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It was no surprise that a bedsheet dried very quickly in today’s breezy sunny weather. What WAS a surprise is how quickly my quilt dried also! I wasn’t sure it would dry in a day, and it has! Solar dryer for the win!

Pic: https://www.facebook.com/share/8vBCBpdgYxyyjJGU/?mibextid=WC7FNe

#laundry #prepperstylefiles #doomerhomeec

The latest smug boomer meme on my feed:

“Some of you came from the ‘If you stop crying, I’ll buy you something’ generation. We came from the ‘If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about’ generation. We are not the same.”

Um … Like this is a flex??? <nausea emoticon> Are we actually trying to shame the younger generations for being soft/indulged just because they weren’t raised to be afraid of their parents???

These generational shaming/bragging memes never end!! We Boomers are really putting the hashtag in #OKBoomer ! — and I say that as a Boomer!! Geez Louise!

We need to stop taking the credit for the way our parents (and grandparents) raised us, and we need to stop blaming younger generations for the way we raised them.

If we were so strong and tough and self-sacrificing … What the heck happened to us now? At some point we morphed into entitled consumers leading robber-baron lifestyles. And this seems to have picked up even more steam after the pandemic.

Seems like we’ve turned into the “I’m old now — I’m entitled to consume whatever and however I want, even though it’s trashing the planet!” generation. Well, we always were the “Me Generation” after all.

And no, I’m not talking about boomers of the MAGA/ Drill Baby Drill variety (they are after all behaving in accordance with their beliefs); I’m talking about those of us who identify with Earth Day and Woodstock. Those of us who say that the environment and climate need to be top priorities — and yet we keep on keeping on the consumerist bandwagon. WWWTP!? (What’s Wrong With This Picture)

Our grandkids need models of sensible thrift and simple living. They need us to show them that life can be full of joy and creativity without constantly acquiring a bunch of stuff and junk, and running around burning up resources without a thought to the repercussions.

So many liberal boomers on social media — posting about their sixth cruise and their second vacation house and their umpteenth international flight this year, blah blah blah.

And then right on the heels of that, posting self-righteous memes about the big bad corporations and the evil government that are driving climate change. Do we even hear ourselves, I wonder.

Yesterday between meetings etc. I got to go see the film “Perfect Days.” 2023 film, directed by Wim Wenders, set in Tokyo. The main character, Hirayama (who works cleaning public restrooms and drives a little work van equipped with a cassette deck), loves to listen to cassette tapes of music from the 60s and 70s, mainly American or British but there was this one very haunting Japanese song by a female vocalist.

By staying to watch the music credits which I always do with films, and also by looking up later on the Internet, I was able to find the YouTube video, and then able to find a page with a side-by-side translation of the lyrics. I can read Japanese, but the great thing is this site provides not only the English translation but also the Romanized reading of the Japanese so you can enjoy the sound of the Japanese without having knowing how to read Japanese.

Truly truly I love the Internet sometimes.

Having taken a pledge, as a climate activist, not to take any more airplane flights makes things a challenge sometimes but I have always said we have to make some sacrifices, and films like this make it easier for me to reconcile my heart with the reality that I am very unlikely ever to set foot in Japan again unless there are some kind of very strange and unusual circumstances. Japan is sort of my second homeland — Even just living there briefly as a kid when our family was stationed there, and then living there for five years as an adult, it permeated the fiber of my heart and soul. For a time I was not sure if I would ever come back to the USA.

Sometimes when I watch a film set in Japan it gets my heart and brain off-kilter for a few days. Even my physical body almost feels pulled in two directions like standing with one foot on a pier and one foot on the boat.

But yesterday I was able to have all of the good things, all of the sensory memories from watching the film, but then to be able to enjoy a knowingness of being called to help bring to the parched, relentlessly utilitarian, gleefully soul-stealing culture of my birth some of the beauty and human richness I discovered by being fortunate enough to be able to spend time in Japan.

Richness, and simplicity. It’s a lavish richness and simplicity at the same time. That’s what it feels like to me.

I like that even though the film was made in 2023, a lot of the scenes looked not so different from how it looked/felt to be living there back in the early 1990s. The rundown yet so appealing low rise apartment building; the humble commuter bicycle that’s transportation to laundromat and all the neighborhood nooks: snack pub, bookstore, photo developer shop. The tree-shaded temple grounds, where the public is always welcome to come sit, eat lunch.

I just realized they were probably trying to make it look oldtimey, I’m really not thinking that there are photo developer shops on the street corner so much in Tokyo anymore. But I could be wrong. Anyway I wanted to crawl into the screen and live in that world. I could practically smell the neighborhood smells and feel the air on my skin.

