Enough Of All This Navel Gazing!

I thought this until my friend Bill Sell passed away on September 1, 2022. The bad news is that Bill is gone from so many of us that counted on him for periodic grounding in these times of political and social chaos. Yet, his principles and beliefs never overshadowed his empathy and concern for others. His conduct made him the absolute definition of a gentle man.
(Yes, I know the need not be a space between those words, but somehow it means more if there is one.)

The good news is his memorial gathering, held in his home in Bayview, brought people from near and far together. It surprised me how many of those people were friends I hadn't seen for long periods. But, COVID notwithstanding, it was almost embarrassing. I only hope the promises of keeping in touch come true.

I wrote to his friend Virginia Smalls that his loss made me, an agnostic, think that maybe the concept of heaven, where we all get to be together again, wouldn't be a bad idea.

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Afghan Woman

Two Queens Passing

I am not necessarily an anglophile, but I've read about the various periods of British history. Outside of The Premier League, great admiration for Prince William and Harry, and amazement at the longevity of Queen Elizabeth II, my favorite character in historical Britain, is Elizabeth I. You must love a woman who accomplishes as much as she did and conducts a love life despite the political danger.

Sadly, we say goodbye to Elizabeth II. As an Ancestery.com certified bog trotter (Irish), I shouldn't be upset that I can't find her words for sympathy for the irrational British rule of my homeland. Yet, somehow I have to respect this plucky lady who saw her job and did it to the best of her capability.

Courtly Queen. Serena Williams.

And then, we see the end of an athletic career of great accomplishment and substance as Serena Williams hangs up her rackets and switches to casual-style trainers. I'm not a Professional Tennis fan, but Williams's accomplishments transcended the fan base and have become firmly planted in our society's consciousness. Fortunately, Williams didn't have to die to have her greatness noted and venerated.

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Ring The Bell

It appears there is a tradition in the radiology department at Ascension Hospital that patients, upon completing their course of treatment, ring a bell. ( We know not for whom this bell tolls.) Ring the Bell with My Sweetheart Jeanne. Jeanne drove me to all but two of the appointments. Pam Frautchi took me to the other two. Today, after being zapped thirty-two times, I rang the bell. This begins a roughly one-month recovery period where the effects of the radiation abate and, I'm assured, a return to normalcy occurs. In my case, I anticipate more energy and greater awareness. Books, Books, & More Books I am simultaneously celebrating the end of the third year of volunteering for the All Saints Hunger Book Sale. Next week, we will wrap up the preparation for the sale and open our doors on August 3 for the public. I ran into this humourous but quite accurate cartoon on a T-Shirt that shows most of the volunteer's sentiments at this point. If you think the printed and bound p...

One of my latest efforts. Sketch: The Lady Is Blue Gouache 9 X 12 Reporting: I enjoyed a pleasant evening with my friend Michelle Mooney. I took her out for dinner to celebrate her birthday and to thank her for the many first-rate haircuts she's given me. We were surprised at the number of people who dined alfresco in the balmy night air. Whatever we've done to please Mother Nature, she had deemed acceptable by giving us a shot of summer just when late fall weather was wrapping her fingers around our throat. If I have one complaint about the friendly confines of The County Claire, it's the noise level that makes it difficult to converse. The rumble is an acoustical problem with the customers speaking in normal conversational tones. This is without audible TV showing some game or background music selected by a dance DJ. I know! We should have eaten outside, where the only noise is the occasional 14 bus snorting by. Maybe It's Me Since my two soccer teams are not doing...

It's time again.

It started in 2004 when we moved to our condo off Downer in Milwaukee. Then we mover to the Westside of Milwaukee when we rented from Ken Karr, the former landlord, now a current friend on Highland and 29th St. Then we moved to Mandeville Louisiana for a little less than a year. Returning to The Fox River Valley, we rented a home in Fox Crossing, formerly The Town of Menasha. When the tree fell on the roof, and the landlord felt no urgency to fix it, we moved to W. Commercial in Appleton. Here is a shocker. Are you sitting down? We are moving. No, I don't mean off the couch and out to the patio. There are too many damn mosquitoes for that to happen. No, we are packing our stuff, or at least the stuff we unpacked from the last move and moving to a home Maria purchased on Mason and Glendale in Appleton. Let me unpack that last sentence (pun planned for). We are moving at approximately the end of September to a house. The house has been in t...

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