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It’s all about family!

My wife and I accompanied our son and his family of five to Cincinnati last weekend to celebrate his milestone birthday (too hard to find an evening at home to do it, everyone had soccer and hockey practices!) and to attend some youth sports contests that our youngest granddaughter and younger grandson would be involved in. As I looked around the table at dinner Friday night (at a great rib place that is renowned in Cincinnati dining circles) I could not help but be delighted, as always, to be with a large portion of our nuclear family (our kids and their families, simply put).  Everyone was smiling and happy that we were together for a nice meal and a wonderful occasion. My grandson beat me to a trick I pull on him regularly, offering me a French fry for “quality control purposes” before I could ask.  The younger granddaughter present was beaming because she was sitting between our son and my wife, two of her favorite people in all of the world.  She tolerates me most of...
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Unfinished business

Good Sunday to all.  Hope you're having a great weekend! It was reported today that our President is pausing military action in Iran at the request of other countries in the region who have developed what has been described as a framework for an end to our ongoing conflict with the Iranian state.  Lucky for the President that he then had time to participate in another club championship at one of his golf clubs today. That seems the nature of this presidency:  start something, become bored or mired in indecision, and move on to something else.  The ICE raids would fall into that category, as would all of this nonsense about Greenland and Venezuela.  Tariffs come and go.  He continued to contend that the word "affordability" did not exist until invented by the Democrats.  And he appears to be accepting the fact that his acting Attorney General will not be confirmed, so he'll just leave him in place as the "acting" AG. But let's give credit where due, as ...
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Emotionally yours

Good Sunday to all.  Hope you're having a good weekend! I'm having a GREAT weekend, because I began a ten day vacation Friday evening at the end of the work day!  No plans, no overnight travels, just whatever my wife and I decide to do with the time.  Just needed a break from work and schedules and the like. I don't often post on Sunday but was thinking about this subject, broad though it is, recently.  As I drove home from my marketing visits to some hospitals and clinics on Thursday, I decided to listen to some of Harry Chapin's music.  If you're not familiar with Harry, he was known for his "story" songs, many of which were too long for popular radio.  Among them was a song simply called "Taxi, and I played that first.  Found myself becoming emotional while listening to it, so I wiped my eyes and paused to find something else among Mr. Chapin's work.  Landed on another story song, "A Better Place to Be."  Same thing, was just a wreck ...
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Thinking out loud

  Good day, friends.  Hope you had a good weekend, and that if your father is still among us, you had the chance to at least call him or better yet visit! Thinking about a few things during my travels for work and just in general as well.     I will not dwell on what’s happened with the current presidential administration since our last visit here, mostly because there’s not a lot any of us can do about it, but also because we all know it’s something we will endure and eventually move past. So here are some of the things that have crossed my mind recently…… I think it may be time for public parking lots to have separate areas for pickup trucks and large SUVs.  I drive a mid-size SUV so I can park about anywhere, but get awfully tired of watching these concrete cowboys (and -girls, to be sure) take two or three passes at parking their behemoth vehicles by backing in.  And then being challenged in leaving their chosen spot. I also thi...
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What if you scheduled a party and no one wanted to attend?

Good morning, friends.  Hope you’re having a stellar weekend and that the weather is good where you are! I can say that after a good stretch of rain that we’re having that good weather I mentioned.  Breezy with low humidity.  Could not ask for better. Today’s title refers to what is happening regarding a prospectively large event in our nation’s capital sometime in June.  It’s nominally a celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary, but it’s also meant as a birthday celebration of the current occupant of the White House. A number of musical performers were apparently booked for this extravaganza, but one by one most of them realized what the intent of the event was and decided to rescind their acceptance of the invite to perform.  Unless I’m missing something, none of those who pulled out in the past few days is what I would call an A-lister but there were some recognizable names in that list. In the end, all decided they did not want to be associated with an...
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Old friends

Happy Friday for those who celebrate, and with an American holiday on Monday, who doesn't? I was able to take today off to set up a four day weekend.  Grateful for a break from what has been a hectic few weeks.  But I came here today to share a couple of great experiences from my day off so far. Recently I learned that a man whom I met in college and roomed with for a time was moving back to my home area, and was interested in renewing our friendship.  We've always been lucky as we would see each other every year or two for a cup of coffee, but always were able to resume or restart our conversation easily enough upon meeting. We exchanged some dates but when I secured the day off I let my friend know that I was available today. So we met at a coffee shop today at mid-morning and had what I would consider a stellar conversation.  Among the topics were hair loss, Medicare plans, post retirement employment options and a host of other topics.  On top of these scinti...
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Catching my breath

Happy Monday, everyone.....it's been a while since I found time to check in here, but have a little while to share some comments. I've been rather busy with work, lots of travel recently, but things overall are going pretty well, I think. So since I've been on the road the cost of gasoline is front and center among what keeps me concerned.  The price varies considerably  throughout my areas of travel, but right now the price seems to be hovering around an average of $4.05 per gallon.  A little cheaper here or there, even more saved with some discounts from our primary grocery chain, but a touch over $4.00 in the areas where I have been.   Anyone else find it interesting that regarding the Iran War that there's almost always talk about cease-fires and other negotiated items late each week?  Seems to me this is market manipulation, pure and simple, so that the stock market rises, and oil futures fall a little.  If someone who's untrained in global economics c...
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