This weekend while I was busy having fun at my family reunion, the Chicago Cubs won and are now off to the World Series. Good for them and for the Cleveland Indians who’ve both had a long drought of championship games. I love the World Series. Not as much for the baseball but more to see who they pick to sing the national anthem. Maybe if the Nationals were there, I’d feel differently.

Tomorrow night we start off with Rachel Platten. Usually they try and get singers that have some sort of connection to the town the game is in and sometimes it is just a good performer. Not sure why she’s the choice but it doesn’t matter, I can’t wait. Jennifer Hudson is from Chicago – she’d be great and Ohio has some good choices – The O’Jays and Chrissie Hynde.  I remember watching a game with my dad one night and Smokey Robinson sang the national anthem. He sang it in a less-tradition manner than most and my dad finally asked what song he was singing. When I told him it was the anthem, he asked for what country. Some people don’t appreciate artistic interpretations.

Much to my dad’s dismay, I got into baseball one summer when I was home from college. I worked in the evenings at a radio station, what is now Mix 107.3, and my job was to call people during their dinner and ask them to rate 10 songs. Songs people liked got more plays on the station. This evening job left me all day with nothing to do and I got hooked on watching baseball. I mostly watched the National League and the Cubs along with the Mets, were my favorites. My dad thought that watching baseball was extremely boring. The games were endless. He had no appreciation for the sport. My mom enjoyed it and told a story of attending Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford’s wedding with her uncle. She never explained why she went but I think the story is true.  Even with her brush with baseball royalty, my dad could not be convinced to watch.

One of the great things about baseball is that the teams play each other a lot and so you not only learn your team’s line up, but the other team’s as well. That summer I faithfully followed my boys – Ron “the Penguin” Cey, Keith Mooreland, Ryne Sandberg, Jodie Davis, Leon “the Bull” Durham, Davey Lopes, Lee Smith and Gary Matthews. At the same time, on the Mets were Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson just to name a few. 1984 was the Cubs’ first postseason since 1945 so it was a good year to start watching.

When my friend Louise moved to Milwaukee, I drove with her to WI and we stopped in Chicago. We didn’t get to see a game but I got my picture taken in front of Wrigley Field. I’ve not met any of the Cubs from that era but I did get to meet Keith Hernandez at a lobbying day on Capitol Hill for the Alzheimer’s Association. His mom had the disease and he was there like the rest of us lobbying on the Hill. At the time I had two fish, one named Dezi, for him and one named Davey, for Davey Lopes. I told him this and he smiled that smile you do when you are actually praying the roof caves in so you can get away from a nut that’s cornered you. He told me that was the first time he’d heard a fish named for him as he beat a hasty retreat but not before I got my photo taken with him.

Tomorrow in addition to watching Rachel sing, I will be rooting for the Cubs. Sure it’s 32 years since they were my team but real fans never give up on their team. Go Cubs!

On Sunday, I finished up a 3-week run as a substitute religious education teacher in a 3^rd grade class. As one of the students left on Sunday, he told his mother I was a lot of fun. While I was glad to hear he had a good time, I also got a knot in my stomach as I thought back as to what I had said or done, hoping it was not inappropriate. But, this time, I was in the clear. We’d had some fun on Sunday learning about saints with the same name as the kids and about the various patron saints.

There are patron saints for everything – saints who’ve been chosen as a protecting or guiding saint of a person or place. Catholics and a few other religions believe in the intercession of Saints. We can pray to Saints to lobby God directly, or to intercede on His behalf. Any good Catholic knows St. Anthony the patron saint of lost and stolen articles, St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals and St. Patrick the patron saint of Ireland but there are others, less known but just as important. Saint Fiacre, an Irishman who grew up in France, is the patron saint of taxi drivers, gardeners, STDs. That’s a pretty diverse and interesting list. There’s Saint Genesius the patron saint of plumbers, actors, clowns, torture victims. Another odd list and heavy load.

My grandmother carried a St. Christopher medal in her wallet and she swore because of it, she always had the money she needed. He’s actually the patron saint of travelers and children. Not sure how he got roped into helping her with money. My grandmother was a huge fan of calling on the saints. On time she enrolled me in the society of St. Jude’s. I received a year’s worth of novenas said on my behalf. On one hand this was nice but when you know that St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases, it ain’t so grand.

