We’ll do most of the few . . . ?

We’ll Do Most Of The Few

When we write the words: “The Holidays”

We think of the very many ways

We honor tradition. What have we done? What did Mom Dad do?

Then, for these Holidays, we’ll do most of the few.

© Mary & Forrest Heaton 24Sep22

Change. Every so often, tradition changes dramatically. One of those occasions occurred to Mary & me at the end of 2018 when we moved from a larger home to a smaller apartment, a continuing care and retirement center (CCRC), a good move for the circumstances but difficult for maintaining some holiday traditions. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Covid-19 began appearing worldwide and families, preventing potential disease spread, stopped visiting each other. In our case, four further items occurred: a medical issue with Mary and three medical issues for me, all four of which involved longer recovery. This, then, is to say that occasionally, traditions involving “The Holidays” change dramatically, calling for a fresh approach to address the current circumstances.

Thanksgiving. When our parents were living, Thanksgiving usually involved being at their house with family and friends. Baked turkey with all the accoutrements--often candied yams, sauerkraut, stuffing, roasted Brussel sprouts, creamy roasted garlic mashed potatoes, roasted baby carrots, etc. This year, in 2022, we’ve been blessed with son, Matt, and spouse, Ondrea, visiting from a 3 to 6-year assignment in Japan. They and one of their children and spouse joined us. It has been a lovely Thanksgiving!

Christmas. And then, Christmas. The purpose if this post is to 1) honor traditions, 2) highlight that changes will happen, and 3) offer you (and ourselves) a few thoughts to consider.

Attend a Tree-Lighting Ceremony! This was easily done in DC! But less so now. We’ve a tradition to resume with this one if we can find the right ceremony to attend!

Attend a Local Christmas Festival. As with the tree-lighting ceremony, it would be good to chose the right Festival.

Christmas Card. We’ve always sent a card and this year will be no exception. In this instance, we’ve chosen to include a poem and a photo of Mary, Esprit, and me in our Santa hats.

Christmas Cookies. Mary makes an outstanding Christmas cookie—with Santa’s beard flowing and nose glowing. It’s a good gift to take to a few new friends and old neighbors along with a handmade eggnog by papa Heaton.

Christmas Music. If you’ve built a big Christmas music collection, now is a good time to fill the house (apartment) with good music to celebrate.

Christmas Tree. The ornaments are so special. Its just that, later in life, a place to store it (the artificial tree and ornaments) can be a problem.

Church. It is good to choose to go to church. We want to do so.

Connect With An Out Of Town Friend. We’ve already started this and it is amazing how special this call or visit can be!

Donate. This is also a good season to donate. Christmas is all about giving! You could consider giving more than once. Just looking for donation opportunities can get the giving endorphins flowing through your system.

Family. Between us, we’ve got six “kids,” eight grandkids and three great grandkids. We’ve some visiting to do!

Garland For The House. This also is new—a garland decoration for the tree or house to fill the house with lovely smells, perhaps dried citrus, that last all season long.

Letter To Santa. We’ve not done this before, and, since we’ve chosen to say “no” to some old (fireplace) Christmas traditions, it seems like a good idea to start some new ones!

Manger. I built a manger when we lived in Allentown PA in 1966. We purchased figurines from antique shops from time-to-time. Sally rubbed them with umber to make them look old. The hay on the floor came from underfoot plus a small amount of hay from Jerusalem sent to us in a card by a friend. We placed the manger on a table in the living room. It told the Christmas story. Sally and then Mary would make sure to place baby Jesus in the manger each Christmas Eve. Sara has asked for it when we’re done with it. One day it will be hers.

Play. Each year we took our kids (when they were “kids”) to see a play at Christmas—almost always Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. We need to look for a local play and may need to do this one at a time.

Poetry. This season offers plenty of opportunities for writing a new poem or memorizing one you’ve loved from the past.

Travel. Covid and medical situations aside, excellent travel opportunities and related festivities are particularly available this time of year.

Volunteer. This season offers opportunities galore to help. And, most everyone needs help.

New Year’s. As Thanksgiving is part of our “Holidays;” New Year’s is as well. New Year’s may be restricted by medical recovery this year. We’ll see as October through December develop.

Tradition. Honoring tradition can be very different household to household. Some may have grown up in a Jewish household, some in a Buddhist one, some is an Islamist one, and other faith-based households. This post is written to honor ALL these very different and very meaningful traditions. VERY Happy Holidays To ALL!

Reforrestation. Isn’t that too many r’s . . . ?

Our Hope For The Future

How does it help the birds and the bees

If we were to plant one billion trees?

It is not just food/habitat for them that we nurture

It is also our CLIMATE, “our hope for the future.”

© Forrest W. Heaton 29 April 2022

After reading an April ‘22 email re reforestation from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), one of the environmental groups that we support, Mary & I: 1) donated to plant trees via this program, and 2) decided to write a blog post on it. With one donation, we do something important to: “represent a hope for the future,” and “help put a real climate solution into action.” We are in hopes this blog post might encourage some readers to consider the same.

Who is The Nature Conservancy? TNC is “the world’s largest environmental nonprofit working to advance conservation in all 50 states and U.S. territories and 70 countries around the world.”

In their April email, TNC explained “What is Plant a Billion Trees? The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a major forest restoration program. Our goal is to plant a billion trees across the planet to slow the connected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.”

“A Billion Begins With One. A lot can change in a lifetime, including the planet we live on. For better, or for worse. But we have the power to restore balance. Helping our planet is bigger than us, but it starts with each of us. Help us plant, protect, and restore forests by planting your tree today.”

You may have read the 13Jul22 NYT article entitled “”Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World” or other similar articles that suggest more negative coverage. Our take on this is that, yes, these programs can be better managed but, yes, planting trees in a world of an estimated 10 billion net tree loss annually makes sense. Can we do a better job of tree selection, land selection, restoration and protection? Yes! But that should not deter donation/planting to eventually achieve perennial net tree gain.

TNC estimates that, to date, TNC Plant a Billion Trees Program has planted more than 93 million trees globally! This is a big number—restoring U.S. forests across nine U.S. states as well as forests internationally.

Why do we recommend supporting this program?

Trees Are A Climate Solution. Trees remove carbon from the air, store carbon in the trees and soil, and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

Investment In Our Future. As TNC advises, donating to this program is an “investment in our future.”

A Gift. A friend also recommending support of high-quality tree-planting programs advised: “A more personal reason for planting a billion trees is as a kind of present they leave to their grandchildren and future generations.”

“Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.”

John Muir

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

From where . . . and how . . . did we come . . . ?

Answers Coming

From where and how did we come?

Astronomers question … billions of years? … and then some?

Volcanic outgassing,

Land rising, land crashing,

For Planet Earth . . . currently 4.5 billion year run.

Answers coming . . . astronomers hope,

Via photos from our new telescope.

One million miles from home,

Thirteen billion years photos roam,

The James Webb Space Telescope!

© Forrest W. Heaton 10 August 2022

We first wrote about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in our blog post published 15Jan22 covering the JWST launch 25 December 2021, its arrival at its 100-million miles away (orbit around the sun) destination, its automatic re-assembly (deployment) of all its parts, and its readiness in Jun22 to start taking/transmitting photographs.

We followed that up with our post published 21Jun covering patience rewarded: the first photographic images of billions of years back in time.

This post, our third on this topic, covers the 9Aug announcement by scientists in The Astrophysical Journal Letters advising of “compelling” evidence of a world, currently gas and dust, estimated at 1.5 million years young, in the making. The scientists advised the photo was created via 66 antennas in Chile.

