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Posts Tagged ‘Trump’

Gunshots, Garages and Gardens

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , on April 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Our garage renovation, aka the casita, has come to a standstill.

It was thoroughly expected. Only on HGTV can a whole house be built in 100 days. I’ve learned there are two phases of city inspections – the ‘rough-in’ is first, where electrical lines are placed and plumbing is dug. Our backyard is a minefield of trenches, just filling the bird feeder can be dangerous. The second inspection happens at the end, when the walls are up and the toilet flushes. And since the inspector couldn’t even find our casita hidden behind a huge dumpster on the first go-round, we are sitting in a state of perpetual construction limbo.

While gulping my first cup of morning coffee, I decided to read about the King’s visit to the White House of our Would-be-King. And I was delighted to see the first stop on the Lawn tour was to the apiary! I didn’t know that Melania had decided to keep Michelle Obama’s colony of bees. And their hive isn’t just a bunch of boxes; no, it’s an exact duplicate of the White House! Paving over the Rose Garden and demolishing the entire East Wing in order to build a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom must have exceeded their renovation budget. 

It didn’t surprise me at all that Mr T’s first response, after surviving his third assassination attempt, was to reiterate his need for the Great Gatsbyesque ballroom. It’s a question of security, he wants us to believe, and not an homage to his own ego. Some Republicans are buying his story as they watched the three most powerful politicians on the Hill being escorted from the stage this weekend at the White House Correspondents Dinner – the President, the VP and the Speaker. It must have dawned on some of them how ridiculous it was to have the starting lineup of succession to the presidency all in one room.

In fact, the GOP would like the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its lawsuit against Mr T’s no-bid building project. Their response: “What Saturday’s awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so…”

Now I’m not comparing our little Nashville casita to a White House ballroom, but we got three bids! Actually first, we had a bunch of contractors tell us our job was just too small for them. Anything under $200,000 wasn’t worth their time. Imagine that. Bob and I have survived many a building project together after almost fifty years of marriage. Did I just calculate that right? FIFTY?!!! Our very first renovation project was after leaving the Berkshires, to return to NJ. The Rocker was just two years old when we migrated back to the East Coast and installed a steel beam to open up the kitchen to the family room. When Bob hung the wallpaper upside down in one corner. Where our Welsh Corgi’s puppies were born in the new family room.

But I can’t forget about the bees! The Rocker was born at the edge of a Wildlife Sanctuary in an old farmhouse. Before we moved into East New Lenox Road, we had to have a beekeeper relocate a hive of honeybees from our fireplace.

Now we can look back and laugh at our marital renovation journey – from bees to building a house in a forest, to a casita. And as much as I enjoy a good laugh, I wasn’t even going to watch the WHCD this year, I only switched it on for a few minutes before going to bed. How could a president with absolutely NO sense of humor be roasted? What kind of nonsense was this? Didn’t this very event, a celebration of free speech, trigger Mr T into running for president in the first place?

And I watched him sitting there, oblivious as others startled to the sound of gunfire. Did he have his hearing aids in? And could he have been stunned into self-reflection while longing for his ballroom? Nope. Our President went right back into his malicious tirade against the free press while being interviewed by Norah O’Donnell. Notice how this female cardinal could care less about our casita.

Screenshot

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An Alpine Divorce

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The first morning my sister Kay arrived here we took a hike. Well, it was more like a walk a few blocks up the road but I took out my hiking sticks and she pushed her walker to the Farmers Market. It was a lovely Spring day and we were on a mission to get to the cheesecake tent before the opening bell rings because they usually sell out. I had to explain that we don’t get to order any special flavor, like her favorites pineapple and blueberry; we’re not in New York anymore. We get to choose from some local specialties, like “nutty buddy” or “lemon curd.” Luckily, they had blueberry crumb.

Somewhere between my first adventure in osteoporosis management and this last pre-election fall – almost foreshadowing our democratic demise – my daughter helped me buy a pair of hiking sticks. At first I didn’t use them. It was awkward and I thought my arms didn’t want or need the workout. But after visiting California a few times, where hiking is the state sport, I picked them up and tried again. Now, I reach for them regularly whenever we take to the Greenway for a walk with Maple the rescue dog. Maple was dubious at first, after all she knew me as ‘two-legged-with-treats.’ But my sticks don’t bother her at all now.

