Hot Summer Afternoons

I love summer, that does not mean that the summer heat does not necessitate stopping from time to time for a little relaxation and refreshment.  Take a moment, sit in the shade, watch the world go by.

A Few of My Favorite Things - Jewelry Edition

I like jewelry.  I took a silversmithing class in college and really appreciate the work that goes into good jewelry.  I seldom wear it, but I do buy it, sometimes giving it as gifts, sometimes hanging onto it to I can enjoy it.  A few of my favorites.

1: Colored gemstones, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, the deeper the color the better. I know diamonds are a girls best friend, - but I like the rich colors.  I once had the opportunity to buy uncut emerald, in the encasement that it had grown in (an emerald is a crystal.)  It was really neat, the stone was split in half, and when you lifted off the top half, the emerald was sticking out of the bottom half near the middle.  The stone cutter found it so unique they declined to remove it from the encasement and cut the stone.  I should have bought it it was only $250.

2: Nice digital watches.  For 20 years I have mostly worn $50 digital timex Ironman watches.  I own several expensive watches including a Tag Heuer, but for everyday wear I find the digital easier to use.

3: Gold, I actually like yellow gold.  It passes in and out of fashion, I have seldom been a slave to fashion.

4: Bracelets, I much prefer bracelets to necklaces.  I don't know why, but I do.

I want to stay here - five questions

1: In the morning do you leap out of bed to greet the opportunities of the new day, or would you prefer to pull up the covers and roll over for the day?

2: Do you look forward to leaving home for the adventure of travel, or would you prefer to stay home?

3: Do you rush to be the first person on the plane or train, or board at the last minute?

4: Do you start packing a week before a trip, or leave packing to the last minute?

5: When it is time to return home, do you wish you could stay longer and soak in more, or are you ready to head for home?

My Answers:
1: I am a leap out of bed person.
2: I love leaving home for an adventure - I have a hard time sleeping the night before
3: I like being the first one on board.
4: I pack the night before, if the trip is less than a week, I don't even think about packing until the night before.
5: As much as I love the adventure of travel, I am always ready to return home.

Old Age in America

I don't write about my work on the blog, but I am going to write about my work. I work on legal issues in aging.  

I have spent a bit of time in the past couple of weeks editing articles written by my summer graduate student interns.  The students come to us with little knowledge of aging issues - making us responsible for most of what they know about the issue.  The thing that struck me from the writing, was what a negative picture we paint of aging.  There is much more to growing older, than disease, abuse, and poverty.  

As a society we fight against illness and view death as failure.  We turn the lives of older adults into a continuous series of medical appointments, tests and treatments fighting valiantly to increase life expectancy.  Sadly I fear we focus on the number of years in a life, and overlook the life in those years.  You can't cure old age and live forever, we can work to help everyone live a comfortable and happy life.  

Predators, usually family members, abuse, neglect and steal from persons who are perceived as being vulnerable, especially if the victim is dependent on the perpetrator. 90% of older adults will never experience abuse.  We paint a picture that every older person is constantly at risk, and this is not true.  Yes, abuse is a scourge, it is a crime, it is a social issue and a family issue - but it is not a part of the daily live of the majority of adults as they age.  The vast majority of us, age, defend ourselves, and live an abuse free life. The way to stop abuse is not by scaring everyone into being afraid of the world.  

The stock brokers set standards for retirement savings that when achieved allow retirees to live in luxury, and make the stock brokers wealthy. The reality is that only about 20% of retirees have that kind of money.  Social Security and retirement accounts replace about 40% of earnings for the average retiree.  Only about 25% of American workers are covered by a traditional pension that provides a guaranteed income for life (down from over 50% 40 years ago when the 401k starting making stock brokers wealthy.)  So the majority of retirees are going to live on a lot less income than they enjoyed when working.  But this does not mean they don't live well.  Most learn to live well, with less income.  They reexamine life's wants and needs.  

Yes there is grinding poverty among some seniors, and the cost of long term nursing home care will bankrupt the average couple in less than two years, but the numbers there are the minority, not the norm.   

We focus so much on the bad things that happen to a minority of older adults, that it becomes easy to overlook the fact that the majority live a good life.  

What can I say today?

