Personal Thoughts

Lots Can Happen in 24 Hours

Michael19 Comments

Life can sure have its ups and downs. Just in the span of one day:

Downs: My sister called me last night and told me that our mother had fallen on the ice while she was throwing a ball to my sister’s dogs. She fell hard on her shoulder and broke it. My mother was alone when this happened, and had to wait until my sister got home from work. My mother felt nauseous from the fall and couldn’t muster enough gumption to get in the house. So she managed to get herself to the porch and she rested there until my sister got home. They went to an urgent care where they took x-rays and today she has an appointment with an orthopedic doctor in Boston. The physician’s assistant at the urgent care felt like she will probably need surgery.

Downs: My brother’s wife called me yesterday to tell me that my brother has a kidney stone and has to have surgery today. He’s having the same surgery that I had in May 2024 to get the stone out. The pain was unbearable. Believe me, I can attest to that.

Ups: After my sister-in-law relayed the news about my brother, I decided to make an off-handed comment about RFK Jr. I mimicked his speech (I am getting good at it) and told her that my brother should contact a medical expert for advice, such as RFK. She laughed and then began her tirade about what in hell is going on in this country. I knew that my brother had been a staunch Republican all of his life, and I was interested to see if any of that had changed. After talking for a few minutes, my sister-in-law told me that she was going to tell me something and swore me to secrecy. I thought to myself, “This is odd. My brother is the most strait-laced person in the family. What secret could he possible have?” Her news was that he has left the Republican Party and has joined the Democratic Party. WHAT? My GOP brother? My opinion of him has risen dramatically. She told me that he is disgusted with all of the clowns running the country. He hates Pete Hegseth. My brother was in the Coast Guard for 20 years flying helicopters in the Caribbean picking up refugees in rafts and was also involved in stopping drug smuggling. He is so adamantly against all of what the Pentagon and the “Department of War” is doing. There is hope! I find it amusing that she thinks that this is a big dark secret in joining the Democratic Party.

Downs & Ups: I had to take Michael to work today as he was suffering from dizzy spells. We both think it is his blood pressure, but the cuff we have wasn’t working. I told him that either he should stay home, or that I’d take him to work as he shouldn’t be driving in that condition. I took him to work as Michael isn’t one to like calling in sick. I brought the dogs with me and after I dropped him off, I found a neighborhood near his office to walk. I turned the “down” into an “up” as I love exploring new neighborhoods. This one had good sidewalks and tree-lined streets.

Ups: Shirley and Murray really are good pals to have around. They enjoy playing with one another, and as I am typing this, they are both at my feet! Murray carries around that stuffed animal all day long. At night, he hunts for it before going to sleep. He rests his head on it and he looks so content. I am so glad that we adopted him.

The rapid pace crap that is going with the felon and his minions is simply exhausting. With my brother leaving the GOP, it gives me hope that maybe there will be that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel coming soon. Let’s hope so.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Finding the Light, a Year in Photos

Michael20 Comments

Hi all.  I am still here.  I just haven’t been able to muster any energy to post or read blogs.  To be honest, I think I have been a bit depressed, and I have been working (without a lot of success) to pull myself out of this funk.  The melancholy vibe comes from what is going on in my country.  I simply don’t recognize it anymore.  It certainly isn’t the place that I remember, nor is it a place that gives me pride.  It actually breaks my heart.  

Our trip to Boston went well.  The dogs did fine on the LONG ride up the east coast (12.5 hours both ways), and Shirley and Murray enjoyed playing with their dog cousins.  I thought Murray would be overwhelmed by all of the action, but he seemed to adjust and enjoy just being a dog.  We even let him off of the leash when we were walking in a town conservation area, which is a series of wooded trails.   He stayed with us and smiled a dog’s smile.  

I thought I would do my first post of 2026 with pictures from each month of 2025.  Even though 2025 began the orange reign of terror, maybe looking back at things that gave me joy and caused me to pull out my phone to snap a photo will give me some sense of normalcy.

