The Saturday Morning Post: Touching the Third Rail

Oh I know I am going to frighten and piss off some people with this post.  I generally stay away from politics, religion, and guns.  People are frightened and angered by all three (pissed off = angered in American English.) 

Bob posted about a politician who keeps lying about how he was shot.  Was it in a war zone, or the tale he told to the police when he was being investigated for discharging a firearm in a national park.  He told the police that the handgun discharged when he dropped it while loading it. That is possible, though unlikely. A single action revolver would be most likely to have that happen if he was being careless in handling it while loading or unloading it.  Pistols are much safer, and it is nearly impossible for them to accidentally fire, throw them around all you want, drive over them with a car, and they are unlikely to fire.  

I seldom talk about this, I am a gun owner.  My grandparents gave me a semi-automatic rifle when I was a teenager, I still have it.  I spent many hours as a teenager shooting target practice.  

When I was in my 40's my father gave me his colt-revolver.  I had grown up with it in a locked box in the hall closet. A few times a year it would come out for target practice, a cleaning, then be locked away again.  I think I fired it once, before he gave it to me.  

When he gave it to me, I went to a professional indoor range owned and operated by a couple of retired police officers, and hired a professional instructor to show me how to handle it safely.  The Colt was an old design, single action revolver, a design that has been around since the 1850's.  You have to be very-very careful if it is loaded and "half cocked" and you wish to not have it fire, if you carelessly drop it at that point, it could fire accidently if it landed just the wrong way.  The instructor meticulously showed me, and had me practice how to safely do that with the gun unloaded, and was explicit in how to only do that under controlled circumstances so that if an accident happened no one and nothing would be hurt. Then we spent a couple hours on the range firing line practicing what I had learned.  

I went back to that instructor when I bought my first pistol.  He was pleased that I was moving to something modern, and spent time showing me how to handle it safely, and how to safely unload and clear the chamber.  You never pick up a firearm without verifying that the chamber is clear - NEVER. You NEVER point a gun at anything you are not prepared to make a big hole in.    

No one should handle firearms without that kind of training, and without the instructor signing off that the person has the skills and judgement to safely handle the firearm.  It was not required, I did it because I knew I didn't know what I was doing and wanted to do it safely. I live in a state that does not license or register guns.  I never have lived in a state that does.  

I enjoy target shooting, though it has been several years since I last went to a range.  Why do I own them? Because I do.  I have enjoyed them over the years. There is no real need or justification other than I do because I can.  Kind of like why do I own cameras. 

The Colt is a family heirloom, it has been passed onto a family member, with the instruction to go hire an instructor before putting ammunition into it for the first time. 

A friend of mine lives alone in a rural part of appalachia.  His father gave him a loaded revolver to keep next to his bed.  He has no idea how it works, he has never fired one, never loaded or unloaded one, that is how people die. I have urged him to hire an instructor, or contact the local police and say, "would you please come take this thing away."  

No one should handle guns, without careful instruction and good judgement.  People who lack good judgement, should never be allowed near guns.  

The idiot politician is either a liar, or careless, or more likely both. His actions and words show that he lacks the character needed to handle firearms and shouldn't be allowed near them. 

100 Ways to Slightly Improve Your Travel Experience: #1 Always Select Your Seat Carefully

Unless you weigh 98 pounds and enjoy being crushed between a couple of 300 pound strangers, you always want to select your seat with care.  Aisle seats generally allow the most space, you can lean out into the aisle, but you can't lean out the window.  I prefer the left hand side of the aisle, so my right arm is in the aisle, and not in the face of the person in the middle seat.  The farther forward you are, the fewer people ahead of you getting off the plane.  But sometimes there are empty rows in the back allowing you to stretch out.  

The seats in the rows in front of the overwing exits don't recline. This is a safety issue to improve access to the emergency exit.  If you are a recliner, best to avoid that row.  Exit rows generally have an extra couple of inches of legroom, and most airlines now charge extra for those rows.  

