New Year, Old Memories

In case you're wondering what the gizmo pictured is, it's an old fashioned slide projector.  Before digital cameras and computers we took lots of slides.  Hundreds.

Last night, being home bodies on New Year's Eve, we settled down on a couch in our game room.  The fire place was roaring, the champagne and nibbles were plentiful and the slide show began.  We had 46 years worth to watch.  Well, maybe not quite that many because as did most, we did switch to digital photography.

Sometimes I miss the old way.  Looking at photos on the computer just isn't the same as sharing with friends or family who may have shared the experience.  In this case it was my husband.

We traveled back in time to when we were first married and had our first St. Bernard.  How we loved that gentle giant and how we still miss him along with the five others who followed in his very large foot steps.  The travel log was one to envy by any ones standards.  A legacy of the country as it was those many years ago.

Then there was our foreign travel.  We covered most of the world.  London of course, then the continent.  Paris.  Bruge and Brussels, Amsterdam.  Castle Road in Germany, Heidelberg and Munich.  Kitzbuhel, Salzburg and St. Moritz in winter.  I love the Germanic countries. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei. Australia.  Cypress. Even Damascus when it was relatively safe.

When we finished so had the evening and the year.  Hub looked at me and said, "We've led quite a life."  And so we have.  But it's all in the past now.

What had been our youthful enthusiasm for travel and exploration has been well tempered by world events.  Gone are the days when you could board a plane without being searched.  The feeling you get now is no longer carefree but cautious. And not in just certain parts of the world but everywhere. Even here at home I'm more anxious in a big city and not because I've been away from that life as long as I have but because it has changed so much.

I wonder if we'll do more traveling while our health allows or if we'll cloister ourselves in relative obscurity because it's more comfortable. I hope it's not the latter. It's not how I envisioned retirement.

With a new year there is always hope but realistically the headlines never waver.  Too bad  the mindset of the political class that rule us never seems to change no matter the circumstances.  We could all use some fresh beginnings. Will this be the year?

Ready or not ~ I'll be returning soon!

I hope to be back full steam after the Holidays.  To all of you, enjoy!

It's TimeTo Get Serious

Have any of you done something in your past about which you have since had a change of heart?  And actually said so?  If you have, by today's standards you cannot run for President.  You aren't allowed to change your mind.  Or state the reason for your original stand.  Unless of course you're a Democrat where the same thing is called "evolving".  Like in Gay marriage.

The point?  That's what I'm getting from the Republican slug fests they call debates.  I've probably watched the last one for this election cycle.  I can't take any more of the mugging Trump ego nor the lack of substance from any of the candidates.  I know.  Go to their web page and read their policy statements.  Only we geeks are likely to do that.  Most will vote on the impressions the candidates give on television both in live interviews, such as they are, and ads attacking their opponents.

No wonder the country is in such a mess.  At the moment there is not a Republican I can feel comfortable with.  I certainly cannot vote for Hillary. So what to do?  I DO want to vote.

Fortunately there is still time for it to sort itself out.  One thing that would help is for those who have no chance to drop out.  Hoping for a victory on down the line after South Carolina is unlikely and unrealistic.  Let those who like you for whatever reason move on to support a more viable candidate.

Will Trump persevere?  Personally I don't think so.  Nothing new here.  Like me,isn't there a block of voters beginning to say, "Yeah, we like the way he kicks butt, but get real.  He hasn't the temperament to be President."  Who should move up?  Who knows.  This silly season is more silly than anything I've ever seen.  It's worrisome because the world is in such chaos.  I just can't get my head around the idea that an egotistical, bellowing bully is the answer to our problems what's more the world's!

Now for my daily smack down of the media.  Give the other candidates some air time.  The Trump show is in re-runs and it's getting boring. Every network has reporters travelling with the candidates.  Let's hear from them. DO some work.  How many show up at town halls and rallies for, let's say Rick Santorum.  Why?  Does he have anything to say?  You'd never know it from the media.

The rest really remains with the voters doesn't it. We're the ones who have to sort through all the nonsense and try to make an intelligent decision. It hasn't been easy up to this point because of the inter-party squabbling.  There are times when I think when the candidates get together they are as dysfunctional as Congress.

Can we not do better?

Trump Card

Is the glow beginning to fade from Donald Trump?  He's beginning to  lose his edge in the polls - finally.

Hopefully those  polled are beginning to realize that even though he says what he thinks and it complies with what a lot of us think, his manner is not what we need.

I don't mind a squeaky wheel to get attention, but if the attention doesn't lubricate the squeak than something else is needed.  In this case another candidate who speaks to the issues without insulting everyone in the world around them.

But who?  My candidate has faded and I don't expect to see a re-emergence.  I still think Carly would be dynamite but I can lose gracefully.  So who else?  Ted Cruz hasn't shown the best judgement while in the Senate. Ben Carson is perhaps not playing to his strength in politics. I'm not convinced Rubio is ready for prime time. So far the rest are also rans.

I think it says a lot about both the media and the candidates that they can't quell Trump.  First the media.  They're liberal by nature and aren't going to get on the Republican band wagon.  Period.

As for the candidates, if they can't put Trump in his place how are they going to deal with belligerent world leaders? You'd think that out of so many running, at least one would be up to the challenge.  But no.  No one.

It's a sorry state in which we find ourselves.  Hillary or a yet to be named Republican. A Republican candidate who swears he is conservative but he's not?  Others who think kindness and joy will do the trick and others yet who really don't get us the way Trump does.

I think a new party is needed.  The Democrats can have the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren left.  The Republicans can have the far right evangelicals. The Moderates can have the rest of us, the ones who look at both sides and try to figure out what is most likely to work for the benefit of our country.

Trump appeals because he hits the sore spots but he has nothing concrete in the way of solutions.  Only bellicosity and nastiness. I hope that characteristic which in many ways mirrors Hillary won't work for either of them.

We need a President we can be proud of and believe in.  Anyone?