As I was compiling these photos, I discovered that I couldn’t load any more as I had reached my media limit. After much consternation, I decided to upgrade a bit to a monthly plan. I am not quite sure I want to go and delete photos just yet. And it is only $4.00 a month.

January

We went up to NYC to visit family. I went to see my son and daughter and Michael wanted to see his cousin who was visiting from Israel. I couldn’t resist snapping this shot of a kid wearing a MAGA hat on a NYC bus. This was the weekend before the inauguration. We also walked through Central Park that weekend. It was magical. And there is something about a slice of New York pizza that just cannot be beat.

February

The month of February proved to be an interesting one involving the weather. We went from a flood along the James River in the first part of the month, to a snow. I took a photo of our street looking up the hill. When it does snow here, things simply stop.

March

Red is the theme here. My Christmas cactus bloomed in March. I am glad I took the photo as it only had about two blooms this December. Maybe it is waiting for March again to go full throttle. I spied this cardinal in one of our trees. I really didn’t capture the red color well with my phone, but I like the photo anyway.

April

April was the first protest that I attended. I have no idea who this woman is, but I asked her if I could photo her sign. The banana sign is from my local supermarket. The bottom photo is me with two of my friends.

May

We went to a convent in the mountains near Charlottesville to buy their famous gouda cheese. The photo on the right is from a spot where I walk. I never tire of looking out over the lake.

June

With the warm June weather, my flowers on the deck really began to show their stuff.

July

Our crepe myrtle tree was beautiful this year, and the blooms lasted quite a long time.

August

In August, Michael and I went to upstate NY to visit my mom. We spent time on the river that runs through the town. My sister gave me a cocktail recipe with Pimm’s in it. I decided to try it out! The drink is a keeper! I made it with ginger beer.

September

We got Murray on September 27. He proved to be quite the work in progress, but I am happy to say that he’s really becoming a great dog, though he still likes to sneak his stuffed animals outside. The photo on the right is of Colonial Williamsburg, which is about a 45 minute drive from my house. I went there in late September with some former colleagues of mine to visit a past student who is a junior there. The photo from the very bottom is from the SPCA’s news letter and Murray was one of the articles. His name was originally Will Farrell.

October

This month was the month for getting used to having another dog. They sure do keep me busy.

November

Northern Arizona!

December

Spending the holiday with my sister’s family (and my mom) was great. No political arguments, just family time and laughter. Two of my nieces are in the top left, and my sister is on the bottom right.

You know what? Just creating this post has put me in a better mood. I need to remind myself sometimes to focus on the small simple things in life that give me peace and contentment. And when I go down the rabbit hole of feeling anxious and worried about the trajectory that the felon and his minions are leading us to, I think I will reread this post and look at the joy that is indeed in my life.

Love to all, and a belated Happy New Year.

Michael

Personal Thoughts

A Holiday Journey, Dogs Included

Michael27 Comments

We are all headed up to Boston tomorrow to celebrate the holidays with my sister and her family. My mother will also be there too as she is spending some time with my sister. When I say “we all are” that includes Miss Shirley and Mr. Murray. It should prove to be an adventure with the forecast of 1 to 3 inches of snow in Boston tomorrow afternoon. It is a long journey. On the internet, it says 8 hours and 40 or so minutes, but I know in my heart that it will be at least 10 hours with stopping and with traffic. Getting around NYC and Washington DC is always a nightmare. We could have taken the train or flown up, but I wanted to include the dogs as well. I know that they really don’t understand the holidays, but I didn’t want them in a kennel, I wanted them with us.

However you celebrate, I hope that you have a great week!

Happy Holidays,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

When Sadness Arrives Unannounced

Michael37 Comments

I have so many things to do today. The house is a mess, I have bills to pay, I have dogs to walk, etc. But I feel this need to write a post, so here I am. I am sure that most of you have heard about the terrible shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island. When I first heard the news, I immediately thought of one of my former students who attends Brown, and is a junior there. I worried a bit about her safety, but then thought, what are the odds of her being injured or killed?