Following Sunday’s lesson, I wondered if there was a patron saint of politicians because we need all the intervention we can summon. As it turns out, there is. Only given the role in 2000, St. Thomas More is the patron saint of both politicians and statesmen. His headless body is buried at the Tower of London. Had I been known how crazy this election was going to get, I would have sought his burial spot out while we were there this summer and have gotten an early start on the request for intercession.

My sister is visiting tomorrow night and it occurred to me that she’s going to probably ruin my perfect record of not watching any of the presidential debates. She’ll want to watch them. She’s like that – prefers to watch them herself instead of just reading the highlights on Twitter or Facebook. Go figure. Anyhow, I hope St. Thomas More is ready. Now that I’m spreading the word, I hope he’s ready for the pleas. After this election cycle, St. Thomas More might be asking to be reassigned.

Tonight my heart goes out to my Republican friends. People who are decent, kind-hearted and smart. I feel for them because their party has failed them. They may not see it – there’s such a burning desire to crush Hillary, but from where I sit, they’ve been let down. They may not want my empathy but I can’t help but feel for them.

I don’t think it is a surprise I’m a Democrat. Yet, through the years, I’ve voted for every party except maybe the Green Party. I try to look at the people running, regardless of their party. I don’t care what label you have, if you and I are on the same page, I’m ok with crossing over party lines. After all, for the large majority of us, we want the same things for ourselves, our families and for the world that we live in. Our problem is agreeing on how to accomplish all those goals and dreams.

I’m pretty easy going but once you cross my lines I’m done with you. For Donald Trump, that was long ago. I just can’t understand any father that allows or makes sexual comments about his daughter. Sure Howard Stern pushes the envelope but when Howard said Ivanka was a hot piece of ass, Donald had a choice – be a disgusting person and agree or tell Howard he’d cross a line. Donald made the choice to be disgusting and has been quoted making comments about dating his daughter as well.  If my Dad was sitting there with Howard, I can tell you he would have done one of two things – told Howard enough or punched him in the nose.

I find this week’s defection parade laughable. It took a 15 year old tape of him to FINALLY make people think twice. Give me a break. The “apology”? Pathetic. I was subbing in 3^rd grade Religious Education today and ironically we were talking about forgiveness and saying I’m sorry. As one of the kids said today, “You have to mean it.” Amen.

If you are like me and avoiding the debate, I would encourage you to browse a blog my friend Audrey and her fiancé Tom are writing – USA Though Our Eyes. The pictures are stunning, the stories fun and interesting. Check it out – https://usathroughoureyes.com/type/link/

I’m not sure when the idea of having a Bucket List became so popular but it seems like everyone has one, even Smokey, our dog. Given the obviously communication issue, luckily he has Kathryn to tell us what is on his list, proving the strength of their bond. Smokey always seems full of energy and pep but recently, we’ve begun to see the years catching up with him. A little slower on the walks and his graying muzzle – it pulls on the heart strings to know he’s not going to be around forever. So we’ve gotten going on his Bucket List.

First was hiking on the Appalachian Trail which we did this summer, for about 100 yards.  It was very rocky and uneven causing both Smokey and me to fear he would break his skinny legs walking on it. I suggested to Mike that they pave it so it wouldn’t be so dangerous, then we could really enjoy it.

Next on the list was our beach trip this past weekend. Kathryn said Smokey had always wanted to go to the beach. We’ve discussed taking him to Sandy Point State Park, a little beach area by the Bay Bridge but honestly, he’s never traveled well. While other dogs have their heads out the window letting the breeze flap in their cheeks, we’ve been the ones with our heads out the window after Smokey has barfed all over the car. Other dogs are happily looking out the window while Smokey is looking at his feet dry heaving. It’s just not the ride you really want to take. But as the years have gone on, we’ve taken him farther and farther away from home – camping or to a park – and he seemed to be getting better.

