myxer

  Happy New Year To All  May the New Year bring Happiness, Fun, Prosperity,  Good Health,  Love,  Adventures,  Peace,  Security, Great Blog Postings!  2022 will be what we make of it It will bring opportunities, challenges, obstacles, good times and sad times, we can't change that, we can only change how we respond to what happens, Remember, always, the best is yet to come! May our adventure continue! 

Happy New Year's Eve!  Here in the northern hemisphere, the calendar year starts in the dead of winter (this is not a recent photo - no weather like that yet this winter) and celebrating the start of the year is an opportunity for renewed hope. The fertility of the past year, feeds us through the winter, bringing us imperial tidbits and libations for tonight. And as the sun shines a few more minutes each day we see renewed hope of a coming season of warmth and fertility.  Trees such as the apple, remind us that a period of dormancy are needed, to assure fruitfulness. The primary reason apples don't grow in the south is without the dormancy of winter, they tend to not be fruitful, you can grow the tree, but they produce very little fruit. (There are modern hybrids that break this rule, but are they really apples if they have been manipulated to grow in unnatural ways?) Assure that you have your period of dormancy, downtime, rest time, restoration and recovery time.   ...

I know a lot of people don't make New Years Resolutions, I set annual goals, goals that are reasonable, and within my control. These give me a roadmap a plan.  I read someplace, "if you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."  So how have I done this year? Here are my  Goals for 2021 Read 24 books, two a month is a healthy goal. I kind of blew this one out of the water, 64 books finished.  I have found ways to integrate reading into being home.  Continue 45 minutes to an hour per day of physical activity.  Restart the daily activity log, what gets measured gets done. This one has faltered, not as much moving and the daily log worked well for a while, then started gathering dust.  5 out of 10 on this one. I have excuses for this, someone told me excuses are like assholes, we all have one and most of them stink.   Blog daily. Mission accomplished.  Add another 5,000 photos to the archive.  10,011 - over achiever...

  In the archive I have a momento from my father's first airline flight, on American Airlines, from New York to Detroit during World War II.  He saved up a couple of months pay to fly home on a short leave.  My first airline flight was on Eastern Airlines, from Detroit to Tampa.  I flew down to help my grandmother drive home. I flew Eastern a few times in the late 70's.  I was in Atlanta changing planes from Delta to KLM, when Eastern shut down.  I flew Continental once.  It did not go well.  The flight changed destinations during a stopover in Cleveland, resulting in a long wait. The return flight was messed up by weather.   I flew TWA once.  My first consulting trip for the largest aging organization in the USA, to Sacramento with changes in St. Louis.  TWA had already announced merger with American Airlines.   I flew Northwest a few times, it was not a good option from Lexington as they only had a couple ...

  What gets counted, gets done.  My annual list of books I have finished reading during the year.  The Food and Wine of France, Edward Behr (P) The Food of Spain, Claudia Roden (P) Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis Coffee, Castanets and Don Quixote, Robert Noble Graham Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, Sanjay Gupta My French Platter, Anna Marie Rawson The Problem of Alzheimer's, Dr. Jason Karlawish (P) Composing a Life, Mary Catherine Bateson All The Young Men. Ruth Coker Burns Open Wound, Dr. Jason Karlawish  Just Passing Through, Mary Jane Houlton Your Brain on Facts, Moxie LaBouche True Facts that Sound Like Bull#*t, Shane Carley Our Italian Journey, Ilene and Gary Modica A Cargo Pilot's Life - Tails from Corrosion Corner, Brett Lane The Potomac River A History and Guide, Garrett Peck (P) Stories from a Whisky Bar, Ralfy (P)  Altered, Kyle Ball Something Awesome: A life in neurosurgery, William Friedman The Housekeepers Tale, Tessa Boase World Travel, An...

Cuba, and when I think of Cuba I think of Havana, has long been on my list of places to see.  There have only been a couple of times in my adult life when US tourist visits were allowed by the US Government. Back in the 1980's an entrepreneur took advantage of a liberal definition of cultural exchange and flew plane loads of tourists from Orlando, to Havana, with dinner and a show at the CopaCabana, then back home the same night.  The State department shut that down before I had a chance to go (a banker friend of mine was arranging a group to go.) Then in the waning years of the Obama administration, cruise ships from US ports were visiting Cuba, things changed and that option closed before I could work a cruise into my schedule. I can separate the government from the people, and the culture, and the art, and the music, and the food. Maybe someday.  Or maybe I can go learn and teach.    

  How did the year treat you, Good or Bad 1: Was it a good year or bad year for money?  2: Health, was it a good year or bad year for your health?  3: Relationships, was it a good year or bad year?  4: Happiness, was it a good year or bad year?  5: Looking into 2022, are you thinking good year or bad year?  My Answers:  1: Was it a good year or bad year for money?  Prices are up, but so are values and investments, good year for us.  2: Health, was it a good year or bad year for your health? Good Year, we remain relatively alive.  3: Relationships, was it a good year or bad year? Good, and in a strange way, I excluded some toxic people from my life.  4: Happiness, was it a good year or bad year? Good year, busy, but happy.  5: Looking into 2022, are you thinking good year or bad year? A good year, I can see some challenges, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Please share your answers in the Comments!