Point Made

 In anticipation of my novel's publication, 26 Women, I'm trying to get more people to open and read my blog. I find a difference between people who open my email and those that click the link and go to the Blog entry. I need to increase both data points. So with that in mind, I'll open this week with a pet photo. This not my cat, but the shot is cute, and I'm determined to widen my audience. Instagram Photo from South Korea This week I've had long conversations with family members. My oldest daughter and I marveled over our good fortune to have such cute littles in the clan: her grandchildren, my great-grandchildren. Boden Hatampa Brixton Sieve Ledger & Jonny Sieve Enough pandering with surefire attention-getters. Coming soon to this space: Shortly I will be sharing with you a project I'm working on that evolved from an observation from one person and kind of a challenge from another.  My editor, Pam Frautschi, mentioned to me as we were taking the rough ed...

 Obviously, this period of quarantine is exasperating. And I don't mean that the frustration of checking my phone, not for the time of day, but for what day of the week it is, grows exponentially. So when my friend Pam Frautchi called me and asked if I was watching Television. She explained there was a mob taking over the capital building in Washington.  I thought to myself, "There is no excuse that is too extreme to use to get out of the house and see people these days." So there's my case. If this is something looking like an insane reaction to reality, we can blame it on COVID. Then they started the dead and injured reporting, and it wasn't funny anymore. It will be impossible to get the final death toll because we have no idea how many of these misguided souls will contract COVID and die. I sincerely hope that many of these people will be held accountable for their actions. I saw President-Elect Joe Biden's opinion that we not hold President Exit Trump res...

  It's over. The Holiday Season is complete. We are now into 2021, and anticipation of a better time is running around like a puppy dog looking for the ball that's rolled under the bushes. Now, except for an expected couple of million deaths due to  COVID and no one knows what the mad king will do in the next couple of weeks, we should be okay to get together in groups by, shall we say, next fall. In between now and next fall, we'll have more time to contemplate our navels and dive into Introspection 5.0. Introspection 5.0 allows those who have completed introspection 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, et al. until 4.9 to proceed. At this point, some of us navel-gazers will be seeing the face of Jesus, or maybe George Carlin. A lot of this will depend on your navel, is it an inny or outy. I anticipate more certified master bakers in the US and a thriving black market in sourdough starters. Because they will try to avoid complying with the FDA guidelines on this product, convictions for selling...

After FaceBook redesigned its homepage page, I found FB Watch. As it is with everything in social media, the algorithm is slicing and dicing my habits online and answering without me asking, "If you liked X, then certainly you're going to enjoy Y." I get a stream of music videos including a string of Simon's greatest hits from America's & Britain's Got Talent, Sheryl Crow, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Sara Bareilles, Graham Norton, and the occasional pop-up performance (You know, the symphony orchestra that surprises everyone in the town square or mall.) This morning I got this one.  https://fb.watch/2D2v7IaMVk/ Warning; Don't shut this down. There is a method to the opening of this music. Not only does it entertain, but this performance is also imaginative and stunning all on its own. Notice how much fun and how excited the chorale members are experiencing as they perform this. Speaking of finding gold as I wind my way through a rabbit hole online, I ...

And I don't mean Garfunkel. I noticed that now when I'm looking at people, I imagine how I would sketch them. I begin planning what colors I'd use to paint them. Noticing the detail in their eyes and ears is not something I did before. Is this a blessing or a curse? I got this from my usual source of zany shit from the internet, David Nitz. This guy would be a huge hit at a tailgate party at Lambeau. When experts overestimate what other people know about their specialty. I'm learning that whenever something you want to do on the internet starts with "Follow these simple instructions," you are soon to be throwing things at your computer screen. It begins with, "Click on the icon on the upper left-hand side of your screen" It doesn't make any difference what comes after that because there is no icon on the upper left-hand side of your screen.  The reason is simple. Because almost anything can be improved over time. So, by monitoring the comments an...

 I'll admit it. Nothing brings out your weaknesses like pressure. The legendary professional golfer, Lee Travino, defined pressure as needing to sink a putt to win a fifty dollar bet when you don't have the fifty dollars to pay if you miss.  And while most of us wouldn't be crazy enough to get ourselves in that position, at this time last year, nobody would have thought our lives would become so complicated. On the face of it, living by yourself is not unusual. Many of the singles out there are seniors, and there are a fair amount of young people who haven't paired up. Living alone is one thing. Not feeling comfortable mingling in society is another thing altogether. When you can't join friends for social activities, life becomes monastic, from not having coffee to attending church. There are obvious drawbacks. Since I'm Irish, I miss having people around that allow me to bore them with my stories and the obvious embellishments I add to almost every tale I tell....

 I really must think about putting more posts with photographs of my infant grand and great-grandchildren. They are hits for sure. This last weekend was a winner for me. My local TV viewing is obstructed. I get two channels on my antenna, Channel 12 and 58.  Saturday on channel 12 (WISN), I watched the Badgers play Indiana. So sad that I had to text my son-in-law Dan to make sure he wasn't sitting in a warm bath with a razor at his wrists Sunday, I watched the Packers play the Eagles on channel 58. I  joined the game at the end of the third quarter. According to Jim Nance, I no more than sat down with my popcorn, and the Eagles scored two touchdowns in 82 seconds. Do you ever think that if you don't watch, they will win? Do you fantasize that you are a curse. As we know, the Pack turned back the momentum (another sports fantasy) and won the game. Least you somehow think that someone forgot to turn down the outdoor thermometer, and you can't remember a December when you di...