Politics

Politics make me think of the aftermath of the Civil War.

I had family on both sides of the Civil War. It is with a bit of irony that Georgia actually voted against seceding but after the big planters met in the capital which was Milledgeville at the time, the decision to secede from the Union was made.

The aftermath of the civil war in the South was like the American Depression of the thirties only magnified. Because of the inherent poverty in the South, the American Depression was most intensely felt in the Southeast.

Union Soldiers walked home heros. Confederate soldiers came home defeated to farms and homes burned and looted. Many were grievously injured which affected their ability to work.  

Like all young men, my older brother discussed with my dad about the Vietnam War. My dad was against the Vietnam War. When I was in elementary school, I was embarrassed by my dad's opinion. We went on vacation to Jekyll Island when I was around 13. Dad was in the parking lot talking about how we had no business in Vietnam. The man who dad had just met was solemnly agreeing.

My dad told my brother, you don't ever want to lose a war. That pain from a 100 years earlier lived on with my father. Or could it have been earlier. I have traced one line of my father back to a foot soldier named FitzStephen who came as a soldier for William the Conqueror in 1066. My father has humble roots but he came from generations of soldiers. 

My brother volunteered to join the army and survived the Vietnam War. My brother served in an unpopular war. My dad served in World War II which Americans felt proud. Hitler's Germany murdered 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews for his cruel ideology.

Slavery was abolished due to the Civil War.. African Americans did not really get their due until the 1960s when Civil Rights Laws were enacted. There are some good benefits to wars. There is also a lot of misery and destruction with war.

My grandfather was a Spanish American War and a World War I veteran and is buried in the original Marietta National Cemetery. The land was donated by a Henry Cole in 1866 to bury the 10,000 Union Soldiers who died during Sherman's march to the sea. There are 17,000 people buried there today. Henry Cole was an Atlanta merchant who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

I plan to have the ashes of my dad, mom, developmentally delayed brother, sister who had mental illness and my Vietnam era brother interred at the cemetery. I am not eligible to be interred there but I am going to ask for my ashes to be scattered on their graves. 

I don't care how anyone votes. 

The moment you exclude anyone from being your friend because they have different politics from you; you have crossed the line..  

We all have feet of clay, 

I'm not afraid of whoever is elected. Bossing Americans around is like herding cats. We will be what we are. And I will vote and I will volunteer to take anyone to the polls who needs a ride. I'm ridin with Biden. If you are Trump's number One MAGA fan, get in the car. We all need to vote and be able to have an opinion. 

Otherwise we have already lost a much bigger war. And you never want to lose a war. .

Opossum

 Around 10 PM, the visitors begin. This is an average looking opossum. I do have one that is quite young and handsome. Another one is really big and ugly. They sort of have a peace made with the cats. The cats leave them alone and they leave the cats alone.

Nightmarchers

 All of the islands of Hawaii have the legend of night marchers. The Nightmarchers are the souls of dead warriors who may be escorted by past Kings of the Hawaiian Islands or of one the six Gods themselves. If you happen upon Nightmarchers, you should lie prone upon the ground with your face down in humility in their presence. Frankly, I would probably pass out in fear to be confronted by an army of apparitions.

If you were blood kin to one of the warriors, they would give the order to pass over their family member. Looking directly into the eyes of the marchers would result in a disastrous death to the onlooker soon after. 

The largest island of the Hawaii is the island of Hawaii. You usually take a tour from Hilo to the Volcanic National Park and of course the topic of  Nightmarchers was part of the tour.. The people who live on the island would hike at night across the volcanic lava fields. A red glow gives  warning that the lava flow is not so safe. 

One of the many lessons I learned from my eighth grade students was that scientist did get samples of lava from these lava flows. When asked, I said there was nothing that could hold that hot stuff. And I was corrected. 

The neatest thing I visited on the island of Hawaii were the lava tunnels. The molten lava continued to flow as the outer layer had long hardened. In the ensuing years ferns, fern trees and all sorts of plants had grown over and around the tunnel we walked through. It was a marvelous. There were also lava tunnels along the shoreline where periodically the salt water would spew.

 

Lava Field: Wikimedia Commons: Bob Linsdell

Mental Illness

 I had a beautiful sister who suffered from schizophrenia. What she suffered more from was the ignorance about and the shame of mental illness.

I went to Writer's Police Academy last year. I actually enjoy learning about police work and I do enjoy hearing men and women who work in the field give their experiences and opinions. Occasionally, I get ideas for characters. Sometimes these characters are not based on law enforcement but more the idiosyncrasies of the average person I meet at these events. One time I saw a woman look at me and start scribbling feverishly. Whether it was me or just inspiration had struck her; I knew I was not alone.

What moved me the most was how people constantly referred to criminals as mentally ill. There was a point that I stood and told them that mentally ill people were no more likely to commit a crime than any other person. 

Mentally ill people face enough stigma without writers encouraging those beliefs. In 20 or 50 years, we may see where books, movies, personalities are not considered acceptable in how they deal with people who have had mental illness.

When I taught school, my co workers were always amazed when I accurately predicted low IQ versus a learning disability or bad behavior versus a behavior disorder. I never shared that I had a developmentally disabled brother and a mentally ill sister. Let's face it, the stigma is there. Most people are very gracious but you have politics no matter where you work. I did not want to give someone ammunition to use against me. Familiarity can breed contempt.

