks have environmental and public health impacts that are rarely considered or fully appreciated. They release particulate matter and toxins, adversely affecting air quality. They also pose a serious risk of igniting wildfires, particularly in areas facing dry conditions.

Many humans are also bothered by fireworks, including people with post-traumatic stress disorder, those on the autism spectrum, and others with sensory processing challenges.

https://aldf.org/article/animals-suffer-for-fireworks-more-localities-are-implementing-bans/

Feel the Full Moon Energy

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Keep your eyes on the sky!

The moon begins her stately ride
Across the summer sky;
The happy wavelets lash the shore,
The tide is rising high. (From Evening Moon Paul Laurence Dunbar)

July’s full Buck Moon orbits closer to Earth than many of the other full moons this year, making it one of the four super moons of 2023.

This full moon in Capricorn is ruled by Chronos (Saturn) and Poseidon (Neptune), both powerful gods.

I’m not exactly sure what all that means, but in general, full moons can serve to illuminate our belief systems and define our overall intentions to live in joy and integrity.

Don’t forget to set out a jar of water along with your crystals to be cleansed and charged by the moon’s powerful energy.

(Art curated from Pinterest)

BREAKING NEWS: Rest in Peace, Julian Sands

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Here’s confirmation.from San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department:

Coroner Identifies Remains Located in the Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area on June 24, 2023

DATE/TIME: June 24, 2023 / 10:00 a.m.
INCIDENT: Human Remains Located
LOCATION: Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area
DECEASED PARTY: Julian Sands, 65-year-old resident of North Hollywood, CA

UPDATE- June 27, 2023: The identification process for the body located on Mt. Baldy on June 24, 2023, has been completed and was positively identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood. The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results.

We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands.

Hopefully, this information will offer some kind of solace to family and loved ones.

Rest in peace.

UPDATE: Could This Be Actor Julian Sands? | Human Remains Found on Mt. Baldy

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It’s been a long time since we heard any news about Julian Sands. It’s now possible there will be a sad closure to his disappearance.

According to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the body was discovered around 10 a.m. in wilderness near Mount Baldy and was transported to the coroner’s office for identification next week.

Hikers Discover Human Remains in the Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area
DATE/TIME:   June 24, 2023 / 10:00 a.m.
INCIDENT:   Human Remains Located
LOCATION:  Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area
On Saturday, June 24, 2023, at about 10:00 a.m., civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff’s Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness.  Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene.  The decedent was transported to the Coroner’s Office, pending positive identification.  Identification should be completed next week at which time we will update this press release.  No further details are available at this time. Additional details were not immediately available.

Sands, an avid hiker and mountaineer, was reported missing January 13 after setting out on the peak that rises more than 10,000 feet east of Los Angeles. The region was pounded by severe storms during winter.

On Friday, his family released its first statement since Sands’ disappearance:

“We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” the statement said.

Julian Sands is a British-born actor best known for his role in the 1985 film “A Room With a View,”

A June 17 search for Sands, the eighth organized search with a rescue team of about eighty volunteers, was unsuccessful. Hundreds of hours have been put into the search … through the use of helicopters, drones, and other tactics.

I’lll update as more information becomes available.

Curated from NPR and other sources

The Titan | Ocean’s Tragic Magic

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“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.” – Kahlil Gibran

My thoughts are about as insignificant as a drop in the ocean, but I’ve memorialized my observations as a way to try and wrap my brain around the tragedy that unfolded the last few days about the Titan submersible.

I’ve lived near the ocean most of my life and while I love it, I’m afraid of it at the same time.

I CAN swim but it’s not my most favorite thing to do; in fact, my chest gets tight and I can start to hyperventilate simply thinking about putting my head under water — even though I know I have done it many times.

The Angel Kids aren’t like me — they’re half dolphin — both of them, and swim and jump in the waves and dive and try to surf and paddleboard with no fear of the power of the ocean.

When I first learned about the concerns regarding the loss of communication with this tiny little submersible while it attempted to reach the wreck of the Titanic, the idea of being crouched into a tight space, freezing cold, in total darkness, with limited oxygen, miles away from help — was a recipe to ignite some of my worst fears.

Lost and alone, in the dark, unable to breathe, under the sea.

I don’t like to take the Bart tunnel from San Francisco to Oakland and can’t even think of an incentive that could motivate me to endure a two-hour ride on the Chunnel from London to Paris.

