Personal Thoughts

A Life Measured in Dogs

I have always loved dogs.  From the time that I was a little boy to now as a man who has lived more years than I want to say, they have given me a sense of contentment.  I truly don’t know why I have this love, but every time I see a dog, my heart melts.  As I write this post, both of my dogs are huddled near my feet.  They follow me around wherever I go, with a look on their faces that seem to say, “Hey Dad, what are we gonna do next?”

Movies and shows with dogs make me tear up, stories of their heroism give me wonderment, and the look in their eyes when they gaze at you directly fills my heart with something that I really cannot put words to.  Maybe that is one of the myriad of reasons why I am no fan of Kristi Noem.  For someone to publish in a book that she shot their dog because he wasn’t behaving as he should says a lot about her character I think.

My Life With Dogs, Part I

(I am going to put this post into two parts as I don’t have the energy nor the time  to write that much in one sitting.)

My first dog was a German Shepherd named Fritz.  My parents got him when I was a toddler.  They had gotten me a cat before that, but after the cat was in the house for a few minutes, I began to wheeze.  That was my first and last cat…it lasted about 30 minutes from what my mother tells me.  There’s a photo of the cat with me that my mother still has.  The cat was black and white.  

Fritz was very protective of me.  I have a vague recollection of him grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the house when I got too close to the street.  My dad always said that he was one of the smartest dogs that he’d ever known.  I think I was in the fifth or sixth grade when my parents had him put down.  He had that thing that German Shepherds get, hip dysplasia.  

There was a long lull between Fritz and the next dog.  I tried my hardest to get my father to get us another dog, but he wouldn’t.  One summer night between my junior and senior years of high school, my parents and my siblings went to a party on the lake.  I remember very little about the party except that we had to take a row boat to get there from the shore.  The party must have been on an island.  My father got drunk at the party and on the way back across the lake to our car, he was quite belligerent.  I can remember feeling very uneasy, and I can also remember wanting that boat ride to end.  I don’t remember the drive home at all, but I am guessing (and hoping) that my mother was the one that was behind the wheel.

The next morning, when I came down to breakfast, my father, out of the blue, said that we were going to get a dog.  I remember my 17 year old self disbelieving the entire scene.  I think he had guilt from the night before.  My father’s one stipulation was that we get a German Shepherd.   So we did.  I remember driving to the place to get him with a giant box to house him for the ride home. My father decided (there was no discussion) that his name was to be Schultz. 

After all of those years of begging to get a dog, we got a dog one year before I was off to college, but I was just so excited that I would have a dog.  Schultz became my dog, as I would spend a lot of time with him.  We’d go for walks in the woods behind my family’s house, and I taught him all kinds of tricks.  He was very intelligent and learned things quite quickly.  I remember one night I taught him to fetch my mother’s slippers when she was out grocery shopping.  It only took about an hour or so, and I got him to go upstairs, into my parent’s bedroom, find the slippers, and bring them back down stairs.  If he brought one of them, I would tell him to go back and get the other one.  And he would.  My mother got home from shopping, and I showed her what he could do.  I remember her laughing in amazement.  

Something happened to Schultz mentally when I was in college.  When I’d come home for break, he would give me a look that was menacing.  It upset me because he had always been “my” dog. I remember one night coming home from a date and going upstairs to bed.  He was on my bed and when I tried to get under the covers to go to sleep, he growled at me.  It was a low guttural kind of growl that made me really nervous.  I pushed him gently off of the bed, but I was spooked.  I went back to school after that break, and my parents soon let me know that he had bitten the paper boy.  He began to snarl and growl at people walking by the house.  My parents decided to put him down as they were afraid that he’d hurt someone.  I was home from college when the decision was made.  It is the only time in my life that I ever saw my dad cry.  I can remember I went with him to the vet.  I stayed in the truck when he took Schultz in.  When he came back and got in, I looked over at him and saw a single tear slowly drop down his face.  I had never seen him cry before, and I would never see him cry again.

Fast Forward:  I graduated college, got married, and started a family.  As soon as my boys were old enough, I decided that it was time to get a dog.  I did lots of research with books from the library (way before the internet) and I found myself drawn to the Westhighland White Terrier.  Since I am of Scottish ancestry, this seemed like a perfect breed.  Her name was Katie.  She was a bit cuckoo though.  She had many idiosyncrasies, but we all loved her.  By the time my daughter was born, she began to act a bit odd, and became snappy.  We were in Vermont vacationing with my sister and her family and I went to pick her up to put in the car to drive home to Virginia.  She bit me.  Not just a little nip, but a gnawing and painful bite.  I had to go to the ER.  When we got back home, we made the difficult decision to put her down as her head was at the same level as my 1 year old daughter, and we just couldn’t risk her getting bitten in the face.

