How much money is actually too much?

Looking back now at the posting made just prior to this one, I see that some sections there came out in all caps. Why did that even happen? Obviously, that was not my intention. I chalk it up again to the    mysterious ways of the blog gods and goddesses, who have their own reasons, never shared with us mere mortals. 

The blog deities have actually corrected their error now, as all-caps sections are completely gone. (Did they perhaps hear my plea?)

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The message below, just received from a former DC neighbor, is telling me about some local events. 

Barbara, Sorry to be so long in getting back to you.

Halloween was good this year in terms of kids. Our neighbor's lavish pumpkin and skeleton  display seemed to attract a pretty fair amount of attention to our humble abode next door too.  But, we still wound up with a lot of candy left over.  

I plan to drop off our old pumpkins at Eastern Market on Saturday.  Apparently they will be used for some sort of composting, though I am not sure how practical the recycling is. In any case, toting them to Eastern Market will be good exercise.

The fall is now getting seriously chilly and we've had a few days that dipped below freezing.  Last week I substituted the reflective mylar curtains in the back of the house with cloth curtains that let much in more heat and light. It must be getting very much colder out where you are now.

The National Guard is still patrolling Massachusetts Avenue, though I have not seen any more armored vehicles in front of Union Station. Flags are at half mast because of Dick Cheney's death.

I heard home values are going down in DC, but am not sure of the source.  Of course, this would not be surprising giving the number of people here losing their jobs.

These deteriorated carved pumpkins on my former DC neighbor's doorstep have now become compost, as per his recent message above. 

Do I wish I still lived in his neighborhood? Yes, I certainly do, but am slowly getting acclimated to my new home and to my new daily routine. After more than 50 years, I could no longer afford to stay living in my Capitol Hill home. 

I've also come to appreciate my daily canine companion and always stay awake to welcome my son when he comes home at night, at whatever hour, as he has a very variable work schedule. 

I don't have many chances to speak Spanish around here, only at the local Hispanic restaurant here in Berkeley Springs, to the evident initial surprise of the staff there. They are from Guadalajara on the west coast, not far from Mexico City. 

      Would you feel comfortable taking a self-driving taxi? You wouldn't be chatting with the driver, but         it could still get you safely to your destination.

Trump's image is being proposed for a $1 coin, despite a US law prohibiting a living person's image from being featured on money.

Wash. Post, How Musk’s pay compares with that of everyone in your occupation combined

With his new payment package, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is set to make more than the combined earnings of all elementary school teachers in the United States.

How much money is actually too much for one individual to earn, own, manage, and actually spend? The number of goods and services that any one person can keep track of and even use is finite, so possibly at some point, too much wealth can become counterproductive and burdensome, even subjecting the owner to isolation and excessive risks, such as being injured in a robbery. 

Google says: There is no single "optimal" personal income in the US, as it depends on individual goals and circumstances, but common benchmarks include a range of $75,000 to $100,000 for financial stability, with some research suggesting an income around $75,000 to $95,000 for emotional well-being and life satisfaction. 

A higher income is needed for families, and the required amount varies significantly by state and cost of living. 

Elon Musk's net worth is approximately $504 billion as of early November 2025, according to Forbes. This figure is largely based on his ownership stakes in companies like Tesla and SpaceX, with his wealth recently surpassing the $500 billion mark. That gives Musk bragging rights, but has his own well-being actually increased along with his wealth? Is he really any betteroff in his daily life than someone with an income of, say, just $80,000 to $100,000? He can use only so much toiletpaper, eat just a finite number of meals, and not even bathe more than once a day without risking having dry skin. 

As a superwealthy guy, Musk also faces special risks and probably has several security guards and body guards around him at all times, reducing his personal privacy and isolating him from others. And he maysuspect the motives of many folks who seek to become his special friends, especially among those apparently admiring young women always gathering around him, loudly singing his praises.

I can easily understand the reasons why some folks give away much of their wealth, as both Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott have been doing. They really don't need to have so much money. But just deciding how and where to donate it can become a full-time occupation.  

I myself have even taken considerable time deciding what and where to make some very modest donations in Honduras on my annual visits there. Even that has not been so easy, believe me.

Now I really have no extra cash to spare, except perhaps for members of my own family, so may not be going back to Honduras ever again.