Amazingly he survived the whole way to Nags Head – 4.5 hours in the car without incident. He was anxious at first but settled down somewhere near Woodbridge, which ironically, is where I went to get him from my friend Mo all those years ago. I wouldn’t say he was thrilled at the beach. Although a good swimmer, he doesn’t enjoy the water. He did, however, love chasing the ghost crabs all over the beach at night. Traveling with a pet really is a challenge. Or maybe just one if your pet is challenged. Smokey doesn’t like anyone in his pack to leave and gets anxious when people come and go from the group. This gets tiring as you have to distract him if someone wants to leave the hotel room. But, overall, I think he did well and we can say we did it. Now, according to his spokesperson Kathryn, the next item on the list is going to a house on a lake. Interestingly enough, that’s on her Bucket List too.

While Smokey and Kathryn are busy filling their Bucket Lists, I’m slowing converting my list to a F*cket  List. Learning to do a decent cartwheel, running in a race, learning to do my hair, understanding the sport of hurling – all moved to the F list. I find filling that list almost as satisfying as I would crossing off an item of the Bucket List. Less pressure.  The one thing still on my Bucket List is to be adopted by the Amish but as time goes on, I think I’m going to have to move that to the other list. The fact I have the other list is probably part of the reason I’m never adopted.

Honestly, having a list seems like a good idea, but it’s also way too organized. Isn’t life about taking a chance? Enjoying a random stroke of good luck? Going with the flow? That’s part of the reason I can’t really commit to a Bucket List. Would I feel bad if I didn’t ever visit Alaska again if it was on my list but instead went to Italy? Why limit yourself? In the meantime, I will work on Smokey’s list. He seems to have a pretty good list going.

Earlier this week I saw a comment from my friend Andreas on Facebook that stuck with me all week. He made a comment on a post saying he sees a lot of people who say they don’t care about a subject spend a lot of time and effort on FB or the like chatting about that non-opinion. When he doesn’t care about something he “will STFU” and keep on living his life. I’ve paraphrased it some but you get the point. I think it stuck with me because I could hear him in my mind saying this and also it’s true. Social media has allowed us to comment on everything. On one hand, it’s fabulous and on the other, overwhelming.

The one news story that seemed like low-hanging fruit for discussion this week is the story about Colin Kaepernick sitting first and then kneeling during the national anthem. There are as many different views on this as there are NFL players. My initial reaction was who cares? Some football player making a scene. A non-issue to me but it seems like it certainly is something people care about.  Remembering Andreas’ words, I didn’t make any comments on FB about it but I did read a lot of different opinions during the week.

Most people find his sitting or knelling during the anthem offensive to the military. I’m not quite on board with this. While as a society we find it disrespectful to do anything but stand during this song, is it really the worst of things he could have done? He didn’t disrupt it or not allow others to be respectful. If our military fights for our rights, is it more insulting to use them or not to?  Do I feel happy when people are talking or goofing around during the anthem or when I see someone burning an American flag in protest, no. But that’s the Catch-22 with freedoms like those we have, not everyone expresses it the same way.  

Could he have done something else? Probably but maybe like so many of the rest of us, he is at a loss of what to do. If you hear there are hungry families in your area, you can donate food. If kids need school supplies you can donate them but when people, especially those we expect to protect us, act in a way we don’t like, what can we do? Especially when we want quick action.

As I thought about this all week, I realized there was one important thing I could do. I can vote.

Yep, vote. It’s that easy. I can look at candidates closely on the local level to see if they share my values and have made a commitment to making change when/where needed. I can vote for representatives that will go to the Hill and actually do some work. And, I can look at the presidential candidates, weed through rhetoric and see who not only has a vision for America similar to my own, but a plan to accomplish it. In this season of elections, we are overwhelmed with the presidential chatter but let’s stop and look at our local reps. Do they have what it takes to make the changes or reinforce the behavior we want in our local community?

Maybe by following Andreas’ example of STFU, I’ve actually found my voice. And maybe by sitting back and looking beyond my initial reaction to something I didn’t quite get, I’ve actually found an answer I wouldn’t have gotten. Stand up, sit down, burn the flag, wrap it around you – whatever you do, it’s your right. So is voting. Embrace it.

If you have kids, I believe the real New Year’s Day is the first day of school. Because, unlike the January one, this one is truly filled with promise, resolutions and the hope for better days ahead.  If you don’t have kids, the first day of school generally just marks the return of traffic.  Whether your child loves school or not, the first day of school marks a new beginning. Maybe the classes will be better, the new teacher(s) will inspire your child and maybe, the mornings will go a bit smoother this year.