What did bother me this morning was reading an article about Alpine Divorce, better known in the Swiss Alps where a couple might get into an argument while hiking. Titled “If He Leaves You on a Mountain, End Your Relationship,” I can’t imagine finding the breath to talk, let alone argue, while hiking up a mountain, but lately women have been telling their stories of being left alone on a treacherous trail by their partner. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/style/alpine-divorce-relationships-hike.html?unlocked_article_code=1.a1A.JKb1.sMTGm5ckmxKd&smid=url-share

I’m hoping Melania read this article. Her little PR stunt, claiming not to be a ‘victim’ of Jeffrey Epstein, only made matters worse. We know Paolo Zampolli introduced her to Trump while he was married to Marla. We know the two men were fixtures in the NYC social scene of the 90s. It’s alleged Zampolli asked ICE to deport his girlfriend, even though he denies it. Oh and btw, he first met this Brazilian model after she flew into NY on Epstein’s plane at the age of 17. He has said about Mr T in the past: “We both like beautiful things.” The dots are easy to connect. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/us/paolo-zampolli-ice-melania-trump-epstein.html?unlocked_article_code=1.a1A.b8cs.k7LxclPTHjNv&smid=url-share

I suspect Melania knows her husband has lost his base along with his mind. I suspect she plans on leaving him before he gets the chance to leave her alone on a mountaintop.

Domestic violence takes many forms and has no borders. If you’re in a certain Epstein Class, you don’t have to abandon your partner or beat her with a brick when she no longer serves your purpose. I thought about the recent trial in Hawaii. An anesthesiologist beats his wife with a rock while hiking the Pali Puka Trail on Oahu. He was just found guilty of attempted manslaughter. Luckily she survived, and testified to feeling strange as the trail narrowed, then he shoved her. And she too refused to be a victim, she fought back.

I’d like to propose we as a nation take out our hiking sticks and get to the polls this year. Look at what Hungary just did! Eighty percent turnout to save their democracy from an autocrat. Mr T has been attacking Pope Leo, and he even posted an AI generated picture of himself as Jesus healing the sick. Did he think this would go over well with his Christian Nationalists? Is anybody paying attention to his demented tweets in the White House?

On our country’s 250th birthday, I’d like to propose we turn the tables on our commander in chief. Put lots of candles on a cheesecake and grant him an Alpine divorce. This is Kay and Bob after our score!

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Touch Points

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Our twin Grandbabies are learning to walk. They have push carts and ride-on trikes and their parents’ fingers to hold, but soon enough they will venture out on their own steam. Tiny steps, then stopping to look back; are we good? And we adults will clap and tell them how wonderful they are to explore the world upright, from point A to point B. Soon they will be leaving the couch behind and walking across the living room floor, and sure at times they will fall. It’s all part of the process.

After Sunday’s celebration of International Women’s Day, this morning I read a disturbing essay on Substack titled, “Never Eat With Women.” As usual, Anand Giridharadas’ take on the Epstein Class is lucid and enlightening. He had combed through pictures of the Epstein files and noticed something – apart from the parties with young women and girls posing in compromising positions, there were no women sitting down at tables where men had gathered for a meal. None. https://open.substack.com/pub/anandwrites/p/never-eat-with-women?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Now I guess the Justice Department might be withholding more pictures. The DOJ recently removed approximately 47,635 files from public view claiming they were redundant and needed further redactions. Honestly I’m not sure how many files are left, thousands, tens of thousands, millions? And maybe that’s the point, overwhelm the press with data, expose the victims, and hold back the FBI notes on that 13 year old who claimed our President raped her.