I have been riding my bike half the way to and from the office this week, to work around a maintenance closure on the subway line. In the morning I take the bike on the train from my neighborhood station to the airport, ride the bike from there to the office, and do the reverse in the afternoon. It has worked surprisingly well.  I had not ridden to the office for about two years, it is wonderful to be able to do so.  I enjoy the ride.  

Now I have a strange habit when I am riding, I say "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" to strangers as I pass them on the trail, street or sidewalk, I say "have a great day" to random passers by.  I get stared at, undoubtedly some of them are thinking that fat man on the bike is a few bricks short of full stack.  

The DC subway is a silent anti-social place, if you talk to people on the trains you are immediately tagged as being "not from around here" or "dangerously unstable."  I observe the code of social conduct on the trains.  But on the bike, I let loose.   

I do hope I brighten someone's day.  It only takes a simple kind word to do so.  I was riding into the office one morning on the train, I was fussed and upset about something, the train pulled into a station and as he was getting up to exit, the man setting next to me said, "it will all be okay" to me.  And it was, his simple kind word was what I needed at that moment in time to change my day.  

My current route has me passing through the airport terminal with the bike, it is the easiest way to get from the train station to the sidewalk. If you see a guy riding a bike through baggage claim, saying GOOD AFTERNOON to arriving passengers, don't worry, it is only me on my way home.  

Giant Wieners

One of the joys of the adventure of travel is experiencing the wonderful world of wieners.  Last year in Germany, and this year in Italy I came across a wonderful array of sausages.  When we lived in Kentucky, I use to go to Cincinnati to pick up unusual wieners at the Findlay Market.  There are long ones and short ones, skinny ones and fat ones; whites ones and red ones; some are smoked and some are raw.  I enjoy them all.  

This Year's Gucci Slippers

Window shopping - or as the French describe it window-licking, you see some of the wildest things in the windows of designer shops.  In this case this year's Gucci house slippers, with fur trim.  They come in several colors.  I didn't look for the price, if you have to ask, you don't want to know. 
Would you wear them? 
What would your cat or dog make of them? 

Grab the Kiss

Life is short, the older I get the faster the years seem to fly by.  One day, we will all wake up dead. There is no escaping our fate. 

When the moment happens, take it: 
Look at the wonder and awe around you
Travel where the adventure takes you 
Read the blog or book 
People watch
Eat the cake 
Pause for the cold drink (all good things in moderation) 
Buy the shirt
Wear comfy undies (buy the good stuff in your favorite color - the routine things in life should never be boring.) 
Express yourself 
Listen to the music
Feel the warm sun on your skin 
Catch the snowflake on your tongue
Listen to the rain 
Call friends and family - just to say hi, 
Send the meaningless text message - let them know you are thinking of them 
If you are fortunate enough to love and be loved - Grab the kiss 

A Brief Health Update

I had an MRI and 14 month follow up with the neurosurgeon today.   Nothing appears to be growing were it shouldn't be, and my spine and all of the titanium plates, rods and screws are right where he left them 14 months ago. This is all VERY GOOD NEWS, next follow up the end of the year.

Bumping Into Daily Life

As an explorer and adventurer, I travel to see people and places.  Over the years I have grown to prefer real places with real people, sorry but once you have seen the real thing, the "World Showcase at EPCOT," seems quite artificial.  One big difference between the real world and the artificial (fake) world, is the real world is filled with people living routine lives.  I like shopping with the locals and will explore local markets, even if I don't have access to a kitchen.

I also encounter people in major life events.  The picture at the top was taken a few years ago in an abbey in Normandy.  We noticed the flowers, and a small crowd gathering.  As we left the church we noticed the grave diggers preparing in the churchyard, as we were headed back to the car, the hearse arrived.  The picture at the bottom was taken a month ago in Rome, the bride was walking from the Villa Borghese to the Church at the top of the Spanish Steps.  Real people, living real lives.  

Five Weird Things

Anne Marie suggested the five weirdest things as a theme, let me see what five weird questions I can come up with about weirdness. 

1: What is the strangest thing you have ever seen at a funeral? 
2: What is the oddest way someone you know has ever died? 
3: Describe the strangest person you ever met? 
4: The artist Christo, genius or weirdo? 
5: Have you ever experienced a phenomenon, you simply can't explain - aka - maybe seen a ghost or a UFO?  