On 10Aug, NASA announced: “In the coming days, the James Webb Space Telescope will determine the mass of the planetary newborn and study its atmospheric chemistry. And by painting a detailed portrait of one of the youngest worlds known to science, these observations will inch us all closer to answering the ultimate question, said Jaehan Bae, an astronomer at the University of Florida and an author of the study: ‘Where did we come from?’”

Thus, we are following the JWST’s photos as they are released by NASA while avoiding websites which claim authenticity but are not NASA. We are also following Hubble’s photos and the photos from other telescopes. Scientists will be using all to make many of their scientific determinations.

Estimated 1.5 million year young world of gas and dust in its formative stage, photo via The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the photo an assembly of data from 66 antennas acting in unison in Chile, offering scientists the opportunity for JWST planetary mass and atmospheric chemistry study and comparison of the images.

It’s Snowing in June . . . ?

Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field

“Yellowstone Lake”

“Largest lake in North America at this elevation”

“Seven thousand feet”

Makes its own snow!

“Explosive eruptions”

“Profound collapse of ground”

”Thick lava flows”

“‘Flowing water and ice.”

The National Park Service and Forrest W. Heaton July 2022

The words in quotes are the National Park Service’s words, describing how the “Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field” was formed over the last two million years. I separated them to be more in the format of a poem. And, yes, at this size and elevation, the lake makes its own snow, even in June!

Photography. We received many kind comments/emails/calls complimenting our post and the moose photo. Thank you to all! We do, however, have a reminder we feel will be helpful: Almost all visitors to the parks take their photographs with their cell phones (I took the moose photo with my cell phone.) Even though the camera technology is excellent, most people do not have long-range zoom capability on their mobile phone (or know how to use it.) It can be complicated learning the options for adding an external lens to your cell phone to increase focal size (magnification.) If one in your group owns and still uses a digital camera with a telephoto lens, that is a good solution for visiting parks with abundant wildlife such as Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We have included in this post a photo of a bison taken four years ago at GTNP by son Matthew’s spouse, Ondrea, with her digital camera and telephoto lens. She got a shot that would have been too dangerous to attempt were she shooting without a telephoto lens. Park rangers advise: “Stay at least one hundred yards from wildlife; they are unpredictable and can quickly hurt you.” Your safety is one of the reasons for this post.

Planning. National Park visitation jumped from 26 million visitors in 1974 to 297 million visitors in 2021! Larger numbers are anticipated for 2022. The best planned trip will still experience mis-haps and mis-adventures. But planning and anticipation are essential in minimizing the negative and maximizing the positive. Planning ahead is now even more important due to climate-related issues such as fires and flooding. A key resource in your planning are the websites of each park accessed at www.nps.gov. Here’s to your good planning and good execution!

Education. Increasingly, park rangers and other personnel will be working on the important objectives of recreation experience (before/during/after), recreation norms, Trail Etiquette, Pack It In/Pack It Out principles, Leave No Trace principles, Take Only Photographs. We visitors (at least our U.S. 330 million population) need to learn what are the effects of climate change on our national parks and their inhabitants? What can we do to successfully get involved in the complexities of these situations? We as visitors to these often over-crowded and usually under-funded treasures have an increasing responsibility of destination stewardship!

Geology. There is no other place in the world that has all the features found in Yellowstone. In the northwest corner of Wyoming, it is 2.2 million acres huge (more than 3,400 square miles.) It has more than 10,000 hydrothermal features (geysers, hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles, steam vents), more than 500 active geysers (this is more than half of the world’s geysers), 67 species of mammals (the largest of any of the lower 48), more than 1,000 miles of hiking trails, and Old Faithful (currently erupting approximately 17 times/day, the most well-known and observed geyser in the world.)

Geologically, Yellowstone is a supervolcano—thousands of times more powerful than a regular volcano. Historically, it has had three truly enormous eruptions: 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 664,000 years ago. Whereas no further eruptions are forecasted, one must respect the power directly underfoot. For most places on earth, the hot magma is at least 20 miles down under the solid rock of the earth’s surface. At Yellowstone, the hot magma may be as close as 4 miles below the rock surface. This explains the temperature of the ground, the proliferation of volcanic features, and the care one must employ when visiting.

Flooding. Due to heavy rainfall and melting ice, the Yellowstone River flooded 13Jun22 destroying roads, bridges, homes and more. The Park Service had to close Yellowstone. The primary reason for the large road destruction was the main road’s close proximity to the river. Working at both great neck speed and with many park personnel from other parks, Yellowstone was reopened 22Jun (even though on a limited basis.) By the date of our arrival, 26Jun, more of the Park was re-opened. Crews continued their spectacular work as more visitors were able to come each day. We take our hats off to Park Superintendent, Cameron “Cam” Sholly, whose teams have accomplished the almost impossible—and continue to do so! We invite your travel to this park and your further research at www.nps.gov/yell.

Grand Teton. Grand Teton, at 310,000 acres, although smaller than Yellowstone, inspires your imagination, invites you to explore, is rich in wildlife, and calls you to return. Located just a 45-minute drive south of Yellowstone, visits to both parks are manageable. The 40-mile long mountain range running north-south through Grand Teton National Park is a young ten-million years old, yet the rock that makes up the mountains is half the age of the earth, approximately 2.7 billion years old. These mountains have no foothills. They start at the valley floor at approximately 6,000 feet and rise dramatically to 13,000 feet. Although global warming/climate change is melting the glaciers on the mountains, the snow/ice on the mountains has been permanent at least through recorded history. One paragraph cannot do justice to describing this park. It is one of the most beautiful of all of our national parks. Its wildlife is spectacular and accessible, the alpine terrain is captivating, the over two hundred hiking trails beckon, the Snake River commands your attention while floating, the serenity . . . sooths deep . . . into your soul. We similarly invite your travel to this park and your further research at www.nps.gov/grte.

Happy 80th Birthday, Mary! Established 1 March 1872, Yellowstone is the world’s FIRST national park! Happy 150th Anniversary, Yellowstone!

Ondrea Hall, 2018, Grand Teton National Park. Camera: CanonTSi. Zoom Lens: Canon EOST5i 55-250mm.

Thinking about the physical and mental benefits of traveling again? How about to national parks . . . ?

Definitions: Pandemic: “Epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region.” Endemic. “The infection neither dies out nor does the number of infected people increase exponentially—a steady state.”

Mary & I, exhausted by Covid-19 isolation, feel the situation worldwide is becoming more endemic than pandemic. We are choosing, therefore, to maintain distancing/washing/masking while beginning to return to travel—slowly perhaps but steadily until conditions might suggest otherwise.

Grand Teton and Yellowstone

The Tetons . . . rise from nowhere,

The rock half the age of the Earth.

Yellowstone . . .  core to surface,

Gave national parks their birth!

© Forrest W. Heaton March 2022

Having spent the last two years essentially at home due to Covid-19 concerns plus recovering from a couple of medical issues, Mary & I have recently resumed national park visitations. This makes us VERY happy to write this! We are aware conditions could change causing revisions in our plans, but that’s where we stand as of this writing.

As to which parks we might have considered, some look to the more scenic national parks: Rocky Mountain NP CO, Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs WY, Arches NP UT, Grand Canyon NP AZ, Death Valley NP CA, Yosemite NP CA, Olympic NP WA. For this trip, we chose Grand Teton and Yellowstone, both parks well known to us.

