Velo Drumming Health Care Solstice News

The previous rant began on a Saturday morning. By the time it posted on Sunday evening, much of the ennui that comes from paying too much attention to public affairs had been dissolved by some pleasant personal moments. Saturday afternoon I submitted a three minute video to complete a digital field and editing course at Thurston County TV. Even better, the sun came out for a few hours around mid-day on Sunday--enough to ride 14 miles--before the steady rain returned later in the afternoon. By that time, Maggie and I had joined drummers making a powerful noise in the capitol rotunda. All that took some of the edge off any residual bile I felt about the health care finance bill.

Make no mistake, the senate bill is not an effective reform by any means. I guess I'm happy that it might do something but skeptical its prospects. I'm definitely not happy that the changes are so weak, meager and ineffective, nor am I happy about the fact that this legislation is about the best that can be expected from the American political system. I little noted the goings-on this week but will, no doubt, long remember them.

More fun was watching Andre Nkouaga, a musician from the Ivory Coast, shoot a video at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. Maggie had been helping out so we ended up backstage and in the audience during the last hours of two days rehearsing and filming. Lots of activity and lots of technology was on hand, everywhere--all the bits and pieces that will edit seamlessly into a performance video. I know this because I am a newly certified field and digital editor.

Next day is Christmas Eve and the town is winding down for Christmas. The office closes at noon on what turns out to be a beautiful sunny day. After sunset Maggie and I walk through the neighborhood to check out the neighbor's decorations and lights. The first quarter moon is high in the southern sky. Jupiter is in western sky. The evening is cold. It's good to return to the warmth of home and hot chocolate.

Christmas morning, Maggie and I hike the loop trail in nearby Watershed Park for the first time. The low winter sun pours abundant light into this wooded area. Along the way we hear all sorts of calls and chirps. We see hear and then see a pileated woodpecker working its way up a dead tree, making distinct thumps with each peck. Farther up the trunk, it plunges its entire head into larger openings.

The park is a gem, a gift of nature on this Winter Solstice.

The sun is well over the horizon now (9:00 am) on this day after Christmas. I was up for the last few hours of the long darkness, early enough to see Mars and Saturn in the clear winter sky. The bright, sunny day looks perfect for a bike ride.

Health care finance can wait.