A Pencil is a pencil … unless you’ve got a sharp knife …

…and LOTS of spare time. Then you might just come up with some of these imaginative items ...

                                             A colorful alphabet … A to Z carved from lead.

 

 
…or a hanging link one like this …complete with the date and place of origin. Was it 1987 … or 1887?

…or how about intertwining hearts,  obviously lovingly carved by a person with a romantic bent ...     

 

… who might also have carved this one !

Or my favorite … proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! 

 

 

 

Is the almighty dollar the only thing that we believe in now?

 ... it will be if Trump has his way !

Sitting American presidents do not typically attend the World Economic Forum because of its association with the wealthy power brokers of the world..., but that's not the case with Trump. 

He's thrilled to be heading to Davos despite his pledges to scrap free trade deals and taking an isolationist stance with our country. At a signing event putting high tariffs on some solar energy and washing machines, he told reporters "I'm going to Davos. We're going to be talking about investing in the United States again, for people to come and spend their money in the good ol' USA."

I was willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt when he was elected but, ever since he has been in office he has proved to be no more than a sleaze talking bully. He has spent hours and hours of the time that he should have been governing demeaning others (most specifically Obama) and writing those ridiculous tweets that seldom pass the truth test.

But I think the thing that bothers me most is that he seems to be heartless and knows nothing about compassion. Is our great country doing the same thing? Has the almighty dollar become our bottom line or can we rise above him and show the world that we still care. I fear we won't make it in the long run if we let this happen.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

My treaure but can you guess what this is ....

Although it is unsigned this drawing could easily pass for a sketch by Modigliani … or perhaps Henri Matisse. Of course it isn't by either of them but it is an original. I acquired it in 1982 and to me it is priceless.

That year my husband and I were living in North Carolina. I was working in the emergency room of our local hospital and one night I came home very tired and downcast after a grueling day. My husband, Dick, on the other hand, must have had a good day because he was in a very jovial mood.

Seeing that I was exhausted and grumpy he insisted that I kick back in the recliner and then he bowed low before me and said, in a theatrical voice, “and what can I do for Madame that will lighten her load?” I tried to get into his bantering mode and, after closing my eyes, I gestured dramatically with the back of my hand on my forehead, let out a long sigh and said “sir, you can draw me a bath.”

 

... and HE DID !

Can you guess what this is?

It's one of those fabulous Bing photos. I loved it but had no idea where, or what, it was. My first thought was that it's obviously something cold … maybe a lovely winter scene somewhere … bare branches with drifts of snow on a frozen pond.

 

Or, maybe it's a child's school project. You know the kind ... where they use a mirror and cotton puffs to simulate a setting for “Swan Lake”. No, it's none of these and it's far from being cold.

 

These are salt formations in the Dead Sea in Israel where the surface temperatures can reach over 90 degrees F. !! Another interesting fact is that the water at the bottom of the sea is called fossilized water because it is so heavy and hasn't moved for thousands of years.

Just another example of our amazing world.

It literally gave me a chill …

... when I heard our President say "Where is my Roy Cohn?" today in reference to Trump not feeling that his personal lawyer was being strong enough in his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

 

For those of you who don't know of Roy Cohn please take the time to research him.  He was a vicious and corrupt lawyer who had been the right hand of Joe McCarthy during the shameful communist activity investigations in the 1950's ... a low point in our history.

 

Cohn met Trump in the 70's and they really hit it off with Cohn becoming his mentor.  The two were so close that Trump testified in Cohn's disbarment hearing in the 1980's as a character witness.  It didn't help since Cohn was disbarred from the New York bar for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation".

 

 

 

In a 1979 interview Trump told Newsweek,  "If you need someone to get vicious toward an opponent you get Roy".  No wonder I felt a chill when I heard the President of the United States refer to "my Roy" as he did.  It's pretty obvious that those lessons instilled so long ago are still front and center.

 

Roy Cohn must be chuckling in his grave but it's far from funny for those of us who see very few of our elected officials with the guts to do anything about it !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogger entry # 1001 ...

It has been nearly 12 years since I started my blog and I just passed a milestone. This entry brings the number to one thousand and one that I've posted.  I don't say that in a bragging way but in awe of the fact that I've kept it up and enjoy it more now than ever.

My original idea, in 2006, was to write a bunch of vignettes that told the story of my life. I always regretted the fact that I knew so little of my own parents as children and young adults. Who were they? What were their dreams and accomplishments? I hoped, with the help of this blog, to supply my three children with those answers about their own mother and father and then to turn that into a book that I could give to them at Christmas that year. 

Well, I did produce that book for my children but, rather than being the finale I found that blogging  opened the flood gates for me. Each entry that I write prompts me to remember still more and to research thoroughly when details are vague in my memory... a great taxing of the mind. It is, and has been, an exhilarating memory experience and I am so thankful that it is available and it's FREE !

I am also thankful for you fellow bloggers who have reached out to be part of my life. You've come from all parts of the world as well as from America.  It is my hope that our combined words will "make the  WORLD  great again" and free us here in the U.S. from isolation and man-made walls.