Our plan was gathering as many as possible of Mary’s three kids, five grandkids, spouses, Mary & me to CELEBRATE a significant birthday for Mary for ten days 25Jun – 3Jul. We ended up with eleven of us including all three of Mary’s kids. Mary made cabin reservations at Colter Bay, Grand Teton NP a year ago and sketched out our plans for Grand Teton and also for Yellowstone just a half-hour north. We had to adjust our Yellowstone plans due to the partial closing due to flooding.

We have visited both Grand Teton and Yellowstone a number of times previously and reported a couple of those visits on our website maryandforrestheatonpublications. We invite you to visit the website and read up on those explorations. They might give you some ideas when you’re planning your own visits to those or other national parks.

Pandemic or post-Covid isolation can cause stresses negatively affecting mental and/or physical health. Getting out and traveling can have positive affects on both. Traveling to new and/or stimulating places helps release often held-onto stresses. The same goes for reconnecting in person with family members and close friends excluded from your life for the last couple of years due to Covid concerns. For some, these stresses have become chronic. New experiences as well as realized desired experiences are beneficial for improved brain function resulting in improved health. We wish for you safe and fun travels!

Pictures from 13 billion years ago . . . ?

Patience Rewarded

Patience Recommended: Seeing billions of years of light.

Patience Commended: For your space craft taking flight.

Patience Intended: By NASA and its crews.

Patience Rewarded: When pictures come into views.

© Forrest W. Heaton  January 2022 

We are betting that some of you joined Mary & me (not together in person but together in spirit) to wait (sometimes not too patiently) for the James Webb Space Telescope’s first photographic images of billons of years back in time. Yes? Unimaginable, yes? Beyond our dreams, yes? This blog post is a companion to our first blog post of this year, 15Jan22, dealing with the James Webb Space Telescope and its soon to be received and released photography. 

Entering www.nasa.gov/webb into our search engine in February, here’s NASA’s first advice re the James Webb Space Telescope’s work and the upcoming photos: “The James Webb Space Telescope will find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe and peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems. Learn more from the mission's project website.” The second advice, a tweet, reads: “Webb made light work of … light work! Having seen its first photons of starlight, #NASAWebb has begun the 3-month process of getting its mirrors into focus so it can start science this summer. https://go.nasa.gov/34aFW9v #UnfoldTheUniverse”

Hard as it is to imagine, the JWST, 100 million miles away from Earth and orbiting the sun, is intended to begin sending its first photographs this summer (almost upon us)! Here’s what NASA has to say about the mission: 

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! To see back in time, [JWST] looks in infrared wavelengths, which we feel as heat. [Hubble] sees visible light, with infrared and ultraviolet abilities. The telescopes will work together as we #UnfoldTheUniverse.” 

“ ‘More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals,’ said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Today we can say that design is going to deliver.’ ” 

“While some of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth use segmented primary mirrors, Webb is the first telescope in space to use such a design. The 21-foot, 4-inch (6.5-meter) primary mirror – much too big to fit inside a rocket fairing – is made up of 18 hexagonal, beryllium mirror segments. It had to be folded up for launch and then unfolded in space before each mirror was adjusted – to within nanometers – to form a single mirror surface.”

“In addition to enabling the incredible science that Webb will achieve, the teams that designed, built, tested, launched, and now operate this observatory have pioneered a new way to build space telescopes,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

So, dear readers, our horizons are about to be expanded in ways we cannot yet imagine! And, you have a front row seat! Here’s what NASA has to say as to timing: “For decades we’ve worked on the world’s most powerful space telescope – dreaming, building, and then launching. Now its almost time to #UnfoldTheUniverse with @NASAWebb! Set a reminder for July 12, when we’ll see #NASAWebb’s first images together. gonasa.gov/3zgd64r”

Surrounded by negative, what do you do to stay positive . . . ?

Being Positive And Thankful and Kind

The mind needs time out now and then,

To remember back . . . remember when:

Family and friends . . . were together . . .combined.

Virus . . . war . . . injustice . . . isolation,

Stress . . .  trauma . . . grief . . . dislocation:

Require balanced adaptation, peace of mind.

Thus, masked . . . distanced . . . washed . . . but out,

Museum . . . restaurant . . . ballet . . . about:

Healthy minds help solve problems, we’ll find.

Purpose: find Joy . . . helping all that you can,

Achieve their dreams . . . the hopes that they plan:

Being positive and thankful and kind.

© Forrest W. Heaton March 2022

Mary & I live in a CCRC, a Continuing Care and Retirement Community. Various committees have been formed over the years made up of both staff and residents to assure the currently approximately 460 residents and 250 staff are physically well and mentally happy. In late February, we were advised of (and signed up for) an upcoming program which involved reading a book, viewing a film (entitled Mission: Joy -- Finding Happiness in Troubled Times), and then participating in a guided discussion—all regarding a new book “The Book of Joy” by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and assisted by Douglas Abrams. We have read the book, viewed the film, and participated in a 31 March guided discussion.

Tutu and the Dalai Lama are experiencing the same or similar negatives such as Coronavirus and the Russo-Ukrainian war that all of us are experiencing. They also have experienced personal and national adversity which have negatively and significantly affected their lives. Yet, as is shown by both their lives and this book, people worldwide who know them well feel the two are among the happiest people on earth! Perennially! Considering the circumstances of their lives, how is this possible? 

Questions any one of us might ask of these two spiritual leaders might include: 

How do you deal with anger and frustration?

How best we approach anxiety and depression?

How can we best avoid loneliness?

You have gone through great pain and sorrow, yet you remain happy. How do you do that?

We separate joy and sorrow, yet you link them together. How so?

You say we need to express kindness/compassion for others. How best to do that? 

You encourage love and passion for fellow humans. How can we develop such community?

Your book is life-changing. How can we best live the changes you recommend?

If we read your book, watch the movie, and participate in the guided discussion, will we know how to do this?

It may come as some comfort to readers that both Tutu and the Dalai Lama achieve their perennial happiness as they navigate thru struggle and renewal. Through their lives and in this book, their desire is to spread the understanding that “to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.” Through our reading, viewing the film, and discussing both, Mary & I have found more yet for which to be thankful. We hope your reading this blog post will encourage your reading of the book, viewing the film, and locating discussion partners. Tutu and the Dalai Lama hope similar Joy will come to you. 

What is the partnership earthday.org is promoting . . . ? How can it help our planet . . . ? How can I get involved . . . ?

A Partnership for the Planet

“Now is the time for unstoppable courage,

To preserve and protect our health . . .

And our families and our livelihoods…

A partnership for the planet” . . . our wealth.

© Forrest W. Heaton April 2022

The words above were written by earthday.org as part of a 2022 email to increase citizen participation in Earth Day—this year 22 April, but every day in the minds of these organizers. With the exception of the words “our wealth”, we copied the above words but rearranged them into our own poem format. One’s level of participation in this partnership is up to each of us. We encourage you to read this full blog post, search Earth Day 2022 Partnership via your search engine, and then make your own decision(s) . . . daily! Our health, families, and livelihoods depend on it!

Readers of our Blog are acutely aware of the urgency of Climate Change. Readers are further very much aware of Earth Day in the U.S. What readers may be unaware of, however, is the partnership being put together jointly by earthday.org and climatescience.org and how it might become the movement for which both organizations have strived. Climate Science’s mission is to “Make the transition to a sustainable future actionable.” Their focus is on youth. Political leaders worldwide have made it abundantly clear they have no intention to move to sustainability at the pace required. Youth, on the other hand, see the dire need and act on the implications.

