commentary – Rivers Renewed

Thank You!

It has been a long time since I’ve done a thank you post so – thank you so much! You all are an amazing group of people!

I’m always amazed by your poetry, art, articles, reviews, and photography. You should all receive awards and make lots of money!

And I wish I could follow each one of you. Your support for my work is truly a blessing and humbling.

I’d like to make a recommendation for those that are beginning their blogging life here. If you want your blog to do well, please link it to social media. You’ll be glad you did!

The future is not only here now, it was here yesterday.

I’m really happy with where my blog is and my journey here….and you are the reason!

Thank you!

You Need to Know

If you came here thinking I was a conservative Republican, you need to know that I’m not….and never will be again. It happened long before king for a day #45.

I am pro-mask (only when needed), pro-vaccine, pro-common sense approach to science and faith.

Here’s some science…..ready? When I look up at the sky and it’s blue with white puffy clouds it means it will probably not rain that day. Storm clouds mean it probably will rain. That’s science and it’s that simple.

Science is simply drawing conclusions from evidence. Thin wispy clouds in a blue sky? This usually means it will rain in a day or so.

I will never be part of the AR15 culture that is mostly right wing white people. I’m sorry but it’s true. I watched the January 6^th riot live as it happened. Next to each other, side by side, were banners of white supremacists and confederate flags with assault rifles painted on them, and unfortunately some Jesus banners.

I saw three Jesus banners. That’s not who I am and never will be. To be honest I don’t think I can survive another president like king for a day #45. There’s simply too much brutality and lying.

I would not leave this nation and our medical insurance is here which we so desperately need. Yet I wonder if Ireland is accepting American immigrants?

Solidarity

I’m flying the flag of Ukraine today in solidarity with the people there. May this war be over quickly. My heart is with them.

Ukraine has about 44 million people and has a democratically elected government. They have been an independent nation for about 30 years. Did you know that?

Some are surprised by Russia’s aggression, but we shouldn’t be.

No comments supporting Russia will be allowed here today. I will squash them quicker than a fly swatter squashing a fly. Was that strong enough? Russia is a bullying dictatorship. I do not allow bullies here!

Send some positive thoughts and prayers for Ukraine today.

Peace for Ukraine!

P.S. I should be back tomorrow with a new post, but this one is important.

Blog Posting and Reposting

When I first starting blogging there was a blogger that posted the same post, multiple times every day. I mean the same post, about 20 times in one day! I timed it once and it was about once every 25 minutes. Wow! Or I should say, ugh!

Not only was it aggravating but it literally clogged up my reader or hindered me from seeing other posts from other bloggers. He’s no longer around but I’m still here.

There was also a young blogger that chose one day to post 30 different works! What?? Each was different but the same thing happened with my reader getting flooded and clogged. It seems this blogger actually wanted readers to stop following her. Yes, I know…..strange indeed.

I could tell you some stories! Any who…..

So what is a good number for posting? I post once a day, usually in the morning, and on rare occasions (very rare) one in the late afternoon. I’m not able to post every day though. Many of us follow this pattern however some choose less often, maybe 1-2 times in a week.

It depends on you. Remember though to be considerate of your readers! I know several bloggers that post 2-3 times in a day, and it works beautifully.

If you post 6-8 times in a day, then your work has to be exceptional for me to follow you. I know someone that does this, and their work is exceptional!

I don’t like reposting, but I use this sparingly for several reasons:

I don’t have anything new for that day, and yet I want to keep my site active.
With social media trends I’m giving my readers a second chance if they didn’t see it the first time around.
I’m not on social media in order to share it there.
And I also care about my work and want it to do well.

Remember to use this sparingly. Your readers will appreciate it!

Have a great time blogging and thank you for reading!

Peace.

Blogging and Comments

Well I leave comments sometimes because your posts are so beautiful! I hope you enjoy posting as much as I do reading them.

Each day or each post, you encourage and uplift, or provoke us to think about topics in an amazing way! Your writing, your photography, your artwork are incredible.

Hey Nico, what about travel posts on Portugal? Absolutely! It’s my favorite place I’ve never been to. Not yet anyway. Book reviews? Yes!! Send them my way.

And I try to be positive because we all need more positivity and good thoughts in our lives. Have you ever read some encouraging comments and they made your day? I try to do that.

I have been encouraged many times over the years, and I seek to pay it forward. Giving what I have received.

Ain’t that so cool?

Thank you so much for reading!

Happy Autumn!

