He Couldn’t Let That Door Stay Broken

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I’ve been feeling a little off-kilter lately – maybe feeling the tension of the political season and the stress of the folks around me. I love autumn, but there are certain aspects of October in our country that can be… challenging for those of us who live here.

Anyway. I got a message from my friend, Emmy, daughter-in-law of the late great Pete Schoening, asking if I was available to meet at the Shambala Bakery in Mount Vernon, Washington, today – and I was! And we did! And it was so wonderful to chat with Emmy again – she’s one of those people I feel an instant kinship with – funny and kind and honest. We always laugh when we get together.

As we were eating our brunch, a customer in a baseball cap and a Grateful Dead shirt came through the door. There was something whacky with the door – we’d noticed this when we came in – and when the customer noticed it he started examining the hinges and the frame. Emmy and I realized he was going to try to fix it.

How cool is that?

Pretty soon the customer had borrowed tools from the server-cashier-cook, and retrieved some tools from his truck, and was working on the door.

I asked Justin, the customer-handyman, and Heidi, the server-cook, if I could take their picture, and they graciously agreed. Then Heidi went back to work, Emmy and I finished our brunch, and Justin finished fixing the door. I observed to Justin that he’d done a really nice thing there. He said that he couldn’t just let that door stay broken. He wanted to make it good for Shambala.

Laughing with Emmy, and watching the man in the Grateful Dead shirt fix the door, helped settle me this morning.

There are good people in this world.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Civility During Political Discourse

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Request for those who join me for conversation on my political posts: Please refrain from name-calling, condescension, and personal attacks. The people you encounter in the comments are all my friends. I love it when my friends come on to my threads to bounce ideas off each other, debate, and learn from each other. I expect all my friends who join in the conversation to treat each other with kindness and respect.

I enjoy exchanging thoughts and beliefs with my friends. This is how I was raised, I guess. My mom was the youngest of ten very opinionated, very intelligent children with a wide range of beliefs: Methodists (the church they were raised in), atheists, Unitarian Universalists, Christian Scientists, Republicans and Democrats. And when we’d meet up for Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house in Portland, the dialogue was lively, stimulating and raucous. It was also full of laughter and humor, respect and love. People could disagree with each other without putting each other down – without calling each other “stupid” or “deplorable” or “deluded.” I learned so much from these gatherings! It was so fun!

For many years, my mom and dad belonged to different political parties. On election day, they’d cheerfully get in the car together to drive to the polling booth, knowing that they were cancelling out each other’s votes and laughing about that. They loved and respected each other, regardless. (Around 1981 – when all the air traffic controllers were fired by Reagan – my mom joined Dad in the Democratic party and became more vocal about politics than any of us.)

I have friends and family from a wide-range of religons and non-religons, beliefs, and political parties, and I love them all.

Heaven at the Colophon Cafe

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I had this moment yesterday – sitting in the Colophon Cafe in Bellingham – that was perfect. I felt my whole body just relax, and this big sigh came out of me, and my eyes closed and I listened to the folksy music playing in the background, and the conversations and laughter of the diners around me, and – for just a glimmer of a moment – I was sitting in heaven. I’m trying to find the words to describe it, and I’m trying to find the words to help me get back there, but I don’t think there are the just right words that fit that experience. I think that moment was beyond words. But here are the words that come closest: For a brief moment I felt no time, no hurry, no schedule, no expectations, no past, no future, and nothing crowding in on me. I felt joy, peace, love. I felt space. I felt in the present. I felt safe.

There were three people sitting at the table across from me – maybe my age or a little younger. And I felt this positive energy coming from them. (If I were more educated about this stuff, I might say I felt “positive auras” surrounding them – but I don’t know enough about auras to use that word and really know what I’m talking about.) I think they were having a business meeting of some sort. I’m hard-of-hearing, and couldn’t pick up on all that they were saying (ahem… not that I was trying to eavesdrop or anything), but these snippets reached me:

Woman with curly silver hair in a high pony tail: People tell me they sometimes have to take a break from me because of my energy. (Laughing.) And I understand that, but I tell them if they think it’s hard being AROUND me, can they imagine what it’s like to actually BE me? Sometimes *I* need a break from me!

