On Saturday I enjoyed a neighborhood luncheon of eight women celebrating life.  I was surprised to hear how many had grandfathers who came to this country when they were 12 or 14 speaking no English and, yet they contributed and thrived.  Their grandchildren are proof of that.  

My niece is currently driving across the country to visit us.  Because she and her beloved dog are traveling together, I decided to re-read John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley.  It was 1960 and he wanted to understand what was happening in the country so he outfitted a camper truck and left the East coast with his dog Charley and drove up to Maine, across the northern route to Washington state, down to CA and across Texas and the South.  I recommend the book to understand the changes in our country that could lead to Trump and Vance, and Congress killing funding for public broadcasting to silence dissent.

At Book passage, I bought a book, My Head for a Tree: The  Extraordinary Story of the Bishnoi, Guardians of Nature.  The author Martin Goodman travels to Rajasthan, in northern India, home to the Bishnoi, a desert people whose religion is built around nature and wildlife conservation. In 1604 two Bishnoi women were beheaded in defense of trees. In 1643, when trees were being felled for use in celebrations of the goddess Holi, a local Bishnoi named Buchoji killed himself in protest. On September 11, 1730, over 363  Bishnoi were beheaded to save trees.  These people are fierce and still willing to die to save trees.  They understand the peril of not recognizing our connection with all that’s here, the roots that connect us all around the world.