Travel Tuesday: Meetings in The City

I had a couple of meetings in the City, as in Washington DC a month ago, and thought I would take you along for the ride. 

Bundled up on my way in DC, King Street in Alexandria a couple of stops from home. 

Lots of open seats at 9:30 on a Monday morning

A little ice on the Potomac River

A line to get into the White House on the waning days of the Biden Administration 

My office was in this building for a few years, around the right side, at the top of the colonnade. 

The EPA is on one side, the IRS on the other. 

Skating in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden 

Presidents are temporary 

The Willard Hotel, waiting in the lobby to talk with politicians and policy makers living in the hotel, is the origin of the American term, lobbying. 

 

Monday Mood: Thoughts on Traveling Alone

I have done a lot of solo travel over the past 30 years. The two of us had work related travel, and conferences that the other often couldn't or would have no reason to want to go along on. I have also done a fair amount of solo leisure travel.  Doc Spo and Someone have plans for a week in Palm Springs, but dear elder dog Harper is too frail to board, so it looks like Spo will be traveling to Palm Springs solo, with Someone staying home with the dog.  Over drinks Friday evening Spo asked about traveling alone. 

For work related travel, traveling solo was often the only way to go. Many of my trips were business only, in and out without much time to think or see anything. 

There were also longer solo trips that were not work. As long as my parents were alive I went to Florida two or more times per year, at least half of those trips were solo.  Several times when Sweet Bear went to a conference at Oxford, I went elsewhere. I have very fond memories of a week in Normandy while he was at Oxford. The week I turned 60, Sweet Bear had classes to teach, I booked a week in the Detroit area visiting family and seeing sights I had never seen. A year after my parents died, I went to Florida alone for a few days to see theme parks and family. 

With no one else to set the agenda, when you travel alone you need to set the agenda. Have things you want to see or do, and a way to get there and do it, or you will end up sitting in a hotel room wondering why hotel cable TV is so terrible.  Plan ahead for getting around, do you need a car, is there good public transit, are things within walking distance? I always check ahead to see if there are bloggers in the area. I have made some wonderful friends by reaching out and offering to meet for a couple of hours. 

Traveling alone is different. There is no one else to solve your problems, no one will need your help.  No one else will keep you on schedule, you don't have anyone else to keep on schedule (and things like airline flights don't wait for anyone.) You have to decide where to eat, you can eat wherever you want.  

Not everyone enjoys solo travel. Plan it and try it. If you enjoy it, keep doing it. Not having someone to travel with, is no reason to stay home. 

There is usually a point in a solo trip, when I wish I was not alone, when I am ready to head for home. As you read this on Monday, I am homeward bound. 

 
 

The Sunday Five: Precious Adornments

1: Do you wear jewelry every day? 

2: What is your favorite piece of jewelry?  

3: What should we do with jewelry we own and don't wear? 

4: Has anyone given you a special piece of jewelry, and if so describe it? 

5: Are you more of a gold person or a silver person? 

My answers: 

1: Do you wear jewelry every day? No, my wedding ring is on my house keys. 

2: What is your favorite piece of jewelry?  A silver bracelet that I bought in Florida a few years ago. 

3: What should we do with jewelry we don't wear? Take it out and adore it from time to time. 

4: Has anyone given you a special piece of jewelry, and if so describe it? I have an enamel pendant watch that my grandmother received as a gift in 1913, and she passed onto me with I was in my early 20's. I should give it to one of my nephews.  

5: Are you more of a gold person or a silver person?  I like gold, but I own more silver than gold. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning post: 50 States in 52 weeks: California

California is one of several states that a contract to do training for AARP took me to for the first time.  The first training I did for AARP was in Sacramento, I arranged a couple of extra days, rented a car and drove into San Francisco. The city is easily love at first sight.  Driving in across the Golden Gate Bridge, China Town, Castro Street, around the embarcadaro, riding the cable cars. 

I have taken every opportunity I could to return to California, going back to San Francisco, Hollywood, Huntington Beach, San Diego, back to Sacramento. I spoke at a conference in Folsom (near the prison but not at it.)  One of my favorite trips, I spoke at a conference in San Francisco, rented a car and drove down the coast to Pebble Beach and back, taking the old slow road right along the coast. I have also been to the California side of Lake Tahoe (the smoke free side, Nevada allowed smoking in public places.) 

