War between the pess-opt-imists ...

... In a world of "expert" economists and rapid-fire forecasts depicting what the future holds ... one can find an equal and opposite optimistic and pessimistic view emphatically stated ... daily within the public media.... I won't join either of those two crowds. But, I will say that I hold out for "hope" ... even as "audacity" is much less commonplace than a year ago. As a famous President once said, when once we faced a terrible possibility many years ago, "the only thing we (actually) have to fear ... is fear itself". If we have pride in our country and belief in our leaders, then there is no (good) reason to fear the worst ... for that kind of fear can send us all careening off a cliff in mass. Have faith, and do what your heart and that faith tells you is right. That is all any of us can do, as it really is not "in our hands", individually ... It never has been.

a Rainbow for the Stimulous Bill ...

... This evening, Friday the 13th ... the "Stimulous Bill" passed it's final hurdle in Congress. Coincidentally, I decided to run out to Lake Crabtree dam (where I go often just to catch a sunset) and see what the sky had to say to me ... When I observed a small rainbow in the fast moving clouds I had to think: ... It MUST be a good day :-) So to the rainbow, I whispered ... "Bring it on"

the roads less traveled ...

A winter walk at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in far eastern NC is quite a bit off the beaten path, but well worth the 3 hour drive from my home in Morrisville. This is the time of the year when you might see some of the thousands of Tundra Swans that over-winter in this region (having traveled over 4,000 miles from northern Alaska to get here). But more than that, it is a place of sanctuary and solitude, a place to pray and to contemplate the world of nature and all the things that comprise ... the roads less traveled ...