Some days...

John Pavlovitz- Christian Pastor

I really don’t care about him.

I know you think I do, but my sadness really has nothing to do with him.

I know who he is—and more accurately, I know what he is.

I know that he is just a mirror.

He has simply revealed clearly the disfigured ugliness of the place I call home and the people I live here alongside—and that is the thing I grieve over. And this is not the mourning over a singular loss, it is a daily grieving.

I grieve when I see elementary school teachers dressed up like a border wall for Halloween.
I grieve when I see white a woman screaming obscenities at two Muslims teenagers at a stop light.
I grieve when I see a Jewish professor’s office littered with spray-painted swastikas.
I grieve when I watch a father of four being tackled by ICE agents outside immigration offices.
I grieve when I witness white high school seniors making a “Heil Hitler” arm gesture during class photos.
I grieve when I see the contempt from white friends, when young black men die at traffic stops.
I grieve when I find the most vile sickness on my social media feed, hurled toward people of color and women and transgender people.
I grieve when I hear professed Christian pastors calling for the killing of LGBTQ people.
I grieve when I see rambling, racist tirades on subway cars filled with families with young children.
I grieve when I see supremacist candidates being elected and re-elected.
I grieve when I overhear dehumanizing conversations from old, white men, about Democratic women leaders, in crowded cafés.
I grieve when I sit across holiday tables, and witness bigoted tirades that I’d have thought people I knew and loved were not capable of.

And though all of these things are undoubtedly emboldened by him and encouraged by him and celebrated by him—that is not the source of my despair. It is the reality that all of this vicious, toxic, filth that we are infected with today—is something you are largely fine with. The rising hatred is not alarming or discomforting enough to you, to move you to action or to speak against it.

Oh sure, you might inwardly twinge with discomfort at one or two of the most egregious offenses, but by and large you’re good with it all.

With your silence, as much as with your volume, you show me you are more with him than you are against him, that you are more like him than different from him—and that you and I are increasingly morally incompatible.

So yes, he is a mirror, and I am seeing you my countrymen and women through him.

That is why I grieve, friend.

That is why I don’t see America or my church or my neighborhood or my family the same anymore, and I’m not sure I ever will again.

The greatest tragedy to me, isn’t him. It isn’t that the person supposedly leading our country lacks a single benevolent impulse, that he is impervious to compassion, incapable of nobility, and mortally allergic to simple kindness.

The greatest tragedy, is how many Americans he now represents.

And that he represents you.

Graduation

  I remember when he was less than two years old and relatives told us they could recommend a speech therapist. Then came the concerns over not being in a classroom full of kids, the socialization woes, the comments about how they didn't think home-schooled kids could go to college, much less a university in New York. Why, you have to have a real high school diploma in NY! There was even one doofus who said he had missed out on the pre-teen sex.
   Looks like he turned out more than fine.

God Almighty

This is how our great, Christian president celebrates your holiest of days. Praise the Lord and pass the bombs. I'll have ISIS gone in 30 days. He is Risen! I won, why should I show my tax report?
....oh yes, and the Obama's attended church services every Easter. Trump hasn't been to church since the inauguration. Yet still the evangelical telemarketer/preachers of hate condone this piece of filth.