It is an amazing place.  If I won the lottery, I would consider living there.  It can be rather expensive.  

 

Friday Post: In My Neighborhood

Most of you will have read that there was a tragic air crash Wednesday evening at Reagan National Airport, near Washington DC. An American Airlines commuter jet on final approach to the airport collided with an Army helicopter. There were no survivors, if the manifest is correct 67 people died in the accident. 

I had flown out of that airport, on American Airlines about 10:30 AM that day. National Airport (DCA) is my home airport. It is in my neighborhood, I live about 5 miles south of the airport, on the same side of the Potomac River as the airport. Over the past 16 years I have flown in and out of that airport well over 100 times. 

The video clearly shows what happened, the helicopter flew into the passenger jet. It will take time to sort out why it happened. Where the aircraft off course, did the controllers make a mistake, did the two not see one another? At this point there are many questions and few answers. Almost always it is an accumulation of several small errors, that result in an accident like this. 

I snapped the photo above as we were taking off on Wednesday, the marina is the Washington Sailing Marina at Dangerfield Island (not really an island.) The major news stations were reporting from those docks Wednesday night.  

How does this make me feel about flying? It happens, but it is rare.  This was the first major fatal crash in the United States in 16 years. The most dangerous part of the trip, is getting to and from the airport.  Thousands of flights carry millions of passengers every week.  I will keep flying.  Even when tragedy strikes in my neighborhood.  

I fly home to DCA on Monday afternoon. 

On Thursday afternoon I posted the following to Fakebook, as I have been urged to do, speak up when things are clearly wrong. 

Racist, Sexist, Ableist, Trump shows his true colors.

There was a terrible and tragic aviation accident in my neighborhood Wednesday night, when an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter collided in mid-air, killing all 67 people on the two aircraft. At this point no one knows for sure what caused this accident. Experience tells us that it was probably a combination of failures and mistakes at the same time. 

Before the bodies have all been recovered, Trump is insisting that the accident was the result of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts (DEI.) His statements are inherently racist, sexist and ableist. In essence he is claiming that no qualified woman, person of color, or person with a disability is capable of learning how to do the job, and do it to a very high standard. This shows a degree of prejudice that is wrong and out of touch with reality. Maybe he means that standards have been compromised, if standards have been, that is a failure of standards not a failure caused by DEI. Committed, dedicated, qualified candidates come in all colors, shapes, sizes, genders, sexual orientations, gender identities, or ethnic origins. Trumps’ statements are offensive and wrong. 

I included ableist in my rant.  The work of an air traffic controller does not require the person to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (the focus of the investigation is on air traffic  control and the flight crews.) Air Traffic control requires the person to be able to coordinate and manage many moving planes at the same time.  A person with a physical disability may be even more suited to spending 8 hours a day focusing on radar screens, than a runner whose body needs to move to stay comfortable. We condemn far to many bright people to Social Security Disability because they can’t find a job, not because they can’t do the job. DEI should fill jobs with people who can do that job, based on abilities. 

Thursday Ramble: Books

I am off to a reading pace that may result in a record number of books read again this year.  For most of the 15 years I worked in DC, I read on the subway train in and out of the city, an hour plus each day, a book a week on average. Now that I am retired I read in the evenings, and sometimes in the afternoon.  I read on planes, and trains when I travel.  I am looking forward to reading as I slowly cross the Atlantic later this year. (We are taking another slow boat to Europe.) 

I didn't grow up in a house of book lovers. My parents read the daily Detroit News newspaper, but seldom read books.  My father had some technical manuals for flying, he would study those, and as soon as he had mastered the material and passed the test, the books would disappear. I don't know if he gave them away, or threw them away, but they were gone.  I can't recall my mother ever buying a book, or going to the library when I was growing up.  There were very few books in the house.  My mother's rant was that books were expensive and took up space, and space was tight. They raised 4 children in about 900 sq. ft. (less than 100 sq. meters.). Growing up I received a few books as gifts, and bought a handful from the scholastic book fair, but was told that I needed to find someplace for them. One spring my mother tossed all of the children's' books with the explanation that we had outgrown them.  My grandmother would occasionally take me to the local library, I remember reading everything they had by Jack London one summer. 