Happy Easter

Today around the world, millions of people will be celebrating Easter, a day to celebrate the risen Christ, alive forever more! It is a beautiful day. One of hope and triumph over death and evil.

I have such a beautiful group of readers from across the globe, with different religions, and some with no particular religion. I love the diversity here!

Thank you so much for reading and being a great part of my blog.

Happy Easter!

P.S. The vaccine is here, spring is here and it is such a time of hope right now.

Wishing you peace and beautiful blessings.

Follow Your Heart

I write of peace, of nature, healing, discovery, renewal, of God being in the woods. There is spirit and wings, for each of us I think. A quiet heart seeking.

Yet within each of us there are different rivers, sources of inspiration. For example I love writing fiction. Did you know I had a fiction blog at one point?

And with yesterday’s post about the Capitol riot you saw yet another river from my heart. If I had the time (and I don’t) I could start a blog offering political analysis and commentary.

And yes each post can be a risk, if we push the boundaries of where we were. For “Flags and Banners” I was already expecting a much lower response. It’s the nature of that type of post.

And that’s ok.

So my point is – explore who you are as a writer, as an artist. Take chances, discover the new……and most of all……follow your heart.

Peace.

Flags and Banners

As I watched on TV that day live, the storming of our Capitol building in Washington D.C., I was struck by how many different flags and banners there were.

Besides the Confederate flags and the Gun Rights flags……wait gun rights? Do we still have that in this country? Seriously? How many more people must die before we change this?

You want to protect your home? Ok. You want to go hunting? Sure. But you don’t need an assault rifle, and you never have.

Now, back to January 6th, The analysis of the flags revealed SIX different white supremacist groups were there that day……SIX groups of people. Did you know that?

One of the flags was Nazi. You remember the Nazis. We fought against them in World War II. Millions upon millions of people died around the world because of them.

There were no Antifa at the riot. That’s another right wing extremist lie, proven to be false by our own FBI. What is Antifa? A group of people, an organization that are ANTI-facist.

You remember the facists, we fought against them in World War II. Millions upon millions of people died around the world because of them.

I’m not extreme in any way, in fact I call myself a moderate now, but I would rather have a cup of coffee and a danish with an Antifa person, than a right wing extremist any day. Hands down, not even close.

My flag is the United States of America.

P.S. By the way if you want to confront Asian hate you need to stop the extremists on the right. It’s always been that way, and always will be.

Note: I’ve only now been able to write about this.

Rivers Diverted

Peace does flow through us like a river, yet in the Untied States, our rivers can be diverted.

I find it difficult to write my normal poetry right now due to the horrific violence at the Capitol the other day. It was worse than we thought. Did you see the Neo-Nazi/KKK flag on the news being waved that day? I saw it with my own eyes.

And then there were the Confederate flags. And a flag with an assault rifle. Yes there were plenty of average Joe Citizens there believing the lies about our election.

Yes…the current president lied to our people once again. Even a staff member said this. And now we have death and destruction. No it wasn’t Antifa. That is another lie busted by our own FBI.

Conservatives often make the mistake of saying there are bad people on both sides. Yes, but NO. Liberals are not armed to the teeth trying to take over our government. Not even close.

One story says there was a truck found close to the Capitol with guns and bombs. Some of these fringe groups came armed wanting to take hostages and kill people. There’s photographic and internet evidence.

My river will always flow, but right now I cannot write. It’s kind of like grieving.

Star Trek and the Klingons

I, like many of you, watched the news yesterday, horrified and angry. And as a writer it’s easy to rant and rave here about what happened at the Capitol, in Washington. Yet I’m not going to do that. There are plenty of news sources already analyzing the events.

I’d like to offer a different view. It was awful, beyond words, yet I can easily see the US as being similar to Star Trek Voyager. We are a ship (a nation) with an advanced society, that has lost our way, facing unbelievable challenges, like a crippling disease.

Sometimes the struggles are within ourselves. And yet we face each incredible challenge and move forward traveling at the speed of light. We did that this past November fighting for what was right. And Joe Biden won by the largest margin since FDR. Did you know that?

And now this week we did it in Georgia. For the first time in the history of Georgia, they will have an African American pastor as a senator. And the son of Jewish immigrants as the other senator. Ain’t that something?

Yep, that’s our America! And moving forward, working on getting home at the speed of light. And one day, our Captain will be a woman, just like on Voyager!

And the Klingons? Oh those are the angry, war-like people…….And they always loose. Always. Violence always loses.

Peace.

Category: commentary