Our parks team had a great time planting trees with the community volunteers this weekend for Texas Arbor Day. Six live oak trees were planted in the median of Lakeway Boulevard thanks to the help of nearly 30 residents, led by our city forester, and participation by Davey Tree, Mayor Pro Tem Mastrangelo, and Councilmember O’Brien.
I did capture the event for us to enjoy as well. We are being catered by Chick-fil-A of Bee Cave, who is also feeding the participants. Our entertainment is Plain White T’s
Menu
Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich
Chick-fil-A® Deluxe Sandwich
Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Spicy Deluxe Sandwich
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Chick-fil-A® Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich
Chick-fil-A® Nuggets
Grilled Nuggets
Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips®
Chick-fil-A® Cool Wrap
Southwest Veggie Wrap
So let’s get on the bus.
The Davy crew is placing the trees.
A starter hole for demonstration
Sign up to volunteer
Issued vests and shovels. The potted trees are for the volunteers to take home.
Instructions on how the day is going to go.
The professionals from Davy Tree for guidance.
The police for traffic control.
Walking to the work site.
A proclamation read by Mayor Pro Tem Mastrangelo (left), with Councilmember O’Brien standing by, ready to work.
Lakeway forester Richard Leon gives some instructions on what to do with roots.
Hard at work.
The little ones learn valuable lessons.
The root ball is in the ground.
A family participates.
The finished results.
Now relax and have some fast food and enjoy the music.
Today has been set aside to remember our veterans. We owe all who have served a thank you for keeping our freedoms intact. The living and those who have sacrificed their lives so that we may live all deserve to be remembered and thanked. Friday may have been the day indicated for observation, but today is the day for remembrance.
My Dad, John Allen Howell, is just one of those to be remembered.
He was 31 years old when he volunteered to serve in World War II. He could have stayed home but felt he had some engineering skills that could be useful.
His Squadron was Bombing Group 9 (Yes, Bugs Bunny was the logo)
In this photo, he is on the aircraft carrier Lexington CV 16, serving as the navigation officer for the squadron. He flew with the squadron, navigating them to the target and back to the ship under radio silence. He did his duty.
In Italy, a one-of-a-kind school sees Palestinians graduating alongside Israelis, Americans with Tribal origins alongside those with European origins, and Bosnian Muslims next to Orthodox Serbs—all in the name of creating a generation of interfaith peacebuilders.
The Swallow Citadel of Peace, located in a medieval campus in the hills of Tuscany near the city of Arezzo, offers a variety of higher educational programs and degrees, but it comes with a catch.
Prospective students must live with the “enemy”—either those of a domestic ethnic group or a neighboring nation—all in the name of deconstructing the reasons behind their hatred and conflict, breaking the trance of viewing people as the “other,” and returning to their nations as peace leaders.
In this time of ethnic conflicts all over the world, where a generation has been brought up tending plants sewn by seeds of conflict four or five generations in the past, it could be the most important school on Earth.
“We didn’t want to build a Utopian place where students could pretend war doesn’t exist,” explains Franco Vaccari, co-founder and president of Rondine. “We wanted, rather, to create a neutral ground, away from the chaos of their homelands and bigger Western cities, where our students could focus on a peaceful dialogue.”
The school, called Rondine, which means the swallow in Italian, offers various degrees like a master’s program in conflict management and humanitarian action. Students arrive and begin an intensive course in the Italian language and then proceed to study interfaith dialogue, methodological, and leadership skills to deconstruct the idea of “the enemy” and reconciliation.
At the end of their journey, they are required, as per the scholarship, to go back to their country of origin and lead a peacebuilding and reconciliation program for 1 year.
Ruzica Markovic is one such student who spoke to the Christian Science Monitor about her progress. A Bosnian Croat born in the aftermath of the Balkans War, which saw the ethnically motivated killing of 100,000 people across the region, she has since graduated and returned home to hold interfaith cafe events, conferences, and summer camps focused on reconciliation.
“I learned to see the other person as myself: a being with emotions, challenges, pain, frustrations, maybe some traumas. That’s the lesson I brought back home,” Ms. Markovic told CSM in a video call from Sarajevo.
It’s not as easy a mission as it might seem when walking through the veritable medieval castle that makes up the Rondine campus, filled with gnarled oaks and beautiful Tuscan food, and educators at the Citadel of Peace said that sometimes the news gets turned on and arguments flair up that haven’t been expressed in months.