On Monday 4 April, the United Nations issued a nearly 3,000 page report written by climate specialists worldwide which lays out the situation for all to see. Antonio Guterres, U.N. Secretary General, minced no words: This report serves as a “file of shame, cataloging empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unlivable world.” The governments of high emitting countries “are choking our planet, based on their vested interests and historic investments in fossil fuels.”

Earth Day 2022 is celebrated in the U.S., Canada, and around the world on Friday 22 April. It is a day held to promote environmental awareness and calls for the protection of our planet. This date will mark this Earth Day’s 52nd Anniversary, the first Earth Day celebrated in 1970. When asking yourself, family, friends or your search engine “how you might celebrate this day,” myriad options can come to your attention, some of which revolve around “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Options can include activities aimed specifically at reducing the negative aspects of climate change.

Some of you celebrate daily with composting: mulching egg shells, coffee grounds, banana peels, clementine rinds, dinner left-overs, etc., ending with rich soils for gardens and pots. There is often no comparison for tastes and freshness comparing home-grown vs. store-bought/shipped-in produce. In addition to daily composting as well as getting involved in the partnership described above (age may present some restrictions but we’ll work around them), Mary & I have signed up for “Trail Walk & Photography Challenge”—an Earth Day 22 April meet up with fellow CCRC residents appreciating our beautiful planet.  

Whereas it’s doubtful we’ll encounter the bird pictured below on our Trail Walk, we are daily reminded of the beauty of nature. Can you imagine humans trying to improve on this image? Master painters would fail. Nature succeeds. What this bird, this family of birds, these birds, this wildlife, all of wildlife does not need is negative actions, or inactions, by the “us” of this world—all 7.8 billion of “us.” What they need from “us” are positive actions to eliminate oil spills, eliminate hydraulic fracking, eliminate habitat destruction. We can do it—harness wind and solar for our energy, clean the water, stabilize the habitat. Pogo had it right: “We have met the enemy and He is Us!”   

Do you dream about a better world . . . ?

To Dream About A Better World

To dream about a better world

And a more just society

Is often the stuff of budding writers

Particularly of poetry.

© Forrest W. Heaton. 4 February 2022

Do you sometimes find yourself dreaming or daydreaming about a better world, one perhaps without Coronavirus, one perhaps with a more just society, etc. You are less and less alone.

The National Endowment for the Arts has reported the share of adults reading poetry “grew by an astounding 76 percent between 2012 and 2017.” Further, they report “The results are even more dramatic for young people. The percentage of poetry readers age 18-24 doubled during that period.” 

So, how about us? April 2022 is National Poetry Month in the USA! Why not “try our hand” at writing a poem or two during April and see how it goes? For those of you who have “tried your hand” previously, how ‘bout another go at it? 

For those of our readers who might be interested in the possibility of a little extra cash earned from their writings, let us please highlight one current example, quoting a 15Sep18 Washington Post article: “Some of the most popular poets are now ‘social media poets,’ writers who distribute their work and connect with their vast, young audiences primarily online. Canadian poet Rupi Kaur has 3 million followers on Instagram, where she regularly posts images and short verses. Her first print collection, ‘Milk and Honey’ (2015), sold about 2 million copies, an unheard of blockbuster in a genre that usually considers a few thousand copies a success.”

Adding a last bit of encouragement for your poetry writing this April and beyond, we include a quote by Ellen Hinsey from her 2003 interview with Poetry Magazine: “Contrary to a generally held view, poetry is a very powerful tool because poetry is the conscience of a society . . . . No individual poem can stop a war—that’s what diplomacy is supposed to do. But poetry is an independent ambassador for conscience. It answers to no one, it crosses borders without a passport, and it speaks the truth. That’s why it is one of the most powerful of the arts.”

What happens on the 20th of this March . . . ?

The Longed-For Arrival Of This Year’s Spring!

Sunday 20 March marks a brand new beginning

Fertility . . . renewal . . . rebirth . . . Nature’s Thing

So many ways of celebrating

The longed-for arrival of this year’s Spring!

© Forrest W. Heaton  February 2022

20 March of this year is the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere! Yes, it is a grand day to bring a plant or a bouquet of fresh flowers, perhaps daffodils or the like, into your home or office to remind you daily that it is Spring! Also, yes, it is a grand day to intentionally spend a few hours in nature, perhaps a park or prairie or woodland to smell the flowers, feel the breeze, celebrate the season!

Equinox. The old Farmers Almanac advises “the word equinox comes from the Latin words for ‘equal night’—aequus (equal) and nox (night). Webster defines equinox as “the time when the sun crosses the equator, making night and day of equal length in all parts of the earth.” The Spring Equinox (also called the Vernal Equinox) marks the time when the sun is heading toward the northern half of the globe, the Northern Hemisphere being tilted more toward the sun resulting in increased daylight hours and warmer temperatures. In the Northern Hemisphere, the opposite occurs in the fall, the Autumnal Equinox occurring this year 22 September. “Equinoxes are the only two times each year that the Sun rises due east and sets due west for all of us on earth.”

So, having discussed the earth and all of its (currently 7.8 billion) peoples, how about us—those kind souls reading this blog post? While we’re in the parks, prairies or woodlands, (or home or office), how might we be celebrating? For most of us, this is a time of honoring fertility, renewal, rebirth, new beginnings. Many celebrate with festivals and holidays. Some might choose planting their garden. Some might choose asking a family member or friend who might not otherwise get into nature to join them in nature for the celebration. You might look up “Ostara” on the internet and see what might apply to your life today. The options are endless for the inspired. Enjoy YOUR Spring Equinox!

Will you be our Valentine . . ?

Will you be our Valentine . . ?

Valentine’s Day occurs in the United States every 14 February. On that day or in that week, more cards are exchanged except for those sent at Christmastime. And yet, many have only scant knowledge of the history of the celebration. This brief read will update you a bit.

The history of who was or might have been St. Valentine is sketchy. The most accepted story seems to be that Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, started as a Christian celebration honoring one or two Christian martyrs by that name. It is felt that the ancient Roman ritual of Lupercalia that welcomed spring was part of the development of this celebration. By the Middle Ages, stories were widely believed that Saint Valentine was a heroic and romantic figure. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, love and romance were firmly involved in the mix and the celebration had expanded to many parts of the world. Historians believe the first poet to record Valentine’s Day to be a day for romance was English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in his poem “Parliament of Foules” in 1375. In eighteenth-century England, the occasion developed into a time of sending flowers and greeting cards which became known as Valentines.

As with Thanksgiving and Christmas and other celebrations, the event can be taken over by commercialism. Just to see, we asked our search engine: “What are some of the items people are giving this Valentine’s Day?” This was the first response: “Valentine's Day only comes around once a year, and it's the perfect opportunity to let your partner know just how much they mean to you. Picking out a cute Valentine's gift is one simple way to show your S.O. how you feel (and rekindle some of the romance that gets a little lost in everyday life). Of course, presents aren't everything. Simply taking time to be together, whether it's in person or over the phone, is already a great way of strengthening your relationship. But a gift is a welcome surprise that'll certainly show your appreciation.”

Asked by journalists “What does Valentine’s Day mean to you,” many replied: “It’s a good reminder to cherish loved ones”, some feeling so “every day of the year.” Others advise they “use the day as a reminder to be thankful for the ones [they] love and to make sure they know [they] love them.” Still others use the day “to cherish the ones who give [me] hope and joy.”