1: At the funeral of one of my great-uncles, both of his wives showed up.  He never divorced the first one, she read his obituary in the  paper and showed up.  The two widows spent an hour trading stories about their husband. 
2: One of Jay's great aunts, was run over by a mobile home.  She had bought it as a wedding gift for a grandchild, when it was being delivered it "got away" from the delivery guys and rolled down the hill and over her. 
3: Probably the hoarder with 25 cats, who couldn't understand why the neighbors didn't like her. 
4: Christo is weird. 
5: My last office in Kentucky was creepy late in the day.  

Home

Just to the right of the wingtip, there are 3 high rise buildings that are kind of shaped like a C.  I own a condo in the top left one, technically building 2, and actually there are four buildings, the structure at the bottom is actually two buildings very close together.  The buildings are set on 35 acres, on a hilltop, from the road out front (US-1) to the top of the hill is about 160 feet of rise.

I really like condo and in particular high rise condo living.  I am perched on the third floor.  With a little bit of a view.  I have relative privacy.  It is amazingly quiet.  Everything outside my door is taken care of, in fact the outside of my door is taken care of, every couple of years I stay home for the day so the outside of the door can be painted. If I had a housekeeper, or better yet a houseboy, it would be like living in a really nice hotel suite.  We have two pools, a private restaurant, a nice new fitness center, oh, and a private bowling alley - why a bowling alley - only the developer knows and I am sure he is dead by now- I hope he died laughing.

If you take off from Reagan National Airport in DC, going south, about 2 minutes out, just past the George Washington Masonic Memorial and the beltway, we are on top of the hill, on the west side of US-1.  I took this last Sunday morning - outbound for Florida for a few days.

Your Face Will Freeze Like That

We have been off to visit my family, not exactly a vacation, but certainly not work.  Traveling over the 4th of July Holiday weekend, by air exposes us to amateurs, people who seldom if ever fly.  You know the kind, the ones who are surprised that THEY have to clear security at the airport.  Then they get on the plane, with mom-dad, grandma-grandpa, weird Uncle Fritz, and all 5 kids, each dragging the biggest "roll aboard" money can buy and then can't find a place for their bags, then can't find their seats.  On the connection out of Detroit to Orlando, I have never seen so many seat changes, at one point I swear they were playing musical chairs, with the looser having to go sit in the last row- in the seat backing up to the on board toilet.  It is enough to make even the strongest of us go Duhh!, just be careful your face does not freeze like that. 

Great Pictures - But what a bunch of boring posts

I am very sorry, I fear that I have put a bunch of you to sleep. The pictures are nice, but my text has been dead boring for the most part for the past few months.  I guess it is kind of like my life, not enough sex, booze and rock and roll.  My life lacks scandals, I am not engaging in political rants, I don't write about work (much.)

So what is not so boring.  At the office I try to work in the no-drama zone - though last week I was involved in complex issues of accounting, tax and audit rules. I had issue an edict that we can't do something the easy and logical way, we have to do it in a way that makes the bean-counters happy. I have to be careful to not sound like a dictator in the office, a colleague pointed out one day that I sounded like a dictator without the tater (he was right.)

I need to find more humor in daily life. The last thing I really laughed about was my mother calling the dog by saying, "here kitty-kitty?"  The dog rolled his eyes, and then strolled over for a cuddle.

I submitted a funding request at the office for $1.1 million over the next five years that I am fairly confident will be funded. If only it all went into my pocket.  Assuming it is funded I will have a job for the next five years and that is a good thing.

Senseless acts of hate and terrorism bug the hell out of me. If Congress can't agree that a person on the federal No-Fly list should not be able to buy guns from a licensed firearms dealer - they are not really serious about reducing gun violence in the United States.  Requiring background checks on every transfer, is a much more complex issue and I can understand that bill not passing, but anyone who is to dangerous to fly, should not be able to walk into a gun shop and buy guns - if there are due process issues with the no-fly list, fix those issues.

The all or nothing mindset that keeps common sense gun control legislation from passing in Congress, is the same mindset that extremists use to justify the senseless murder of anyone who they feel is not supporting them, it is the mindset of people who blow themselves up in airports.  Why can't congress see that. Oh, yes we have home grown extremists on both sides.

So, I will try to be more entertaining.

Family

I am in Florida for a few days visiting family.  This has been a difficult trip.

