Monthly Archives: August 2025

………………..My baby tree is growing like a teenager going through puberty!…..The picture on the left was taken two months ago, and the top of the tree was barely over the fence……The picture on the right is the way it looks now! It has grown at least FIVE to SIX feet above the fence…..Before I know it …it’s going to be a full fledged TREE!……..I remember when I noticed this three inch baby sapling first growing….I nursed it and nursed it, and before I knew it I turned around and it’s a teenager!  It’s shocking how fast it’s growing! It must be very happy!!…..Well, I do talk to it every day……I’m so proud of my baby tree!

………………….Hopefully….there is more than one person in your life who makes you sparkle……the love of your life of course…..but it could also be your children or grandchildren…or even your best closest friend…….Who makes you SPARKLE?

………………..”When we were Kids, our parents never forced us to go outside….They had to force us to come inside!”………..I was a kid of the 50s. I truly believe the lives we led were so much better than the way kids live today!…..”Outside” was our world, our playground! We didn’t have, and weren’t glued to phones or video games, and TV had few channels with little programming that interested me……We created things to do with our imaginations!…..We went to the local park and went on the swings and slides and monkey bars. We pretended to be pirates on a ship….We went swimming…..We rode our bicycles all over without a care in the world, and our parents never thought we were unsafe….because we weren’t!…..Today many kids are only outside when they have organized activities…..We played tag, hide and seek…we went fishing in the local stream, but I never caught a thing! We went to the local farms and played in the barn….with permission….We built go carts…Well, actually my brothers built them and let me ride them….We jumped rope and played hop scotch…..In the winter we played in the snow, built snowmen, igloos and forts…where we had our snow ball fights… and went sledding and ice skating…… Yes, sometimes we were naughty and did things we weren’t supposed to….like making camp firers in empty lots!…..However, I never got away with it, because my Mom could always smell the smoke on my clothes….”LOUIS!…were you playing with fire again!…How many times must I tell you not to play with fire!”….We slid down the sides of sand hills on pieces of card board in the local sand pit….a place that was actually off limits, but we used to sneak in through a hole in the fence…..If my older bothers could sneak in and play there so could I!….It was great fun!!…We were NEVER bored…..We ate the wild berries that used to grow there…..What I’m saying is we were KIDS, and had carefree wonderful lives……In the summer I would stay out as long as I could…..until I heard my Dad’s very distinctive WHISTLE!…..I knew it was time to get home pronto for dinner….After dinner it was outside again until it started to get dark……The next day was a repeat of the day before….THOSE WERE WONDERFUL DAYS!

…………………..I am sure this post will upset all MAGA people……the TRUTH HURTS!……….Putin….a KGB man, knows all too well the art of manipulation!…..and he knows just how to STROKE tDUMPS EGO!….He knows just how to PLAY HIM LIKE A FIDDLE!!!……Tell him he’s the greatest president ever, and that he should win the Nobel Peace Prize and you have him in the palm of your hand!…….tDUMP treats Putin like an old buddy…a friend….Well, I guess they do have much in common, but never forget…..Putin is a murderous thug!…and is after one thing UKRAINE……….The talks are over….except the one between Zelensky and Putin…if that ever takes place….but considering what’s going on as I write this….it will probably never happen….Why would Putin want to, or need to see Zelensky?!…..He’s already getting what he wants…….In the mean time Putin keeps killing thousands of Ukrainian people!…Putin has even bombed an AMERICAN BUSINESS in Ukraine…as America and tDRUMP just stands by and watches…..What happened to the crippling sanctions….Putin is getting it all his way, as America looks weak and indecisive…..You have to hand it to Putin……He’s a EXECELENT FIDDLE PLAYER!

……………………”What’s your HAPPY PLACE?”…………For Jac and myself the answer was very easy………ANGUILLA!……..Anguilla is a very small island in the Caribbean…..There are no big ports, so there are no big cruise ships that can dock there…..so the amount of tourists is very limited…….For me it has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Being “sun people” that was very important to us….It’s the kind of place that as soon as you put a foot on the island all of the tension you may have taken with you melt away…It won its’ independence many years ago…..The island pace is very slow…..Our favorite hotel was Cap Juluca. It has a series of Moorish villas along a crescent pristine beach. It’s an easy island to get around since there is one main road that traverses the entire island. It is not a lush island with lots of greenery, but all the goats make up for it….they are even in the trees!…..Crime is almost non existent with little unemployment since most of the population work either at the hotels, restaurants or other related businesses that take care of the inhabitants…..The restaurants, of which there are many to choose from, are all very good……..The perfect day was to have breakfast at the beach restaurant….bathing suits and cover ups required…..get chairs on the beach, which was never crowded, and only took care of residents of the hotel……We would sit under huge umbrellas, read books, and ordered anything we wanted to drink or eat from the beach attendants….When we got warm we would jump into the clear aqua blue water for a lovely swim, and then walk along the beach to dry off and get some sun……Sometimes, at tea time, we would go up to the main house for tea and scones….otherwise usually at about 3:00pm the attendants would bring ices of different flavors to us on the beach for a little refreshment…..When the day on the beach was done it was time to shower in our beautiful room overlooking the sea, relax, and then get ready for dinner at a local restaurant…..I did all of the driving, and I knew the island like I had lived there forever…….Nothing much in all the years we went there, had changed……Sometimes a new hotel would be built, or a new restaurant added, but it basically always looked, and stayed the same…..which was very comforting…..It was always like visiting an old friend……..It was definitely our go to place………..our HAPPY PLACE!