Good News Tuesday (Early Edition): Drop in Premature Births, Regaining Native Land, Through Sickness and Health, and Finding Mama Bear

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Since my area is currently under a hurricane warning, I’ve decided to post GNT early in case we lose electricity overnight. Notice I use the word electricity. If we lose electricity, we will still have power, just no lights, TV, internet, or AC, maybe for a while since my neighborhood seems to be low priority on the reconnect list. Maybe I’ll finally get back to playing my guitar. Or maybe Isaias will calm down and we will keep electricity. That would be good news.

Anyway, here’s some good news that’s already happened:

Recent Drop in Premature Births

Since Lockdown, many countries have noticed a significant decrease in premature births. This has been particularly dramatic in Ireland and Denmark where doctors independently noticed the change and started crunching the numbers. Here are some interesting details from The New York Times.

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Regaining Native Land

I’ve found a new source for good news: “The Good Stuff” from CNN. Here’s one of their stories about the Esselen Tribe of northern California who, after 250 years, have finally regained their ancestral land.

…

Through Sickness and Health

Between the two of them, Janice and Robert Beecham have recovered from strokes, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and COVID-19. They were recently able to celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary. Here’s their inspiring story from The Good News Network.

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Keepsake Teddy Bear Recovered

Mara Soriano was in the process of moving when someone stole her very special teddy bear containing a recording of her late mother’s voice. After reaching out to her community in British Columbia, a good Samaritan found “Mama Bear,” and returned her to Mara.

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Got good news?

Feel free to share in the comments.

Good News Tuesday: Helpers, Food Choices, and Peace at the Ocean

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Helpers During Hurricane Dorian

Airbnb has activated their “open home policy” listing houses that are free during the hurricane in Florida and surrounding states. From my GoodNewsletter, here’s the link.

Airlines like Delta are waiving pet-in-cabin and baggage fees for hurricane evacuees and capping fees for flights out of Florida and other states. If you and your pets are evacuating the area, consider this opportunity and keep your pets safe.

Chella Phillips rescued 97 dogs in the Bahamas. They’re all at her house. She manages The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas.

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Food Choices for the Environment

A survey commissioned by Sweet Earth Foods and conducted by OnePoll found that of the 57% of millennials who follow a special diet 44% do so because it’s better for the environment and 37% because it’s more ethical. It’s the environment that I want to focus on today, though ethics plays a large part in my own diet. Consuming a more plant-based diet is better for the environment for at least two reasons. One is that it takes less land and less energy to grow crops than it does to raise and process animals for food. The other reason is that rainforest destruction is often committed to make room for beef cattle.  I don’t know why they only surveyed millennials. Anyone can move toward a more plant-based diet. Eating local is better for the environment, too and something I want to work on. You can read more about the survey in this article from The Good News Network.

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Israelis and Palestinians at the Ocean

Some Palestinians who live less than an hour away from the ocean have never seen it. That’s because they need a permit to travel across the Israeli military border. So, for the last four years, Robby Berman, with help from fellow Israelis, has been organizing trips to bring Palestinian families to the beach at Tel Aviv. Think about this: We are all made up mostly of water, so it makes sense that sharing this experience with the ocean helps create friendship and peace.

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Got good news?

Please share in the comments!

Thursday Tree Love: Sycamore Survivor

Every year she sheds her bark

And often leaves me gifts.

She’s survived many hurricanes

Diana, Bertha, Fran, Floyd, Florence…

Bertha, or maybe Fran, in ’96

Stretched her roots

And lifted her skirt,

But she reached down deep

And held on for dear life.

She’s leaned westward ever since –

Not over the neighbor’s house

More over the backyard.

She grew a second trunk for balance.

When I lay hands on her

I can feel her humming.

If experts say she must come down

I will have to go away.

But she is safe for now.

She releases her round stars

And waits for another spring.

…

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature at happinessandfood.com hosted on 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month.

Learn more at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-58/

Find the Precious Moments

“These are precious times.”