I was in high school when I first started spending time in Walden Books bookstore in the Miracle City Mall in Titusville, where my family was starting to spend winters.  The first couple of winters buying books was against a protest of what are you going to do with those when we go home, as we were renting a condo on a seasonal basis, then they bought the house in Florida. 

I started working in Orlando in 1980, and built my first house in the fall of 1982. About that time a large bookstore opened on Colonial Drive backed up to Orlando Executive Airport, and I discovered the joys of books.  I started reading for fun, and collecting books. 

In about 1986 I started at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. And discovered Park Avenue Books, just up the street from the college.  I was smitten.  I fell into a pattern of finding a topic that interested me, and reading everything I could get my hands on. The staff there would notice what I was buying, and say, come back in a couple of weeks and I will have something special for you. They new how to feed my addiction.  I was saddened when their lease was up, the landlord wanted to double the rent and they closed.  

There are three books that were assigned reading in high school and college that struck a chord with me.  Walden, I have read it a dozen times. Zorba the Greek, I have read it probably five times, I prefer the movie.  Cross Creek, I have read it several times, the last time I found it profoundly racist, and doubt that I will read it again, though it does contain amazing prose about the climate and landscape of central Florida.   

My love of books continued when we moved to Lexington.  During law school, I really didn't have time for pleasure reading, I would stack books up and binge read during winter break and over the summers. There was a good independent bookstore in town, and several used book dealers. 

For 15 years I was almost exclusively a Kindle E-book reader.  E-books were a little cheaper (you are only buying the right to read them, not the book) and required no storage space. 

When we sold the house in Lexington and consolidated into the condo, we had a problem with books, we were consolidating from 2,800 sq. ft to 1,100 sq ft. We gave away a few thousand books. Today I have to force myself to part with a few books each year, to add new keepers to the collection.  I am in my second year of a love affair with my local library.  In the lobby of the high rise we live in there is a study, with a bookcase in it, where residents leave books they want to part with, and pick up books they would like to read. The last time I took down 5 books, and came back with 1 (The Piano Shop on The Left Bank, by Thad Carhart - one of the best books I have read this year.)  

My World of Wonders, aka The Wednesday Ws, the end of January Already

Where have I been this week? The bank, the liquor store, the library, Aldi, the gym, the pool, out for a walk, 

Where am I headed? The airport, and Phoenix for a few days.  

What have I been thinking about?  I have posted a couple of political posts to Fakebook, one on immigration and one on the end of telework and the return of paid snow days. The idiocy of HWSNBN. 

Who have I talked with?  My Sweet Bear, the gang at Water Aerobics. 

What went well?  Sweet Bear went to water aerobics with me and did very well. 

What have I been watching?  YouTube - I have a group of content producer I follow. The Barrett-Jackson the Scottsdale Auction was on - I was able to attend a day of that a couple of years ago, Gold Rush - we are getting down to the end of the season, and the Jeopardy Tournament - the two of us call out the questions. 

What surprised me? An incorrect, correctly spelled word, in a book published by a university press.  The reference was to the parking brake in a car, and it was spelled "break." Spell Check won't catch that one, a good editor would, YP would point that out in a comment.  

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  I baked another new bread, a baguette recipe from Paul Hollywood's "100 Breads."  It turned out really well for a first try.  I didn't mix the salt into the flour well enough, resulting in some salty spots.  I won't feature the recipe on a Friday because it lacks measurements for how much water to use, it instructs you to use enough warm water to form a "batter" and later enough to form a "firm dough." If you are comfortable with baking this is not hard to do, if you are looking for a chemistry formula, it is not. Maybe I will make it a few times, and keep track of how much I use, and then instruct to add more water or flour to achieve the desired product. (Is a dough a mixture or a solution?) 

Was I nasty this week? Only once, I submitted a comment on the blog of an orange Nero supporter, that made me feel good, and feel guilty at the same time.  My grandmother's voice echoes in my mind, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything." 

