The View

 

The Virus does not Discriminate

George Floyd in his last 8 minutes

"It's my face man
I didn't do nothing serious man
please
please
please I can't breathe
please man
please somebody
please man
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please
(inaudible)
man can't breathe, my face
just get up
I can't breathe
please (inaudible)
I can't breathe sh*t
I will
I can't move
mama
mama
I can't
my knee
my nuts
I'm through
I'm through
I'm claustrophobic
my stomach hurt
my neck hurts
everything hurts
some water or something
please
please
I can't breathe officer
don't kill me
they gon' kill me man
come on man
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
they gon' kill me
they gon' kill me
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please sir
please
please
please I can't breathe"

Ode to All of US - PPE

Please place at your door the following PPE.

A big black plastic bag, for body armor, masks, gloves, eye protection, paper towels drenched with H2O and 10 % bleach in plastic bottle. Optional, fever thermometer, Tylenol, hand-sanitizer.

For anyone close to my house, who sends a photo of their readiness I will cook a soup if and when you were to need it and possibly be ready to do more for you. Please send to your friends.

Meanwhile read the classics, wash your hands, do your push-ups and start wearing your mask more often.

Yours truly,  Martina Konietzny

Bestoing my Honor on the Buttonwillow Tree in Buttonwillow

Yokut Native Americans historically met at a particular Buttonwillow tree in the eponymous town just off interstate 5 in central California.  We searched for this tree in eastern Kern County after viewing the apocalyptic oil and gas fields in McKittrick and found this California Historical Landmark site unsurprisingly, after a short search, on Buttonwillow Drive, carved into the east end of a farmer's field.  Only with a Desert Survivor would I go in search of THE Buttonwillow tree in Buttonwillow from which the city takes it's name! The contrails in the blue sky are the streaks of airplanes, zipping back and forth on cheap commuter flights adding to the plight of global protection. Consider AMTRAK next time or think if you really have to make that flight. Admiring the Buttonwillow Tree, I can forget for a moment, the ice caps melting and Eskimos having to wear swim vests so they will not drown in the melting permafrost.

Eastern Sierras from Ducks Lake to Iva Bell Hot Springs to Red's Meadow

Returning safely through a smoke filled sky over Yosemite, after having backpacked for 4 days trekking 31 miles in total. Elevations ranged from 6,000-11,000 feet with an aggregate elevation gain of 5900 feet .  We all managed to avoid high-altitude sickness while hiking six to seven hours per day averaging 1.7 miles per hour in up to 92 degree temperatures.  

Permit Station

We crisscrossed the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas from Ducks Lake to Iva-Bell Hot Springs taking in the beauty of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. The weather was threatening rain most of the way but fortunately it was held at bay. We crossed a waste high mosquito infested glacier cold river that made me roar like an animal. We frog-straddled over a log our guys placed over a 20 foot drop over a steep waterfall. While covered in a full mosquito suit, I bushwhacked through a fern swamp grove. 

When I came home I kissed my windows that keep the insects out. I bowed in front of my refrigerator and I greeted everyone in my household as if I had thought that I would never have seen them again.

If you think your life is hard try the hike above. 

Affen Zirkus "Monkey Business" in Germany

For a  long time I had trouble to get uninterrupted connection  to German radio WDR while keeping my phone in my pocket. To stay in close touch with the German "Dichter und Denker " world  and world politics I recently learned that wi-fi travels around head level in the most efficient way.
Now I can clean, garden, change bedding, wash windows and get furious about politics all at the same time while my phone is securely  ducktaped onto my bicycle helmet.

Today I am One Year Old and New

Inconceivable Horror I could have been LOST a year ago. Quote by Pope.

Photo by Pope March 2017

The entire past year I lived exactly as if I would die any moment, only more intensified from the version I already decided November 9, 2009.  Now I finally feel that I have the permission to do what I want, say what I want, believe what I want and hopefully bring others closer to their fulfillment and dreams. "Live life with Urgency", says Thoreau in Walden. February 16, 2017 at 3:30 pm when my enlightenment struck I slipped into mostly white clothing, few exceptions are granted.

Living the unconventional life is worth it, no matter how hard it sometimes seems.

Sigi you might want to send the photo of the car now, if you still have it. I am ready to release it into the world.

Photo by Dylan, Mother's Day in the Berkeley Art Museum 5/14/2017

I have contacted the man who saved my life and hope to hear back from him.

Today it is my First Birthday of surviving my car crash.

