Flight of Fancy Leaves!

Today, on my tree covered hill, the exuberant wind whipped leaves of every shape and size into a joyful frenzy. They were celebrating their liberty and sending an invitation to join the party!

I stood in the center of a colorful vortex as they attempted to take me with them into the shimmering blue sky. With arms out-spread, face full to the sun, my long blond hair swirling straight up to catch a leaf or two, I laughingly shouted "I'm coming!"

Eye's closed, I concentrated on the earthy scents, roaring wind, rattling leaves, creaking branches, and the caressing warmth of the sun that flickered on my eyelids when a maple seed twirled by.

Flying! I'm swirling, skittering, pirouetting on air!

I squinted up into the spinning cornucopia of leaves, and discovered an eagle had joined the dance and was pulling my whirlwind higher and higher, until they left me in a gleeful pursuit of the heavens.

Back on the ground my attention was drawn to the celebrants who found the earth a better dance floor. They tugged at my ankles urging me to join in or get out of the way and the tree tops waved in rhythm to the music, seemingly relieved by the departure of their flighty children.

Happy Autumn!

My Favorite Season!!!

I love Autumn! It is a season of juxtaposition, warm sunny days and stormy cold ones, brightly colored foliage and pristine white snow, earthy smells and fresh dewy evergreen.

Giant orange maple leaves slowly, gracefully, meander to the ground from on high and the tiny winged seeds twirl through the sky like little helicopters.

What's not to love about uniquely shaped gourdes, pumpkins, wheat stocks, apples, new wine, and corn mazes.

Who could pass up a Granny Smith apple drenched in caramel, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, turkey and stuffing smothered in gravy, freshly roasted pumpkin seeds and candy corn?

Nuts! specifically walnuts with their tiny fairy-bed shells, acorns in their jaunty little caps, filberts looking as though carved out of wood, and chestnuts all dark and glossy.

I cherish fires in the fireplace at night and brisk walks during the day. Sleeping-in, lavishly under heavy covers on cool dark Saturday mornings and at night, wearing big fluffy slippers while watching all new TV shows.

A leafless world exposes hidden views. Early evenings showcase familial vignettes through still open curtains, and mountains transform from dark, colorless masses to white, glowing pinnacles.

Big sweaters, corduroy, flannel, suede, leather and heavy trench coats. Orange, red, brown, yellow, gold, and plaid!

Fall is fresh yet spent, familiar and different. Best of all, it's the season of blessings and thanks preceding winter, and Christmas, where a dark and barren world hosts the celebration of light and hope!!!!!

Even a monkey can push a button!!!!!

I have confessed that I'm something of a scifi geek with a love of gadgets, however, my benign imagination is often sobered with the thought of how truly scary the reality might be. I worry that we are relying on the brains of those who were the pioneers and that we have ceased to think for ourselves, instead allowing their inventions to think for us.

Do you ever feel as if the world was careening out of control with morality and ethics lost and replaced by human arrogance and greed? Each time some advance is made in electronics, gene manipulation, biological agents, sub-atomic exploration, etc. the question begs...should we?

With technology proceeding at record pace and even prime time TV shows concentrating on the "fringe" of technology, I feel we need to get back to the basics to gain understanding on whether we should implement the science or not.

In the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, the character Ian Malcolm, a chaos theorist, talks about "thintellegence" and science, building on itself with no understanding of it's foundations then proceeding without asking whether it should or not. The movie states it more simply, but the book more thoroughly.

The following is Ian Malcolm responding to a "simple idea"...Jurassic Park!

"Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want....Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away, it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline."

"Now what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with their bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely. So that kind of power has built-in control. The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won't abuse it."

"But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast. There is no discipline lasting many decades. There is no mastery: old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature. There is only a get-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy. Cheat, lie, falsify--it doesn't matter. Not to you or your colleagues. No one will criticize you. No one has any standards. They are all trying to do the same thing: to do something big, and do it fast. "

"And because you stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something quickly. You don't even know exactly what you've done, but already you have reported it, patented it, and sold it. And the buyer will have even less discipline than you. The buyer simply purchases the power, like any commodity. the buyer doesn't even conceive that any discipline might be necessary".....

....[For example] "A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline, no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special. And that is the kind of power that science fosters and permits"...