I generally avoid the first row.  On widebody jets, often the first row of coach on many planes has fixed armrests that can be quite confining.  I remember one trip, I had paid extra for the bulkhead row on an overnight transAtlantic flight.  The middle row, behind me was empty, and I moved back there, put up the armrests and slept for 4 or 5 hours that night.  

Both of us are "full size" adults.  When we travel together in coach, I pick seats across the aisle from one another, that way we don't spend the flight bumping into one another's space.  

I check seating when I check in, and sometimes move to a part of the cabin with more open seats.  With the airlines selling seats without seat assignments, this is not foolproof.  Most airlines will fill empty seats from the front of the cabin back. If the flight is full, every seat will be filled.   

Some airlines charge extra for seat assignments.  Some of those waive that if you join their frequent flyer program (always join, they are free to join, and the perks add up.) Others waive the charge if you carry one of their branded credit cards.  More on airline credit cards in another post, but look at the benefits, if you fly more than a couple of times a year the cards are a bargain. 

Even in business or first class seating matters.  The first row does not have under seat storage for small items, or seat back pocket storage for things like my Kindle.  You are also limited to the tray that folds up from the armrest.  I avoid the first row, if I can. The worst seat in business class, is better than the best seat in coach.    

Special Note 

I have found "Foodie Friday" hard to sustain. I love to cook, I enjoy interesting foods, but I am not in a habit of taking photos when I am cooking, or in restaurants.  Sorry!  I am going to try something new 100 travel tips, inspired by Spo's 100 tips to slightly improve your life. we will see if I can keep this up. 

The Thursday Ramble: Why Do People Follow "he who shall not be named?"

I was having a late lunch, and a glass of wine with an old friend late last week, and she said "I just don't understand how anyone can follow #rump (he who shall not be named - HWSNBN.)  We agreed that we find him vile, evil, sexist, racist, a braggart who at the heart of it is a failure (he claims to be a billionaire but couldn't raise $175,000,000.) 

I kind of understand why people follow him, support him.  Some are family members, some are people I knew growing up in middle America.  

He says things that make them feel better, or powerful, or even good about themselves. And many of them have a had a difficult life. 

When I was a teenager the dream of my high school classmates was to graduate, get a job in one of the automobile plants before you turned 25, and retire at 55 (55 and 30 or more years of service) with a comfortable pension and guaranteed health insurance coverage for life.  Older brothers and sisters of my classmates who had graduated a decade earlier were already on that path, they were earning a good living, buying homes, new cars, and starting families.  Then came the Arab Oil Embargo of the middle 1970's, the price of gasoline quadrupled,  energy efficient cars entered the market from Japan and Germany, and the bottom dropped out of the auto industry.  Over the next 30 years those jobs never really came back.  Old inefficient plants were closed, new one's built that require many fewer man hours to build each car. Many of the high paying jobs like the paint room, are now entirely automated.  We build as many cars as we ever did, but with many fewer well paid workers. 

Other industry never filled the void in employment and opportunities in those areas.  Often the best job in town, maybe the only job in town was McDonalds at minimum wage.  I went to my 25th High School reunion, I had classmates who were still living in their mother's basement eeking out a living at less than $10 an hour.  

That generation is angry, they feel left behind, overlooked.  They are looking for something, anything to blame their misery on.  Women, immigrants, or persons of color are easy targets and HWSNBN pushes that button for them.  Makes them feel okay about blaming others for their lot in life.  

And to a great extent the government's efforts to address poverty failed this generation in rural America.  The efforts to eliminate poverty focused on inner city and urban poverty. Many people never understood poverty in rural America.  The population in rural areas is much less dense, it is easier to address jobs and poverty in an urban area, than in farm country, but the suffering of poverty is just the same in a rural area.  We put transit funding in cities, but if you are poor and live 5 miles from the nearest grocery store a junker car may be your lifeline. They watched others prosper, while they were left behind. 

