Day of the Rainhouses, 12th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): It's happening. Cheating Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia who first got elected by suppressing minority votes as Secretary of State, had said that he would not redraw the State's electoral boundaries for this year’s elections (the primaries are on Tuesday). But today he called for a special session of the State Congress to redraw electoral maps for the 2028 election. Georgia is but the latest southern state to initiate new electoral maps after the Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act.

Kemp said the session will focus on “enacting, revising, repealing, or amending” district lines for both the state legislature and congressional districts. Among other things, the Republicans may seek to eliminate the district of Democratic representative Sanford Bishop, a Black member of Congress who has served since 1993. 

The Supreme Court ruled last month that the districts Louisiana drew in accordance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prevents racial discrimination in voting, were an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Effectively, the court’s decision dilutes Black and minority voting power, reversing years of civil-rights law.

My Arya Sansa list goes "John Roberts. Brett Kavanaugh. Clarence Thomas. Joseph Alito. Neil Gorsuch. Amy Boney Carrot. The Stable Genius. Mitch McConnell. And Aaron Judge," because the Yankees suck.  Also, not to forget the ladies: "Erica Kirk. Candace Owens. Kari Lake. Megyn Kelly. Lindsey Graham."

Meanwhile, another beautiful day today as the gorgeous weather here in Georgia continues. No rain, which is a drag, but day after day of temps in the 70s to very low 80s, low humidity, and clear skies, with pleasantly cool nights in the high 50s (good sleeping weather). I walked my usual 8½-mile Van Buren today, but for some reason the odometer app on my iPhone only credited me with a 6½-mile Quincy. I swear I didn't take any shortcuts!    

 

The Wooden Works, 11th Day of Midsommer, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): You can't hurry love. 

    

 

Day of the Creaking Aftermath, 10th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Helios): Firefighters have finally extinguished the Hwy. 82 wildfire in South Georgia, but the Pineland Road fire still covers 32,575 acres and is 87% contained. The drought continues and we're now 6.58 inches of rainfall below normal for this time of year. All indications still suggest that we're heading for a Super El Nino and the warming oceans will result in less mixing between the surface and deep waters, creating a phosphate shortage close to the surface, which creates favorable conditions for methane-producing microbes. Most of the methane produced through this process escapes to the atmosphere, and could almost double in the future under an aggressive global warming scenario. The Stable Genius, the twice-impeached, multiply-convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, is brazenly grifting off his presidency, and his crimes are woefully underreported in the press, ignored by the political left, and denied by the political right.    

All this, and the numb, empty feeling of life without Eliot in the house still lingers. It's like an extracted tooth, when the tongue can't stop probing the new void left behind.  

 

The Divine Versions, 9th Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Electra): I track my meditation with the health app on my phone. Every second day, when I'm finished  with my sitting, I enter the start and finish times as "Mindfulness Minutes." Not that practice requires an app, but keeping a record adds to my motivation - if I miss a day, there will be a visible gap in the record (the app records the minutes as a bar graph on a time scale).

I could lie and add minutes on a day I didn't actually sit, but what would be the point of that? Then I wouldn't be able to trust the app and wouldn't have a record of my effort. 

Anyway, to get to the point, I sat today (3:14 to 4:44 pm), but I missed last Friday, the day I had Eliot euthanized. Last Friday was the first day I missed, other than when I was at Big Ears, since October 13, 2025. Since April 20, 2025, I've only missed three days (other than Big Ears) - May 16, when I was waiting all day for an AC repairman to arrive, October 13, when the young man who would have been my stepson if life had gone differently was in town, and last Friday, May 8, when Eliot left this realm of existence.

Of course, it certainly wasn't zazen (sitting meditation), but a day spent digging a grave for your pet while he's still alive but asleep in the house, and being present at the veterinarian as he receives the fatal injection that ends his life, and then putting that pet in the ground and filling the grave with earth, is an exercise in mindfulness and a profound contemplation of life-and-death. It's certainly a better alibi for missing 90 minutes of sitting that waiting for the repairman.      

