Tuesday’s Theme Music – Uncertainty
Ashland, Oregon — Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
Today’s weather vibe echoes with yesterday’s impressions: sunshine in the east, dark, heavy, low clouds everywhere else. A late morning squall passed through Ashland yesterday. I was driving through it; my wife said it never touched our place.
The temperature now is 50 with a high of 55 F forecasted, roughly like yesterday. Except I saw 70 at our house at 3 PM.
News headlines told me yesterday that Jacksonville, Florida had wildfires burning. The headlines were about AMTRAK stopping train service for fires. I had to dig to learn about those fires. They now affected Florida and Georgia. The causes are exceptionally dry and windy conditions, and extreme drought.
According to Drought.gov, 51% of the United States is now in drought conditions. I knew it was bad in the west, especially the Pacific Northwest, but it didn’t register that Florida was also suffering from a drought.
We’re preparing for a hot and dry summer in our area. Further east, I read today that Colorado is draining a reservoir, shifting its water to another location, to reduce loss from evaporation.
In Trump Iran war news, the original ‘cease fire’ agreement is ending on the eight week war. Nobody can say what will happen then. Trump is making threats; the US Navy seized one tanker in the Gulf of Oman and boarded another in the Indian Ocean.
Your Trump quote for today:
Heavy snow and cold is forecast for parts of parts of Alaska, California, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Virginia voters go to the polls for a special election about redistricting.
I won’t go into the various shooting deaths of the last few days.
The song that found its way into my morning mental music stream is from 1993. “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots is reputed to have a couple ‘meanings’, according to STP. For me, it’s about uncertainty, waiting — and lies.
Opening Lyrics
And I feel that time’s a wasted go
So where ya going ’til tomorrow?
And I see that these are lies to come
So would you even care?
h/t to AZLyrics.com
I’m not surprised that Les Neurons brought “Plush” into my head as my thoughts swirl with the news and speculation about Mom and her future. The song came out a few years before I retired from the military. I was living in the SF – SJ bay area and heard the song frequently on the radio while driving around on errands.
Hope you experience a safe, healthy, satisfying day, and don’t get too taken down by the news.
Cheers
“Come From Away”
My wife and I had a mini-staycation yesterday. First we went to the matinee performance of a play, “Come From Away”. Dinner out at a Mexican restaurant followed.
- The Oregon Shakespeare Festival staged the play. A musical, the book is based on the 9/11 attacks and Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, when 39 aircraft and almost 7,000 people were diverted to the island after US and Canadian airspace was closed after the terrorist attacks.
- The play was energetic and uplifting. Production values and performances were superb. Afterward, we thought, it must have physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Each actor played several rolls. They often picked up and carried chairs with them, representing their carry-on bags. Chairs and tables were re-arranged to be council meetings, diners, air-traffic control towers, buses, and aircraft.
- Gander was only a place of 9,000 itself, but with one of the largest airfields in the world. That airfield had been built during the early days of transatlantic travel, when a final fuel top off was needed to cross the ocean. Aircraft landed there coming and going from Europe.
- The people of Gander were powerfully represented as caring and giving. Differences were set aside to come together to help all these travelers cope with trying circumstances. Passengers had no idea what had happened for hours. Those who spoke little English, who came from places where martial law ruled, were terrified when soldiers arrived and began ordering them off the aircraft and onto buses.
- One person took it upon herself to find the animals in the aircraft and ensure they had food, water, medicine, and care. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and explanation, along with a new romance, and the end of an old one.
- Most interesting, high school students also attended. Many of them were confused about what was going on. While those of us born well before 9/11 were transfixed by history and our own memories, these young people were frequently baffled. History was explained to them after the play was over.
Last, most compelling, was the juxtaposition of the times. Here we are, so very polarized by the American president, Donald Trump, and his policies. Establishing guidelines that cuts the legs off of empathy and sympathy, giving speeches which demeans anyone who isn’t American, indeed, anyone who doesn’t support him, there we were, watching people coming together to help one another. It is especially poignant now, as Trump trashes Canada again and again, while declaring himself the ‘unity president’.
Watching the play was a very, very powerful experience. I highly recommend seeing it, if you ever have the chance.
It will remind you of what we can be.
Watchin’, Waitin’, Etc.
I’m watching a 2019 television show called Years and Years. Terrific cast, led by Emma Thompson and Rory Kinnear. British, it’s set in Manchester, England. I’m watching it on Netflix.
They set us up in the first episode. Things are swinging to the right. Donald Trump, POTUS, is in a pissing contest with the Chinese. On Trump’s last day in office, he launches a nuke.
That sounds so Trumpian, it’s plain damn scary. I can see Trump doing that and then crowing about being strong and manly, a peace president who is only killing 40,000 to 45,000 to show the Chinese who is boss.
Right-wing ugliness, inflamed with financial instability, spreads around the world. Banks fail. Recession blooms like flowers in a warm wet spring. Along the way, a daughter decides to become trans. Not transexual or transgender, but transhuman. Another daughter is a spirited protestor who ends up with radiation sickness after filming the nuclear strike.
Refugees, torture, intolerance, hate, and spite are on display, along with differences of opinions, treachery, hope, and humanity. It’s a pretty amazing, compelling brew of life.
If it just wasn’t so damn prescience about what could happen with a madman like Trump holding the controls to a nuclear arsenal.
Wednesday’s Wandering Political Thoughts
Once again, I read news that made me want to scream
Super Bowl LX will be this Sunday, February 8. The game will coronate either the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots as the NFL’s champions.
Part of the annual spectacle is the halftime show, which expanded from marching bands in early years to a huge production with significant musical headliners. This year’s show is headlined by Bad Bunny and Green Day.
Bad Bunny is one of the current era’s hottest young entertainers. The Bad Bunny choice has agitated conservatives. Many decree Bad Bunny as a bad choice because they want an American, and they don’t like that he sometimes performs in Spanish.
I was floored. A Puerto Rican, Bad Bunny often performs in Spanish, because that’s a natural language in his area. I want to scream at them, “Don’t you understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States? Bad Bunny is an American.”
Their ignorance is probably one reason Bad Bunny performs in Spanish.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Dry but cold and sunny, Wednesday, February 4, 2026, has begun its 24-hour Ashland residency. 50 – 46 – 37 F are Ashland’s temperatures, given by Alexa, online, and home. Sunny, with blue skies and no clouds that Papi and I can see. A high of sixty-something is projected.
I’m thinking about beats today. Give me a beat, we got the beat, we were beat, they beat him down.
Every day — every hour — has its beats. Sometimes they come out sharp and clear. Today, they’re muted background noise for me.
Reading a novel for a bit doesn’t reveal the day’s beats. Nor does reading the news. Yet the beat goes on.
Papi has his beat, moving with private style, a cool and graceful study in orange fur. Bit jealous, watching his steady gaze as he sits, looks, washes.
It’s only February and already the news beat has been manic with news that has me gritting my teeth, bracing for worse. The Neurons have offered up a Foo Fighters tune to blanket the noise. “The Pretender” plays in the morning mental music stream, driving me forward a new, harder beat. The song reminds me, same ol’ story, waiting to see what happens, waiting to hear their defense, waiting for a change back to the nation I knew.
Sample Lyrics
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
The song fits my mood because I often ask of Trump, who are you to issue decrees like a pompous king? And I ask of the MAGAs, who are you that you believe where Trump leads, not just accepting, but supporting and encouraging it?
The morning circle is done. Hope peace and grace find you, me, all of us, and take us tightly through this day and into a better tomorrow.
Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 