On a recent Sunday, friends invited me to services at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian church where many years ago, several neighbors and I operated a cooperative preschool in the basement now occupied by a Montessori school. One of my children attending that preschool some decades ago was my oldest son Andrew, whose birthday is today, September 4, (1967), but who died tragically after a work accident when he was only 26. So many memories came flooding back again for me by just being in that church once again. I try to limit my grieving for son Andrew to his birthday and death day. I am also glad to have a grandson named for him, a very different guy, and much beloved as well.
I spent a great week in W Va. with my son Jon and his dog Willow. She is quite a handful and still in the puppy stage. Jon must put her into a rather roomy cage when he leaves her at home alone while he is away at work at the front desk of the nearby CoolFont Hotel, Otherwise, she would simply tear everything up. She insists on sleeping with Jon in his bed and, sometimes, he puts her in the cage just to get a good night's sleep. His whole house has a rather pungent doggy smell.
Here are some more Berkeley Springs photos; I had such a wonderful time there. The town is well known for its natural mineral baths which George Washington often frequented, hence the town's name.
George Washington often bathed right here.
Folks still enjoy bathing in the relaxing natural spring waters. This is the entrance to a mysterious castle on the edge of town.
The castle below seen at night.
More Berkeley Springs scenes.
A Polka band often plays locally.
Below is a house in nearby Winchester.
I stood a while overlooking the nascent Potomac river that gathers strength and volume before arriving near my home in Washington, DC.
Below are Berkeley Springs photos from last December when daughter Stephanie came east from Hawaii to visit us for the holidays, first Steph standing by the bathhouse, then below beside a local wall mural.
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A message recently came in from John Kircko of International Health Service, an organization I've often worked with in Honduras. They are back in business now. A health practitioner seeking to serve with IHS in Honduras should get in touch with John. I highly recommend their totally volunteer operation. If you speak Spanish, as I do, so much the better. Here's the message from John.
From:
Hi Everyone,
Here is some exciting news! Imagine at most village team sites to be able to make phone calls and
to access the internet for e-mails, visit websites, and everything you do at home when connected
to the internet. Thanks to a generous grant to IHS, we soon will be able to do all these things and
more. This is made possible by the acquisition of several Starlink systems very soon to access
nearly unlimited satellite communications. We are already setting up to take a system with us on
the October Kruta team.
What does this mean? Think of all the things you do with internet with a laptop or cell phone.....
phone calls, WhatsAp calling, emailing, doing Google searches, joining in a Zoom meeting,
connecting with servers, medical and other websites to access information. That means nearly
everything you access now at home or at work.
John
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Years ago, serving as an election observer and human rights monitor in Haiti during several trips
there, I took time out to admire much of that country's colorful art. Now Haiti has few visitors and
Haitians just trying to survive have little time or incentive to make art.
a Haitian human rights lawyer.
US seizes plane used by Venezuelan president
In protests over Maduro's claim of election victory, 24 people have been killed and 2,400 arrested.
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Male incels--non-partnered men--complain of being unfair victims of “lookism.” By lookism,
they mean that attractive people receive many advantages, while less physically appealing folks
like themselves are targets of prejudice. Incels blame women for not accepting them just as
they are. These arguments are not without merit, as psychological and sociological research
demonstrates that perceived attractiveness has many benefits for both men and women, including
a higher income. Of course, there are certain cultural definitions of attractiveness. At one time,
Asian women had eyelid surgery to make their eyes look more Caucasian and, in some African
countries, very heavy ladies were once considered especially appealing.
Many self-identified incels still live here in the US and there also are a growing number
in Asia. All of them are men not currently partnered with women or helping produce or raise the
babies required to keep a steady population. The world does not need to return to the overpopulation
threats of Malthus' time, rather just to keep on producing children at an average modest replacement
rate of 2.1 per woman. And incels do need to do their part.
With more babies required both in the US and in other parts of the world, the anti-abortion (pro-life)
movement has been gaining some new adherents. As an adoptive as well as a birth mother myself, I
have never supported "abortion rights." The anti-abortion movement now has a new spokesperson
who supports neither party, so I may just decide to follow her lead. Lila Rose is a married mother
of 3 planning to vote for neither main political party. Though a registered Democrat myself, never
having voted for a Republican, I am inclined to simply sit out the vote in November myself. While
a woman president would signal a welcome change and we certainly don't need another Trump
presidency, Democrats have alienated my vote with their strident pro-abortion rhetoric. While
a majority of American voters may support "abortion rights"--a majority in flux over
the years--a substantial minority (myself included, though I've never been polled) still do not,
considering the life of an unborn human, a necessary stage we all went through, to have value.
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If there can be a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow polio
vaccination for children, why not extend that pause still further?
$20 billion dollars, Amnesty International: Amid horrific bombardment of Palestinian civilians in the
occupied Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department is approving a brand new weapons package to the
Israeli government… to the tune of $20 billion dollars. This is unthinkable, as war crimes and human rights
violations are ongoing, and Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of genocide and an engineered famine.
Why, indeed, does the US government continue to provide unstinting moral and economic support
to Israel? As already mentioned, probably neither party gets my vote in November.
CNN, Grief and fury on Israel’s streets, as hostage killings pile pressure on Netanyahu
to secure ceasefire deal
Maybe now at last, Israeli citizen pressure will incentivize Netanyahu to seek a ceasefire and
also lead to his long overdue political demise. (Is it too much to hope to see him sanctioned
as a war criminal? History will certainly not judge him favorably.)
A final display of the Honduran flag signals that this
blog was started years ago after my 3 1/2 years as a Peace
Corps health volunteer in Honduras. I've returned there
yearly ever since to volunteer with health-related and
rehabilitation projects, including at age 86 just now in
June 2024.
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