Anyway! Go see the film Perfect Days. BTW one of the songs Hirayama loves to play on the cassette deck of his little work-van is Perfect Day by Lou Reed.

Also look up The Tokyo Toilet project, very cool. 17 distinctive public restrooms commissioned from designers around the world, and built in / around the Shibuya district of Tokyo. “Spectacular” might not be a word you associate with a toilet, but these public restroom facilities truly are spectacular!

And here is a link to the song lyrics:
https://vocaloidlyrics.fandom.com/wiki/青い魚_(Aoi_Sakana)

Update, now that I listen more closely I noticed that some of the lyrics are missing and/or different, so I will look for another transcript & translation as well. OK – Here you go, this one the Japanese looks accurate*: https://japanesesonglyrics.com/full-lyric-and-translation-of-aoi-sakana-青い魚-キミーゴ-a-k-a-qimygo/amp/

And the music video of Sachiko Kanenobu performing the gorgeous, haunting song itself:
https://youtu.be/Aq0mdsX7WSw?si=sATTRIgoQQlqZsXt

Aoi Sakana, Sachiko Kanenobu

And I learned a new word from the film: komorebi. (This word with its definition was displayed on the screen near the end, with an image of light and shadows dancing as per the description. I thought I had taken a pic of the movie screen at that moment but I guess I forgot. So I just now did a search and found someone else’s description. This is from a film photographer’s website, Lomography.)

“Nature has a way of providing subjects for us every day, so long as we remember to notice them. One of those things is made possible by the wind, trees, and sunlight. And it has a name, komorebi.

“Komorebi is a Japanese word that describes the light that peers through the spaces left by leaves and branches and the shadows they produce. The swaying of the leaves creates a delicate dance on surfaces. Usually unnoticed or even unseen…” https://www.lomography.com/magazine/349525-komorebi-a-dance-of-light-and-shadows

Komorebi scenes feature prominently in the film.

I love this because I have often been captivated by the beauty of what I call “wall art” or “shadow art” or “nature art.” Leaves and shadows flickering in the wind and sunlight, projected onto a wall. And have often posted those on my social media.

By the way, I saw the film at Cinematique Theater, the independent cinema on Beach Street in downtown Daytona Beach — and I believe the only independent cinema in any of the surrounding cities if I’m not mistaken. Support independent cinema! Cinematique is a jewel.

* Although the Japanese on the second link I posted is a faithful reflection of the song, the English is a bit choku-yaku so I took a stab at a translation:

The blue sea
And the blue fish
We used to hold them in the palm of our hand.
Now the only thing
in the palm of this hand
is the cold wind blowing through.
Grotesque flock of kids;
Tire-tracks in the road —
Only the blurry-faced moon
follows the tire-tracks left from yesterday.
You’d think the blindfolds of the chickens would have peeled off in the moonlight.
But they just keep looking up at the sky with their blindfolds still on
Just standing there
Just standing there

(No, chickens is not a typo for children. It took me a minute to try to puzzle this out, but I got the feel of likening humans to a mindless flock of chickens not paying attention (to the environmental destruction or whatever else). What we might call “sheeple” in the USA. I could be totally off, it’s just my best guess.)

Cloudy weather forecast in some of the eclipse tourist zones. Is it too much to hope that thousands or even millions of people will cancel their flights?

I get that a total eclipse is cool to see, but getting on an airplane just for that??? I think it lasts like five minutes or something. Lifestyles of the rich and famous have gone “mass market.”

So I guess what it is, is “lifestyles of the middle class imitating the rich and famous.”

I think it’s very cool to experience total darkness and near-total darkness. I have experienced it on some nights in the desert when I was living in Texas. Maybe if we would prioritize ecologically responsible lighting and dark night skies, more of us might get to experience it on a steadier basis. I know it’s not the same thing as witnessing the sun get totally blocked out in the middle of the day, but come on, is it really worth the whole footprint and hassle of a plane trip? Seems like just another form of conspicuous consumption.

Maybe if more of us spent more time appreciating the wonders happening throughout the year in our home places, we wouldn’t feel the need to be jetsetting around the planet chasing novelty and the “big things.”

I was once seated at a table with a bunch of middle-class people who were telling endless stories of the four and five and six cruises they had been on this year.

One woman had gone up to Iceland or some other distant land to see a volcano, only to not be able to see the volcano because it didn’t erupt obediently on schedule. Imagine spending all that money and being part of all that eco-footprint of a giant ship, and you don’t even get the money shot. She definitely seemed miffed.

