Green Tribe of Belonging

  This is a rainy day in Iowa, and rain is just what we need right now! We’ve been diligently watering a massive number of bushes and small trees that we’ve planted on our hillside, and rain would be a “godsend”. The sun has just come out as I sit by my south window, but if the weather reports are right, we’re due for some more rain tonight.  Because it was wet outside, I’ve been working at my desk, catching up on current events and doing some research on religion. What started me off was a post on Joe Biden, celebrating his ability to respect every person, putting no one ahead of anyone else, including himself. And I resonated with that. I know evaluating his term in office is a complicated thing, but his basic goodness is inspiring to think about. I don’t know anything about Joe’s religious beliefs, but I know that he cared about everyone in this country, whereas it is clear that the present people in office do not. And this made me think about the divisions that so often oc...

 On Mother's Day, I had the good fortune to be invited on a plane adventure with a pilot friend. He flew two of us on his small plane to Pella, Iowa - home of the famous Tulip Festival. The millions of tulips were long past their prime, but the buffet brunch we had at the Windmill restaurant was unforgettably delicious. After walking around the park and seeing thousands of tulips that were probably breathtaking a month ago, we drove back to the small Pella airport and flew home.  The tulips were no longer breathtaking, but for me, the flights there and back were breathtaking in the extreme. I sat in the front seat beside Dick, the pilot. I wore headphones to block out most of the huge sound of the engine, and I had a literal bird's eye view of miles and miles of Iowa landscape. I've flown in commercial planes many times, but the view on these is from so far up, and blotted out often by clouds, that only in taking off and landing do you get to study the landscape. On Sunday...