Tiny succulent Flower

One of the beauties of macro photography is that it brings rather nondescript.things into focus and shows that they are quite intricate and beautiful. The rather weirdly shaped stem that sprang forth from a ground level succulent has only one flower, but it looks like it may soon be covered with these little blooms . I shall keep my eye on it now that I've noticed it.

My back was very sore when I got out of bed this morning. I gingerly crept around until it loosened up or readjusted or resolved its relationship to gravity, had my coffee, read the paper, stopped reading the paper because it seemed to be an enumeration of federal funds, some already allocated, which have been summarily cut: $5million for local school programs that serve children in need, an effort by the  administration to "punish children for the sole reason that the state refuses to cater to Trump's political ideology"
--Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Sometimes I just can't find the words I need so I'm going to let a few people more articulate than me have their say.
 
Yesterday, Federal officers, National guard troops, 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and armed guard troops were deployed to MacArthur Park, in a neighborhood with large Mexican, Central American and other immigrants. They went away after speaking with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Cameras from Fox News were embedded to record the event.

--"The world needs to see the troop formation on horses walking through the park in search of what? They're walking through the area where children play."
--Karen Bass

--(MacArthur Park) "was chosen as this administration's latest target precisely because of who lives there and what it represents"
--Eunisses Hernandez, L.A. city council member 

ICE is now taking taking people from stores or fields with no information released. The families of those taken only know that they did not come home. 

"This is the new mode of cruelty that the federal administration has embraced. Why choose cruelty? Is it so important for a person to see harm done to others? What defines our nation, empathy or cruelty?"
--Paul Carroll, Santa Rosa, from Letters to the Editor in the Press Democrat

John managed to pull down the towel rack after taking a shower and it defied our individual and combined efforts to put it back. We abandoned the effort when it was time to start our Zoom Pilates class followed by a good walk in the still cool morning, which helped restore my back to more 'normal' function and reset my attitude in a more positive direction.

I took Spike to see Dr Sylvia Neumann, the animal eye doctor who has treated him since he arrived in this country from Ireland and his trainer realized there was something wrong with his vision. She loves Spike and loves the fact that he 'looks' at her and is clearly trying very hard to figure out what is going on. Her assistant, Emma, rescued a chihuahua from being euthanized by adopting him so that "Doc" could perform the same surgery on him that she did on Spike. We all chatted for awhile about Spike and then she announced that she was contemplating retirement in the next year. She is 82 and says she wants to have time to do 'other things'. I certainly don't blame her, although we have established a nice relationship over the years and I'll miss her.

Just another day here .The struggle between succumbing to fury/depression or finding the small things that give joy in life continues....