We live in a world of acronyms and initialisms. Acronyms being the initials of words forming a grouping of letters that is pronounced as a word. Initialisms, on the other hand, are a grouping of initials that is pronounced as individual letters. Try NASA and FBI.How often have you heard such a grouping and were too insecure to ask what it meant?A f …
Oftentimes we’ll just put the TV on in the evening for background noise while we clean up the dishes and move on to other tasks. (We rarely block out the time to sit and watch one of the many “streamed” shows the are in the “must watch” list.)So, we have one of the formulaic network shows in the background.And now it’s baseball season and there is …
There’s an elderly couple in our development. We often see them walking. She with a walker and he cautiously walking beside her.The thing that set them apart was that they never seemed friendly. No smiles. No reciprocal greeting.Recently, there had been activity at their home. Ambulance. And the woman is not around.I met him at the recycling bin an …
Do you have Real ID?The restrictions on domestic air travel without Real ID are finally going into effect on May 7th.When the topic came up with friends at dinner the other night, I cautiously removed my driver’s license from my wallet. I had no recollection of the last renewal and, in the dim light of the restaurant I couldn’t make out any of its …
I dropped Flo off and was looking for a spot to park in the restaurant’s lot. After waiting patiently behind a car blocking the way, I noticed a spot in a next row.I made my way and turned into that row, but was blocked by another car. The driver was looking down at his cell phone.Without looking up, he started forward — toward me.I beeped and he f …
When I realized that my blog day this week fell on the Spring Equinox, I cast aside my drafted blog to celebrate the arrival of Spring. (My sympathy to those of us who live - permanently or temporarily - in warmer climes where the significance of Spring goes unappreciated.) For me, Spring is the time for growth and, more-importantly, optimism. The …
We have three orchid plants. We haven’t seen flowers in years — most likely not since the flowers when we first bought the plants.There is a large plant and two smaller ones. And one is even smaller than the other.Depending on the “tips for orchids” of the moment, we water them, let them dry out, mist them, keep them by the window, keep them in dar …
There’s a woman at one of the beach-side shops. Her name is Nicki.She may be one of the most-popular people on Palm Beach, Aruba and we make it a point to see her every year.She relayed the following:She used to work at a larger company — also in sales. She and a colleague were in constant competition since their compensation was directly tied to t …
From Aruba. The ordeal of standing in line at the Palapa Hut in the late afternoon heat to reserve a palapa was a time-honored tradition. Now that tradition is replaced by an app. All reservations are by app. The lady at the hut simply confirms your reservation and points you in the right direction.I am reminded of a story told to me by Stu who int …
I sometimes wonder what I would take if I could only take what I could pack in one suitcase. I’m not talking about packing for a vacation. I am imagining taking and not returning. Perhaps it is the turmoil and catastrophic events that pervade the news… but that’s my imagination.And as I wonder about the contents of that suitcase, I always find myse …
I’ve always felt that the happiness of people who live (or vacation or snowbird) in warmer climate, is inversely proportional to the weather in colder climates (from where many seek refuge).So, it was no surprise that we received a text on Sunday (while I was shoveling snow) from our friend who left New York on Saturday morning (before the snow) fo …
I thought I was “brushed”.“Brushing”, I quickly learned, is a scam connected to identity theft.This all unfolded was when I returned home to find four packages from Amazon had been delivered. Not having ordered anything, I was curious and opened the packages hoping to find some indication of where they came from. The contents were assorted items: c …
It’s nice to receive reinforcing confirmation.I was speaking to a colleague who works for a multinational not for profit headquartered in London. She was in London and not sure exactly what she was going there.On prior trips from the U.S., she always had a specific project or event in London. This trip was filled with various meetings with her over …
We sent our four-year-old granddaughter a little Lego set for her birthday.A few days later, we received a picture of her proudly showing the completed project.We called (actually it was a video call) to congratulate her and asked whether it was hard to assemble.“It was hard,… but I did it!” she proudly responded.A lesson for a lifetime from a four …
The other evening, I was beginning to compose my blog for this week. About the football playoffs and choosing teams to root for even though they were not my usual hometown teams. The added enjoyment and excitement of rooting for a team — even if just for one game.And then I received a phone call that one of my dear friends has just died.It puts thi …