Many urban areas, especially where manufacturing was the primary employer also imploded, and never recovered. As long as it is cheaper to manufacture halfway around the globe and ship the item to market, that is how it will be done.  People want cheap manufactured goods, companies make bigger profits on them, and the "rust belt" and "cotton belt" factories closed and the jobs were not replaced. In places like Louisville, large appliance manufacturing was all sent out of the country, and as it has slowly returned, it has been automated, with 1/3 of the workforce employed 40 years ago.  (My new top GE Profile appliances were made in Louisville.)    

This same message of blaming the other was perpetuated in some faith and community based organizations.  People showed up, if what was said made them feel better about their life, and blaming the challenges on the success or sins of others made people feel better.  I know that is not what religion should be about, but the gospel of prosperity flourishes in the this country.  

I was fortunate, in that I had seen some of the country outside of the where I grew up, and had an opportunity to move and start life where there were more opportunities.  I realized that education would bring more opportunities and worked my way through it.  When the two greatest opportunities opened up for me, I was not afraid to leave home and chase them.  If I had stayed behind in my home town, I would be likely be as battered as what is left of mainstreet.  

 

My World of Wonders aka the Wednesday Ws - the why there edition

 

What is the firetruck doing there?  The drivers, one at the front and one at the back, were practicing backing in a tight spaces.  

Someone asked Why I was in Cincinnati Ohio last week?  Simple answer, someone paid me (paid well at that) to be there. 

Where am I going this week?  Into the city to the Old Ebbit Grill to have lunch with the daughter of one of my old high school friends.  Her mother died a couple of years ago, after a long struggle with poor health.  

What have I been reading?  Not much, I started a book on my Kindle, but have not finished anything in 10 days. 

What have I been eating?  Last week in Cincinnati I was with people who believed that two things kept consultants happy, great food, and paying them well.  Mexican food, Italian food, seafood, subs, salads, and order what ever wine you want.  Since I have been home, I have been cooking again. 

What surprised me?  I was quiet, asking questions and listening.  A couple of times I said, I could tell war stories, but my role this week is to hear your stories. 

Who have I communicated with? Spo, Andrew, my sister, my middle brother, the team, the friend we are having lunch with, it was a good week for trading messages.  Late last week was not a good time for reading blogs, time was tight, I have been catching up. 

What am I listening to? 70's soft rock at the moment. 

Who deserves a "way to go!" this week?  American Airlines, the flights were early, in both directions. 

Who deserves a big Thank You! this week? The owner of zTrip taxi in Cincinnati and Louisville.  I got to talking to the guy in the z-Trip polo shirt while waiting for a taxi at the airport in Cincinnati - a long wait about 10 minutes but it went fast with a nice person to talk with.  Turns out he co-owns the regional franchise and he was more disappointed in the wait than I was, he comped the taxi ride to the hotel (it was 19 miles.)  They are really trying to improve service. 

What made me strangely sad this week?  Listening to the Carpenters Greatest Hits. Such a great talent, Karen Carpenter died of anorexia. We are so body image driven that people die needlessly from it.  Be kind to everyone, of every shape, including yourself.  You are all beautiful just the way you are.  

Travel Tuesday: Huntley Meadows in Spring

Nose to Tail Turtles in the Sun

A very large Snapping Turtle

The circles in the water, are mating frogs, dozens of them.

A wet beaver

Huntley Meadows is a county park about 2 miles south of the where we live.  The site has a long and varied history, but over the past 40 years it has been managed as a wildlife preserve.  There are very well maintained walking trails, and long boardwalks over the wetlands. A great place to go walk for an hour. 

Moody Monday: Here is Looking At You Kid!

Immagine for a moment coming face to face with my little friend here.  He is not so little, about two feet tall (60 centimeters).  He would make himself at home, sleeping under your bed poking his head out for an occasional scratch.  He feeds on your fears, bad memories and anxieties.

He seems to survive all attempts to kill or chase him away.  He can be shooed back under cover, but he is always lurking there waiting for an opportunity to surprise you.  

The best we can do is learn to live with him.  He is a part of your past, a past we can not change.  He disturbs today, because that is what his mission is in life.  He can't change the future, only how we live today.  

His purpose in life is to warn us about the mistakes of the past, so we can avoid repeating them. But in the process he dredges up the past in ways that we don't always find helpful. 

