Big October Morning

The Two Friends
Daniel Ridgeway Knight
(American, 1839 - 1924)

Walking

A big October morning,
the village church-bells,
the road along the ridge,
the chestnut burr and sumach,
the hills above the bridge
with autumn colors glow.
Now we strike a steady gait,
walking towards the future,
letting past and present wait,
we push on in the sun,
Now hark! Something bids us pause . . .
But we keep on a walking,
’tis yet not noon-day,
the road still calls us onward,
today we do not choose to die
or to dance, but to live and walk.
[ellipses in original]

Charles Ives (1874 – 1954)

~ Poetry Lovers ~

Factbase Roll Call

Chicago: City of Peace
NO KINGS ~ October 18, 20025

For those who asked, "What else can I do besides
-- or in addition to -- marching in protest?"
Here is my suggestion:
Does everyone know about the Factbase / Roll Call website? There has been some concern that Congress is not keeping a comprehensive written record of Trump's running commentary, that they are editing, omitting, and summarizing. Well, never fear, Roll Call IS keeping track! You can click on "transcripts" and read every speech and interview word - for - word, every inanity and every lie. Roll Call has become my totally trustworthy factchecker of Trump's nonsense. If it sounds too stupid to be true, go to Roll Call and you can verify that unfortunately, YES, that is exactly what he said.

I have noticed that most of the left - leaning reporters and comedians pick out the most outrageous headline grabbers, which is a helpful strategy for calling out the magnitude of the problem; however, there is so much more that needs to be exposed in an effort to emphasize just how far away Trump veers from truth and normalcy.

So my idea for No Kings participation -- and for every day -- is to read a few of the latest transcripts and post some direct quotations as a consciousness raising exercise for your readers. https://rollcall.com/factbase/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many thanks to those who commented
earlier in the summer (June 14, 2025)
on my previous No Kings posts:
From Laura: Well, Kitti, a couple of friends enjoy sending "Living With Dementia"-style incoherency, but your blog is so much more pointed! Not charming, for sure, but thought-provoking and necessary. Many thanks for sharing!

Thanks Laura! Although we wish it were not so, the unnerving material appears to be never - ending, and it seems that pointing out the obvious is a necessary task. Sigh. Evenso, I will take a break from it, for a few weeks at least, and clear my head.

From Megan: Blog posts are highly effective Kitti!! You are doing a big thing taking it to a public platform like FB. I applaud you and admire you.

Megan, thanks so much for your vote of confidence. Your kind words re-energize me to keep on pointing out the obvious in the hopes that one day we will stem the tide of craziness!

From Linda: I have been wanting to let you know how much I have been enjoying your blogs and posts and have shared with Dan, as well. I admire your courage and plain speak during these turbulent times!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FIRST batch:
"I Didn't Even Know Anything"
QK & FN

SECOND batch:
"A Very Much Different Country" ~ "Gulf of Mexico"
QK & FN

THIRD batch:
"No Kings Day" ~ "Fighting Fantasy"
QK & FN

FOURTH batch
Living With Dementia
QK & FN

FIFTH batch
America
QK & FN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Concluding with some back and forth
between my friend Katy and me:
Katy: Very interesting I’d say I "enjoyed" your "Living With Dementia" series, but it’s hard to use the word "enjoy" when Trump is involved. Have you considered adding another descriptor to go with Dementia? Like "living with dementia and without a soul." Or "living with dementia and evil." Or "living with dementia and narcissism." Or "dementia compounded by sheer cruelty." There must be millions living with dementia who aren’t destroying our country.

Me: I like all your ideas. Dementia and too much power and no handlers. Or dementia and a 4th grade vocabulary, so everything is “big and beautiful” or “mean and nasty." I was going to stop after one batch of dementia quotations, but I got so many responses, I just kept going. I’ll do some more this week.

