Flowers arrived to congratulate me on the recent sale of my DC house. The sale was a bittersweet milestone. I really hated to leave that house and my old neighborhood, but it was time. I do hope the new owners enjoy living in the house as much as my family and I did for over 50 years.
A former DC neighbor has asked to keep being reminded about my blog posts. Yes, I will still send out periodic reminders, but no longer on every single post. I am so glad to have so many blog readers. I write the blog as a sort of online diary mainly for myself, but also to keep in touch with family and friends all around the world living in different continents and time zones who can always check in with me individually. I've asked readers to please keep in touch with me, which many still do. Many thanks to all of you. I do appreciate having each and every one of you in my life.
Good Morning Barbara. PLEASE continue to remind me about your blog! My apologies for not responding sooner. I have been busy marching, writing letters and postcards, going to meetings to do whatever I can to influence the Democratic vote. Abigail Spanberger came to The Residences on Capitol Hill (7th St. SE) and talked to us, about 100 people. Even though we can't vote for governor in Virginia, we were able to give her some money. You certainly have made a huge life change, one that I don't think I am brave enough to do yet.
As I see it, you have stepped into freedom. I enjoy your blogs and hope you continue to remind me.
Friends from around the world have been urging me not to give up the blog, so let's see if I can continue now, and perhaps with somewhat shorter posts, since longer ones do tend to run into trouble.
I just told a couple near my age living right across the street from me in DC: Great to hear from you. You folks and I were always busy, making it hard for us to get to know each other better. But it was a great comfort for me to know that you were living just across the street, and that I could always call on you. Now we (my son and I) live out in the country with no houses nearby.
I very much appreciated your visit to me just before I left DC, with both of you coming all the way up the stairs to the 3rd floor to say goodbye. I really wish I could have afforded to stay in my 3-story house there built in 1895. But the taxes, repairs, utilities etc. for just one 87-year-old retired person were just too much. So now I'm living in lower-cost W Va, with my son, who has some disabilities himself, sharing expenses with him. Together, we are making a go of it.
A friend in Vermont urges me to plant fruit bearing bushes: "I was out in my gardens harvesting blueberries, blackberries, and black currants." Yes, that does seem something quite useful and fun. I'll discuss it with my son.
Art, a former Peace Corps volunteer now retired to Honduras, tells me: It has been very hot here in Honduras and we experienced the worst lighting storm last night.
Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa.
Equatorial Guinea's official language is Spanish, due to its history as a former Spanish colony. Who would have imagined an African country where Spanish is the main language? Few Americans know this, if they even know anything at all about Equatorial Guinea. I've done a number of translations about elections and human rights' problems there.
And here are some photos from Equatorial Guinea. If I had the means, I'd like to go there now myself and speak to residents in Spanish.
Parque Nacional (National Park) del Monte Alén
(St. Elizabeth's cathedral)
Catedral de Santa Isabel
Downtown Malabo, capital city
Here below is a book in Spanish about Equatorial Guinea's repressive government. Visitors to the country need to be careful not run afoul of the government's dictator for life, Teodoro Obiang, who has been in office for 46 years so far.
I just sent out an e-mail message now to several former neighbors who have contacted me recently, and am also sharing the following message to one and all right here:
Yes, I do miss all my dear friends in our close-knit Capitol Hill neighborhood in DC, as well as so many other friends living all over the world, some of whom have actually visited me in the US and others whom I have visited in their home countries. Hello to you all and I do welcome your emails.
Senate heads home with no deal to speed confirmations as irate Trump tells Schumer
to 'go to hell'
And also how about halting all those deportations, which are proving to be totally counterproductive?
Here in the US, what we really need is to admit more not fewer folks of working age-- the actual age of most unauthorized immigrants. Both political parties here would benefit from the admission of more immigrants. Doing that could be a surprise win-win for Donald Trump, who is married to an immigrant himself, as is his vice president. (Did their own wives come here legally? There are some questions about that.)
Unfortunately, the US has never set up a workable legal system for welcoming and processing new immigrants. And Mr. Trump seems unlikely to actually try to do that now. He thinks his supporters are anti-immigrant, but many of his most faithful voters are actually protesting that he has gone too far with his deportations. They don't want long-time neighbors and friends or their own co-workers to be deported, so have been scrambling to protect them.
DOJ is walking back the White House’s goal to arrest 3,000 immigrants per day
Trump fired a data collector who gave him job numbers he really didn't like.
NY Times. What to do when a president acts like a 5-year-old?
Mr. Trump threw a tantrum about the actual current job numbers. He felt they didn't show him in a good
light. (Remember, he still wants that Nobel prize and his visage on Mt. Rushmore.)
This is the same guy whom a fair number of Americans recently chose as our president, including,
I am sorry to say, someone in my own family. And remember, there are still 3 1/2 years left to go.
Donald Trump's behavior and mental functioning are not likely to improve meanwhile.
Israel fired on those gathering for food aid in Gaza [Isn't this a war crime?]
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