“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
Last night was cold, and the cold lingers in the house. It will be chilly all day, staying in the 50’s. The sun is shining. It is windy. I can see the top most branches still filled with leaves swaying.
I filled the bird feeders yesterday, and a riot of birds are flying in and out. They are nuthatches and chickadees. When she visited, my mother used to love to watch my birds. She also had feeders in her backyard, but her birds were pigeons and crows. We used to joke they were country pigeons. Spawns would hang from her feeders while they dined. We watched other spawns tightrope cross the clothes line to a feeder. Regardless, my mother faithfully filled her feeders.
When I was a kid, I used to love to visit Boston Common. We’d go in the summer and also in the winter near Christmas. In the summer we’d ride the swan boats. My father would buy us peanuts, and we’d feed the spawns. They came right to us and took the peanuts out of our hands. We were swamped with spawns. We were delighted.
I am reminded of one trip to London. I was traveling with my mother and father. My father and I went walking while my mother stayed back at the hotel. We stopped in Trafalgar Square. We bought some seeds. The pigeons attacked. My father laughed the whole time. He didn’t know I even put seeds on his head. The pigeons went after those seeds. He still laughed. I have a wonderful picture of him with the pigeons on his head and hand and other pigeons flying around him. We decided we’d bring my mother to the square. When we did, we gave her a cup of seeds. The pigeons attacked. She screamed and kept screaming. She threw her seeds to the ground. She gave us hell.
I voted. I never miss voting. My first time voting was 1968 for the Nixon-Humphrey race. My candidate lost. I was disappointed. I was in the eighth grade when I first got interested in politics. Kennedy was my senator so he was also my candidate for president. I wore Kennedy pins, still have them. I watched the debates. On election night, I watched the results trickle in. When I went to bed, there was still no winner announced. It was too close to call. The next morning Kennedy was declared the winner. Nixon graciously conceded.
This is a four uke week, a slow week. I have already had practice and a lesson. The first concert is today, another tomorrow. Nothing else is on my dance card.
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October 10, 2024 at 2:42 pm
The pigeons of Trafalgar Square are (pretty much) gone. Supposedly there is a hawk , pigeon spikes and a ban on feeding them that has returned the Square to a much more pleasant bird poop free environment.
Mrs MDH and I are booked to fly to London on New Years Eve for a week and, usual, will stay in close proximity to the Square. We usually wander through there on our way to whatever is on at the National Gallery (this year Van Gogh Poets and Lovers) and St Martin in the Fields.
When we took the Prince he took great pleasure in scaling the Lions for the appropriate tourist photo.
I guess “Feed the Birds” tuppance a bag was on the steps of St Pauls, the other end of the Strand and Fleet Street (and Ludgate Hill)
October 10, 2024 at 6:27 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I can easily understand why the pigeons had to go. The ground was such a mess as were the benches; however, it did make for some great pictures!
I know how much you love going back home. It’s great you are going on New Year’s Eve. We always ended up crossing the square on our wanderings.
I remember Feed the Birds in Mary Poppins. It was a very different scene than the rest of the movie. It was almost reverent. I think the seed sellers in Trafalgar were the models for the old woman.
October 10, 2024 at 5:53 pm
Hi Kat,
Another clear sky with a pleasant 90° temperature.
The last time I was in London, several years ago, I remember Trafalgar Square but I don’t remember there being a lot of pidgins. However, the photos and the memories of you, your dad, and the pidgins are what’s important.
You and I have probably been on the losing side in many presidential elections. I remember voting for Humphrey and hoping he would end the horrible war in Vietnam. Unfortunately, tricky dick won and kept the war going until 1975 when we lost Saigon. I remember him and Henry Kissinger saying, “Peace with honor”. In the early 1970s a friend of mine owned a tobacco shop in Downtown Dallas. I was working in a Jewelry store nearby. I would pick him up a sandwich almost every day and we ate lunch together in his small shop. One day a man came in and bought a large number of boxes of expensive imported cigars. I asked why he was buying so many. He told me that he was traveling to Vietnam where he owned a construction business. He then said, “I hope this war never ends, I’m making a fortune over there”. Nixon and his cronies kept the war going because it was too profitable to end.
This election cycle frightens me more than 1968 did. I think if the orange pumpkin wins, freedom and democracy will end shortly after Inauguration Day. I’m also concerned that if Kamala wins, the nut job MAGA crowd will take to the streets, armed to the teeth, and make January 6th, 2021 look like child’s play. I try to keep a very low profile.
October 10, 2024 at 6:44 pm
Hi Bob,
The day stayed in the high 50’s. With the sun gone, it is now down to 55°.
Hedley, in the comment above this, explained the pigeons were now gone. I did some hunting and found out they began flocking there in 1844, and the feed sellers followed. They started to clean up the square around 2003. Hedley mentions a hawk.
Wars tend to be profitable for many companies. I can understand their need to keep the war going.
In 1968, we never realized how shady Nixon was and how his ego needed to be fed. It didn’t happen before our eyes as Trump’s has. We know only the Washington Post kept on the story. Editors of other papers thought the Post was crazy. Only now are the papers paying attention to what Trump has said and continues to say.
October 10, 2024 at 9:23 pm
I don’t understand why the mainstream press haven’t reported that Trump is exhibiting dementia during his rambling and chaotic speeches. Many people are leaving early, which is driving him nuts.
Many of his most ardent supporters belive that if he loses again, that means a civil war is required to right their imaginary wrong. Many of these people have been stockpiling guns and ammunition since 2020. I also think that many police department personnel will join the Trumpsters. During the insurrection at the Capital on January 6th, there were a percentage of off duty law informant officers.
October 10, 2024 at 11:01 pm
On one of the news shows on MSNBC last night it was mentioned that the New York Times has finally begun to report on Trump’s failing, on his rambling, on how he mispronounces words and what a fruit salad his rhetoric is.
Trump has already said blood will run in the streets if the next election is as bogus as the last, the one he continues to say he won. I also believe a civil war is possible when he loses.