These days I spend too much time ranting at the TV, fretting about the upcoming election and what is to come on November 3rd and its aftermath. But I have found one small refuge (well okay, there IS my darling , barky Lucy who sleeps on my Goddess Eyes and her brother Toshi) from all the uncertainty and anxiety: making these little altars and saying prayers to the spirits who have come before us and seen pandemics, war, chaotic government, people so angry and alienated that they can no longer gently listen and reason with each other anymore.

I take solace in the simple choosing of stones, pairing lovely little rocks with others, building my little islands of peace and tranquility. I hope others feel the same calm from these altars that I do. They were created with a lot of love and a desire that we can see better days, see the best in each other instead of the worst, and live up to the lofty ambitions of our Bill of Rights and Constitution. And recall that a democracy is an ever so fragile and delicate thing that can be lost and gone in a millisecond.