local news

Pooch makes progress

I want to be clear that I do not intend to write about every little moment of progress that my new pooch, Sabol, demonstrates as she learns to navigate her way through her new house,

I just want to share a couple of things for those who care about this journey I’ve taken.

Sabol moved in with my son, our kitties and me. She sprinted out the front door on Day One. I had to run after her.  I am more alert now to her presence when I open the door.

I put food out for her. Guess what … she’s eaten a good bit of it. I worried that she might be so unsettled that she wouldn’t want to eat it. She’s settling just fine.

Sabol also has figured out how to work the doggy door.

Sabol tonight has stared down our kitties, Macy and Marlowe did not sprint to the farthest place in the house as I thought they might. Sabol’s reaction? No problem. She knows this is their house, just as the kitties got schooled by Toby the Puppy when they moved in more than a year ago,

Bottom line? It’s all going to work out just fine.

national news

Trump-Vance’s racism on full display

3 Comments

Let it never be denied that the 2024 Republican Party presidential ticket is virulently racist to its core … meaning to what passes for the hearts of the two men who are leading that political enterprise, Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance.

For them to single out Haitian refugees for committing a heinous act of barbarism in an Ohio city that has welcomed them only drives home the point of the men’s racist core.

Haiti is a country that comprises a Black population. Thousands of Haitians have moved into Ohio. Then, during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump asserted that Haitian refugees are eating pet dogs and cats.

Proof of it happening? Trump produced not a shred of it. Indeed, Ohio officials have declared it to be a vicious rumor.

However, this brand of idiotic racism goes straight into Trump’s wheelhouse. He has singled out ethnic and racial groups — and individuals — for this kind of “fake news.” Remember the Barack Obama “birther” malarkey? How about recently when Trump wondered out loud “when Kamala Harris became Black.”

This idiot has no place preparing to knock on the White House door yet again.

Trump is racist to his rotten core. And Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, is just following the racist in chief’s lead.

local news

Welcome to our family, Sable

Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, for I am about to announce an important decision in my life and in the life of my family.

I have just welcomed a new pooch into my house. She is Sable, a 6-year-old mix of … something, and I have no clue about her ancestry.

I have a ton of good news to report about Sable. First, and with apologies to Sally Field, she likes me, she really likes me. Second, she loves traveling on the road. Third, she settled down right away in my truck when I welcomed her into my family.

You know the story of Toby the Puppy and the devastating loss I suffered at the end of 2023 when cancer took him. He was 9 and had become the perfect companion. Sable won’t replace Toby, but I am going to say right here that she is off to a good start in charting her own course.

Her previous family member told me she is overweight and a bit disheviled. I can take care of both of those issues.

I am looking forward to getting re-acclimated with a pooch around the house.

Oh … one more thing. I have been advised Sable “really loves cats.” Be on guard, Macy and Marlowe.

national news

No on launch code access

The advent of social media in our lives has brought us an unanticipated treat: memes that go “viral” and bear repeating.

Such as this one … and I am paraphrasing; Those who promoted lies about immigrants eating dogs and cats need to have their head examined, not receive access to our nation’s nuclear launch codes.

That’s pretty good, right? But Donald Trump is now doubling down on that idiocy he offered the other night while debating Vice President Kamala Harris. He said Springfield, Ohio, is the place where this lunacy is occurring. He’s going there soon to repeat it.

This individual is nuttier than a Snicker’s Bar. Dude can’t help himself … I reckon. I am certain as sure as I am sitting here that that he’ll never provide a scintilla of proof to back any of it up. He’ll just keep repeating it and the MAGA cultists will swallow it.

A quick post script: I met a family from Brisbane, Australia the other day while whiting for a ferry ride to Pireaus, Greece, from a charming place called Naxos. The Au,ssie dad was as certain as I am about Trump …. that the loon is off his rocker. What he cannot get, nor can I, is how Trump continues to make this presidential race a competitive affair.

My answer: Ignorance is tough to scrub away.

International news

A critique of a great city

ATHENS, Greece — Consider this brief blog post a critique of one of the world’s great cities.

I am near Athens for the fourth time in my life and I have concluded something important about this city of about 3 million residents. I depart from the city’s airport in the morning, heading for my house near Dallas.

It isn’t very pretty.

I have had the pleasure of seeing some marvelous cities around the world. Nuremberg, London, Copenhagen, Taipei, Tokyo … to name just five. They’re all different. Yet they all celebrate their personalities by offering beautiful streets lined with homes that sparkle.

Athens? Hmm. It offers crowded streets, not a skyscraper to be seen anywhere … and sone of the best eatin’ one will find on this good Earth.

It also offers something else that lends to its personality: ancient antiquities. One can walk around virtually any street corner in central Athens and find a nearly 3,000-year-old ruin. I am not going to sell that quality short. The ruins are worth seeing and their age puts into huge perspective just how old sone civilizations are compared to what we have in the U.S.A.

