MMGA - Make Me Great Again, Maybe...

I am finally emerging from the doldrums of winter.  Every year it effects me worse than the year before.  I am so happy that things are turning green and I am able to walk outside most mornings now.  Yes, I could walk in the cold and the snow, but that is a another situation entirely. I am always happy to see the early bulbs and I have some new plants already growing in the indoor garden in the hopes for early transplant.  Was I over-zealous and started them too early, yep... Not much to babble on this morning and moreover, I just don't feel like it.  However, I did like the picture of the tulips.  Unfortunately, the hyacinth, which is generally the case, succumbed to the hard freeze after they tried to flower.  This actually happens nearly every spring.  The tulips are a bit hardier. Well, for now - I'm good (MMGA) - JJ

  I may have been down a bit of a rabbit hole as of late.  Not the hole they dug next to my dog's run, but a theoretical rabbit hole.  I don't know about all of you, but I can spend a lot of time in my head.  Too much sometimes and then before you know it, days, weeks, have passed. The cold weather never helps and even after moving back to upstate nearly 26 years ago, I miss the sunshine.  However, these last few days have been warm and sunny and I have been outside, prepping some soil, getting gardening items ready (to the best of my ability).  And all of this getting outside makes me: and boy do I need to clean up my office!  Better get that done before true gardening season (though seed starting is already underway). I look forward to taking some pictures once my flowers come up (fingers crossed every year!). To be honest, I really haven't been on the computer much (hence the lack of posting).  I would tell you where my time has gone, but I don...

  Yes, I wear winter caps inside - bald guy issues :) There are so many things I want to write about, especially the current event items, but someone is already saying what I would say and I think that anyone who knows me would know my stance on violence.  In case it bears repeating, violence solves nothing.  Everything you think it solved, still exists (e.g. fascism, authoritarianism). With that said, I will report that I doing alright... For now, I'm good (MMGA)... - JJ

 This is a picture of our matching kitty cat hand socks.  Can I wrap up what makes our relationship amazing in one picture? This is it.   The cold spell in the southern tier has been brutal, like the winters from my past, and I don't like it.  I have already started some test flower seeds to determine proper seed start dates.  I have the new test garden planned out on paper and can't wait to add more orange for the monarchs.  With the days getting longer, I am getting spring itchiness a little early and I am ok with that. Where I would normally bitch about politics, I want to tell you about learning.  I do try and learn something every day, change a thought process (by obtaining truthful information that adjusts my perspective etc...), and try to keep my mind sharp (this writing is evident of that). So, it's Boston, the band not the place, fooled us all.  You may have already known this, but Boston was not a band cutting their chops in the ci...

So, I made it through another year.  We say this sometimes out of jest, but seriously, I made it through another year.  Sometimes, I amaze myself. The holidays were weird as we were empty nesters for the holidays and it was different.  I continue to try and capture my youthful feelings around the holidays, but it is so hard.  Pushing out the negative BS, etc... becomes exhausting. Speaking of the negative BS - Here is a video for Jerome Powell, chairman of the Fed.  Now, before you get going on the legitimacy of the Fed, etc, this is not about the Fed, but the current drive of the executive branch to singularly control the monetary policy of the country.  And yes, no one administration or official should control the Fed (there is currently a board that is set over multiple administrations to ensure that one person or executive office cannot have full control). Why is this important?  It is important to keep executive branches from artificially manipula...

Here I am, another start to the holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving all.  I haven't written much of anything in a while.  I'd like to say I was busy, but just not motivated to put my fingers on the keyboard. Today marks the start of the holidays for me.  I have a rule, no Christmas movies, music, etc until Thanksgiving.  Why? Because for me, if I were to watch and listen to these items all year, it wouldn't hold the same feeling for me.  I look forward to this time every year and I have so much I can remember (I think I have written about this before).   When I was young, I really thought that the entire world took a deep breath and loved each other for just one day (see previous writings about how small our worlds are when we are young).  I still hold faith that someday we will cast aside greed and power to realize we can be great all at once.  I hold faith in you humanity. For me, I sit here listening to an old vinyl Christmas record, ...