Yesterday when I was grocery shopping and was in the checkout lane, the line was miserably long, so I pulled out my phone to do a bit of surfing to pass the time. No sooner had I opened the phone when a local news alert came up that one of the two shooting victims was a local boy who had gone to the high school just up the road from me. I was shell shocked. I didn’t know him as he went to a different middle school from where I taught, but it sure hit close to home. I immediately thought of the student who I knew, relieved that she was okay, but I must say an overwhelming sadness sliced through me. I felt my eyes burning with tears, but I got a grip and no one noticed.

And then, I saw the post from the felon from his crappy app, “Truth Social”, about Rob Reiner and his wife. At first when I read it, I couldn’t believe it. I know…I should have believed it instantaneously as we have a demented toddler as our president. The checkout line was moving at a snail’s pace, and I also read some reactions to his post. One commenter compared his words with Obama’s words, which to me simply highlights what a good president he was. He was presidential.

When I got to my car, I just sat there a bit before I drove home. I was filled with a combination of anger and sadness. If someone had walked up to me and said, “I’ve got four tickets (2 human and 2 canine) for you to leave the country and travel to whatever country would like, and money isn’t a problem,” I would have jumped at the chance.

When I got home, I started thinking about the student of mine that goes to Brown. I contacted a friend of mine who also taught her and she had her email address. She contacted her and discovered she was just about to board a plane to come home and that she’d like to see us over the holiday. She was touched that we were worried about her. I started to think about her and the two years that she was my student in grade 6 and grade 7. Her parents were immigrants from Vietnam. They escaped South Vietnam in rafts and managed to eventually make their way to the USA. I remember that the family didn’t have much money, and that she got an almost full ride to Brown. I also remember how hard she was on herself, always berating the work she did and constantly saying that it wasn’t good enough. She and I had a lot of chats over the two years that I had her, me trying to impress upon her that nothing is perfect, and that striving for perfection is a next to impossible task.

One day in grade 7, towards the end of the year, we were studying the Vietnam War. I went up to her and quietly asked her if she’d like to share any experiences that her parents had shared with her about their trek to the United States. She smiled that shy smile of hers and said, “I don’t think anyone would care to hear that.” I told her that the class would love to learn more about the fabric that makes our country a nation of immigrants, that everyone has a story to tell. But I also assured her that she didn’t have to do it.

But she did do it. And the story she told riveted the class, especially the part about her parents being on the raft. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life, as the class was totally drawn in to her story. I remember thinking to myself, “no textbook could ever teach something like this.” When she was finished, some of them asked her questions, as did I. I was proud of her for forcing her shy self to be in the spotlight.

I can also remember that the first day of summer vacation after her 7th grade year, she sent me a cryptic email that sounded sort of like a suicidal note. She talked about how she’d never be “good enough.” I emailed her back refuting all of that, but before I did that, I called the school and her guidance counselor, who alerted the people that one would alert in a situation like this. She got counseling over the summer and went on to do great things in high school. Just before she was to leave for university, she and another former student of ours met me and my colleague for lunch. She thanked us for all we did for her, and she gave me the painting that she created below. She was a very artistic student and was always doodling on her paper, while at the same time listening to what was going on in class. The painting is a recreation of the theater box where Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865. Every Christmas we’d take the students up for an overnight field trip to DC on the train to see the play, “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theatre. Before the play began, I would show them the spot where Lincoln was killed. PS: I mentioned earlier that I have a ton of things to do….one of which is to dust…I can see dust on the glass!

When I was reading the NY Times this morning, I looked up the victim from my hometown. He sounded like someone filled with promise to do good things in the world. The reporter actually quoted one of my former students who was a high school classmate of his. They had gotten together over Thanksgiving Break, not realizing the tragedy that was to happen. I guess one lesson in all of this is to appreciate life with all of its ups and downs as one never knows what is lurking around the corner.