There is a whole category of criminal behavior with people who have antisocial personality disorder. There are so many different sorts of mental illness that are not antisocial personality disorder. There are so many criminals who commit crimes who do not have antisocial personality disorder.

Some mental illnesses are more popular than others. Depression is common. Frankly, I have mild depression and have had it my entire life. My depression is not suicidal ideation. It is more like I don't feel like I can do something like change the oil in my riding mower. I have to will myself to go ahead and just do it. I do it. It wasn't that bad.

I always resisted taking medication and I don't know why. So many became prozac salespeople after taking the medication about thirty years ago. I have had a  lot of stress taking care of a sister who had a stroke. She has mild cognitive impairment and it is aggravating as heck. As my doctor told me, people with dementia are more critical of the people they are close to. I now take Wellbutrin. It was a good idea.

I have not been that serious working on a memoir about my life with my sister. The purpose would be to educate people. First my parents then myself sacrificed a lot to give her a decent life. I'm not a saint. I remember when she first moved in my home. One thing that aggravated me the most was her complaining that I got rid of her mattresses, and the mattresses on my bed hurt her back. I was sleeping on a sofa so she could have my bed. I seethed inside about this inconsiderate baloney. 

Before my sister passed, she had become a helpmate to me in running my household of people and animals. One day we were in the car together. She had been to the doctor and we were laughing and considering a stop at a store for a bit of retail therapy. And we looked at each other with the realisation. WE needed to get home to take care of the three people we cared for. It is not the most glamorous life. But my sister did get the satisfaction of being a responsible caregiver. 

I recognized she was dealing with a loss of autonomy. In the United States, the system is set up where it is much easier to live under a bridge with no income than get help for mental illness. 

Are you meshuggah, Are you crazy, or My life with a homicidal maniac are all possible sarcastic titles for my memoir.  If the book could dispel some stigma of mental illness, I would be content. 

I have published nothing. If I write fiction, my pen name will be Willie Maude which was a popular name 100 years ago in Georgia. But the memoir will be by Ann Bennett. I don't want to perpetuate that shame. There used to be shame about a cancer diagnosis in that there was no treatment. With treatments continually being developed for mental illness, hopefully the shame will be lessened like it was for cancer victims. 

Lazy

Is it leisure or lazy? 

I did well to have a few posts written early. Now, I am feeling the pressure. My response to pressure is the urge to procrastinate. 

Pictures are always a good save. 

It is a misty day here. I work very hard some days, and I am not talking about writing. It is busting through so many accumulated items. I have a rental car this week and I plan to drive up to my brother's house that I have of yet to get ready to sell. I will carry a bathroom cabinet removed from a bathroom I'm having remodeled. I plan to paint the cabinet and replace the collapsing cabinet in my brother's basement bathroom. 

The reason I have a rental car is I had a car accident about three weeks ago. It has been a humiliating burden. I need to do so much and it has been a hassle. It has been humiliating in that I am the cause of the accident. I hit an expensive Porsche to boot. 

My small garden in the field in front of my house. I need to put many buckets around the garden to water plants when it gets very dry which it will at the end of May. I plan to mow a bit more and put up a dog kennel with a roof to escape the heat this summer and store a few tools and most importantly my chairs and a small portable table. I hope to write a bit out there.

I took this picture to show my apple blossoms. Apples have a hard time in our hot climate. Blight gets the  trees. I remember reading about a fruit called a quince. I found that quince is incredibly susceptible to blight like the pear and apple trees are. The remedy for blight is to cut off the affected portion.

This is my lilac bush. It smells so good. Not one single dog was there when I first took a picture then six showed up. I think I've got some attention hogs.

Lilacs are not native but they are more importantly not invasive. 

Kauai

 Kauai is called the Garden Island of Hawaii. Over 70 movies have been filmed on Kauai. On a tour bus, the tour guide would slow the bus down and point to many scenic areas where movies had been filmed. What I  remember most Waimea Canyon. 

OKJaquar Wikimedia Commons

Like all the Hawaiian Islands there were a lot of wild Chickens. The joke is what is more tender after being boiled, a rock or one of these chickens. These pictures of wild Chickens were taken in Fitzgerald, GA. The people in Fitzgerald either love them or hate them. They do not live outside of town. Too many animals think they make a nice meal.

Kauai does not have mongooses. The mongoose was introduced to the Hawaiian islands to eat mice in the the sugar plantations. Like a lot of introductions of exotic species, the mongooses have been a problem and did not cure the rat problem.

Jessamine

 One of my favorite native plants is Carolina Jessamine. It generously grows everywhere around me. I love the bright yellow blooms which look like Honeysuckle. 

One thing everyone needs to be cautious is that this plant is poisonous. It is not like Honeysuckle in that it's sap is poisonous. It can kill a small child or animal. The sap can be an irritant to your skin. One aspect of the alkaloid nature of the plant is that it is poisonous to the honeybee but not to the native bees. We forget that honeybees were introduced to North America. 

The blooms are just beautiful and short-lived. Every year Jessamine is a harbinger of spring. I have seen Jessamine in full bloom in January. This year, they bloomed in mid-March. We had a good winter this year. There weren't enough hard freezes but the ones we had were at the right time. Sometimes a hard freeze happens towards the end of March which hurts the peach crops.