Flower Friday. : : Succulent Flower

The succulent/cactus garden we planted in front of our house has really taken off...testament to what a heat trap this little space next to our front porch is, and why we can never have a living wreath out there. But the succulents love it and as they continue to grow bigger they are both interesting to watch and being filled with water, are not very flammable.

I've always had a certain amount of faith in my own intuition regarding outcomes, but events of the last decade have left me questioning everything. Two such events are the rise of Donald Trump and the increased number of devastating fires that have struck California. There is a tenuous connection between these two things. When DT was first elected it seemed to me that he was so incompetent and so unprepared to govern that the wheels would begin to come off his administration almost immediately. He couldn't possibly last. But he did. And the more outrageous his behavior, the more support he seemed to garner. 

When I was growing up in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains in Southern California, fires in the summer were common. They would start in the mountains and burn down the canyons toward more heavily populated areas. Houses did burn down, flames were driven by Santa Ana winds, we even had to evacuate once, but we had faith that they would be put out before they caused too much damage. We couldn't even conceive of the kind of climate change driven devastation and the speed of the firestorms that we've seen with increasing regularity in the state in the last decade. 

The tenuous connection between these things, in my mind anyway, was DT's  outrageous comment that the fires were the fault of California's governor. No longer can I just fall back on the assumption that his behavior is absurd at best and evil lies at worst. I can't just hope that this will be the event that finally convinces the powers that be that climate change is real and whether we like it or not, we have to stop burning fossil fuel. It is already too late to reverse the effects of climate change, and if somebody doesn't take charge now, and make the hard decisions, we won't even be able to stop it from progressing. But we can no longer assume anything about this man who is about to become president again. He has proven that he can say anything he wants and there will be people who believe him. His callous disregard for this unprecedented human catastrophe is truly frightening.

He was sentenced in court today on 34 felony counts. He will pay no fines or spend any time in prison, but the felony conviction will go on his record. I can no longer figure out what any of this means,  or believe that it means anything....

As always, thanks to Biker Bear for giving us a reason to look for something interesting and beautiful to publish.