Author: Thomas Walters

It occurred to me that, while most of us have not given more than seventy years of service to Queen and country, as did the late Duke of Edinburgh, there are elements of our lives that could and should rightfully be recognized.  To that end, I’ve taken the liberty to add titles and recognition to our dear friend, Lady Peacock, as she would be most appreciative and certainly in full expectation.

Continue reading “Lady Peacock – Building a Legacy”

I’m reusing most of a blog from two years ago, but it’s working again (the truly great stuff is ageless), because  I’m looking out the window and snow is again falling significantly from the sky.  We’re in mid April, and apparently Global Warming isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I thought last week, when it was warm and sunny,  “I’ll bring out the deck furniture”.  I had one fireplace log left over from the winter, so we had a fire in the fireplace this morning.  That’s just not normal. I did uncover some benches on the deck, but decided on a whim to wait for the rest.  Now, I’m rethinking getting the grill tank filled this weekend. Not going near that thing for a while. And, here we are, reliving the past . . . . .

Continue reading “It’s Snowing Again! Again”

No, not globally or in large swaths of the economic sector.  Just a solemn announcement from the Princess during her recent visit.  “The service is declining in this establishment.”  Sad but true.  This came about when she’d asked about breakfast options and was told that Eggs Benedict and Crab Cakes were off the menu. (In fact, we’ve been out of Hollandaise sauce for quite some time.) This terse pronouncement came on the heels of the initial disappointment of the day that, as I got up early and drained the first pot of coffee, there wasn’t much left when she arose and made her grand entrance.  Her breakfast options were bagels, English muffins, or cereal.  She often has to make her own breakfast sandwiches, so there frequently isn’t a gratuity added to the check. But the cereal option is served promptly and always with a smile, although, as she pointed out, it was the “generic”, store brand raisin bran.  Life is full of let-downs.

Continue reading ““The Service is Declining . . . .””

Have you noticed lately that scammers are becoming just a bit more assertive?  A little too demanding?  They plunge right in with personal information.  One particularly persistent one tells me that he’s responding to our inquiry with “the information we requested about back pain.”  As neither of us has solicited anything relating to back pain, it’s a little suspicious.  Perhaps overly bold might be a better term for what we’re now seeing.  

Continue reading “Scammers With Attitude”

Just a little more than two years ago, I wrote a piece on obituaries.  There is so much sadness attached, and it’s a very sensitive subject. It reflects a great deal of person’s style.  Some people write their own ahead of time, and can thus make a personal statement about what is and was important to them, while others allow family members or others close to them to perform the task.  

Continue reading “Obituaries II – An Update”

Yes, it’s coming up again.  The snow is melting, exposing all of the dead stuff that I left from the fall.  Little green shoots are beginning to, well, shoot up.  Even the evergreens that were planted in an attempt to look like an Asian, Zen garden are starting to look a bit less tormented.  

Continue reading “Ode to Spring, or More Garden Adventures”

I heard a new word the other day on a news show.  “Catastrophizing”.   I guess it truly is a word, because spell check on my computer didn’t put that little squiggly red line under it.  Does it mean “make into a catastrophe”?  How does one do that?  Is it like a skier that starts an avalanche?  He or she “catastrophized” an existing natural phenomenon?  All right.  I bow to greater minds than mine.

Continue reading “Inventing Language”

This is a retread of a blog I posted some time ago – in fact, back in 2018.  It’s a bit more serious than my usual stuff.  The topic remains timely, and it’s been updated. It follows on the heels of discussions at all levels about where people get their information, and what they’re willing to believe.

Continue reading “When Perceptions Become Reality”

In lessons learned from Project Runway, there is a razor-sharp line between bold innovation and truly ghastly – likely to get you sent home. Certain color combinations, elements of line and form can either please the eye and capture the imagination, or they can cause us to avert our eyes or worse, run to the bathroom.  Now, as we are in the bleakest of midwinters, when the always relevant and lively debate topic of “winter white” inevitably comes up, can there be middle ground, or are there absolutes in play?  

Continue reading “Winter White and Other Fashion Controversies”

The events of early January, nay the events of the preceding two months or since the November election, have sent unfortunately mixed messages about what democracy stands for.  Maybe even that it doesn’t always work.  But the military didn’t seize power.  The protesters eventually went home. They weren’t gunned down on the steps of the capitol, but several hundred have been invited back to answer for their actions. Democracy, embedded in our society, has and will continue to triumph, despite the best efforts of some, lately Republicans to show their true intentions.  Congress came back and completed its mission – to certify the election results.  The transition happened two weeks later.  But we can ask ourselves, with shaking heads, what are the optics of a sitting president stirring up a crowd followed by images of him sitting watching the events unfold on television with a smile on his face, until presumably one or two of his legal team suggested it could be problematic? Then, he issued a half-hearted response.  Really?  The rest of the world was more outraged than some Americans. This the way we do things in the world’s most potent democracy?

Continue reading “Torn from the Headlines Yet Again – the Optics of Politics”