Friolenta

 

Brrrr! In Spanish, I am called  friolenta, that is, someone especially sensitive to cold. I should just live fulltime in the tropics or maybe in Florida or Hawaii, where I have daughters and also good friends. But now I've bought a house here in West Virginia where I live with my son and his dog Willow The is dog sleeping right next to me noe as I tap the computer keys. 

Here's the local forecast from Google: 

Based on current forecasts, Berkeley Springs, WV will experience very cold temperatures through early February 2026, with daily highs in the low 20s to mid-30s°F and nightly lows dropping into the single digits to teens. Conditions will range from sunny to partly cloudy, with a chance of precipitation increasing toward mid-week. 

I'm so glad to be back on the computer again after a serious glitch that apparently my 

daughter in Hawaii was able to fix remotely. But cold weather does seem to be affecting computer access.

 I also had experienced a bout of vertigo earlier in the day, just like 

 I had in Honduras for 2 days running during my visit there in June 2024. 

Fortunately, this recent episode lasted only a few hours. It's a very disorienting experience 

to feeleverything spinning all around you, keeping you off-balance, though without any pain 

or discomfort.  

When we drove past the Potomac River, we saw ice and snow out on top with water stilll

flowing underneath.

From a lifelong friend in Vermont, I jsut reeived a long message:

Thank you for your sweet memories of my mom, Wanda. The last weeks of her life were so hard for me and my husband in taking care of her, even with all the help we had, ao that it has been hard to remember the better times. Your words have helped me remember the better times. During her life, she was quite pessimistic and negative, without a sense of humor, but in her last years, she began to see the humor in life. My husband was very good about pointing out silly things she would say or do in a way that allowed her to see how foolish they were, and she could then laugh at them. It was shocking, and refreshing to see her laugh at herself. It was grand. 

Here is the photo of myself holding onto Jackie, the ram. My mother took that photo of me when I was age 9 and surely she sent a copy to her family in Egypt. I’m sure it must have shocked them to see such a thing. My mother's life in Egypt was so drastically different from our lives out here on the farm in southern Vermont.

Yet my friend's mother Wanda was lucid until the very end, although she always spoke English with an accent. She had been quite brave to go from her privileged status in Egypt to an unknwon life in rural Vermont with her new husband. He had married her after a very brief courthship in Egypt where they had met during his worldwide travels. It was a classic case of "love at first sight," They had 3 children. Mother Wanda lived long after the death of her husband to almost age 106. In her last days, she had 2 Spanish-speaking caregivers who had somehow made it to the family's remote rural Vermont farm. I spoke with them both by phone.  

So we still need immigrants like the 2 caregivers helping out my friends in Vermont because native-born Americans are simply not producing enough children to do the jobs that need to be done. Our US birthrate now only averages 1.6 children per woman, when 2.1 is needed just to keep our population at current levels. Immigrants have always helped fill in the gaps in this country and there is still room for more. Accepting more immigrants would be quite helpful, though not as many as would want to come. We certainly should not be actually deporting those who are already here. No workable system for screening and admitting immigrants has ever been developed anywhere. We could actually use a few moree right now in West Virginia, where the population is in decline and "help wanted" signs are posted everywhere. . 

DOJ Removes New Epstein Files That Mention Wild Trump Sex Allegations, Including Rape

What will happen to those files now is uncertain. Donald Trump would probably like to have them all immediately destroyed. 

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Trump sues IRS and Treasury for $10 billion over leaked tax records

Donald Trump as the pressident is in charge of the government, so is he now suing himself since he is responisible for how the government actually operates? As president, he should have undertaken neausres to protect tax records.

How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion.

Dozens of faith leaders arrested in Washington protest against Trump immigration 

policie

Thousands rally in Minneapolis as immigration anger boils

Is this now a US civil war? People want to see criminals arrested, but not those who 

are peaceful though lacking legal status. 

                And people have not forgotten native-born US citizens killed by ICE. 

Chicago mayor tells police to probe allegations of illegal activity by immigration 

agents

Seattle's mayor has done the same. Is our country now embroiled in a civil war? 

                                    Neighbors introduce themselves during a constitutional observer training.

Wash. Post, Thousands of new ICE watchers hit the streets after two killings

Judge denies Minnesota’s request for immediate end to immigration enforcement surge

She rejected pleas from state officials who said the campaign was stepping on their 

sovereignty and endangering the public.

So it all depends on the judge hearing the case what the decison will be. Judges don't 

necessarily decide just according to the legal merits of a case, but also based on their own 

personal opinions and preferences. Justice is not blind. 

Trump wants to build a 250-foot-tall arch, dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial

Donald Trump may never have his face carved on Mount Rushmore nor win the Nobel 

Peace Prize, but he wants to leave his imprint on Washington, DC, 

Wash. Post, Kennedy Center has no Black History Month events following

 cancellations

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More now from the Epsein files:

• 

  Woman Told FBI Trump Abused Her at 13, Epstein Files Reveal
  She also claimed to haev bitten him in a very sensitive place. 
  