“What? Are you crazy? We got hurricanes, wars, divided nations from extreme attention getting radials dividing us. We got all kinds of sh*t going on. Have you watched the news?”

“I try not to.”

“Well you can’t just stick your head in the sand.”

“I watch the news some, or read some things, but if I watch too much news, I just feel too much despair. The news is lopsided you know. There are good things going on they don’t tell you.”

“Right.”

“All that bad stuff is true. Well, maybe not all of it. But there are precious moments intermingled. We just have to look for them, or to see them when they are right there in front of our eyes. Have you noticed how blue the sky is since the last hurricane?

“Yes. And it’s finally cooled off some. That’s nice, but, well, I’ll think about it.”

“I’m going to go look at the sky and feel the cool air. I’m going for a walk. Wanna come?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“And we’re not going to talk about politics.”

“Okay. I’ll try. What about religion and aliens?”

“Maybe. But lets just look for the flowers, or fall leaves, and notice that the mosquitoes are not attacking as fiercely.”

….

I didn’t know this was going to be a dialog. I think that last part was because I’m planning to go to the mountains to see my son this weekend. He put something on Facebook about having a lot of family come visit and not talking about politics. I’m all for that. But sometimes we like to talk about religion and aliens. Mostly I want to go hiking and see my son and grand kids.

I was bummed out yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well – sinus infection or allergies, maybe a mild cold – lots of things blooming since the hurricane. Plus my daughter was having a crisis, but that seems to be stabilizing a little. Her whole apartment complex, like many in Wilmington, is closing down due to mold and water damage, etc. She has options and a temporary plan, but apartments and hotels are extremely scarce. This will make her stronger, I keep telling myself. God’s got this. Every crisis eventually stabilizes.

Look for the precious moments and patches of blue sky. I’m feeling better today. Rest, vitamins, echinacea, and lots of fluids have helped. It’s going to be okay.

Sending prayers to the people in Florida who’s homes have been destroyed and who have lost family and friends. To people all over the world who face challenges they do not think they can ever recover from. I’m asking angels to comfort you and bring precious moments of peace.

…

Today’s prompt for the Saturday Stream of Consciousness was: “precious.”

For more precious posts, visit our precious host, Linda, at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/10/12/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-13-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

The Miracle Flower

It sure is good to be back in the Stream of Consciousness! We still have a lot of clean up to do at the house in Wilmington, but mostly big branches and the back fence. The house is mostly okay. Mostly. The house we’re staying in an hour north belonged to my parents and now belongs to me. I’m typing that because sometimes it’s hard to remember that the house and all this stuff I have to, get to, go through now belong to me. I can do whatever I want with it. I’ve been going through hundreds and hundreds of old photos. Being here at the house my parents lived in for so long brings me to the miracle flower pictured above. It is one thing I will not throw away.

The story that I included in Trust the Timing as well as a chicken soup story I just submitted goes something like this:

My mother was getting foggier and more confused in her late 70s. I had always wanted my mother to be clearer in her thinking. I’d been reading a lot about mental health and zeroed in on this quote my Scott Peck about mental health being a dedication to reality at all costs.  This was about 15 to 20 years ago, and I no longer believe that now. Not the “at all costs” part.

But when my mom showed me this artificial red flower in a clay pot and went on and on about what a miracle it was because she hadn’t watered it in weeks and it was still alive and so beautiful, I said something like, “Mom, I think that flower might be plastic.”

“No it’s not! It’s a miracle!” Mom said and then she changed the subject.

I still beat myself up for not going along with her miracle flower and joining her journey as my husband says. Now I know better that miracles are in the believing. And reality is subjective. Maybe this flower which is actually made of silk, has taken on a life in some ways. I’m writing about it, so maybe I’m giving it immortality.

Do you think “inanimate” objects have something like life. An energy maybe? Do we give our cars or computers energy when we talk to them?  Well, that’s getting a bit deep, so I guess I better back off and come back to earth. At least long enough to move the laundry along. We just got electricity back yesterday after a week of candlelit nights, so I’m washing towels. Thank God! We were almost out of towels. But really, I am very thankful. It could have been much worse and was for some people.