While the actual first day isn’t always a highlight for the kids, school supply shopping sure is. I remember as a kid being excited about the cardboard school supply box. There wasn’t any real variety, no opportunity to show the world your individual style, yet that school box was such a treasure. Same with all the other supplies – no variety of colors. And wow, if you got the 64 box of crayons, wasn’t that fantastic? Such a splurge. The binders were blue covered in a textured fabric. Pencils were yellow. Backpacks were a basic color. Now everything comes in a rainbow of colors and styles.  Too many options.

I don’t do much that would make Martha Stewart proud but the best idea I ever had was to create my own school supply box. While we were out shopping for the kids, I would buy extra filler paper etc. and put it in a plastic storage container. I bought a pack of 5 pieces of poster board and hid them. And when those tri-fold display things became popular, I got one of those too. That way, when someone appeared at 10:07 pm, the time in our house when the kids seemed to remember something they needed desperately for school the next day, I could still act irritated but then I would appear with the item. I was never one to run out at the last minute. I’m more of the tough love sort but this little bit of preparation did help solve some crises. Why someone needs paper reinforcements so desperately that they can’t go to bed is beyond me, but it has happened.

I look forward to the structure of the school schedule. Back to a more disciplined lifestyle. I know others hate that part of the school year, but I find it a positive. The first day of school seems like a chance to hit the reset button and start fresh. Time to make resolutions like maybe this year, I’ll make lunch for Kathryn the night before so I don’t get sidetracked in the morning and forget. Or maybe this year, I’ll use the calendar on my phone, instead of the one in my head, as that one seems to be getting less reliable each year. This year I will take note of early releases and days off so I can plan something or at the very least, not have them be a surprise.  Kathryn might make a resolution to check the weather instead of asking me what it is each day and then telling me I was wrong. She might remember to empty her lunchbox on Friday instead of Sunday night thus eliminating some disgusting finds on Monday morning.

So Happy New Year everyone! I might just have to make a toast Sunday night to kick it off!

…are the luckiest people in the world says the fabulous Barbra Streisand, and who am I to argue?  Today, home from our vacation, I’m truly feeling like one of the lucky ones.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the chance to catch up with so many people and I’m so grateful for the time they spent organizing a get together, attending a get together or reaching out, even when we couldn’t connect in person. Friends who went out of their way to take us places, help guide us or invited us to share in their special day. I’m truly thankful. For those I didn’t see this time, my philosophy is that you always have to save something to do or see so you can come back!

I am a people person – I know it. When I look back on jobs I’ve had, I never think about the successes there – it’s always about the people I worked with along the way. Who wants to remember a great project? Let’s remember the laughs we had along the way. Same is true with most of my memories – people first. When I try and connect people, it’s rarely for a purpose other than I hope they enjoy each other’s company. I’m the anti-LinkedIn.

A few months back, there was a thing going around Facebook asking in 6 words, what you would want on your gravestone. I answered “She liked to laugh with others.” Some might do a bit of wordsmithing on that and say “She liked to laugh at others” which is true, but I’m almost always first to laugh at myself.  I got practice this morning as I took a spill down the stairs carrying taking the laundry down. Seems like I’ve forgotten how many stairs there are in the house. Nothing says that you are back from vacation than missing the last three stairs and falling on the ground next to the laundry basket!

We saw a number of great things over the past two weeks. The best memories are of the time spent with friends and even family. I had asked for a 48 hour grace period from seeing Kathryn once we hit home, but I let that go. Honestly, she rode me most of the vacation between chastising me on how I can’t use my phone to telling me, as we are walking up a hill at Giant’s Causeway, that I had a “big rip in my pants.” Figuring I split my pants or something while climbing on the rocks, the best I could hope for was that I was wearing decent underwear as surly everyone was viewing it. Turns out there was a small rip by one of the pockets in the back. Life with a teen…

Today I will bask in the glow of truly feeling blessed to have so many great people in my life. Whether we see each other a lot, every so often or almost never, don’t under estimate how I appreciate our friendship, good times and of course, laughs together.

