Three wishes

Some sparrows in a field gone to brush.  Any sparrow will do.

A wren nest-building and singing.

A quiet moment sharing an old abandoned stonewall with a chipmunk.

Thank you, Lord.
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Who would have believed it?

Believe what?  That it would be the  Republican party who put a Russian mole in the White House._____________________________________________________________________________________

The Trump-Comey dinner

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it."


----- Quotation from Upton Sinclair

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Welcome to Trump World

The following was written in 1990 by Michael Thomas for an essay titled "The Money Game."

In such conditions time itself breaks up into discrete parts.  An enterprise that may have sunk its roots in commerce and community over a century can be disassembled by a takeover artist in a matter of  weeks.  Continuum means nothing.  Relationships mean nothing.  The modern financier lives and dies by  the  transaction.  Each day is wholly  new, the wheel subject to  endless reinvention.  There is no need for coherence because there is no advantage for coherence  Action is all , , , Critical judgment is neutered by celebrity, censure collapses in the face of  success."

Prophetic, wasn't it?

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Wendell Berry introduces some of his essays here

http://home2.btconnect.com/tipiglen/forward.html

Paul Valery on the future

The future is like everything else, no longer what it used to be."

          - Paul Valery

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A line from the Greek poet Callimachus

"The dead do not rest but travel over the sea like gulls."



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Please! Save it for the end.

The end of the year just past brought forth a number of ways by which Americans could save for their retirement.  Commercials and advertisements for this task flooded the  various media.  People were advised to 'have a plan.'

They  were told to decide if they wanted to maintain  the life style they have now  when they retire. Formulas were provided for determining  how many millions of dollars one would need to  achieve that goal.

Americans were told to think small.  "Start early and put away 1% of your wages or salary."

  401k's.  Hedge funds.  The stock market.  On and on it went.

I have a suggestion, a better idea (I  think) that will assist in this task.

Don't buy  what  you don't need.  Save  and invest every  dollar you saved from not buying  what you don't need. 

You will have more money saved than you thought possible.  You will definitely retire into the same life style you  enjoyed  throughout your life.

Royalty, long dead, did not have the wealth that average Americans earn today.

Walking through Walmart this Christmas, looking at the  piles in  the aisles and the  stock on the  shelves, I  couldn't help but wonder who buys all this stuff and why?  Most of  what I  saw I wouldn't take home if it  was free.

Here is a simple rule to help you.  Lord Falkland had a quote which I  have  admired ever since I  read it.  He wrote : "If it is not  necessary  to make a decision, it is  necessary not to make  a decision."

That aphorism is useful in many  different situations.  I alter the  saying when required.

For  the subject of  this  post, I think:  "If it is not  necessary to buy,  it is  necessary  not  to buy"

Try it.  You might like it.

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