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A friend recently remarked that my blog has been uncharacteristically silent and wondered if I didn't have something to say about what's going on in our world of madness.

Hmm...

Truth be told, I am finding it difficult bordering on impossible to wrap my feeble brain, where thoughts and emotions run rampant, around the current state of affairs.

 As readers know, we spent the winter (including April, the cruelest month of all) in Florida.  Daily we were subjected to the rantings of Governor Power Ranger Ron DeSantis, enough to make anyone's head spin.  He took on Disney, for heaven's sake, which was nowhere as low as Mr. I Think I'm Headed for the White House stooped to go.  Calling back the legislature, that had passed a bi-partisan redistricting map, to pass his re-drawn version--which, I'll add, the spineless legislative lemmings (guess which political party) passed.  The inane "Don't Say Gay" bill.  Restrictions on voting, targeting communities of color.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So there's that.  

Then, the Ukraine.  Every interview with an older Ukrainian woman, particularly those wearing their babushkas, I hear my Polish relatives and the Ukrainians' anguish strikes directly into my heart.  How can this be happening?  In talking to our exchange daughters living in Germany and Belgium, they wonder why the United States isn't doing more.  Our daughter in Belgium is from Moldova, where her family there is housing Ukrainian refugees.  How can this be happening?  How many times have I thought about the atrocities that occurred before I was born, in particular the Holocaust, and the atrocities that continue throughout our world, and wondered how people stood by, stand by, and watch this happen?  How can this be happening?  I'm wrestling again with the concept of evil, a formative notion during my Catholic schoolgirl years, one tucked away as I chose to concentrate on the good and the kind, believing my call to be the hands and feet and voice of Christ in the world.  But good Christ!  How can this be happening?

So there's that.

When news commentators wonder how the Russian people can believe the propaganda put out by the Soviet state run media, all I can think is that nearly half of all Republicans believe The Big Lie.    Disinformation is rampant around the world on any number of topics.  Currently Rand Paul is showing up in a political ad for a local candidate, calling for the firing of Dr. Fauci.  It makes one feel like Regan in the film, The Exorcist (you can look up head spinning yourself, if you're so inclined).  

So there's that.

COVID-19, contrary to what we hoped was true and to popular belief, has not retreated.  Granted, the vaccine is proving effective, hospitalizations and deaths are dramatically down, but come on already!  Ah, yes.  I forgot.  It's a virus and viruses usually win.

So there's that.

And now we come to the leaked SCOTUS leak on the possible overturning of Roe v Wade.  Is it going to be true, that women in this country, many of whom we know and love but regardless of that, will now live in a time where they have fewer rights than we do?  Yes, I worry that this could be only the beginning of the end of any number of freedoms.  Yes, I see this as a calculated attack on the female gender.  If abortion is banned, where are the subsequent laws requiring men (aka sperm donors) to support the children they procreate?  And this happens on Mother's Day week?  Oh, the irony.  Oh, the horror.

So there's that.

I can't wrap my head around it all to formulate a cogent, coherent blog that offers anything more than questions.

But there's this.

We arrived home on Tuesday, and a couple of my plants were a little worse for the wear.  I gave them a good soaking of water, cut back a few...but one cactus really appeared to have given up.  Because sometimes, despite best efforts, things just don't work out.  So, reluctantly, I placed it, not tossed it, into the garbage can.  Where I came back to look at it, at least once a day.  And sure enough, the little critter, which blooms in late fall/early winter, rallied.

You can see it isn't completely revived but definitely on the mend.

The local plant sales, which call to me like the sirens song, are ongoing.  Here in Minnesota, spring is gingerly making its way into our lives.  On our drive home, we witnessed nature's first green is gold, as Robert Frost once wrote.  I felt a stirring of the anticipated joy associated with getting my hands dirty, pawing through the layers of mulch and my heart leaping with joy on seeing the perennials that successfully weathered winter.  I do greet them, telling them hello!  Welcome back!  Thanks for hanging in there!  I'll take good care of you!  Would you like some Miracle-Gro?

Resilience.  Hope.  That I will wrap my brain around.