The air smells good. I like the smell of cut grass, but I do realize that those who mow lawns are having an adverse effect on insect life. Why don’t others think of this?

Nasty fire in Maui, Hawaii, killed at least 65 people and took out a town. No mention was made as to how the animal population was affected. This event is going to have an adverse effect on the climate, a ripple effect of sorts.

I hate to say it folks, but we are doomed. We just could not rally and figure out what the priorities are, or how to deal. The first thing we needed to do, worldwide is to focus on population control. Instead, we are doing the opposite, by encouraging people to have babies,

many of whom will have a mark against themselves, in being born unwanted. And even those who are wanted are a resource drain.

I will hop off my soapbox, but be forewarned, I’m keeping it close by. I may jump back onto it tomorrow.

I think of books – they seem to be coming at me like a tsunami wave. This, if I don’t say so myself, is a very apt analogy. And, of course, I think of all the trees that go into the making of all the thousands of books that are crossing my hands. And there are millions of other books, ones that don’t cross my hands.

Kindles and Nooks and other online sources, they are sadly lacking. I think of this when I pick up a book and examine its cover and the inside illustrations. The artistry and the graphics is a part and parcel of the reading process. And I can allow my eyes to linger on the illustrations. A good example is the Good Dog Carl books. The rottweiler and the child, together, on the floor, making a sandwich. Art related images stay with us. We need them more than we need words on a computer screen.

We may be moving into another era. But I’m intent on slowing things down. And I do this every time I get a book into someone’s hands. At the very least, they’ll glance at it.

If we can get people to read, they might become more environmentally aware. The world of the imagination is a world where all things are possible. Sometimes I read fiction, and I then attempt to figure out at what point it is that the writer, stuck, had to make an imaginative leap. It does not happen in one sitting – few have in mind the entire story when they sit down to write.

It’s because Pete and I are readers that we think all things are possible. There is not a single writer who, in form or content, is saying otherwise. Reading makes it possible to imagine and envision.

Life on this planet as we may know it ain’t over until the fat pony neighs.

Next: 220. 8/12/23: What Gives?