“The woman who directly named Trump in her abuse allegation claimed that around 1983, when she was around 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump, “who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.” Out of more than 3 million pages of files released by the Justice Department in recent months, this specific allegation against Trump appears only in copies of the FBI list of claims and the DOJ slideshow. But a review of FBI case file logs and discovery documents turned over to Maxwell and her attorneys in the criminal case against her point to one place the claim could have come from — and how serious investigators took it.” https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell“

But back to the billionaire bros who like to dine amongst themselves. Anand’s point is that the 1% are very different from you and me in that they have fewer checkpoints in their day to day life. In their private mansions, their yachts and their jets, life is choreographed like an episode of Downton Abbey. Everything is designed to run smoothly, they rarely have to deal with the common folk. Think about Spring Break, maybe your family is trying to connect to a flight for Paris, in say Chicago, but weather is going to make this impossible. You are going to have to deal with ticket agents, gate agents, TSA agents, people on the phone (if you’re lucky) and of course your children, and maybe even passengers on the plane, if you manage to board – all of these personal interactions combine to make “touch points.” An average family on vacation, flying from one place to another, has many touch points.

OTOH, Anand quotes a luxury jet employee: “When you fly commercial, there are more than 700 touch points,” says Alexandra Price, brand communications manager at the jet-charter company VistaJet. “When you fly private, it’s just 20.” And of course, when you OWN the jet and can gift a ride to a royal and his family, well that gives you unlimited access to the halls of power. And the number of touch points goes down into the single digits. And you might think you are untouchable, that you can get away with murder on Park Avenue.

We are now into the second week of a war the American people want no part of, and the American president has yet to explain despite his rambling speech yesterday. Operation Epic Fury has resulted in almost 1,500 deaths in Iran, including hundreds of civilians. Regional fighting has spilled over into Lebanon where 400 have been killed, and a dozen in Israel. Last night, another US soldier was returned in a body bag to Dover Air Force Base, making that seven so far, with an eighth dead American not yet returned.

If we started connecting the dots, the touch points of this administration make no sense, unless you count the money the president’s family is making from his connections and predictions market. Buried in the weeds of some independent reporting we can read what’s driving their epic fury. Greed wins out over glory every time.

Don’t you wish some judge would order Mr T to sit down to a dinner, not hamburgers mind you, with Senator Elizabeth Warren? I can only hope that by the time these two grow up we’ll have elected a woman president…

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World Repair

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2026| 2 Comments »

I was going to write about darning. You know, the process of fixing or repairing holes or worn-out areas in fabric, woven or knitting goods using just your hands with a needle and thread. It’s something our grandmothers all learned to do at an early age, but somehow it’s become a lost art. During the pandemic I learned a Japanese technique called Sashiko to repair an old pair of corduroy pants. I wore them recently and noticed the other knee was getting rather thin. My knees have the same ‘use by’ date, so why wouldn’t my pants? Of course, I could just let my knee poke out, but I’ve resisted that fashion transgression so far.

And then over the weekend we went to war.

In the middle of diplomatic talks with Iran, Mr T and Mr N of Israel decided to bomb Tehran. And depending on your news source, your point of view, our country is slowly waking up to a new reality. There was no Pearl Harbor, no supposed weapons of mass destruction, no reasoning behind this decision, albeit whispers of ‘regime change.’ The spin from White House sources makes me dizzy, now they are hoping to sell the story of stopping their nuclear program. Period. Instead, France is boosting its nuclear arsenal.

The death toll in Iran is 747, so far.

Let’s not forget, during Trump 1.0, back in 2018, we withdrew from President Obama’s multi-nation Iran nuclear deal. Mr T ripped it up and spit it out because he’s a vengeful man. Abandoning this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) left our allies holding the bag and imposed economic hardship on the Gulf. Now we have an unchecked, unbalanced president willing to put American lives at risk.

The death toll of American service members is 6, so far.

I opened my editor Lisa’s blog this morning. She was planning a trip to Israel to see her grandchildren for Purim, but her airline cancelled her flight. She had baked hamantaschen to bring along for this fun, festive Jewish holiday. Instead she got to video chat with her family sheltering in a bunker. Her grandson asked her if we have sirens here. https://lisakwinkler.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/flight-to-israel-cancelled-again/

The death toll in Israel of civilians and soldiers is 12, so far.

And yesterday, yesterday Melania Trump spoke to the United Nations Security Council in NYC, where she actually lives, advocating “peace through education,” saying: “… that nations should promote the values of tolerance and “empathy for others, transcending geography, religion, race, gender” and denounced “rigid thinkers who embrace prejudice and shun human dignity… When a nation restricts thought, it restricts its own future.” No, I am NOT making this up. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/melania-trump-un-peace-education.html

The death toll of an Iranian elementary school for girls is 165.