After writing all of this out, I do feel a bit better. Still sad, but better. One of the things about my career that I will always be thankful for is that I got to know some really great students, of all religions and of all ethnicities. Whenever there were disagreements in class and the students would become hurtful to one another, we’d talk about empathy, something that I think is lacking today. I will never understand why people think it is weak to show your fellow human beings kindness.

Perhaps the toddler in chief could use an intensive empathy training stint in some faraway place.

I made this video below as part of my therapy today when working through these feelings that I have. I took most of the shots in the last couple of weeks. The video clip towards the end with the bird flying in the sky above the beach chokes me up for some reason. Maybe it is the simple beauty of it in a time when I don’t things are all that beautiful.

I hope you have a happy holiday season, however you celebrate.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Unbalanced

Michael23 Comments

I wasn’t going to write a post today, but yet here I am. I have mounds and mounds of laundry to do and I am wrestling with the damned washing machine because it keeps going off balance. It’s the load with a lot of the dog towels and blankets. When I was putting all of them in the washing machine, I was conscious of not overloading it and making sure things would balance. Evidently, I didn’t do a very good job. I have finally managed to move things along a bit as I took some things out and rearranged them, and they managed to do their spin. And now I am in the process of the second part of the load, and it looks as though it will spin successfully too. This paragraph was quite the boring intro to my post, but boring for me is good.

I got to thinking about the word “unbalanced” as it applies to the tangerine toddler that is in the White House. I have tried to focus my posts on anything but # farty-seven, but I ran across something yesterday that I just could not believe. It seems as if everyday there is another incredulous event coming from the White House. I knew that this second term of his would be really bad, but I never in a million years thought that it would get to the point where I am embarrassed to call myself an American.

I saw something yesterday about “The Trump Gold Card”. Initially, I thought that this was some sort of joke, so I googled it. I discovered it’s a real thing. If you have time, and the stomach for it, take a look. It is so unbelievable that it makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. When you get to the felon’s quote, stop scrolling so you can see ICE Barbie’s quote, as it will appear a few seconds later. As I said, unbelievable. Who in hell in their right mind would pay 1 million+ dollars to come to the USA?

I saw snippets of his “speech” in Pennsylvania the other day. All he ever does is blame Joe Biden for just about everything. Do you remember the kerfuffle with Hunter Biden’s laptop? After all of the controversies of this administration, that seems so incredibly mild. But yet, the administration seemingly gets away with things. I know their day is coming. I just want to be around to see it crash to the ground.

I truly think that the mean and nasty things he posts sets a horrible example for students who don’t have the maturity sometimes to handle the freedom when it comes to social media. I spent countless hours in my last 10 years of teaching talking to students about nasty and hateful texts, and the consequences of posting them for the world to see. But when you have the president of the United States doing it, I think it gives license for people to just be mean.

I have also noticed sometimes that when I read a blog and the comments that follow, some of the comments to the author are not so nice. It isn’t a common thing, but it happens enough. What is up with that? Why can’t people just be kind to one another? We are all imperfect humans just trying to live in a world that can sometimes be a very unfriendly place.

I am done with my tirade! The washing machine is now cooperating, the dishwasher is happily humming along, and both of the dogs are sleeping. I took them on a 7 mile walk this morning and I think I have tired them out!

One thing I miss about teaching is interacting with the students. Some of my favorite memories from my career are not from a great lesson I taught or any teaching accolade I got, but from getting to really know my students. I never was their “buddy”, but I was always there for them, and I think that they knew it.

Peace and love to all. For me, when I hear children singing, it gives me hope for the world. That’s why I put the video in below, to end on a positive note!

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Looking Back

Michael22 Comments

The “snowstorm” on Monday produced about five to six inches of snow. It has been a delight for the dogs as they love to play in it. They wrestle, they chase each other, they eat the snow, with no mind to how cold it is. Luckily we have a fenced in backyard, so when I get cold, I can come in and watch them from the comfort of being inside. When they want to return to the warmth of the house, it is a major ordeal getting them cleaned up and dry. Murray’s poodle-like fur causes the snow to ball up in his paws, and those miniature clumps are next to impossible to get out. Needless to say the floor needs a good mopping. Maybe later. Not now.

