Good FRIDAY morning. It’s Friday, did I mention it’s Friday? Enough said.
We’ve talked before about how I have trouble disconnecting and relaxing. I haven’t really been on a true, longer-than-a-week vacation in years. Given how much time my spouse (also in communications) and I spend on our phones, getting to a place where we can really unplug requires going to a remote location where cell service if iffy, if not completely nonexistent.
The last time we managed to do this, we hiked for a week in the mountains of Peru. It was an amazing trip. And boy, you have NOT experienced altitude until you climb to 17,000+ feet. It takes physical fitness to a whole new level.
On the flip side, when we got back, I ran like a damn deer for about a week. I can see why training at altitude is a thing for competitive runners. Sadly, the benefits don’t last all that long – at least not in my experience.
I am a mountains person. I don’t really do well at the beach. I don’t like to sit still for long periods of time and just roast under the sun while getting sand in my shorts. I really don’t like the feeling of sand between my toes, it makes me feel squirmy. When I go to the beach, I like to walk along the water and people watch.
I grew up in the Castskills and spent countless hours walking, riding, and running on the trails around Mohonk. That feels like home to me. Quiet. Contemplative. Challenging. I’m comfortable in the woods – until I run into a snake, that is. I’m not big on ticks, either, or black flies, but that’s what Deet is for. And long pants.
I hinted at this a few days back, but the spouse and I are finally pulling the trigger on a real vacation. Three weeks in the mountains of Corsica, where we’ll be doing this. I am both terrified and burning with anticipation. Of course, the first hurdle is going to be the nine-hour plane ride. My mounting upset about this is better left unsaid.
While Americans’ appreciation of their own magnificent mountains is growing, were have nothing on Japan, which has an official public holiday – its newest, Yama no Hi 山の日 – dedicated to honoring and celebrating mountains, which make up between 70 and 80 percent of the country.
Considering how small Japan is, really just an archipelago of islands with a chain of mountains running down the middle of each of them, that’s saying something. Also, one of the most famous mountains in the world, Mt. Fuji (the seventh-highest peak on the globe), is located on the island of Honshu. It is one of the country’s most recognizable cultural icons.
Mountain Day is actually relatively new. It was created in 2014 and reflects the importance of mountains in Japanese culture. Mountains are revered – even considered sacred – and recognized as places of great spiritual significance.
This tracks pretty closely with Shintoism, an ancient Japanese religion that centers on rituals designed to maintain or reinstate the harmony between nature, humans, and kami – deities believed to permeate the natural world, taking the shape of trees, rocks, rivers, mountains…you get the idea.
The best way to observe Mountain Day is to spend time in the mountains. If perhaps you’re more comfortable observing them from afar, that’s OK, too. This holiday is so new that it doesn’t really have many official traditions. So whatever you do – should you choose to participate – would be just fine.
As for me, I’m busily preparing for my epic 110-mile hike, trying to figure out just how many pounds I want to have strapped on my back for this epic adventure. I’m probably going to pack all my stuff and then take half of it out and call it a day.
I’m sure you all could use a bit of a break from me and all my weird obsessive musings. But don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of time to think of new material to share when I get back.
We have a beautiful day on tap – a perfect day for sneaking out a little early and getting outside (to the mountains?) Skies will be sunny and temperatures will be in the low 80s. The weekend is looking slightly less promising. Though temperatures will remain in the low 80s on both days, there’s also a chance of thunderstorms.
In the headlines…
The Biden administration is asking Congress to approve $40 billion in emergency funding, including $24 billion for Ukraine as part of security, economic and humanitarian assistance for the country as it defends its borders against a Russian invasion.
The $40 billion package includes $12 billion to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds after a deadly season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl.
The request sets up a potential battle with Republicans in Congress, some of whom voice skepticism about providing Ukraine any more money.
China accused Washington of trying to block its development after President Joe Biden stepped up a feud over technology and security by tightening controls on U.S. investments that might help Beijing develop its military.
Biden called China a “ticking time bomb” because of its economic challenges and said the country was in trouble because of weak growth.
Biden issued a federal disaster declaration following “devastating” Hawaii wildfires across several parts of the Big Island and Maui and promised to send whatever is needed to help the recovery.
Biden said that he had an extensive phone call with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green yesterday morning, assuring him of his commitment to ensuring the state receives “everything it needs from the federal government.”
The death toll from the devastating wildfires blazing across the Hawaiian island of Maui rose to 53 yesterday, according to Maui county officials.
A city devastated by fire in Maui was a magnet for tourists. But for families from Lahaina, especially Native Hawaiians, it was a home with a deep history.
Rep. James Comer said that his House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which has been investigating the foreign business dealings of Biden’s family members, will eventually move to subpoena the Biden family, including possibly the president himself.
The social media company owned by former President Donald Trump in March tipped off the FBI about threats made by a Utah man who was fatally shot by FBI agents as they attempted to arrest him for threatening to kill Biden.