Katy: It’s great! Keep going unless it’s too depressing. I wish I could think of the perfect awful word to describe his complete lack of regard for anyone other than himself and evil towards anyone who isn’t rich. But as I’m thinking about it, one aspect of his behavior is best described by “living with dementia” -- the on again off again policy making random pronouncements. Maybe it’s a narcissist living with dementia.

Katy: I’m just re-reading all the blog updates and now understand better your concept of “living with dementia.” Trying to be respectful. I really like your turn towards politics! How can you do anything else when it’s all we can think about. Very good insight! I’m finding it hard to read because it’s so depressing that this is our president

Me: How about this, from Heather Cox Richardson: “There is also no doubt Trump continues to demonstrate that he is more committed to fantasy than reality."

Katy: Does he know it’s fantasy or does he think he’s so powerful that he’s creating a new reality?

Me: He is SENILE (see Gerontocracy).

Katy: YES. It’s hard to believe that all his staff and advisers are stupid and immoral enough to go along with it. I know I’m restating the obvious.

Me: Totally agree. I think it suits them fine because they are equally greedy and power hungry and see this as their chance for unchecked advancement.

And have you seen Prince Charles? (he’ll never be “King” to me). OLD & doddering.  When I get like that do NOT bring me out in public, even if it’s next year.  Just say NO!

On the other hand, I saw Susan Sarandon in a recent movie — same age as the others, smart as a whip.   I’m sorry, but we just have to admit / accept that some folks hold up mentally into their 90s while others (Trump & Charles) fail before 80.

What pisses me off so bad is all the people willing to say that Biden is in mental decline but NOT say it about Trump when he is so obviously HOPELESS and cannot think straight to save his life.

Katy: I know! He’s SO the emperor without clothes! Everyone needs to pay attention to children’s books.

Me: Yup! The message has been out there for thousands of years, and yet . . .

Like Fairy Gold in Sunlight

Afternoon Tea (1910)
Richard E. Miller (American, 1875 – 1943)

"The last days of the holiday, like fairy gold counted in the sunlight, disappeared as fast as they were numbered. The shining wealth of summer that had been theirs to squander dwindled to a few dull-gleaming days. Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, and Phoebe began to to spend them with the distraught recklessness of those who see the end of the world. A day was ransomed to climb the hill, and a morning to revisit the scene of Naomi's accident" (181 - 82).

from The Exiles
by Hilary McKay

Detail from Landscape with Two Women (1896)
Henri-Edmond Cross (French, 1856 – 1910)

Spice Mix Recipes

Magazine page from an unremembered source,
saved for decades in my recipe notebook.

For a variety of lovely poems
on the subject of kitchen spices
see my recent post

Life of Spice

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

~A few favorite recipes, in alphabetical order ~
BOURSIN SEASONING
equal amounts of:
basil
dill seed or weed
garlic powder
marjoram
thyme
salt
black pepper

Stir 2 teaspoons of spice mix into
8 oz cream cheese & 4 oz butter


CHAI
1 cup loose dry tea leaves
1 cup brown sugar crystals

2 teaspoons each:
cardamom
cinnamon
cloves
ginger
nutmeg

To serve: boil 2 cups water,
add 1 cup milk & 4 1/2 teaspoons of Chai Mix


CHILI POWDER
Ratio (in whatever measure you choose):
2 cumin
2 garlic powder
2 oregano
2 paprika

1 cayenne
1 onion powder


CURRY POWDER
2 TB ground coriander
2 TB ground cumin

1 TB ground / powdered mustard
1 TB salt
1 TB pepper

2 teasp tumeric
2 teasp garlic powder

1 teasp ginger
1 teasp cayenne pepper
1 teasp ground allspice

Optional in small amounts:

Bay leaves, crushed
Celery Seed
Cloves, ground
Fenugreek
Mace
Nutmeg ground
Onion powder
Saffron


PEG'S JERK SEASONING
2 TB dried minced onion
1 TB onion powder
1 TB sugar
1 TB ground thyme

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspooons allspice

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


PUMPKIN SPICE
Ratio (in whatever measure you choose):
2 cinnamon
2 cloves
2 ginger
2 nutmeg
1 allspice
1 mace

No, this does not taste like pumpkin,
but it is used to season pumpkin pie filling,
and sprinkle on top of your pumpkin pies

Also, sprinkle on tea, coffee, or cocoa

And, add to any other festive recipes -- such as
Ginger Snaps, Christmas Cake, Figgy Pudding --
that call for a combination of these spices.