I haven’t been able to really walk them or go for runs as most everything is closed. I guess it is a good respite from my daily routines, but I do miss taking them for our daily jaunts out and about. Given that I have had some free time on my hands, and it is the holiday season, my mind begins to drift backwards in time. When I put up the Christmas tree last week, I enjoyed looking at all of the ornaments that I’ve collected through the years. A lot of them have come from students, and a lot of them have come from my travels. Whenever I go on vacation, I try and buy something for the tree. When I was in Arizona this past fall, I purchased a cactus ornament adorned with little Christmas lights.

From Ireland, “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes”
From Iceland
From the Netherlands
From Sedona, Arizona

Putting up the tree also brings with it a certain sort of melancholy feeling. Memories of Christmases past, memories of my three kids opening presents on Christmas morning, memories of holiday baking and holiday concerts. I asked my wife for a divorce after Thanksgiving back in 2015, I knew things would get really difficult during the holiday season. Since my wife had been fired from her fifth job in 10 years, and we had little to no money, so that year Christmas was quite threadbare and draining.

I used to ask myself the question, “Should I have stayed in the marriage?” And now, 10 years later, I have a definitive answer to that. “Hell No.” When my wife and I were first married, things were great. We truly were a happy couple and we enjoyed raising our kids. But when my wife’s personality began to change, due to her drug use, things became quite hard. I would try and talk to her about it, but she wouldn’t listen. And then when she started losing jobs, and our income was cut in half at times, the stress of it all sometimes was almost unbearable.

I remember one Christmas (when she was unemployed) and my daughter was still little and believed in Santa, my colleagues at my school gave me $200 in cash to buy her Santa presents. I can still remember them coming into my classroom with happy looks on their faces. I brought the money home and showed it to my wife. I thought she would be joyful, but she wasn’t. But she did use the money to buy presents, but they were odd ones. In hindsight I should have just gone out and bought them myself, but I was working and she wasn’t. She would go to garage sales and find old used toys. One toy in particular was an old doll with ratty tangled hair and one eye that wouldn’t open. On Christmas Eve, late into the evening (or should I say early Christmas morning), she was trying to fix it up to make it presentable. I will never forget her dumping olive oil on the scalp and trying to use the oil to comb out the tangles. I have a distinct memory of my son looking at me with a “WTF” look on his face. On Christmas morning when my daughter opened the gift, it reeked of stale olive oil. Needless to say, my daughter never played with that doll.

My wife liked to decorate for Christmas and would go all out for it. I would oblige her, knowing that I’d be the one to take everything down. She was great at putting all of the “fa la la” stuff up, but not good at taking it down. I remember one Christmas she wanted to put an artificial tree up in our entry hall, so we did. Then New Year’s Day came. Then it was mid-January. Then Valentine’s ads were coming up in February and the tree was still in the foyer. So one day, when she wasn’t home, I got my son to help me take it down and store it in the attic. We did it very carefully knowing that she’d be critical of what we’d done. When she got home, she threw a fit. I thought I was just helping to clean up and move on towards spring. She marched up to the attic, took the tree back out, and started complaining bitterly how we didn’t put the tree back in the box correctly. She then repacked it muttering to herself the whole time.

In the last five years of our marriage, our friends would ask me if things were all right. I would question them as to why they would ask that, and they’d tell me that she was turning into someone that they didn’t know. They commented on how she would ridicule me in front of others, and how her personality had changed. I would shrug it off, but inside I was slowly shriveling up. I am not a combative person by nature, so I would just take it. Maybe if I would have started yelling back, she would have become more aware of what she was doing. I guess I’ll never know.

A blogger sent me this poem by Mary Oliver back in 2017 which helped me to realize that I had to move on. It is called “The Journey.” I have come to really appreciate my blogger friends throughout the years. I went back and looked at an old post of mine from almost 10 years ago as I wanted to read what I had written when I started getting back into writing again.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

I have read this poem over and over, especially when things got tough. I will never ever forget when I first read this poem, and I will be forever grateful to the blogger who shared it with me. Thank you Spo.