As I am writing about these last two dogs, and their mental issues, I guess it would make anyone wonder two things. One, what kind of person I am to have two dogs become psychologically off, and two, why would I even try and get another dog after these two? Well, with Arlo (the dog listed below) and every other dog since, it has been smooth sailing in the psych department.

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Katie at a 4th of July Parade

Then there was our Sheltie, Arlo.  He was a great dog.  His herding instincts were prevalent when we were outside in the yard as he’d circle us as if we were sheep.  He was loving and fun.  His only downfall is that he was a major shedder.  It was always a battle to keep the floors clean.  When he got older, his hearing began to fail, but he was still the same Arlo.  We had just gotten new neighbors who had a pretty vicious pitbull.  He would make me nervous because he was aggressive and would have this really menacing growl.  One day when I was at school, my older son was playing with him in the back yard.  He threw a frisbee for him to chase, and unfortunately the frisbee ended up in our neighbor’s yard.  When Arlo went to retrieve the frisbee, the pitbull came out and snapped his neck.  My son witnessed the whole thing. He cried for days and blamed himself.  When I got the call that Arlo had been killed, I was still at school.  The final bell had rung, but there were still a couple of kids in my room.  When they saw that I was visibly upset, I told them that my dog had just died and that I needed to get to the vet.   I ushered them to the class next door so that I could leave, and I remember some of them hugged me.  Ah, dogs and kids. 

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Arlo always had a smile on his face

As I am thinking about all of the dogs I’ve had, they resemble chapters of my life.  One of the only downfalls of having a dog is the loss that you feel when they pass.  Their lives are too short actually. 

I will write about the next four chapters, Kali, Murphy, Shirley, and Murray soon.  

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Key Fobs & Moira

I wasn’t going to write a post today, but I saw a video on Facebook that warmed my heart. It is always good to realize that there are indeed good humans out there who do make a difference. The key fob story is amazing!

I went to the pool today to swim laps. As I was exiting the gym, I got an alert on my phone that Catherine O’Hara had died. I loved her in anything she did, but especially her role in “Schitt’s Creek.” She will be missed. I think of all of the characters on that show, she was my favorite.

One of her quotes from the show: “Our lives are like little bébé crows, carried upon a curious wind. And all we can wish, for our families, for those we love, is that that wind will eventually place us on solid ground. And I believe it’s done just that for my family here. In this little town. In the middle of nowhere.”

I will close with a photo of Murray with is stuffed lamb. He carries it everywhere he goes. It is kind of disgusting now as the fur is kind of crusty, but he cannot be without it.


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Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Rearranging Chairs on the Titanic & Ted Lasso

As I have written numerous times on this blog, the direction that this country is taking upsets me to the point where I find myself getting teary eyed over things that don’t normally send me to a sad place.  I find myself just aimlessly staring out my kitchen window watching the birds twittering about, the cars driving down my street, and the ice coated leaves on the holly tree.  When I pull out of the trance, I find myself realizing that I have been gazing out the window for a full five minutes.  Sometimes it is mid-chore, like today when I had a broom in my hand and I had forgotten that I was sweeping the kitchen floor.  

When I heard about Alex Pretti, I was in the midst of baking my second loaf of bread.  I saw the alert on my phone, but had to wait to look at it as it was a crucial part of the bread making process.  (The second attempt proved to be much more successful than the first one.)  Once the bread was in the oven, I sat down to read the news alert.  At this point one would think that my mouth would no longer gape open in disbelief.  But gape my mouth did.  And then the well of water in my eyes began to form, yet again.  

And then I saw this joke of a government calling him a domestic terrorist.  More lies. More of the same, treating people like they are stupid, and cannot see with their own eyes what happened.   I don’t know when this will end.  It’s exhausting, but maybe that’s their plan, just to wear us down.  

I read the statement that Alex Pretti’s parents gave and it broke my heart.  The callousness of this regime is beyond belief.  What ever happened to common decency and respect for humanity?  I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I feel this immense need to write all of this down.  