A little later…

Pony-tailed woman: It seems as we get older we go one of two directions – either we become more crotchety, more crabby, more…

Woman with dark, shoulder-length hair: (Laughing.) We become more of what we already are.

The iron-haired man sitting next to the dark-haired woman – her husband maybe? – winced at this and started laughing, and I found myself laughing with him.

It got me to thinking. What direction am “I” headed? What am I becoming more of?

And how can I bring more of these perfect moments into my life?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind.”
-Mary Baker Eddy

(photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

What Did They Think Was Going to Happen on January 6th?!

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I have friends who tell me that Donald Trump didn’t expect there to be violence on January 6th – that it was actually “leftists” who brought the violence to the capitol to make Donald Trump look bad. And I keep coming back to this one question: What did the people who showed up for Trump’s “rally” expect was going to happen on that day? Did they really think that they were going to stand peacefully outside the capitol, holding their signs and yelling “STOP THE STEAL!” or whatever other lies they’d been told and that the legislators were going to go, “Oh, okay. Let’s discount the votes of the more than 81 million people who voted for Biden, and the 306 electoral votes he got, and just give this to Trump”?

Did Donald Trump really think he was going to change the results of the election by sending his followers to the capitol building to peacefully protest? Seriously?!

Wouldn’t It Be Cool if We Stripped Away the Political Labels?

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I think it’s sad that our politicians have to beg us for money to “win” – the inference being that whoever has the most money wins the election. That just seems like a really dysfunctional way to choose who will run our government. I mean. That doesn’t seem like the way a democratic republic should work, right?

And wouldn’t it be cool if we stripped away labels of “right” and “left” and “Democrat” and “Republican” and actually talked about the issues, as individuals, rather than as members of a “side”? I think we’d find we have more in common than we think.

  • I mean, who doesn’t want fair pay? (And if you don’t want fair pay for all, then you wouldn’t be able to hide behind a party, you’d have to actually come out and say, “No, I don’t believe in fair pay for everyone.”)
  • And who doesn’t want equal rights for all, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion? (And if you DON’T want equal rights, you couldn’t just say, “I’m a member of the _ party” and spout the party jingle, you’d have to admit, “Nah, I don’t really believe in equal rights. Some people should have more rights than others.”)
  • Who DOESN’T believe in honesty and truthfulness and being presented with the facts? (And if you don’t believe in honesty and truthfulness and being presented with the facts, you wouldn’t be able to hide behind some party-mob mentality, you’d have to actually come out, as an individual, and admit that you don’t believe in talking honestly, and with the facts.)
  • Who DOESN’T want a clean and safe environment for everyone?
  • Who DOESN’T want our children to be safe in our schools?
  • Who DOESN’T want those with handicaps to be treated with dignity?
  • Who DOESN’T want our younger generation to have the financial ability to buy homes, pay for childcare, afford training and higher education, without becoming financially bankrupt, or in life-long debt?
  • Who DOESN’T want a strong Federal Emergency Management Agency to care for victims of hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods?
    -Who DOESN’T want health care to be affordable for everyone?

Anyway.
That’s what’s on my mind this morning.

Cosmic Magic in Alpine Fields

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Cosmic!

October 8, 2024
Last week my son, Xander, and I planned a trip up to Mount Baker today. But this morning when I woke up and checked the weather it looked like it was pretty miserable up there. The son and I decided to call the trip off. A couple hours later, though, when I checked the weather again, it looked like there might actually be some sunshine at Baker. So I texted my son and told him about the change in the weather forecast, and asked him if he’d like to give it a try. Then I opened my thoughts up to the Cosmos and put the day in Her hands. I decided I’d be happy with however the day evolved for me.

Pretty soon the son texted back and said he still wanted to go up there. Within the hour I’d picked him up and we were on the road.

