It's Cold Outside

• We got our first snow of the season in Bath early on Monday morning.  The norm since we've lived in Maine is that snow in the Midcoast comes around Thanksgiving.  So this year it was a month late as warm temperatures extended the summer here up north.  I had a post on Facebook today from a friend in England who reminded us: "It's so difficult for the people experiencing the extreme weather that is so devastating. Please be mindful of our wildlife who have no idea what is going on.. fish being displaced when rivers/lakes flood.. birds who observe this and cannot access lovely bird tables because of floods.. Sheep and Cows who are stranded."  

• I love history, our human path has been a remarkable story of suffering and periodic advances for real justice - extracted at great loss from the imperial agents. (My mind immediately flashes to Chicago where Mayor Rahm Emanuel is under attack by the black community who keep getting killed by his death squad police force.  Emanuel is test driving the 'Gaza solution' for control and domination of unwanted superfluous populations in big American cities - repositories, reservations, gulags, interment camps, ghettos.)  Now and then the people get tired of eating shit served up by our pirate masters and they begin to rise up.  It feels like such a moment is awakening worldwide now.  A time to build up, a time to break down. What one thing can I do today to help build this fire?  I ask myself that question every day.  It drives me to get up in the morning.  

• The other thing that drove me the last two days was getting outside to shovel snow. Fortunately this one was only about a 3-incher, a tune-up for later big dumps.  In the meantime I love playing in the snow.  We have paths here to our woodpile, shed, and compost pile that must be kept open.  Four doors are always in need of clearing when the snow comes.  I get great satisfaction out of hauling wood and shoveling.  One can find a strong sense of accomplishment with those chores - we rarely get to glimpse the idea of 'completion' in the peace and justice world.  On we go - I will keep shoveling.