Where To Begin?

definitely overloaded today

Because it is Sunday, I am committed to making my appearance on Substack. It has been a very interesting morning, though, after an even more curious day yesterday. Let me start by saying that I read my serious books when I first awake while drinking my hot lemon water. This morning’s gripping discourse is The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War by CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto, one of the books from Asha Rangappa’s Freedom Academy. Again, it is a serious academic book with tons of footnotes but nowadays they are very unobtrusive and all collected at the back of the book (which I do occasionally use to check a source). The writing is extremely clear and understandable, and I can relate so much of what I am learning to current events.

Then after about an hour of reading, I check my phone for the weather and any messages from loved ones. I also check Substack, and that’s where it got interesting. E. Jean Carroll asked us to provide our life story in 81 words. I actually tried to do it but wisely went to my laptop and Word to attempt the impossible. I was barely on a roll when I did a word count and came up with 259. So I put the kibosh on that. When talking to the lovely man in my life a bit later, I was able to give him a much briefer synopsis verbally. But honestly, I don’t think I can write on paper without all the correct grammar and punctuation and the precise timeline of places and dates. So while it has been an interesting trip down memory lane, I’m going to leave it at that for now.

The other source of a trip down memory lane was Dan Rather’s post this morning about the singer Tom Jones who is from Wales and will be going on tour at 84. Dan included a great video from the Ed Sullivan Show of Tom singing “It’s Not Unusual” and it took me right back to Sunday nights in New Jersey watching the telly with Mum and sister. But even greater was someone commenting and including a link to the current Sir Tom Jones singing in France at the D-Day celebration. Thanks to all the other Stackers who add to our enjoyment,.

Yesterday was also interesting because I wrangled with the Afib again. As I’ve shared before, I like to keep my grass in sync with my neighbor, so I headed out a day later than usual but still in time to match up. However, as I got going I suddenly felt as though I were going to pass out. That is a symptom of this heart anomaly that I have been fortunate enough to avoid most of the years that I have had it. Yesterday was a first. But did I stop cutting the grass?—NO. I just paused a minute, took a few deep breaths (and maybe a thing called the Valsalva maneuver) and continued to finish up the back half that abuts my neighbor. When I came back in the house I took my reading (Kardia app by AliveCor, Inc.) on my phone and then proceeded to rest up. By the way, I still dressed in my long pants and sleeves anti-poison ivy outfit just in case. I really do not want any more of that!

Being in rhythm today means I could cut the remainder of the grass. However, I have determined that Sunday is not a day for noisy mowers, so I’ll wait until tomorrow. I haven’t even started on my political musings today, but suffice it to say that I strongly urge all the. young people who have been protesting world events not to follow what they did in various primaries in which they stayed home or voted uncommitted. Please know that our hearts are with you and we all want peace and love to rule the world BUT (and it’s a really big but in my opinion) this is not the 60’s. Do you know why Viktor Orban visited Mar-a-Lago instead of the White House this year? And that he posted pictures on Instagram? He has been a dictator since 2010 and is a right-wing populist who has been shunned by most Western leaders. He recently visited the former President and First Lady in Florida as well as going to the Heritage Foundation in Washington (which was closed to the press so that tells you something). The former President had welcomed him to the White House in 2019, so now I assume their relationship is personal. Remember the old saying, judge a person by the company they keep. TTFN