Happy 3rd birthday to a Good Boy!

This is a photo essay for those days when you just want to look at pictures of happy pets.

By your mid-forties to early fifties, you will need eyeglasses of some variety. I am not trying to scare you. I am just passing on what an optometrist told me. No matter how much technology we develop, there are just basic problem areas on the human body where we can alleviate problems but we have not been able to stop them from happening at all. So, I see glasses, perhaps laser surgery, in your future. Sorry.

If you are lucky, you can get by with “cheaters” for reading. You know, those inexpensive glasses from the dollar store or the drug…

…or on any day, really.

First, put a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage in the refrigerator. You will need it in any case, to celebrate your cooking success or to acknowledge that this didn’t work. Either way, I am currently partial to Stella Rosa, low in alcohol but delicious, and I especially appreciate the Black, Moscato, and peach versions on a summer evening.

For some people, this preparation might be it, but for the rest of you, put on the playlist that reflects your current mood and plan your shopping list: I suggest 80 or 85 percent ground beef…

The fear that what their ancestors did might be done to them... the disbelief that any person of color might be good-hearted enough to not believe in retribution because repaying violence with more violence is their preferred method of communication, what they would do.

Hey there, I have small solutions. One, this is for my mental health. I had more than enough adverse experiences. Two, I use my creative contributions as a way to combat some of the negativity in the world. Also, I can help create more positive spaces for the young people with whom I interact.

So that happened. Now what?

This needs to be the motto of human existence because we mess up many times in our short period on this big rock.

So that happened. So what?

You pick yourself up and get moving again. To be human is to try again.

My beloved grandmother and others illustrated this concept for me, but it took a long time for the lesson to sink in properly.

My grandmother was a very practical person. She was, in fact, one of four very practical siblings, all part of the “Greatest” generation. …

I have not watched the video showing the murder of George Floyd. Nor have I watched 12 Years a Slave, The Help, or Harriet. These films were highly praised historical fiction. I have not watched any of the recent videos of murders of any kind. I rarely watch the news, and if any pictures of violence are going to be shown, I am tuning out. These videos make up the real history, chosen to represent the world because, “If it bleeds, it leads.”

I did turn in to see these actors and actresses in genres other than historical fiction. I…

Dear Millennials, why is this a thing?

I had noticed that the large coffee chain that is synonymous with fancy, expensive coffee***you know, Starbuck$***was putting nitrogen into some coffee drinks for a few years now, but I assumed that it was a quickly-passing fad. Then, this fad arrived in the common (wo)man’s store, my local 7–11.

I just learned this a few days ago: There is now a thing called Nitro Tea. I learned this at a 7–11 in Maryland. I had been wondering why the new fountain coffee and tea bar had two handles labeled “Hibiscus Pear” when I…