Travel Tuesday: He Went To Paris

 

Monday Moods June 29, 2026

Don't panic, but the year is almost half over.  Time flies when we are having fun, and this year has been fun. This is a good time for me to  review my goals for the year:

• Walk 60 minutes or more, at least 6 days per week. 
• Read at least a book per week, 52 for the year. 
• Travel, I expect travel nights to be between 35 and 40 this year. 
• Go to Mt. Vernon at least 25 times in the year.
• Publish at least three articles in the ABA Senior Lawyers Division Voice of Experience Journal (I have already committed to four topics.) 
• Paint, take photos, explore new media. 
• Organize the greeting card box, and send out 20 or more cards. 
• Pause at least once a week, to take stock of everything that works in my life. 

I am easily exceeding the walking goal, many longer walks, and many weeks when I walk everyday. I feel strange if I miss a day. This is a strong habit. 

I have finished reading 36 books so far this year. I am on pace to far exceed this goal. 

I have already traveled 38 nights this year, with another 11 nights already booked.  I expect I will be just over 50 nights by the end of the year. 

I have only been out to Mt Vernon probably 10 times, and it is the peak of summer heat.  I am probably going to miss this one. 

I will publish 6 or 7 articles by the end of the year. I have one partially written. 

I have had more fun with painting than expected. The portraits experiment was fun. I led a small group in color block painting - my first time trying to teach art.  I have archived about 10,000 photos so far this year. I just did a display of digital transparencies, a new media for me. 

The greeting card box has been organized, but I am behind in sending cards out. 

I am pausing more than I had in the past, but still not as often as I should. 

My thoughts on this:

This is a reminder to go to Mt Vernon, send those cards, and pause to be thankful more often.  

I have a good life. I am engaged in doing things that bring meaning to my life, and make the world a better place.  I am learning and exploring.  

What about the shoes? Martha Washington wore them to dance. I think the last time I went out dancing, Martha might have been there. As Zorba urged, "You gotta dance boss!" 

There is an instant flashback for me. My first semester at Rollins College I read the book, Zorba the Greek, and the professors screened the film. It was a life changing experience for me. That one class an introduction to interdisciplinary humanities changed how I think about the world and my role in it. I was so lucky to be there, at that time, with that wonderful group of explorers. I hope Professor Hoyte Edge is out there smiling at the memory of teaching that class, knowing that he made a difference.  

The Sunday Five: Experiences

 1: What is the first experience that stands out in your mind from childhood? 

2: What building left you in amazement? 

3: If the doctor said, let your mind go to your happy place, where is it? 

4: What is the most wonderful thing you have ever touched? 

5: What do you want to experience before you die? 

My Answers: 

1: What is the first experience that stands out in your mind from childhood? Visiting the Grand Canyon when I was about 5. 

2: What building left you in amazement? The Milwaukee Museum of Art, it is worth going to Wisconsin. 

3: If the doctor said, let your mind go to your happy place, where is it? Any one of a hundred villages in Normandy. 

4: What is the most wonderful thing you have ever touched? Sheared Beaver, I was in Anchorage Alaska. I went into a shop that sold furs, the proprietor said, "you have to feel this!" 

5: What do you want to experience before you die? There are not a lot of experiences left on the list, flying in a hot air balloon is one. A friend just did a ski plane landing on a glacier in Alaska, that is on the bucket list.  Someone asked him why he was doing it, he responded "because he can." A few days before they took a flight over the North Pole. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Challenge Your Creativity to Grow

I try not to ask others to do something, I am not willing to try doing myself. Well sort of, I am not going to try neurosurgery, or changing the doohickies in my car.  This year I led the committee that set the themes for the local arts council shows.  Some of the ideas were mine, some were not my idea, but for all of them, I agreed that they were good. That we would ask our creative community to create art for those themes. Under the policy of not asking others to do something I am not willing to try myself, this has pushed me to challenge my creativity. 

One of the themes is "Still Life and Real Life."  I have never painted still life works. If I am going to ask others to do so, I should try. And I have. Are they great works of art destined to hang in a museum for centuries? When I stop laughing, I know they are not, but they are the best still life paintings I have ever done. I enjoyed creating them. I learned and grew by creating them. Without this challenge, I probably never would have. 

Challenge yourself to create in new ways this week. 

There is a YouTube series where an artist challenge himself to create 30 paintings in 30 days. He outlined a plan for different styles he wanted to try his hand at. The video said 30 in 30 days, his follow up video explained that he worked on planning for a couple of months, and several of the works took several days to complete, he may not have created all 30 in a 30 day period.  Still he challenged himself to create 30 unique works, exploring 30 styles and techniques. He learned and grew by challenging himself to be creative. 

How will you challenge your creativity this week.

Friday Frivolity

Martha 100, when I saw this book cover, my first thought was, "I know she is old, but she is not that old." (Google tells me she is 84.) A couple of years ago she appeared in an advertising campaign, apparently filmed shortly after far too much Botox. She does not seem to have repeated that, it is nice to see her face moving again. Whoever designed this book cover, really should have shown it to me before they went to print. 

I was in DC last week to have lunch with a friend, and I walked down the Kennedy Center to see the tarp that was put up when that evil name was pried off the front of the building.  There were two security guards out front to keep people behind the barricades. One of them asked what I was looking for, I said, "The same thing everyone else is, what is behind the tarp." He responded, "only god knows, and she isn't telling anyone!" 

You know, Trump lies so often, that if he tells the truth, most people don't believe him. 

Have some fun today! 

Thursday Ramble: Dress for Success

My college alumni association keeps trying to organize a Washington DC chapter, and turn out reportedly is underwhelming, so they try again a year or so later and make the exact same mistake. The organizing meeting is a cocktail party at a "Private Club" in DC, hosted by a prominent local alumnus. The "Club" has a strict dress code, men MUST wear a coat and tie, and NO ATHLETIC SHOES. I simply decline the invitation, I don't dress for dinner, I have worn dress shoes once in the past five years, and then only when I had a relatively short distance to walk or time that I expected to stand in them.  I wear mostly running shoes. I have a couple of pair in simple black, with black soles. They are not flashy Air-someone's, they are simple dark shoes that I can walk and stand in for two or three hours. I am old, my feet and legs are not what they once were. I wear shoes that fit my needs.  The last time I wore a tie was a funeral, the next time I wear one, will probably be another funeral. This is not 1926, we don't dress for dinner. The dress code is decades out of date with the way people live. It is attempt at elitism. 

I don't need to dress to impress. 

I have only once been turned away for not being appropriately dressed at a restaurant. And it gave me one of my favorite stories.  It was January of 1991 in Paris, I was wearing Levis 501's, a navy blue Scottish wool sweater (I still have the sweater), an expensive brown leather jacket, and timberland hiking boots, and the doorman at Maxim's literally pushed me back in the taxi at lunch time. We went around the corner, up a narrow side street and had an extraordinary lunch in a tiny restaurant with Michelin Stars on the wall, and a lifetime of storytelling.  If you are going to be turned away at the door, this is a great place to start. I won't try to go there again.   

My World of Wonders June 24, 2026

Where have I been this week? Into DC for a long walk, lunch with a
friend, and another long walk. Out to lunch at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. Dropped a friend off at the airport, the Farmers Market, the pool, the treadmill, the community center. The pool, the treadmill. Out to Dulles to see a friend who is visiting the area. 

Who have a talked with this week?  Erica, Giuseppe, Michelle, Kevin, Jon, Ruth, Amy, Rebecca, Bonnie, Dian, Joan, Pratibha, Rebecca, Marcell, Susan, Paul, Jennifer, Guido, and Jennifer. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Not much, we went out to eat three days in a row. I started a batch of spicy pickles. Saturday was smokes sausage, cheddar mashed potatoes and a simple salad with a fresh vinaigrette. Sunday meatloaf, baked potatoes, and sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. 

What is below? Three of the over 40 works in the most recent community art show. 

The General by me (Yes, I would sell it.) 

Land that I Love, Rebecca (available for purchase) 

Iwo Jima Memorial, Paul P.