Dear Reader, I don’t usually write to a theme but for this column I decided to play with the idea of travel. Some snippets relate to the idea, others are more indirect. Enjoy the ride. June 22 Time travel with NPR’s Tonya Mosley speaking with systems analyst, Alex Smith. Smith has created an online map of places all over the world that had Black Lives Matter protests. He said, “They were protesting in so many towns, the red circles indicating where they took place were so dense and full of overlaps, they were hard to access. He was gleeful mentioning a Black Lives Matter protest in Okinawa and another deep in the Arctic. June 23 Mary Kay in Minneapolis: In the middle of the shrine where George Floyd died, there is among the balloons, stuffed bears, blankets of flowers, and many signs, this handmade one: “All mothers were summoned when George Floyd called out for his.� It really got to me. It broke my heart. June 29 Mariam: A technician working in her sister’s office came down with covid-19. She partied with family in San Diego and came back infected. Her family was also infected. Her defense? She only handled one patient, ignoring how that person she examined can infect others. She’s now in quarantine. July 4 Project In Plain Sight: Throughout America’s Independence Day, artists have spread their skywriting messages over immigrant detention camps calling for the abolition of these jails. Artists CASSILS and rafa esperanza formed a coalition of eighty artists and activists to protest mass detention. The messages came in nearly twenty languages like Lakota, Hindi, Spanish, and the Mayan language, K’iche. SOME SKY MESSAGES: Not Forgotten/it’s not your fault/NO MORE CAMPS/Nosotros Te Vemos/my pain is so big. July 16 Email from British poet and retired physics teacher, Ken B. Jones. He’s flown from Thousand Oaks, CA to West Sussex, England where he and his wife, Deni will live. He writes: “the trip was great, empty airports, less than half full comfortable flights if masked all the time and sanitizing frequently. Planes and Immigration was fast and our bags came quickly so we were not very long in Heathrow at all. Then self-isolation, finishes tomorrow!! So, golf with my son and a family BBQ on Sunday. We are lucky to be in a part of West Sussex with very few infections and very few hospitalizations so touching wood on that one. We are pleased to be here and also feel fortunate to have got out when we did—it sounds pretty ugly over there. July 18 Lovely surprise this morning. Around 6:15 a.m., I see a Trader Joe’s shopping bag on the table outside. Karen, who lives close by and who shops for me, left this gift of lemons from her neighbor’s tree. She and her family are going camping in Oregon. July 20 Cecelia’s email: “In the local paper I saw an obituary of a woman. The picture was taken when she was in her 20s, very Lauren Bacall-ish. Underneath her name was the caption: ‘Yes, me too! See you when you get here.’ � July 22 Over half the new cases reported in LA County are under the age of forty-one. August 1 At day’s end, my neighbor, Karla, reports she spent the afternoon in a friend’s backyard. She mentions how special it was to be in the presence of another. Though they were local and masked, it felt like they were miles away. August 3 Well known pianist, Leon Fleisher died today at ninety-two. In 1964 an injury to his right hand left him a one-handed pianist. Forced to branch out, he became a conductor, teacher, and mastered left-handed piano pieces by Ravel and Prokofiev, among other composers. Through treatments in the 1990s he regained the use of his right hand. August 9 To Arabic poet, Mahmoud Darwish from his Jewish warrior lover, “Without you, I am without any depth, I am on the surface here, waiting.� August 10 Such joy getting up in the morning and seeing my daughter sleeping in her bed. Our days are spent relaxing, laughing, reading, gossiping about good times and bad, the Family, and the miracle that she traveled 2,000-plus miles to be here. August 14 From Pico Iyer’s book, Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations. Amazon Japan will send a Buddhist priest to your door. The service is called ‘Oba-san bin or Mr. Monk deliver.’ August 21 Thank you, Postal Master Mabel and postal workers, Alex, Ali, Dale, Jake, Javier, Lucy, Lupe, Peter, Rami and Raoul. You take care of us Topanga-ites with kindness and smarts. Sending and receiving is a crucial exchange of being in the world.