Wordlist 17, Gravel Therapy

"The Russians":
As those who follow this blog know, I have reported lately upon identity theft, outrage, crime and punishment. And those who received countercultural educations in the past half-century know what is meant by "reading the Russians". This was ideally done in garrets by candle light --basements being reserved for the less subversive recreation of meeting by gaslight and discussing rivers of blood.  Those who read the Russians know Crime And Punishment is a great and suspenseful novel written in 1866 by Warren Peace.

Ok, I didn't read all of it. Stayed out of basements too.  But I do know the recurring themes of 19th century Russian novels were these: the conflict between the two sides of human nature, back and front I think;  that once the gods turn against a man they will not consider him again --or was that the Greeks?

βροχή:

βροχή is the Greek word for rain, and the English word for rain is derived from it somehow. I am in California, getting the hang of the language, and notice we get a little rain and sunshine and other forms of meteorologic confusion every day lately, and that is a typical Spring. With rare exception and some internal permutation, this state gets about 20-25 inches of rain a year.

Usually we get it in millions of little drops over a span of 8 or 9 months but I remember one year, 2005, when it came down suddenly enough to make a lake of Badwater Basin in Death Valley (which is mostly gravel).  We didn't get millions of little drops that year. We got all 25 inches of rain in one great big drop instead. That too gave onto a typical Spring --and DST.

Daylight Savings Time:
DST is also an ancient Greek invention but they never used it because, like me, they could not remember whether Earth's orbit sped up or slowed down last night. For 35 years I had to be at work at 6:30 a.m., so I got up at 5 a.m. Then I retired and was surprised and delighted to learn there is no such hour. This is why the Greeks, conquered by the Romans, retaliated by making Italians of them, who in turn authored the Age Of Enlightenment.

Italians:
My friend, Willie --who is Italian-- has been guiding me through a difficult time, helping me emerge from the combined illusion and disillusion of identity theft. But he can't be here or on the phone all the time, so I have enlisted the aid of ὅμηρος. Ok, ὅμηρος isn't his real name. I just used that to write a post around his picture one time. His name is not Homer. To protect his identity from shameless thieves, I called him that instead of his real name which is Turbo. He is a Gravel Therapist.

Gravel Therapy:
Those of us who have sought therapy for the jumps, or recoordination of any injured part, know it can sometimes be an adversarial process.  As you may surmise by the photo over this wordlist, Gravel Therapy is not. A Gravel Therapist is not aware of the adversities of the world and does not include them in the healing process. All they need is sun-warmed gravel on a Spring day and no words, no words at all.