Lisa Johnson

11 Years Blogging: Mend

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11 years blogging

It’s my 11th year blogging today! Yay! And I’m keeping up with my annual tradition of choosing a new word for the year.

After writing the post about finishing my quilt, I found it — MEND.

I mended my heart. I mended my quilt. And as my mother pointed out to me when I mentioned my choice of a word, “Our country needs mending.” The United States is not quite in tatters, but it’s not united either. We are a nation divided in need of healing.

Merriam-Webster defines mend in several different ways. Here are a few.

To free from faults or defects
To improve in manners or morals
To set right or correct
To put into good shape or working order again
To patch up or repair
To improve or strengthen (as a relationship) by negotiation or conciliation
To restore to health or cure

The picture above doesn’t have much to do with my word, except for it reminds me of the phrase that “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

I took a bunch of photos at Eataly and bought this Mieli Thun honey. It was really good! And who knew about nomadic beekeeping? The baguettes are just pretty to pair with the honey. And the sweetness of honey goes well with bread.

For this country to mend, I think we need a whole lot of loving-kindness and learning to be sweet to one another. Even when we’re strangers. Maybe especially so.

Since I first drafted this post, I realized that today is Trump’s 100th day in office. I was hoping that he’d be gone by now, but at least we have survived!

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If you’d like to take a look at my past blogging anniversary words of the year, see below.

Happy Arbor Day!

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Three white women and one black woman doing yoga standing in tree pose.

There’s more than one way to celebrate a tree. How about with a tree pose?

If you’re looking for a more traditional way, then get some tips on buying and planting trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.

They have some information on the value of trees too. Here are a few.

Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent. Management Information Services/ICMA

One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people. U.S. Department of Agriculture

There are about 60– to 200-million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO2 every year, and saving $4 billion in energy costs. National Wildlife Federation

Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20–50 percent in energy used for heating. USDA Forest Service

Trees can be a stimulus to economic development, attracting new business and tourism. Commercial retail areas are more attractive to shoppers, apartments rent more quickly, tenants stay longer, and space in a wooded setting is more valuable to sell or rent. The Arbor Day Foundation

If you’d like some tree related music, listen to Basia sing about hugging An Olive Tree. After all, with our current administration, we could probably use a few more tree huggers.

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Image: Flickr photo by Tom Britt

Subway Stories: Singing In The Rain

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Person wearing green Hunter rain boots standing on rain soaked walkway.

Wasn’t me singing in the rain. Didn’t break out dancing Gene Kelly style either.

I was more trying to stay warm and dry and hoping for sun again. But I walked by three people singing today! Just randomly singing.

While I was walking to the train going to work, I passed a man who was trying to stay dry, walking quickly and covered up with a huge clear piece of plastic.

After he passed me, he broke out into song —  “Oh My Love” from Ghost to be exact. He had quite a nice voice.

Then after getting off the escalator at Prudential Center, a homeless man that I always see, was singing his heart out. Into a cell phone. He was singing Always and Forever by Heatwave. Again, he sounded pretty good and I’ve always loved that song.

Then when I was leaving work tonight, I passed a man who was actually not singing, but  loudly and happily humming.

Not sure what was in the air, but it was quite a musical commute. While I was waiting at Park Street, there was a man playing a saxaphone. Something about a sax that gives such mood and ambiance. Even when just waiting for the train on a rainy day.

Twilight Zone Trump Era: #2

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sunlit flowers1

Back at the end of January, I wrote my first post in this series on the Trump era. I had planned to regularly write about things I notice happening around me, as suggested by a series of posts by Amy Siskind.

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

She is up to Week 22. I have not been up to the task. I read a lot of tweets, articles, blog posts and watch videos about all that is going on. I saved links to share them, but it got too overwhelming and I didn’t write that next post. Until today.

With each revelation of Trump’s connections with Russia and the resignations of many of his staff, I hoped that finally this house of cards was collapsing and his administration would end. It seems that nothing is enough. Isn’t this treason? Shouldn’t treason be enough?

This past week, tensions with North Korea seemed to be coming to a head with threats of nuclear war. I was surprised to wake up Saturday and Sunday. It’s Monday, a holiday here in Massachusetts — Patriot’s Day.

We are closing in on 100 days into this horrifying administration. Since I have a bit of time and we seemed to have survived this new century’s answer to the Cuban Missile Crisis, I decided that I would make note of a few things.

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The Tax March happened this past weekend. People marched all over the country and world demanding that Trump release his income tax returns. He still refuses. Trump tweeted yesterday, Easter Sunday, that people marching were paid protestors and that the crowds were small. Reports and pictures showed very large crowds and of course people were not paid.

Maxine Waters continues to speak out against Trump and discuss impeachment.

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts passed a resolution asking Congress to look into impeaching Trump.

Trump wants to eliminate dozens of agencies and programs.

Today, the White House is hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll.

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Stay strong my fellow Americans. We seem to be in this for the long haul.