the yard chore, flowers, and thoughts on bringing Griner home

Another day Saturday working on the old raised garden bed site. I got half the 16' long bed of dirt spread out and roots cut. 

The second half will take longer I think as it appears to have many more roots in it than the half I did. And still need to spread out and de-root the first bed on the left. Speaking of which, those red leaves in the picture below sprouting from the stalks is virginia creeper already starting to grow again from the roots/vines I cut when I first started.

My little camellia has bloomed. Last year I only got two flowers, this year, eight. Only one open now and one more to go.

Also blooming is the little Japanese azalea. I expected it to bloom in the spring but this exceptional heat confused it I guess. The petals are long and narrow and the flowers have a sweet scent. This is the first time it's bloomed in the two years I've had it.

Thunderstorm with lots of lightning and thunder and hard rain at times around dawn this morning giving us about 1 3/4” so I won't be chopping and spreading dirt today. Plenty of chores in the house or maybe I'll start a watercolor. Been thinking about it. Pansies maybe.

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Here's some things to consider about Brittany Griner and her arrest in Russia and the trade Biden made to bring her home. In Russia, the penalty for possessing up to 6 grams of marijuana is a fine or 15 day detention. Griner had less than a gram but because she brought it with her when she entered the country, she uses it medically, they charged her with smuggling, punishable by 5 – 10 years in prison and gave her 9 years for less than a gram. Griner is a two time Olympic gold medal winner, an extraordinary athlete who also happens to be a black lesbian. She was in Russia to play in a Russian league during the off season in America. If our female sports teams were given the same respect and income as our male sports teams, our women wouldn't need to play elsewhere in the off season. I can't help but think that if Griner was a white heterosexual male, there would not have been an outcry against the trade, as there was against Griner, with the haters saying she got what she deserved in Russia and that she hates America because she engages in peaceful protest to point out the institutionalized racism against POC in this country as well as the hate and discrimination towards the other gendered.

Whelan, who holds citizenship in four countries, UK, Canada, Ireland, and the US, is an ex-Marine who was dishonorably discharged for theft, lying, and other charges. After his court marshal he worked for different companies engaging in global security and investigations. He was arrested in Russia on charges of spying which he denies, there is a report he was receiving a list of intelligence officials, and was sentenced to 16 years. Biden tried to include him in this trade but Russia would not even discuss Whelan's release. It's likely they only allowed Griner to leave to create division here in America, knowing how the right wing would react. The more Putin can divide us, the better for him and the right wingers play right into his hands. I find the hysteria from the far right about Biden's failure to win his release to be just a little contrived especially since Whelan was arrested when Trump was president and Russia offered him in an exchange for Bout and Trump refused.

Bout, the 'merchant of death', had been retired for 10 years when the sting operation by the US lured him out. He has already served 10 years in prison and would be released in a few more so the man is 20 years out of the loop of weapons procurement. I think it's doubtful that he will start selling weapons again. As for that, the biggest weapons dealer in the world is the US. We sell them above and below the table, have no problem providing weapons to insurgents to take down our opponents or governments we don't like...like the Taliban, Saddam Hussein, Iran/contra deal just to name a few. And we need look no further than our own homeland to see how much America loves guns and gun violence. The uproar about releasing an arms merchant falls a little flat since apparently selling death is OK as long as it's us doing it.