How can we fix this? Can our elected legislators even begin to mend the damage this administration has done? Our journalists need to step up and keep covering the Epstein files. He was allowed to continue his network of influence, bribery, corruption and sex trafficking because seemingly good people stood by and did nothing. Silence and indifference fueled the Holocaust and continue to haunt us to this day. One brave reporter will not let it go, and I recommend following Anand Giridharadas’ “The Ink” on Substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/anandwrites/p/epsteins-network-of-bystanders?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

I had to stop on my way to the Farmers Market on Saturday. Our newly blooming cherry tree was humming with bees. Tikkun olam.

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Sun Melts ICE

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Our little Nashville cottage has warmed up. The Pumpkin helped me make vegetable soup. My friend Les delivered a loaf of bread, and we walked across the street to see her majestic ash tree covering her pool; it just missed her porch by a few feet. Another neighbor helped Bob chop up an evergreen that fell on our HVAC. Guess we’ll see if the air conditioning works in a couple of months. We cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer, and replaced whatever food survived their exile to the garage – the free-standing garage we finally got permitted to turn into a DADU (detached, auxiliary, dwelling, unit).

It will have its own address, but we had to sign and swear we would never AirBnB it – those are the new Metro rules. Only for family, friends and climate refugees, we said.

Yesterday with the ice melting, I dug out my trusty hiking sticks and set off for a walk in the neighborhood. It was a beautiful, 45 degree, sunny day. We talked to a new friend with a 10 week old rescue puppy named Harrington. An adorable black lab mix with white socks, he’s named after a Stranger Things character. Since the Pumpkin (who knows all things about Stranger Things) is back in school, I had to look up Steve Harrington. It seems the pup’s avatar plays the stereotypical, lovable jock who was supposed to be killed off in the first season, but won the hearts of his audience. So the writers had to give him a “redemption arc.” And it struck me that with the release of more Epstein files, some very powerful men are seeking the same sort of salvation. 

Let’s not forget that Marjorie Taylor Green warned us about Mr T’s furor over releasing the Epstein files. He didn’t want all his buddies getting into trouble. But the “Epstein Class,” composed of high-ranking government, academic, legal, corporate and even royal people, is just beginning to feel the consequences of their association with a known pedophile and sex trafficker. Like Andrew formerly known as Prince, tomorrow Lord Mandelson will step down from the House of Lords. Some are even calling for his removal from peerage, whatever that means. The British have no appetite for a redemption story. We, OTOH, are always willing to buy into salvation.

After all, Epstein reinvented himself after his conviction in 2008, pleading guilty to prostitution charges. Remember there was a major recession at the time the FL pimp to billionaires got his sweetheart deal. What will happen to Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, Bill Clinton, Peter Thiel, Deepak Chopra and Noam Chomsky? The ex-President of Harvard, Larry Summers, married father of six, emails Epstein for romantic advice about a young woman he was ‘mentoring.’ At least he stepped down from his many Board postions. But it wasn’t until they were caught, it wasn’t until the evidence of their fawning association with Epstein became apparent, that we are hearing their excuses. And as every child learns in school, ignorance of the law (if we believe they were ignorant) is NO defense!

Dr Peter Attia, a billionaire longevity guru, is now ashamed of his old friend Epstein. Sorry he joked with him about female body parts. Let’s stop calling Epstein a financier, he was a pimp. The language we use helps to shape our understanding of the world, so I’m re-naming things, like ICE is really our very own secret police. Detention camps are concentration camps where we ship brown people without due process – where we hold five year old children without their mothers. Remember Mr T coming down the gold escalator calling undocumented people rapists and murderers? If we allow the Republican party to call Mr Pretti a terrorist, well then it becomes easier to kidnap and murder people in American cities.

