Another glorious Saturday in June. This is one of those Saturdays that you used to see in glossy magazines like Country Home and Southern Living. Happy people are out hiking and picnicking and their kids laughing and playing tag. Friends and neighbors and family and loved ones who are accepted for who they are and what they believe and their general good intentions. Live and let live is the motto of the day and hate and prejudice and misogyny be damned.

I look at so many photos of illustrations that were in my school books and media of the day and once again you see nirvana portrayed…but there are no black children around the Christmas Tree…only white kids dressed in their Christmas finest while Dad smokes his Christmas Pipe and Mom brings him a martini and little Susie fetches his slippers. Of course, African American families were enjoying Christmas just like Caucasian families but somehow they were invisible from the White Christmas portrayal.

Gay people have always been among us. Often they were just out of sight or they were the biggest secret in the room. Everyone that knew them knew that they were Gay…but they pretended to be Straight and those who understood the ruse went along with it in a debilitating lie that slowly devastated the Gay person as their hiding became both psychologically and physically painful.

As Rod Serling said at the beginning of the weekly Twilight Zone Episodes…’ Consider if you will,’ simply asking to be accepted for who you are…not a facsimile of who others think that you are…but for who you are and who you wake up as each morning and who you are sick as and who you are well as and who you grieve as when your loved one dies. In come the Sadducees and the Pharisees with their terrible burden of informing you that God did not create you as you are. As they look down their noses at you and explain to you that you could not possibly love a person of the same gender…and you know that your love them more than your own life…and indeed you have had to suffer for that demonstrated love countless times more than your Straight friends and family.

Do you know that you have done your religious service? As you lay your head on your Tempur-Pedic Pillow tonight will the scripture be floating on pure white fluffy clouds in your mind; ‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal…’

‘I can not believe that it is June 9th already,’ said Jane. ‘Turn around once and it will be the fourth of July,’ Billy B. responded. ‘Actually, summer days are the same length as the other seasons,’ Chet said as he looked up from his Lost In Space comic book. ‘Cousin Brenda wants to know if we would like to take a tour of City Hall that Uncle Bill will conduct this afternoon,’ Neva J. said. ‘Uncle Bill is a police officer…but I never see him wear a gun,’ said Billy B. ‘He is the dispatcher and thus does not have the need for a sidearm,’ Neva J. responded.

City Hall was one of the prominent buildings in Eldorado. With great stairs ascending to the front door and located on both sides of the entrance…it caught the eye of those who passed by. The fire trucks were housed to the left of the grand entrance and Billy B. often saw his uncle enjoying a Pall Mall Cigarette on the high porch. Often Billy B. would wave at Bill and Bill would wave back as he puffed on his pleasure and continued to run his tongue between the gap in his lower teeth. Uncle Bill had begun his career at Eldorado City Hall as a custodian after completing a career in the military. Billy B.’s uncle had served in World War II in Germany and his last post had been in Alaska. He had been involved in hand-to-hand combat and refused to talk about it. Bill was a quiet man with a ready smile and he was fond of Billy B.’s dad…who he called Junior.

‘Hello Bill…we are excited about the tour today,’ said Neva J. Bill grinned a wide grin and ran his tongue between his teeth. He showed the happy summer group his communication station first and then the firetrucks. Glenn the police chief came out of his office and greeted all. He bragged about Uncle Bill and his indispensable value to the Eldorado Police Force. Chet noticed a door in the back of City Hall and turned the doorknob and walked in. Neva J. followed and when Jane opened it…she found a broom closet. ‘Oh my, I wish that Chet and Jane had not gone into the Broom Closet…I went in there once and did not come out for five months,’ said Bill who had ceased to grin and looked scared. ‘We had better follow them and find out where they have gone,’ Billy B. said. ‘Follow me,’ Uncle Bill said.

Before their eyes were City Hall…the same but changed. There was a large table set with the most lovey china dinnerware service and beside it a magnificent display of vintage wedding dresses. Old photos adorned the walls and a plethora of displays of old newspapers with some of Billy B.’s classmates who had died in a plane crash… As they walked out onto the great porch they overlooked a subdued Eldorado.

‘Uncle Bill said that when he had accidentally opened the Broom Closet that he had been told no one ever entered he found himself surrounded by Model T. cars and that the military was stationed at the City Hall and wanting to draft him for the Great War…World War I…

‘Let’s go see what is playing at the Orpheum, said Chet. A nice lady stuck her head out from behind the large display of Antique Wedding Dresses and said that we were many years too late to see a movie at the Orpheum Theatre as it had been closed for a long time.