You

 The Republican leaders and members looked away while this man bullied and lied. They still are not standing up to a "man" who mocks the disabled,  lies outrageously,  denigrates current Democratic members, speaks ill of everyone on Twitter( except Putin), and spends his only press conference bitching about how much better he was than Hillary, as if he's still competing in his ridiculous reality game.
 He, a man who equates a woman's worth by her looks, who brags about grabbing women by their pussies without asking-- he is supported by top name religious leaders! Are you a Christian? Do you speak out?
He, a man who swore Clinton was the devil for hob- nobbing with Goldman Sachs, now has 4 Goldman Sachs members and their lawyer in his top administration. He, a man who claimed Hillary was allowing foreign officials access to her office, now has zero problems with running his empire while president. Do you seriously think he won't be involved? He, a man who swore the Mexicans would pay for the wall, now has switched gears. A man who led cheers( along with his General Flynn) about imprisoning Hillary, has now become quiet. A man who denigrates an elderly icon of the Civil Rights era. Does this bother you? Have you ever laughed and denigrated minorities? Have you made fun of protesters, or people celebrating MLK Day with parades?? You saw a known con man yet you chose to be conned? You saw a man who rallied his followers by professing hatred and fear of others, and chose to follow him because of your similar prejudices?
 You looked the other way. You wanted your team to win no matter what the consequences were. You normalized this.  You wanted to lower your own taxes, you think gays don't deserve the same rights as you,  you want to keep all the stinking Mexicans out, you  agree to kicking people off healthcare,  you like the idea of a Muslim registry,  you are fine with men sexually assaulting females, you don't want 'grown men peeing in the bathroom with little girls'. What was it? What made you choose this dangerous, insane clown? Where were your Christian morals when you went to the polls. Where are they hiding today?  What are you? How do you define morals, ethics, dignity, and grace? If you could sit down with your grandchildren and great-grand children, what would you tell them about having admiration and respect for the President of the USA? If you have children, grand kids, or relatives who are gay, how do you ask forgiveness from them for the hateful beliefs this incoming administration has for humans born with a different sexual orientation than you?    The Republican Party and all of it's followers, from this day forward, have no right to call themselves the Party of Family Values, the party of Christian morals. They forfeited that right when they allowed this man to represent what they stand for.
The cartoon below is from a Norwegian political piece. Seems to sum up what is coming.
I have no problem with political differences.

  I have a problem with people choosing to support a creature of this ilk. Do you?

Holidays

Gorilla, Sloppy-Man, and Mouse Tracks

We take our cookie decorating seriously

Regrets majoring in math instead of ConfectionarySkills

So cold the cat's allowed in the basement

Because everyone loves Mr. Rogers cartoons

I think it was 5 degrees on the drive to the movies

Apparently we were the last in town to see Rogue One

Icy sidewalk of Doom, after a week of warm temps

Honey Coated Insanity

 If you don't care to read about another Republican story of filth, pass on by.

Let's look at the growing list of conspiracy theorists the Vagina-Grabber is choosing to surround himself with:

David Friedman, nominated as ambassador to Israel. Believes Huma Abedin is part of the Muslim     Brotherhood. Questions whether Arab Israelis should be able to vote in their OWN COUNTRY.

   Monica Crowley, the sexual predator's National Security senior director of strategic   
      communications.Previously Fox News contributor. Has stated Huma Abedin has ties to
      Muslim Brotherhood, and claims Abedin's parents are tools of the Saudi regime.
     She still does not believe Obama was born in America, and whines that he is Arab African, not
     black African, yet he "still campaigns as a black".

 General Flynn( you know, the man who led the Lock Her Up chants at rallies and now his top NS adviser) tweeted, and has since tried to delete the tweets, a fake news- let's just say crazy lie--story about Hillary involved in money laundering and pedophilia. Let me add here, for those who say nanny nanny boo boo, Hillary had an open marriage and lots of affairs, and that was found in"real" news, you probably shouldn't rely on Breitbart or a Breitbart guest on Hannity for "real" news, because those type sites are where you'll find them by googling.

Flynn's son, who is the General's chief of staff and top aide in the transition team has tweeted the same Abedin garbage, and that Rubio is a closeted gay who abuses cocaine.

But honestly, what do we expect, when the mentally unstable, intellectually challenged, emotionally fragile man who conned millions of Republicans with his sweet talking bull crap( actually not much different than the other R candidates were spewing) has his own insane theories:
Biggest proponent of the Birther movement,millions of illegals voted, Cruz's father was involved with Oswald and JFK,  he won in "the biggest landslide' in history.

Amish honey. It's odd how honey made just a few miles away in the next county tastes so different. Sort of like wild clover vs skunk cabbage.