The best we can do is learn to live with him.  To say, thank you for reminding me to not repeat the regrets of the past, now go away and let me enjoy the moment.  

Origin is not destiny. 

Learn from the past and try not to repeat the mistakes of it. 

Carpe Diem! 

Sunday Five: Travel Preferences

 

1: What is your favorite way to travel?

2: What is your preferred Hotel brand? 

3: What is the worst part of travel for you? 

4: Have you rented a house or apartment on vacation? 

5: Would you spend a vacation in a tent? 

My Answers 

1: What is your favorite way to travel?  I love to fly places. 

2: What is your preferred Hotel brand? Hilton.

3: What is the worst part of travel for you? Renting cars still frustrates and terrifies me. 

4: Have you rented a house or apartment on vacation? Twice in France, soon to be three times. 

5: Would you spend a vacation in a tent? No, my idea of roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Finding the Artist Within You

Esther Miller started me on the journey to discover the artists within me.  She was a dear neighbor, for about 8 months of my teenage years.  The second and third winters that my family spent in Florida, when I was in the 9th and 10th grade, we rented a condo on the Indian River in Titusville, Florida directly across the river from the space center. Mrs. Miller lived next door.  She was in her 80's, a bit eccentric, smoked, collected antiques and painted to relax.  She described herself as a successful widow.  Her first husband died and left her a few hundred acres of land.  She used that to bankroll her second husband into a VW, Porsche Audi dealership, that she owned and her sons operated.  She had moved to Titusville to get out of the son's way, people would call her if they didn't like the deal they got from her son, so she bought a condo and moved away. 

She was talented, she did landscapes featuring the flatlands of inland Florida.  I was intrigued.  She told me where the local art supply store was.  I bought a starter kit, and she coached me - taught me to blend colors and to paint from the heart.  To put on canvas what I feel.  To relax with the media, and not worry about what the end product looks like.  For her it was about the process, she had more art than walls, when she finished the new work it went in the closet, or under a bed, or in the back seat of her VW Squareback hoping that someone would please take it.  

I painted for about 4 years, trying landscapes and portraits.  I would best describe those as artistically handicapped.  Near the end of that I moved onto abstracts. All of those early works are lost to time.  Left behind, given away. 

Photography filled the void on and off for decades, and continues to do so.  I love photography, painting helps me to understand colors in ways that photography never could. 

Then life moved on, I didn't paint for decades. Fourteen years ago after I moved into the Condo, and while Sweetie Bear was still teaching and living in the other house eight months out of the year, I decided I wanted to try painting again.  I bought another starter kit for painting, and splurged,  and bought a proper studio easel.  I don't remember what I paid, I remember cringing when I clicked "buy it' on Amazon.  It was the best thing I ever did for painting.  My bedroom is large, I have space for a nice desk and to paint at the end of my bedroom.  

There have been a couple of off periods when I didn't paint, and a couple of very intense periods when I did one after another, after another.  I have long ago run out of space.  If you like one, please come ask for it and take it with you.  

Am I any good? That is debatable.  I enjoy it, I find it relaxing, I see the world in new ways, by trying my hand at trying to represent it in some way.  

Each of us has an artist within us, find ways to let it out.  Good, bad, or indifferent, it is your art, it is your dialog with the inner and outer world.  

Foodie Friday: Bourbon

 The Bourbon I reviewed a couple of weeks ago, was too special to drink steadily, that bottle will last a few months.  

I picked this one up at my local, Rebel, Distiller's Collection wheated. It is good.  Not a lot of nose for me, oak. The taste is surprisingly spicey, with a notable oak. On my scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being Jim Beam, I wouldn't give that swill to my ex, and 10 being impossibly perfect, I give this a 7.  A good solid, everyday sipper, and just under $50. 

How did I pick this one? 