‘What is the year of our adventure,’ asked Chet? ‘Why 2023…of course, the Eldorado Museum Curator said…’

The more that I look the more I find. For instance, I have identified over 100 different species of plants and trees. Of course, that is with the help of my trusty Ap. Our interests evolve and our focus changes through the years. At one time I considered the American Presidency fascinating…now not so much. Leadership has always interested me but it is getting more difficult to find good leaders. I still am intrigued by how good and poor people will follow religious/political leaders who do not have their best interest at heart…but rather their own.

I was watching some little fish in the creek at Giant City and I wondered what they were thinking about. I feel much the same when Mylo stares at me with a questioning gaze. Have you ever listened to crows talk to each other…and often about you…

We, humans, are quite certain that we are God’s Gift to the Universe. Perhaps others are watching us and wondering what we are thinking as we swim around in the Creek?

Simple Subservient is not the title we should seek. Children understand when their parents are not telling them the truth. ‘Adult psychology is child psychology…the only difference is size.’

Our Earth is a wonderful place. It is a minuscule part of our universe. Space appears to be endless…no brick wall has been discovered yet. Many will say that they have never seen God…they need only to watch the little fish or the endless variety of species of plants and trees…or listen to the crows talk…or look in the mirror…

Today I spent my time at the Park watching the plentiful rainfall. Watching rain is one of my favorite pastimes. I find it uplifting and peaceful and calming. It is a bit like life…not every day is sunny without a cloud in the sky. I was set to water my outdoor plants this morning but the happy rain did it for me. Rain slows us down and causes us to reflect on where we are and where we have been.

June is moving right along. I visited the dentist yesterday and the friendly lady at the front said that I was just there yesterday…to which I replied that I had been at her office a week ago. I did however understand how she thought that my most recent visit had been yesterday as that is how fast time goes by. A week seems like a day and a month seems like a week and…well you get the picture…

I visited the Visitors Center at Giant City yesterday and they had the most delightful stuffed wild animals. I wondered why I had not visited earlier.

Aaron and I were commiserating the last evening about our seemingly changing world. I confessed that I had believed myself to be an empathetic person with a modicum of insight and intuitive curiosity…and yet I had discovered that now that I am an old guy I really did not know much about the struggles that each of us endure.

We want to paint our surroundings with a narrow brush and sure and certain brush strokes when in reality we need a humongous brush and halting brush strokes as we reach out to our fellow humans. I have always heard that we should judge not lest we be judged. Or as Neva J. told me that the only certainty is death and taxes.

Kaleidoscopes are wonderful and enlightening instruments of light and color. We peer through our built-in kaleidoscope and assume everyone sees what we see. In reality, everyone sees something different. Snowflake is not an insult…we are as diverse as snowflakes.

I can not legislate who you are and you can legislate who I am. I have no idea what it is like to be you. You may look at me and say how did he come to be. My primary Christian and Faith concern for many years has been how do we treat each other. Not the narrow religious doctrine that some hold fast to. The poorest of us can feel elite when we ascribe to excluding others who do not match our template for holiness.

Fear drives much of religious thought. Or as the saying goes, ‘I would rather be excluded for those who I include than included for those I exclude…’

The other day I was watching the Science Channel and one of the Quantum Physicists said that a shadow of a universe can be seen from a telescope which gave rise to the hypothesis that before our universe existed that there may have been another. They concluded that when our universe is no more that it simply resets itself and begins anew.

Chet thought deep thoughts. He pondered how he had been adopted by Thelma and Carol and who his biological parents were. He remembered living in a different state than Illinois and a different town than Eldorado. In his memories, he was slim and trim and had 20/20 vision. He was the star of the football team and had to beat the girls off with a stick as was a customary saying in the 60s’. He was a student at Eldorado High School and Billy B. was his best friend…but there were subtle differences in his dim recollection.

‘Let’s go to the Orpheum Theatre and see Frankenstein this Saturday,’ Billy B. said to Chet and Jane. Jane agreed but had to ask, ‘Did we not do that already?’ Well, we certainly have talked about it…but we have not gone yet,’ Billy B. replied.

Neva J. was troubled by her recurrent memory of living in Eldorado with Billy B. and the breakup of her marriage. The problem with this memory was that she was happily married and she and Bill and Billy B. lived in Chicago and she was planning on a sojourn to the Magnificent Mile to watch the Debut of Lady and the Tramp with Billy B. and Steve and Susie. She had dreams where she and Billy B. were impoverished and were forced to count on a program for the poor called Commodities to just have something to eat. Also in these dreams, her mom and sisters were constantly after her to go to church with them and get saved.

