Another cool day for August. Cooler weather is promised next week. Joy is ours for the taking. One of my good friends in the blogosphere told me she appreciated my blog about the Little Bully. We all have encountered the Little Bully. The little person who projected a menace much larger than they were. The person who gaslights us. The Little Bully causes us to doubt our sanity. The Little Bully wants us to question what our eyes and ears tell us is true. When our friends and neighbors listen and obey the Little Bully, we wonder what is happening. Could it be that we are losing our perception of reality? Has night become day?

Today has some cloud cover. Clouds are our friends. They protect us from the heat. They mask the Sun. The sun is wonderful, but not too much of it. Too much Sun can cause skin cancer. We lay in the Sun’s rays to obtain the perfect tan. If we are not golden brown or Orange for some, we are not doing it right. We want to do it right…thus the gaslighting.

We live in a superheated culture. Show me the money we say. I am reading a book about the super-rich. They are purchasing longer and longer yachts. They want to be the longest yacht owners. I have a model of a Cruise Ship. While the billionaires are working hard to spend their money, others are hoping to pay their electric bill. We poor folks seek the shade of a generous tree while our betters seek the climate-controlled comfort of a long, long yacht. So it goes.

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world worked to fire as many middle-class government workers as he could during his short, destructive time in government. He has a compound where many partners and children live. He donated millions of dollars to the last President during his campaign and reaped over 50 billion upon his appointment to DOGE.

Brooks Pond is like a sheet of glass. The breeze is inspirational. September is knocking at the door. There will be fall trips. Halloween costumes to wear and hot apple cider to drink. We will be happy to be in the Grand Performance. Some of us will play Ichabod Crane and flee the Headless Horseman. We will carve pumpkins and place a candle in the hollowed-out center. Others will grow out beards to Santa Claus’ length. The kids will gather around with bright eyes and anxious thoughts of the miracle that is about to come. How could one well-intentioned old man visit all the children of the world in one magical night? Jimmy Durante sang regarding Frosty the Snowman, ‘There must have been some magic in that old silk hat he found.’ Soon, the furnace will run nonstop as the winter winds whistle. The little Christmas Tree will be brilliant by the massive picture window. Mom in her kerchief and Dad in his cap will settle themselves for a long winter’s nap. They will have placed duct tape around the leaky hollow wooden door to shut out the frigid wind. They will position another handmade quilt on the kids’ beds. Christmas morning will be grand and glorious Dad tells the kids as he brings in the asthma inhaler. The refrigerator will have space to let out rooms. Christmas Dinner will be at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s. The little family worked every day and all the overtime that Dad could obtain. It was expensive to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave…