The Wide Missouri

Sunrise, looking east
from St. Charles toward St. Louis

"Oh, Shenandoah! I hear you calling!
Away, you rolling river!
Yes, far away I hear you calling,
Ha, Ha! I'm bound away across the wide Missouri."

Additional renditions by
Chanticleer & Springsteen

Some listeners like to pretend that this is a song about the Shenandoah Valley and the Shenandoah River, but no! It is a song about the Wide Missouri!

Mid-day from our hotel room . . .

when the hailstorm came . . .

For further thoughts on
The Wide Missouri & The Gulf of Mexico
see my recent post

The Gulf of Mexico and Beyond

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

~ More river pics ~
The Misouri
The Mississippi & The Wabash

Outdoor Rocks

A thoughtful activity for Memorial Day:
go on a nature walk or to the cemetery, find some rocks,
and assemble a cairn, like this impressive stack of stones,
gathered and balanced in our neighbor's backyard.

More cairns on my blog.
Also called ebenezers.

The Cairn

When I think of the little children learning
In all the schools of the world,
Learning in Danish, learning in Japanese
That two and two are four, and where the rivers of the world
Rise, and the names of the mountains and the principal cities,
My heart breaks.
Come up, children! Toss your little stones gaily
On the great cairn of Knowledge!
(Where lies what Euclid knew, a little grey stone,
What Plato, what Pascal, what Galileo:
Little grey stones, little grey stones on a cairn.)
Tell me, what is the name of the highest mountain?
Name me a crater of fire! a peak of snow!
Name me the mountains on the moon!
But the name of the mountain that you climb all day,
Ask not your teacher that.

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
More poems: QK & FN & KL

Another fun & mystical idea:
Design a Stone Cat!

In contrast to Outdoor Rocks,
check out my recent Fortnightly Blog:

Indoor Rocks

Ellie & Aidan's treasure stash
(one of many)
containing numerous indoor rocks.

A Very Much Different Country

Did somebody say Gulf of Mexico?

Arbitrary name change,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"We named the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America."

Wait, there's more, there's always more
embarrassing, demoralizing, and revolting drivel,
not fit for children -- or adults -- to hear.

Here's a SECOND batch of nonsense,
[Also posted on The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker]
just as inappropriate and cringeworthy as before!

" . . . making us a very much different country
and a very different Republican Party."

I'll say!
1.

Can you say Stepford Wives?
In thrall to someone living with dementia.

2.

Headgear fashion faux pas
by someone living with dementia.

3.

A Cartoon for Fun

Recent urban construction,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"Majestic skyscrapers, the towers that I see . . . and all of the different [unintelligible] I’ve seen a lot of different towers. I didn’t think there’s any version of a tower that I haven’t seen in one form or another."

4.

Insomnia,
as described by someone living with dementia,
completely misunderstanding that
tossing and turning = guilty conscience:

"Mohammad, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep? Huh? Just thinking. What a job. He tosses and turns like some of us, tosses and turns all night, how do I make it even better, all night. It’s the ones that don’t toss and turn, they’re the ones that will never take you to the promised land. Won’t they? But you have done some job. True."

5.

Who's hot & who's not,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"The United States is the hottest country — with the exception of your country, I have to say, right? I’m not going to take that on. No, Mohammed, I’m not going to take that on. Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing if I made that full statement? But I will not do it. You’re hotter. At least as long as I’m up here, you’re hotter" [in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025] . . . "Has anyone noticed that, since I said 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,' she's no longer 'HOT?' ” [online Friday, May 16].

6.

“…a top of the line, uhh, timberman like...
Like... You know who? Sean... Duffy,”
as described by someone lving with dementia:

“He's a great Sean though, I have to tell you but Sean Duffy was the world champion for five years climbing trees and down, up and down, world champion! So that's what you call a serious a lumberjack."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here for FIRST batch:
"I Didn't Even Know Anything"
QK & FN

CREDITS
I think we can count
on a steady stream of material for this project.
Above comments taken from:

Occupy Democrats

Speech in Riyadh

Memorial Day Message to the UN

Americana Candy
from The Vermont Country Store

Message to the United Nations

I want the flags torn loose from the thunder
in the full sun of day, at the zenith,
in a hush, as steam rises in the greenhouses
and birds are struck mute by the heat;

I want the thunder torn from the tongue of the sun
and buried in the sea,
as children's marching - bands play out of tune
waving all their tinsel, their spangles and flags;

I want the thunder and the flags together burned
by a towering lens reflecting the sun,
a bowl of emerald, sapphire, and gold,
a paradigm of brightness,

and I want them swallowed forever
in the immense vertigo of hurled fire,
moribund salamander no longer able to rise:

and then, from the blazing center of the flames,
from the dizzying height of the incandescence,
a parade of lightning-strokes
silently to emerge in awesome serried rows,

proclaiming the Power of the universe
to humble the maddest of men,
dissolving the obscene dialectics of the generals,
obliterating all the configurations of politics

and welcoming the beatific lion whose mercy
sustains the people, the lion of Samson
in the stead of the lion of Nemea
vanquished by once-mad Heracles finally and forever,

and then, at last, the dissolution of ranks
in the regiments of slavery
as the people re-emerge from their sleep
and come forward in a vast alive frontier

in a hurricane of souls born again
in the silent thunderclap of the leaves,
on the sapient amplitude of the conflagration!

10 / 2 / 72

by Dan Propper (1937 - 2003)
[See also Samurai & Gulf]

Friends Have Made the Story

On my birthday ~ thanks to all my friends!

Two Women on the Hillside, 1906
by Franz Marc (1880 – 1916)

“Thus it is that my friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.”

from The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller (1880–1968)

Two Girls Reading the Novel "Paul et Virginie"
by Marie Françoise Caroline Vallée (b 1803)

Gemini Season

Apollo & Artemis
And other twins in mythology
Previous Gemini Posts: QK ~ FN ~ KL
Although I do not put much stock in astrology, I have always thought it significant that my twin brother and I were born under the sign of Gemini. Whether or not I myself am a true believer, it remains true that my most - searched blog posts are

The Age of Aquarius: It's a Sign!
&
Gemini, A Mutable Sign

Apparently, astrology rules!
Years ago, traveling in England as graduate students, my friend Kathryn and I took the train from Oxford to Leeds. At Birmingham, a woman took the seat across from us and immediately asked if I was a Gemini. I answered yes and realized that she had noticed the small, pewter Gemini charm hanging on a chain around my neck. She then pulled a huge Gemini pendant from under her sweater and was doubly surprised when Kathryn revealed her Gemini identity also. When Kathryn and I first met and tallied up our many common interests and characteristics, one of our favorites was the coincidence that we were both Gemini.

The most fabulous part of meeting the traveler with the Gemini pendant was when we shared our names. Our newfound Gemini friend introduced herself as "Kathryn," nick - named "Kitty." (Unless she just said that!) As if this wasn't quite enough of a coincidence for one day, when Kitty got off at Derby, the man who took her place was named "Bruce" -- the name of my twin brother!

Always Be Twinning!

Previous Twin Posts: QK ~ FN ~ KL

I Didn't Even Know Anything

No! You may not have the rainbow,
not 3 dozen, not 1 dozen -- only 5!

Scarcity vs Plenty,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls.
They can have three.
They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five."

“In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’
All issues are political issues,
and politics itself is a mass of lies,
evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.”

George Orwell (1903 -1950)
Politics and the English Language (1946)
I have started a new series of facebook posts, referred to by my friend Tom as my "Wish this was satire, but it's actually the President of The United States quoted verbatim" column! I started brooding about this idea on Easter Sunday, when a facebook friend posted Trump's latest skreed and asked in dismay, "How is the author of this the President of the United States?" Responses from her readers:

1. "I don’t understand why he being allowed to remain president after an outburst like this. He is obviously psychologically compromised.

2. "Beyond being POTUS, the greatest danger we confront as a nation is the tens of millions who support him. History has now vindicated Hilary Clinton who gave us a sober, mild and respectful definition of who they are."

After reading the entire thread of very thoughtful responses, I started wondering, what is a "sober, mild and respectful" way to call out these repeated disrespectful and totally demented outbursts that so clearly signal "psychological compromise."

I settled on "living with dementia." That's respectful, right? Nicer than "totally demented." And I wouldn't even have to say his name. Everyone knows. Also, in case anyone wants to make a comparison, even on Biden's worst day, he never sounded this disconnected from reality!

Of course, my loyal reader Tom totally gets this approach of publishing verbatim statements that are so absurd in the original that without even so much as an Op-Ed comment, they come off as effective political satire. However, I do worry that no matter how asinine those comments may sound to many, they might sound completely normal to those who support the current administration -- or worse yet, those who might read them and say, "Oh cool. Good idea!" I certainly don't want to do them any favors by posting their nonsense or accidentally colluding in heightening their visibility!
Nevertheless, here is the first batch.
[Also posted on The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker]
May they inform and entertain and outrage:

What it means to be popular,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"If you look at some of these internet people, I know so many of them. Elon is so terrific, but I know now all of them, you know they all hated me in my first term and now they're kissing my ass. You know [mumbling] it's true. All of them. It's true. It's amazing. It's nicer this way."

Inappropriate gossip about "trophy wives,"
from someone living with dementia:

"He retired and he led a beautiful life. He had a wife, I must tell you, it was his second wife. It was a trophy wife. What can I say? I don't like telling you everything, but we're all friends, right? Can we talk? We're all friends. He had a trophy wife."

Change and resistance,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"Change is never easy. And the closer you get to success, the more ferociously those with a interested interest in the past will resist you."

Majoring in journalism,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"You're available. It's a good time to be available. There are some times when it's not so good to be available, but this is a great time. . . . To the journalism majors, of which I've had a lot of problems with, I must be honest. I'm not sure I like them. No, I do. I do. But you're really leading of everything because we need a great and free press."

