Clouds

For the past year, my moods have ranged widely from melancholy to frustration to anger and outrage, cycling through those emotions on a near daily basis as our federal government descends into what appears to be a bottomless decline.  A man who can no longer put together a coherent sentence and seemingly lacks even a basic concern for the people he was elected to serve, much less the concerns of our allies in other countries, runs amok, encouraged by enablers and politicians who support him because they fear his bully tactics.  His demands to "take" Greenland, an independent country already aligned with one of our European allies and with whom the US has an existing agreement relating to a US military base onsite, took me over the edge last week.  And then what clearly appears to be yet another murder of a US citizen by poorly trained ICE agents directed by dubious tyrannical leaders as he sought to exercise his Constitutional rights to protest in collaboration with his neighbors in Minneapolis threw me over the cliff into despair.

I've been trying to pull myself out of that hole and I promise I'm not going to turn this garden/plant-focused blog into a political platform but I felt like I had to recognize the moment.  I haven't attended a protest since last year but I feel it's almost inevitable I will again this year.  Meanwhile, I've signed plenty of petitions this year and made another contribution to the ACLU yesterday, the first of what may be many donations this year as I hope to see a sharp turn in the direction of our political climate as we head into our midterm elections.

The following photos captured on Monday helped center my feelings.  Perhaps they'll have something of the same effect on you.

Sunrise over the Port of Los Angeles

Clouds marked by a variety of contrails

Clearer skies as the morning proceeded

Here's a link to a song that captures the need to look forward:

On Friday, I'll share a completely unpolitical trip down a local trail, where I walked off some of my current angst.  I believe change is in the offing and the majority of the US population will drive even the most cowardly officials to either do the right thing, or show them out the door.

All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party