And it was glorious up there! We stopped at Picture Lake to take some quick pictures of Mount Shuksan (and we got there at the just right time – not long after we left the clouds moved in and blanketed Shuksan). We did a quick little hike on the nature trail at Heather Meadows and then went on up to the Artist Point parking lot and hiked up to the top of Artist Point.

On the way up we came upon a bride and groom, Sarah and Etienne, in full wedding regalia, and they cheerfully agreed to let me snap a quick photo. Later I asked a couple from Canada if they’d like me to take a picture of them together with their camera and they thanked me and said yes. On the way down we ran into them again, and this time I asked Kathy if I could take a picture of her with her sweet pup, Coriander.

It was such a lovely day – a gift from the Cosmos. I really needed this.

Blueberry Pie from Scratch

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There’s something really satisfying about going out in the backyard on a quiet Tuesday morning and picking the last of the blueberries on our bushes, then folding them into a pie crust I made my very own self, filling the house up with pie-baking smells, and enjoying cocoa and a slice of blueberry pie as the leaves turn autumn-gold outside my window. Run-on sentence, but I ain’t apologizing.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Insurrection Should Have Been a Deal-Breaker for Every Patriotic American

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No, I’m not voting for Harris because she’s a woman. If Trump was a woman, and Harris was a man, I’d still be voting for Harris.

No, I’m not freaked out by the flags that proclaim “WITCHES FOR KAMALA.” I am freaked out, though, by the Confederate and NAZI flags I’ve seen at Trump’s rallies.

And you can tap dance around it all you want, but the Trump-led insurrection of January 6th should have been a deal-breaker for every patriotic, stars-and-stripes-flying, law-abiding, Constitution-loving American.

Here’s what I witnessed live in front of my television on January 6: I witnessed Trump urging his followers to march on the capitol and “fight like hell” – I watched his followers climb over barricades, clash with capitol police, stab the police with flagpoles, crash through windows, and enter the capitol building with Confederate battle flags. I watched legislators being rushed out of the building by security because their lives were in danger. I saw a gallows for Pence set up. And we were wondering where the National Guard was – why hadn’t they been called in? Surely Trump could have called them directly – he was the commander-in-chief, he didn’t need to go through official channels.

I had a friend who actually went to the rally – she was a Trump supporter and still is, I think – but she left after Trump spoke and got on a bus and went home and I don’t think – even though she was there for the speech – she’s ever actually realized what happened after the speech. I feel like I had a better view than she did at that point. What my friend did was practice her First Amendment rights – she came to peacefully protest the lie she’d been led to believe – that this was a “stolen election.”

What happened after my friend left, though, was criminal. Our Constitution guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” For me, the key qualifier there in regards to January 6th is “peaceably.”

I was, frankly, traumatized by what I saw that day. How could this happen in the USA?!
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Link to footage from January 6th.

FEMA Memes

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So there’s this meme popping up on some of my friends’ FB walls like those little animals in a Whac-a-Mole game. The meme goes something like this: “Why is our government spending all this money on illegal immigrants when it’s not doing anything for the hurricane victims?”

Which. What?!

If you do a little research, you’ll find that “As of Sunday, FEMA says it has provided more than $137 million in assistance to six states in the southeast, including 7,000 federal personnel, nearly 15 million meals, 14 million liters of water, 157 generators and more than half a million tarps. The agency also says more than 3,000 North Carolina residents have been rescued or supported by more than 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel, with recovery efforts aided by National Guard and active duty troops. North Carolina has also received $100 million in federal transportation funds to rebuild roads and bridges washed out by the storm.” (NPR)

In addressing Trump’s claim that the federal government is only offering $750 to “people whose homes have been washed away.” NPR explains: “The $750 Trump refers to is what’s called Serious Needs Assistance, an initial direct relief payment intended to help cover emergency supplies like food, water, baby formula and other basics. The serious needs assistance is one of many changes to FEMA’s individual assistance programs that took effect earlier this year, along with displacement assistance to cover immediate housing needs while residents sort out long-term options. FEMA assistance also covers storm-related damage to homes and personal property.” In other words, the $750 is simply the first immediate initial payment given to people to get the things they need right now to stay alive. It’s not the ONLY payment they’re going to get.