 

Day of the World Tree, 8th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Deneb): Today was the first day in seventeen years without Eliot in the house. Weird. 

F'rinstance, when I woke up this morning, I was careful rolling over so as to not crush the cat that usually lies at the foot of my bed. Making my morning coffee, I kept expecting to see him catwalk into the kitchen to beg for a treat, you know, as long as I had the door open to that cabinet where the goodies are stored. Right now, it's approaching his feeding time, and it's strange not hearing him reminding me that it's almost time for dinner.

I gathered up and cleaned all his food dishes and water bowls today, as well as the various cardboard boxes scattered in corners around the house. I haven't put away the litter box yet - for some reason, that feels like the last and final act admitting he's gone for good

Eliot's health had been declining for over a year, with at least one vet suggesting squamous-cell carcinoma. But for the last week, he was barely able to get up at all, struggling to make occasional forays to the food dish and litter box. Other than that, he just spent the entire day curled up on a favorite chair. Thursday night, I saw him barely manage to make a simple one-foot leap from that chair to an end table, and then barely able to walk across that table to his water bowl, as if he was losing motor control of his legs. That's when I knew it was time. 

The vets were great, and had a special room set up for his departure with candles, a soothing white-noise generator, blankets, etc. They couldn't have been kinder, fussing over him with treats and head scratches to get him past his anxiety about being in a strange place. Or kinder to me, assuring me I was doing the right and humane thing. 

They gave the two of us a minute ("take as much time as you need") to say our goodbyes and then took him back to the O.R., or whatever it is back there, and gave him a sedative. They brought him back, asleep and wrapped in a blanket, and then with me present gave him a second injection that stopped his heart. He didn't flinch or react to the euthanasia and the vet, who had a finger on his pulse through the whole final procedure, announced "he's gone" just a few seconds after the injection. He died painlessly, comfortably, and quietly. 

I took his body home with me and placed him in a hole I had dug earlier in the day in the garden, next to where I buried his brother, Izzy. It was so difficult seeing him in the ground and to put the first shovelful of dirt over his body, and I can't say there weren't tears involved. Both cats now have heart-shaped gravestones next to their burial sites, which I can see from my kitchen window.

Impermanence is swift but our attachments can linger. 

Izzy died suddenly, unexpectedly, and apparently painlessly in his sleep, a winter afternoon nap from which he never awoke. Eliot died surrounded by loving people doing everything we could to keep him as comfortable as possible. 

I hope that when my time comes, it will be as painless and comfortable for me.

 

Day of the Holy Mountain, 7th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Castor): Impermanence is swift. 

Today I buried Eliot, age 17, my old tomcat, my feline friend and housemate, who had been in declining health for a year now. It was time. 

We won't see the likes of him again for a long while, and he will be missed.       

 

Day of the Marauders, 6th of Midsommer, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): Last night, we watched the storm front approach. Meteorologists were updating their social media posts every hour. The Tornado Watch went into effect around 10:00 pm, while the flash flood warning had been in effect since 4:00. The evening news advised to be prepared for power outages and I heard the distant rumble of thunder as I went to bed.

When it was all said and done and the storm had finally passed, only 0.50 inches of rain fell on Atlanta, 0.08 inches before midnight, and 0.42 after. 

The rainfall wasn't evenly distributed. Nearby Peachtree Dekalb Airport (PDK), seven miles northeast of here, saw 1.47 inches before midnight and 0.47 after. Peachtree City, Georgia, about 30 miles southeast of here, had 2.32 inches before midnight and about the same as PDK and here after. Columbus, Georgia, about 100 miles southeast of here, had 1.32 inches of rain before midnight and 2.94 inches after, setting a new record for this date going going back to 1903. 

