Entering uncharted territory with Trump

 

Time to post this blog now before Donald Trump takes office again, a watershed in our nation's history. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Trump has vowed to reduce taxes, to "slash" the federal budget and workforce, and to deport millions.

Now that Mr. Trump has promised wholesale deportations beginning on "Day One" of his new adminstration [so much scheduled for that day!], he might want to keep in mind that his 

own wife is an immigrant. We will soon see how it all actually plays out.

As an "arctic blast" is anticipated starting tomorrow, I am safely hunkered down at home.

                                                       January flowers on my back porch

On Sunday, January 19, the day before MLKing Day and the anticipated arctic blast, nextdoor neighbor Norma came over and quickly opened 2 juice bottles whose tops I was unable to twist. She is 20 years younger than me (I'm 86) and her hands are not arthritic. But if she lives to my age, how supple will her hands be then? 

Now in my 80s, my goal is no longer to acquire new skills, but to retain those I already have. This blog is one tool, allowing me to refresh my memories by looking back in time. 

I had a retired a friend in his late 60s who used to take me to the airport to go to Honduras. He never married and had no kids, but had an active social life and enjoyed hiking and travel. After experiencing no apparent health problems, one day he simply dropped dead, a great shock to all of us, his friends, but perhaps not so bad for him. We should all go so easily.

MLKing Day transports me back to a day in August many years ago when my late ex-husband and I heard (just barely, while standing at the edge of the crowd) a speech that Martin Luther King himself delivered.

What might we expect in terms of mail delivery in the coming days? 

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is a postal creed to be put to the test by the anticipated arctic blast.

Where will it snow in the US? See where the polar vortex is set to make an icy impact

Six inches were predicted for rhe DC region. We all were braced for it.

Arctic blast about to invade US

A "poler vortex," a blast of cold air coming from the north pole, was predicted to start assaulting much of Canada and the US starting on the day of the Trump inauguration. 

However, it was unlikely to reach California, where fires have continued.  

Oxnard fire

Fire victim who reunited with his dog after Palisades Fire shares his story with KCAL

Kilauea volcano has erupted once again on the Big Island in Hawaii. I have witnessed several prior eruptions and lava flows there, something really quite scary and spectacular.

Good new from Israel where 3 female hostages have been freed. 

CNN, 11 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay transferred to Oman

This has finally happened, just in the nick of time before Trump takes office.

I've often heard recordings of Pope Francis speaking his native language, Spanish, in which I am fluent. While the traditonal language of the Catholic Church is Latin, that's not a practical option for present-day conversations. Francis must also speak Italian, which I can understand but not speak. I understand Romanian as well. Romance languages all have common roots.

Friends have asked about the logistics of my donations to the Honduran Red Cross, which I've always made by simply handing over actual US cash dollars (the most direct way) on every visit, including last June when I appeared in a photo then with Luis Knight of the Honduran Red Cross, headquartered in the capital, Tegucigalpa. While there, I just gave him an envelope of mostly in $100 bills. Since I don't plan on going back to Honduras, I'll have find another safe way to make donations there, (I am not very trusting of Honduran financial systems but will have to give them a try.) 

I'd like to see thee film The Brutalist as I come from a family of architects: Dad, Mom, brother, nephew, maybe even maternal grandmother, an interior designer, the only such avenue open to women in her day. 

According a maxim I learned while working at the occupational therapy association, both humans and many animals seek purposeful activity by engaging in activities to achieve certain goals  Thus, in zoos, primates and someimes other creatures are tasked with trying to remove etables from cones or other hidden places just to help keep them occupied. 

If most of basic human needs can be satisfied by the work of machines and if only a few actual jobs remain available (a matter playing out now regarding the unloading of ships), other activities considered useful need to be invented.