Thank you for all the prayers and good energy during the hurricane!

PS. I just thought about my childhood stuffed animals, supposedly inanimate objects who I thought of as real, and remembered this part of The Veleveteen Rabbit.

…

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt was: flower/flour

For more information on Saturday Stream of Consciousness, visit Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/09/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-22-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

One-Liner Wednesday: We’ll Still Have Power

There’s a big hurricane heading my way. We will probably lose electricity. I know electricity is important and that there are people whose lives  depend it. I pray they will be safe. When we say, “we lost power,” or “they were without power,” what does that do to us mentally and emotionally? What if we said, we lost electricity?

Even if we lose electricity in the hurricane, we will have power.

We’ll have the power to pray, sing, and reminisce, the power to light a candle and tell stories or read a book. We’ll have the power to ask for help or help our neighbors. The power to clean up and, if we need to, rebuild.

Is it a coincidence that a major hurricane is coming on the same week home repairs have relocated us to the house my parents left me? My Wilmington house is 15 minutes from the ocean. My parents’ old house, an hour north, is about 30 minutes from the ocean.  I feel safer here where the windows are reinforced and the roof is metal. Thanks, Dad. Plus this house is mostly brick, a little higher off the ground, and the trees are further away from the house. Thanks, Dad. I do wish I had thought to hug my beloved sycamore before I left and told her to hold on tight. I’ll be sending her love.

If this house was on the beach, where evacuation is mandatory, I’d definitely head for the hills. But this far inland, evacuation is voluntary. We plan to stay here with our old dogs who are just getting settled at the new location. I’ll be a little worried about my Wilmington house, but I believe we’ll be safe here. Prayers are welcome and appreciated.

Doodle is getting ready for the hurricane. She has the power to sleep.

Thank you to all the animal shelters and foster homes doing extra duty. Never leave your animal friends home alone during a hurricane! And kudos to my friend Michael who drives buses for the city. He’s was called into work yesterday to drive people to Raleigh.

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One-Liner Wednesday is brought to you by Linda Hill. For more one-liners, visit Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/09/12/one-liner-wednesday-too-much-computer/

Here are the rules which we don’t always follow:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

My Old Friend, The Sycamore

I lay my hands on her again.

Like that first time

After I’d watched gusts lift her up

Again and again

Stretching her roots as she

Hung on for dear life to the earth

Causing her to lean ever since

to the west, over the neighbor’s yard.

Some would have cut her down

To avoid the risk.

But she has leaned like that

For many years

Through many storms.

In time, she grew another trunk

Slender yet sturdy, in the opposite direction

To balance herself.

Her roots reach down deep

To hold her strong and steady.

When a big storm approaches,

I go to her

And lay one hand

 On her huge rough trunk.

My other hand rests

On the smooth young offshoot.

I feel the energy

That keeps my hands

Joined to her.

We share strength

And a quiet knowing.

She has been with me

longer than most people.

Standing strong in the wind

__________________________________________________________

I wrote this for the sycamore tree that lives in my backyard. She’s still standing strong after Hurricane Matthew in spite of her westward lean. I imagined her roots holding on to the roots of the other trees during the storm.

After three days without electricity, the lights came back on Tuesday night. I’m still trying to catch up on blogs and emails. It will be a long time before I take electricity and warm showers for granted. But my friend and I never lost power.

Expectations of Joaquin

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I expected this to be  a busier than usual weekend. Right after the Blessing of the Animals on Saint Francis Sunday, I’d be flying to Indiana to see my grand kids. I’ll still be on that plane, and I’m so looking forward to it, because I don’t see my grand kids very often, being on the east coast, but the Blessing of the Animals was cancelled.

Friday, I called Father Macgill to discuss our plans, with Hurricane Joaquin building up energy, and some models coming  to the Carolinas. I shared with him my experience of cancelling events due to impending bad weather, and then having clear skies on the day of the event. He was gracious to let it be my call, so we decided to wait and see what path Joaquin would take.