What am I working on? I have a short article to finish for a March 10 due date. It really only needs a couple of edits and read throughs.  Late last summer I started work on a book on legal and ethical issues in end of life.  I started it in a very formal academic style. I have been thinking about it, the text needs to tell stories, stories of the people I have helped and learned from over the past 30 years.  It is a human subject and it needs a human voice.  I should get back to work on it. 

What felt so wonderful?  Monday afternoon I drifted off to a nap, and woke up about an hour later, with that wonderful I had a nice nap feeling. 

Travel Tuesday: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

From the upper lobby of the Concert Hall, looking out to the River 

My Daily Selfie 

It is rare to see that much ice on the Potomac River.

The Reach, better in color or black and white? 

The Grand Foyer at the KC. 

The night before a pickup truck had an accident and went off the side of the next bridge downriver, the Memorial Bridge.  The two people in the truck died from exposure  to the freezing water (one was not found until the next day when the truck was craned out of the river.) 

Warming up for the performance

This was probably 20 minutes before curtain time, most of those seats filled in. 

Sweetie Bear looking dashing. 

The Georgetown bend in the Potomac River covered in ice. 

 

Moody Monday: I Didn't Think Mother Nature Would Take Me Seriously When I Said "When Hell Freezes Over"

 Four years ago I may have said that He Who Shall Not Be Named (HWSNBN) would return to Washington DC when hell freezes over. I really didn't think that mother nature would take me seriously.  In case you haven't heard North America has been enduring a bit of a cold snap, including 8-10 inches of snow from New Orleans to the Gulf Coast of Florida - that is the coast along the Gulf of Mexico - no matter what HWSNBN declares.  It has been for a a couple hundred years, one #%^$&@&@ can't change that.  

It may be cruel but I had a hearty laugh at accumulating snow in Florida, Walt Disney World had 2-3 inches of snow (not Disneyland - that is in California.) 

Here in DC area, it has been cold, 14 degrees F the other morning, several days significantly below freezing.  We had one meaningful snow, 5-6 inches (less than Pensacola Florida) and a few minor snows.  The cold has been the worst of the weather.  It is the dead of winter. We get a few days like this almost every winter.  

When I lived in Florida tourists would complain about near freezing weather in January or February, and would point out to them that it was the middle of winter. In central Florida there was good news and bad news about the summer weather.  The good news was that a typical summer day was a low of around 80 degrees F and a high in the low 90s F with humidity matching the temperature. It very seldom was warmer than 95 degrees. The bad news was the weather was like that from early May, until mid November most years.  And now it has frozen over. 

As an old television commercial warned us, "It is not good to fool mother nature!" She appears to feel about the same as I do about the reappearance of HWSNBN and Melanoma aka the Ice Princess - or whatever her name is. 

HWSNBN was apparently upset that Michelle Obama declined to attend the inauguration. HWSNBN spent 9 years questioning her husbands birthplace, and criticising her looks, and their every move.  Bravo for Michelle saying "when hell freezes over."  

HWSNBN has issued a bunch of executive orders on immigration.  It is important to remember, that his friends in Congress killed a carefully negotiated bipartisan immigration reform bill at his request, so he could campaign on the issue. He delayed action on updating our outdated and insufficient immigration system, so he would have an issue to campaign on. He created a "problem." The law is still outdated and in need to reform. He is evil incarnate. And the "Press" largely failed to point out his creating this "problem" and only focused on his actions. 

So how is my mental health? I am not stressing, but not rolling over and playing dead.  Carefully, I am speaking up to point out the hypocrisy. 

P.S. Welcome back to snow days!  HWSNBN has ordered the end of telework for federal workers. With telework government employees didn't get a paid day off because of bad weather, like snowstorms, the workforce went to unscheduled telework.  As long as your work could be done remotely you were expected to put in a full days work.  With the end of telework, offices will close, and people will get the day off with full pay and benefits once again. Snow Days are returning.  I never worked for the federal government, but like many private employers in the Washington DC area, my office followed the feds, if OPM  - the Office of Personnel and Management - said unscheduled telework, we worked. Now my former office will return to Snow Days along with thousands of federal employees .  😃 He really does not think these thing through.   