We are betting many of you can still recall your feelings of apprehension when giving one of your first cards (perhaps 2nd or 3rd grade) asking: Will you be my Valentine? So, perhaps with a bit less apprehension but perhaps with at least equal love, we ask each of you:

Roses are still red. Violets are still blue.

Will you be our Valentine?

We Love You!

Mary & Forrest

Hope . . .

Hope

“Hopeful” is a hopeful word, defining Jane Goodall’s life,

Protecting wildlife and nature from worldwide human strife.

Wisdom, insight and activism explained in “The Book of Hope;”

For your 2022 reading: Jane’s “Hope” added to your scope.

© Forrest W. Heaton October 2021

At age 87, Jane Goodall continues to amaze . . . and inspire! “Hopefully,” this post will inspire you to read Jane’s new book: The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.

Quoting a promotional piece: “In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous living naturalist, and Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of ‘The Book of Joy,’ explore through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In ‘The Book of Hope,’ Jane focuses on her ‘Four Reasons for Hope:’ The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.”  

Further quoting the same piece: “Drawing on decades of work that has helped expand our understanding of what it means to be human and what we all need to do to help build a better world, ‘The Book of Hope’ touches on vital questions, including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? What is the relationship between hope and action? Filled with moving and inspirational stories and photographs from Jane’s remarkable career, ‘The Book of Hope’ is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in the world today.” 

Our choosing Jane Goodall as a Blog post topic has been some time in coming. In May21, Mary forwarded to me a National Geographic article on Jane, recommending Jane’s work and books for a Blog post topic. Then, in October, we received a three-page letter from a close friend and Blog reader recommending Jane’s approach to environmental activism and enclosing an Oct21 Time Magazine article featuring “The Enduring Hope of Jane Goodall.”

It is time we write about her. Of Jane’s twenty-one books to date, The Book of Hope is the fourth with the word “Hope” in the title. Climate change is an existential threat to humans on this planet. We need to prove her right. 

NASA launched what on Christmas morning 2021? . . .

How They Were Born

Two sets of gifts this past Christmas morn,

Christ and the Universe(s): How they were born.

© Forrest Heaton 9 January 2022

Of the earth’s current 7.8 billion people, few may be on the edge of their seats awaiting scientific confirmation of the origin of the universe which is currently estimated at approximately 13.7 billion years ago. And yet, that’s what’s about to happen!

Launched by NASA Christmas morning 2021, the James Webb (Webb was the second NASA Administrator ‘61 – ‘68) Space Telescope (JWST) is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Beginning immediately after launch and continuing into Jan22, the telescope entered a meticulous assembly phase—a deployment process—of unfolding and locking into place all the parts (“344 single points of failure” is NASA’s estimation) necessary for long-term success of the telescope’s mission. 

JWST

Of many, one statistic quickly captures the mind when beginning to think of what the JWST may do for the general public’s involvement with space science—the JWST is “one hundred times more powerful than Hubble” in its capacity to see back in time. Imagine what that information may mean and what those photographs may look like. In fact, much of this as yet might be classified as “unimaginable!” 

The JWST’s first images are anticipated to be available this coming summer. Three mid-course correction burns are anticipated to place the JWST in it’s intended orbit location one million miles from Earth around the sun. Think of this mission: to look back over 13.5 billion years to see light from the first galaxies and better understand the mysteries of our universe—and we have the immense good fortune to be living when this is happening! 

This feat has been in NASA’s planning since the 1990 launch of Hubble Space Telescope (HST). As of this writing (9Jan22), Hubble’s mission duration is 31 years, 8 months, and counting. Hubble’s orbital parameters are a low Earth orbit. This orbital differential with the JWST, the technological advancements since Hubble’s development and the size of the mirrors account for the JWST’s superior sight back in time.

The HST is projected to last until approximately 2030. During the interim, anyone with an interest in these missions will be able to learn from the information and photographs of both HST and JWST. To assist you on this journey, NASA will be updating its website continuously. Enjoy the journey!

New Years Eve . . .

As many or most of you know (perhaps from reading our New Year’s Blog post for the past four years), Robert Burns revised other Scottish poems as well as wrote his own words to create the poem Auld Lang Syne. He put the words to an old Scottish tune which became known as the song by the same name. Soon it was the song sung on New Year’s Eve by revelers worldwide.

We found out that a few of our readers who didn’t know the lyrics beyond the first verse printed the pages with the lyrics to sing that night. So, not to disappoint them and possibly others, we herewith provide them again this year, perhaps beginning a tradition.

AULD LANG SYNE (Old long since, long long ago, days gone by, old times)

[1]           

SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT, (Should old acquaintances/old times be forgotten,)

AND NEV-ER BROT TO MIN? (And never brought to mind?)

SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT,

AND DAYS OF AULD LANG SYNE?

[Chorus]

FOR AULD LANG SYNE, MY DEAR, (For the sake of old times, my dear/my friend/my friends,)

FOR AULD LANG SYNE,

WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET, (We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,)

FOR AULD LANG SYNE.

[2]

WE TWO HAE RUN ABOUT THE BRAES, (We two have run about the slopes,)

AND PU’D THE GOWANS FINE; (And picked the daisies fine;)

BUT WE’VE WANDER’D MONY A WEARY FOOT (But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,)

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE. (For/since auld lang syne.)

 [3]

WE TWO HAE PAIDL’T I’ THE BURN, (We two have paddled in the stream,)

FROM MORNIN’ SUN TILL DINE;

BUT SEAS BETWEEN US BRAID HAE ROAR’D, (But seas between us broad have roared,)

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE.        

[4]

AND SURELY YE’LL BE YOUR PINT-STOUP, (And surely you’ll buy your pint cup,)

AND SURELY I’LL BE MINE; (And surely I’ll buy mine;)

AND WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE.

 [5]

AND HERE’S A HAND, MY TRUST-Y FRIEN’, (And here’s a hand my trusty friend,)

AND GIE’S A HAND O’ THINE; (And give me a hand of thine;)

WE’LL TAK’ A CUP O’ KIND-NESS YET,

SIN’ AULD LANG SYNE. 

[Chorus]

Christmas . . .

We sent a similar message in our Christmas card this year, fewer in number in deference to our online publishing. But the message is strong and bears repeating. At least it gives us the opportunity to tell you we love you twice.

CHRISTMAS

How powerful a name, concept, faith for Christians, image of Christmases past, our perception changing as we age. But for many, it’s different this year. As we briefly discussed in our Thanksgiving post, most of the world’s approximately 7.8 billion people are living more confining lives due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is a particularly stressful time, not to mention the feelings of plants and animals feeling this stress, some of which is existential. 

This time calls for lifting up and being lifted up. Mary & I have reprised a poem we wrote in 2002, much if not all of which could have been written for this Christmas with the same if not more relevancy:

THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS

In these times, God . . . show us how . . .

To come before you . . . kneeling,

Open as vessels . . . for you to fill . . .

Contributing… to nations’ healing.

Nations can be our friend next door . . .

Family . . . someone in need,

Help us listen . . . then share our gifts

Discern your Work . . . Then Heed.

The Native American Lummi tribe . . .

State their belief this way,

“When you know you have a gift . . .

You must keep giving it away.”

God, your River of Life . . . sustains us all . . .

Teaches us how to live,

Bringing Hope, and Peace, and Joy, and Love . . .