The prosecutors overseeing the indictment of Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election asked a judge to set a trial date in the case for early January, laying out an aggressive schedule for the proceeding.
Trump lashed out in response to special counsel Jack Smith’s proposal for him to stand trial on Jan. 2, 2024, on charges related to his efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election.
Trump said that he was unwilling to meet one of the requirements to participate in the first Republican presidential debate, refusing to sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee.
Two prominent conservative law professors have concluded that Trump is ineligible to be president under a provision of the Constitution that bars people who have engaged in an insurrection from holding government office.
LIV Golf has embraced the former president. But much of golf’s establishment is keeping its distance, even as LIV and the PGA Tour seek a détente.
The nation’s most prominent gun safety groups are joining to back Biden in 2024, an early endorsement that underscores his grip on key Democratic coalitions as the party seizes on gun policy as a politically advantageous issue ahead of his reelection campaign.
Biden evoked the memory of his late son and praised leaders from both parties for unifying behind veterans as he and Utah’s Republican governor paid tribute to a year-old law that is delivering the largest expansion of veterans benefits in decades.
Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, told a local news station that he “would think very seriously” about leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent.
Aides to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo have been circulating a transcript of a deposition of Ana Liss-Jackson, one of 11 women listed in a searing 2021 AG report that accused him of engaging in a pattern of sexual harassment and inappropriate workplace conduct.
Liss-Jackson’s attorney argues the transcript was meant to be kept under seal pending a judge’s ruling.
Ten regional councils that comprise the state’s recently launched “Hate and Bias Prevention Unit,” an initiative to gauge and combat hate crimes, have been conducting their kick-off meetings in private with Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who chairs the effort.
Divisions among New York Democrats widened around the influx of migrants from the southern border, as the state attorney general took the unusual step of declining to represent Gov. Kathy Hochul in legal proceedings over how to care for newcomers.
Tish James, the state’s top lawyer and one of its highest-ranking Democrats, is being replaced by Selendy Gay Elsberg PLLC, a private Manhattan-based law firm. The attorney general’s withdrawal was reportedly the result of a policy disagreement.
Errol Louis: “(I)n addition to state money and an aggressive hunt for more beds, Hochul must supply a crucial missing ingredient: the confident, high-profile, public-facing leadership that only a governor can provide.”
Roughly 1,500 single adult asylum seekers have received notices in recent weeks stating that their shelter stays will expire after 60 days, senior members of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration testified.
Mayor Eric Adams said he has not talked with President Biden in 2023 — a striking admission for someone who was once on a list of the president’s top surrogates and who is seeking federal help for the city’s migrant crisis.
After months of demanding more help from the White House to address the compounding migrant crisis, Adams hosted Biden’s intergovernmental affairs director, Tom Perez, at City Hall yesterday, but they revealed very little about their confab.
“It was a good conversation, it was an introductory meeting. We had an opportunity to speak with him about New York’s priorities,” the mayor’s chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, said in the wake of the roughly 30-minute sit-down.
Migrants were sleeping in the streets because there was no more space, the city said. Within days, it had found beds, and critics argued there had been room all along.
The future of Rikers Island remained in flux yesterday as a judge declined to allow the federal government to take over management of the notorious detention center — at least for now.
A federal judge opened the door to stripping New York City of control over Rikers Island, in a hearing that highlighted the daily chaos that reigns in the jails despite repeated assertions by Adams and his allies that conditions are improving.
Adams and his new NYPD commissioner, Edward Caban, argue in the NY Post that the city is safe and crime is down.
Rents across New York City climbed to record levels last month, with median rents in Manhattan, Brooklyn and northwest Queens all setting new marks in July, according to a new report from real estate giant Douglas Elliman and appraisers Miller Samuel.
A teen accused of stabbing gay Black man O’Shae Sibley at a Brooklyn gas station was charged with murder as a hate crime by a grand jury, officials said.
The Supreme Court agreed to consider the government’s challenge of a bankruptcy settlement involving Purdue Pharma, putting on pause a deal that would have shielded members of the wealthy Sackler family from civil opioid lawsuits.
Hochul announced new plans for renovations inside the Albany Airport, saying the additions will include a play area, baggage, and concession areas.
State officials expect the $100 million renovations to Albany International Airport, which include expansion of the main terminal, to be completed by early 2025.
Albany County is refusing to release a report detailing what led to the collapse of the rail trail bridge over New Scotland Road last month.
The National Labor Relations Board has dismissed a complaint that an employee of the Capital Roots nutrition nonprofit filed against the Service Employees International Union Local 200 United.
Siena College rolled out an updated Saint Bernard emblem this week, replacing the one used for more than 20 years.
All the rain this summer has proven challenging to the meet at the Saratoga Race Course.
Stewart’s Shops is not letting the death of Funny Cide slide without a salute to the legendary local thoroughbred that nearly won the Triple Crown, bringing back “Funny Cide Pride” ice cream, launched after the horse’s 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins.