Peachtree Creek crested about six inches above its pre-rain stage, but nowhere near flood stage (17 inches). No floods and no tornados, for which I'm grateful, just a lot of media-generated anxiety over, well, a rainy night in Georgia.  

From the beginning of time, the Buddha taught, all beings have mistakenly identified themselves with that of which they are aware. Controlled by their experience of perceived objects, they lose track of their fundamental mind. In Buddhism, the thinking mind is conditioned, impermanent, and ever-changing, but the fundamental mind is always present and is the true essence of the self.  

When we lose sight of the true essence of the self (the fundamental mind), we identify ourselves as the subject that is facing the objects we encounter, and we discriminate among them, evaluate them, and chase after or escape from them. Being deluded by the discriminative thinking mind and losing the fundamental mind is a fundamental cause of suffering.

Jingqing asked a monk, “What sound is that outside the gate?” The monk said, “The sound of raindrops.” Jingqing said, “Sentient beings are inverted. They lose themselves and follow after things.” 

Zen Master Dogen wrote, 

Just hearing,

Without extra mind,

The jewel-like raindrops

Dripping from the eaves

Are me.

 

Day of the Everlasting Moraine, 5th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): Today, Aldebaran, we begin our first full week of Midsommar. Along with the new season, we're forecast to finally get some much-needed seasonal rain. One to four, or maybe even more, inches of rainfall is expected in the Atlanta region, creating a high risk of flash flooding. A Flood Watch is in effect through tomorrow morning, along with warnings about damaging lightning, thunder, and wind.

Dry as the proverbial bone all year, and then almost a quarter of what's fallen all year expected in the next 24 hours. Good times. Today was a sitting day, but I may not get my steps in tomorrow.

The news is nattering on about the Stable Genius' supposed "victory" yesterday in Indiana. Five of  seven incumbent congressmen who defied him by refusing to redraw the state's political map lost their primary bids in what the Times, MS NOW, and most of the rest of the media and calling "revenge" by the Stable Genius, who endorsed their challengers. Social media is full of posts wondering what's wrong with Indiana and disparaging Indiana voters for bending the knee to the will of the Stable Genius.

I think the press and the posters are looking at it all wrong. It was a primary, not a general election, and for all we know, Democrats may flip all seven seats, although that's not likely in ruby-red Indiana. But what we saw in Indiana was Republican voters voting for Republican candidates, which is hardly newsworthy. Although it's getting far less coverage, Democratic voters voted for Democratic candidates in the same primary election. 

And no one can say with certainty that the five of seven challengers who won, won because of the Stable Genius' endorsement. I find it unlikely that every voter who voted against the incumbents did so because they were upset over the lack of redistricting or because the Stable Genius told them to. Polls reportedly show that few are happy with the direction of this country and the state of the economy, and it's a tough year to be running as an incumbent, especially a Republican incumbent. Five of seven Republican incumbents losing their primaries is a sign that Indiana voters are dissatisfied with the status quo and want to see change.

But the press has a massive case of Stable Genius Derangement Syndrome and often can't seem to cover any story without it having to be all about the S.G. one way or another. What was essentially a rejection of the state's existing representation is covered in the media as a political victory for the Stable Genius, even as his poll numbers are tanking and his other endorsed candidates are losing left and right all across the country.

R.I.P., Ted Turner. Impermanence is swift.

 

Day of the Blue Circle, 4th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Helios): Another day in paradise. I know many people who wouldn't want to live in Georgia for a number of reasons, from "too Red" to "too Black," and also including the weather ("too hot" or "too humid"). But friends, let me tell you, for much of April and May (as well as mid-September to mid-November), the weather here is ideal. Couldn't be more lovely. Days like today. 

I took advantage of the weather and walked a 9.6-mile Harrison. While I was walking I listened to a podcast conversation between singer-songwriter Bill Callahan (Smog) and actor Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos). I hadn't known that Imperioli was a practicing Buddhist, but he seemed to be sincere about his practice and not just a Hollywood, "I-once-read-an-article-about-it" kind of Buddhist. 