I’m not looking for a redemption arc. I’m looking for sunshine laws to reveal this corrupt class for who they really are. Only the sun can melt the historic ice storm we experienced in Nashville, only the sun can break us out of this chrysalis of apathy. And if you want to help fight our country’s slide into authoritarianism, you can start by attending a virtual meet-up on Thursday of like-minded souls, “Eyes on ICE” https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/892452/

 

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Building a Sandbox

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

When our children were little, we built them a sandbox in the Berkshires. And when we moved back to NJ, and the Rocker was only 2 years old, Bob got to work building another sandbox with a fort on top. I remember one of the Bride’s young friends coming over to play and being astonished – she was reluctant to get her hands ‘dirty.’ Only seven years old, this suburban youngster thought ‘shopping’ was great fun, not digging in sand.

Maybe you know where this is going?

Or maybe you’re thinking what is wrong with her, why is she talking about sandboxes when our country seems to be going down the drain. ICE is emboldened by our leaders to disrupt peaceful protests and kidnap people in broad daylight. Our allies are discussing what in blazes needs to be done about Mr T who cannot stop threatening Greenland; their ‘soft’ diplomacy is not working. Macron said at Davos, that tariffs cannot “…be used as leverage against territorial sovereignty.” And Mr T cares what French President Emmanuel Macron has to say?

In fact, T took a screenshot of Macron’s text, where he begins with, “My Friend…” Then he continues with the good stuff, how our countries are aligned about Syria and Iran. And even though Macron refused to join the Gaza “Board of Peace,” he invited Mr T to Paris and offers to set up a G7 meeting. Macron is conciliatory, he wants Mr T to play in his sandbox. You know, the post WWII playground after fascism was defeated. And finally, the reason for Macron’s DM,

“I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.” Well join the club!

“France has publicly been much more forceful in response to the U.S. president’s threats to tariff European allies who do not support his designs on Greenland. Macron has pushed for the EU to unleash its Anti-Coercion Instrument, the the so-called trade bazooka, while other leaders like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz want to give a chance to diplomacy. France has also sent a small contingent of troops to Greenland and is planning to deploy land, sea and air forces, though the details remain unspecified.” https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-decoded-text-message-donald-trump/

Totalitarianism seems to be cropping up and tilting the world order toward the right. And if we think of our Allies in their own sandbox, large and in charge for many decades, we can understand why they are talking about pulling out all the stops with the diplomatic equivalent of a rocket-propelled anti-tank weapon! Mr T is like a seven year old bully who is biting and pushing his way through life, demanding loyalty and whining when he isn’t awarded the Nobel Peace Prizle.

He loves to play in the sandbox, except he throws sand in everyones’ eyes.

I lived through Watergate and I wonder when the Republicans will stop making excuses for his behavior. Maybe a journalist, maybe someone from a small, local paper say in Florida, will dig up evidence of the extent of his involvement with Epstein. Maybe someone will film one of his total mental breakdowns after not getting his way, maybe on the golf course? Someone said he is a malicious narcissist, but is that enough to invoke the 25th Amendment?

I asked my brother Dr Jim, who was an Army officer in Vietnam, if our generals would actually invade Greenland, would they follow his unlawful orders? After all, they abducted Maduro, remember? Jim didn’t think so. The rest of my family is not so sure. Maybe we Americans are preparing to jump over to a new sandbox, one full of dictators and bullies. But I hope not.

I hope we can help the Rocker and Aunt Kiki build a sandbox for the Twins. Right now, not quite 11 months, they will try to eat the sand; but soon they will learn how to dig and sculpt the sand and share their toys. I hope they will not learn the word “MINE” too soon. This is the Bride and the Rocker helping us build their sandbox around 1986.

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Profiles

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I used to write one page biographies for a newspaper. Usually it was a Sunday edition, “Write about an ordinary person doing something extraordinary,” my editor would say. It was nice to have some autonomy; to be able to pick my subject and sit down with them for an hour or two. I didn’t like doing phone interviews and Zoom was just a thing my cat did on occasion. I found that if you listen long enough, and look into someone’s eyes, you can always find a kernel of truth in their story. The story they tell themselves.

Lately journalists have delved into the depths of MAGA world. While I was traveling last week with the family, I searched high and low for the new Vanity Fair in foreign and domestic airports. I was dying to read the profile of Mr T’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles. Going back decades, a total news blackout has been our custom on vacation – so no TV, no NYTimes (except for the Games section). But if I could just get my hands on the magazine… and sorry to say, the new Vanity Fair had not hit the news stands yet.

