2023?

It’s a wonder.
But I wonder what?

Imagine if you will A carousel very elaborate horses. Each of these horses has music in the song associated with it

Impossible to tell one of the horses Has an atomic bomb Inside.

Panlong

In the midst of the vast forests of what was to become known as Florida. There existed many underground riv ers and submerged caves that extended for thousands of miles, Ocasionally there would be springs emerging rushing out from the Earth with clear cold fresh water. Little rivers would flow from some of these springs to stop and go under the earth again and emerge miles away or to vanish in the unknown.

All these had been there before there were any people or names for anything.

The eternal Dragon Panlong lay sleeping at the bottom of a great blue water hole. He was a few hundred yards long. He appeared to be gray green. But upon closer examination his fur and scales were a subdued hue of every color imaginable. He had made his way slithering through dark rivers and tunnels. He had come to Florida in another age and remained there in the cool water of the Springs.

He and his brothers and sisters had visited every continent over the eons. This accounts for the similar description of Dragons in so many human countries. I would assume since you are reading this, that you are probably human. You may be familiar with the depiction of a Mayan or English or the Chinese Dragons in their art. And then again you might not know anything about anything much at all. Whatever the case gather your attention and I will try and tell you the story of what is known of Panlong the water Dragon, who could also fly and change the course of time.

He did not communucate his tale to the crabs or snails and little fishes that lived in the caves as he did. They knew one another in the great open mind of nature, as Panlong also knew the lives of plants and trees above.

He was also aware of the creatures who lived in the forest. Generations of birds and mamals altered form as time passed. He could sense their future shapes and colors. They were aware of him in the senasation of a vast presense, like the moon.

Every full moon Panlong flew up out of his lair across the skies to see what else the world offered and to entangle with his 9 brothers and sister dragons. They exchanged what they had experienced before returning to their various places of rest.

The water world where Panlong lived was very different than it was to become. For a time it was much larger and the salt sea was lower. About 12,000 revolutions of the Sun passed and the first people arrived,

In other parts of the world his brothers and sisters noted the arrival of humans earlier. They took notice because there was was something different about these creatures, something that made them stretch out .

A small band of these humans lived in the woods above Panlong. He payed faint attention to them until one of them a female Shaman of their tribe took indirect notice of his existence.

She had spent her life exploring the invisible and visible realms of the place where she lived. She was old now but healthy and alert.

She did so while building up effigies and symbols out of fall coloredleaves and moss and penetrating the metaphysical dimension where Panlong moved.

It was quite a shock for the Dragon to be noticed without being seen or heard, He had followed along the progress of the Shaman for many years.

She was making circles of cypress needles once more and a great figure of a bearded man formed from moss… when Panlong appeared behind her. He made a huffing sound with his breath and she turned around and fell to her knees.

Panlong remained calm and unthreatening to her. She looked up into his face and also remained calm. Her name was Seloy. She was the only medicine woman for her tribe. But spent much of her time alone in the forest. She had been aware of the Dragon though not knowing exactly what it may be.

Panlong remained calm and unthreatening to her. She looked up into his face and also remained calm. Her name was Seloy.

They sat there reguarding one another for a time. One thing was apparent to Seloy Panlong was not an ordinary animal of any kind, He obviously did not live or die in the regular way all other creatures did.

For his part he saw Seloy’s mortality clear enough she was not long for this world, though she would live for many more years. He could see down the long turning of time to see Seloy surviving past her time . One day they would meet and renew this contact between Water Spirit and human.

He caused there to collect a circle of cedar needles much as Seloy had made and he rose up into the air above the trees and flew away out of sight.

Sekoy remained there sitting on the ground till late that night. Then she made her way slowly along through the forest, next to the creek making her way to her village.

No one was awake when she got there. She went into her hut and lay down wide awake thinking carefully. She decided to tell no one about her encounter.

The following day the busy life of her people roused her. When she emerged from her dwelling she felt changed. She did not know what to do. The first people she encountered were three young girls on their way to learn weaving from Auntie Dedi. The greeted her cheerfully and went on their way.

She followed them and stood nearby while Dedi began their lesson. It was all familiar but seemed strange to her. Dedi was a difficult woman and a hard teacher. Dedi looked up at Seloy and wondered what she was doing there but continued to hand out grasses and vines to the girls and ordered them to begin to restart their assignment from the day before.

Seloy and Dedi had been friends all of their lives. Now late middle aged they were still close. They had their doubts and reservations about one another but had a deep trust.

It was truly odd for Seloy to hang about while Dedi taught some of the young ones to weave. It seemed odd to Seloy also. It was as if she had never seen this teaching before and her friend seemed strange and elemental to her.

Dedi sensed soimething not quite right and as she glanced over to Seloy she saw her become very still and dissapear. Though Seloy was a shaman and a healer this was not something she could do. In a moment she reappeared, just as still.

Dedi sent the girls home and walked over to Seloy saying nothing. she took her by the hand and walked her to her hut, They sat on mats inside. Seloy seemed serious and still and vanished again. Dedi asked her “what are you doing?” Seloy did not reply not realizing she was vanishing and coming back. But she felt something.

Dedi knelt up and reached to take Seloys arms in her hands. She was scared. Seloy became alert to whatever it was that was happening. Dedi asked her with alarm “what are you doing?”

Seloy could not answer.

“You know you are vanishing and reappearing” Dedi added.. And Seloy understood and realized what it was but not why or how. She also realized it had to do with her magical encounter with the water spirit.

” I had something happen while I was out yesterday” I saw something that was of this world and not. Dedi nodded as this was obviously true.