If you have read this post to the end, thank you for allowing me to reminisce about some things that perhaps aren’t always so good to remember. I will close with a photo of Miss Shirley after she has snacked on some fresh snow. The lighting was bad as it was getting dark. Shirley would stay out all day if I would let her!

Peace,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Virginia Snowpocolypse

Michael14 Comments

We have had two snow “storms” over the last few days. We had one on Friday that brought about two inches, and today, Monday, another snow storm has rolled in with about five inches predicted. I put the word “storm” in quotes because growing up in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, these wouldn’t even be classified as anything major. I managed to get groceries this morning and I have candles ready in case we lose power.

I filmed Shirley and Murray during the first snow fall. If you watch the video below, stay tuned to the final seconds to see Shirley’s side tackle. The bottom two photos are from this afternoon.

I look at today’s date, December 8, and I cannot believe that Christmas is right around the corner! I did my Christmas shopping online yesterday and I think I am done for the most part. Even though the internet is great for not having to trudge from one store to another, I do make a concerted effort to buy things from local businesses, and I try to not order things from Amazon. I did find a really neat company that sells active wear made from alpaca wool. The company is called Paka. When I went to Peru in 2018, we went to an alpaca farm. I will always remember the different colors of yarn hanging from the shop, and how soft it felt. My credit card got a workout from that, which I will deal with in January.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Five Years On: Looking Back, Giving Thanks

Michael22 Comments

The Beach

I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving if you are one to celebrate the American Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because there isn’t a ton of hullabaloo with it. And it is a time to reflect on why one is grateful. My cranberry cheesecake was a success. It was a hit with the crowd, and some were even saying it had notes of key lime pie. After I tasted it a second time, I could taste it myself.

On Friday, Michael and I went to the beach house in North Carolina. If you remember, he put it on the market last April, but it never sold. He had a few potential buyers, but those both fell through. Now his plan is to do a little minor kitchen renovation and do replacing the piping as the piping in the house is no longer used in the construction of new houses, and has been banned as the pipes can start to slowly leak. I am not sure the name of the particular kind of piping, that stuff is always over my head. It will be an expensive fix, but I think it will help the beach house sell. I hate selling it as I love the beach, but it has become a financial drain. The insurance keeps going up and up.

Shirley and Murray enjoy going to the beach. We don’t let Murray off the leash when we are down by the water, but we let Shirley run free, and she has a ball. I took the photos below as we were walking on the beach at dusk. It was windy and cold, but I had to take a few shots of the different colors. The beach is always a place that makes me feel serene.

December 8

December 8 will always be a date that is permanently etched in my mind. It was five years ago when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I remember that day vividly. I remember walking out to the parking lot from the doctor’s office rushing to get into the solitude of my car. I was holding everything in and didn’t want anyone to see me upset. I got in my car and the tears came.

Having cancer really upended the apple cart. But I got through it. The radiation treatments did a number on my system, and the fatigue was hard. But luckily for me it was during Covid and I was teaching half my class virtually, and the other half in person. So when I was feeling ill, I could leave the class and run to the restroom. My team of teachers would know my signal and would watch my class until I got back. Most of the students’ work was done on the computer, therefore it was easy to leave the students and the faculty restroom was close by.

There were some dark times when my doctors thought the cancer had spread. I can remember sitting in a trailer getting injected with some sort of nuclear medicine for a PET scan. I remember it was Halloween and the medical professionals all were wearing some sort of costume. Michael’s dad was sick and was to die a couple of days later. The world seemed to be closing in.

But here I am, five years later. I am thankful and blessed. One of the many reasons why I despise this administration so much (the list could take a full page) is the fact that they’ve cut medical research. It makes me angry to think that countless lives might be in jeopardy because our nation is run by a circus of clowns.

