Why can't people stop using plastic bags!!!!

Bbetween 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year and less than 1% are recycled. They choking and killing our ecosystems and many animals. It takes so little to carry and use canvas bags.....it feels good and is really important.

The Cats Eye nebulae....mind boggling....beautiful.........one of billions to trillions of celestial objects 'out there' spinning and floating around....we are so lucky to have the beginning of a peek at what is beyond.....that might be naive...maybe it is just a whiff of ...... that something....out there.....

Ever since I was around 10 (I distinctly recall thinking 'it is great to be 10 years old'...isn't that funny? ... especially as I am now over 50!!!!),...anyway.... I seem to go through periods when I just contemplate about our existence....I blow my puny mind into the insane universe and....'wow'.......impossible to fathom...I think, ...'omyg, there must be a Creator!'...I mean, there is no reason for anything 'to be.' And yet,.....there is so much out there....always gets my little head spinning......we have awareness and feelings....we really are....something....something....an entity...a collection of stardust molecules that is being....something.....crazy man, crazy!!!! I always end up here and flop down, roll my eyes and breathe....

......look at the following picture....it is a just tiny snipit of a part of our little (in cosmic terms) Milky Way Galaxy. I have a book at home that has a photo through the heart of the Milky Way (will try to scan and post it)....it is so dense with stars, there is little darkness....billions of them.. our 'little, truly puny, galaxy.' The creative force of all this, is incomprehensible...yet I am trying to comprehend it....because....my parents and grandparents did the work that allows me this precious time....the predators selected....we had a lot of luck and kept trying. Today, I don't have to forage and fight for survival 24/7...at least not now. Looking out to the universe is amazing.......reminds of how lucky and little...... I am......ommmmmmm.

It has been almost a month since the last post.....Not sure I'm cut out for this.... I guess this means I don't really want to write.....but, I do have a story to tell...it is not mine...someone else's.....anyway, will keep dreaming and trying...

Took the picture from the veranda of my friend's home on the Blood Indian reservation.....was amazing to watch this family grow up and fly away.... no idle time...devoted parents .....

One of my favorite contemporary authors is Sherman Alexie...this article (by him), about his work is disheartening, but gets to our real world and the many thieves within.

I would love to post one of his poems and a picture, but he has strictly forbid this (I am proud to say I actually contacted his publisher).....it is kind of sad because it limits outreach.....but, like most of us with First Nations background, there is a subtle element of anger at the 'other world' and many of us feel like we'll go down dying defending our work, family, passions. He is an amazing writer, so check out his work. He can weave beauty and humor into chaos... I like/love everything he's written except for a couple of poems which seem silly. A good place to start is to read the stories in "The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Fistfight in Heaven.'

In a few hours I will be doing a history and physical examination on a victim of torture. These experiences are so so intense and tragic, I have a difficult time doing them...I really have to prepare myself mentally....I am, however, honored to help because these are true 'survivors' who have character and strength of which I can only dream. My work is legal and feels ethically 'correct' because this work makes a constructive difference in the lives of individuals who might actually 'survive' and through that survival make our world a better place...they inspire me to keep trying and fighting for truth and righteousness...this work is possibly some of the most meaningful work I have ever done.....these 'victims' are amazing people....there really are no words to describe them.....incomprehensible survivors...their stories are amazing I may post them annoymously....they remind me of the fact that we live blessed lives compared to theirs....this work helps me never forget. If you want to help them at all, here is a link to the group that supports them: Survivors of Torture, International.