It is a distiller's select, hopefully meaning that the master distiller sample the barrel and deemed it worthy of a stand alone bottling.  It is wheated, meaning that there is more wheat than rye in the mash bill as a secondary grain (it has to be 51% corn.) Wheat generally results in a sweeter bourbon - my taste.  And it is a single barrel.  Interesting it does not say Single Barrel on the label, but at the bottom it shows the batch, barrel number and date making it clear that it is a single barrel and not a blend.  I generally find single barrel bourbons to be the best that the master distiller had available that day.    

Thursday Ramble: Growing up on a Farm

 Neil over at Yorkshire Pudding recently posted wondering about growing up on a farm, in a rural area.  Today, few people do grow up this way, less than 15% of the United States population lives on an active farm today.  It was 80% when my grandparents were growing up.  

My paternal grandfather bought an 80 acre farm during World War II, about 60 miles north of Detroit, in the middle of nowhere.  In the mid 1950's, my parents moved out to the farm, built a small house, and a couple of years later my grandparents moved out to the farm.  The farm is 1 1/2 miles from the nearest paved road.  There were three neighbors within 1/2 a mile, all were older adults, one house changed ownership when I was about 10 with a family with kids moving in.  We were about 5 miles outside the nearest Village, where the local shops and schools are.  

By the time I was a child, my family had stopped "farming" the farm. A few fields would be rented to neighboring farmers. The primary purpose for us was to host the honey-farm, there were about 60 colonies of bees along the side of one of the back fields.  The honey processing plant was next to my grandfather's garage.  I spent my teen years working in the honey plant in the summer and weekends into the fall each. 

As the youngest for 4 kids, I grew up without children around. Children and babies still mystify me. Social contact was limited.  In many ways I am still a soloist, very comfortable being alone, taking long walks, being fiercely independent. 

What do a retain from that experience? A simple joy in being alone. In quiet. In long walks without seeing another person.  An ability to entertain myself. The ability to recognize pretty much everything there is to grow or raise on a farm. An understanding of what goes into feeding the world's population, the work, the challenges, crop failures, and bumper harvests.  It shaped how I view money and finance, farmers never know what the next harvest will be like and avoid debt if at all possible. The value of good neighbors, you have to be a good neighbor to have good neighbors. To live for days without visiting a store or shop.  I could cook for a couple of weeks with what is in the pantry and refrigerator, living on the farm, you lived that way.  

My World of Wonders, aka The Wednesday Ws April 3, 2024

Where in the world am I? Cincinnati, Ohio on a consulting project.  

Where have I been?  Home, the farmers market, into DC for Artomatic, grocery shopping, a long walk near home, a long walk at the Pentagon Center Mall, a long walk at the outlet mall at National Harbor in Maryland (three miles from home, just across the bridge), and National Harbor for a slow walk in light rain.  

Who have a talked with? Hmm, not much of anyone. 

What have I been eating?  We had lunch at a northern Italian restaurant in DC, on Friday, and I had a great Chicken Parmesan sandwich.  I have been cooking a wide variety of boring things at home.  

What have I been listening to?  Country, classic rock, classical music.  The CD player in my car jammed last fall, so the radio is on with a local NPR classical station.  

What have I seen on YouTube?  Karl in Iceland uploaded a good video about Grindavik. I met Karl and his wife last fall when they visited Washington DC, he is a really nice guy (computer programer.) I had lunch in Grindavik a year ago this month. Near the place where the street is broken with one side raised by 2-3 feet, is a supermarket I  took a walk through - making this event very personal for me.  (I love walking through supermarkets when we travel - seeing what is different, what is the same.) 

When is the next adventure? The end of the month, I checked in with the cruise line and printed the pre-boarding boarding passes.  

Who deserves a huge THANK YOU this week? All of my readers and commenters.  Comments have been up in numbers the past few weeks.  Thank you all so very much. 

What is the photo all about? It was taken at Artomatic, I don't know what is in room 6055, the building is huge and the elevators (lifts) were out of service, we didn't make it all the way up. But I like the message, always do something to be proud of.  

