Life of Wry

I’m starting up daily blogging again! Yay New Year’s resolutions!

My intent, just so you know, is to not post publicly anymore. However, I haven’t figured out yet how to do that, so for now, you are still seeing this. I’ve lost track of who all gets my blogs.. some subscribe and I believe for them my blog shows up in an email, while some get my blogs in some other way… but honestly, I just don’t know how any of this happens. The truth is I’m feeling increasingly self-conscious about what I write and who sees it, so I’m planning to just make it all private. I’ve long said, I blog for me, and it embarrasses me to consider that lots of people, some of whom I don’t even know, are reading my daily musings. Like… who do I think I am to think these things have any kind of broad appeal? Well, I don’t. So as soon as I figure this out, it’s lights out. Thing is, blogs are, by nature, public. But don’t have to be. So… that’s where I am.

Anyway.

Long as I have you here (for now), I hope the dawn of 2025 finds you rested up after the holidays and recovering from all those sweets what was an exhausting year of body-shuddering politics. I’m deeply disgusted at the outcome of the November election and, as I write this, working mightily to find my way to a place of healthy resistance. That is, a recognition that it all sucks, and I will find a way to stay engaged, be smart about picking my battles and do what I can — when I can — to keep really bad things from happening. My goal is to be a useful cog in a large wheel. I trust the smart people who will be leading us in this fight and, importantly, building a foundation for victories down the road. I’m in.

It wasn’t all about politics though, of course. 2024 was full of all kinds of other things.. fantastic travel, exceptional family time, valued friend time, good health and fitness (minus two overworked knees)… lots of other stuff, too, from light to heavy: movies; puzzles; music; the amusements (and frustrations) of aging; life lessons; attitude adjustments; beautiful community; weathering the storms in friends’ lives.. and more.

This being the new year, I am in the middle of a 2024 reflection — a list, actually — of the year’s notable elements… always a satisfying look back and reminder of how wondrous life is. I’m addicted to list making and this is a fun one.

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With that… here are a couple of shots from the last day of 2024 and the first day of 2025.

Yesterday, Jim, Peter and I drove for the second time in three days down to Mountain View to take care of Marie’s kitty Tommy and then visit Marie in a hospital in Fremont where she ended up following a ghastly one-car accident on Christmas night driving home from our gathering at Monica and Dror’s. As of this moment, it seems as though she’ll not lose her left leg, though that is/was not certain after an accident that mangled her car beyond recognition and beat her up pretty badly (said leg, broken elbow, fractured cervical vertebrae, bruises overall).

As long as my blog’s still public, I won’t post a photo of Marie, but I will post some lovely photos from a walk we took at Baylands Park in Mountain View on the first sunny day in a long while! If photos were audible, you’d hear us mulling over Peter’s post PhD life and all the various paths before him. That conversation’s been happening a lot this past week and I imagine will continue for months. He’s still got a year to go..

Today was cold and dreary, perfect for hanging around the fire and watching the Rose Bowl.

(Yeah, no big screen TV in our living room… poor Peter has to watch pirated sporting event coverage on my laptop.. a bit pathetic.)

We had no real dog in the fight, but Peter was routing for the University of Oregon Ducks against the Ohio State team, because: Ohio (Michigan’s biggest rival). It was a blowout.. Ohio proved to be the far better team, much to Peter’s disappointment. Good to note: Ohio suffered two defeats this season, one to Oregon (who they beat handily today) and one to Michigan. So maybe there’s consolation there.

While the game was going on, Jim was fixing our garbage disposal which broke down (after 20 years) on Christmas Eve.

Not his favorite job.

And may I say, it’s great to be blogging again. Not documenting every little thing make me feel anxious. So.. glad to be back on the horse!