     

Sunday Five: Winter Weather

1.  Does it snow where you live? 
2.  Can you ice skate? 
3.  Do you prefer a warm fireplace, or a warm sunny beach? 
4.  How would you describe the building on the horizon in this photo? 
5.  How many national capitals have you visited? 

My answers: 

1. Does it snow where you live? Not much and not often. 
2.  Can you ice skate? Nope. 
3.  Do you prefer a warm fireplace, or a warm sunny beach?  Tough one, we are really not beach people. 
4.  How would you describe the building on the horizon in this photo?  Dysfunctional government at its best. 
5.  How many national capitals have you visited?  DC, Paris, London, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin; 9 - more than I thought before I made a list. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning post: 50 States in 52 weeks: Arkansas

 I don't have a photo from Arkansas. The first time I was there, was passing through on the trips to Arizona as a child.  We went south and across Oklahoma and north Texas, into New Mexico and then into Arizona on those trips. 

The next time I was there was to present a training for AARP at a legal aid program in Little Rock.  I am not sure of the date, it was post Clinton, they were starting on Bill's Presidential Library when we were there.  It was after 2000 and before 2005 when I started recording the hotels I have stayed in. 

While we lived in Lexington Kentucky, we drove down to Memphis Tennessee to see one of the first US exhibits of items recovered from the Titanic, on the trip back from there, we drove north, crossed the Mississippi river and drove through a sliver of Arkansas.  

I am glad I have been there, and I see little reason to return. Well there is an art museum, funded with Walmart billions. 

Freestyle Friday: 100 Tips to Slightly Improve Your Travel Experience: #35 What To Do When The Flight Is Cancelled

Flights are seldom cancelled, but it happens.  Delayed flights can result in missed connections. To put it simply, poo happens sometimes when you are traveling.  Not often, but it does happen.  

Tip #1: Don't panic, it won't help things. I have panicked, in the end, the options will still be the same.  

Tip#2: Be polite, be nice, be very-very nice to the airline staff.  A delayed flight causes them extra work, a cancelled flight makes them wonder why they didn't stick with the job at 7-11.  Wait in line, and when it is your turn smile and say, what are my best options.  Kindness will get you more than being angry or frustrated with the only people who can help you. 

Tip #3: Use the airlines app while you are standing in line, the computer will try to reschedule you, if there are options the app may offer you a choice. 

Tip #4: Call the airline's customer service number while you are standing in line. 

Tip #5: If you are stuck overnight, it has happened to me a couple of times, politely ask the airline agents for help finding a hotel.  Airlines have standing room blocks at local hotels for airline staff to stay in. Hotels will show sold out, when they are holding rooms for potential airline personnel to stay in.  Sometimes you will even get the airlines wholesale rate at the hotel.  If you can afford to travel, and extra hotel night won't break you.  If the overnight delay is the airline's fault (an emergency landing with smoke streaming out of one of the engines) the airline will probably pay for the hotel. If it is weather related, you are going to pay. Be nice about it. Don't be a martyr by insisting your only option is to sleep in the airport.  

Tip #6: Don't panic, it will all work out. 

Once you have worked out the alternate or delayed travel arrangements, sort out your plans.  Call ahead to let people know what the change in plans are. It happens, not often, but it happens. 

If you have travel planned and the weather forecast is ugly, call the airline.  I was headed to Florida from DC one fall.  There was a hurricane moving up the east coast, it was north of Florida, south of DC. I was scheduled to fly the next day, when the weather was going to be terrible.  I called the airline and asked if they could change my reservation to fly that evening. I pointed out that by tomorrow they would probably be cancelling the flight. I was put on hold, and when the agent came back I was told, "thank you, what a great idea, I have a seat on the 7 PM flight tonight, you will be in Orlando before 9:15. Flights from DC were cancelled for two days, it took a week to sort out the mess.  

 

The Thursday Ramble: Death of a Small Town

A couple of weeks ago the heart of my home town died. I was raised on a farm, about four miles south-west of the small town of North Branch, Michigan.  At its peak, North Branch had maybe 2,000 residents, the township had probably 10,000 residents and for 150 years, at the heart of town was the Daniel Orr and Sons Hardware store. The store closed permanently on January 11, 2025. 