Love to all,
Martina

Teenager Responses Positively to Meditation

 Our daughter is a sophomore in high school. Every morning I get up at the crack of dawn to have her breakfast ready in the car, including water, floss and a toothbrush.

Her lunch I pack into her backpack along with change for the bus. We always get to school in plenty of time.

However ,when we get to school, my biggest stress starts after we have arrived in front of the school when she refuses to get out of the car until shortly before the bell rings.  Often this results in her being tardy. I feel confronted with an emotion that is referred to as ANGER. When I start encouraging her to get out which often results in a scream,  she retorts:  "This is not how you treat a child!"  She calmly continues that if I want her to get out of the car, I need to calm down, say my request politely, and excuse myself for my behavior.

A few days back during a meditation, a thought entered my mind which I decided might be a solution to the above.  So this morning I brought my ZAFU meditation cushion.

When we got to school we had our regular lovely chat and when I felt that she needed to get out of the car, instead of telling her to get out, I said:" DylanGrace,  today I brought my meditation cushion and I will take that cushion and sit in the truck-bed and start meditating in front of all driving parents and students until you decide to go to class".

She just smiled, waved and jumped out of the car: "Bye, bye Mom".

A Killing in Kansas

I mourn the senseless, ignorant and tragic killing of Mr Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an engineer who worked at GARMIN, a satellite GPS device company in Kansas.

 In solidarity I tie a ribbon around my watch.

Mr President I hope you are wearing a belt wide enough to carve a notch for each victim of your negative and spiteful rhetoric which brings out the worst in the ignorant populous of this country.

Thinking of America makes me ill. When will you come for me ?

Three Phone numbers we as Californians should call every day

Senator Feinstein 202 224-3841
Senator Harris 202 224-3553
Representative Lee 202 2252661 510763-0370

Please call Senator Feinstein and Senator Harris and Representative Barbara Lee

Barbara Lee see below her numbers. The others I will get soon.

Main Offices

Oakland
1301 Clay Street, Ste. 1000-N
Oakland, CA 94612
P: (510) 763-0370
F: (510) 763-6538

M–F: 9 am – 5 pm (PST)

Washington, DC
2267 Rayburn House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
P: (202) 225-2661
F: (202) 225-9817

M–F: 9 am – 5:30 pm (EST)

Which first 30 Republicans Senators might defy T ? With phone numbers

1
Susan Collins ME, 207 622-8414
2
Dean Heller NV,  775 686-5770
3
John McCain AZ, 928 445-0833
4
Cory Gardener COLO, 719 543-1324
5
Rob Portman  Ohio, 513 684-3265
6
Lisa Murkowski AK, 907 271-3735
7
Jeff Flake AZ, 520 575-8633
8
Lindsey Graham SC, 864 250-1417
9
Michael Lee UT, 919 715-2525
10
Pat Toomey, PA 814 453-3010
11
Rand Paul, KY 502 890-4868
12
Marco Rubio, FL 904 398-8586
13
Dan Sullivan, AK 907 456-0261
14
Shelley Capito, WV 304 347-5372
15
Mike Rounds, SD 202 224-5842
16
Ted Cruz, TX 512 916-5834
17
John Boozman, AR 202 224-4843
18
John Thune, SD 605 225-8823
19
Thom Tillis NC, 202 224-6342
20
Orrin Hatch, UT 202 224-5251
21
Roy Blunt, MO 816 471-7141
22
John Kennedy, LA ? call me
23
Ben Sasse, NE 202 224-4224
24
Pat Roberts, KS 202 224-4774
25
Mitch McConnell, KY 202 224-2541
26
Thad Cochran, MS 202 224-6253
27
John Cornyn, TX 202 224-2934
28
Chuck Grassley, IA 515 288-1145
29
Johnny Isakson, GA 202 224-3543
30
Ron Johnson, WI 608 310-2270

Untitled

Da steh ich nun....

....ich armer Tor. Und bin so klug als wie zuvor.

J.W. von Goethe

Mr Kushner's deal w the Chinese

Today in the Times (1/8/17) I read that the restaurant La Cline, inside the Waldorf-Astoria which is now owned by Chinese typhoon Wu Xiahui,  served $ 2100 bottles of champagne for a Trump gathering last November. I hope that all the Louisiana blue collar workers who are waiting in line for their turn at the American Dream, (for what exactly they are waiting for is a mystery to me, since they want all governmental agencies to go away), are reading this article.