My mother was recently in the hospital, and was discharged home with hospice care a week ago.  Her Parkinson's has progressed to the point that she barely moves.  She aspirates when she eats or drinks, her throat no longer works as it should, her bowels are are shutting down. Her heart has lost it's normal rhythm and beats to it's own drummer.  She has late stage dementia and says very little, and what she does say only sometimes makes sense, though she can answer a direct question, she knew who I was, she has consistently said no to a feeding tube. She sleeps 20+ hours per day. She is kind of like the grand old house that has fallen into disrepair, slowly falling apart, the curtains blowing in the breeze through windows missing on the second floor.  Sad, not a pleasant way to go.

Dad is a tiny shadow of himself, he has lost a lot of weight and has little energy.  He has a host of issues, the electrical circuitry in his heart has shorted out, he is 100% dependent on a pacemaker, he has a growth in his lung, the doctors are not sure what it is, but he is so weak there is not much they could do about it if they did, the treatment would kill him, His kidney function is barely sufficient to keep him alive.  His mind is clear, but he has little to say. He is waiting, he knows what is coming.

The house is kind of like death's waiting room. There is no anticipation of the next great adventure - slowly fading away, inch by inch, is not a pretty way to shuffle off this mortal coil.

My Uncle Richard died a few weeks ago.  Richard, had a tremendous sense of humor and could tell a story like few people I have ever known. I missed the memorial service - we were in Italy at the time.  We had lunch with his son the other day.  He was telling us about the memorial service.   The minister, who knew Richard very well, was telling stories and talking about loss.  He said, "with his passing, there will be a huge Dick shaped hole in the hearts of all of us."  Yes, Richard was known as Dick by his close friends and family, and yes the minister said that, and then realized what he had said.  Half the room cried, the other half chuckled, bit their lips and tried not to laugh out loud.  How appropriate, Dick would have found great humor in this, and would have spent years spinning the story for a good laugh.  I'd sooner they laugh when my time comes.

Mt St Michele

Last Saturday morning was the start of the 2016 tour -de-France, three weeks of cycle racing through the wonderful landscape of France.  France has some wonderful cities, I'll never pass an opportunity to visit Paris, but the back roads and villages in Franc are truly amazing.  I love the small towns of stone houses and shops, that real people, really live in.  The people are warm, welcoming and genuine.  The food and drink are - well they are French and the French don't do mediocre or bad food. I could live there.

So how is this connected,  to Mt St Michele, was the starting point for the Tour this year.  The Mt is a stone outcropping, in the midst of a huge tidal plane.  There is a delightful village and a church and monastery at the top of the hill.  When it was built it was protected by high tide, as the outcropping became an island at high tide, and access to the island was either by foot at low tide or by boat at high tide.  Over the past 50 years a causeway has been built providing 24 hour street access to the Mt.  The parking lots along the side of the causeway are still on the tidal flat and flood at high tide.

I have been to Mt St Michele twice.  I love that part of France.

Happy Independance Day

 240 years ago, a group of rebels agreed to declare political independence from my ancestral homeland.  Political and economic issues drove the decision, immigration, taxation, free trade, self governance.  There is a famous quote about needing to rise together, or all hang together - being a thinly veiled reference to being strung up by their necks if the revolution failed.

Would any of us be so bold today?  Would you risk your life for a political or economic issue?  We have a hard enough time getting people to vote on election day.

Duhh

It is Five Questions Day,

So what was the last thing to make you go?
1: Duhh?
2: Balistic?
3: Laugh out loud?
4: Cry?
5: All Sleepy?

My answers:
1: A question at the office that I should know the answer to, and didn't have a clue
2: Accounting's silliness about depositing a check at the office
3: My mother calling the dog by saying, "here kitty-kitty!"
4: Talking to my sister on the phone about caring for mom and dad
5: Watching a car auction on television - faster than baseball at putting me to sleep.

Interconnected

We are all connected, the actions of one, impact all the others.  Like the gears in this Ferrari, if one moves, we all move, when one stops, we all stop, when one moves backwards, we all move backwards.  If we don't move together, something breaks.  

There are times when breaking, is the best option.  But even that impacts everyone else. 

If all move forward, with love, respect and honor, we can all get to spinning to the best of our ability. All that the cosmos can ask.   

Forbidden

The dome at the top, is part of the mosaic ceilings St Marks in Venice.  Taking pictures inside is forbidden, sometimes I just can't stop myself from taking one little picture or two.  Nice domes don't you agree?