Category Archives: General Discussion

[I like to think these news items are a bit like Louis Jenkins’ “small stories”, without his poetic chops.] Good News, finally! Charlie and I both had COVID and  were quarantined together for ten days in my studio apartment of about 400 square … Continue reading →

RESURRECTION OF MY LAST BLOG POST For reasons unknown, my last blog post vanished. I mean poof! It was gone. “Error 403” or “Error 404”’was all I got. No trash, no delete, no “sysop [Charlie] forgot,” nothing. I figured, like … Continue reading →

VERY BAD NEWS The ding-dongs are at it again, banning books they don’t like and may never have read.  Stephen King brings it home with a great review of Celeste Ng’s new dystopian novel, “ Our Missing Hearts,” in which, … Continue reading →

Big excitement here.  We went to the zoo.  “FIELD TRIP!  FIELD TRIP!“ Charlie chanted, inappropriately. It was my first time on the city bus, albeit with a minder, and my first time wearing my safari-ish hat.  Cristy, who is our fitness … Continue reading →

  A little excitement here.  Charlie tells the tale, [and I edit.] …………………………… We were just walking down the street and I recognized the reporter who fortunately was from a station we watch.  He asked if we’d like to be … Continue reading →

Our monthly fitness charge was to frolic among a chart of flowers by tallying our week’s exercise, self-assessing the results and assigning our tokens to “appropriate” flowers. To the Physical Exercises suggested, e.g. walking, climbing stairs, I suggested including Mind … Continue reading →

GOOD NEWS ABOUT SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION In a world befuddled by dis-information or mis-information, a beacon of light appears in Tressie Macmillam Cottom’s column, “How to Avoid Drowning in an Ocean of Information”. I found it this morning, just in … Continue reading →

We’ve had the first ever cases of COVID in my building. Sigh.  Cases still dribble and we have to be K95 masked, but the breakfast regulars who were or near the infected are back, enjoying treats and each other, and … Continue reading →

I intended for this post to be posted several weeks ago, but things kept cropping up.  For example, I had the introductory sentence, which connected the disparate ideas.  ‘Tis the season to be jolly, grateful, generous, and thinking about things. … Continue reading →

It’s been a week of provocations, but then most weeks are. Donald Rumsfeld died, which is not an entirely unexpected or unpleasant thing. But reading his obituary reminded me of something he did that was both memorable and silly, instead … Continue reading →