Besides my obsession with sunflowers, is an obsession with hydrangeas. The plants here seem to love the cool and rainy weather and the hydrangeas here are unbelievable. Pictures don’t do them justice. Some bushes will have 3 or 4 colors of flowers. Along with the flowers, there was a strange tree behind our place in Rathmullan. I have no idea what it was but it sure was different.

While Ireland has a number of famous chefs and hip food, we’ve managed to avoid all that. Princess Hot Dog likes to eat about every 3 hours. We finish one meal and she’s inquiring about the next.  This, she says, is because we forget to eat and she’s starving. The truth is we are traveling, the schedule is off and there’s not always the greatest place to eat when she needs her next feeding. I have some Digestive crackers that I offer up each time she asks about the next meal.  She finally told me to stop force feeding her those. Yeah, yeah – if you are really hungry, you will eat them.

The meat here is generally cooked well done and that’s not necessarily how we are used to eating it. Mike ordered a burger the other night that smelled like salisbury steak from a TV dinner. Not bad – just the smell didn’t match what was on the plate. We’ve had some good fish and chips. The other night I  had a very yummy goat cheese tartlet with a beet salad that actually made you want to eat beets. We enjoyed a wonderful salmon dinner at the wedding last night and tonight, a yummy ravioli. The other night in Rathmullan, we enjoyed some wood oven pizza and local craft beer. Needless to say, we aren’t the most adventurous eaters.

We did go into the grocery store the other day to get a few things. Kathryn tried Paprika Pringles (good), we’ve had a number of chocolate candy bars (need to try them all) and today I had some curry potato chips (good as well). There are a number of things named after I assume, items from Maryland – Maryland chicken and Maryland cookies but I’m not familiar with them at home.  Maybe our culinary expertise is junk food – not real food!  Food Network should hire us “Junk food Junkets – snack food from around the world.”

We just finished our stay in London. We arrived on Saturday and as expected, arrived too early for check in at our hotel so we went and ate at a diner dedicated to Princess Diana, called Diana’s Diner. The food was good and the photos on the wall were interesting. Diana used to eat there on occasion. We wandered around the neighborhood and then spent a few hours dozing in the lobby of our hotel. They said the room might be ready early and they didn’t lie – 10 minutes before check in, we were good to go.

Kathryn saw her bed and immediately said it reminder her of the bottom half of a hot dog bun. Despite this, Princess Hot Dog seemed to sleep fine in the bed. We took a nap and then went out for fish and chips.

The next day we got up early and went to the London Eye something Kathryn was quite interested in doing. It was pretty cool although we should have splurged on the 1 pound map because it would have helped identify a few of the sights. They had screens on board, but the glare from the sun made it impossible to see what they were saying. After the Eye, we skipped the 4-D experience included in our ticket. I’m not smart enough to know what 4-D even is.  Regardless, I doubt we missed much. We took pictures of Big Ben and then headed to the Tower of London.

The weather was just fabulous and we walked over the bridge and then back to eat along the water and then tour the Tower. We had a Beefeater as a guide to get started and then he sent us on our way. It’s an interesting place. I was a bit disappointed, even as someone who is not that into the these types of things, that there were only 3 things shown in the Torture Tower.

We had made reservations for that night at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, London House, and we went over for dinner. Gordon was not there – he’s actually in the States opening a new restaurant. The food was good. Kathryn was pleased – it was her request to go. Fortunately, it lived up to the expectations Gordon has taught her to demand from watching all his shows.

The following day we took a bus to Stonehenge. It is a fascinating place and you really could spend more time there than allotted on the bus tour. After the tour, we went to Buckingham Palace. Since we were running late from the tour, I guess the Queen couldn’t wait for us as she was not there. I have to say, the palaces in Disney movies are a lot more elaborate.

Following the palace, we went to dinner before the Jack the Ripper tour. The tour was conducted by a Ripper researcher who spends her professional and real life time researching these crimes. She was quite good and it was interesting. We had the ulta-preppy family that brought the 7 year old along on the tour. None of them seem that interested in the tour and we ran into them again at the British Museum today and they seemed just as uninterested in that.

Today we slept in, did some laundry and finish our London trip visiting the British Museum, thanks to my friend Ann Wall, who reminded me about the Rosetta Stone being there. I think we learned about that in Mrs. Yancy’s 4th grade class and I always thought it was cool. Following the museum we went to Kensington Gardens and saw swans in the lake there. I love swans.