Orr's was an old fashioned hardware store.  Operated and mostly staffed by members of the family. It was the kind of place you could go to ask how to fix, or build almost anything and they would gladly help you.  If you needed one special bolt, or three brass screws you could buy them there.  If you needed 20 bolts, they would tell you if it was cheaper to buy a box of 25 or just the 20 you needed. Many of the farmers had open credit accounts there, payable when the milk check, or the grain check came in.  Having been in business for decades, they had an amazing stock of unusual items that farmers, homeowners, or hobbyists might want. I went there many times as a kid and teenager for help with one project or another.  It is where I picked out the Sir Charles Gold paint for my bedroom that my father hated so much. 

Orr's was also the place you went for a hunting or fishing license, or fishing equipment and for years a new gun. My grandfather's prized Browning 16 gauge was bought there. He had a Browning 12 gauge and was complaining about how heavy it was, the 16 gauge was about 2 pounds lighter. My oldest brother ended up with both of those.** One night about 40 years ago, a guy broke into the store and held the police at bay for several hours with guns from the case.  They stopped selling guns sometime after that.  

When I was growing up, two brothers ran the store and a brother-in-law ran the local lumber company.  The son of one of the brothers was a year ahead of me in school.  Bill took over from his father and uncle and ran the store for decades. He died a couple of years ago.  One of the daughters was in my class.  Cindy taught science in the local schools. (She is on the far left in the photo below.) 

The closure cuts the heart out of a small town.  

 The remaining Orr family members. 

* Try as I may, I was unable to locate photos of my home town in Michigan. These are borrowed from a high school classmate, Cindy Orr Mitchell https://www.facebook.com/cindy.mitchell.1000

** About 20 years ago, I bought myself a Browning Gold 12 gauge.  It filled a hole left when all of grandfathers shotguns went to my oldest brother. I have no use for it, I should sell it.  

My World of Wonders, aka, The Wednesday Ws - It has Been Busy Around Here

Where have I been this week?  The good Dentist, the Kennedy Center to hear the National Symphony Orchestra, a community arts meeting, the gym, out to lunch, Target, and the pool. We stopped for a late lunch at a nice seafood restaurant that had surprisingly little fish on the menu. 

What have I been reading?  A couple of books about writing, a collection of essays about life, and one about fishing.  I started reading a book about swimming, and abandoned it - it was too focussed on competition and winning, and had to little about enjoying time in the water.  It did answer a couple of questions on my backstroke. I only spent a couple of hours skimming it, it will not make it onto the read list for this year.  

Where am I headed? Time to revisit the library, I am once again reading at a ridiculous rate. 

When am I going back to the Dentist? In a couple of weeks, for a "simple" crown. A lower molar that was damaged 30 years ago when my wisdom teeth were removed.  An hour of discomfort, for ease the rest of my life.  

What am I looking forward to? Phoenix the end of the month, to see dear friends and hob-knob with my fellow lawyers.  And spring, by March the weather starts to moderate here.  

What was my good deed for the week?  One of the photography YouTubers I enjoy, dabbles in movie making. He mentioned that he was borrowing a 16mm movie camera from another YouTuber.  I had a 16mm Bolex that I bought at a garage sale probably 40 years ago, and I never used it.  I thought I had tossed it out, but I stumbled across it in a place it should not have been (it was in the electronics drawer, not the camera drawer.) I packed it and shipped it to him as a gift.  I hope it works as well as it seems to, and that he uses it.  I enjoy seeing creative people being creative. The right tools make all the difference. I wonder how many fine old film cameras are gathering dust in the tops of closets or the wrong drawer. 

What is happening around the house?  Sweet bear finished his rug cleaning project, we had hardwood floors installed a few years ago, with large rugs in the living and dining room that need to be cleaned once a year or so.  I ran self clean on the oven, badly needed after a few things dripped over.  I made lasagna, it was interesting, but not my best effort. 

What made me want to rant this week? A dog, actually the dog owner.  Please, if you have a dog, always maintain control when you are outside, not most of the time, but all of the time.  Driving up US 1 on Friday morning, a tall hound dog dragging a lead, came running out between two houses and into three lanes of northbound traffic.  Everyone slammed on the brakes, the dog cleared the first lane of traffic and was hit by the car in front of us. Within seconds the dog scampered off to the side of the road, alive but obviously in pain. About that time, an elegantly dressed woman came out of from between the houses calling her dog's name. The dog was being comforted by a kind lady on the side of the road. PLEASE ALWAYS HANG ONTO THE LEASH, Or TIE IT SECURELY. It only takes a moment for a tragedy to happen. 

What brought a smile to my face? I have been taking the water aerobics class in the community pool steadily for the past six or seven weeks.  There is a lot of work on core strength and flexibility, an area that I have not worked on for a long time.  The instructors remind us to do our best, and modify as needed, and I have.  Saturday for the first time, my toes touched the wall of the pool, and on another move my heel came all the way up to touch my butt. Things I had not been able to do.  Added flexibility. There is a special happiness, that brings with it a chemical release of joy, in the brain.  For a minute I didn't care what was happening around me, I was in that moment of chemical bliss.  Slowly flexibility is returning that I have not had in over a decade. 

Travel Tuesday: Native American Weavings

 One of the highlights of my visit to the National Museum of the American Indian, was a display of amazing weavings by native American artists.  Indigenous people have been weaving for thousands of years, the materials, techniques and forms are largely unchanged, having been passed from generation to generation. 

Moody Monday: This Too Shall Pass

This too shall pass, hopefully not too much like a kidney stone. HWSNBN returns to town today.  I really thought we would be rid of the parasite, but like the common cold, he has made a comeback.  

In all great likelihood, I will outlive the SOB.  Congress is frustratingly dysfunctional, and odds are they will screw things up so badly that many of them will lose in the election two years from now (all members of the House and 1/3 of the Senate will be up in 2026.)

I will assiduously avoid his smirking face. I will skip the "news" stories. I will write. I will vote. I will encourage like minded people to not give up hope.  Odds are it won't take long for HWSNBN to become the most hated man in town again.  

If I go out today, it might be to ride the subway to the airport and back.  The billionaires private jets will be parked in double rows at the south end of the field. That can be fun to see.  I will see how I feel and how the weather is.  

In the meantime, I will get my treadmill and pool time in, read my blogs, and enjoy a quiet life.  Waiting, for this too shall pass.   

 

The Sunday Five: Adventure Plans for 2025

1: Are you planning to fly any place this year? 

2: Are you planning to take a train this year? 

3: What is the farthest you are likely to travel from home this year? 

4: Will you travel to visit family or friends this year? 

5: If time and money were no object, where would you go this year? 

My answers: 

1: Are you planning to fly any place this year?  Phoenix, Toronto, and home from Glasgow. 

2: Are you planning to take a train this year? No reservations have been made, but most likely we will go back to New York City at some point, and Brussels to London. 

3: What is the farthest you are likely to travel from home this year? Rotterdam, Netherland. 

4: Will you travel to visit family or friends this year? I want to go see my sister and her family. I will see a couple of blog friends in Phoenix, while I am there for a conference.  

5: If time and money were no object, where would you go this year? A Viking or Silversea around the world cruise.  

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: 50 states in 52 weeks: Arizona

My love of Arizona started when I was about 4 or 5 years old. A friend of my father's had moved there, and we went out for a week one winter. The following winter we went back for 5 months, I went to the first grade in Phoenix that winter.  Those adventures left deep and pleasant memories for me.  I find the landscape very relaxing. 

The next time I went to Arizona was in the mid 1980's for a training program in Scottsdale.  I rented a car, I visited the school I had attended about 20 years before, and went to the Grand Canyon. 

I have been back numerous times over the past 15 years, for conferences, or merely stopping on my way to and from the west coast to see Spo and on the most recent trip to meet Sharon of Phoenix Daily Photo.  There is a conference in Phoenix I will be there in a couple of weeks. 

I don't think I would survive a summer in Phoenix, but I do like the state. I can't wait to go back. 

Funky Friday: The Huge Organ

For 100 years the "Boys" in Philadelphia have been able to say, "meet me at the Eagle and I will show you the huge organ"and this was a perfectly acceptable plan. Now in New York the Eagle would be a particular leather bar and the organ would inevitably be smaller than described. But in Philly the Eagle is a huge cast bronze statue. The huge Organ, is not a euphemism for a male body part, it is a very large organ built for a world's fair, bought by Wanamaker's Department Store in Philadelphia and installed in the grand  courtyard of the store about 100 years ago. I have seen the organ, it is HUGE.  

Wanamaker's was bought by Macy's and the store has slowly closed, one floor and department at a time shrinking, and recently it was announced that the store will close this spring.  

The demise of department stores has been long ongoing, painful, and slow. Death by a thousand cuts.  I have fond memories in the middle 1960's of the massive JL Hudson's department store on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit.  The first time I was there, I bought my first pocket size transistor radio. Up on about the 12th floor was a department that sold radios, televisions, and cameras.  I saw the radio in the case, insisted that I had to see it, then surprised the daylights out of my father when I peeled off the cash to buy it. As I recall it was about $20, I was about 10 years old, my father was surprised I had that kind of cash and no one knew about it. Being quiet about having two-nickels to rub together started early for me.  Slowly department stores did away with departments.  Hudson's closed electronics and cameras in the early 1970s, along with hats, gloves, mens formal wear. There was a time when you could go into a store like Hudson's or Wanamakers and buy anything you can buy today on Amazon. The departments and selection have steadily declined over the past 60 years, now you have a choice of 20 shades of blue and grey trousers. 70% of the floor space in a typical department store in the US is ladies clothing.  The stores have closed one cut at a time, at the same time alternatives have expanded. Hudson's is also a victim of merger with Macy's is closing three of the few remaining stores this year. 

So what about the Eagle and Huge Organ in Philly?  Those items are protected by the historical society, they can't be changed or moved without approval.  Negotiations with the building owner are centered on continuing public access to these treasures. It would be a great building to convert to a hotel or apartments, with the central courtyard remaining open to the public. 

The grand Hudson's store on Woodward Avenue, it was imploded about 40 years ago. The video of the implosion brings tears to my eyes.    

The Thursday Ramble: Snowbirds

In the United States a person who lives in the north, and goes south for the winter is known as a snowbird.  Here on the eastern side of the US they commonly go to Florida for at least part of the winter.  There are places in Florida where the population doubles in winter. In other parts of the country people go to the Gulf coast of Texas, or to Arizona. 

We have had a couple of weeks of cold - at times snowy - weather that makes me wonder if there isn't some wisdom in going south for the winter. 

My family has a deep history of snowbirding.  My parents started spending winters in Florida when I was in the 8th grade.  They were following in the footsteps of their parents.  My father's parents had owned a small home in Florida since the early 1960's.  My mother's parents started going south in the offseason from farming just after World War II.  I was raised on a funny farm, my father and his father were large scale bee farmers. In Michigan honey bees are a seasonal farming operation. The work started around the first of April, and was finished by November 1st.  Disturbing the bees during the cold months most often did more harm than good. 

My father's first attempt at snowbirding was when I was in the first grade, we went to Phoenix for the winter.  With four kids in school, it was a disaster for a couple of us, and we didn't try that again until it was down to my sister and I in school.  We were pretty good students. We went to Florida instead of Arizona, because it was closer and the grandparents were there. My father never lost his love to for the desert southwest, and never really grew to love the humidity of Florida.  

My snowbird high school experience was unusual.  I would start classes in Michigan in late August, transfer to Florida around the first of November, transfer back to Michigan around the first of April and finish out the school year in Michigan.  For some classes I gained with brilliant instructors in one school over the other, in some classes I suffered from teachers who couldn't or didn't want to teach. (A unemployed PhD NASA physicist who didn't teach high school chemistry in Florida, but was paid to teach it.) 

After I finished High School, I moved to Florida and lived there almost 20 years. Then moved back north.  Every January and February when the weather is cold and slippery I wonder why I moved north, every hurricane season I am reminded why. (Love and opportunities also were a huge factor in moving north, I have had a great life.) 

The Condo keeps the water in the indoor pool at 88 degrees (f). The hot tub is 104(f). The air in the room feels tropical.  It has become my retreat. An hour there a day, keeps me thawed out.