Jane and Billy B. and Chet were sitting in the Orpheum Theatre thoroughly enjoying Frankenstein with Boris Karloff playing the monster. It was an unusual showing at the Orpheum for Christmas Day…but the house was packed…and the Christmas Spirit abounded!

Billy B. had received a stereo for his Christmas present. He loved his stereo. He was a bit mesmerized by the turning of the vinyl record on the magnificent turntable. Along with the gift of the stereo was the soundtrack of Good Times…the Sonny and Cher movie that he had recently seen and adored…he had a crush on Cher. They were at the midnight showing which actually began at 10:00 P:M:. Billy B. looked down at his Timex Watch which had the glow-in-the-dark feature. The green luminescent numbers and the hands revealed that it was midnight.

‘I do not want to be late for football practice…and Abigail will be waiting for me,’ Chet exclaimed to his mom and dad.

‘Billy B. hurry up we want to get our photo under our massive Christmas Tree…you and me and your wonderful father,’ said Neva J.

‘Mom, do you think that we will ever live in Eldorao with Grandma A. and cousins Brenda and Gene,’ asked Billy B.?

Billy B. watched the continuous rotation of the Good Times Soundtrack on the turntable of his new stereo. He wondered about the loop of life…

It is 6:00 P:M: in our neck of the woods. Another Sunday has come and gone. MJ made homemade ice cream yesterday and today. A June Treat! The Shelters at Giant City State Park had so many cars parked in the parking lots that they were forced to park in the yard and onto the street. A few days ago no one was there and the Park was the forest creatures and my domain.

Peace comes quietly on little feet. There is no clang of the firetruck or peel of the Police Cruiser…there are no cheers from the maddening crowd. You do not feel as if you are lit on fire by the spirit of joy nor do you feel the chill of ice water down your back as in the winning ritual of football games. Peace is simple and sweet and unassuming. Life has natural drama but much of the drama that we experience is foisted upon us by others who are laboring to elicit a response from us that serves their purposes and agenda.

Carefully choose your commitments. Thoreau said, ‘Let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.’

In the Tale of The Hare And The Turtle, we all want to be the Hare. Why not, He was far and away faster than the Turtle and he seemed to have so much more energy than his plodding companion. The Hare had many accounts on his mind and still felt that he had time to goof around and still beat the slow Turtle. Mr. Turtle had one thing on his mind…winning the race. He was used to people laughing at his slowness. Mr. Turtle understood how it felt to be the butt of the joke. He did not laugh along with his detractors…he simply kept his head down and continued moving toward his goal.

Billy B. loved Sunday Dinner at Grandma Askew’s. There would be fried chicken and dumplings and cold milk in white porcelain gargantuan coffee cups. Billy B. drank several cups full of the wonderful white elixir. After dinner, Neva J. and Wanda, and Guelda would sit out on the front porch and swap stories. Guelda had just lost her husband Herb to cancer. She was sad and often cried when she spoke of him. They had lived in St. Louis as she had lived with her first husband Lou. Lou was unfaithful to Guelda and Lou’s father told Guelda that Lou was not good enough to eat her s–t.’ Lou’s dad liked Guelda. Sometimes Yup would come over to visit. Yup was from Holland. Guelda called her Yuppie. Yup had the most delicious chocolate fashioned as little wooden shoes from Holland. She gave Billy B. one and he never forgot it. Grandma announced, ‘It is bluing up…look…it is bluing up!’ Billy B. looked but he did not see anything that was becoming blue. Then he realized that Grandma A. was speaking of the new-fangled street lights that had been installed recently. They came on with a light blue hue and did not reach their full color for about 20 minutes. ‘Billy B. you need to start attending church and reading your Bible…the end times are coming and the Battle of Armageddon and the Bible says that the blood will flow to the horse’s bridle. Billy B. wondered how high that was as he had never seen a horse. ‘Look at the fireflies…you better catch some,’ Neva J. said to Billy B. Billy B. retrieved his jar from the 57′ Chevy and commenced hunting the elusive small creatures that you could not see until they lit up.

We are a bit like fireflies…you cannot see us…until we light up…

Life is about movement. The more that we move the better we feel. The longer that we sit with our ills and aches and pains of age…the more we want to continue to sit. We tell ourselves that we are much too old for this activity or that pleasure…and soon our prophecy is self-fulfilling.

Some of the most inspirational folks that I have cruised with were on our first Holland America Cruise. In those days they seemed so old…now they seem like contemporaries. Some couples were pushing their husband or wife in a wheelchair. Others walked very slowly to the Dinning Hall and held on to the rails for steadiness.

I reminisce about the elderly that were around our flat in Paris and in the Park. Walking with canes and often with a little dog…they were out and about to see what the world had to offer.

