Magical Powers

#571 - Completing a Cycle that began Spring Equinox 2006

#572 - How Beautifully This Hurried Picture Turned Out

#573 - Jean's Media Writing, Which Ignited This Passion....

When someone asked me why I didn't have a cell phone a few years back, I said I didn't want one. He asked what I did without it.

I told him that is always how it is with new technology. We find it hard to imagine life before, and then I asked, "Is what we gained worth what we lost?"

I think it is interesting that many people originally got cell phones for "safety". For example "if my car breaks down." Now they are a leading cause of auto accidents -

"According to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society cellular phone distractions have caused 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States each year."

http://www.drivinglaws.org/stats.php

Then there is the whole environmental thing, 4 billion cell phones currently in use - where are they all going? My 17 year old cousin is already on her 3rd? 4th? and I doubt any of them got recycled. (I would be happy to be wrong about this.)

"Did you know that the average life span of an American cell phone is less than 18 months? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...in the U.S... 90% (are) thrown into the trash and only 10% reused or recycled...Cell phones contain hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, chromium, copper."

http://mobiledevdesign.com/tutorials/cell_phone_recycling-1229/

Anyway, I pretty much have shut up about cell phones because obviously I am a minority (and also realize I am blessed because I haven't had a job that required one). But if I could make them disappear with a wave of a wand... Watch out when my Magical Powers come!

#574 - I felt my mom's presence a lot after she died...a few years later though I don't. However, the past couple weeks, she has clearly been hanging around. As further evidence - tonight my friend Jean sent the Mary Oliver Poem that I Read at My Mom's Memorial Service (wondering if I had heard of it)- The Summer Day.

Oh and I love this intro to the poem on the library of congress website -

"Today's poem holds that the act of attention is a form of prayer."

#575 - Not feeling very grateful and then Reading the Email from Jean With That Poem. I am going to read it again slowly right before I get off the computer,