climbing up, at least weather wise

Weather wise, we are late (almost no bulb tips are visible, and there are no blooms at all, anywhere on farmette lands), but we are climbing up today. Back to sunshine with warming temperatures.

Health wise, the girl is back in school, though I'm giving it a 24 hour wait, as per guidelines, before I return to childcare.

Farmette life is good, Ed and I are happily anticipating spring.

But the country is in trouble and because we are who we are (simply put, a big country with heretofore unmatched influence in this world), the world is in trouble. You don't buy it? I'm gifting you not one but two articles from the NYTimes today -- one from their conservative  columnist and one from a centrist guy. I'm not even pointing you to liberal news feeds. There's no need to go there to feel the utter weight and gravity of our political and economic situation right now. The day we let Musk buy his way into every corner of American governance, the day Poland has to contemplate (as it is doing) equipping itself with nuclear weapons, I can confidently say America has lost her way.

Are you despondent yet? 

I said to Ed this morning as we were picking and choosing stories to read from our news feeds -- don't you miss those days (not so long ago!) when reading the morning paper was boring? 

 

(brown landscape)

 

In animal news -- the cats are squabbling again. This time it's the sheep shed bunch. Pancake, the one who got quite the beating from an outsider a few days ago, seems fine, with just a few scabs remaining. (Feral cats have incredible immunity systems! Yes, they have a shorter life span -- that's because they do lose some wars, mostly to cars.) The threesome in the sheep shed? My god. The ruckus! The snarling and spinning in what can only be described as a cat ball of fire! Tuxie finally ran away. I yelled at the remaining two. Pancake stood outside, peering in fascination. And five minutes later, Tuxie came back, resumed her position on a shed cushion in the sun, as if nothing had happened. Did I tell you that we do not understand cat dynamics?

Breakfast, with tulips inside because there sure as hell aren't any outside.

Topic for this morning? Religion! There is an article in the paper today with the intriguing title "The Share of Religious Americans Will Continue to Decline." (No gift! I'm running out of them this month!) It's intriguing because I had just read last week that the comprehensive and very recent Pew Research Landscape Study documented a leveling off of religion abandoners in recent years. So what gives?

It turns out that boomers (my generation) is actually holding steady in their affiliation with religion. (Nonreligious people in my demographic are currently at 20%.) However, the trends are entirely different for the Millennials (my daughters' generation) and even stronger in the opposite direction (abandoning religion) among the Gen Z groups. There, more than 40% consider themselves "nones" (no religion). As the Silent Generation (the one before me) and the Boomers (me!) fade out of the picture, these "nones" will replace them. And their numbers are growing: for every 6 who leave religion, one joins. And for every one who leaves the ranks of the "nones," 6 join.

I see now why those who remain close to their church have toughened their stance in matters of faith. The threat of extinction always hardens the fight for those who remain. 

Having grown up in a very, very, very Catholic country (my brief life among the one per centers! In postwar Poland, those who weren't Catholic were in that kind of a minority position), and having moved to a country with a greater diversity of faiths, I can say with confidence that I prefer diversity and tolerance over homogeneity and fanaticism. I can only hope that even as we lose our democracy and global leadership position here in America, we will remain diverse and tolerant of our fellow women and men's approach to faith. (Or lack thereof.)

 

In the afternoon, I bike to do errands. The pharmacy is a mere 35 minutes away. UPS -- just a few more. And it is a beautiful ride!

There is a mismatch between the weather (warming up!) and the landscape, but that's okay. Flora will catch up after a good feeding of sun and rain.

In the evening, Ed goes off to do his Wednesday night bike ride -- the first of the year! I know the grill: he'll come back stiff and exhausted. Nonetheless, it is thrilling to be on a spring schedule already. Totally thrilling.

Me, I revel in my new arrival: a medium suitcase! Perhaps you can't appreciate the thrill I have in working the locks, peering inside it's cavernous insides. Having traveled with only a carry-on for decades now (expandable to be sure, but still -- small!), I am imagining all the squeezing that I do not have to do with this new one. And, no more lifting up an overstuffed bag into the overhead compartment, pretending that it's not too heavy at all! Will I ever go back to just a carry-on? Sure. But not when the trip is more than 10 days long. I mean, I'm not an Ed, who'll never take more than a duffel bag with him anywhere ("just rinse the stuff out of you think it's over the top dirty!"). Though I have to admit, I sneaked the case upstairs while he was out biking. I will have let him down with my expansionist view of "travel with more" rather than the old "travel with less." Even if it is just a medium suitcase. Not a large. Medium!

 with love...