Voting? Here Are Some Links for Voting and Registration Information.

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On November 3, during the US midterm elections, registered voters will help decide important issues. Here’s some info about voting.

Analyzing the President’s Executive Order on Mail Voting:

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/analyzing-presidents-executive-order-mail-voting

Supreme Court says Trump can’t enforce new mail-in ballot regulation:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-says-trump-cannot-enforce-new-mail-ballot-regulation-rcna596088

The SAVE Act: Addressing a Non-Existent Problem at the Cost of Voter Access?:

https://www.billtrack50.com/info/blog/the-save-act-addressing-a-non-existent-problem-at-the-cost-of-voter-access

The SAVE Act Advances in State Legislatures:

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-act-may-be-stalled-in-congress-but-state-versions-are-being-advanced-all-across-the-country/

California Proposition 39- Voter ID

https://lwvc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Voter-ID-Fast-Facts-1.pdf

Follow the money on Prop 39:

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-election-voter-id-proposition-39/

Where’s your ballot?

https://www.vote.org/ballot-tracker-tools

Voter registration guidelines by state:

https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines

Vote.org voter information:

https://www.vote.org

Our democracy needs every registered voter to get out and vote.

A Trip in the Botanical Gardens

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Alice shook stones from her sandal. They sprayed across the ground, barely missing a stripey monarch caterpillar. “I’m sorry,” Alice said reflexively.

“You should be.” The caterpillar inched onto Alice’s other sandal. “Give me a lift. It’s the least you could do after nearly squishing me.”

“What?”

The caterpillar said, “Botanical garden; milkweeds, please.”

What were the odds? Zero, the odds were zero. The milkweeds waved pink heads in the wind. A few released their silky seeds. Alice felt stones in her sandals. No, in her sneakers, she was wearing sneakers. The patterned sunlight colored her calm. No caterpillars, nowhere.

Time to Reconnect

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Do you remember Tom?

Your eyes are the first to understand. They open wide, drawn to a presence.

His cheeks not pale. Bright red, like the way they were that winter day. Electric day.

The day the snow fell in April.

And you met.

He came with a shovel. 

Cleared your sidewalk.

You had cookies and hot chocolate together.

The steam rose wet in the frigid air. 

Before he was your husband, walking boot deep in fluffy snow.

Tom. Laughing at unexpected falling flakes. Catching them in his mouth. 

Living life to the end.

The last word goes to Tom.

I Saw Strength and Sorrow in My Grandmother’s Art.

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I try to imagine my grandmother’s life. When I met her in 1970, she was living outside of Jackson, Michigan. My father hadn’t seen her since he was five. I have one picture of her sitting between my parents, with my sister, under a watercolor of bare-masted boats and impressionist water. I thought she’d painted it. She showed us hers, smaller, unframed.

Calm, I can’t imagine that her life started that way. She bore twenty children; spent years in a mental hospital. Beginning in 1933, she lost her children; her world changed. I try to imagine, but it’s really hard.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen in the Dog Days of Summer

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The heat has drained the air of sound today. 

The birds have lost their voices to this hell of late summer. 

Furry squirrels are hiding in the shade of the maple tree and I guess that I would too if I wore a heavy coat like they do. 

But my dog is prancing from the front door to my chair. 

He’s licked my bare legs cool with sticky saliva. 

So we brave the heat though he’s not mad,

Nor am I English, like that saying goes. 

A Labrador, I guess he could be be English. 

I’ve never heard his accent.

Abstinence Based Sex Ed

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The President’s Ten Proven Methods for Pregnancy Prevention.

  1. Eliminate storks.
  2. Go through menopause.
  3. Read the Trump Bible, exclusively, just $59.99.
  4. Never wean your first baby.
  5. Keep your knees closed.
  6. Concealed carry, stand your ground.
  7. Download the Pope’s hundred best Chicago rhythm and blues tunes.
  8. Get a rhythm groove.
  9. Don’t lose your groove.
  10. When you’re late, say you’re not.

These suggestions have been curated by the president’s own human copy machine while on international jaunts with his majesty. They will be distributed through the Department of Miseducation for use in classrooms this fall.

The new curriculum will be titled Ex-say Education-nay.  

It’s Mostly Fruit Juice

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My friend discovered her ability to conjure a pina colada from a glass of milk one evening at dinner. She said, rather desperately, to her unruly kids, “Eat your vegetables.” Et voila! Like water to wine, the milk in her glass tasted of rum.

Her talent saves us bundles. We go to this Italian restaurant that’s family friendly. My friend and I order milk, the kids get soda, a special treat. We never pay more than a few dollars for a drink and the kids eat their veggies.

The waiters never catch on, maybe because we leave a generous tip.

He’s Got to Pull His Weight

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I was excited when this half-grown border collie came up the driveway, then I got worried. I told Pa, “Could be a working dog. They herd sheep.”

“We ain’t got no sheep.”

“Cows, maybe?”

“Don’t need no dog. Give him to John, he’s got sheep.”

I’ve been asking for a dog since forever. “Might scare…”

The dog sticks his nose in the air. Something’s rustling in the corn and out comes a big ol’ raccoon. The dog’s carrying on to beat the band and, miracle of miracles,  chases that raccoon clean away.

“Reckon he’ll do.”

High praise from my dad.

Daisy O’Grady is a Witch

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I saw Daisy, my longtime friend, in the window of a bookshop on Hamilton Avenue. She was wrapped in cellophane, sitting in a large Easter basket that overflowed with children’s books. Oh, she wore clothes. What were you thinking? An explanatory sign said,  “Ask me about my favorite book.”

I was flummoxed. Daisy hasn’t read a book in years; she’s more into Tarot. If she reads to her grandchildren, she’s kept me in the dark.

I pulled a wig and a pointy hat from my capacious old lady purse. I had the perfect question for her. “Guess What? Yes or No.”

(Guess What? By Mem Fox. A fun read. Also a banned book in Florida for an “old lady in a bathtub” illustration. (But I suspect it’s because Daisy is a witch.)

More Heat, More Bugs

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A click beetle or a cockroach? It’s small. A thumbnail; less than a thumbprint. What is it doing in my house? Lost, I suppose. A wayward adolescent. It’s run away from home. It’s looking for a job. I would never hire it.

It’s reassuring to anthropomorphize this bug. I don’t want to imagine it climbing into the cupboards, eating up my pantry stock. Which brings to mind the black weevily bugs I found in the cranberry beans.

How Zen am I today? Should I start a bug circus? Get rid of all bugs for all time? Musings from an overheated brain.