The dire warnings of the ice storm with losing power for days proved to be false.  The freezing rain that was supposed to happen all day long on Sunday was sleet instead.  We have about four inches of snow, coated by this really tough blanket of ice.  I feel very fortunate that we dodged that storm.  

I have been trying to keep myself busy as best I can.  I cannot take the dogs for a walk, but I have played with them and have let them out a lot.  It is funny to watch them run over the crust of the snow.  It’s great actually because their paws don’t get all wet and filled with little ice balls.  It isn’t supposed to get above freezing all week, so walks are out for now.  The side roads are still covered in ice, and school has been cancelled again for tomorrow.  

I study French everyday, and I find myself spending more time on that as it keeps my mind active and thinking about things other than what I have mentioned above.  I also discovered a show on Apple TV called Ted Lasso.  I had heard about it and I knew it had gotten good reviews.  I have watched all of the first season, and now I am in the second season.  I have found that at least once in every episode I find myself feeling emotional.  Good grief!  What is wrong with me?

So I googled “Why does Ted Lasso make me emotional?”  This is what AI “told me”:

Ted Lasso evokes strong emotions by balancing profound, tender moments with humor, focusing on themes of vulnerability, radical kindness, and mental health. It resonates by portraying healthy, emotional growth in men, featuring heartfelt character arcs, and showcasing the healing power of empathy, forgiveness, and unconditional support among the characters. 

So maybe I am emotional watching this show because I don’t see enough empathy in the world right now.  I saw that Greg Bovino was removed as the head of ICE in Minneapolis and was replaced by Tom Homan.  As I read in a column this morning, “that is like rearranging chairs on the Titanic.  

Here’s a clip about Ted Lasso below:

My second attempt at bread was much better! And here’s a picture of Mr. Murray after getting groomed today. He was scared of most everything, but he managed to get through it! He always has such a serious look on his face, but in time, I have seen him smile too. Progress.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

A Brick of Bread

As I write this, the temperature here is 15°. The huge snowstorm that has been predicted all week now has morphed into a major ice storm. The local news channels are all reporting that we have a high probability of losing power and that the power could be out for days. And the temps aren’t scheduled to warm up above freezing all week. This should prove to be a very interesting couple of days.

When I was in Boston for Christmas, my niece was on a baking bread spree. She made all kinds of bread from focaccia to sourdough. She made it look so easy! I was inspired to bake bread myself, so this week I decided to try my hand at it. I do a lot of cooking but I have never made bread. I found a recipe online that said FOOLPROOF no knead bread. I figured if foolproof was written in all capitals, then it must truly be foolproof. Well, that is until I entered the realm of bread making.

It came out like an oval spaceship that could be used to give someone a concussion. The taste of the bread in itself wasn’t that bad, but it took a major sawing effort just to get the bread cut. So today, before the power most certainly goes out tomorrow, I am going to try a second attempt. My mother sent me a no knead recipe that she has used successfully, so we’ll see how that goes.

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Hopefully my next baking endeavor will prove to be more successful.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

A Toddler & Winter

I simply have no words for the chaos that has been enveloping the world over the toddler-in-chief’s actions. It seems as if I have a pit in my stomach 24/7. I long for the days of the Biden administration when I could get up and face the day without reading about demented tweets and general bat-shit crazy. When the felon won the 2024 election, I was very upset. I knew that his second administration would be quite a bit worse than his first, and sadly I have been proved correct. I don’t know if we can survive another three years of this chaos.

To keep sane, or at least try to, I have been busying myself with mundane tasks to keep my mind off of things of which I have little control. The dogs have been going on a ton of walks, despite the fact that it has been really cold here. I know that “really cold here” is all relative when I think of my friends and family who live north. I guess cold is a relative thing. We are slated to get a huge snowstorm this weekend. One for the record books I think. I took a screenshot of what the weather app on my phone said about how many inches we may get over the weekend.

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Another thing I have been doing is watching the monologue from Jimmy Kimmel’s show the next morning. I could never stay up that late! I think he is very funny and it helps to laugh when there sure as hell isn’t much to laugh about. The clip below is one that I watched his morning. If you need a break from the chaos, spend 13 minutes watching it, a therapy suggestion from Dr. Michael! The last bit offers a montage of some of the things that have spewed out of his mouth in the last year.

Love to all,

Michael

Personal Thoughts

Lots Can Happen in 24 Hours

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.

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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

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Personal Thoughts

Finding the Light, a Year in Photos

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.

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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.

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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

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

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!

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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

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?

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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!

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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