1 1 1 1 1 1

The Artist In Me

humour

You may disagree but I think that I avoid sending internet jokes more than most people. The following image really struck my funny bone and I just had to share it with someone.

Art

I have been following many of the Parkland students and parents since the shootings there on Valentines Day. Fred Guttenburg's daughter was among the students shot and killed. Kavenaugh is Trump's nomination for the US Supreme Court. He is a right-wing nut case who will enthusiastically roll back women's rights and support big money in the American political system. If elected he will be a Supreme Court Justice for life. Fred Guttenburg was at the Kavenaugh confirmation hearings. This photo shows the empathy that Kavenaugh has for gun violence victims very clearly. I think that 50 years from now this photo will be recognized as capturing an iconic moment in American history, like photos of the McCarthy congressional hearings and the civil rights marches. Guttenburg vs Kavenaugh

1 1
1 1 1 1

Canada Day

I am in the hospital in Kitchener. It has been a busy week of tests, prescriptions and hydration, more tests, more prescriptions and more hydration. Every day I have felt better but there has been no improvement in my creatinine level. This has been blamed on bacteria in my bloodstream. As the bloodstream has cleared, there is not the expected improvement in creatinine.

I have recounted my medical history several times to hospital staff each time trying to remember it in the same sequence and with as little embellishment as possible.

I have lots of good things to say about St Mary's Hospital. My favourite thing is that they have an "outpatient emergency" process. After an initial diagnosis in emergency, you are treated, prescribed and sent home. A Nurse Practitioner called everyday and scheduled my next appointment at emergency. When we would arrive, the paperwork was already prepared for the next steps. My Nurse Practitioner stayed with me for 5 straight days - arranging appointments, tests, treatment then sending me home.

Everynow and then I come across a hunk of software on the web that is just right, perfect, so topical, or just plain down right nasty. Today's find is the Trump Filter an add-on to Google Chrome that will filter out all news about the Donald. You can get this software by going to Trump Filter. This gets two thumbs up. Trump Filter

Two of my favourite people - one gone; and I do miss him.

Barack and Anthony

Parkland Never Again

From Rachel R. Gonzales

Don't forget to set your clock one hour forward this Sunday. Or if you're Republican - about 200 years

We are at our final stop of this vacation. Everything is heading home from here - two days at sea, followed by 4 or 5 days on the road. Carol and I both feel like Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day - every day when we go for breakfast we hope to find something different. Instead if it is Monday I have the lamb chops, Tuesday Carol has the ravioli, Wednesday we see the Michael Jackson show (quite good), Thursday . . .

Here are some photos. Be sure to click on one and then forward through the stack.

1 2 3 4 5

The High Seas

caribbean

We are in rough water tonight, rocking back and forth. Actually, I am not too fond of it. So I started to Google "Caveman Thoughts" to see if I could find anything to take my mind off the creaking and groaning of our cabin. Here is what I found:

  • are stone tools making our lives too easy?
  • now that we have words, nobody's going to be able to keep secrets from each other.
  • is ding-dong good for more than just slapping on rock.

Now I feel better. Good night.

Gunk holing

caribbean

My Dad was born 117 years ago on February 26. I was thinking about this today, kinda sad that I did not realize that it was his birthday a couple of days ago. He was a great guy and it does me good to think about him. It was years after he died that I realized just what a good person he was. He was fair and honest, fearless but quiet, humble and fun. He taught me to look at everything carefully before making a judgement.

We are in Cozumel gunkholing in the MSC Seaside. The MSC Seaside is 1060 feet long and has a beam of 135 feet. She carries 5,179 passengers on 17 decks and sales with a crew of 1,413. Her god mother is Sophia Loren.

Gunkholing is a boating term referring to a type of cruising in shallow or shoal water, meandering from place to place, spending the nights in coves. The term refers to the gunk, or mud, typical of the creeks, coves, marshes, sloughs, and rivers that are referred to as gunkholes. While not necessary, gunkholers typically seek out the serenity of isolated anchorages over the crowds of marinas and popular bays, and a minimal draft is preferred, since gunkholers tend to go as far up and into the gunkholes as possible, seeking ever more inaccessible destinations.

So we are not quite gunkholing we are cruising in a ship that would hold the entire population of the town that we have chosen to live in when we return to Canada. The gunkholing thought arose because another large boat docked along side of us and caught Carol exiting the shower. You cannot get privacy anywhere these days.

Our walk from the ship to the centre of San Miguel was fun. We returned to the hotel that the family was evacuated to in 1995 when Roxanne swept through. The hotel was partially boarded up but probably not as a result of the 1995 winds. We tried to find the bakeshop where I laid in supplies for the event. It was gone. The eye of Hurricane Roxanne passed right over the hotel knocking out sliding doors, peeling the garage-like security doors, uprooting the palm trees, and knocking out water, electricity and food supply. Everybody had to hunker down in the hallways of the hotel until the storm had passed. We were a couple of day before we were transported back to the mainland. Quite a night for all.

1 1 1

Big Gun Control News for today - Dicks’s Sporting Goods will not longer sell assault rifles and will not sell any gun to folk younger than 21. Their stock is up over 2% today alone. Wonderful.