Coming Together . . . Our Gifts to Give.

© Mary & Forrest Heaton

Based on Revelation 22: 1-2. This poem was written by Mary & me for our Christmas card 2002. We also included it in our Heaton’s Holiday Songs & Poetry songbook published 2011. As we wrote at the bottom of this poem, “Can we not, each of us around the world—all peoples—all nations—work a little harder to bring Hope, Peace, Joy, Love to one another . . . The Healing of the Nations?” We include it here with our wishes to each of you to feel, every day, the blessings of this season.

Guest Author, Jim Terry . . .

Jim Terry’s post is the last of the Guest Author posts for a while. The Guest Author series was reader, Rick Smith’s, idea—giving Mary & me a break to concentrate on my recovery from Hodgkin Lymphoma. Thank you, Rick! And, thank you to Guest Authors: Rick Smith “Yosemite,”  Marsha Larsen “Native Country,” Anne Raftery “Poems,” Bill Smith “Papau New Guinea . . . Trekking Into History,” Laura Isham “Story of Your Favorite Meal,” Suz Robinson “One Minute Blessings,” and Jim Terry “The Small Box From Japan.” 

What We Don’t Know

It’s amazing how little we know,

About friends that we love so.

It’s for us to just ask,

Our love is our task,

As we listen to what we don’t know.

© Forrest W. Heaton 13 September 2021

I have recently reconnected with my friend, Bill Wetherall, from 54 years ago. He has resided in Tokyo, Japan, for most of that time. We were both in the army during the Vietnam War, assigned to a large hospital laboratory in Yokohama, Japan. This internet reunion has stimulated my mind to recall experiences in the laboratory at the 106th General Hospital and consider the impact those few months had on my entire life. The following came to mind.

The Small Box from Japan

By Jim Terry
September 2021

In 1966, during the Vietnam War, while at the microbiology laboratory of the 106th General Hospital, Kishine Barracks, Yokohama, Japan, I received a memorandum/alert from the Army Medical Command, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, regarding the bacteria now known as Burkholderia pseudomallei, and the disease Melioidosis in patients from S.E. Asia. In the following 6 months we isolated this organism from five patients. The 406th Army Medical Laboratory at Camp Zama, Japan, confirmed the identifications.

In early 1967, at the time I was due to return to the U.S. and process out of the army, I was applying to graduate school in Microbiology. I thought I might pursue some study of this rare organism. The 406th laboratory agreed to lyophilize (freeze dry) the five isolates. When I packed up my belongings for return to the U.S., most of my possessions were shipped by the army. But in my checked baggage for a long flight to Travis Air Force Base in California, I included a well-sealed small cardboard box. In it were a total of twenty-five flame sealed glass ampules containing what looked like a fine white powder. Luckily, no one inspected my luggage. Bill Wetherall, who had worked at the laboratory at Kishine Barracks, came down from his home in Grass Valley to meet me and gave me a grand tour of San Francisco with the Haight-Ashbury scene of 1967. I visited with his family in Grass Valley and then proceeded to the airport to fly east. I have fond memories of that visit. I gave little thought to the contents of my luggage at the time, but looking back now, perhaps I was a little cavalier.

I did pursue a study of B. pseudomallei at Emory University in Atlanta in 1967-1969. I was able to demonstrate the morphological variations which led to the bacillus losing its cell wall and subsequent reversal to the parent form. CDC was helpful with electron micrographs to confirm the lack of a cell wall. It is now known that this organism can live intracellularly in macrophages for extended time and then years later cause a recurrence of melioidosis. It has been referred to as The Vietnam Timebomb. As of 2020, B. pseudomallei was classified as a Category B potential biological warfare agent and a CDC Tier 1 Security agent.  B. pseudomallei has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of melioidosis in patients in four states in 2021. It was found in aromatherapy spray bottles manufactured in India. Two of the four patients died. *

Needless to say, although I was always very careful, my laboratory at Emory was definitely not sufficient for study of this organism. Sometimes I did wonder why people walking down the hall would carefully pass as far from my door as possible!

After completing my degree at Emory, I went to Miami, where I was the Director of a Microbiology laboratory for many years. Upon retirement in March 2000, as I was cleaning out my desk, I found that small box from Japan. Many ampules had been used in my research but there remained about ten resting in that cotton and gauze lined box. In a final celebration, the contents were sent through the autoclave and then to the incinerator to prevent any survivors from setting up residence in the Florida Everglades.

Burkholderia pseudomallei

Thanksgiving...

Mary and I occasionally utilize our Blog to remind readers that life is ten-percent what happens to us and ninety-percent how we react to it. Granted, there are a fair number of items that appear to be coming all at once over the past two years, most out of our control and some of considerable consequence—coronavirus, health, finances, climate change, political polarization, etc. Each needs its own response. But we can choose our attitude and response to each. And, with care on each, we can be part of the solution vs. part of the problem. 

So, what might all of this have to do with Thanksgiving? Mary’s and my reply is . . . “Everything!” The fourth Thursday of each November offers us an annual choice: Are we thankful? And, if so, for what? And, do circumstances permit sharing that thankfulness with family and friends? For most, this Thanksgiving (as it may have been last year) is markedly different from previous Thanksgivings due to the inability to be close with family and/or friends. For some, this Thanksgiving will not include a family member or friend who has succumbed to Covid 19. These times can be trying for all. Yet, these times offer each of us the opportunity to identify the items for which we are thankful and how we wish to celebrate each.

You readers may have written about this at some point in the past. This may be a good time to dust that writing off and share it with others. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a piece on this that we’ve dusted off and wish to share with you here:

The Harvest Moon

It is the Harvest Moon! On guilded vanes

And roofs of villages, on woodland crests

And their aerial neighborhood of nests

Deserted, on the curtained-window panes

Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes

And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!

Gone are the birds that were our summer guests

With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!

All things are symbols: the external shows

Of Nature have their image in the mind,

As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;

The song-birds leave us at the summer’s close,

Only the empty nests are left behind,

And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow circa 1876

Our life is how we live it. The occasion is what we make it. Our wish for you is a Very Thankful Thanksgiving! 

Love, Mary & Forrest

Guest Author, Suz Robinson. . .

The Atlantic recently published an excellent article on the varying qualities of friendships, some deeper, some less so. In a subsequent discussion about the article with friends, one of our friends, Suz Robinson, advised the discussion precipitated her thinking through and then writing this piece. She shared it with Mary & me as a potential Guest Author Blog post. We immediately said “Thank You and Yes!"

Suz’s love of nature is evident in her writing. And, from the photos she included, her love of animals of all stripes comes through as well. When we asked her about her writing, Suz advised: “I have a strong belief that we’re all one as sentient beings.” So, thanks, Suz, for offering these thoughts for the enjoyment of our readers!

ONE MINUTE BLESSINGS

Several years ago I was speaking with my elderly aunt, who resided in a quaint village located just outside of Ithaca, NY.  She mesmerized me that day as she spoke about the one minute vacation she had just taken.  My uncle had frustrated her so she had walked outside to hang up some clothes as a brief respite.  On her way to the clothesline she encountered a red-winged dragonfly that stopped her in her tracks.  

“You know, Suzi, as I watched that dragonfly, time stood still.  I thought to myself, ‘Oh beautiful gift, I have never seen anything like you before!’  I watched in amazement as it hovered above our sunflowers, first visiting one; then another and finally resting upon a third.  Before I realized it half an hour had passed and I realized I had been one with that dragonfly.  I was no longer angry with your Uncle Don.  No, instead, I loved everything and everyone.  Have you ever experienced these one minute vacations?”

