Image #106 – Mary Lynn and Tango
That’s my friend Mary Lynn Mathre with my buddy Tango. We visited MaryLynn, or ML, and her husband Al in North Florida last March. This picture was taken on their property near Carrabelle, Florida. I’ve posted her picture today because tomorrow, September 13, ML and I will be co-presenters at a seminar in Lansing, Michigan. The seminar is entitled, “Cannabis & The Endocannabinoid System: What Nurses & Medical Marijuana Professionals Need to Know.”
Collectively ML and I have more than a half century of experience in the medical marijuana issue. We hope that this might be the first of many presentations we give together. Nurses are the frontline personnel in healthcare environment and marijuana’s medical use is a hot topic these days, with 20 states authorizing the legal use of the drug. Michigan is one of those states and has more than 100,000 certified patients who can use marijuana legally! Yet nurses and other healthcare professionals have no training programs or classes.
ML and Al began an organization in the 1990s called Patients Out of Time, a non-profit group dedicated to education. Every two years they have organized an international conference on cannabis research and have brought together the world’s finest researchers who present fascinating papers on the emergining science of the endocannabinoid system. Mainstream America is finally awakening to science that is being conducted in places other than the U.S.A. Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently reversed his position on medical marijuana. In throwing his support behind this issue he issued an apology, explaining that he ” didn’t look far enough. I didn’t review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis.”
Just a few weeks ago marked the 38th anniversary of an arrest in Washington, D.C. that started the medical marijuana movement in America. It was 1975 and not very many people knew about marijuana’s beneficial properties. But a young college professor with glaucoma had realized that marijuana was saving his sight and he began growing marijuana to help keep his supplies steady. When he and his mate were arrested they realized they had two options: 1) pay the fine and be more careful in the future, hoping not to get caught again, or 2) fight the charges and at least create a record that marijuana was helping. They chose the latter and went on to make history.
That glaucoma patient was my late husband, Robert Randall, the acknowledged founder of the medical marijuana movement in America.☙
Image #105 – Tall trees and yellow flowers
A peaceful image for a day carries so much sorrow – 9/11/2013.
Image #104 – Tulip Poplar?
This beautiful blossom was one of many on a very tall tree. A friend told me it was a tulip poplar but the flower does not match any in my reference sources. Perhaps a reader can help me out?
Image #103 – Swallowtail on Ironweed
New York Ironweed hosts a swallowtail butterfly. The Ironweed can grow up to 6 feet in height and is found in wet meadows, of which there are many this year. ☙
Image #102 – Red Barn and Goldenrod
Goldenrod…the true harbinger of fall. It is everywhere in North Carolina. World turning, seasons changing. ☙
#101 – Buddy
That’s Buddy. He lives above me on Fawn Hill. He’s a sweet dog but he has a problem…Buddy barks. He barks so much that his owners had to take some drastic measures and they got him a collar that shocks Buddy every time he barks. That’s the thing around his neck that looks like a camera. Buddy is no dummy, however. He seems to have figured out that he can get in three barks before things get too bad. Or he shakes his head in such a way that the folds of skin minimize the shock and he’ll bark and bark. Cesar Millan, are you free to visit North Carolina?
Buddy can’t help himself. He’s a rescue dog and heaven only knows what his very early days were like. More recently Buddy shared his penned yard with Old Joe who also barked a lot. Old Joe was blind so part of his barking may have been a defensive strategy. Buddy was Old Joe’s eyes…a stressful job. I know from experience. So part of Buddy’s barking is learned behavior from Old Joe. The other part is expression — happy, sad, somewhere in between — all Buddy knows is barking.
Tango and I try to visit him every day. I take treats and we have a party. And I’ve seen Tango go up to visit on his own. Buddy is a likable dog and we all want to reassure him that things are okay. Is it working? Well, maybe a bit. All we can do is try. I mean, look at those eyes…Buddy is the kind of dog that makes you keep on trying. ☙
Image #100 – Growing Up is Hard (9/6)
My feeders are overwhelmed with fledglings, young birds trying to learn the intricacy of living. They remind me so much of young toddlers. Watching a toddler get command of his or her legs is not much different than watching a young bird learn how to use his wings. They fly in and hover by the feeders, unsure how to make the final approach, often missing the landing perch again and again. Once they do find the perch they begin to eat and are reluctant to leave. They do not yet comprehend the dangers in life and the need to flee. This little fellow above is a perfect example. All the other birds flew away when I walked onto the porch, but not this guy. I was able to walk up to feeder and get within a few feet of this young finch and snap this picture. He never moved. I have literally watched fledglings fall asleep on the the feeder, their beak in the trough like a toddler asleep in his oatmeal. It’s dear and entertaining. I wish them luck but know that many won’t make it. But, then again, that is true of us all. ☙
Image #99 – Changes
Joe-Pye Weed and Ironweed against a backdrop of mountain blue sky and newly mown field. They are making hay in the mountains, a sure sign of the changing seasons. Wildflowers are popping up everywhere including the ubiquitous harbinger of autumn, the goldenrod. But Joe-Pye and Ironweed are new to this Florida girl. How lovely they are. ☙
Alice's WanderLand 