Passing Strange At Present

$200 needed now! 👇🏽👇🏽

All hail the Tots

Dueling hard with the wallflowers & sunflowers! And the brittlebush coming out.

Woman sitting on the tailgate of a pickup. The truck has a lightweight camper cap. Fabulous rock formations surround the site.

Had 28 great nights in our pickup, roaming Death Valley. Now we are in The Nature Conservancy's bunk house along the Amargosa. WASHING MACHINE! So luxe. Cattle too, of course. And so, to work.

Share widely, @rsagarcia.bsky.social's ongoing health fundraiser, and there are some wonderful prizes -- 3 autographed copies of her novella to 3 people who contribute to the GFM during the month of March! Send some coins if you're in a position to do so, and boost the signal!

News diet recommendation from a media studies grad. You should be following @aljazeera.com.

Even if you don't consider their journalism unbiased (which I would argue against, they're pretty balanced), you need to be getting some of your news from those directly impacted by violence.

The group Elevated Access can fly you for free to a provider that is further away. Help is out there, you’re not alone. There is still time.

www.elevatedaccess.org

Watercolor of a Joshua Tree in the desert. Muted colors

Joshua trees in Death Valley NP. Much nicer place to see them than Joshua Tree NP, which is overrun and abused. Pretty happy with this painting.

Excellent thread, and Bridget did come back home.

GAH

Hey new followers, El is a friend of mine who is really struggling right now, so if you enjoyed my romance hot takes maybe consider sending a few bucks their way?

Desert landscape, deep blue skies, piles of boulders.

Most of Lone Pine and the surrounding area is owned by the city of Los Angeles. Because water. Owens Valley. LA Aqueduct. (Go see Chinatown again.)

Never, ever forget that water is an essential resource for life. And water rights are power over other people, other beings, other lives.

Yesterday at Father Crowley vista, a group of photographers waiting for an American fighter jet to roar down the canyon at eye level, shattering the wilderness peace. So they could get the photo, instead of watching what was happening.

Meanwhile, we're bombing Iran. Again.

Two cities in Israel, bomb shelter comparison

By the way when you see reports about how Israelis are going to bomb shelters, you should keep in mind that the vast majority of Palestinian *citizens* of Israel (in the 1948 territories, not the oPT) do not have a single bomb shelter nearby due to the apartheid system Israel has implemented.

Cannot Like

Desert landscape, snow-capped Mt Whitney in distance

Sunset on the Sierra Nevada

One of the canyons where Western serials & films were shot. Piles of big round boulders and sandy washes. That scene in the first Star Wars, where the Jawas are hauling off C3P0? The actors were first graders from Lone Pine Elementary School.

Alabama Hills, foot of Mt. Whitney, where they filmed Hopalong Cassidy, Gunga Din, Khyber Rifles, Lone Ranger, Tremors, & more. Great little film museum in Lone Pine, stop there and eat at the taco truck.

guy clark old no 1 book

editors note thanking peter blackstock and i

was such a genuine thrill and honor to speak to a bunch of living legends for this project including but not limited to rosanne cash, emmylou harris (!), rodney crowell and steve earle - can't wait to see what @peterblackstocksd.bsky.social did with them! buy it here www.guyclark.com/store/p/old-...

Exclusive: Plan C Doubles Down on Abortion Pill Info Amid Political Attacks The online abortion pill guide has been redesigned to make it even easier to learn where to get pills, including at no cost.

Have y'all heard of @plancpills.bsky.social ? They list telehealth providers AND community networks and pharmacy sites that will keep operating even if telehealth somehow ends. Plus, clinicians can prescribe misoprostol-only abortions. Judges can't stop abortion pills from reaching people.

We've been poking around a lot of great sites: Ash Meadows & China Ranch to name just two.

And in almost every case, the sites are still great because The Nature Conservancy stepped in & bought them to ensure they got protected. Maybe handed them on. But paid to save them.

Great org.

Fremont's phacelia!

We trip over Fremont everywhere we go. I still wonder if anyone found his howitzer.

I've been busy marketing the new book, but I haven't forgotten that Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror is eligible for the Locus Awards and neither should you

Let's fight to get these important stories the recognition they deserve

THE IMMIGRANT PANTRY — WEEKLY RESISTANCE UPDATE (2/15–2/21) 84 deliveries. 411 neighbors served. Four. Hundred. And. Eleven. While Mayor Paul Young and Sheriff Floyd Bonner try to gaslight this city into believing ICE collaboration isn’t impacting Memphis — our data says otherwise. If nothing is happening, then why are families suddenly too afraid to leave their homes? If nothing is happening, why are parents missing work because they’re afraid of checkpoints, task forces, jail transfers? If nothing is happening, why are 411 people relying on underground community food delivery in one week? This is what a humanitarian crisis looks like before officials admit it exists. It looks like: • Empty fridges because breadwinners can’t risk driving • Children stuck inside • Families calling us whispering • Volunteer drivers making drop-offs so neighbors don’t have to choose between food and safety Since we launched, we have completed 1,462 deliveries. Not rumors. Not vibes. Not political spin. Data. And demand isn’t decreasing — it’s rising. You cannot collaborate with federal immigration enforcement, destabilize entire communities, and then pretend the ripple effects don’t exist. We are absorbing the impact. With volunteers. With donations. With mutual aid. But community generosity should not be the substitute for public accountability. If you’re angry? Good. Turn it into action. Here’s how: 🔥 Donate — Venmo @TheCollectiveGood (last 4: 6286) 🔥 CashApp $CollectiveGood 🔥 Clear our Amazon + Walmart wish lists - bit.ly/MemphisImmigrantPantry 🔥 Drop food at Latino Memphis or Underground Art 🔥 Share this post The people trying to downplay this are betting on silence. Don’t give it to them. Memphis takes care of Memphis. And we are not done.

THE IMMIGRANT PANTRY — (2/15–2/21)
84 deliveries.
411 neighbors served.

And demand isn’t decreasing — it’s rising.

If you’re angry? Good.
Turn it into action.

Here’s how:

Last year we found NOTHING blooming in Borrego, hope you have lots to look at!

We saw a roadrunner the other day, roosting in a creosote bush about five feet off the ground. It clattered its bill at us. Not used to seeing one stay put! Terrific birds.

Five-spot, a pink balloon of a blossom with five red spots inside

Landscape near Saratoga Springs, showing one of many fields covered with golden daisies

Lilac-colored bundle of verbena blossoms

Tiny lavender flowers with yellow throats, I forget the name

Dear @frwildflowers.bsky.social, thinking of you. DVNP is in bloom, you'd be delighted by the phacelia & verbena lining the roads, but you can barely notice them because of the millions of golden daisies. 47 species ID'd so far & half a dozen pics for my botanist friend to scry. Glorious.

Having achieved groceries, lunch, propane, gas, and medications, we are now heading towards Shoshone to see fabulous geology as described in Marli B. Miller's "Death Valley ROCKS" book.

Date shakes at China Ranch, too.

Off line for a few days. Ciao, fellow babies.

VA once again fucking over veterans. This whole thing where agencies and individuals decide they can just ignore orders from the courts — and being proven right — is probably the most disturbing and destructive aspect of Trump’s regime.

www.reddit.com/r/Military/s...

Good idea!