Redbud is not really red.

Redbud trees and bushes are usually not red, rather more pinkish/lavender. Right now, they are flowering everywhere all around here. As summer approaches, their brilliant hues will turn to a more usual green. Now in spring, they display a real array of hues. 

An extended family, my lifelong friends living in Vermont, sent me this photo below of a recent family gathering. It's wonderful to see them all together. I am so happy to see them there. I regard them as members of my own family. 

And seen here below is my friend Carol, who sent me this family photos, as a young girl with a ram her family was raising. In the photo above, she is in the middle of the back row wearing a colorful top. Her late mother who lived to age 104 was born in Egypt. I often spoke with her mother by phone. The mother told me that her life after age 100 had been rather hard (probably hard for her family too). She had 2 Spanish-speaking women helping care for her then--I also spoke with them by phone in Spanish. This family has lived on their farm ever since my friend's own childhood. That's how long we have actually known each other. 

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Orthodox Jewish boys run from Israeli police after Orthodox men were ordered to enlist in the military. 

Here is Donald Trump's Easter message to Iran: Open the F--kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ ll be living in Hell.

                        What would Trump's evangelical supporters think of that rant? 

Yahoo. Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders

As already stated, Pete Hegseth is a blatant war criminal who had ordered the killing of surrendering Caribbean boaters with their hands raised high. He has virtually no military training or experience, and doesn't know squat about what he is doing in his job or why. Most of us could actually do better. He has blamed "the fog of war" for his mistakes, some having proved fatal for others. But the buck stops with President Trump who appointed him and who keeps him on the payroll. Did his family perhaps make a big campaign donation to Trump? 

China now tops US in global approval ratings: Gallup

At least China doesn't have some obviously crazy people still in charge over there.

Was Donald Trump always this unhinged or is he actually getting worse with age? 

Now it's 6:30 pm on Easter Sunday here in West Virginia. the time when computer problems often start. so I'll continue here tomorrow. 

She fixed the toilet.

Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch fixed a malfunctioning toilet aboard the Orion spacecraft shortly after launch in April 2026. Guided by Mission Control, she successfully restored the urine transfer system, playfully referring to herself as the "space plumber". The repair ensured full function for the lunar mission.

The Cuban government on Thursday said it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes as President Trump has put the island’s government under extreme economic pressure with an effective oil blockade. The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. published the announcement on social platform X. The Cuban government said the prisoner release was being done as a “humanitarian gesture” and taking place in the context of Holy Week, without citing the tension with the Trump administration.

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