You've been conned, or else you choose to look the other way with these dangerous beliefs. Give him a chance? I think we've seen enough to know the level of diplomacy this administration possesses. It's a shame.

Pride and Decency

"New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio has also pledged that the Big Apple will remain a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants, despite Trump’s threats to deprive such municipalities of federal funding. Sanctuary cities limit their cooperation with federal efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
There has been a growing number of reported racist incidents ( click on it! It's just Day 2) since Trump’s election on Tuesday, including many cases of young people tormenting minority classmates and vandalizing their dedicated spaces.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised people of color and the LGBTQ community threatened by the bigoted rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump that the Empire State has their back.
“If anyone feels that they are under attack I want them to know that the State of New York ― the state that has the Statue of Liberty in its harbor ― is their refuge,” Cuomo wrote in an email to members of New York’s Democratic Party. “Whether you are gay or straight, Muslim or Christian, rich or poor, black or white or brown, we respect all people in the state of New York.”
“We won’t allow a federal government that attacks immigrants to do so in our state,” he added. "


Then there's this... in Wellsville

Painted on a park wall,  Sadly, there are many pockets of indecency in these rural hills.  The area from Whitesville to Wellsville seems to be quite the hell-mouth. It's the expected consequences of entrusting the integrity of our democracy to a man who has none.

Disbelief , Abandoned, and Odd

    Buffy was not happy with the odd-headed stranger standing in her laundry room.

Barking hysterically

  This next place was originally the only one-room schoolhouse in the county constructed of stones.
We decided to take a drive to see if it was still there. I've got a book of photos of the early towns around here; it seems that so many things burned down in the 1920's or were torn down in the 1970's.
But we found the school---it's now a run down house in a tiny town half filled with  garbage strewn yards, abandoned houses,with the other half well maintained, small farms( miniature horses) and tidy homes. So really, not much different than any town up here.
Our next trip is to find a 1907 pet cemetery...

Front of the school. You can barely see the tops of the two window frames. and the edges in the bricks in the middle where the small, triangular roof( that had the schoolbell) was attached.

Just another abandoned farm. The barn behind it is in pretty good shape.

It's  sad to realize that someone was living here recently, that satellite dish is so out of place...

 Call me nuts, but this reminds me of a one-eyed zombie alpaca head.

Misc. and Partying on Long Island

           Bloomed during the first snow, all the roses have been dormant for weeks.

This is up the hill, the house sits empty now. It's one we stopped at for you to photograph a couple years ago, Sharon.

              Calmly watched the turkeys until someone said, " I hope they don't take your Dirty Sock!"
               She then went berserk.

                            Sharing a picnic breakfast

                                  Back yard

             My favorite. I hope they give me 20 grandkids someday. (And he danced!)

Early Nov Drive

The trees really do look like they're on fire. I don't understand why the road's

not covered in leaves, because ours sure is.

 

Not so sure we want to go into that dark area

                                             Haunted Bus

Goofus---Gallant

At a recent dance...

Mid October, Apple Picking, and Harriet Hollister Park

           Driveway, October 19

 

I have so many pictures of Rusty in this exact spot, it almost hurts to see it.

 

Five hours after blowing away most of the leaves.

 

See the old iron fencing in the middle? I really, really, want to go back, Didn't want to walk through it with the dog.

 

Road with the sweet apples. There's state land here, but it's turkey season so we were too worried about getting shot. I had to jump out of the car and grab the apples while he watched for nuts with guns.

 

Our house is in the left-middle, way way back there...I can see a white speck, that's the neighbor.

 

These tasted extra sweet, softer than ours, and smelled strongly of roses.

 

Harriet Hollister park

 

All the leaves in this spot were ghostly white

 

I think this park is used mainly for snowmobiles and cross country skiing, the trails were long and didn't circle back easily, so I was nervous about getting lost.

 

Ghosty ferns