Ironically, this table of people I was sitting with was at an event where citizens were brainstorming how to bring more tourism to our home city, Daytona Beach. (I actually think we have a sufficient amount of tourism, so I was there to talk about how we could promote our place has a good place to live full-time.)

The people sitting at my table with me were volunteer tourism ambassadors for our city. And all they did was talk about their incessant trips to other places. It was weird and depressing.

Similarly, the trend of jetting off to a Maui volcano or Costa Rica jungle or other Facebook status destination to attend a new-age bongo-banging dreamcatcher-dangling, crystal-hanging disco party at the rustically exclusive “eco resort” (made possible by nudging the original inhabitants off the land in various ways) or whatever. Ugh. Just really sad. We could just face the fact that our home culture sucks in many ways, and set about fixing that, instead of chasing status and pristine nature and mind-trips all over the planet. Let’s give other people their countries back now please.

Regarding the eclipse, I was relieved to see that at least a few others feel similar. More than one person this week has quoted from that old famous Carly Simon song You’re So Vain: “… flew your Lear Jet to Nova Scotia, to see a total eclipse of the sun …”

PS. All of that said, a lot of people, me included, are not in the path of totality but are definitely planning to step out and experience the partial eclipse! The crescent-shaped shadows you see on the ground in a partial eclipse are really cool! Whether you’re in the total path or the partial path, the eclipse is something we can all enjoy. Just by stepping out in our yard or balcony, or maybe a nearby park, ball field, riverfront, or beach.

Same as we do for the moonrise, sunset, beautiful clouds, etc.

When we were kids, back in the 60s and 70s, it was pretty common to pitch a tent in the backyard and go camping. I don’t know if kids do that much anymore. I always enjoyed it, and I think it might not be a bad idea even for adults without kids to do it from time to time. And it’s definitely a great idea for adults with kids, I would say!

It can even be combined with basic disaster drill skill -type stuff, while still being fun for the whole family and feeling like a party.

A few months ago, I found a dome-style tent abandoned on the beach. It was missing its fiberglass structural poles, and had no stakes with it or anything.

I decided to try to use the tent to create a campsite in my little urban yard. My thought was to build a little bamboo structure to hold up the tent.

Well, the other day I finally got around to cutting the bamboo poles to a suitable length and lashing them together to form roughly a cube-shaped structure. Also used some palm-fronds of the type that people frequently leave at curbside as “yard waste.” I was pleased with the results.

And today, I cut a bunch of dried lemongrass away from my lemongrass plants, and used it for an underlying mulch since I didn’t have any pine-straw left from my last delivery.

And then for a ground cloth, I used a former housemate’s air mattress that had popped & that I previously cut up in order to be able to use it as a durable plastic sheet material for something. (I had been using the sheets to cover a couple of my rain tubs — and sometimes, during super rainy times, to cover the compost pile to keep it from getting waterlogged — but I hadn’t been very pleased with it in those applications, largely because it didn’t look nice.)

After spreading out the ground cloth, I set up the tent by tying its loops to various parts of the bamboo structure.

The result is 99.9% invisible from the sidewalk even if you are looking for it. I’m lucky I happened to find an abandoned tent that was in subdued color rather than bright colors. It’s gray, with black mesh material and a couple areas of grass-green.

Everything used in this project was rescued from the waste-stream — from the tent itself, to the bamboo, to the strips of cloth I used to lash the bamboo poles & palm fronds together to make the structure.

I am looking forward to camping in my yard whenever I want! And offering accommodation to similarly minded friends who might be visiting.

You can see pics of my little bamboo structure and tent site here, on my DEEP GREEN Facebook page.

Update: Last night I slept in the tent and it was delightful. This will definitely be the coolest place to sleep when the weather starts getting hot. I always tell people one of the keys to living happily without air-conditioning is to not try to hang out in buildings too much in the hot season. Or as I sometimes phrase it, “S.O.B. — that is, “Stay outta buildings!”

Sleeping outdoors, or in a screened porch, etc. is a great way to spend the summer. Last summer, to me, felt like the hottest summer ever, and I spent several weeks of it sleeping on bare ceramic tile in the room that has the most windows. But staying outdoors would’ve been more comfortable, and now I have a mosquito-free way to do that.

A bookstore posted a meme on his social media page. A cute cartoon of a book performing CPR on a young person. Out of the young person’s mouth were spewing the poisons of social media icons.

Reading is one of the deepest joys in life, as far as I’m concerned. And, books transform hearts and save lives for sure.