As I recalled this conversation, tears of gratitude flowed from my eyes.  I have learned the lesson of loving myself by delving deeply within my depths, visiting my inner demons, releasing them, and forgiving myself.  As I have risen anew, I have discovered an inner light within me that acknowledges multiple one minute vacations, which I call one minute blessings.   

For example, earlier this week I met a neighbor for a morning walk. He could hardly wait to show me the hickory nut he had just discovered. The two of us stood in silence as we viewed the shell.  I immediately thought to myself, “Wow! This looks just like the bottom of a turtle shell. Turtle symbolism … walk in peace with fortitude and serenity.  How wise that squirrel was to realize the rest of the shell had no nut and offered it to us instead.”

And then this morning while walking another neighbor’s dog, I came across a spider web highlighted with the rising sun as its light filtered through the tree leaves.  This spider’s message was a reminder that I am an infinite being, as is she. Each of us continually weaves unique patterns as we journey through life.  How refreshing it was to know that love such as this surrounds me whenever I walk quietly enough to view nature’s miracles.

Finally I return home.  Here the warm embrace of my  four–legged companions awaits me.  A joy, peace and serenity that cannot be expressed in words embraces me.  Carli, my golden retriever pup, and her best friend, Esprit, fill my soul.

It is at these times I sit with the words of Lao Tzu, 

“She who is centered in the Tao can go
where she wishes without danger.  She
perceives the universal harmony, even amid
great pain, because she has found peace in her heart.”

And so I awaken each morning ever more grateful for being alive in this moment in time, with the teachings from Aunt Betty enmeshed within my heart.

Blog Guest Author, Laura Isham…

When I was young I didn’t know the benefits of having a niece.

Then my sister had Laura and all of that changed into dance, and joy, and peace.

© Forrest W. Heaton 14Jul21

At eighty-three, I’m still learning how much fun having a niece can be. Including surprises. When Laura learned of the Blog Guest Author opportunity, she immediately volunteered and Mary & I immediately said “Yes.” Laura has been writing her first book over the past year. It is now published and she has offered an overview for our readers. Those of you who chose to read it will come away with fresh learning re foods and agriculture and, perhaps, fresh appreciations in eating. Thank you, Laura!

SOIL

“Where does your food come from? Is it coming from soil that has life growing in it? If you cannot confidently answer this question, you might want to ask yourself why you do not believe you are worthy. Because you are worthy. . . . You are worth food and nourishment that is raised on soil with life giving force.”

—Niti Bali; Farm to Fork Riot founder, author

I have a black thumb. It is unfortunate because I love watching plants grow. “Moderate moist with indirect light” does not seem that difficult, right? I just don’t have the knack, or really, the practice. Luckily, others do. I’d love to grow my own food.

Speaking of, have you watched the documentary, The Biggest Little Farm? I believe it is one of the most important stories. Ever. It is the story of soil. And I imagine it represents the experience of many new farmers: buying or taking over dead dry rocky dirt and transforming it into healthy, viable soil to support hundreds of species. Wendell Berry, author and environmental activist, stated in his collection of essays Bringing it to the Table, “most people nowadays lack even a superficial knowledge of agriculture, and most who do know something about it are paying little or no attention to what is happening under the surface.” Therefore, watching the documentary opened my eyes to what is required to build a farm one microbe at a time, and now I know what is happening under the surface.

Source: BrightVibes.com 1

 Righteous Regenerative Agriculture 

I am biased toward regenerative agriculture, but I believe in eating fruits and vegetables, period. And so, I don’t want you to feel like I’m ganging up on big agriculture. I believe when nature is manipulated too much, things backfire.

What I know to be important and to prevent another Dust Bowl is what many farmers are adopting these days: regenerative agricultural practices that focus on crop rotation like nature intended. Some farmers have been doing this from the beginning. This is “beyond organic.” This includes rotational cash crops with cover crops and holistic grazing to ensure healthy soil and to preserve what’s “under the surface.”

The farmers who have moved away from what we presently think of as “conventional”—focusing solely on yield, free use of chemicals, no focus on crop rotation or cover crops—to regenerative agriculture admit the upfront expenses including nutrient management and composting. Eventually, they demonstrate higher yields because each cycle creates healthier and healthier soil. These practices protect the groundwater with improved infiltration, decreased run-off and erosion that results in reduced overall water needs, and lowered overhead costs. In general, unfortunately, people believe that this way of farming is not sustainable enough to feed the world because of the amount of seed and resources required for each successful harvest. But cover crops benefiting the cash crops and feeding the soil with carbon is not an arbitrary outcome measure. The more carbon in the soil, the healthier the environment and the less amount of excess carbon dioxide emitted as a greenhouse gas.

It seems so easy.

The above brief review states my view on an important and growing problem/opportunity.

For those of you who might consider reading my book, you have two options. For a signed paperback, please send me a check in the amount of $20 and include the name to whom you wish the book inscribed, and your mailing address. I also have Venmo, handle @laura-isham; please include in the comments section the name to whom you wish the book inscribed, and your mailing address.

For those of you who wish to read or order the book online, you can order here.

I want to thank you, the readers of Uncle Wally’s & Aunt Mary’s Blog, for your interest in my work and send my best wishes!

Laura Isham

509 Sertoma Way

Buellton, CA 93427

Lbisham79@gmail.com

Guest Author, Bill Smith

Writing an introductory paragraph is made more difficult when the writer/writing you’re introducing are exceptional. Such is the case in this instance. Bill Smith is the younger brother of my college roommate and first Guest Author, Rick Smith. Bill & I have known each other via this relationship over all these years. When Rick posted his National Park Service stories of Yosemite, Bill was quick to offer being a Guest Author as well and Mary & I were quick to say “Yes.” We believe you dear readers will find this piece inspiring, an instance of being “touched by the joy and peace we shared with (isolated) villagers.” Each day offers each of us the opportunity to meet and get to know new people that enhance our lives. Thanks, Bill, for the reminder!

Papau New Guinea . . . Trekking Into History

I grew up in the 50s and became a full-fledged summer camp rat. My love of camps stemmed largely from my father, who grew up as a camper, counselor and eventual camp director. Camping for me meant swimming, canoeing, hiking, campfires and sleeping bags. The seeds of adventure were planted early and often in my childhood.

As a school administrator, I spent my summer vacations exploring national parks. My older brother Rick was a park ranger, and he became my key to extreme adventure. Soon I was rock climbing, river rafting, spelunking and backpacking with Rick in spectacular parks like Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns.

These park adventures prompted me to venture into faraway lands. While on leave of absence, I explored Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. A fourth South Pacific locale intrigued me, and I signed up for trekking and river rafting in New Guinea.

Due north of Australia, New Guinea is the world’s second largest island. World War II hero General Douglas MacArthur described New Guinea as an uncompromising jungle. “Bugs were everywhere; biting ants, fleas, chiggers, poisonous spiders and brilliantly colored insects that would land on a sleeping man, and like vampires, suck his body fluids. This was the setting of the green war: the green of slime and vegetation, the green of gangrene and dysentery, and the green clad enemy.”

These same dense jungles gained even more notoriety in 1961 when Michael Rockefeller disappeared in New Guinea, the suspected victim of cannibals. It is probably one of the least visited regions on earth and home to over 800 different dialects. What would compel anyone, let alone me, to embark on a month-long expedition into New Guinea’s interior?

