cloud quakers on zoom - my new passion - but, so far, not an overwhelming response, mostly just people I knew for a while before I even started it. but no matter; it's something i really wanted to try. you need a community, you make one, and it's worldwide, and people really respond to that, or at least i do, because i have to reach past my limited range to find the people i really want to share stuff with.

if you choose to join us, we're on zoom, sun 7 pm US mountain time (8 in chi, 9 in ny) - on zoom dial 373 452 424.

i choose charlie chaplin this week because he was king of the silents. he used his fame in the silents to speak out against war and oppression; he paid a price for that. he was really good at what he did but that didn't stop him from participating fully in life and speaking out when he felt it was necessary.

it's time quakers had a public presence, somewhere that people know to find us. in my small way, that's what i'm doing.

wild horses - see picture below. they're dark, in good shape, and, living right around the corner from me. seriously - i live right up against a high mountain, owned by the city, with a 9,000 foot baseball field - and behind that mountain, more or less, is the intersection of the road to mescalero and ruidoso. at that intersection, where the slash pit is, i have seen the three wild horses in the picture below. those wild horses just eat grass in that wild area - national forest to one side, highway intersection, slash pit, mountain used by the city.

at first i thought, they were mescalero. when we go up through the reservation, which starts about eight miles from the intersection, there are horses all over the place. these are wild, i'd say, but i always had the sense that the mescalero owned them, and let them roam free on their land, which is fenced in, generally. therefore those horses would not be totally wild, but would be owned by the mescalero and, though free on mescalero land most of the time, aren't truly wild.

ah but what some people say is, they are wild. they may have started out on the mescalero. or maybe they belonged to someone at some point. but now, they're free. they're on national forest land. they are hard to catch, and, if you do, hard to get them to do anything for you. they like being free. they do very well out there.

should i call the mescalero? i asked the guy at the slash pit. i figured they'd probably want to know if three of their horses had gotten loose. but i was surprised at his answer: no. they are probably not theirs, but just wild, feral. and, they probably wouldn't even come and get them. because, what would anyone do with them? they're wild. it's not like you can just grab them and ride them.

they're out there (see picture below) in threes. they hang around that corner. they're healthy - they've survived a long winter. they occasionally get in the road when they shouldn't. they're big, and, when spooked, they can do a lot of harm.

watch out for those wild horses!

more pix soon i promise. i've had the opportunity to hold a very young baby, about three months, in my lap on saturday mornings. it has rejuvenated me. he's a fine, strapping young fellow named tahoe, no relation of mine, just a friend who lets us hold her precious baby.

work will start on our destroyed front porch, it's only a matter of time. meanwhile we have to move, and i have to restore some semblance of order to the yard that still has these piles of dirt and rock on it. meanwhile, i've kind of come to terms with being a sub. it's a hard life but they appreciate me as no one else can handle kids who don't respect their elders. i have ten kids though so i'm used to it. and going deaf anyway. they make a little racket, i don't mind. sometimes they lie, and it doesn't surprise me.

so this baby, lots of times i put him straight to sleep. but once he woke up and began to fuss a little. so i told him a story. i told him soon he would be teething and then he would want to stick everything in his mouth. then he would start crawling and grabbing stuff, and putting all that stuff in his mouth. and some of it would be stuff like dog poop that mom wouldn't agree with at all. and then he would get some independence, and then he would eventually get a driver's license, and go off into the world.

the little baby's eyes grew wild as i was just mostly hitting the high points and not telling him about all the good naps in between. but then it seemed like it was all kind of overwhelming to him. so, he fell asleep again.

she puts him into little fisties that keep his hands covered, in case things in his environment are dirty i suppose. i don't mind though. he lets me hold him and is very congenial.

down in alamo the junior high kids are relentless. but, as i've said, i've made my peace with it. i come home and work on my rocks, and my rock wall.