Because a visitor from Bhutan (seen ahove) once stayed with me at my home back in DC, I've 

maintained an interest in and a connection to that remote mountainous country ever since.  

Bhutan PM on leading the first carbon-negative nation: ‘The wellbeing of our people is at the centre of our agenda’ | Climate crisis | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/18/bhutan-pm-tshering-tobgay-first-carbon-negative-nation-climate-wellbeing

All has apparently been forgiven and forgotten for the 2018 Saudi murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. 

                                Trump defends Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing.

Wash. Post, The president said he did not hold Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the 2018 murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, despite a U.S. intelligence report assessing the opposite.

The passage of time does tend to blunt the negative effects of deaths and even of deliberate killings as 

survivors adapt to a new reality. I know that has happened to me and my own family after our many 

losses over the years. 

Wash. Post, Congressional committee urges swift action on escalating Chinese threats.

A Cuba/Ukraine petition was sent to me in Spanish, Condicionalidad de la cooperación con Cuba al cese de su respaldo a Putin en Ucrania. If you read Spanish, the petition will prove informative. 

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Looking back, as most readers already know, 3 of my 4 children were adopted, so I am a big fan of adoption, as well as of giving birth. It's also very possible that my late mother was adopted though, if so, that was never acknowledged. Her parents had never had a child after years of marriage and had agreed to adopt a baby that an unmarried woman was expecting. They reportedly had the baby already in their possession when the birth mother took her back and then, lo, my grandmother was surprised to be pregnant and soon gave birth to a daughter, my mother. She was their only child, Virginia, a blond who looked nothing like them. They never had another child. Was my mother Virginia perhaps actually the adopted baby? We'll probably never know nor does it particularly matter. 

Friends in Honduras, where legal adoption is practically impossible, once just took a newborn baby right from the hospital and put their own names on his birth certificate. The child may never know he was adopted, as often had happened in bygone years here in the US, at least until heritage searches began to reveal the truth about their bio heredity. It's not that I think that adoption or even sperm donation should remain forever secret, but many parents seem to prefer keeping such matters completely under wraps.

When I was about 17 and a college student at UC Berkeley, I met a young man who rented a room from my maternal grandparents who lived near the campus. He was also a UC student. We went out on dates, as was the practice then, and he would pick me up at my dormitory. Little did my grandparents know (nor did I ever tell them), but their renter owned a small plane that we would then take to have dinner in a nearby airport, maybe San Jose, and then fly back again to Berkeley. Sometimes, he even let me land the plane or take off. It was a tiny 2-seater with windows open to the breezes--so exhilarating to be able to fly up high at night above the sparkling cities down therebbelow. 

Then one day, my grandmother called, saying I needed to come over to their house. She showed me a rug that she had made herself, all covered with blood. She told me that their young renter had shot himself in the head and had died. I never knew he might have had a death wish and realized that going up with him in his little plane had possibly put me at risk. But I never told my grandmother what we did when out on our dinner dates. 

It's often said that truth is stranger than fiction. That certainly has been true for me throughout my entire existence. My life has been one long series of adventures and surprises, so many tragedies and very rare happenings, so may calamities and dramas, at least compared to what others tell me about their own lives. Included for me have been my world travels to some 40 countries on human rights' and humanitarian missions, where I have been involved in many amazing and memorable events. (I should write a book or 2 about it all, which, in fact, I actually have.) 

I first started traveling to Latin America at age 2, and have been bilingual (English/Spanish) ever since. Then at age 21, I married a man of Korean descent who was totally blind and had never held a job, thereby risking being cut off by my family, which I actually was for a time. After 24 years of marriage and after we had become parents of 4 kids, my husband went to La Vegas to divorce me and marry his new much younger sweetheart, who had helped him empty all of our bank accounts. Not even a single penny was left. My then ex-husband never spoke to me again except once in a surprise phone call 3 years after his sudden departure. I never asked for alimony and my name was never mentioned in his obituary when he died, though I did show up at his funeral to the apparent shock of his second wife, as has mentioned before on these pages. 

Everything is now "water under the bridge," including my whole life so far at age 87. I have no idea how many years I might still have left or what other adventures may still await me, but so far, it's been a pretty wild ride.