A Moving Experience

 Enter the Otherworld

Horned Green Man refreshes Reflecting Pool  

Very steep trail lead to upper pool and falls. Worth it!

Maples line leafy winding narrow roads bordered by rock walls.

Chestnut trees in bloom loom large over Tudor buildings.

As always, big basalt erratics are glacier placed and going nowhere, until next time.

Buildings as odd as the landscape. Note wee folly to right.

Another odd castle like folly with turrets hidden amongst the forest.

 

Heading back home along the bluff the city lies below.

 Manito Park: Lilac Garden, Rose Garden, Duck Pond. It has it all.

Above: Red Eared Slider turtles. Often released into the 'wild' when kids become tired of pet.

Do not touch. Carriers of salmonella in droppings.

Ducks below! Ducks are among my favorite fowl. Do not feed ducks, it pollutes the lake.

Mallards abound here. Only a 3.5 mile walk round trip.

 Office buildings wisely decided to build around The Rock.

Where do gigantic boulders sit? Anywhere they want. We build around them.

 Neighborhood homes of 1%

A Tudor Row off Madison

Rocket Bakery! Patio seating, serving sandwiches as well as pastries. Close to home...

Close to Canada, many buildings and businesses fly the Maple Leaf

 And home again. 

Kitchen. It works.

Dressing room leading to bath.

The Enormous Tub.

 

Evening brings brilliant sunsets over Spokane from the Bluff. Love my gorgeous view from front room.

 

Vigilance Needed NOW Against the Hydra

"The Peacemaker taught us about the Seven Generations.

 He said, when you sit in council for the welfare of the people,

 you must not think of yourself or of your family,

 not even of your generation. He said, make your decisions 

on behalf of the seven generations coming,

 so that they may enjoy what you have today."

 𝓥𝓸𝓵𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮 once wrote: "So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious or otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.

 

 Woody Guthrie -- I Ain't Got No Home/Old Man Trump by the Missin' Cousins

Old Man Trump
Words by Woody Guthrie Adapted by Ryan Harvey, Music by Ryan Harvey
Contact Publisher - Woody Guthrie Publications/BMG Chrysalis

I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate
He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed that color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project

Beach Haven ain't my home!
No, I just can't pay this rent!
My money's down the drain,
And my soul is badly bent!
Beach Haven is Trump’s Tower
Where no black folks come to roam,
No, no, Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain't my home!

I'm calling out my welcome to you and your man both
Welcoming you here to Beach Haven
To love in any way you please and to have some kind of a decent place
To have your kids raised up in.
   
Beach Haven ain't my home!
No, I just can't pay this rent!
My money's down the drain,
And my soul is badly bent!
Beach Haven is Trump’s Tower
Where no black folks come to roam,
No, no, Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain't my home!

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Share this Quote Henry A. Wallace
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fascism-quotes

---

 

Benito Mussolini created the word 'fascism.' He defined it as 'the merging of the state and the corporation.' He also said a more accurate word would be 'corporatism.' This was the definition in Webster's up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster's and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations.- Adam McKay  ...'fraudulent schemes and artifices...' Fake electors indicted in AZ                                              White House Correspondents Dinner 2024

Ari Berman's new book on Minority Rule, and how it got that way.Al Franken Podcast words of wit and wisdom every Sunday
https://www.alfranken.com/listen/ari-berman-on-his-new-book-minority-rule
The GOP is undermining democracy all over the country. The will of the people is being subverted for a loud and active minority. In his new book, guest Ari Berman explains how and where this is happening in America. And, more importantly, what we can do to fight back. ...usually my moniker. But, in times of duress - Capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu^[46] suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine  as a symbol of the Free French. This was chosen to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc, patron saint of France, whose symbol it had been, the province where she was born, and now partially annexed into Alsace-Lorraine by Nazi Germany, and as a response to the symbol of national-socialism, the Nazi swastika

 

                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                              Le Passion de Jeanne d'Arc  