Wiles intrigued me. She looked like one of my Irish aunts – petite, grey-haired bob, sweet, funny, baking pies and cookies for holidays. But she was the person behind the President of these United States, and also sitting on his right side and steering the ship. The second most powerful political figure in the world – in fact, she is the first woman to hold this White House position! And all I could get on social media was that Wiles said Mr T has an “alcoholic’s personality.” What does that even mean?

According to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, there are a number of traits that many alcoholics seem to suffer from: “…low frustration tolerance; impulsivity; low rejection threshold; low sense of one’s own worth; and they are loners and afraid of intimacy.” Maybe some of that is true, but a low sense of Mr T’s worth? If anything, the POTUS is a would be king, a narcissist in every sense of that word. My question is what does this description of her boss say about Wiles?

Wiles mentions that she grew up with an alcoholic father. But maybe she feels like the wife of an alcoholic – always pleading for him to reconsider impulsive decisions, stepping on eggshells whenever she is around him. It was ironic to learn that she also worked for Ronald Reagan, as a scheduler and in his Labor Department. Mostly she worked on Republican campaigns over the years with no experience in the federal government. I picture her as a bullfighter, a highly choreographed master manipulator of the bull in the White House.

And now Marjorie Taylor Greene, the MAGA boss lady turned ‘traitor,’ has earned herself a profile in the NYTimes Magazine. This turncoat Representative from Georgia always turned me off. I dismissed her as a kook. But reporter Robert Draper interviewed her before and after her conversion and I’m willing to believe he captured her journey perfectly. It all started when she spoke with some of the Epstein victims and threatened to release the names of the powerful men involved. Mr T’s response, on speakerphone in her Congressional office, was so loud and abusive everyone heard him claiming not to want some of his friends hurt. (wink, wink).

In Greene’s mind this represented “… everything wrong with Washington,” adding that it was a story of “rich, powerful elites doing horrible things and getting away with it. And the women are the victims.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/magazine/marjorie-taylor-greene-interview-takeaways.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AlA.AFU7.jW9VSVlIj-p4&smid=url-share

Gone are the days when Martha Mitchell could be gaslit for telling the truth about Watergate. I believe Greene has had a change of heart and I’m sorry she is resigning her seat in the new year. But I’m glad independent journalists are doing their jobs. I’d love to get Greene and Wiles in a room together, two different generations of women in the Republican stratosphere. Wiles attended the Academy of the Holy Angels in NJ so I’m presuming she’s Catholic or catholic-light-Episcopalian, and Greene makes a big point about being a Christian. Surely they could agree about something?

We’re back in Nashville and I’m missing my morning cuddles with the Grandbabies. They are water nymphs, I loved watching them discover new birds and flowers at our cozy cottage. They are on the move and have just learned how to share their toys. Which is more than I can say about the alcoholic/adolescent/addled boys in the White House.

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“Not a Fan”

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 16, 2025| 2 Comments »

Happy Hanukkah! I’m a big fan of the holiday season. I love FaceTiming with the Twins and watching their little hands crinkle the wrapping paper of the toys we sent them. Singing the blessing as the Pumpkin lights the menorah and then devouring the Bride’s potato latkes. Setting up my horseshoe Christmas tree brings me joy.

The Groom returned Sunday night from a working trip to Australia and New Zealand. He was flying home when we heard about the massacre on Bondi Beach. Another incident of antisemitism was not surprising, but in Australia? The video however was instructive, showing the pair of father/son killers shooting methodically with what looked like long-barreled hunting rifles – because assault-style guns are banned there. And then out of nowhere, a HERO tackles one of the gunmen – 43 year old Ahmed al Ahmed, a father-of-two, grabs the gun out of the killer’s hands.

And I really don’t care if this man is an atheist, a Lebanese Christian, or Muslim.

