Less consumption of junk food, less moping, less sitting around, less doom scrolling and surfing in general, less talking and more doing.
A Bit of Everything
Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
The first thing that comes to mind is more of a silver lining variety. My brother died in May, which was a shock to everyone, but the time family and friends got to spend together afterward, as we gathered in Minnesota for the funeral, was a true gift. And our trip out there included a reminder that there are still many kind, helpful people in the world, as we had car trouble and made an emergency stop in a town in north central Ohio, where, it seems, everyone we met steered us in the right direction and offered much appreciated help.
I guess the overarching common thread was the family visits. There were a lot of them, including the time in MN and WI, along with a trip to Connecticut for a family wedding, but mostly it was folks coming to us for stays of varying lengths.
There were a few day trips, several golf outings, some nice meals at a local favorite eating establishment, we gave our carport a bit of a facelift, finally tore down and replaced a storage shed in our back yard, and we survived five days of babysitting our four local grandchildren while their parents were off for a well-deserved vacation and anniversary celebration.
Fauna
Nothing out of the ordinary. Birds and squirrels are common. There’s plenty of wildlife around, but they do a pretty good job of concealing their whereabouts most days. We do have a couple of local bald eagle pairs, which we catch glimpses of every now and then, and if we’re driving to or from our son’s place, we’ll see some white-tailed deer in one field or another. Our son saw a fisher when he was out hunting the other day, and my wife has had a couple of black bear sightings over the years.
A while back, we had a close encounter with a skunk. That was fun.
A Good Jaunt From Here
Domestically, we have options. Two of our three children live far from Pennsylvania, so we have taken road trips to Maine and Colorado, both of which have provided the experience of different regions and landscapes.
We made a trip to England and Scotland about 20 years ago, and that was a memorable venture. For me, though, the trip of a lifetime was one I made to Israel in 2013. A small group of us spent two weeks driving around the country, starting in Jerusalem, heading south into the Negev, then back north to Tiberias, Nazareth, Cana, and on to the Lebanese border and the Golan Heights, ending with a stay at a hostel above the Sea of Galilee before heading back to Jerusalem again.
In between, we visited Beersheba, Mitzpe Ramon and the makhtesh, and Sde Boker, where David Ben Gurion chose to retire; climbed the Snake Path to the top of Masada, hiked into En Gedi, swam in the Dead Sea, experienced several checkpoints in the West Bank, stayed in a hostel on the shore of Lake Kinneret, a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee, and swam there, stayed along the Mediterranean Sea in Acco, ventured further north beyond Qiryat Shemona, stayed at Tel Hai, a hostel with a view of Mt. Hermon, lingered at the headwaters of the Jordan River, took a side tour of an old Israeli army bunker from the 1973 war with Syria, which was close enough to the Syrian border that we might have been able to walk there.
There was so much more, including all of our time in Jerusalem itself. We got to know our way around the Old City pretty well, ventured out into the new city a couple of times, and put a lot of miles on our footwear.
It was a remarkable trip, likely a bit different than most guided tours, and one I was glad to have experienced before the flare-ups and old animosities reared their ugly heads yet again.
Puppet Show
Trump’s Cabinet meetings are among the most pathetic, cringeworthy things I’ve ever seen. How can the people sitting around the table rationalize their behavior, as they grovel and pay homage to an immature tyrant who’s either not listening and sometimes nodding off– or maybe he’s in an almost orgasmic state letting the compliments wash over him?
How can these people, time after time, continue to play along? It’s hard to watch, to see adults reduced to ass-kissing automatons.
Seventy-seven million people voted for this?
Snail’s Pace
The tragedy of tragedies, in the end, might be that we wasted so much time and energy and resources in the development of war implements. It’s shameful and sad on every level—that we’ve never been able to rise above, move beyond the intrinsic distrust and wariness of others.
All the trillions could have been spent more altruistically, on better things. But instead, contracts are awarded, pockets are lined, while diseases make inroads, people sleep on the streets, ignorance runs rampant, the planet warms, and neglect rages on.
We are just selfish animals with a more evolved brain that’s never been used to its full potential. We inflict needless pain and suffering, we look the other way, we hoard and take care of “our own,” we get distracted and overtaken by delusions of grandeur and the allure of power. A relative handful of people act like they have the best ideas while trying to make life miserable for everybody else.
Shit. I’m rambling, not finding the words. Maybe this is why I still have those dreams where I’m unprepared and can’t find my way—it’s because I’m constantly searching, trying to say things in a succinct, insightful way, and the words just aren’t there. My mind is a jumbled mess some days.
Had to think
Loyalty, patience (in some things), persistence (in other things), attention to detail, and lawn care.
Department of Damage Control
Pete Hegseth needs to step down, as do most of the rest of the appointees to Cabinet positions in this tragic circus passing for a presidential administration.
Time will tell if the truth ever surfaces regarding what went on in that first Venezuelan boat strike back in September, and all we’re likely to get from Hegseth is denial or a doubling down. Chances are that he, like Trump and the rest, will slide through, somehow avoid close scrutiny, and stay on to do more damage to the DoD and the country itself. If he does happen to get jettisoned, it will be because Trump no longer found him useful, bad for his brand.
This is the most frustrating aspect of the whole current chapter in our history: there appears to be no way to hold anyone accountable. Federal judges are doing what they can, but attacks from Democrats or any Republican with a conscience are dismissed as whining, or partisan bickering, or the futile cries of disloyal and woke commies and cowards. Lawsuits ensue, or the next distraction materializes that throws the media off the scent.
Seems like one person’s accountability is another’s overreach. It’s a cesspool of irresponsibility and stunning incompetence. But many already knew that. Like, ten years ago.
Chill, man
I need to be able to adjust to circumstances better than I sometimes do. I’m a creature of habit and don’t always respond well to changes in routine or what I consider to be impingements on how I prefer the day to unfold. In my mind, I’m often playing the retirement card, using it as an excuse, i.e. my days of being on call are over.
I’m not a fan of having my day planned for me. I suppose a certain selfishness is in play, and flexibility is sometimes in short supply, something I need to work at. I need to find a way to be more at peace with going with the flow, and at this point in my life this sometimes feels like a bit of a Titanic turn– feasible, but slow in developing.
Hiding In Plain Sight
Some recent pictures of Trump are raising eyebrows and begging questions regarding his fitness to serve, or whatever it is he’s been doing. Depending on the media outlet, we might see images that cast him in a less-than-flattering light. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
He’s in his 80th year. He apparently doesn’t have the best diet or exercise regimen, he’s in a naturally stressful position on top of the full plate of ghosts and skeletons he somehow has to keep repressed and hidden. And maybe by now, whatever remains of a conscience is getting the better of him—he’s realizing that he’s never had the chops, never been qualified or of the right disposition to handle the job nearly half the country has handed him for a SECOND time.
Maybe the weight is finally getting too heavy for him. He never really wanted the job in the first place, and this is what happens when your main motivators are retribution, avoiding prosecution, and winning at all costs.
No vision, no heart. He’s never really had a leg to stand on. He’s just a self-promoting grifter, an attention hound, and a deflating gas bag. And 77 million people thought he was the guy for the job.
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