Tag Archives: ingenuity

The Road to Diamond, Day 219: The Fan, The Fury Gusts and The Waters of Hell

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Family, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

July 5, 2025- As I waited behind mother and child, to get a cold drink during the Rodeo Parade outside, the baby decided to show me the portable battery-powered (and baby-finger-proof) fan that was keeping her cool. She reveled in the cool breeze it provided, taking care to lift it at the base and keep its flow directed at her face. There was a definite look of satisfaction, that she was doing this herself.

After the parade ended, I headed to Farmers Market, for our customary breakdown of tents and weights. One of the tents is “Feed Your Neighbors”, which provides food boxes to the needy. As I prepared to take the tent down, a gust of wind came from the east and took the form of an updraft, lifting the tent, even while the stone and steel weights were still attached. Two men working nearby rushed over and helped me remove the weights and take down the tent. A Market officer came over and also helped with the final take down.

While that was going on, a second gust of wind also became an updraft, lifting a second tent, weights and all, clear to where a vendor’s car was parked. The car was slightly scratched and its windshield caught a star, as the projectile came to rest. Fortunately, none of the five people in the area were struck. That was our experience at Prescott Farmers Market, this afternoon.

A little over 1,000 miles to the southeast, hell had broken loose, in the form of a stationary front that caused the Guadalupe River, at Kerrville, to rise 20 feet in less than two hours. Children’s summer camps and RV parks along the river bank were inundated, people and vehicles were swept away and families were shattered, in what will register as a signal tragedy of the entire year. Eighty people have been confirmed dead so far, with as many as 41 people still missing.

This has given pause to the stated plans for dismantling the Federal Emergency Management Agency-as well it should. The elements are no respecter of budgets, spread sheets and ideologies. In this time of natural flux, woe be unto anyone who pulls the plug on community response to hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, flash floods and earthquakes. I read the stories of those people, mostly young girls, whose lives were snuffed out and I crumble. I also read that this is making an impression on the President of the United States. Please, God, may it be so.

In about 5-6 months, my first grandchild is due to come into this world. I pray for her well-being, every morning. Once she is here, there is nothing this grandfather will not do to help her grow in health, strength and safety. My heart goes out to all those whose memories of their children are all they have left.

Coming From Behind

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Fiction, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 25, 2022- The tortoise, enjoying the scents of the flowers and the brightness of the Spring scenery, kept his steady pace. The hare, intent on reaching the destination, was overcome with the limits of his own body and, bored with the route he had covered countless times, decided he’d take a brief rest. Thus, did the lumbering reptile note his snoring rival, as he passed by, a short while later. So, the steady, appreciative creature was awarded the garland of flowers, to the abiding chagrin of the pompous lagomorph.

Aesop told the tale a bit differently, but the end is much the same-as is the moral. So often, people take current circumstances, or long-standing trends, and base their plans for the future on those. I noted how that did not work out, in this past weekend’s plethora of football games. I am also noting how self-assured politicians and political commentators are running into the buzz saw of uncertainty, as the people at large work the malleable clay of the country’s, and mankind’s, future. Few really saw the three-week-long financial correction coming, and neither do that many see the resilience that will happen, once the driftwood of ill-performing stocks is carted away.

We tend to see the present, no matter how well, or how poorly, things are going, as the wave of the future. Of course, some patterns endure for quite a while. Others, though, get swept away, almost instantaneously. Few people saw the election of 2016 turning out as it did. Equally few saw the subsequent presidential contest ending as it did. My guess is that this year’s contests, and those two years hence, will result in much the same.

There are many areas of life where fear rules-from the erratic weather patterns to the future of the world economy, but fear never takes human ingenuity, or the Hand of the Divine, into consideration. Our ability to handle, and transcend, the caprice of nature-and our own species’ flights of whimsy is almost unlimited.

Mankind is destined for a far brighter future than it often appears. We will, collectively, overcome our challenges, even coming from behind.

July Road Notes, Day 18: Raging Cascades and A Thriving Work Ethic

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 22, 2021, Du Bois, PA– The earnest young lady seemed not to take more than a moment’s rest, as the crowd in D’s Diner enjoyed their somewhat late Thursday evening dinners. I got there around 7:30, having decided to take I-80 West, instead of New York’s Southern Tier-as it was getting towards dusk-and familiarity counts for something, at night. I enjoyed a dish I have not eaten in 35 years: Chicken croquettes-and they were every bit as good as I recall. The AC issue has been fixed, and both of the owners were in the dining room, reminding me of my friends at Zeke’s. The hostess/all trades person, whom I mentioned at the top, was also making sure that the operation was top shelf. She has “cover girl” good looks, but it is always personality and ingenuity that stay in my mind, when encountering a new person, anymore. That young woman is going to go places; initiative matters.

The day started in Concord, NH, with a walk around the Capitol District. The seat of government is undergoing some renovation, as you will note.

New Hampshire State Library
New Hampshire State Capitol, from an alley.
New Hampshire’s pre-eminent statesman
New Hampshire State Capitol, Concord

After leaving Concord, it was time to head towards Vermont. I made a drive through Hanover, NH and Dartmouth College, briefly noting the Ivy League institution’s architecture.

Summer classes are in swing, Dartmouth College
Main Chapel, Dartmouth College

Then, I stopped in the small towns of Springfield and Bellows Falls, as it was around lunch time. I went into Flying Crow Coffee Shop, complimented the owner on the touch of class that her shop brings to Springfield, and shared her joy at the lovely park, behind the shop, that celebrates the Cascades of the Black River.

Comtu Cascades, Black River, Springfield, VT
Flying Crow Coffee Company, Springfield, VT

As there was no food being served at Flying Crow, and since none of the restaurants she mentioned were open, I headed to Bellows Falls, and came upon Little Lisai’s Corner Deli. It is a smaller operation of the Lisai family, who have been in Bellows for several years, and who once had a larger market. Brent Lisai and his small crew offer top notch salads, soups and sandwiches, in the tradition of the great delicatessens of New England and Upstate New York mill towns. Yes, I grew up in such a town, and this deli passes muster.

Crossing southern Vermont and into the TriCities of the Hudson Valley, I made note that Albany, although the butt of many hipster jokes, is full of exquisite architecture, and would be a great place to spend a day or two, in the near future. Maybe it can be on the return leg of an anticipated Cross-Canada & northern states jaunt, next May and June.

After the aforementioned dinner, I drove across Pennsylvania’s northern tier, and ended up at Du Bois Mansion Motel. The titular mansion is seen below, a remnant of Du Bois’s paper mill days.

Du Bois Mansion

Creative

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Posted by on in Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Personal Values, Striving

November 13, 2016, Prescott-

Yesterday, I contented myself with walking along an old BLM service road- going up and down a couple of moderately steep hills, for the sake of maintaining stamina.  It worked, and among other things, I slept very soundly. Today, a couple of short hikes, a visit with a couple of disabled veterans, and two meals with small groups of friends, filled the day nicely.

 

More importantly:  Thirty years ago, today, a bundle of creativity came into this world.  He has never ceased to amaze us, his extended family, with his repertoire of novelty.  Now, in order to more fully extend the range of his film-making, he has established residence in Los Angeles. I look forward to seeing more of his work, in various film festivals.  It is indeed just a matter of time before his name and face are recognizable.

Creativity has brought an enormous passel of what makes life worth all that we must endure.  If necessity is the mother of invention, certainly ingenuity is its midwife.  I look forward to what’s next.

Bringing people together, takes the greatest degree of creativity.