Bats are nocturnal creatures, sleeping all day, active only at night. When living on Capitol Hill back in DC, I used to go out late in the evening to see all the bats swirling around the capitol after dark.

Below is a group of baby white bats all nestled together in Honduras, where I've often seen adult bats, but never any baby ones there.

I also remember when visiting San Antonio, Texas, sitting there out on the grass, just waiting before dawn to see swarms of bats returning to their roosts right under the freeway. When either leaving or just coming back, they were like the flow of a living river. It was really quite amazing, nothing else quite like it ever before in my experience.

Camden Street Bridge (I-35 Bridge): Located downtown where the highway crosses the San Antonio River. Half a million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge around dusk from April through October.

Bats are the only mammals capable of true, powered flight, guiding themselves mostly by sound,

using a process called echolocation. This biological sonar allows them to navigate and hunt in total darkness by emitting high-frequency sound waves and listening to the returning echoes.

What about the term "blind as a bat" ?

Blind as a bat? Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind at all and in fact are believed to have eyesight much keener than that of most humans.

However, since I was married for 24 years to a man who was totally blind, I am wondering if something like echolocation could also be used by folks who cannot see? In fact, some blind folks may already be using it and people who get lost in the dark, even if they are sighted, may use sounds to help them find out just where they are. So yes, hearing can help those lost in the dark to find their way out.

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A nation renamed stands up at the UN: 'Say our name: Naoero.' https://apnews.com/article/naoero-nauru-renaming-united-nations-david-adeang-ad22d87e6ed09c4d3cfe9e8acbd74966?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=share President David Adeang has reiterated his island nation’s name change before the world’s largest gathering of leaders at the United Nations,.

Say our name. Naoero.' President of Nauru affirms change of nation's name at UN general assembly https://apnews.com/video/say-our-name-naoero-president-of-nauru-affirms-change-of-nations-name-at-un-general-assembly-6d5b62b6ea1642019365bc90b0557436?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=share The nation, an eight-square-mile island with about 12,000 people, became independent in 1968 after longtime colonial rule under the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany.

Nauru

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Nauru

Nauru, officially the Republic of Naoero, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia sub-region of Oceania.

Nauru is a tiny island country in Micronesia, northeast of Australia with white sandy beaches and soft ocean currents.

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Here now is another beach photo. This photo is in Cuba from many years ago, showing me there with Armando, a young man I had brought out of that country by first getting him a visa to Mexico, then by meeting him there and walking with him right across the US border in Texas, talking to the border guards in English while holding onto his arm. Cubans were not allowed to come to this country at that time. But Armando had a medical condition for which no medication was available in Cuba, so I had bought him to our country by first getting him to Mexico.

I had learned about Armando from a letter he had sent to my workplace which was then given to me to translate. It was one of many random letters he had sent to various health care organizations in the US and the only one that was ever answered--answered by me. Armando just got lucky.

This photo below is from a visit I had made to meet him in Cuba. It has just popped up for me now on Yahoo, and apparently was also posted on U-tube. How did that happen? Has Armando just posted it there? He lives in Florida now.

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Here's a message now from the Peace Corps, established by JFK 65 years ago. After Donald Trump leaves office, perhaps we can breathe some new life into the Peace Corps. Right now, Trump is not offering any support for a program started by a Democrat.

I served 3 1/2 years as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras, starting there back in 2000, when I was already age 62. And after that, up until 2024, I had returned there annually on my own dime to help out US-based medical services as a volunteer interpreter and helper. But now my passport has expired and I haven't gotten a new one. At age 88, I'm not sure I can still do that work, as it's really quite demanding and actually somewhat risky, because Honduras is not a safe country at all. But I can certainly support this Congressional Resolution and hope my readers will do so as well.

A concurrent Congressional Resolution has now been introduced in the Senate. We're calling on you now to contact both your Representatives and Senators today. And share with other Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, family, friends, colleagues, and community supporters. RPCV Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) and Delegate Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives (H.Con.Res.119, "Honoring the 65th Anniversary of the Peace Corps").

Here's the update: Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) have now introduced a concurrent resolution in the Senate. Together, the concurrent resolutions:

Celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps;
Honor the nearly 250,000 individuals who have served as Peace Corps volunteers for their dedication to peace, friendship, and community-driven development; and
Commend the Peace Corps’ enduring mission to put purpose, passion, and skills to work for America and the world.

This is a huge honor to have the House and Senate recognize Peace Corps service. But we have work to do to garner broader support beyond this welcome first step. We want every Representative and Senator to sign on and show their support for our community.

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My own congressional representative is Riley Moore. Martinsburg, one the larger towns that he represents, is not very far from little Berkeley Springs, where we live now.

District	Geographic Coverage & Major Cities	Current Representative

District 2 (Northern)	Covers the northern panhandle, eastern panhandle, and north-central region, including cities like Wheeling, Fairmont, Clarksburg, and Martinsburg. Moore is age 46, really quite young for Congress these days, because seniority favors long-time members in older age brackets, like our US senators here now.	Riley Moore (R)

Our US Senators here in West Virginia are Jim Justice, age 75,

and Shelly Moore Capito, age 72.

Both are Republicans,

Democrats don't seem to have a chance these days in West Virginia. I have not registered here as a member

of either party, but maybe I should now run for office as a Democrat just to see what would happen.

The state of West Virginia granted itself statehood after its people, via a state constitutional convention, made it a free state and broke away from the slave holding state of Virginia in 1861 during the first year of the Civil War, and then sided with President Abraham Lincoln in that conflict. Lincoln was a Republican, a member of what was then a more progressive and more liberal party than it is now.

These days, the mood of the West Virginia electorate seems to have changed, becoming much more conservative, or at least those in Congress who are Republicans now are quite conservative. The Republican Party is no longer the more liberal party in West Virginia any more.

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My older daughter with her own food service in Florida has added some new dishes, but alas, we here in West Virginia have had no success in ordering from her, as postal delivery has just made a huge mess! I guess we are simply living too far away. But my readers in Florida will find her food very tasty and she cooks it all by herself.

Any readers living in Florida can get her weekly menu from the contact below. And here are a couple of items on this week's menu that can be delivered to grocery stores in Florida or even as home deliveries in some places there. So if you live in Florida, you might want to try some of her dishes that change every week. That's all I ate when I was in Florida back in May, when attending my great-grandson's high school graduation there, just eating delicious food made and chosen for me by my daughter herself.

Here are just two items on this week's varied menu.