Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, March 21, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 21, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Colorado St.


Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

This week I’ve handled one medical errand and we have an appointment with our doctor in Sun Lakes, 30 miles away, next week. That’s the reason my brain’s already in medical mode. Add the fact that we’re in the most pollenous days of spring, and I don’t plan on doing much beyond rote day-to-day tasks for, maybe, another month or so.

"Wait! Pollen?" you say. "In the Arizona desert? Isn’t it completely barren land?" you say.

"Yes and no," I say. "Pollen in the Arizona desert. You really should see the lovely flowers that pop out of the Saguaro standing right outside our front door and looming twice as high as our house. It’s amazing when these tiny specks of glory just burst from the rugged terrain of an ancient cactus."

　

This is how our resident Dove of Peace
views her own private rooftop garden
atop her Cactus Condo.
(Photo: Jim Jordan)
 

This sign of spring may seem insignificant to most people, but once my respiratory system collects thousands of floating flora germs, my bronchials prove even more fertile than the entire expanse of the Sonoran Desert from New Mexico to California. I can promise you, it ain’t purty!


So I blow my nose and force myself back to Pollyanna mode. My brain will be about as useful as fuzzy Swiss cheese for a few more weeks, but I can still enjoy another wonder of our paradoxical paradise. Since before we’ve owned this house, a female dove has claimed the narrow crook of one of several upraised Saguaro arms for the nest where she’s raised several generations of offspring. I think of her as my own resident Dove of Peace.

　

My own little Dove of Peace
has been here about as long as we have,
providing me with a dose of spiritual inspiration.
(Photo: Jim Jordan)

Still, we walk past the squatter’s condo, and she pays us scant attention. Intruders in her universe, we don’t seem to rate much bother. On the other hand, the sight of a winged mama with her annual flock of offspring in this harsh climate really blows the mind.


For me, spring isn’t a completely lost season, even though my normal agenda must wait till all this new life settles and no longer sprinkles noxious seeds into my delicate biosystem. At least it will end soon, and then I can think again--and Jim can start complaining about the heat that bothers him every summer.

And I? My innocent reaction will be: What [blessed] heat?

And so it goes.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

　

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 8, 2013
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Peart Rd.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　

This week:

I’m now about halfway through my annual battle with the tax return. Not doing too badly, so far. Each year I learn a little more about using technology to simplify the process, while still holding some tasks out for me to do the old-fashioned way. Even so, I double-check a lot of things that the machine does first, just to make sure it’s all correct. In the end, any problem is my responsibility, so I shouldn’t just try to blame it on the computer. But I sure am happy to have 21st-century ‘toys’ to make things so much easier for me than they used to be!

At the same time, I’m teaching Jim about all these accounting tasks I’ve been taking care of for nearly half a century. Boy, does he owe me big! Just a personal note for anybody whose partner does that job so they don’t have to worry so much about it: Be sure to give them a big hug and Thank You at your earliest opportunity, ‘cause it sure ain’t easy!

Meanwhile, Krissy and Glenn Gable of San Francisco were able to join Tony for his vigil last Friday. Krissy took a great picture of Tony and Glenn for posterity, but it arrived on its side, and though I turned it right-side up in PhotoImpact, it keeps coming up sideways in this blog and on Facebook, and I can’t find any functions to turn it in those venues. I’ll try a few more tricks and see if I can get it to behave so I can post it here and on Facebook soon.

If anyone can tell me how to correct the problem directly on Google blog and/or Facebook, please pass the tip on to me at: debbie@imaginetheworldatpeace.com. It’s always helpful to expand one’s knowledge and a real gift to be able to avoid frustration in the future!

Incidentally, we love it when people from other parts of the country find us here in our little corner of the southern desert and join us when they come for the fantastic winter weather and/or spring baseball games. There’s a lot to be enjoyed here, and we welcome anybody who wants to come out to stand for an end to conflict, poverty, injustice, or whatever your favorite cause is Welcome to all!

Join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!