Passing of a Friend; Life Goes On; Nation Cryptic and Mr. Trump

Cold... 3 inches of snow overnight..  some nice persons shoveled it off of the sidewalks.

Life!

Today I ran the AARP Chapter meeting at the Westminster American Legion Hall.  A local lawyer talked to us about Advance Directives and Wills.  The Italian meal was delicious... lots of garlic, so Elaine would not have been able to eat any of it if she had been able to attend.  Because of the snow she could not... wheelchairs do not go very well in snow.. and besides, Winter is the time when Elaine likes to hibernate.

It was a nice meeting with lots of humor and social activity.  Jim Hamilton was there without his wife, who was not feeling well.  Jim told us lots of his famous stories.

Jim was once a master cake maker.  He created a beautiful cake shaped like my car, and even had cutout pictures of me and Elaine inside, with me steering..  a masterpiece, in my opinion.

 Last year, Jim was written up in a couple of local newspapers because of his amazing ability to grow 11 feet tall tomato plants in clay soil.

Jim and his wife live in a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  Jim told us today that almost everybody who lives there is a widow.

After socializing, Jim prepared a meal and wrapped it to take to his wife.  Jim helped Louise M. into her car.  Said "Goodbye."  Drove off, had a heart attack, swerved over an embankment, hit a tree, and died.

Rest In Peace, old friend.


Life Goes On!

Giovanni Papini:  "Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life."

Marcus Aurelius:  "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

Enjoy the Simple Life!

Humphrey Bogart:  "A hot dog at the ball game beats roast beef at the Ritz!"

Cryptic Trump

I love to do the cryptic puzzles in the Nation Magazine.  Usually, the setters put a few current affairs clews into the mix, but not many.  However, the puzzle for January 16/23, 2017, is quite topical.  For instance, many of the puzzle answers are "parts" of the Nation's answer to Mr. Trump, for instance:

Dreamers

Black Lives Matter

Planned Parenthood

Fight for Fifteen

Three Fifty dot org

There are several more clever entries that brought a smile to my lips, especially this one:

"Sounds like extreme anger: His admirers love Trump."  ... the cryptic answer was "fuehrer."

Bravo, Nation!

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