  Epstein Victim Gave Bombshell Testimony on Trump and Ghislaine

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WML, a little girl actually born here in the US, was recently deported to Honduras. What did she do? Now the deportation of a 5-year-old boy, also born here, has been stayed. Donald Trump may want to abolish birthright citizenship, but it has not yet been abolished. Of course, members of his own family are completely exempt from any and all rules. Probably wife Melania is actually here illegally, as she came on a visitor's visa that then expired. But after that, she got pregnant by Donald Trump and had a son, so that was even better than a visa. Now let's just deport that whole Trump clan, including the Donald himself, and send them all back to Scotland, his own mother's birthplace. He himself should not have birthright citizenship according to the rules he wants to impose on everyone else.  

Judge orders US to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his dad from custody 

by Tuesday

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What South Carolina’s soaring measles outbreak means for the rest of the U.S.

More than 840 measles infections have been reported in South Carolina, surpassing the tally in Texas last year.

OK RFK Jr. and Donald J. Trump, you know that many children will die and some will be affected for life. What about promoting routine vaccinations again for childhood diseases?  Vaccination doesn;t always prevent illness, but nearly always reduces the severity if it should still occur, something which actually happens only in a tiny fraction of cases. 

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Fox News, 32-year-old woman found dead outside during winter storm, latest Kentucky death

She reportedly was found frozen to death in her own front yard. 

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Reuters, Cubans Oil Tanker Seizures:

 The U.S. has seized tankers (such as the Skipperccarrying Venezuelan oil intended for Cuba, which the Cuban government labeled "piracy"  

TThe New York Times, Cuba under siege as US stranglehold sets in

                    Is the US still at war with Cuba? Fidel Castro is now long gone.

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Wash, Post, Israeli airstrikes kill 32 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

NY Times, Trump Officials Bypass Congress to Push Billions in Weapons Aid to Israel

Israel is apparently still attacking Gaza and still killing civilians. With Donald Trump going crazy now all over the world, making abrupt decisions willy nilly, then now deciding to focus on his triumphal arch, we took our eyes off the ball on Israel/Gaza, giving Israel and Netanyahu free reign to commit war crimes. (Trump has a very short attention span,. Greenland now seems to be all but forgotten.) )

A friend and former neighbor back in DC likes to experiment in the kitchen. After all, everybody has to eat. She recently made an unconventional pizza which I am sorry not to

be there to actually try. Photos below show the pizza before and after baking 

it’s a pizza but w/ a lighter, airier crust, unlike the flat dense ones for standard pizza.  i used whatever i had lying around the house to make this.  my aim was to ‘master’ the dough for the crust, a combination of three diff flours (Italian bread flour, rice flour, and spelt).

           And what is this? I'm not quite sure, but  it has suddenly popped up, so

            here it is  now. .

"Golden years"

Google says: "Golden years" refers to the post-retirement phase of life, typically starting around age 65 and lasting through age 80 and beyond.

Life begins at 60 is even the title of a book for retirees. 

I do feel privileged to be enjoying life now in small-town West Virginia, out in the rural countryside here with my son. I'm still experiencing fairly good health approaching my 88th birthday,

When we went out driving after 2 days inside because of the snow, the roads had been cleared, also some fields where animals had been let out to graze, The weather was cold but sunny, with the very bright sunlight reflecting off the sparkling snow and hurting our eyes. My son put ou sunglasses to drive. Red barns even seemed redder when emerging from the pure white snow. In some places, the newly fallen snow looked like whipped cream.

Based on current forecasts for late January 2026, Berkeley Springs, WV will experience very cold,, below-freezing temperatures, with highs mostly in the 20s-30s°F and lows dropping into the single digits to mid-teens°F. Light snow showers are possible early in the period, with generally cloudy conditions prevailing through early February. 

Here are 2007 Lincoln Town cars currently for sale, just like the one my son drives, a model no longer made. These are being offered on-line for prices ranging from $6,000 to $12,000. My son bought ours second-hand for much less than that and it's still running very well after more than 200,000 miles. Living out in the rural countryside, we do need a car, as it's quite a long walk into town.

Here's our local weather forcast: Based on late January 2026 data, Berkeley Springs, WV, will experience a 

cold, mostly dry, and breezy week with temperatures mostly in the 20s°F-30s°F for highs and dipping into the single digits to teens°F at night. Light flurries or snow showers are possible early, with increased, though still low, rain/snow chances later in the week.

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The national mood of the electorate has been moving toward advocating for protesters and away from supporting the Trump administration's strong-arm law enforcement and anti-immigration tactics. We'll have to see what happens now at the midterms, but I suspect that Trump will be rebuffed. 