I’m a fan of finding the light at our darkest hour. Ahmed deserves to be celebrated! The Aussies have started a Go Fund Me for his medical bills and they’ve raised over a million dollars. The PM is dedicated to reviewing their gun laws. And all that’s great, but what about the two other Australians killed trying to stop the gunmen with bricks? What about the 15 families affected by the murder of their loved ones – the 10 year old girl, the two rabbis, the Holocaust survivor? My heart breaks for their families.

Bob was wondering if the attack over the weekend at Brown University was motivated by antisemitism. He said it’s known to attract progressive thinkers and may have a higher number of Jewish students, so I looked it up. And when compared to other Ivies he’s right – around 24%! “Today, Brown has the highest percentage of Jewish students of any Ivy League university and has the 10th most Jewish students at any private university in America.” https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/11/canfield-28-130-years-after-browns-first-jewish-students-graduated-jewish-life-on-college-hill-is-thriving

The killer of two students, who wounded many more, is still at large so we don’t know his motivation. We do know our president is determined not to do anything to address gun violence in this country, and the Director of the FBI is incompetent. I am not a fan of Kash Patel.

And when Mr T rambled on X about the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner, how he’s not a fan of Reiner and disparages his work in Hollywood, and turns this most tragic, horrific event into a soliloquy about himself, I was not surprised. Mr T’s stream of evil consciousness should be apparent now to everyone, to both parties, all religions and the world at large. What kind of monster does this? The kind who called John McCain a “f-ing loser,” yet another person our idiotic president is not a fan of…

I AM NOT A FAN OF YOU MR T. Do you think you’re still on the Apprentice looking for ratings? You’re committing war crimes off the coast of Venezuela. And it’s not about drug dealers, it’s about the OIL. You’re itching to start a war to take the pressure off your involvement with a known pedophile. What did you say to Epstein to make him double over laughing? Why were you photographed surrounded by young women on his island? What are you hiding?

On this third night of Hanukkah, my wish is for sunshine laws to pry open the Epstein files. That’s all I want from Santa too. BIG Santa fan here! Amen.

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TACO, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

There was a time when the Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza card game was all I ever wanted to play with the Grands. They would always beat me because my reaction time isn’t quite up to par, and it was always hilarious. If you love a little person under the age of, say, 10, this would make a great gift. Thinking about Daddy Jim playing gin rummy with me almost every night after dinner as a child, It seems that teaching a child to play cards, or any game, is Darwinian. It’s a civilized way to impart certain adult skills – how to strategize, how to be patient, when to strike!

Well, get ready Democrats.

TACO: I can sense a seismic shift happening in our country. Unlike Hillary’s emails, the Epstein files have been chipping away at Mr T’s base. Remember way back in the Spring, when Wall Street started calling Mr T “TACO?” Short for, Trump. Always. Chickens. Out… That was more about his tariffs, but what about his life skills? Born clinging onto the proverbial silver spoon, his tycoon father built housing projects in Queens and Brooklyn. Pampered and privileged Mr T just had to make it BIG in Manhattan. And so he did, making deals, taking risks, and finally getting his name plastered on his jet.

CAT: This administration seems to be in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. The only problem is that the big cat, Mr T, lacks courage – he chickens out of going to war in his youth, then he promises his followers “No more foreign wars,” only to bomb Iran and little boats off Venezuela. He makes big promises, and never has to say he’s sorry when he doesn’t deliver, like on the economy. He is the cowardly lion, roaring and talking smack, threatening lawsuits willy nilly, but like any bully, Mr T backs down when confronted by unassailable odds. He can’t whip Republicans votes against opening the Epstein files, so he flips!

GOAT: Mr T loves to play the scapegoat. Oh no, he doesn’t take on any blame for his missteps, he is in the habit of blaming others for things that he has done! He directs his DOJ to investigate Democratic bigwigs who had relationships with Epstein, who flew on his jet, who visited his Manhattan townhouse on the Upper East Side. That place that had cameras in every room. Look over there at them, not at me. Oh, and the Bride mentioned that once an investigation is opened, those files could be sealed forever. I think MAGA will see through this ploy, don’t you?

CHEESE: There’s nothing like a good charcuterie board for the holidays? But having a president referred to as a “Flaming Hot Cheeto” because of his fake tan, orange make-up and comb-over, is just plain insulting. I happen to love cheese of every kind, hard, soft, runny, even blue. Visiting a farm in Italy where they were producing ricotta was my idea of heaven! So let’s stop calling Mr T the Cheeto-in-Chief. It is insulting.