Love to all & happy December,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

6 Words & a Cheesecake

Michael26 Comments

I was reading the NY Times yesterday morning and I saw an article about Thanksgiving and writing why one is grateful. The author mentioned that invariably if you attend a dinner, you will be asked what you are thankful for. He invited his readers to submit their 6 word statement. They were fun to read.

Here is mine: “Cold noses on my bare legs.” (of course this is referring to Shirley and Murray)

If you are so inclined, share your six word statement of why you are thankful. Some of the ones in the article were:

Family, sobriety, heavy metal, Cheddar cheese.
Sun rising. Moon setting. Another day.
It won’t always be like this.

I am also planning on making a cranberry cheesecake this afternoon to bring to Michael’s step-sister’s house for Thanksgiving. Last year my dessert was a debacle, hopefully this year will be better. I am typing this on Wednesday morning. I plan to make it in the afternoon and I will revisit this post and include a photo.

And violà! Here’s the photo (taken on Thursday morning)

I think the cheesecake came out okay! Much better than what I did last year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Shirley & the Opossum

Michael24 Comments

French Class

French class is going well, though I can feel a bit intimidated by it all. Many of the students in the class have had a lot more experience with the language than I have, but everyone is accepting and kind. Today our topic was clothes, and we had to break up into groups and describe the clothes others in our group were wearing as well as what we were wearing. I did okay with that. I can handle a small group of four. But much to my horror, we had to present to the whole group, and I was “nominated” to be the model. This introvert hates being the center of attention. But the center of attention I was as I described my outfit to the entire class. After I was finished, the teacher instructed the others to say something about what I was wearing. One person said (in French) that she thought I looked athletic. Me?

The teacher hobbles around the classroom and is unsure of herself on her feet. Today for our clothes lesson she wore a t-shirt that was from a 5K run back in 2018. She was telling us all about the run in French (and sometimes in English) and she told the class that she couldn’t remember the name of the race. Someone in the class raised their hand and said, “Could it be the name that is on your t-shirt, the Turkey Drumstick 5K?” She said something that I didn’t quite understand in French and laughed. I admire her for still teaching at age 83!

Miss Shirley

A couple of weekends ago, Michael and I went to the beach to check on his beach house. Unfortunately, the house never sold, so he’s taken it off the market. He plans to do a bit of renovations on it over the winter months and put it back on the market in February. The insurance has gotten so high for this house that it is time to sell. When we got there on Friday night, there was no water in the house, so Michael went outside to check to see what was wrong. He figured it out and when he came back into the house he told me that he had heard an animal in the yard. We both figured that it was probably a deer. Later on that evening, I took Murray and Shirley out into the back yard to do their business. It is a fenced in yard, not very big, but big enough so that they can roam around. As we were going down the stairs, Shirley let out this growl, and tore down the steps. I hadn’t turned the outside light on yet as it is at the bottom of the steps. I heard a guttural growl coming from her that didn’t sound like any noise that I’ve ever heard her make. When I finally got the light on, I saw a “dead” opossum by the fence. I yelled at Shirley and Murray to come and they did. I gingerly walked over to the body and I thought I saw blood. Instantly I thought, shit….Shirley bit him and he has rabies. I ushered the dogs inside. I decided that I’d call animal control the next morning and tell them about the dead animal in our yard. I also thought that I should call the vet to make sure her rabies shot would be affective.

I tossed and turned all night worrying about her. Then it dawned on me. The opossum was playing opossum. The next morning, the animal was gone. I talked with my vet and said that opossums don’t usually get rabies, and it was out at night as it is a nocturnal animal. Whew.

I took Shirley to the vet today because she has a lump on her back hind quarter. I have been stewing about this all week, but fortunately the lump was just a sebaceous cyst which the vet drained. Another whew. I would be beside myself if Shirley got sick. Below is a video of Murray and Shirley playing together in the back yard. Notice I do not worry about the leaves littering the yard. All in due time I say.

I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving here in the USA enjoys their holiday. I have a lot to be grateful for, and will be even more grateful when the Mad King’s reign comes to an end.

Love to all,

Michael