Say What?

I've been devoting my stained glass hours to the new category of sun-catchers I've been working on; the mini minis I spoke of a few blog posts ago. They're fun to work with. I hope to do more before moving on to other projects I've been contemplating—larger projects for our home.  I'm 63 years young, or as the boy in me might say, I'm 63 and a half! I've posed this question here before but it's been a while: Do you ever wonder where your parents were in their lives at the age you are today? It can be an interesting question to ponder.  This online calendar  makes quick work of figuring out the dates for you. My dad would've been the age I am today on March 25th, 1989. I always seem to ponder this question with respect to my father rather than my mother. With the calculated date in hand, I'll then go through my online collection of family photos and try and find one of my father that's closest in age to the age I am and then proceed to reminis...

I woke up at 6:30 this morning and reached for my phone before getting out of bed—a routine I fell into when our country took a hard right and ventured down the road to fascism . Thankfully, we put the breaks on that shit with November's election and are in the process of trying to right that wrong. It's going to take some time. A post from a friend on Facebook caught my eye and fit nicely with a blog post I'd begun laying the foundation for yesterday. Paul is a gifted writer all on his own so it's unusual for him to share a 'copy and paste' from an unknown source. It caught my attention.  Here's what he shared:  "Found online: Huge numbers of our population believe in a complete alternate reality. Alternate facts as it were.  But just as intensely as I believe they are deluded, they think I am the one who is deluded. Maybe I am. So how can I be confident in my perception? It can be quite difficult.  But, I have found that in times of political confusio...

When Trump came on the scene, there was a lot of pushback from people such as myself who saw him as a con man who'd conned his way into the White House and into the hearts of millions. He was cheered by those who were attracted to his racist views and hoodwinked by his fake billionaire status. His populist message struck a chord with legions of people who were willing to overlook his constant barrage of lies, his assault on our democratic norms and so much else that was disgusting about the man—and of all people, Evangelical Christians made up the core of his support. He promised he'd build a wall to keep the brown people out (Jesus wept, btw). He'd push aside our allies, rip up agreements and go it alone because only he alone could fix what ailed us. He'd make America great again, or his vision for it, anyway. Tens of millions of you foolishly  believed him .  As I look out over the landscape today at the sobering videos and photographs that tell the story of the assa...

PJ (Pepper Jack), Rachel and Drew's pup, came to stay with us for several days last week. He's such an adorable little boy and so much fun! Thinking of him as I write this brings a smile to my face. Here's some video of PJ, and to a lesser degree, Charlie—Cotton avoided PJ as much as possible and was quick to let him know of her displeasure with his antics when he'd try and get her to play with him. Rachel and Drew spent several days up north in Lutsen where they plan to wed this fall. The last day they were there they met with a photographer who shot their engagement photos. ( Photo to the right courtesy of Narrowleaf Photography .) They're planning a small wedding with a reception to follow at a later date. Exciting!  I had really hoped to be done talking about Trump's presidency after the election but as many of us feared, he was never going to quietly go away. After this most recent news broke about Trump's phone call with the Georgia Secretary of Stat...