ROASTED SWEET POTATO SEASONING
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt use less if using table salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

This amount will season will season
3 large raw sweet potatoes,
peeled & cut in chunks & tossed in 2 TB olive oil
bake on a cookie sheet, for 30 minutes at 425 F


TACO SEASONING
6 TB cumin
4 TB garlic powder

3 TB each of the following
paprika
onion powder
salt
pepper
sugar

2 TB each
red pepper flakes
oregano

A Seasonal Tin for the Pumpkin Pie Spice

A Vintage Candy Tin,
perfect for storing the Chai Spice
~ Thanks to Megan for both the tin and the recipe! ~

Summer's Tipping Point

First Red Leaf in the Backyard

End of Summer - Early Fall Fortnightlies:

August 14 ~ At the Clavier

August 28 ~ Late Summer Cranes

September 22 ~ Autumnal Auth

October 8 ~ Sewing Box Lost Forever

October 14 ~ Life of Spice

Neighborhood Trumpet Vine

Belonging to Rovilla

My grandmother's tooled leather wallet & handbag.

Mary Rovilla Heidemann Lindsey
(October 8, 1891 - June 14, 1966)

To read more about my grandmother
on her 134th birthday
see my recent post

Sewing Box Lost Forever

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

Also: FN & QK & KL

Lazy Hazy Days

Photos by Jay Beets
End of July & Beginning of August

Ah, yes, "the winds must come" --
a poem for the passing summer days . . .

If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

Now & Then Post
Huckleberry Summertime

May the summer reverie
continue through August & September!

I hope you will enjoy the remains of summer
while I take a break from Quotidian Posts.
See you in the Fall -- sometime after Labor Day!

Before the trees change, I'll be back . . .

Thanks to my friend Jay Beets
for the heart-stopping seasonal photos,

and to my friend, author and artist Jan Donley
for reminding me that Auden's poem
is a villanelle -- not a pantoum.

You can check above
for these specific characteristics:

A villanelle = 19 lines
5 tercets (3-line stanzas) and a final quatrain (4-line stanza)

it uses two rhymes (A & B)
and two repeating lines:

the first line of the 1st stanza becomes
the last line of the 2nd and 4th stanzas;

the third line of the 1st stanza becomes
the last line of the 3rd and 5th stanzas.

These two repeated lines
form the final two lines of the concluding quatrain.

Not Older With the Years

For further thoughts on
Emily Dickinson's Poem #1055
see my recent post

Happy Birthday Anyway

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

See also:
Various Poetical Misattributions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Channeling Emily Dickinson this week
[see all previous]
~ QK ~ FN ~ KL ~
in honor of my friend Victoria Amador:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICKIE!
And thanks for your unceasing
inspiration and input
into these blogposts over the years!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We turn not older with years,
but newer every day."
~ from the letters of Emily Dickinson

Just a Girl, Just a Lad

Church of St. Thomas Becket ~ Skeffington, England

"Skeffington was Rafferty's mother's maiden name."

A charming song for a summer day . . .
Mary Skeffington

Mary Skeffington, close your eyes
And make believe that you are just a girl again
Go to sleep tonight, dream of days
When you had something there to light the way.

Remember a holiday
in a north-of-England town
You slept in a room upstairs
on a bed of eiderdown.

Mary Skeffington, when you wake
You mustn't be afraid to face another day
Think of what you have, you'll get by
You've always been a lady
so hold your head up high.