But many opportunities like shared study, communal dorms, and sporting events all help to reinforce the idea, nay the truth, that the students there are just people, not enemies.
This year’s new class will include Armenians and Azerbaijanis—hot on the heels of the latter’s seizing, and some say ethnic cleansing, of the former’s presence in the disputed territory of Artsakh-Nagorno-Karabakh. It will include Russians and Ukrainians, hot on the heels of the latter’s recent defeat by the former in the Donbas and Kherson.
It will include Canadians and Americans of tribal origin, European origin, and Palestinians and Israelis.
The good news here is a proactive program working on understanding and peace at the grassroots level. Today’s JohnKu talks about getting along. I hope you have a fabulous weekend.
In Keith’s words. “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put your offering (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before Sunday evening UK time. If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here. Thank you for taking part.”
This list was published on November 6, 2017. Folks still live in apartments, so I think it is relevant.
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Top Ten Things Not to Do in an Apartment
The inspiration for this list came as we spent some hurricane evacuation time in an apartment. I hope you enjoy it.
10 If you are in an apartment, do not drop your weights like the bozos at the gym. If you do, at best, the manager will visit. At worst, that last set of one hundred pounds ended with the repair bill for your floor and the ceiling below you. (That drop was pretty expensive, huh, Christopher. Luckily, there was no one in the recliner down there.)
9 If you are in an apartment, do not think your wailing guitar is appreciated by everyone at two in the morning. If you do, at best, the police will only warn you. At worst, you’ll get a visit from Tiny, the WWF champ who was just released from the sleep disorder clinic, and this was the first night he actually fell asleep. (Notice how that locked door came off the hinges, Cameron? I’d like you to meet Tiny, the big guy that looks like a freight train, and he’s headed your way.)
8 If you are in an apartment, do not rent the bottom floor unit. If you do, at best, you may get used to the noise above. At worst, you’ll finally crack and go door-pounding in the middle of the night. (Those people have every right to be afraid, Connor. It might have been a good idea to check in the mirror before doing your Shining, “Daddy’s Home” imitation.)
7 If you are in an apartment, do not cook your favorite boiled cabbage recipe except on St. Patrick’s Day. If you do, at best, your neighbors will wish for your death. At worst, the super will call in the exterminator, believing your apartment is the scene of many pests. (Be careful opening that door, Cody. That cloud left by the bug bomb explosion might take you out as well.)
6 If you live in an apartment, do not forget to lock your door. If you do, at best, no one will notice. At worst, you’ll come home to a place that looks like you never lived there. (You have to wonder how a thief could take four rooms of furniture with no one noticing, don’t you, Carter?)
5 If you live in an apartment, do not throw a party unless you invite the neighbors on either side as well as above and below. If you do, at best, you might be annoyed by all the floor and ceiling pounding. At worst, you better hope everyone at the party is legal because the SWAT team coming up the stairs will want to check. (You had no idea the Jackson Twins were under twenty-one, did you, Chris. Well, it’s not going to matter that they weren’t known or invited by you and no one else either.)
4 If you live in an apartment, do not think the barbecue grill will be available when you want to use it. If you do, at best, you’ll have to wait your turn. At worst, your choice will come down to eating at midnight or a pan-fried steak. (What is it about that Teflon flavor in a great cut of meat that adds so much to the elegance of the meal, Charlie.)
3 If you live in an apartment, do not think everyone follows the shower before entering the pool rule. If you do, at best, you might be surprised by the ring. At worst, you may be caught unaware of the unofficial rule, which is, “Do not put your head under water.” (Had a bunch of unexplained sore throats lately, huh, Calvin?)
2 If you live in an apartment, do not ignore the trash pickup rules. If you do, at best, you will only have to be taught once. At worst, the pickup service will no longer stop at your door, and trying to put your trash next door will earn you a potential black eye. (That guy sure got mad when he stepped on your paper bag full of garbage, didn’t he, Cory? How is that eye, by the way?)
1 If you live in an apartment, do not pick up and shake other people’s packages that are outside their door. If you do, at best, you’ll never get caught. At worst, you just shook a package as the recipient’s door opened. (The bad part was it was a gift of six Baccarat champagne flutes, which are now dust, Clark. I don’t think saying, “Oh, I think this is yours, my mistake,” is going to cover this one up.)