I dismissed these concerns as my flight approached Port Moresby, capital city of Papua New Guinea, on the island’s eastern half. The lush green terrain looked as mysterious as its reputation, and I shuddered excitedly at the thought of trekking the gorges and jungles below. One of my goals was to hike the notorious Kokoda Trail. It was time for me to reach for unparalleled adventure.

A favorite quote by Wilfred Noyce served as my inspiration, “And if adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: We reach out because it is in our nature to reach out, to climb mountains, to sail the seas, and fly to the planets.”

Five people signed up for the Kokoda trek but four had backed out because of its difficulty and a recent report of escalating tribal warfare in the highlands. Upon landing, I learned the trek had thus been canceled by my travel company. Refunds were offered but I stood firm. I’d been training for five months and I was determined to hike the Kokodo Trail. I would meet up with the five again for white water rafting on the Watut River. Adding to the peril of New Guinea, three would contract malaria during our 30-day stay. I took my malaria pills religiously and was fortunate to escape the disease.

The company hired a river guide named Tim as my hiking partner, though he also had never seen the trail. In its travel brochure, the company promised porters and guides for this trek. However, Tim and I would have to brave the Kokoda Trail together and carry our own gear. We were given a simple, hand-drawn map of the trail. No cell phones, GPS or glossy maps back then and that proved nearly disastrous.

My first steps on the faint, narrow track were filled with apprehension. I wondered if I could conquer 60 miles of trail in six days, gaining and losing 20,000 feet of altitude. Our backpacks were heavy and our pace tediously slow as the pathway tunneled through tangled vegetation, crisscrossed streams, and carved its way to higher elevation.

The Kododa Trail had been a brutal World War II battlefield when Japanese troops started to traverse it in an attack on General MacArthur’s headquarters in Port Moresby. Battle artifacts are still unearthed along the desolate footpath. Allied resistance and the jungle itself finally forced the Japanese to retreat just short of Moresby. 

Seven hours of rigorous hiking carried us to the lip of Imita Ridge, scene of the last-ditch defense of Port Moresby. On this spiny outcrop of earth, Japan suffered its first land defeat of the war. Australia was preserved but the merciless fighting cost MacArthur 8,546 soldiers, his bloodiest toll of victory ever.

The trail had resisted our every step, then unveiled its beauty when a brilliant rainbow arched across Imita Ridge. A coincidence, no doubt, but the rainbow represented a sobering memorial to the terrible death and destruction of war.

Darkness closed in. We rigged a tent and braced for our first night in Kokoda wilderness. Two tree kangaroos hopped into view. Miniature replicas of their Australian counterparts, tree kangaroos are rarely sighted and stand about 18 inches in height.

Soon the jungle canopy sealed out the sky. I wondered how many eyes were watching us. Cannibals came to mind, but snakes were also an obvious concern. I recalled a recent news article about a python in New Guinea that had yielded the remains of four human bodies.

Tired muscles protested but day two began at sunrise. It would become the most physically demanding day of my life. Relentless climbs tore at aching legs, but descents became more treacherous. Falls were inevitable on the slippery track. We struggled ahead, hoping to reach a village by nightfall. After 10 taxing hours, I fully appreciated my travel pamphlet’s warning: “The rigors of the Kokoda Trail cannot be exaggerated.”

Ahead we heard faint sounds of children playing and cautiously moved to a ridge overlooking a village. Unsure of our welcome, we slowly moved closer and reached the edge of a clearing. A village child spotted us, flashed a smile and yelled out gleefully. Suddenly children were everywhere, smiling and reaching out for our hands. Using Pidgin English, we introduced ourselves. A villager offered us fresh pineapple. The chieftain readied a guest hut, and we thankfully slept that night on the raised floor of a thatched shelter.

Cheerful voices awakened us at sunrise. Somewhat renewed, Tim and I geared up for another day. As I hoisted my pack over tender shoulders, I felt a tickle on my neck. I brushed at the spot, then froze in my tracks. An ominous spider scurried away. Had it been poisonous and bitten me, I knew medical evacuation was impossible.

Day three of hiking would prove no easier. We struggled upward and reached a village where another friendly welcome awaited us. A villager offered us papayas that refreshed our parched thirst. We returned the kindness with cookies, a popular treat for villagers. An elder warned that there was no water until the next village, hours away, so we filled up at a nearby stream. We purified all of our water with iodine and were accustomed to the slightly medicinal taste.

As we departed in the morning, another elder gave us directions to the next village that contradicted our hand-drawn map. About noon we reached the disputed fork in the trail. After much discussion, we trusted the villager’s advice and branched left. By late afternoon our feelings began to sink. We were overdue in the next village by an hour and the trail had disappeared. I repressed a tinge of panic. Of all places to become lost, New Guinea was my absolute last choice.

We bushwhacked our way to a ridge. Far below we saw thatched roofs. We descended a muddy, near-vertical gully and finally reached a village of eight huts. Its quietness warned of something peculiar. An elder timidly approached and held out bananas. They were a special treat, but our elation soon soured. In Pidgin English, we asked if this village was called Efogi, our intended destination. The elder answered, “Efogi not nem belong dis ples.” We were stunned and realized we were completely lost. 

We had no hope of finding the Kokoda Trail again. Luckily, we had discovered this village. When we explained, as best we could, that we were lost, an elder offered to guide us back to the Kokoda Trail. After hours of exhaustive hiking, we again reached that fateful fork in the trail. Our guide would not take money, so we gave him a large bag of GORP. Judging from the smile on his weathered face, he loved the tasty mix and a fair trade had been exacted.

All of our contacts with villagers had been pleasant to date, but as we reflected back, we felt one elder may have deliberately misguided us. He had cost us a day, but our current guide had helped us avert disaster. We pressed on to the real Efogi. We were now four days into the six-day trek and had yet to reach the halfway point. Unthinkable at first, we began to doubt our chances of completing the Kokoda adventure. Our map showed a grass landing strip at Kagi, the next village on the trail.

As exhausted as we were, our spirits soared when we reached Kagi and learned a plane was due the next day. We had a mini-celebration to honor the many kindnesses of villagers along the trail. We emptied our packs of most remaining food and prepared a meal for the chieftain and chosen guests. Coffee was the biggest attraction and many cupfuls were passed around the cooking fire. The chieftain had rescued downed Allied pilots during the war and was excited to learn we were Americans. The setting would be etched in my mind forever. Four villagers and two strangers from a different land straining with a language barrier but communicating in the deepest sense.

A stunning sunrise promised good weather and a plane from Port Moresby. An inspection of the grass landing strip nearly convinced us to start hiking again. It was about 400 feet long and perched on a ridge that sloped dangerously downhill. The village maintained the strip and took great pride in a gasoline-powered lawnmower. The 20th century was catching up with Papua New Guinea and I wondered how long its wilderness and culture would remain substantially unchanged.

As the Australian bush pilot accelerated downhill, we felt great relief as the plane angled skyward. I was a licensed student pilot, but I had never seen, done or dreamed of anything like that.

Neither Tim nor I viewed our decision to fly out as a defeat. Not finishing the trail was disappointing in some respects, but we had just explored a mysterious land that so few others would ever experience. We had hiked on a trail that helped alter the course of world history. Most importantly, we were touched by the joy and peace we shared with villagers isolated by jungle, time and distance. New Guinea and its peoples would remain a part of us forever.