Bird Flu and Easter Eggs,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"And when I took over, you remember the big thing with eggs? They hit me the first week, 'Eggs, eggs, eggs,' like it was my fault. I said, 'I didn't cause this problem. This problem was caused by Biden. What's the problem with eggs?' And they said, 'They've doubled it,' Well, eggs are down 87% since I got involved. . . . And by the way -- and there were plenty of eggs for Easter, which we just went through. There were plenty of eggs for Easter. They were saying, 'You won't have enough eggs for Easter.' We ended -- our sec -- my secretary did a fantastic job on eggs."

~ A helpful book for children ~

The Declaration of Independence
as described by someone living with dementia:

"Well, it means exactly what it says, it's a declaration. A declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot. And it's something very special to our country."

~ Alcatraz as seen in "Eh, the movies." ~

Alcatraz Prison,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"Well, I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker. We're talking—we started with the movie making and will end. I mean, it—it represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, uh, I would say, the ultimate, right? Alcatraz. Sing Sing and Alcatraz. Eh, the movies. But, uh, it's right now a museum, believe it or not, a lot of people go there. It housed the, uh, most violent criminals in the world, and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there. But they, as you know the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. And, uh, it was a lot of shark bites, lot of, a lot of problems. Nobody's ever escaped from Alcatraz. And just represented something, uh, strong having to do with law and order. We need law and order in this country. And so we're going to, uh, look at it. Some of the people up here are going to be working very hard on that. And, uh, we had a little conversation. I think it's going to be very interesting. We'll see if we can, uh, bring it back in large form, add a lot. But I think it represents something. Right now it's, uh, a big hunk that's sitting there rusting and rotting, uh, very, uh, you look at it, it's sort of a [?]. You saw that picture that was put out. It's sort of amazing. But it sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable. Weak. It's got a lot of, it's got a lot of qualities that are interesting. And I think they, they make a point. Okay."

CREDITS
I think we can count
on a steady stream of material for this project.
Above comments taken from:

Interview with Kristen Welker~ NBC

Interview with Terry Moran ~ ABC

Commencement Address
at the University of Alabama

My favorite line in one of the above interviews:

"I didn’t even know anything about
what you — we were talking about."

You can say that again!

The Mother's Day That You Deserve

A wise and funny facebook friend
shared this possible greeting choice.
Open to many readings, right?

Kind of like this one that
my elder son sent me a few years ago . . .

Always Right

An old favorite that always makes me laugh!

I was pleasantly surprised and entertained
recently, to encounter a similar sentiment
upon three separate reading occasions:

"I know I'm not clever, but I'm always right."

Mary Rose (32)
by J. M. Barrie

~~~~~~~~~~

"Lillian's prejudices, her divinations about people and art (always instinctive and unexplained, but nearly always right), were the most interesting things in St. Peter's life."

The Professor's House (38)
by Willa Cather

~~~~~~~~~~
"That you had more hidden away inside you than anyone else she'd ever met. . . . She is rarely wrong. About anything. It's a gift or a curse, depending on who you ask. So if she thinks that about you, there's a possibility it's true."

Hamnet (137)
by Maggie O'Farrell

~~~~~~~~~~

Additional quotations from these books & more
can be found on my recent post:
In Art As It Is In Heaven
@ Kitti's Book List

P.S.
Not forgetting
The Grateful Dead

"Well, I ain't often right
But I've never been wrong
It seldom turns out the way
It does in the song
Once in a while
You get shown the light
In the strangest of places
If you look at it right"

~Thanks Jim S.!

Kent State

A startling account of a devastating day --

Monday, May 4, 1970

-- as told by the character Val

in the novel
The Women's Room

by
Marilyn French

"People, people everywhere just wanted to live. What was it they wanted, the ones who started wars? It was something she felt she would never understand.

"Still humming, she sautéed the vegetables, covering the pan, poured herself a glass of wine, and crossed the kitchen and switched on the TV set for the evening news. It was too early, some old Western was on; she ignored it, making her sauc, setting the table for one, drinking her wine. The sauce was simmering, it smelled delicious, she picked up the pot to smell it -- she always did that -- and then somebody was saying it, she heard him say it, it couldn't be but he was saying it was, she turned around to look at the screen, it couldn't be, but there it was, there were pictures, it was happening right before her eyes, she couldn't believe it . . . and she heard this screaming, it was ungodly, it was coming from the back of her head, she could hear it, it was a woman screaming in agony, and when she looked, there was blood all over her kitchen floor.

"We didn't know then that it was only a beginning. It was the time when the nightmare broke out into public vision, when you could really see, put your finger on those subtle and tenuous currents that a lot of people . . . had been feeling but couldn't see clear enough to shoot. . . .

"Val got her wits back eventually. She stopped screaming, although she was still sobbing, tears were streaming down her face as she got down on her hands and knees to wipe up the spaghetti sauce she'd spilled all over the floor, and to stay there, crouched down, crying in her hands, unable to believe it, unable to disbelieve it, crying out, 'We're killing our children? We're killing our children!'" (591 - 92)

And then came the Jackson State shootings
on May 15, 1970.

Vintage postcard of a less fraught time,
or so it would seem . . .