Today, we are visiting the Travis County Emergency Services display. The purpose of the collection is to educate residents of the county on the services available. We are catered by Lynny’s of Austin. Our entertainment is The Ohio Players. It is a cloudy day, but the rain has stopped. We are early to the event, so most visitors have yet to arrive.
Menu
Sausage Biscuit – ham or veggie sausage sub available on request
Dana’s Biscuit – dark chocolate, toasted pecan, brown sugar
Toaster Pancakes – seasonal flavors, served with butter and syrup
Melon salad -melon, lemon vinaigrette, toasted pecan, pickled golden raisin
Deli Breakfast- everything biscuit, swiss cheese, sliced tomato, fried egg, and a Pickle Envy pickle spear
Grilled Cheese – sourdough, Colby jack, swiss
Ham Slam- ham & swiss melt on griddled sourdough, with housemade chipotles and a fried egg
Let’s get going
Pedernales district fire truck and a little boy.
Lake rescue unit.
Search and rescue team.
A fire safety simulator to learn what to do in case of fire.
A significant disaster EMS multi-patient vehicle.
Fire rescue.
Bucket crane for rescuing kitties and Dan Antion. (Just kidding. The buckets are used for emergency electrical repair.)
Good ole Lakeway police.
Car accident simulator for turnovers and water.
Special craft area for the kids. They will be building wooded boats.
Jump house.
Ice cream.
Bar B Que.
The bookmobile.
Music while we learn.
I hope you enjoyed the tour, and now it’s time for food and entertainment. I hope you have a great week.
The coffee saved me. Had a bad dream about an alarm clock that could be used to time travel. Wait! That was no dream. That clock is sitting on the table over there. Crossing the room to further inspect the devil’s own instrument, the thought about where to go next comes to mind. Charles Yallowitz thinks it should be set for 0:00. Then the dawn of creation could be experienced. I’m not sure the Big Bang and all that would be my cup of tea. Being around as nature and God mete out what is needed to get this Earth rolling would be pretty frightening.
How about advancing to the day when the Super Mega Millions Lotto number is drawn and then going back a day to buy that ticket? Yeah, that would meet many financial dreams. But what’s the use of dreaming if all of them were wiped out using one very strange instrument.
No, more thinking needs to go into this endeavor. Maybe witnessing the signing of the Declaration of Independence would be good. How about answering the question of when men first cooked meat or staged the first tailgate party? Maybe it wasn’t men at all. The mind races with the possibilities. Setting the clock back on the table reminds me I have a voicemail on my phone. The transcription of it is Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “meat/meet/mete.” Use one or use ’em all for bonus points. Have fun!
This month’s night sky will feature two extraordinary celestial phenomena appearing in the sky together under a very small moon—leaving nearly nothing to dampen their splendor.
The Pleiades is one of the most regal star clusters visible from Earth with the naked eye and a source of endless fascination among our ancient ancestors.
The Pleiades has many names: the Seven Sisters, Messier 45, or Mul Mul in ancient Mesopotamia, where it was found inlaid of gold on the Nebra Sun Disk from 1,600 BCE.
It is arguably the most famous deep-space object, located about 440 light-years away in the constellation Taurus and consisting of thousands of stars, though 7 stand out in particular.
Around midnight on November 18th, the Pleiades will be in a great spot for viewing—overhead towards the equator. Depending on the light pollution in your area, you won’t need a pair of binoculars, but with them, the Seven Sisters are truly stunning to behold.
It’s also on that night that Earth will pass the peak of the Leonid Meteor Shower, named for the constellation Leo. Leo will be lounging in the northeastern sky for most people, according to Valerie at Space Tourism Guide, and if you can spot the Big Dipper/Plough, you’re in the right part of the sky to spot some shooting stars.
There should be around 15 per hour—a good clip for what should be a pretty cold night. Ideal for this situation, the moon will be only 6 days old.
In other stargazing news.
On the night of November 12th, the Taurid Meteor Stream will peak at around 10 meteors per hour under the complete darkness of a New Moon—optimal time for some star photography.
On November 27th, a full “Frost” or “Beaver” moon will reach opposition at 4:16 a.m. US Eastern Time. The Anishinaabe People of the Northern US/Canada called this “Little Spirit Moon” and was recognized as a time of healing.
The good news here is in times of stress, natural occurrences in nature continue to amaze and delight us. This week’s JohnKu talks about nature’s ability to survive. I hope you have a terrific weekend.