The next moment Seloy vanished once more. Dedi never saw her again.

Many Thousands of years later

A man was out walking in his neighborhood. He walked the same route daily near a creek down to the river then he would turn South and go though a shopping area to another creek and return home.

One day he noticed circles of cedar needles. In time they were mowed by park workers and grew grasses. In the fall of the following year they were back again exactly the same. This really got his attention. Seloy put them back. Just to show him.

He needed something of this. Never knowing what or why.

Provisional Advent Epilogue: The Beekeeper

The sunny day, the wide blue, the roots of the Earth beneath that sky…….

The swarm of bees flitted about the valley floor, landing on this flower and that. The valley was a tangle of vines and trees and wild flowers. Here and there were the remnants of fields, of planted crops. The bees knew each flower by its color temperature and fractal geometry. These were the robotic bees, tiny drone insects that had been created to offset the decline of biological bees in 2023.

Back at the truck, the beekeeper Hank kept in communication with the swarm and wirelessly controlled their flight and checked their individual status. The bees had no need to communicate with one another, as they were in essence one mind with its intelligence physically lodged in the truck.

The bees had no digestive track and no extra organs save that of flight and sensors placed in their “eyes”. The artificial bees were quite energy economical and ran on solar power. They would not be deployed on a rainy day or on a windy one. This day had the perfect characteristics for their full operation.

They did not look like bees at all. They were little flying spheres open in the body with a covering of a special felt that mimicked the hairy legs of real bees and could collect and distribute pollen. They had instead of wings, a single propeller that was able to drive the bee with the use of control surfaces inside the spheres. It had once seemed remarkable that they could fly so well, like a biological bee at all.

Hank was extremely busy as the day grew longer and the sun climbed high and fed energy to the swarm.

The key to the success of the bee program was that they had no batteries. With a strict solar power array they were very quick. It was difficult to keep up with.

One of the more ironic things was they had a faint buzzing sound like bio-bees as the motors were so tiny and fast.

The bright lazy afternoon passed by. The crops and plants under threat from the bee die off, had now recovered, where these new type of beekeepers had maintained their routes. This was the intention of the busy engineers who had conceived and carried out the robotic bee project.

The weather station at the shop sent Hank a constant stream of radar and infrared images. Weather prediction was very accurate though anomalies still occurred. Like the swarm of bees, weather was too complex for predictability. Bees crashed and broke down and had issues that were impossible to anticipate. So a margin had been built into the swarm, a certain amount of loss was expected. Hank took careful account and ordered replacements from the shop on the spot.

When one went down Hank would release a spare one from the hive in the truck to replace it. He did not use his effort to find the failed bees but left them where they fell. The shop would produce more  in real time.

Hank checked the hour. He checked the electric charge on the truck which was also solar powered. Everything was in order for the swarm’s return to the hive contained within the truck and the truck was itself ready to return to the shop at the end of the work day.

At precisely 5:00 PM Hank called them in. From wherever they were, they immediately returned, using the guidance signal provided from Hank. They entered the hive in the truck and cut off from sun became still. Hank who was the robotic truck started on his way home. Hank and his fellow machines kept the engineers intentions well, long after all the bees and all the people were gone.

hot again..yep..and something in St. Augustine

Way back when I used to go sometimes to the Denoel French Pastry Shop in Saint Augustine on Charlotte St. It is a great place, you must go there if in the area.

Anyway during one stretch of visits there I saw some familiar faces but could not place them. Upon returning one day I realized they were part of the crew for Jacques Cousteau’s television adventures including Albert Falco one of the principles.

I learned they were in town for ship repairs  and enjoyed very much this restaurant with an aspect of their homeland. Today the memory of this returns to my attention, as it is near the 100 year anniversary of Jacques Cousteau’s birth.

There has been a lot of water under the Bridge Of Lions in that city since then.  I would hate to think how Captain Cousteau would feel about what is happening to the Gulf OF Mexico due to the current situation (British Petroleum oil spill).

But aside from the current situation the waters of Florida and the Keys have been exploited and abused for decades and the toll is vast. People look out at the water and think how pretty and it is. The invisible undersea nature of it remains.

Tomorrow if by magic, the BP oil spill were to clean itself up the threat to Florida marine life still remains without the visible TV drama. Stopping the oil spill does not even begin to remedy the situation that is here long term but that is all that people can consider.

The Government of Florida under Democrats and Republicans have given lip service to marine life and the health of the natural world of Florida but have done  next to nothing.

I guess we could have coffee with milk and a éclair and try and keep the memory alive of someone who did care and did in fact do something beside run for office and then go to sleep.

It is Sunday and hot (what else?)

Well dear readers the Florida weather is turned summer like and the general situation has turned a bit oily.

If you have not heard about the Gulf Coast oil spill washing up oil on Florida beaches then skip this. Who would want to know anything about this, if they could avoid it?

Now I heard some weird political guy from Florida being interviewed on TV. He said it has been a long time since there was an oil spill. Meaning that numerically there is one which is a low number. A low number means there is not much of a problem with deep water offshore drilling or oil.

Now two bombs dropped on Japan ended World War Two. I guess the Japanese military staff should have said it was just two bombs, not to worry.

That this guy (un-named on purpose) can wear clothes and sit and talk and move around is something for someone that dumb. There is an alternative explanation which is not dumbness but that he is intentionally misleading. Which would be worse?

Memorial Park

In Jacksonville in the Five Points area of Riverside. This monument to the victims of World War One

florida weather report

It’s 56 degrees F and raining today. The florida weather blog site is now active and ready. Our purpose is to discuss here which way the wind blows.