I fear for my grandson's American future

 Sc/een.e from a Balcony 2-3-25 7:30am

Morning photo depicts another slightly overcast day with a cool 

35 degrees ....  it's nice weather comfortable for walking. On the outside, things seem tolerable, yet while walking, what percolates on the inside is more like a tempest in a teapot. 

Considering the political shenanigans occurring at the time, and with everyone sharing their views on the matter, some informed and factual, and most based on conjecture, still it's hard to ignore the evidence that our country is in the midst of a hostile take over .... from within .... by fellow Americans .... 

The Project 2025 boldfaced denial claims have come home to roost, and now the plutocrats are unflinchingly installing their programs, as all the while we sit with mouths agape, powerless to intervene. 

Yes, there is scuttlebutt coming down the pipe that court cases are being filed, but with the Supreme Court in the pockets of the oligarchs (we saw how the conservative justices so easily fell in line with the fundamentalist agenda), how can anyone doubt the ominous predicament our democracy faces. Seems there is also speculation that trump could very well enact a martial law mandate, and when that happens, we are toast.  The keys to the constitution are in the hands of the likes of musk and whatever whim strikes his fancy. Needless to say, he does not have the best interests of the 93% at heart --- his snaztika salute of late was merely a paean to his billionaire cronies, who have set the Project 2025 to take effect immediately .... it's already begun, and that is why I worry about my grandson's future. What kind of a straight jacket world awaits him?

We have spent the last 50 years fighting against the ideology of the moral majority, turning back the tidal wave of extremist conservativism that our (now) friends across the pond so many decades ago provided the motivational thrust necessary to take action necessary to extricate ourselves  from their dominance of every aspect of the body politic. Now we face an enforced regression to past inequities in social, political and personal autonomy, profoundly antithetical to the values of our republic's founding constitution ..... precisely the ground our country was built on after escaping the dominance of political rule when we established independence from our oppressors across the pond many decades ago. 

.... at risk of being the bearer of more bad news, unfortunately there's more  .... 6 more weeks winter! 

"Phil's actual prediction, however, takes place ahead of time in a place called Gobbler's Knob, a small hill just outside of the town, and has done so each year since 1887. This year marks the 139th time the event has occurred, according to the Pennsylvania Tourism Office"

 

Day 3 of retirement from ....... 

So yes, it was my first day after deleting all Meta products, and the first Sunday to be unhinged from my typical routine of getting up and having to work. It begins to strike me that this is going to be my daily life going forward. Looking at a blank slate of 1440 minutes each day to fill up with some occupational distraction from ?????? I don't know, you tell me .... sitting and watching TV only goes so far, and it dawns on me how much time I actually had spent on social media scrolling. When looking for ways to consistently and intentionally, purposefully structure my time each day, I have come up with a few constants, such as making coffee and blogging (1 hour), Harp practice (2 hours in the morning (120 minutes) and 2 hours in the evening (120 more minutes), and other time killers such as activities related to personal and environmental hygiene (60 - 90 minutes?).

Today I get to distract myself with unusual activities such as sitting on the phone to speak with a rep about student loan forbearance since I am no longer working and my income is drastically reduced .... also, I'm caught up in the process of gathering documents for tax returns, and that's going to be another couple of hours sitting on the phone.

I guess this is what retirement will be:

Wake

Blog

Clean 

Make food

Practice the harp ...... these things will receive daily attention, but that is merely 480ish minutes burnt, so what about the remaining 960 minutes? subtract 360 for 6 hours of sleep and that leaves me with 600ish hours to fill daily.

So that 600 minutes or 10 hours to fill. This gives me something to start with when considering activities I can use to occupy that free time. all. that. inescapable. free. time.  TBC

Finally ..... the best part

In my harp practice yesterday, I worked on this piece I had learned last year, which took several weeks to get to the point an hour of practice accomplished yesterday. This is encouraging and tells me I am indeed making progress. 

This is from Enya's Watermark album