My husband knows I love sautéd fresh mushrooms, & surprised me Friday with a whole dish of them, even tho he knew I was coming home to make a flatbread pizza that didn’t include them.

We slice them, melt butter in a frying pan with minced garlic, & a little dried minced onion, & fry them up.

Upcoming council meetings in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois (rural/ex-urban areas)

Yay!

That is the only real comfort, until the pain fades enough to mostly remind of the memories of the moments

Gotta have focus

So we are at a point where voters are mobilizing to bring that paradigm shift, and leaders who concede to old political realities are showing themselves to be on the wrong side.

You are completely right that one cannot negotiate with terrorists.

That does not mean that you give them what they want

There is no doubt the political reality under old norms was leading here.

But we can do better.

If you look at the history of big change, like the start of social security to protect our elderly, it came about thru fundamental paradigm shifts in US politics.

It is time for a paradigm shift.

I disagree as to whether a longer shutdown would have led them to cave on this particular issue

I think my adult kids on the exchange could have been able to afford to continue their insurance through 2026 instead of entering the ranks of those who do not qualify for employer healthcare, make too much for medicaid, and cannot afford to pay as much for health insurance as for housing.

In this case, not ending the shutdown prematurely is what I was after. And fighting to protect the most vulnerable while doing that.

Yeah pretty sure all her legal bills were fully funded by bigots before any expense was incurred.

That they are STILL trying to dissolve marriage equality says a lot:

Gotta blame all the bad stuff in their lives on someone else’s happiness, or else they might have to actually grow up!

I am so very sorry!

Do you have people nearby who are encircling you for the long haul?

4/4

It divides our worlds into the 2 most important “parties”:

🔸Those willing to listen to new music and appreciate the humanity in each new shared bit

and

🔸Those so close-minded or broken or inflexible that they cannot or will not open themself up to hearing a loved ones loved new song/piece.

3/

And so we are all a little shocked when someone we love is not willing or not capable of taking that time and giving that attention to the soul and world of someone that claims to love THEM.

2/

We all have different tastes, but we all are willing to fully listen to something one of the others shares, and learn that genre, and be capable of entering into that other person’s world thru that song/piece.

They are pine trees. Pine trees that drop their needles. We call them tamarack in Minnesota, but different varieties of deciduous pine make up the huge forest that circles the top of the northern hemisphere.