We’ve done pretty well getting around. I’ll look at a map and say something like we need to go backwards 2 streets and then to the right. That makes sense to me. Mike likes to get oriented learning north, south, east and west and Kathryn thinks we are both directionally challenged. Regardless, we did ok.

The people watching has been fabulous. In the line for the Eye, a woman brought out deodorant from her bag and began spraying it on herself. I thought this was odd at first but then realized she might be in our car so I thought “Spray on Sister.” On the bus trip, we had 3 woman come back to the bus late. Nothing like having 40 other people waiting on you. Didn’t seem to bother them at all. We’ve seen a number of Asian woman in dresses with tutus – hard to describe. London so reminds me of New York – the vibe and the variety of people.

We’ve been trying to catch the Olympics but between the odd coverage here and time difference, we’ve been catching archery, woman’s rugby, judo and boxing. I think we are watching men’s field hockey tonight. Just not sports we know a lot about. And, funny, they aren’t as wild about the American athletes over here.

Not to much about American politics either on the news. Just as well, this is vacation and we all need a break from that!

Kathryn has taken to calling Smokey “Coon Dog” following his encounter with the raccoon this summer and as his quarantine came to an end, she wanted to have a few friends over to celebrate. As we got talking about it, we started calling it the Emancipation Party. Emancipation is a prickly word because of its association with slavery yet the definition is “the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation” and so it does fit.

Tuesday was Smokey’s freedom day. We were instructed to call Animal Control and let them know how he was doing and then he would be done. I tried to call the day before and report in but the rules are, you have to call the last day of the quarantine.  The officer was very nice and said she would be at her desk at 7am and I could call her directly. She said even if she wasn’t there, leave a message and we were good to go. At 7am on the dot, I called. I gave my name an address and she responded that she couldn’t find our file. The voice in my head was saying “Are you f*cking kidding me?” but luckily the only word that came out were a deflated “oh.” It took a few minutes – I had to find the paperwork to get a number from it since she could never find our file and then we were free.

Smokey had been following me around all morning like he knew something was going on but then when I told him we were going for a walk, he sat staring at me. Then I told him to find his leash. We say that all the time like he’s going to actually fetch his leash when all he really does is whimper and jump around in a circle, but it’s the signal he’s heading out.  I couldn’t find his halti which he needs because he likes to pull you along because Kathryn had been using it on the guinea pig so she could walk him in the backyard. Nor could I find his long leash. But we found the short one and when I told him again we were going for a walk, he sat down and scratched behind his ears, which in Smokey talk means he’s confused.

He was thrilled though when he finally got out and even more excited to see his friend Shelby at the end of the street. Thanks to my friend Ellen for coming out with Shelby to welcome Smokey back to the hood. Smokey whizzed on everything along the walk so everyone would know he was back in town. That evening Mike took him over to the park, Smokey’s favorite place, and after 45 days, Smokey’s world was right again.

It’s amazing how just knowing he can get out seems to have perked him up. I feel this way when my car is in the shop. While it is there, I can think of 15 places to go or things to do that require my car but when it is in the driveway, I’ve no constant urge to use it. Just knowing you have freedom is almost as sweet as using it. Smokey has put on a few pounds. Hard to keep him moving in the house and easy to entertain him with food. We tried to be mindful of this but it was inevitable he’d gain some weight.

All in all, the summer of rabies is behind us now. The medical bills are trickling in and that’s another project to figure that out. Three of us had the same treatments yet the bills are all different. We’ve gotten some, but not all, so I’m waiting for all of them to get in so I can really sit down and review them. This is my way of avoiding them, if you hadn’t guessed. But I’m putting them all in a folder so I feel good – like I’m super organized. Rationalization at it’s best. Got to organize them first, then deal with them.

In the grand scheme of things and given what others are dealing with, this whole rabies scare seems trivial. But when we were in the middle of it, it was overwhelming. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and offers of support. I used to enjoy seeing the occasional raccoon on the back deck at night, stealing from the bird feeder, but no more! Maybe that nest of Pokémon that surrounds our house will keep them away. One can only hope.