#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

I woke late into Juneteenth. Two weeks ago, I did not know what this holiday celebrates; I had not heard of it. Frank slept in, unexpectedly, and so, I overslept and had only time in the yard to water all the gardens before the heat of the day seared the earth. I took a picture of one of the lovely, healthy, thriving Jill in the Pulpits that I transplanted from the woods into one of my gardens a few years ago, and they have happily multiplied there. After, I walked to the river and around the trail to the morning brook. I didn’t know, as I stood under the gorgeous sky of summer, how to spend the next few hours indoors; but I slipped off my muddy boots and went in. And, in a few quick hours, rewarded myself with a long walk in the afternoon woods to my friend’s house, down the hill to her shore, and into the wonderful Farm Pond and a hearty, long swim around the island twice, a heavenly swim, a rhythmic, full bodied crawl and I felt strong and centered and whole and satisfied by this immersion. Then, the hike home, refreshed and delighted. Juneteenth. My daughter’s boyfriend’s company gave them the day off! In the late afternoon I drove with my daughter and her boyfriend to Arlington, where their apartment is, so we could protest with our BLM signs on Mass. Ave. In Arlington, they hit the streets at 6 p.m. every day to protest. There were many cars passing, lots of horns beeping, other protesters gathering along Mass. Ave. Today, I heard on the news that the Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, has initiated firing the officer who killed Breonna Taylor, a black woman. Breonna Taylor, 28, died on March 13, was killed in a police raid on her own home that had nothing to do with her. Officer Brett Hankison shot her eight times.

“In a letter to the officer Friday from interim chief Robert Schroeder, Hankison is accused of ‘blindly’ firing 10 rounds into Taylor's apartment.
‘I find your conduct a shock to the conscience,’ Schroeder wrote. ‘I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion.’”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/breonna-taylor-shooting-officer-firing/index.html

After I got home, a dear niece was visiting, social distancing, and we sat on the deck as the cloudless sky grew dark. The stars, blinking, appeared above our heads. Tomorrow, my daughter and her boyfriend will begin–after all these weeks of pandemic living with us–their move back into their apartment in the city. It has been almost three months of having them here. The stars remind me, I am grateful to be alive under them on this day. They also remind me that my children are all home, safe and sound. And Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother, is still trying to figure out why her daughter is not.

“Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth; also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day, is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Originating in Texas, it is now celebrated annually on the 19th of June throughout the United States, with varying official recognition. Specifically, it commemorates Union army general Gordon Granger announcing federal orders in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming that all slaves in Texas were free.”

— Wikipedia