This Is What Happened Today
The Second Day of Spring
Saturday, March 21, 2026
A sunny day.
I saw something curious out my windows
Through my dad’s powerful binoculars.
There was something white –two small things in white –
At the very spot where the brown tent had been set up for a few hours a few days ago.
And then that brown tent was suddenly and mysteriously taken down.
I had a notion that those two white things might be a pair of shoes.
So, I walked over there to see what was there –
And, if it was shoes, to pick them up and move them to a prominent place near the path that goes to a homeless encampment beside the Mill River – so they might be found and be helpful to anyone in need of a pair of shoes in good condition.
It was in fact a pair of white sneakers.
They were in very good condition with no wear.
I did not touch them.
One of them was on its side.
Then, I went to the spot about 30 feet to the right to see if there was anything interesting where Ashley’s green tent with a blue tarpaulin had been. There was a large white plastic bag that was filled with stuff. One of the things was the black Bible I had given Ashley. I took it out. It was damp from recent rains. Then, with that Bible in hand, I walked up a steep but short grassy hill and began walking on the riverbank as far as I could go – almost reaching East School Street — until I was stopped by a fence. My eyes though were able to look beyond the fence. I saw the brick building on East School Street where my grandmother and grandfather Richer had met while working at American Paper Tube in the early 1900s. In the 1960s it was called Tinsil Town. They made Christmas decorations. And there was a great big plastic Santa Claus on the roof. I walked back to where my walk on that riverbank began; and descended the grassy hill. Sometimes I think of that grassy hill as a grassy knoll. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, there was an investigation and there was mention of a “grassy knoll” where it was speculated that someone may have been hiding at the time of the rifle shots that killed our great President — who gave his life in the service of our country on November 22, 1963. And he also served courageously in the U.S. Navy as Captain of PT Boat 109. And he was also a writer. He wrote Profiles in Courage; and became a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts – before being elected President of the United States of America in 1961.
I mentioned to Ashley about a week ago, that I had been thinking about walking up that grassy hill to see what I could see. She sharply rebuked me for saying that. She said it was none of my business. I only replied “Okay” – to keep the peace.
Then, I walked back to Social Street. As soon as I rounded the corner onto Social Street – and was in front of the former Castle Restaurant, I said Hi to a young woman passerby. She noticed the black Bible in my hand and said Hi. We immediately stopped and began talking to each other. I understood she wanted the Bible; so, I gave it to her. She was very thankful to own that Bible. We hugged and shook hands. I said, Maybe we will meet again. She replied emphatically that we would meet again. I walked home.
About an hour later, I walked again – this time to the supermarket in south Bellingham. Just as I was entering the property of the supermarket, I saw that young woman again. She was leaving the supermarket. The Bible was in her hands. We stopped and talked again. She walked with me into the store. I told her I lived at John F. Kennedy Manor on Clinton Street near Cumberland Street. She had already told me she was living at a shelter for homeless people – also on Clinton Street. I explained to her that it was a high-rise apartment building for the elderly and disabled. She wondered if she might be able to apply to live there. She texted the name of the building into her smartphone; said she had to go now and went away. I did my shopping and walked home.
Later, I left my apartment again to retrieve that pair of white shoes and place them where they would be found by a needy person. As I got close to them, a man in a vehicle parked on that property asked me where I was going as I was getting close to the secluded area where the shoes were and where the brown tent had mysteriously appeared and subsequently was taken down a few hours later – just a few days ago. I asked him why he asked. He explained he was a security guard and that whole area was private property. He was a gentleman. I mentioned the tents that had been there and were now gone. He told me they were taken down because it was private property; and the people had been arrested. He respectfully let me know I should leave the shoes alone and depart. So, I walked away and said I would not come back. He thanked me and drove away. I went home.
Later, at home, I saw Ashley again for the first time in several days while looking out my windows. A vehicle approached her near a clothing deposit container near the paved path that leads to the homeless encampment next to the bank of the Mill River. They spoke briefly and then Ashley continued onto that paved path toward the homeless encampment. And a while later a man and woman appeared and walked up the same grassy knoll I had walked earlier that day to the top of the hill. And they just stood there on the riverbank for a short time. I walked away from my window.
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The USA’s Great Troubles . . .
Are a result of the failure of lawmakers to establish true godly education; and true godly financial management.
Such ungodlly and deceitful notions as “separation of church and state” have resulted in a national government that is in abominable debt; a population that cannot afford adequate housing; a reduction in jobs; a great increase in poverty for The Many and abominable wealth for The Few.
Is the reason for their failure to do the right thing(s) for God and Country because – although they are educated — their education is not according to true godliness. And, consequently, they are in the spiritual darkness of this world that lies in wickedness – and thus they write and pass laws that are establishing a corrupt corporate global world system that must necessarily decline and fall in its own decadence – just as the Roman Empire did.
I live in a high-rise apartment building. And on the floor where I live – in front of the elevators – someone recently placed stuffed images of bunnies and other things – apparently in anticipation of Easter.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” -Romans 1: 18-25 ESV Study Bible.
“Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” -Acts of the Apostles 17: 29-31 ESV Study Bible.
From A Distance – Bette Midler (Lyrics Video)
Mark's Imaginings 