BOY! I’M SURE NOT MOTIVATED THESE DAYS

to make any blog entries. Could it be because Bush is on his last White House wafers and the Republican Party is showing us its true colors in every public bathroom around the country, and, thus, I do not feel that my nor America’s freedoms are as threatened as they were back when I started this blog?





Here’s a photo of my own artsy-fartsy rebellion (that's my foot on the grass) and a little interesting website for you to munch on while I try and work up better fare in future days.

SHINGLES

Yes, I've had shingles now for the last three weeks, but I managed to make a short dash North to visit friends and family up through Poulsbo and onto Whidbey Island. Then, the next weekend, Mertie and I headed West over to the Washington Coast, Long Beach, to spend two nights, a full day and parts of two days there. All the while I was sick and could not enjoy anything as much as I would have liked to. This shingles stuff is for the birds. I'm hoping I don't get the complication which lasts for months afterwards, where the hurts continue and the tenderness or deadness of the skin remains. The entire left side of my face and my mouth has been affected. Lesions on my face, my gums, and inside my mouth and also the lips. Even the skin on the top of my left shoulder feels extremely tender to the touch. It's a rebirth of the chicken pox in old people.

Anyhow, here's a couple of photos from the Long Beach trip:

Looking sort of North.
The boardwalk West of Long Beach, the longest beach in the whole world?

One of many friends to visit us on a Saturday morning trip
to the Northern tip of the peninsula
upon which Long Beach rests.
To Ledbetter Point State Park.

A sort of primeval creature found on the beach of Stackpole Harbor.

Two more creatures found on our journey the next day at Bruceport Park.

Looking West across the great Pacific waters on Saturday evening.

SPRING IN THE WET ZONE

Okay—now I'm getting a little back to normal. At least, this entry is on a Friday, a usual day for one of my blog entries. Today, at least, I also feel some serenity, the first serenity since arriving here. I just haven't felt normal at all. Cross fingers for continued normalcy. See? It's pretty here—in a wet sort of way. The photos are from Frenchman's Bend or Point, or something. Can't find it on my Vancouver map, but it was in the area of the Lake Vancouver park complex.

AIN’T IT THE BEE’S KNEES?
AS THEY’D SAY DURING THE ROARING TWENTIES

Seems honey bees are disappearing at an alarming rate in 24 of the contiguous United States. Maybe they just can’t crawl back to their combs after an all night long session with their honeys. I sometimes seriously doubt if the species we call homo sapiens will itself survive at the rate we’re destroying the planet and other species.

[SNIP]
A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.
[PASTE]