Look back on a home where you spent
the best years of your life
Remember the man who asked you
if you would be his wife.

Mary Skeffington, close your eyes
And make believe that you are just a girl again
Go to sleep tonight, dream of days
When you had something there to light the way. (1971)

Gerry Rafferty (1947 – 2011)
Scottish singer, songwriter, musician

Also sung by Oliva Newton-John

**********

And a haunting poem for a summer night . . .

to put you in the mind of Wuthering Heights
and ghosts of youth:

Sonnet #43

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
from her collection
The Ballad of Harp-Weaver and Other Poems
More poems: QK & FN & KL

Save Thee and Me

Vintage Postcard ~ Nora Paterson

"All the world is queer save thee and me,
and even thou art a little queer."

Occasionally reduced to:
"There's nowt so queer as folk."
Robert Owen (1771 – 1858)
philanthropist, political philosopher, social reformer

All the World & Gang Aft Agley

On Facebook

Dad's Printing & Cursive

Willard Marvin Carriker

Born 102 years ago today:
July 18, 1923 - June 27, 1987

1940:
My father with his parents and siblings.
standing:
Grandma Adeline "Shug" ~ Grandpa Willard "Jack"
Rudy ~ Robert
middle: Willard ~ Frances ~ Gene
front: Don


May 1969:
50th Wedding Anniversary
of Grandma & Grandpa Carriker, seated in front.
Standing L - R: Frances, Gene, Willard, Don, Robert.
(Missing Rudy, RIP 1921 - 1944)

On Facebook

I was looking through an old text book today,
and came across a few things that Daddy had copied
from various sources for me to add to my teaching materials.

Whether it was his printing or his cursive,
Dad always had amazing penmanship!
Always impeccable!

America, Vast Confused Beauty

"America and Paul Revere"
Detail from The British Are Coming (1982)
In Oscar de Mejo's ABC
Oscar de Mejo (1911 - 1992)

The Congressional Library
[excerpt]

This is America,
This vast, confused beauty,
This staring, restless speed of loveliness,
Mighty, overwhelming, crude, of all forms,
Making grandeur out of profusion,
Afraid of no incongruities,
Sublime in its audacity,
Bizarre breaker of moulds,
Laughing with strength,
Charging down on the past,
Glorious and conquering,
Destroyer, builder,
Invincible pith and marrow of the world,
An old world remaking,
Whirling into the no-world of all-colored light.

Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925)
[See also: "Christ, what are patterns for?"]

In the spirit of Amy Lowell's America:
"vast, confused beauty . . . staring, restless,"
here is Batch Five of my awareness - raising
"living with dementia" reminders
[Also posted on The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker]

1.

Living with dementia and planning
to replace criminal justice with deportation:

" . . . many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, you want to know the truth. So, maybe that'll be the next job that we'll work on together."

2.

Drawing by Banksy

Living with dementia and repeatedly repeating
misinformation like a broken record:

April 20:
We had many murderers, 11,888, they think."
["they" = Trump]

"July 1 [and July 3]:

"Every day, our brave law enforcement officers are hunting down and deporting migrant criminals who have committed heinous crimes, including more than 13,000 murderers -- 11,888 to be exact, but I'd probably say the 13,000 is right also."

Well, which is it?
First of all, neither number is correct;
and second of all 11,888 is NOT more than 13,000.

Trump has been obsessing stupidly about this, since mid - April; he has repeated these fake figures at least 17 times since then, even though it has been fact - checked numerous times and shown to be a wildly inaccurate and "gross misreading of the available data."

3.

Living with dementia and self - fulfilling prophecy:

"We had a man as president who shouldn't have been there.
You know that. He shouldn't have been there."

4.

Guess what? Not the path to a Nobel Peace Prize:

"But I hate them too. You know that.
So, it's sort of, I hate, I really do. I hate them..."