When Callahan brought up reincarnation, Imperioli said he's often asked about that but the thing is, Buddhist teachings hold that there is no inherent existence to the self. "So, what," Imperioli asked rhetorically, "is getting reincarnated?"

People often think of it as, he explained, as "Michael has a consciousness" - some might say, "soul." But it's actually the opposite. "It's like consciousness in this period of time had a Michael that attached itself somehow to it," he said, and it's consciousness that will go on and have another incarnation, not Michael.

"It's not my consciousness that's going on, it's consciousness got attached to these aggregates that make up this being in this life. So the way I've tried to see it is like consciousness is kind of like the fabric of the universe or something, and this physical kind of thing gets attached to it and another physical thing will get attached to it maybe in the future." 

That's a very good explanation by Imperioli. The way my teacher explained it to me, another way of looking at it is that the "physical thing" is kind of like a knot that forms in the fabric of the universe. We can distinguish between this knot and that knot, but it's really all just fabric and not two separate things. And knots can get untied and smoothed out from time to time and new ones arise, but it's still all fabric. And another word for that fabric is consciousness. 

I'd like to hear a conversation between Michael Imperioli and Michael Pollan. I'd walk a Harrison to hear them talk.

 

On Last Legs, 3rd Day of Midsommer, 526 M.E. (Electra): It's another lovely, sunny, non-humid day today, albeit a tad warmer but still comfortably in the 70s. Of course, it still hasn't rained and we're over six inches below normal on the year.

Wildfires are still raging down in South Georgia, although firefighters have made some progress on the Hwy. 82 fire. It's now 75% contained and they've reduced its size by over 50 acres, although it still covers 22,471 acres. The Pineland Road fire is 32,575 acres and 44% contained.

Yes, it's a beautiful day, even as the planet is warming, wildfires are raging, and sea levels are rising. Sea-level rise and the erosion of wetlands in occurring so rapidly in southern Louisiana that a recent paper published in the journal, Nature Sustainability, calls the region the “most physically vulnerable coastal zone in the world" and advises immediate action to begin evacuating people away from New Orleans to safer ground.

New Orleans will be swallowed up by the sea within a few generations, and the city may be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century. That's still some 75 years away and our mammalian brains, evolved to react to immediate threats while ignoring longer-term dangers, files that information away as nothing to worry about right now. Maybe we shouldn't invest our money into New Orleans condominiums right now, we reason, but other than that, why should we change our current behviour?   

Billions of dollars have already been spent to fortify New Orleans with a vast network of levees, floodgates and pumps erected after Hurricane Katrina. But coastal Louisiana has already crossed a point of no return according to the paper, and the growing threats to the area mean the levees, which already require hefty upgrades to remain sufficient, will not be able to save the city in the long run. Even if climate change ended today, New Orleans still couldn't be saved. It will be surrounded by open water and it's impossible to keep an island situated below sea level afloat. No amount of money can do that.

Here's a lesson I learned decades ago in Geology 101: levees built on soft Mississippi delta sediments have weight which causes them to sink, so the Corps of Engineers builds them higher, which increases the weight, which makes them subside more, which requires them to be built still higher, and so on and so forth in a never-ending cycle. This isn't some Al Gore inconvenient truth or Greta Thunberg alarmism - this was boring, basic geology as taught in the 1970s.

The Stable Genius has got the United States military locked into a strategic stalemate with Iran in the Gulf of Hormuz, through which some 20% of the world's oil moves, or used to move. The effects of the blockades will be felt for years, even if the crisis were to be resolved today. Last Wednesday, the Stable Genius held a 90-minute telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, and then on Friday, announced he was pulling 5,000 U.S. troops out of Germany, fulfilling at least one bucket-list item from Putin's wish list. The Supreme Court has thrown gasoline onto the gerrymander redistricting war by basically voiding the Voting Rights Act, and things won't go well as millions of Americans realize they've either been disenfranchised or their votes have become meaningless as they're forced to vote in districts in which their preferred candidate is predestined to lose.  