Now we have to endure again the old guard of a new group of the alt-rich, ultra-rich and just plain too-rich like the Anbang Insurance Group, which has ties to Jared Kushner the son-in-law of President-Elect Donald Duck, and to Blackstone, Natixis, Deutsche Bank, Thrive Capital, Oscar, PingAn Insurance, Yuri Milner, Alibaba, Jack Ma, Cadre, good ol' Goldman Sachs and many more I do not care to do business with.

Jared Kushner's  father, Charles,  sat in prison in the 80's due to tax evasion. Oh, dear the apple doesn't usually fall far from the tree? Jared Kushner, needs the Wilmer-Hale Attorneys to help him comply with federal ethics. His lawyers argue, among other things, that the White House is not an agency and is therefore, exempt, so let me get this right, exempt from federal ethics;  ethics do not apply within the White House? Please anybody explain; help me understand?

Goldman Sachs loaned Jared Kushner, who also is an orthodox Jew with ties to Israel's Bank Hapoalm, billions.

Matthew Sanderson, a lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale,  was council to Rand Paul, bless his heart, and will now help Jared Kushner personally with his ethics or what exactly? Ethics is taught in kindergarten and after that a loosing battle.

Jared Kushner owns $ 1.8 Billion in a skyscraper at 666 Fifth Ave which barely turns a profit. There are connections with Tornado, Reality Trust, Carlyle Group, and Inditex, which owns Zara, a Spanish clothing retailer.

All of these people have been seen in photos on a 453 foot yacht called the 'Rising Sun'. This yacht is owned by David Geffen, who is married to collector Dasha Zhekova. She is the wife of oligarch Mr. Roman Abramovich, who is in the inner circle of President Vladimir Putin (all of them watched the Tennis U.S. Final together).

Please Mr. President Obama, do not leave the White House,  I implore you. I am sure the Duck family would airbnb a room or wing for you, so you could help the President-Elect run this country, you know, like tweak it here and there. Please don't leave!

America is already great and you helped so much in making it even greater. Only people like you, Mr. Obama, who have no personal self-interest, can make it even greater.

Oh, the article in The Times goes on and on and I need a glass of wine to continue, yes it is only 1:04 pm, but somewhere out there it is 5 o'clock.

New Year's Run

From Skyline to the Chabot and Science Center and back, West Ridge Trail.

A daughter lost in disagreement between her parents. Sending all of you my favorite  4 letter word .

One Rattlesnake, Two Black Bears, Three Days, Four Hikers, 74 km around Rae Lakes in Kings Canyon, California

Experienced and conditioned hikers shall do this hike in five days, dumb and ignorant ones do it in three days. The later is me and now I am ready for Kilimanjaro.

The Black Bear

 Mile for mile – and perhaps inch for inch – the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park contains some of the most stunning and celebrated scenery in a mountain range world-famous for stunning and celebrated scenery. The route consists of three separate but connecting trails that travel through glacially-carved canyons, a high country basin containing a chain of sapphire blue lakes set against towering granitic crags, and an alpine pass that just scrapes 12,000 feet. Throughout the route, you will observe nearly every major biotic zone (life zones characterized by specific species) in the Sierra, prime examples of glacial erosion, waterfalls, idyllic valleys, tranquil meadows, and myriad sublime scenes ranging from the intimate to the jaw-droppingly grand.

From our personal experience in completing this route, we recommend that conditioned hikers take the route in 5 days, with one zero day in the Rae Lakes area. However, it is possible to complete this route in anywhere from 3 ambitious days to 7 leisurely days. We also recommend that hikers take this route clockwise, as the counter-clockwise route features some intense climbing in the initial stretch while pack weight is at its highest. The text below describes the route as if hiked clockwise in four days, although distances for specific destinations are indicated should hikers wish to use the information to fashion their own itinerary.

Basic safety considerations for high-altitude wilderness travel apply on this route. You will reach a maximum altitude of 11,998′ on Glen Pass at nearly the center of the route, and a considerable portion of this route occurs above 10,000′. Altitude sickness, overexposure to ultraviolet light, dehydration, fatigue, and heatstroke are all potential ailments you may encounter while hiking. In addition, the necessity of carrying up to 45 pounds of gear for 38 miles while gaining and losing over 7,000′ of elevation necessitates a certain level of physical fitness. Hikers attempting this route should be in good condition, preferably with at least some backcountry navigation skill and some experience backpacking.