Travel Tuesday: The Future of the Washington DC Subway System

The subway system in Washington DC, locally known as Metro, short for Metrorail, is relatively new - it entered service in 1976.  Metro is currently showing a mock-up of the latest generation of rail cars, this will be the 8th generation, the 1st and 5th generations have been removed from service.  The 1st generations had a fatal design flaw that cause one car to "telescope" into the next one in a collision.  The 5th generation was plagued with electrical wiring issues and the cost of remedying that was nearly the same as the cost of new cars, so they were scrapped out. 

The 8th generation will be the first with an open passageway from one car to the next, in two car pairings.  They will have more center facing seating creating wider aisleways, allowing better mobility access, and more comfortable standing room.  The new cars will space for luggage and bicycles, the first cars to do so (both airports are served by the subway and bikes are being promoted as a part of the transit system.)

The mock-up is plastic, about one and half cars long and is temporarily on display.  The new cars are being built in Maryland.

 

 

Moody Monday: Embrace the Essence of New Beginnings

 I once remarked that I am not a practitioner of any organized religion, that drew a response, "you must be a Baptist, they are about as disorganized as anyone could be."  Avoiding the hocus-pocus of gods, there are some central values that if practiced can make the world a better place. 

One of the underlying themes of Easter, is new beginnings, starting over, . . . fresh life.  Many of us live bound by the past.  Be it origin, or past acts, tragedies, or mistakes - these things weigh us down and cast a dark shadow over today and the future many. 

Just as the sun rises each morning, we can leave behind the darkness of the past, and start anew. Origin is not destiny.  Make amends and apologize for the past, and move on committing to do better in the future. Let the sunshine in, move on, do better, enjoy today.  

So how is my mood?  Bright and moving forward.  

The Sunday Five: Easter Sunday

Happy Easter to those who observe. 

1: Did the Easter Bunny visit you this year? 

2: Do you eat a chocolate bunny ears first, tail first, feet first? 

3: Did you grow up with easter egg hunts? 

4: Did you decorate eggs this year? 

5: Who is more frightening the Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny! 

My Answers: 

1: Did the Easter Bunny visit you this year? There seems to be basket of goodies. 

2: Do you eat a chocolate bunny ears first, tail first, feet first?  Ears first, I am not a barbarian. 

3: Did you grow up with easter egg hunts?  No, a curiosity of why you would hide the eggs. 

4: Did you decorate eggs this year? No

5: Who is more frightening the Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny!  This bunny looked friendly cruising the mall the other day, looking for his next victim. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

 

Saturday Morning Post: No One Wants To Talk About It

A couple of years ago, I had an idea for an article on practicing law, when the judge is exhibiting signs of a decline in neurocognitive ability.  In other words what to do when the judge has Alzheimer's.  I have talked with a few attorney over the years who have had this experience and were calling looking for advice on how to deal with it.  I have known a couple of judges, who had colleagues on the bench with dementia, and struggled to find a way forward.   

I had sources this should be an easy one to write. Either to get one of the attorneys who has experienced this first hand to write about it, or to get them to tell me their stories on the record, and I could write the article.  When I started asking about writing an article, no one wanted to write it, no one wanted to talk to me about it.  

I never had this experience.  I had a judge (who died about 17 years ago) who didn't believe the rules of evidence applied in his courtroom, and a judge who took perverse pleasure is starting 10:00 AM motion hour, 15 or 20 minutes early and postponing ruling until next week, if both attorneys were not in the courtroom when the clerk called the case.  He used this to make his early tee time at the golf course on pretty spring days. You just learned to drag opposing counsel into that courtroom a few minutes early if it was a bright sunny day. But I never had a judge who seemed to lack cognitive ability (luckily.) 

I have been surprised by those who have lived through a judge who was staying on the bench beyond their best by date, and won't talk about it, but not really.  The last thing you want to do is have the judge dislike you before you file the first pleading or open your mouth in court.  

There are things that can be done. All states have a lawyer's assistance committee, and any lawyer or judge who appears to be impaired in their ability to practice can be reported anonymously.  

Judges and Court Clerks can manage the docket so that the impaired judge has little or no work to do. There is a case here in the Federal Circuit where this has been done, and the offended judge has sued. (She gets paid, but has virtually no work assigned to her.) 