The decision was made for us, because the county parks department, our venue, decided to close for the weekend. It now appears that Joaquin will be making a turn out toward sea. Sunday afternoon, Saint Francis Feast Day, could be beautiful. Anything is possible of course. At least now I won’t have to rush from the event to the airport. So that’s a good thing. And it’s a good thing if all we get is a lot of rain. Things are already pretty soggy in my neck of the woods.

I do want everyone to be safe. Still, I can’t help but observe that the TV news people get us all hyped up, or try to anyway, by just the tones in the voices of those reporting the forecasts, the predictions of where the storm might go. It could go anywhere! We better get our water, our batteries, our generators, canned goods, and eat all the ice cream in the freezer, pronto! I’ve done that in past hurricanes, but not until I was sure it was coming. I do keep a lot of candles in the house during hurricane season after being without electricity for over a week with Hurricane Fran or Floyd, or maybe it was Bertha, years ago.

My friend commented on Facebook that she and her daughter were having coffee and tea yesterday morning at a local diner and embracing the “pre-storm culture.” It’s good to be prepared for the worst, but to hope for the best. Our  focus needs to be on our hopes more than our fears.

Just remember if you approach what appears to be a deep puddle or flooded road: “Turn around. Don’t drown!”

Everybody stay safe out there!

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda Hill was: “expect/unexpected.”  If you’d like to join in the fun, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/10/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-315/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Love Letters from a Sycamore Tree

The sycamore that grows in my backyard, near the house, has been leaning (away from the house) ever since a major hurricane years ago. I think it was Bertha in 1996. With each hurricane since, I go outside and give the tree a hug before things get dicey. “Hang in there,” I murmur. I think it was during Floyd in ’99 that I watched the roots heave upward a few inches with each powerful gust tugging at the branches. “Hold on,” I whispered from the back door.

The sycamore held on through the storms, through my divorce and through the raising of two teenagers. Now, a smaller trunk grows from the base of mother sycamore, leaning in the opposite direction, providing balance. The mother tree seems to be leaning less, like  maybe at a 5 degree angle instead of 20 degrees.

Some people would have cut this tree down as soon as the lean was discovered.

But not this tree hugger.

Each year the leaning tree sheds it’s bark as sycamores are known to do. This past summer, I noticed natural heart shaped holes in bark offerings. Maybe they were there before, and I just didn’t notice. I don’t know. Life is what you make it, and I like to think that maybe my old friend sent me summer valentines.

    

The wide leaves are just starting to turn brown. Soon they will begin to fall.

Trees give us shade in the summer as their leaves soak up the sun’s energy.  If you have as many trees in your yard as I do, you can save a lot of money on air conditioning.

As the weather cools, some trees let go of their leaves, letting the sun shine through to warm us in winter.

Is it a coincidence that trees benefit us this way?  Are we just lucky? Or are we blessed?

Then there’s the whole oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange thing.  Trees make the stuff we need to breathe in, and we breath out the stuff they need.

Do you ever stop and think about how amazing and wonderful this planet is?

This poem is from Earth Prayers 1991, Edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon:

Few things that grow here poison us.

Most of the animals are small.

Those big enough to kill, do it in a way

Easy to understand, easy to defend against.

The air here is just what the blood needs.

We don’t use helmets or special suits.

The star here doesn’t burn you if you

Stay outside as much as you should.

The worst of our winters is bearable.

Water, both salt and sweet, is everywhere.

The things that live in it are easily gathered.

Mostly, you can eat them raw with safety and pleasure.

Yesterday, my wife and I brought back

Shells, driftwood, stones and other curiosities

Found on the beach of the immense

Fresh-water Sea we live by.

She was all excited by a slender white stone which

“Exactly fits the hand.”

I couldn’t share her wonder.

Here, almost everything does.

                                  Lew Welch

Whether it’s luck, or the grand design of a generous Creator, we need to be more thankful for our planet, and particularly thankful for trees. If a tree’s growing in an inconvenient place, try to move it while it’s still small. Put small seedlings in  pots and give them away. Give them a chance.

What have you learned from trees or from nature?