5.

Living with dementia and making preposterous comparisons:

"I said -- they said, you know, sir, you're gonna go down as one of the greatest presidents ever. I said, really? No. I said, really? I said, better than Washington. They said, yes, sir. I said, better than honest, Abe Lincoln. They said, yes, sir."

6.

Illustration from SpongeBob Square Pants

Living with dementia and can't read charts:

"And I think, uh, I can say very proudly, and I don't have to quote the polls, that our country is more proud right now than it's been in many, many years. We have pride. We have dignity."

Oh really? Is it Opposite Day?

7.

Living with dementia and can't stop harping about old news:

Obsessing stupidly about this
since at least 2019

"You have a shower head, the shower doesn't -- you think it's not working, it is working, the water is dripping out and that's no good for me, I like this hair nice and -- I like that hair nice and wet. Takes you -- you have to stand in the shower for 20 minutes before you get the soap out of your hair. And I put a thing in, and it sounds funny, but it's really not -- it's horrible. And when you wash your hands, you turn on the faucet and no water comes out. You're washing and the water barely comes out, it's ridiculous. This was done by crazy people, and I wrote it all off and got it approved in Congress so that they can't just change it because I did it in my first term. Everyone was so happy."

8.

Living with dementia and ignoring the EPA:

"Do you have any problems with water?
No, we have so much, we don't know what to do with it.
You know, it comes down from heaven, right?"

9.

Living with dementia or whatever:

"obviously . . . usually, mostly, I think probably exclusively."

10.

Yet another lie:
"I would say they were fully funded
within minutes of hearing about this."

Best Reddit Response:
"He's not lying if you say
it was funded within minutes, 4,320 minutes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here for FIRST batch:
"I Didn't Even Know Anything"
QK & FN

SECOND batch:
"A Very Much Different Country"
QK & FN

THIRD batch:
No Kings Day
QK & FN

FOURTH batch
Living With Dementia
QK & FN

FIFTH batch
America
QK & FN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mother America (1973)
Oscar de Mejo (1911 - 1992)

Art Imitates Nature

Edward Julius Detmold (1883-1957)
Illustration from
Fabre's Book of Insects

Praying Mantis ~ 10 - 03 - 2011
~ 2020 ~
On blog before & on facebook (again)

A few more mantis pics, but none as good as above!
This is one of my best!
I could swear that she is posing for the camera!

Such a classic pose -- how does she know?

In "The Summer Day," Mary Oliver says "grasshopper" --
but I think she should have said "praying mantis,"
especially in a poem about "prayer":

Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is. . . .

Life Imitates Art,
Art Imitates Life,
and so forth!

Books and Watermelon

Summery Book Blogs

Ken Kielty
Talking About Things That Matter

Matthew Arnold & Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Forgotten Mermen

Greg Pizzoli
Books With Ellie

@Kitti's List

American Specialties

Animated Cards by Jacquie Lawson

Pets on Parade

&

Patriotic Pastry

If all else fails, bake a cake!

Or, as D. H. Lawrence wrote in 1923,
fix the plumbing!

Listen to the States asserting: "The hour has struck! Americans shall be American. The U.S.A. is now grown up artistically. It is time we ceased to hang on to the skirts of Europe, or to behave like schoolboys let loose from European schoolmasters—"

All right, Americans, let's see you set about it. Go on then . . . Where is this new bird called the true American?

. . . Heaven knows what we mean by reality. Telephone, tinned meat, Charlie Chaplin, water-taps, and World-Salvation, presumably. Some insisting on the plumbing, and some on saving the world: these being the two great American specialties. Why not?

from Studies in Classic American Literature

P.S.
We're also good at Currier & Ives!
"The Star Spangled Banner"
Color lithograph, c. 1860
by Currier and Ives
active 1857 - 1907

Thanks to my artistic & literary friends:
Etta for the lithograph
and Jim for the D. H. Lawrence essay