Why don't our leaders encourage folks to be kind and generous for a change, making life easier and more peaceful for us all, instead of pitting groups against each other? Fomenting internal strife is no way to run a nation. 

Chatting with folks here in Berkeley Springs, or even with neighbors back in DC, I've not found anyone with experiences around the world anything close to mine--or even like my son has experienced. Many folks have lived their whole life in one place. None of our friends here speak another language. Unfortunately, my son Jon, born in and adopted from Colombia, never learned Spanish. though I tried to teach it to all my kids  But when I spoke with the kids in Spanish, they simply tuned me out. And my late ex-husband, who was blind, encouraged them to ignore me when speaking Spanish, a language he never had learned himself.

How is it that I've made in-depth humanitarian missions to so many countries, unlike other members of my family or even my friends? And I really never even got started until after my late ex-husbnad had abandoned me/had abandoned us. So then you might actually say that he did me a big favor because I never would have had such a wide ranging, interesting, and useful late life humanitarian career had I simply remained married to him.

Because my late husband of 24 years was blind, he therefore depended on me daily (even for picking out his tie and shirt). Since he didn't speak Spanish, I had avoided using Spanish much before he left us, just translations of written material. And after devoting so much effort to helping him become successful, I will also even take some credit for his MacArthur Award, which he got after he had left, though he was certainly very smart and very creative, which had attracted him to me in the first place. His award was something like $500,000, with nothing whatsoever being shared with us. In fact, I had to go to court to even get child support. What had I done to deserve this, which also affected our kids? Whatever had happened to him, to the 2 of us? I had broken up with my family to even marry him to begin with, nor did my family attend our wedding when I married him at age 21.

My efforts throughout our 24 years together were never acknowledged by my ex and his new, much younger second wife, who had assisted him in taking over all our bank accounts. All that was quite a shock to me. But I actually did just fine completely on my own, after starting out again right from scratch with zero dollars to even feed the kids. My ex only spoke with me once after he had left, in a surprise phone call asking about some of my articles appearing in the local press. And I was never mentioned in his obit nor invited to his funeral, but readers already know that story. 

A whole new life actually opened up to me then, beginning with joining the Peace Corps in Honduras in 2000 at age 62, when the Spanish I'd learned earlier in life all came back. So now in 2026, nearing my 88th birthday, I celebrate 26 years of being totally on my own, even longer than the 24 years I actually was married, after starting out all over again from scratch with a completely empty bank account. My life has not turned out as I had anticipated, but it actuslly has turned out pretty well, except for the terrible tragedy of losing my older son. And I'm still not done yet, so please stand by. 

I can't remember ever being bored, not even since moving here to West Virginia. The internet has been a real life line and a wonderful connection to so many friends all over the world. No longer do we have to cut off communication with those living nery far away. No more costly long-distance phone calls or air-mail letters that may never arrive. As a veteran world traveler, I do appreciate that so much.

So many folks  have contributed to the development of the internet.

 Google says: Robert Kahn and Vint Cerf are credited with developing the TCP/IP protocols, which are the fundamental rules that allow computers to communicate and form the modern internet. Additionally, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, which is the system of interconnected pages and hyperlinks that most people use to access the internet today. (I remember when that happened, a real breakthrough.)

Whenever  the electricity goes out, we can remain connected via cell phones. Yet some rural towns all over the world remain completely isolated and self-sufficient, even without any electricity or running water. I have visited some in Latin America, being accorded a hearty welcome, although as a complete stranger. No sense of deprivation is expressed by these residents, who experience their life as something compltely "normal," just as our own ancesters did. [Readers, I've tried to fix the odd spacing just above to no anvail.]

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Now apparently more Americans want to abolish ICE than actually want to keep it going. Even many Republicans believe ICE should be abolished after attacking people on our own national soil. And we really still need most immigrants just to stay right here, which is why they actually have come. As said before, we are not producing enough babies/children/people here in the US now, only an abundance of oldsters like me.

YouGov, Today more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE.

                And here is an ice sculpture created in my old neighborhood back in DC. 

    Giant pandas have been playing in the snow at DC's National Zoo, which has now                 reopened. 

From my good friend Stephen in Nigeria, who had once stayed with me in my DC home, I just received this message. (I no longer remember just how I came to know Stephen.}

Hello madam Barbs.

Happy new year to you. I'm happy you're doing well with your son.

We're doing well here in Nigeria, too.

Wishing you a very fulfilling year and a happy new year. Stephen

Mexico’s president says cancellation of oil shipment to Cuba is ‘sovereign’ decision | Mexico | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/27/mexico-cuba-trump-oil

Do you believe that? She must have felt some pressure, even if not overt. 

Venezuela military, police pledge loyalty to interim president

On 3 January 2026, the United States captured President Nicolás Maduro, as well as his wife Cilia Flores, then removed them from Venezuela.  As a result, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez became the current acting president.

Cuban poet, journalist, and independence leader José Martí born on this day, January 30, in 1853.

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