Yesterday, the United States Coast Guard said that an ROV found the tail cone of the Titan 1,600 ft from the Titanic, and the ROV then found additional debris consistent with the “catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”

The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” said Rear Admiral John Mauger.

Officials said that the location of the debris field matched “the location of last communication” of the submersible. The time of the implosion has not yet been determined.

From the Rear Admiral, “I offer my deepest condolences to the family. I hope this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time.” 

OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the Titan, released a statement on Thursday saying that they believe all five passengers on the submersible had been “lost.”

Presumed deceased are Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Sulaiman Dawood.

Also from OceanGate, “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” the statement said . “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

What I find utterly fascinating and darkly eerie is the connection to the wreck of the Titanic.

From NPR: “The OceanGate executive who was piloting the submersible on its fateful Sunday dive is married to the descendent of a couple who died in the very shipwreck his expedition aimed to see.

OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush is married to Wendy Rush, the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, who choose to remain onboard the sinking Titanic together so that others could escape to safety in their place.

They were the real-life inspiration behind the heartbreaking scene in James Cameron’s movie in which an elderly couple embraces in bed as water rushes into their room.”

There’s been a disgusting amount of unkind and vicious commentary on social media about the fact that these men were millionaires and billionaires.

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how entitled they were or how much money they had; this is a tragic, horrible way to die.

From Julias Kim via Twitter: “There isn’t one person who is hating on billionaires right now that wouldn’t take a billion dollars if it was handed to them tax free…Beware. It’s a slippery slope when we start devaluing lives based on how much money people have.”

Yet…there’s this:

As every news report led with the OceanGate submersible, how many international efforts coalesced to rescue hundreds of migrants from the ocean off Greece?

It seems as if that catastrophe garnered little to no attention.

I feel terrible for the migrants who drowned in the waters outside Greece AND for the people who died aboard the Titan.

And yes, it’s possible to feel compassion for both.

Summer Solstice 2023

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Happy first day of summer and the longest day of the year!

Until recently, I hadn’t known about the practice of celebrating Litha during Midsummer. Litha is a pagan holiday, a time of light, purification, and healing; to reflect on the light and dark within us and the world.

It’s time to appreciate everything we have in our lives and to be grateful for nature and all that she provides.

Pick some flowers to honor the season or build a fire or light a candle. A fire lit on Litha is said to be very powerful and magical.

“Write down your hopes and dreams and burn them in the fire, to do this on Litha night will bring you your desire.”

The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
– Mary Oliver

The World of Literature Lost a Great One – Cormac McCarthy

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“Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.”
—Cormac McCarthy, The Road

While his raw, savage, and uncompromising style of writing wasn’t REALLY my cup of tea as I’m an unashamed fan of happily-ever-after chick lit, I have read a couple of books by Cormac McCarthy.

MY habit of skipping over sections that contain any sort of violence probably causes me to miss a lot of narrative, but I think I come away with the gist of his message regarding the human affinity for brutality, which I personally abhor.

Even so, I can still be awed by his ability to convey the darkest sides of humanity (inhumanity) and his unflinching bare bones descriptions of people and places I’m happy I never met.

I read that McCarthy was very much influenced by William Faulkner, one of my favorite authors.

I haven’t seen the films adapted from his novels for the same reason I only touched the outer edges of his published works — the dark side doesn’t appeal to me.

Wiki recalls McCarthy this way: “Cormac McCarthy was an American writer who authored twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western and postapocalyptic genres. He was known for his graphic depictions of violence and his unique writing style, recognizable by a sparse use of punctuation and attribution.”

Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road. It was recently reported that another of his novels, Blood Meridian, will be made into a feature film directed by John Hillcoat, who directed the film adaptation of The Road.

Bird Buddy: Scott’s Orioles

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They’re back! Nothing says springtime like a visit from these guys.

Scott’s Orioles are so deliciously bright and vibrant and they very rarely sit still long enough to get a good photo. I was in the right place at the right time for sure!

Look at this male beauty perched on my grapevine.

If You Could Read My Mind | Rest in Peace, Gordon Lightfoot

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Another musical legend gone too soon, Gordon Lightfoot charmed us with his beautiful, evocative voice. Bob Dylan once said that when he hears a Gordon Lightfoot song, he wishes it could go on forever. 

These are a few of my favorites.

I love this live version.