So in short, yes, the world's going to hell and none of this is going to end well for anybody, but it's a beautiful day and birds are singing and the sun is shining. Why can't I just be happy with that?

 

Day of the Swan, 2nd of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Deneb): The weather's been dry but cool. That front that came through late last week and woke me up but didn't produce any rain at least produced some pleasant temperatures. Even if we are heading into a Super El Nino and already setting records for global high temperatures, today, this moment, right now, is cool (70°), dry, and sunny.  

I walked a 9.3-mile Harrison today. I had my headphones on and listed to the better part of three LPs by Fire! Orchestra while walking, but it was the kind of day that an old Beatles song gets stuck in your head: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you, dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?" Also, 

The wind is low, the birds will sing

That you are part of everything

Dear Prudence, won't you open up your eyes?

I was 14 when The White Album came out. I got it that year for Christmas and memorized every lyric to every song by singing along. I've long since stopped listening to The Beatles or even thinking about their songs, until, of course, a day like today.  

The world might be an overheated rotten mess, but today was a lovely day.

 

Establishment of the Dreamweapon, 1st Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Castor): Spring has sprung and we're now into Midsommar, and yes, I took the name of the season from the Ari Aster movie, and in keeping with the film, I'm recycling last year's summer avatar, the Sun Girl, as The May Queen.  Midsommar (the season, not the movie) begins with Establishment of the Dreamweapon and ends (spoiler alert!) 61 days from now with Launching of the Dreamweapon.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, several southern states are predictably rushing to redraw their congressional maps now that the Roberts Court has ruled that it's okay to gerrymander the shit out of one's state as long as you don't say out loud that you're doing it to disenfranchise Minority voters. Naturally, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi are already introducing measures to redraw districts, while Florida just went all in and redrew them based on the governor's executive power, without any input from elected representatives, because why even pretend it's about democracy?

As Ibram X. Kendi puts it, the Roberts Court claims anti-Black racism is over in order to allow racist state legislators to engineer the largest disenfranchisement of Black voters in history. The Court is returning the United States to Jim Crow by claiming Jim Crow won’t return. Last night on the deplorable Bill Maher show, conservative columnist Bret Stephens said he agreed with SCOTUS that the Voting Rights Act addressed conditions that no longer exist, and that the Court "got it right" this rime. Pro-tip: they didn't.

My home state of Georgia announced that they will not redistrict before this year's elections. But it's not integrity or fairness holding them back. Early voting for the May 19th primary has already begun, and it's virtually impossible to change the district maps at this point. But mark my words, as soon as the general election is over on November 3, the all-red Georgia legislature will gerrymander the fuck out of this state, regardless of the election results. Even if Georgia completely flips each and every Republican seat to the Dems, the lame-duck state legislature will still redraw the district maps to disenfranchise every Black, Latino, and Asian voter they can, and try to make it "stick" with as many rules against revising the map as possible.

No, Georgia Governor Brain Kemp isn't "fair-minded" or a "moderate." If anything, he's a pragmatist or, more likely, simply an opportunist who knows what he can get away with and when. This is the man who, as Secretary of State in 2018, rigged his gubernatorial race against Stacy Abrams by stalling the applications of more than 53,000 voters, including a "disproportionately high" number of Black voters, in an obvious case of voter suppression.

It's still dry here in Georgia although rain last week provided some relief for workers fighting to  contain the wildfires in South Georgia. But the rainfall forecast for this weekend hasn't really materialized here in Atlanta and we're still some 5.93 inches below normal for the year. The Pineland Road wildfire near the Okefenokee down in Clinch County is still at 32,575 acres and the Highway 82 fire in Brantley County has grown to 22,532 acres, but both are now about 45% contained.