Political language...is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable,

and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell

Benito Mussolini created the word 'fascism.' He defined it as 'the merging of the state and the corporation.' He also said a more accurate word would be 'corporatism.' This was the definition in Webster's up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster's and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations. Share this Quote Adam McKay
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/adam-mckay-quotes

to Mussolini created the word 'fascism.' He defined it as 'the merging of the state and the corporation.' He also said a more accurate word would be 'corporatism.' This was the definition in Webster's up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster's and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations. Share this Quote Adam McKay
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/adam-mckay-quotes

Benito Mussolini created the word 'fascism.' He defined it as 'the merging of the state and the corporation.' He also said a more accurate word would be 'corporatism.' This was the definition in Webster's up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster's and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations. Share this Quote Adam McKay
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/adam-mckay-quotes

 "The more a society drifts away from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." - George Orwell 

 

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Share this Quote Henry A. Wallace
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fascism-quotes

 

 

                                              France  Le Chant des Partisans

Italy bellaciao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUAP-fE81zs

Spain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xanlmhjf1jc

 

 

 

 

We did not see our parents and grandparents travel across the sea to fight and  die in the battle  against Nazism to have it follow us here to Virginia

    

"Good people on both sides!" There are certain persons for whom truth is a poison -- Andres Maurois

FASCISM TODAY  MSNBC ~ Joe: It's time fascism is called fascism and Americans know exactly what they're voting for ~ Democracy or ~  Nazitown USA:      If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever. George Orwell, 1984 Item of note: to those in favor of autocracy -- Francisco Franco:  ruled over Spain as a dictator for 36 years from 1939 until his death.  Ask Catalaunians how they liked that.       Fight for Freedom from Fascists and Corporate Shills    Rick: “Now, you’ve got to listen to me! You have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn’t that true, Louie?”  Captain Renault: “I’m afraid Major Strasser would insist.”  Ilsa: “You’re saying this only to make me go.”  Rick: “I’m saying it because it’s true.   Mireille Mathieu La Marseillaise The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Share this Quote Henry A. Wallace Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fascism-quotes The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Share this Quote Henry A. Wallace Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fascism-quotes   The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Share this Quote Henry A. Wallace Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fascism-quotes

Solstice, Yule, Hanukkah, Xmas, New/Old Year

 El Nino brought snow before Halloween this year.

One day it was fall:

The next day it was snowing!

 

                                                                                    

     The wild turkeys took refuge on top of the neighbor's fence 

      to keep turkey toes from freezing in snow.

                                

Lovely fall leaves dusted with snow:

Christmas Trees with natural flocking 

And then, everything melted back into fall...warm sunny days returned. 

 For a while...then came  December and Hanukkah treats.

We all hollah for challah!

                                                                                    Cranberry Swirl Spice Cake

So, I made Salmon Cakes with Latkes last night for the special Hanukkah movie on Hallmark.

 Which, I must admit, was no Mrs. Maisel. Good to see actual Jewish actors, unlike Maisel. 

But, it was rather, meh...I wound up watching Frozen instead. Love that Sven the reindeer.

..............

I feel that the last of this year, the year before 2024, is something we all are trying to cling to

 before the great threat of Election Year is upon us all. A collective clinging if you will,

 'Everything is still okay...'

...for a while. The opposing team wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, 

which is all that keeps the old and infirm like myself from dropping

 off the face of this earth. Not that a swift exit would be so bad. At this point,

 I can't afford Medicare or rent or food or anything else. 

 People cling to their own small world view and some cling to conspiracy theories 

that can give them the assurance they need that that is the right thing to do,

 blame others, Them, Out There, for what's wrong with the world.

This seemed to work for the Nazis. For a while.

People who haven't forgotten the horrors of WWII are swiftly exiting the stage. 

Those left here, live in a video game virtual reality where the enemy

 can be zapped off into oblivion, no harm no foul. And assault rifles are necessary

 for them and their family's Protection. And school children slaughtered by those

 possessed are just collateral damage in their private wars. 