PIZZA: Who remembers the child sex-trafficking conspiracy theory that led some guy with an AR 15 to a family-friendly pizza parlor, Comet Ping Pong in DC? And guess what, It all started back in 2016 with Mr T’s first run for office when a Democrat, John Podesta’s, emails were hacked by WikiLeaks. The resulting debunked “Pizzagate” was the precursor for QAnon and its radicalized right belief in a global pedophile ring. What goes around, comes around. Only this time we have a real criminal case, IRL with real victims, and Ghislane Maxwell still holed up in a Club Fed prison petting dogs.

If you’re looking for a card game for older kids and adults this holiday season, I recommend “The Hygge Game!” aka Cozy conversation for pleasant company – you get to ask the person next to you three questions, and before you know it, you’re hearing all about the Shark Tank project in 5th Grade! 

Had to include this picture of Poutine from Victoria, BC. It was divine!

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Common Sense

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 11, 2025| 2 Comments »

November is a chilly month. There were snowflakes floating by our windows here in Nashville yesterday. The Pumpkin is the only family member, besides me of course, who likes the frigid temps. He’s coming off a winning weekend, where his team placed well in its Quiz Bowl competition. After all, this is his birthday month, 11 years old! And today is 11/11… The last of our string of Fall birthdays. His friends made gooey s’mores in the backyard, (mostly boys but also 4 girls, which did my heart good) followed by a scary movie.

We’re all looking forward to the release of the new Ken Burns’ documentary, “The American Revolution.” set to premiere November, 16th on PBS, but as always we will stream it on Passports. Flying in the face of this administration’s directive against DEI initiatives, Burns looks at our origin story from many points of view. And it seems there was not just one turning point that set us on our path to independence, but a constellation of events – including a little pamphlet called “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine. Written 6 months before the Declaration of Independence, he convinces the people that breaking with the British Parliament is not enough.

We had to renounce the KING.

““We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” he promises at the end. In the 80-odd pages in between, Common Sense depicts “liberty and security” as the “end of government,” outlines a democratic one calculated to advance “the greatest sum of individual happiness with the least national expense,” and assures readers that, for such a cause, Americans could prevail against all the force that Britain could muster. Life, liberty, and happiness stand as founding ideals here much as they would in the Declaration of Independence six months later. “The will of the king is as much the law of the land in Britain as in France,” Paine writes in defiance of George III. “In America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King.” This became the animating spirit of 1776; it is why that year still matters.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/american-revolution-1776-what-changed/684579/?gift=MZkyOCULmn5OA_9_ikIP-7yCQfhCLH_iVBq2ImNMOYc&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

“No Crown. No Throne. NO KINGS.”

When I heard the Gov of California, Gavin Newsom, say this after Prop 50 was passed and the Democrats swept up the last election handily, I felt it in my gut. It became a mantra, a meme. Certainly this would be a turning a point in our national nightmare. NJ elected Mikie Sherrill and Virginia elected Abigail Spanberger, surely Aftyn Behn will be next in TN? The Flapper said things happen in threes, but we’ll have to wait until Dec 2nd, a strange time for an important TN election – although dear Nashville readers, early voting starts tomorrow!

So why, riding high on the wave of this victory, did 8 Democratic Senators surrender over the weekend to a PROMISE from the most untrustworthy GOP in history? A party trying to downplay a violent insurrection with its leader bribing universities, major media (including the BBC), and law firms because…. why? He doesn’t like them? He’s vindictive? Or is it just that Mr T is lining his pockets while running the most corrupt, mob-like administration since Reconstruction. All while keeping the Epstein files under wrap.

Aunt Kiki said, “We need a new pamphlet,” on common sense. Let’s hope America watches “The American Revolution” this month. Maybe it will wake up a part of the MAGA folks who are about to witness their healthcare costs rise exponentially. Life, liberty and happiness are hanging on: one election at a time; one documentary at a time.

Here we are at High Tea at The Fairmont Empress in British Columbia.

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