Say What?

I finished work on the larger stained glass panel I mentioned in my last update. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I'm also pleased to have all of the windows in our sunroom once again mostly protected from bird strikes. Here's a link to more photos of the panel on my Instagram account where someone commented that I "must be a perfectionist." I replied that I am and that it's sort of a blessing and a curse. All of my life I've been someone who needs order to my surroundings. I don't do messes well. The lines in the stained glass panel work really well to satisfy that need in me. There's order in the chaos of those many lines. With the remaining weeks of winter, I hope to keep adding to my somewhat depleted inventory of sun-catchers in my Etsy shop  before turning my focus to more outdoor activities. We came out of our polar vortex deep-freeze that gripped much of the country a couple days ago. Our daytime highs are well above freezing and eat...

In his closing remarks of Trump's 2nd impeachment trial today before turning the stage over to Trump's defense, lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin remarked: "In the history of humanity, democracy is an extremely rare and fragile and transitory thing."  Many of us have grown to take for granted our democracy and the guardrails that our founders put in place to prevent our grand experiment from coming undone. I have a new appreciation for their insight all those years ago. I'm not sure there are many Republicans who appreciate Raskin's words, for if they did, there would be little hesitation on their part to find Trump guilty of inciting the failed coup on our nation's Capitol a little more than a month ago in his last-ditch attempt to retain power. So far, they're showing little appetite for doing the right thing. I'm no longer much of a patriotic person, but damn, even I understand that insurrection matters, especially an insurrection inci...

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...

This past week marked 41 years since leaving the Navy and leaving the city of San Diego, CA—a city I very much fell in love with during my time there. I really do need to make a trip back there and take a week or more to ride some of the routes I used to love to ride (it's where I got into cycling) and to walk along the streets outside the naval base. I'm sure I have countless dormant memories waiting to be awoken by a ride or a walk along some of the roads and sidewalks I used to regularly use. How cool it would be to see the ship I served on again and walk its passageways, but that can't happen because she lies at the bottom of the ocean  in water too deep for even sea life to inhabit and make use of. Enlisting in the Navy was one of the better moves I could've made as an 18-year-old, six months out of high school with little self-confidence and no idea what I wanted to do with my life. It was never on my radar to enlist— until it was .  I'm not a particularly pat...