Why Dr. John matters...

 
                                      horse drawn casket on Basin street in N.O. at Dr. John funeral

THAUMATURGY= working of wonders and miracles
 from the Greek thaumatourgos= thauma =marvel
                                                      ergos= working

first of all Dr. John spoke passionately about the need to preserve
animal habitat...which makes him a good fellow in my book.
but music is how the good doctor made his living in the "meat" world
as he called it...he said he had one foot in the "meat' universe and one
foot in the "spiritual" universe. Dr. John was  benevolent not malevolent
although I think he had a bit of the "trickster" and "cosmic giggle" persona
about him...Greg Allman said he had to spend thousands of dollars
to have his keyboards cleaned after Dr. John threw hands full of glitter on them.
Dr. John spoke about his efforts to make it legal to practice voo-doo, magic,
gris-gris and other forms of thaumaturgy in New Orleans. He said it was because
of his efforts that the palm readers are able to work around Jackson square.
In the sfumato of other worldly consciousness which existed in New Orleans
Dr. John felt right at home with "alternative" world views.
I had walked over to Basin street to witness my first funeral. I felt the need
to be at this guys send off for some reason. I positioned myself on the side
 of the street and waited until I saw a slow procession of people moving
towards me. It didn't seem like much to me. Then suddenly I am engulfed
by bass drums and brass horns and people. The event seems
to be more an idea than a physical thing. A joyous noise! Now I know
something about what a funeral is about and what the second line is for.
I told myself I was crying because the horses looked so hot. Hell, we were all hot.
So, I don't know it Dr. John did magic, but he let it happen. And now he probably
has both feet in the spiritual world, but I wouldn't be surprised if he still has
 a toe somewhere in the meat world around the back of St. Louis cemetery
and giggling about it.

I have a pretty good video of this event which I will post as
soon as I can figure out how to do it.

ANTHROPOPHILES...

                                              Gulf coast box turtle=Terrapene carolina major

began cooking my oatmeal with raisins and bananas this morning
suddenly a wild animal comes crashing out of the forest
it is the same turtle that came to visit 4 days ago
looking for a favorite meal- bananas...preferably soft ripe bananas
I accidentally spilled some oatmeal and banana on the ground and like
a shark on an injured fish the turtle pounces...and devours  the bananas
then disappears into the forest again...until next time...


this bit of information from a science magazine...
on average between 100 and 200 new species of frogs
are described each year...

you see if you bring a plant or and animal to a scientist
someone who is expert in that field of study has to examine it
and decided if it is new to science according to existing information
so a lot of work goes into "describing a new species to science"

ANTHROPOPHILES= species existing well with humans

STEPHEN DUCK

"To dwell on the past..."

                                                     FROG JUMPED RIGHT OUT IN THE ROAD
                                                     WENT SOMEPLACE HE SHOULDN'T HAVE GO'ED
                                                      NOW HE'S JUST A MEAL FOR THE ANTS
                                                    SURE LIFES' GOT SOME CANS BUT A LOT OF CAN'TS


been hearing a lot about
REPARATIONS
on the news today

reparations-the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.

retribution=punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act.

so here's the deal
some people came to america
they had guns so they took a lot of land from the 
people who were here
they wanted to make a lot of money so they started big farms
they had to have people work the farms
the people who were here already died when they were forced to work
so the farmers went to africa to buy people to work the farms
there were africans in africa who would capture people and sell them
all the people who were sold to the slave traders were caught by africans
the africans who were brought to america to work on the big farms called
plantations eventually got freed from the slavery but they were still poor and 
could not buy much property
now there are people who think that these poor african descendants of slaves
should be compensated for being subjected to prejudice which kept them
in poverty....except Jay Zee and Beyond-Say  who are pretty rich
so the deal is this
if you give poor people money they may blow it all on stupid investments
give poor people 50 year no interest loans to buy and own property
then they have "EQUITY"   the golden word
with equity you can borrow money and if a person inherits a home they can
save money because they don't pay for someone else property
but don't just provide loans to africans as that would not be fair
let anyone who has a small amount of resources get a real cheap
long loan 
as has been recently pointed out the largest lynching was in New Orleans
over a hundred years ago
they lynched eleven Sicilians 
people hated Sicilians
also the Chinese were hated and not allowed to live just anywhere
also the Polish, the Germans, the Cajuns, 
at one time or another there was prejudice against everyone


but the reparations seems like a thinly veiled retribution to me

now it seems to me that some people don't really want a cabin a "black horse" and
forty acres   some people are plenty happy with an apartment
 or a motor home
and a decent place to park it for half a year or so...

the reparations argument is 
" nonsense upon stilts"
and
somewhere "between absurdity and obscenity"

"To dwell on the past is to rob the present.
But to forget the past is to rob the future."  Chinese Proverb

"El Morzillo"

"Zen does not confuse spirituality..."

Miss Ratty Ratface comes to visit me in my camp every day...

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while
one is peeling potatoes.  Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
                                                Alan Watts  "The Way of Zen"

Phoebe Ann Moses

"A tragic situation exists..."

                                               Eastern Glass Lizard- dead in the road

beautiful legless lizard which looks like it has green metal flakes under the skin

a good reason to drive with care when going down the country roads

"A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph
but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him."
                                                                               George Orwell

seems that the fox in the last post was probably not a kit fox but a swift fox
I believe the distinguishing marks is the stripe on the tail
always get a second opinion as some things you read are wrong
I once read a story in the newspaper about how armadillos lay eggs!
I have recently read about the "San Joaquin" fox which is endangered.
Haven't seen one yet.

Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll