Povey Prattle

Osage and "white" people 1924 Much against their will (of course)  the Osage Nation was forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in Kansas to what was then called the "Indian Territory"  (modern day Oklahoma). They were alloted land which was utterly unsuitable for agriculture, but rich in grazing land which they leased to "white" ranchers, providing the Osage with necessary income. The Osage leaders were wise and tough and had won for themselves the rights to minerals on their Oklahoma land.  This was of little account until the discovery of oil.  Those same wise Osage leaders negotiated with the oil explorers for royalties should the "black gold" be found.  Those royalties amounted to $30 million in 1923 dollars.  Wealth indeed. So much wealth: (Osage people built fine mansions, owned luxurious autos, employed white servants etc). All this was too much for "the powers that be"  in the County and in the Territ...

7:00 p.m. Friday 27th July 2018, Sarasota FL. Outside temp 92f Humidity  85% Outdoors fan almost essential In my car port. Recycling bins behind the fan

An urban park which preserves some of "old Florida". Decaying leaves have their own particular beauty. Zion leads the way,  I tag along.

In these hotter than hades days.. Fill a glass pitcher with water.  Add some chunks of cucumber.  Let it "marinate" in the fridge for a few hours. Makes a delightful and flavourful hydrating drink  (with no useless calories).

How broad, deep and wide is your vision? Is it no greater than what you see on a screen? iPhone iPad 40" flat screen T.V. Mercy me, these screens give us one dimensional sight in a multi-dimensional world.  The screens are dangerously alluring as they seduce us and demand our immediate attention. Regular readers know that I am not a T.V. addict.  My set is about 20 years old, it does not dominate my room. But place me somewhere which has a big T.V. on the wall (e.g. a Doctor's Office)  and my eyes and attention are inexorably seduced by the flickering light. I use my smart phone to make smart phone calls, and not much else. But I have become a near addict to the seductions of my lap top and my i Pad. I am not addicted enough to abandon the larger sights of life as I walk (sans electronics) in the Park and with my dog. There my sight is so much wider, deeper and broader.  In the park I see, and smell and even taste a sm...

What do we hear? Back in the days when they were the latest thing, a dear friend  (Irene R) gave me a Sony Walkman AM/FM radio.   I was thankful. But I rarely used it indoors or out.  Those early Walkman's were clunky, heavy-ish, and difficult to keep in tune. The headphones were hard to keep in place. That was in the dark ages.  Nowadays the I-'phones or Smart 'phones are small, sleek and stylish.  Headphones are a thing of the past having given way to comfortable "ear buds". There is an unhealthy downside to this progress.  The use of highly efficient ear buds cuts the listener off from all manner of other sounds.  (I owe my thoughts to a lecture I heard a year or two ago). For you see, when ear buds are used, the hearer has restricted her/his range of sound.  He/she is cut off from sounds above (birds, airplanes, winds, thunder  etc);  from sounds around - a car horn, a bird in a tree, the greetings...