Attorneys can avoid that Court, or file motions to transfer their case to another court.  

Dementia is not an easy subject to get people to talk about.  I asked a Doctor who does research on Alzheimer's if his patients admitted to him that something had changed long before they came to see him? His answer was the vast majority knew something was wrong and where terrified by the changes, leading to deep denial.  But it is a topic we need to talk about.  Ten percent of adults by age 70 experience a decline in cognitive ability.  By age 90 about one-third of adults experience a measurable decline in cognitive ability. 

Just because the judge rules against you, does not mean the judge is demented, or biased.  Half of the people in every case lose.  But if the judge is openly forgetful, confused, or disoriented there needs to be a review process.  We can't rely on persons living with dementia to self report, or voluntarily remove themselves from positions of risk.   

Foodie Friday: Floki SIngle Malt

Single malts are made from malted barley, most are made in Scotland, Ireland and Japan. The grain is malted barley, barley that has been sprouted and then baked to stop the growth.  The spouting releases sugars, malting or baking stops the changes and leaves the sugars to be converted to alcohol.  Some Scottish and Irish whiskys feature malt baked with peat. Iceland has no peat, this one is malted with dried sheep dung aka, sheep shit.  

The aroma is grain and dried hay.  The flavor is smokey, with moderate wood. It is a novelty item, worth drinking.  On my scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being Jim Beam (I wouldn't wash out a birdcage with that swill) and 10 being unattainable perfect.  I would give this a 7.  It is worth drinking, but not something I will go out of my way to save. 

It is hard to find.  In Iceland wine and distilled spirits are only sold through government stores.  We looked there, nothing.  I found this in the shop at the airport (you can't change planes, enter or exit the airport in Reykjavik without going through duty free) that is where I found it.  Interestingly you can buy duty free in Iceland either when arriving or leaving the country.  I don't recall what I paid, probably over $50 and under $75.  
 

The Thursday Ramble: Finding my way in the world

I am sometimes asked how I ended up working in law and aging.  And it was a bit of a curious path. 

I worked in the homebuilding industry for 15 years before going to law school.  My thought was that I would practice real estate, construction defects, planning, zoning, and land use law.  In law school I was a property law geek, reading everything on the topic I could get my hands on. 

I could hardly get an interview with the firms that practiced in those areas of the law.  I was older and experienced, they seemed to be looking for young and teachable.  

The law school required 30 hours of volunteer service to graduate.  The summer between first and second year, I volunteered at the local legal aid office.  About my second day there, someone said answer the phone while I go look for a file.  The first phone call started with "you have got to help me they are trying to take away my lion."  The lion was her housepet. Code enforcement was demanding something more than a screen door, as kitty was now about 250 pounds.  

The office did a lot of family law, and domestic violence work.  I spent days searching for a clear answer to a vexing question.  "Is a waiver of parental rights in an adoption, valid, if the waiver is a condition of a plea bargain in a criminal case?"  At that time, there was no clear answer.  The criminal case, was a sexual assault on the child who was subject of the adoption - the man had raped his child.  The facts in many of the child custody cases were stomach turning.  More than once, my recommendation was neither of these two people should have anything to do with raising a child.   Not an answer that they liked.  

I determined that I never wanted to practice family law. 

There was an attorney in the office who only represented clients age 60 and older.  The issues were different.  A mix of simple estate planning, advance health care directives, powers of attorney, debt collection, Medicare, Medicaid, a little landlord tenant law. The clients were nicer, and the attorney took me under her wing, gave me interesting projects, and took me along to meet with clients, and go to court.  

I fell in love with the work.  

That volunteer time, led to a paid clerkship, that led to a job, that led to a job, that ended were I am today.   

Looking back, there were parts of the work I enjoyed, offset by drudgery and needless administrative battles.  Maybe this is the stages of grief after a major life change, but at the moment, I am not sure I liked what I did very much.  I am certainly not itching to return to it.  
 

My World of Wonders, aka, The Wednesday Ws end of March 2024 edition

What about the owl?  Yes he is alive, he is unable to fly due to an injury and is in a rescue center in a regional park. My grandfather had a stuffed owl, it creeped everyone out, and was tossed when I was about 10 years old.  I wouldn't touch it.  I wish I had it today.  

