Names that mean something different in death.

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017

What has been missed is the fact that Trump has already been successful at building multiple walls. He has built walls that have separated fathers from sons, mothers from daughters, brothers from sisters, neighbor from neighbor, cities from suburbs, and States from States. He has caused small divisions to become deep divisions. He has made insignificant issues seem significant. He is attempting to build walls between the US and our allies.He is using lies to create fear, and attempting to constantly distract us with the latest outrage. Like a skilled magician or a skilled boxer he distracts us with his small hands from  the real and important issues.   However, as has been said “A county divided can not stand.” If you want to resist, stop unfriending people, stop not talking to people, and start listening. There is always some truth on either side of an argument. It may be wrapped up in layers of miscommunication and covered in false ideas and wrong assumptions but there is some truth. The only people who have the power to destroy Democracy and our country is Us, you and me, and everyone we know. The sad truth is that Trump has not build any walls, We have built them for him.  That means that WE have the power, not the little man who thinks he sits on a throne, in the people’s house. We can continue building those walls, or we can being taking them down, together.

© words by Dan DeMarle 2017

What was the most beautiful thing you saw today?

2/1/17

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017

Never ask 8 kids what kind of ice-cream you should buy!

Instead buy Neapolitan, that way at least most of them will find something to like.  Alternatively buy a gallon of vanilla and two liters of root beer. Pull out the punch dish and special cups, and make root beer floats. That way everyone will be happy.

© words by Dan DeMarle 2017

There are no holes in the blue bottle, reflections making mirages.

2/1/17 words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017

©

People think of Democracy as a solid construct reinforced with steel and concrete. Like a large monolith impervious like stone. In reality, Democracy is an idea planted in fertile soil, like a seed over 2000 years ago.   It thrived briefly then, but then the plant faded. A  seed of that plant was found and replanted over 200 years ago on this continent. It found fertile soil, but like any plant, time changes things.  There are periods of flood and drought. There are times of pestilence and disease.  There are times it grows with over abundance, and then times it must be cut back and pruned, as it has grown into shadows or into shapes that threaten to topple the plant as it leans to far in one direction or another.  Democracy unlike stone is a living, breathing thing.  You can not leave it unprotected and it must be watered and nourished. While it once grew with abandon, the soil around it, the water it uses, and the air around it, all change over time.  Even the people around it change over time. Some generations over water, some cut of limbs, and some even attempt to burn it back at times.  You are now the gardener, you have ignored it for some time, and thought merely watering it every four years was enough.  You now see it is threatened. What will you do?

1/1/17

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017

What will you do when the wind blows hard against the wood of the house you live in?

You thought because the wind had been so quiet for so long, that you were safe.

Instead once you had clear cut the timber,

once you had cut down the mountains for coal,

once you had warmed the earth with your industry,

you had simply just removed all the barriers that had stopped the wind before.

What will you do when the wind blows,

blows so hard it levels everything and everyone you ever knew?

“People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that Noah’s ark carried dinosaurs. This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it’s about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson

12/25/16

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2016

We all know that moment, when we are going in a certain direction,  or on a certain path, when either quickly, or slowly we say,  that’s far enough, time to turn around. It’s interesting to see it reflected in physical reality.   What happened? Why the change? The mystery abounds.

1-29-17

© words and picture by Dan DeMarle 2017

There’s a message here. Yesterday we had just a very light dusting of snow.  Our bird feeder is near our driveway.  All the snow was removed from around the car, but left under the car. The birds love to hide under the car as they dart back and forth to the feeder. After I moved the car, I found they had left lots of prints. I think there is a message here, but I don’t read bird.

1-29-17

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017