Activity is transformative for all of us. Nothing battles the blues better than a brisk walk. Things can look a bit bleak until we put on our walking shoes and dive into the ocean of life and enjoy the immersion.

Hope is generated when the neurons in our brain our firing and our synapsis are connecting. Activity causes thought and thought solves problems. Love emanates from bright eyes.

The light must rage against the darkness! I have witnessed many cases of those of us in the Golden Years giving over to what society and our peer group suggested was best for us. Berl loved to fish and could be found at a certain lake almost every day in nice weather…for hours on end. Upon attaining a certain birthday he decided that he was too old to continue to enjoy his favorite warm-weather pastime. Berl also enjoyed planting a huge garden. His vegetables were Blue Ribbon quality. However, he had determined that he was now too old to engage in either activity and thus stopped them cold turkey.

When you are dead…you are done…this is a natural fact that can not be denied. Why give in to fears and fantasies that may diminish the quality of your life and perhaps shorten it as well?

Ninety degrees at 5:30 P:M: and 92 is forecast for tomorrow. Spring slipped right into midsummer. Eldorado was bustling this morning while I took a hot stroll. We visited the other side of town last Monday and I reflected on how many of the occupants of Wolf Creek Cemetary had trod the very street that I was walking today.

Many a hot and humid day I spent in the confines of Eldorado. I would duck into the Ben Franklin Dime Store as it possessed Air Conditioned Comfort according to the stencil of the laughing figure blowing frigid air at the passersby. Air conditioning was something to be treasured in those halcyon days. As a custom, we sought out a box fan and sat in front of it, and thought cool thoughts. The little red food pantry had its doors open and a can of Vienna Sausages propped precariously on one of the fragile doors. Food is an issue across our nation. We brag about how great our country is…and I agree…but many of our citizens and many of our children are hungry…they in today’s parlance are Food Insecure. Mom and I stood in the Commodity Line not long after we moved to Eldorado. We were not the only ones there… Times got a bit better…but not for a while. Today in Eldorado as across our land…there are still hungry people.

Easy answers we have for herculean problems. Thoughts and Prayers.

Poor people know how to have fun. Once Neva J. and Billy B. and Chet and Jane were out in the 57′ Chevy and the ragtop was down and it began to rain down buckets of water. We pulled over the now vintage automobile and struggled and strove to lift the recalcitrant top for many minutes to no avail. Seeing that our efforts were futile we proceeded on to Pounds Hollow for a swim day in June. The more that we thought about our 57′ Chevy Rain Debacle the more we laughed as we were pre-showered for our day of lake Fun…

I know there is a God. I have known it my entire life. I am not given to shivers up my spine or dancing in the Spirit…but I know that my Guardian Angel is with me. Now you may say…give me your evidence…and I will say to feel it is to believe it. Church and faith can be two different things. A church may wrong you…it may be a cult…there is a fantastic amount of them out there…but faith is in your soul and nourished by your spirit. You carry faith with you and is readily apparent under challenging times. Love and faith are a bit the same. When someone wrongs you and you wish them well that is Love/Faith in action.

Billy B. lost his Dad. Not to death but to a fondness for another woman. Until that time the Sun rose and set in his Dad as far as Billy B. was concerned. Neva J. was devastated. She cried day and night and repeatedly apologized to Billy B. Billy B. understood that he was now the man of the house and that he must care for his Mom. Billy B. thought of the Bible Story Books that he had read in Dr. Ferrel’s Office. The brilliant drawings and the hopeful text gave him hope that everything was going to be alright. Time is a healer. Billy B. began to read the Bible and found its words comforting. He read that Jesus loved everyone and was no respecter of persons. Billy B. saw that Jesus was often sad over the condition of Jerusalem and the avarice and money changers and strife that had entered the Temple. Billy B. considered that there was no greater vocation than to follow Jesus. He looked at the painting of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem with a sad countenance. The painting spoke to him. Not audibly for again let me say Billy B. was not given to overt emotionalism…but he saw the living Christ as a reality in his life.

Older became Billy B. and somewhat wiser. He learned that although he had spent his life in church…some churches will take advantage of him. He learned that God and Church were not one and the same. A bad church did not affect Billy B.’s Christian Walk. God was not tied or restricted to any church. God lived in the hearts of men and animals and trees and sky and earth. God was much larger than the narrow minds of humanity that sought to control their brothers and sisters. A sense of place is what God gives each of us…not an artificial title in the church that is used to beat the sheep.

Freedom of thought is God’s way. Freedom of action and freedom of speech is his intention for his children. God is not into clones…