Where have I been? Potomac Overlook Park, a german bakery, a walk along the Potomac, a walk in Huntley Meadows, a walk in the swamp at Dyke Marsh, a walk in DC to see the Cherry Blossom festival, the gym for a walk when the weather was cool and wet.  

What have I accomplished?  We finished the travel plans for May, booking the last couple of hotels, and prepped and started work on the April consulting project.  Made hotel reservations for a meeting in Chicago the first week in August.  Finished a painting and started the next one. 

What have I been reading?  Lots, a fun little book, "The Secret Life of Cows." 

Who have a talked with? My sweet bear, my middle brother, Doc Spo, and strangers.  

What made me smile this week? I traded emails with an old friend in Florida, someone I had worked with over 25 years ago. She has been in poor health, it was great to hear that she is going okay. 

What did I think and hesitate to blog about?  Princess Catherine's video talking about her diagnosis and treatment for cancer.  I wish her and her family a full recovery.  The press office waited far too long to tell the world what was happening.  When she said "I do" and entered into public life, she made a commitment to the public.  That does not mean she can't have a private life, but something major that impacts her ability to carry out her public duties becomes a public matter. If she doesn't want it to be, she needs to step back from a public role.  Waiting this long, led to needless and apparently nasty speculation.  The public relations staff did a terrible job, and let this fester far to long.  There is a balance that would have maintained her dignity, while stopping the needless gossip.  My public relations professor would have failed the press office staff (he had been of PR for Coca Cola before entering academe.)  

What news story stunned me? A container ship hitting a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore.  I have driven across that bridge.  

What am I listening to? Japanese Zen Music at the moment. 

What made me giggle this week? Brenda's Beaver Needs a Barber. I hope the video works for you.  

 

Travel Tuesday: Cherry Blossom Season in Washington DC

Back in 1912 the Mayor of Tokyo gave the city of Washington, DC 3,000 cherry trees. The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the legacy of that gift. 

Living here, makes it easy to see the peak of the bloom.  The peak is hard to predict.  The peak bloom has happened as early as March 15th, and as late as April 15th. When depends on the weather, how cold the winter was, and when consistently warm weather arrives.  A week of weather in the 70's and the bloom can go from bud to peak bloom.  An extended cold wet period can delay the bloom by weeks.  The peak bloom can last a few days, or a couple of weeks. Again it depends on the weather.  Cool and dry, and the bloom lasts longer.  A hard freeze, or snow, or sustained high winds and the bloom will drop, two or three days of hot weather (70's or even 80 f) and the leaves will break and push the bloom off.  

The crowds are large, and slow stopping at random every few feet to ooo an ahh, and snap another photo.  Don't be in a rush.  It is uncrowded and very spectacular just after sunrise in the morning.  Be prepared to walk a lot, the nearest subway station is Smithsonian at about 1/2 a mile away.  

Known as "Stumpy" this is one of the original trees, a hollow stump of the original tree that still manages to put out a nice bloom.  A section of seawall is sinking and collapsing and must be rebuilt, about 150 trees will be removed to make this possible, this is Stumpy's last bloom, it is in the section that will be removed after this weeks bloom. 

Entrance to the FDR Memorial 

 

Moody Monday: Looking at the World

As time goes by in this new normal for me, I am looking at the world in new ways. 

I am comfortable with staying up a little later, and sleeping a little later.  I find myself reading blogs, and writing a little, until 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning and feeling fine with that. 

I am exploring new places, finding new parks. 

I am feeling stronger, climbing hills is getting easier, though my knees are not getting any younger.  

I find myself feeling grateful for all that I have. 

I am planning for the future, maybe too much, when will I be home? I am doing things I want to do, while I am able to go and do. I know that someday travel will become more difficult, and someday will end.  

I wonder what will be the last great adventure.  I don't know, but I will do everything I can to make it comfortable and fun. 

So how is my mood? Better, very good for the most part.