Link below for Edward R. Murrow's reporting during the Real War:

Title: A Grim Christmas In London 

Don't worry, it's only 1:50 minutes of your time.

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/christmas-old-time/cbs_edward_r_murrow_-rZMnYo1S90c/

................................

As for me, here, now...there's a song: Get Me Through December

by Alison Krauss and Natalie McMaster that pretty much says it all:

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Time Machine 🎃

 WARNING! Caution: Contains Corgies

 That happiest black catty-ist time of the year!

                    Nothing like getting a 'bird' of a Halloween! I finally figured out that this witch rides a  

                    pumpkin, with squash wings, a broom tail and small pumpkin head, to create said: 'bird'...
                                                       

Aren't they a pair?  How sweet it is!

 

It has been rather a fine time for perusing the past this season...

Have been seeking out old Stephen King books/films, Hammer Horror, and Dark Shadows...

Watched all 3+ hours of Salem’s Lot recently. Could stand some evisceration…the book is much better. I love Stephen’s sense of humor. The kid with all the Universal monster posters  was autobiographical I am betting. ‘Why are you so interested in magic and monsters?’ Asks dad.I recall my mom asking ‘Why can’t you be like the other little girls?’ When I was caught reading a book on Zen Buddhism at age 11. 

                                                              Not Like The Others…

                                                         Stephen loves his Corgies….

It seems that the time-tested classics are always best. And, true, while the old Universal Monsters was where my esoteric education began, there is still nothing like that chilling thrill that can only be ascribed to:

And, Christopher Lee...my favorite Dracula...

                           Truly...is it any wonder?
 

                       Lee's autobiography is a wonderful read. Such a droll sense of humor!

                       Chris, you were never 'too tall or too foreign looking' for your many fans!

                       Waiting in the dark of midnight, there was just something about seeing the

                       opening credits with those eternally blood-tingling words:                                                                    

                                            https://www.hammerfilms.com/

Horror of Dracula…Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Michael Gough

                                                                   +  +  + + + +          

            Which brings us, of course, to Dark Shadows and Jonathan Frid's Barnabas Collins...

                                                                          

                                 Indeed, the sudden appearance of Cousin Barnabas, so like that of his

                          'ancestor', was like a shot of old world culture to the jaded denizens of Collinwood.

                                                                     

                       Barnabas at The Old House, with portrait of his ageless love, Josette...
                       Where else on 60s television could one find such gothic romance?

                                                         Dark Shadows: The Beginning

                                       One of the most frightening things of the 60s, The Tent Dress!    

                                                                               +++++++++

             But wait! We cannot forget the stunning performance of Frank Langella's Dracula --

                                                   on both stage and screen.

                                                                     

                                                                

                         Featuring the odd and uniquely shuddersome art of  Edward Gorey   

                                      Langella and Lee, both of Italian heritage. Indeed...

                                                          Frank with Kate Nelligan

                                              He:  "May I offer you a glass of invisible wine, my dear?"

                                             She:   "Aren't you partaking?"

                                             He:   "No. I never drink...invisible wine..."

                                                                     

                               This 1979 production was also enhanced by the skills of

                                         Donald Pleasence and Sir Laurence Olivier

                                                                    

                                                                    + + + + + 

                              But what of the ladies of the house? The House of Hammer?

The reigning Queen of Horror during the heyday of Hammer was of course Ingrid Pitt, as Carmilla, in the singularly sinister Vampire Lovers.

Ingrid was perfect for the role of the lady vampire as imagined by the Irish writer Sheridan LeFanu.

            Peter Cushing getting cushy with Ingrid in Vampire Lovers.

                                                                            + + + + + + +

Although not benefiting from a Hammer budget, House of Filmtexx produced a couple of bizarre and offbeat miniscule budget shorts featuring Anne Ra as the vampire Avanka in that much-overlooked and undervalued film Fix My Gas…

                                            + + + + + + + + +

               Would you believe...*Snow*? A week before Halloween?