Here’s the link to the source for that information: https://www.npr.org/…/fema-funding-migrants-disaster…

Regarding illegal immigrants costing the United States a lot of money: Just what kind of money are we spending on illegal immigrants? I mean. I don’t see undocumented immigrants living lazy lives of luxury, you know? So I wondered just how illegal immigrants affected our economy and googled that. Here’s the AI answer that popped up:

“The economic impact of illegal immigration on the United States is complex and controversial, but economists generally agree that the effects are positive:
Economic growth
Illegal immigrants contribute to economic growth and increase the size of the U.S. economy.
Tax revenue
Illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they collect. In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes, $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes, and $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance
Consumer benefits
Illegal immigrants benefit consumers by reducing the prices of goods and services.
Employer benefits
Illegal immigration provides clear benefits for employers.
Labor market dislocationsIllegal immigration may cause some short-term dislocations in labor markets.
Low-skilled native workers
Illegal immigration may slightly depress wages for low-skilled native workers.
Economists estimate that legalizing the illegal immigrant population would increase U.S. gross domestic product. The New American Economy estimates that legalization would result in $68 billion in additional state and local tax revenue, $116 billion in additional federal tax revenues, and $1.4 trillion in estimated GDP growth.”

AI-generated

A bunch of links were provided:

https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/…/undocumented…/#

https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Economic_impact_of_illegal…#:

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/…/illegal-immigrations…#:

https://www.congress.gov/…/HHRG-118-JU01-20240111-SD013…#:

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Autumn at Rainier

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Scotty and I went up to Paradise yesterday to walk around in the autumn colors. Last week the weather forecast had predicted sunshine up there, but… that changed. 😀 It was pretty wet up there, but it was still beautiful. I thought my camera was doing some sort of weird automatic “vignette” with my photos (fading my photos out at the corners), but then I realized my lens filter was actually all fogged-up on the rim. 😀

Highlights: On the drive up to Paradise from Longmire, I glanced over at a parking lot by the Nisqually Glacier (or where the glacier USED to be), and saw a familiar van – I was pretty sure this was the same van I’d seen at Mount Baker last week, and I was pretty sure it belonged to my new friends, Cecelia and Bob. Whoah. So I messaged them, and learned that they were at Rainier, too! That was kind of cosmic. (We passed them on the way back down, but I don’t think they saw us.)

We went into the Paradise gift shop at the Visitor Center and chatted with the pair of salesclerks behind the counter. I told them I’d worked in the old Visitor Center almost 50 years ago – back when the Visitor Center looked like an alien spacecraft. They laughed and said the old Visitor Center had flown back to the Mother Ship.

I found one of my Dad’s books in the giftshop – it’s always fun to come upon his books or maps in tourist hangouts. It helps me feel he’s still here with us.

At Myrtle Falls, we came upon a couple of National Park employees getting the trails ready for winter. I thanked them for their service and we chatted for a bit about climbing. Noah and Carter were pretty fun and graciously agreed to let me snap a photo.

Then, as we were coming back from the Falls, a little family of sooty grouse (I mistook them for ptarmigans at first) crossed our path (literally) and we snapped some quick pics.
***

We visited the Ashford Creek Pottery shop on the way up to Rainier yesterday to visit its proprietor, our old friend Rick Johnson, and to take pictures of the artwork of Dad’s that Rick has hanging on the walls. I also got Rick to pose with art by Todd Horton (who, coincidentally, lives in the same Skagit Valley communicty as us), and to pose with one of Dad’s books.

(I think the painting that most tickled me yesterday was one Dad had painted depicting mountains of Alaska – and in which he’d whimsically added the Matterhorn in the background. I was looking at the painting, and then thought, “Whoah. That’s the Matterhorn there. What’s THAT doing there?” 😀 It put a grin on my face. Dad. Hahhahhahahar!)
-Karen Molenaar Terrell