I probably read 75 or 100 books a year. Many in my professional field, but probably an equal or even greater number of fiction works. And I have probably learned as much about life and reality, and figuring out who I am, from reading fiction as I have from reading non-fiction! I love and value books.

That said, I am not cool with demonizing cell phones, social media, etc.

And, the corollary to that, we older people need to stop disparaging the younger generations for their use of cell phones and social media. People seek truth and connection, and they will find it where it’s available. Our society doesn’t always make those things very available. And there have been many centralized gatekeeper institutions running things for too long.

Telecommunications technology has probably done more for various social movements than anything we could have imagined.

Of course there is always going to be misinformation out there, and there will always be people with evil intentions out there, but it comes in all forms and channels, both in written books and on social media and on TV and in the movies – and in person to person communication as well. We will always have the task of sorting through huge volume of words and chatter and the noise of daily life to find the kernels of our truth.

A Facebook page I follow called “Revitalize, or die” posted the above oft-repeated assertion. And then posted a rebuttal:

“Fact: Yes you can. The tools are available. Raise your standards. Go after deadbeat owners. Decide that enough is enough.”

I would really like to have a discussion about this matter of vacant property in our community. It’s an issue that is common to all of the historic core areas of our city.

Many cities have enacted vacancy taxes. However, it’s possible that here in Florida, a strong property rights culture, that this would not fly. In our society there is a widespread belief that a property owner owes nothing to the community, as long as they pay the property taxes and cut the grass. The concept of civic duty seems to have worn thin.

But maybe there are some means other than ordinances at our disposal. Perhaps some public social shaming/pressure might not be out of order. And it may be more effective than ordinances.

Another thing that might help would be some kind of program to make it easier for locals to buy a house, so that not so many buildings get snapped up by these big investment companies.

Living next to vacant apartment buildings and vacant houses is so demoralizing, and it’s infuriating all the more because there is such a housing crunch.

Another negative impact of vacancy (be it commercial or residential) is that if there are not enough residents, businesses don’t find it worth their while to set up shop in our neighborhoods. In fact, many businesses close up and pull out.

There is also the additional law-enforcement labor and expense involved to do the extra policing that empty buildings require, because empty buildings are a crime magnet. This takes away resources that would be better used for urgent needs such as stormwater mitigation, parks and recreation, human services. Our police should not have to basically serve as a private security force for property owners who don’t care enough about the community to do anything except use our neighborhoods as their monopoly board.

I used to wonder how people could be so wealthy that they could leave buildings sitting empty and not get any rent. Or leave lots sitting empty for decades and never build anything on them. But, thanks to some features of the tax code, many property owners get a tax writeoff, which makes it all the more frustrating.

Widespread vacancy affects transportation and car-dependence as well. For example, if we have a dense urban core area where most or all buildings are filled, public transportation becomes more viable.

In related news, I now have vacant properties on THREE sides of my house. And, we have completely lost our Walgreens. The pharmacy shut down a few months ago, and the whole store is closed as of today.

Maybe focusing so much on tourism as the supposed savior of our economy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You would think that a drugstore right in the hub of the tourist area would be considered a profitable location, but I guess Walgreens corporate disagrees.

Other businesses in the neighborhood that were supposedly super busy, but got shut down by order of their corporate offices some years ago, were a McDonald’s and a Starbucks.

Sometimes when I hear people walk by, I’ll overhear them say things like “oh this place would be great to set up as a VRBO or Airbnb.” One lady even said she would buy a place and tear it down and pave the front yard. So she could charge for parking. <vomit emoticons> That wouldn’t be allowed by the city, but the point I’m trying to make here is about the distortive influence of a tourist economy.

I always wonder why they’re not saying they wish they could live here. When I moved here I was so happy to be able to just live here. Every day I wake up feeling so grateful. Although, with the businesses closing down it has become a lot harder in some ways. We have lost a bicycle repair shop and several laundromats, among other businesses, and now our drugstore.

Maybe people get so all they can see are dollar signs. Entire streets get used for people’s monopoly board.

Back in 2015, I gave a talk about vacancy at the first annual Elevate, a mini “TED talk” type event in Daytona Beach.

The talk, which I titled “Filling Our Empty Spaces,” is about 6 1/2 minutes long. You can check it out here on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/U0bZRem6a3s?si=3I5ErNPFIu2WONUg

Yes there are many dimensions of this issue for sure. Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!!

Visit the thread on Revitalize, or die to see various people’s comments.

One possible solution mentioned in the thread is called Zero Empty Spaces. Aims to revitalize vacant spaces by providing affordable studio space for artists.