I only wish that Athens could boast of a tree-lined boulevard. It they’re out there, I haven’t seen them.

All that said, I love coming here. Athens is the capital city of the country of my ancestors. When I walk among the horde of people, I feel as though I am among family members. They all look like me.

International news

Two kitties have arrived

MIKRI VIGLA, Greece — On my final day in paradise, I got an unexpected treat in the form of a furry pal.

I’ll call him Two-Tone, who happens to be a kitty who joined Calico in sharing their love with me.

I’ve told you already about Calico, a feral cat who doesn’t act like one. The same can be said of Two-Tone, who showed up on the patio this afternoon to talk loudly to me. I think he was asking if I had a little extra love I could send his way. Sure! So, I did.

I will have to leave them both in the morning. I have my own kitties waiting for me at the house, Actually, they’re my son’s kitties, but Macy and Marlowe know I love them, too.

What they don’t know is that I might have a new puppy to join our family. More on that later. I hope.

local news

Back to the villa … and then home!

MIKRI VIGLA, Greece — Well, gang, I am on my own in one of the most gorgeous places I ever have seen.

My cousin and her son have departed for another Greek island paradise, in Santorini. I am here on Naxos for another day before I started my trek back to North Texas.

My drive back from Naxos port took me along a stretch of road we hadn’t yet seen. My GPS wasn’t working because my “smart phone” was disconnected from the Internet. So, I followed my instincts traveled south, keeping the blue Aegean Sea water on my right.

Not long into my drive back to the villa, I thought: What difference does any of this make if I get back sooner rather than later? I have all day to make the drive.

I was in no hurry.

Tomorrow morning will be different. I have Internet here. I can map my route to the port and then follow the directions “the voice” lays out for me. But again, my instinct tells me to keep the ocean on my left going the other way. I’ll have a ferry to catch and then a cab ride to the hotel where I will spend the night near the Athens airport … before heading to the house.

This clearly has been the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever taken … in my entire life. 

I’ve had a moment or two of sadness realizing my bride isn’t here to share it with me. However, I have completed my journey from darkness to light and I am carrying Kathy Anne in my heart.

Now it’s back to the real world. My tanned, rested and ready self is up to the challenge.

national news

Trump says ‘no mas!’

2 Comments

Can you really blame Donald Trump for not wanting any more of Kamala Harris than what he got the other evening?

I totally get what he might be thinking: I’ve got too much to lose and probably not much to gain by standing toe-to-toe with the former district attorney/former California attorney general/and current vice president of the United States.

One debate whoopin’ is enough for the former POTUS.

The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees now will slug it out at a distance. We’ll get to hear Trump spit out his lies, his fabrications about such things as dogs and cats being eaten by immigrants. We won’t see a scintilla of grace from the GOP nominee who gets to run for POTUS for the third consecutive election cycle, despite his multiple felony convictions and other felony indictments awaiting trial.

He gets to join the ranks of “quitters” to go along with his membership in the club of losers.

International news

All good things must end

NAXOS, Greece — My all-too-brief visit to Paradise is coming to an end and I am beginning to prepare for my return to what I call “normal” life in North Texas.

It won’t be easy.

Normally, I am usually ready to go home at the tail end of vacations. I’m good for a limited amount of fun and good times. This stint far from the crowds, noise, hassles and pressure is different.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time away, so much so in fact that I want to continue to enjoy it for a little while longer.

Naxos is a special place, to be abundantly clear. I have enjoyed some marvelous conversations with strangers. The locals have welcomed my cousin, her son and me with warmth … which shouldn’t surprise anyone, given how dependent this island community is on tourists and the money they spend.

But it’s almost over. The grind awaits. I am more ready for it now than I was when I arrived here.

Mission accomplished!

political news

Far from politics

NAXOS, Greece — I have told a joke on occasion that starts with Mrs. Bear Bryant moving back to College Station, Texas, where Bear coached the Texas A&M Aggies before becoming head football coach at the U of Alabama.

Bear died and Mrs. Bryant, according to the joke, moved back to Aggieland to “get as far away from football as possible.”

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Well, I have gotten as far away from politics as I could by visiting Naxos, in the middle of the Aegean Sea. It feels quite cleansing. I don’t read my cell phone news feed too often, nor do I open my laptop to catch up on the political news of the day. For a political junkie that might seem like a mighty hill to climb. The truth is … it’s not been nearly so difficult.

I have spent the vast bulk of my day catching up on family matters with my cousin and her son; I have been fetching compliments on my ballcap that says “Pappou,” which is a Greek colloquialism for “grandpa.” I pay for items with a credit card and the vendor wants to know when he or she sees my name, “Are you Greek?” Then they mention the obvious, which is that I have a Greek name.

My answer to the last part? Uhh, yeah …  I know.

It has been a marvelous time away from the hustle, bustle, humdrum and occasional hassle of my wonderful North Texas life.

Am I ready for it to end? Not … just … yet.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience