Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Good news, depending on one's perspective? It also shows how the courts check the executive branch or how the system of checks and balances works.

Prior to going into this? A nice little video about how a "bill" becomes a "law" in the US, which shows how the Legislature and Executive Branch interact and check each other. The US is a democratic Republic with a system of Checks and Balances, it's not a Parliamentary System, although the system did borrow heavily from it.

I'm Only a Bill...via School House Rock.

[For those who don't already know? School House Rock along with the Afterschool Special was ABC's response to the Children's Television Act of the 1970s and 1990s, which required American Broadcasting to provide television shows aimed at educating children and were "child" appropriate. And specifically the creation of advertising executive who decided cartoons would be a cool way to teach kids.
( Read more... )

( I'm Only a Bill..Just a Bill )

And a fun little one about our Checks and Balances known as the 3 Ring Circus, it explains in simple terms what each branch of the US government is responsible for:
( checks and balances )
Both are rather oversimplified explanations. It's more complicated than that, and if we add in the State Legislatures, Executive Branches, and Courts, it gets even more so. There's a reason you can't practice law in the US without passing both the individual State Bar Exam and the Multi-State Bar Exam (Federal). Also not every State recognizes every other State's Bar, since the regulations and laws per state vary.

So, its not just a check and balances between the Executive (enforces the laws), the Legislative (creates the laws), and the Courts (interprets the laws and determines if the newly created laws or their enforcement contradicts the US or State Constitutions and are invalid, and how they should be enforced) - it's also a checks and balances between the States vs. Federal, States vs. States, and States vs. Local, and add to all of that other countries or what is known as International Law, and International Trade and Treaties. This type of law is practiced and taught under Administrative Law (which has various regulations and policies in place to enforce the laws), and Constitutional Law, also Civil Law, Criminal Law, and Procedural Law.

Hopefully the above will give anyone who wasn't taught all of this in law school or civics courses or isn't a legal professional working with administrative laws and regulations daily - a simplified road map towards understanding what is currently happening? (shrugs)

Now, for the good news, or a demonstration of how all of this is actually working to beat back fascism and uphold our civil rights in a peaceful and non-violent manner. [As always, mileage may vary on whether this is good news and it's in the eye of the beholder.]

1.A federal court temporarily blocks the president’s unconstitutional executive order attempting to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

https://www.votebeat.org/2025/04/24/trump-executive-order-elections-preliminary-injunction/

2. Mohsen Mahdawi, a college student arrested by ICE following his citizenship interview, is released from detention by order of a federal court while his immigration case proceeds.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-columbia-student-detained-ice-seek-release-case/story?id=121317902

3.19 states and Washington, DC sue the Dept. of Health and Human Services and its leadership over the unconstitutional dismantling of various federal programs vital to Americans’ health.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/health/states-sue-trump-administration-hhs-rfk

4.A U.S. district court rules that the presidential administration cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to deport people from Venezuela living in the U.S. ( explanation of what is happening here )

5.Colorado passes a bill to uphold public school students’ access to diverse reading materials.

https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/colorado-limit-school-library-book-bans/

( the rest - not just court cases )

"Since day one of the new administration, We The People have fought in the courts, legislatures, and the streets to defend our civil rights against any attack:
( Read more... )

As stated earlier in this post - the US does have things already in place and historically embedded over 200 years, that enable us to fight back and to do so peacefully.

Another School House Rock Ditty... No More Kings - which I think explains the American character rather well, even if it leaves a lot out, unfortunately.

Also these:

* Electoral College - Send Your Vote to College

* The Constitution - the Preamble

* Declaration of Independence - Fireworks

And finally, a new protest song by Joan Baez and Janis Ian:

Actually, I took the following picture yesterday - on my walk around a section of the financial district. The section that is in front of Trinity Church and towards the Freedom Tower. Didn't go that far yesterday - because my leg was bothering me, and I didn't have a lot of time. At any rate I've been down this cobble stone road before -- it's completely blocked off to traffic - due to the New York Stock Exchange being on the cross street. Security and historic preservation.

The street is in front of The Trump Building (which I have not taking a photo of - because it's an ugly building, and not worth it - it's circa 1930s gothic, but it's ugly). And across from the Trump Building aka 40 Wall Street is...a Caribbean Jerk Chicken Vending Truck - smells delicious. (I'd get some - but my dietary restrictions keep me at bay.)



The Jerk Chicken Stand is kind of sticking the finger to Trump, it's right across from his Building, is the only vendor stand across from it, and the only vehicle across from the building. And about as diverse and non-white as you can get. Gotta love it. There's all sorts of subtle little protests across the Financial District.

My new work digs, as you may have guessed by now, is a photographer's dream come true. So many new things to take photos of.

Work was better today, aided greatly by sleep - I slept 6 hours and 43 minutes as opposed to 5 hours and twenty-three minutes, and that made a huge difference in my cognitive abilities. ( personal stuff - kind of boring...actually )

Anyhow, need to stop this and make dinner. But before I do? On today's walk, I discovered a little farmer's market, where I picked up gluten-free Irish Soda Bread, and gluten-free biscotti. I've never had either. So was happy with my finds.

It was just across the street from my office building. Insanely convenient.



And not much further, was Battery City Park, and this lovely little walk complete with lots of flowers in full bloom. They are hardy little flowers, and unlike the impatiens around Bowling Green Park, actually survived the dip into the 40s last night. I have no idea what they are called. I take pictures of flowers - I can't grow them or remember their names. I may be many things, but a horticulturist or botanist is not among them. The green thumb jumped over me and landed on my brother.

It seems that I managed to disturb the local online Russian-speaking community today by asking what I thought to be an innocent question: "should I go to Daniel's high school graduation?" I don't really plan to skip it, but Daniel seems lukewarm about the whole thing, and the Senior Awards last week was full of profoundly long and boring speeches, and lasted three hours, and I imagined the graduation ceremony to be twice as long. But as I asked I thought the answers would be "go, it would be great!" instead I feel people are ready to report me to child services for daring to consider skipping one ceremony.

I am planning to go, at the very least I am curious to present at the graduation. I mean mostly I am familiar with the process through movies and tv, and how likely is that our town’s mayor will turn into a giant snake during Daniel’s graduation?

His prom was already not at all like all the movies. He just went by himself and danced with his friends and had a good time. And at midnight I went and picked him up from school.

But given that I shall have also George's elementary school farewell, it would all be rather exhausting, honestly. In truth, I am overwhelmed with all the graduation activities this month for both of my kids, and there are so many events for both of them! it's crazy – and the school theater, and soccer end of the season.

I don't think I've missed any of Daniel's ceremonies in all his school life. But for many people it seems there is just one event one cannot miss – the high school graduation, which is something I don’t understand. I don’t feel, to be honest, it to be that much of an achievement. I don’t want to minimize Daniel’s efforts and the work he did, really, but it feels strange that missing everything yet coming to the graduation means one is a good parent, but missing graduation equals being a bad parent and traumatizing one’s child forever.

I am probably too alien still.

I remember my graduation day. It was a milestone, but mostly for spending last day and night with my classmates. I don’t even remember whether my parents were there. I think not, it wasn’t a big deal for me, their presence there. I loved having that day to myself.

I got behind. Sorry about that. So you are getting 19 questions as opposed to four or five.

Brief whine? Sigh, FB at times pummels me with stupid opinions. Also it wants me to save the world? I cannot save the world. No one can save the world. It's not possible. Been there, done that, have the battle scars. I learned long ago, the only person you can save in this life is yourself and even that can be dicey, because let's face it the world is determined to kill us. Kind of hard to save something that is trying to kill you.

Oh, forgot, the Buffy Reboot has cast its Buffy - it's the female lead from The Skeleton Crew. (And yes, I thought she was a bit young for the role too. I've mixed feelings about this. But I'm also not the target audience?)

May Memage

1. The first of May – it’s Labour Day, also known as International Worker’s Day. If you’ve retired, how long (in years) did you work for before you stopped? If you are still working, how long will it be, before you retire?

Interestingly enough, it's not in the US, for various reasons they moved that to September. (I think it's because we have Mother's Day and Memorial Day in May, and that's one too many holidays? I don't know.)

With any luck it will be four and a half years. I plan on retiring at 62.
But we shall see.

2. Do you own a toolbox? What does it have in it?

I do. It's not a tool box though - it's a plastic container with various tools. And I can't find it - it's hidden in my closet. Handy - I'm not. That's my brother. The domestic, handy-man, gardening, and nurturing genes leaped over me and landed on him. He cleans, he makes maple syrup, he installs shelves and windows (even builds them) along with a loft space, he rewires his kitchen, he puts together his stove, he creates a huge five acre vegetable garden complete with a mini orchard, he takes care of his cats, his daughter, he outfits her car with a sink...the man is insanely talented. I'm lucky if I can assembly a table or a peddler that comes in the mail.

3. How old is the home you live in?

It's pre-war, so 1920s? Possibly earlier. It comes complete with a fall-out shelter.

4. Do you often wear shorts?

No, I prefer capris or pants that come down just below the knee, or long shorts.

5. Today, in 1864, Nellie Bly was born (the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane, an American journalist). An American journalist, she is widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg. Have you read ‘Around The World in 80 Days’ or seen a film adaptation?

Yes, I've seen the television series (with Pierce Bronsan and the one with David Tennant, the one with Tennant is better), along with the film adaptation with David Niven. If you want to see one? See the one with David Tennant, Bronsan and Niven aren't as entertaining. I may have read it - but can't remember.

6. Do you sit at a dining table when you eat a meal at home?

I don't have one, so no. Did that when I visited mother. At home? I sit and eat at my coffee table with a dinner tray.

7. Are you usually early or late to meetings/appointments?

Early. I hate to keep people waiting on me. I'd rather wait on them? Also, I have a fear of missing something or missing the appointment.

8. Do you know how to find the North Star (Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere) or the Southern Pole Star (Sigma Octantis in the Southern Hemisphere) in the night sky?

No. I used to, but forgot.

9. What was the first fandom you were ever involved in?

Buffy.

[I have to go to bed, so stopping there tonight. You'll have to wait to see the rest, I guess. Here's a picture from my walk at lunchtime today:

[The title is actually a riff off of a Beatles song lyric, the song is entitled A Day in the Life written in 1967 by John Lennon during the Vietnam War. (Lennon didn't really write protest songs, he wrote riffs on what he observed around him.) A nasty war - and the last war that Americans were "drafted" to serve. A lot of folks fled to Canada during that WAR to avoid the draft. It lasted seemingly forever. They did away with the draft partly because of that War. My uncle was in it, and when I visited France in the 1980s, I stayed with a French family whose father had served in Vietnam, on the French side, when France was occupying it. We really don't learn from each other, do we? I also got to visit a bunch of WWII bunkers when I was visiting France in the 1980s. I was staying in Bretagne, and the bunkers were Nazi bunkers along the beaches, while the Nazi's occupied France back in the early 1940s.It's actually an interesting song.. and it starts with the following lyrics:

"I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad..." ]

I came back to work today and felt bombarded with information. I went on my personal email - and felt bombarded with information. I went on my Firefox Browser (which has various articles) and felt bombarded with information.
Most of it anxiety inducing, or just confusing.

I looked at the national news? And thought...ACKKKK! Then looked at the global news? And thought... ACKKK! Local news isn't quite as bad? But still...ack? ( A Mexican Navy Ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend, it was a lovely sailing ship, destroyed the sails and injured and killed a few crew members and passengers. And that wasn't the worst news (I won't tell you what that is - mainly because I managed to forget about it completely and do not feel like hunting it down). It was all over the local news (the Mexican Navy Ship accident - they are still trying to figure out why it crashed and why it lost control of its navigation, apparently). That and the NJ Transit Strike - which appears to have reached a tentative agreement, resolving the strike.) I just wanted the weather. The weather in NYC isn't that bad, it's 70F/21C at the moment. And it was 55F/12C this morning. With a breeze. A crisp spring day. I wore a sweater and a jacket. On the way home? Just the jacket.

It's also very pretty in NYC, especially in Brooklyn, which is heavily wooded and residential (or the area I reside in, is, not all areas are created equal). NYC has a policy - for every tree removed, you plant about twenty. It used to be two, now, it's twenty. So as a result, we have a lot of trees. Also flowers - due to the climate, which is relatively mild in comparison to 85% of the rest of the country, we have all sorts of flowers and they last for a long time.

See?

Some bearded irises of the purple variety...




Some of the orange variety - at least I think they are orange. I personally prefer purple, but your mileage may vary.



And...whatever this is...



Also, kind of sore today -( Read more... )

Anyhow.. I'm trying to avoid the news at the moment for my mental health (aren't we all? I'm sure you can all relate?). (Also it's not like I can do anything about it? Everyone wants money - I don't have enough to go around and still survive. Also, it feels a bit like I'm throwing it down a well. Conflict and protesting make me physically ill. So I guess I'll just keep muddling through and doing what I am doing? Also the news for the most part has been following a specific pattern, or so I've noticed? At the start of the week it is horrible, and then sometime around the weekend, it becomes rather optimistic. So avoid the news until well, the weekend?)

Makes me think of this Beatles album I linked you to? It ends with...George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun. (George was more optimistic than Lennon, who wrote Day in a Life.) Someone on social media stated George Harrison was banning the Republicans from using his music, and I felt the need to advise them that Harrison was dead. Long dead. Kind of impossible, unless it's his estate or he's doing it from the grave?

Anyhow, here's another iris..

I'm lusting after cabinets that I can't really afford right now or assemble for that matter. This 8 drawer Van Goh cabinet and this shoe cabinet, Winchell 2 door accent cabinet and my favorite Angela 2 Door Accent Cabinet.

But alas, no. I'll probably get storage baskets from Amazon instead. It's purchasing the assembly that throws me off. I need a handyman friend or relative who lives close by whose willing to exchange this for either paintings or baked gluten free muffins.

***

I'm behind on television reviews, and the question a day memage. Two weeks behind on both.

Will try to catch up next week. I need to go to bed now.

Here's another flower...

I'll try to stay away from politics. ;-)

1. Krysten Ritter aka Jessica Jones joins Daredevil Born Again S2

During Disney’s 2025 upfront presentation on Tuesday, Krysten Ritter took the stage to announce that she is joining the cast of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. Joined by Daredevil actor Charlie Cox, Ritter revealed that she’ll be reprising her role as Jessica, the beloved Super Hero/private investigator.
( Read more... )

[I'm happy. I loved the Daredevil/Jessica Jones platonic pairing. And she's my fav next to Daredevil.]

2. The Diplomat has been Renewed for S4 on Netflix

The Night Agent also got renewed for S3, even though it has choppy plotting to say the least. S2 isn't as good as S1.

And Etoile on Amazon - was automatically renewed for S2.

3. In more Streaming News? "Netflix has acquired the rights to The Chronicles of Narnia and is developing new films and series based on the books. Greta Gerwig is writing and directing at least two Narnia movies for Netflix. The first film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, will have a limited theatrical release in IMAX on November 26, 2026, before premiering on Netflix on December 25, 2026. The Narnia films will be "bigger and bolder than they thought," potentially including all seven books in the series."

GO HERE

4. CNN has an exclusive deal to air the live theater showing of George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck direct from Broadway.

CNN to televise George Clooney in the Broadway Play Good Night and Good Luck Live from Broadway on June 7

This is a first in Broadway History.

" The limited-run play’s penultimate performance from the Winter Garden Theatre in New York will air live on CNN and CNN International and stream on CNN.com at 7 p.m. ET.

“This announcement marks a historic Broadway first: never before has a live play ever been televised,” the network said in a news release.

The show is an adaptation of the 2005 movie Clooney directed of the same name and is based on veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow’s work and tension with Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s.

The play, which debuted in March, swiftly shattered weekly records, becoming the highest-grossing play in Broadway history. It has also earned five Tony Award nominations, including Clooney for best leading actor in a play.
( Read more... )

5. On PBS (PBS Passport via streaming and PBS at various local stations) - Great Performances - has shown to date the UK West End Production of Next To Normal and Yellowface (starring Daniel Dae Kim and Ryan Eggold) and coming up, Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country, these are all filmed presentations of Broadway shows (not live, taped or filmed).

Note - other Broadway shows that have been filmed are: Merrily We Roll Along (bought by Sony) starring Danial Radcliff and Jonathan Goff, Frozen, Hadestown, and Aladdin.

If you get the chance to see either or both Next to Normal and/or Yellowface, do so. I highly recommend both. One is a beautifully rendered musical about mental illness and grief, and how the two intersect and are often difficult to separate, also their destructive influences on relationships and family dynamics. It has songs that will haunt you long after you hear them. The other, Yellowface, deals with race dynamics in the US, from multiple sides, and is a clever satire on all of it, from a Chinese-American perspective.

6. Netflix - unveils ... Wednesday starts August 6, with part 2 of the Season is in September

The Addams Family world gets bigger (and eerier) with Wednesday, returning for Season 2 Part 1 on Aug. 6, with Part 2 following on Sept. 3. Gen Z horror standout Jenna Ortega leads the altogether ooky drama’s cast as the titular supernatural detective, Wednesday Addams. The upcoming season will explore a new bone-chilling mystery at Nevermore Academy, as well as characters both familiar and strange to Wednesday fans.

“Wednesday Season 1 was a table setter, but there’s still so much of the world left to see. It’s been exciting to expand the scope and the vision of the show this season,” executive producer Alfred Gough said. Fellow co-creator and co-showrunner Miles Millar agreed, saying, “We have a broader canvas and more toys to play with. The world of Nevermore is much expanded — and we had a great time doing it.”

7. Bridgerton S4 airing in 2026 on Netflix

The cast is revealed, along with the plot thread, and some preview shots.
Also it's renewed for five and six.

***

I'm off to make dinner. So here's a picture from my walk today to the grocery store. We've moved from tulips to irises in NYC, specifically Brooklyn...odd flower irises, I kind of prefer tulips.

[Not only was I out on a much needed vacation last week, but I also couldn't find any good news on FB or my other sources while I was out. It didn't pop up on my news feed until yesterday and today. (I'm thinking my sources took a break for Mother's Day?)

It was quite distressing, not helped by Mother - who likes to watch CNN, ABC News, and occasionally FOX to see what a lot of her friends and neighbors are digesting news wise and to try and understand them better. Mother is 82, and an information junkie. She and my father spent most of their dates debating politics in bars to the wee hours of the night while they were in college. Every time I'd try to be optimistic or bring up good news, Mother would discount it and play devil's advocate, mainly because she watches CNN, Fox, NPR, ABC News, and all their discussions of it. I read it - in the Atlantic, New York, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. Although now, I'm overwhelmed with magazines. So not reading as many articles as I'd like. I'm trying to support a free press. Not everybody has one - after all. And I'm not taking mine for granted.]

That's clearly not necessarily good news? Or it is depending on one's perspective? Good news much like beauty and humor is more often than not in the eye of the beholder.

Good News from the American Resistance and It's Global Allies

[As always this is in the eyes of the beholder.]

1. Supreme Court extends block on some Alien Enemies Act deportation flights. Go Here.

The gist:

Supreme Court rules 7-2 AGAINST Trump on Deportations.
No, they cannot deny due process
No, they cannot remove these people under Alien Enemies Act.
And of course Alioto and Thomas were the dissenting votes. [Sigh.]

( Read more... )

2. The GOP suffered a stunning election loss in Omaha, Nebraska, where Democratic candidate John Ewing Jr. will go on to win defeat the longest serving incumbent Republican mayor in the United States former Mayor Jean Stothert. The election swung 20 points over to the Democrats.

3. New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs a law that will require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damage repair. The new state law requires the companies responsible for the bulk of emissions produced between 2000 and 2018 to pay out roughly $3 billion a year for the next 25 years. ( Read more... ) GO HERE.

4. A federal court denies the Trump administration’s request to stay an injunction blocking its ban on transgender military service members. [Source: Lambda Legal & Human Rights Campaign.]

5. US District Court mandates that ICE restore 133 international student visas and halts deportation proceedings. Go HERE

6.ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero is named to the TIME100 list for his commitment to America’s civil-­liberties tradition. Go HERE

7. ProPublica wins 2025 Pulitzer for Public Service for reports on deaths of pregnant women in abortion-restricted states. Ann Telnaes, who quit The Washington Post in protest, wins the 2025 Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. The Pulitzer Prize board soundly rebuked Jeff Bezos by awarding the former Washington Post cartoonist who quit after her cartoon was scrapped. Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize. "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans won a Pulitzer Prize on May 5. Percival Everett won the award for fiction for his novel James, a powerful re-imagination of Huckleberry Finn. [Oh lovely, Wales gave me that book for my birthday (at my request), looking forward to reading it after Parable of the Sower.]

8.The Associated Press wins reinstatement to White House events after a judge rules that the government cannot bar its journalists. Go HERE

9.In a win for voters, North Carolina settled with voting rights groups and the DNC to permanently block part of a law that required officials to reject some voters' ballots due to address verification issues and offered no remedy to fix the problem. Go HERE.

10. Harvard refuses to comply with a list of extraordinary demands from the Trump administration, asserting its academic independence and constitutional rights.

( the rest )

As always, good news is in the eye of the beholder.

Hope you found something to smile about or to relieve anxiety. I know I did.

It's late, off to bed. Have a good night. Or Good Night and Good Luck - Edward R. Murrow (historic newsman during the McCarthy Hearings in the 1960s, who reported against the Blacklist and the McCarthy Hearings.)

Also, here's another pretty picture...

Miss me? Most likely not - it's not like there isn't a ton of content on the internet to weed through.

While I enjoyed my visit and being with my mother, I'm happy to be home.

For the most part, the trip went without a hitch. I got onto the island without any issues. It was pouring. But not until after we landed. And by Tuesday, the sun was out, blue sky, and temperatures reaching the lower 80s. Sunday and Monday had bits of sunshine. Actually it rained more in New York this past week than it did on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

The trip back was delayed by about an hour - we sat on the tarmac waiting for inclement weather ahead of us to clear. Or so we were told by the pilot over a horrible intercom system. I could barely hear him, and spent the hour wondering if I'd heard him correctly. (I had.) When I got into Laguardia Airport, it was clearing for the most part, and I even saw spots of blue sky. However, the airport was packed - just about every flight was delayed. Apparently they were having tornado warnings in Chicago and Milwaukee, and inclement weather throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

I didn't fly out until 4 pm. So had a nice lunch with one of mother's friends, an 86 year old, tiny woman, who came up to my thigh, and had traveled extensively in her lifetime, and at one time had worked as an EMT in volunteer rescue. She regaled us with stories from that time in the car on the way to the restaurant, and she insisted on paying for our meal (since mother had paid for hers the last go time). The restaurant, Dockside at Skull Creek - had a gluten free menu, and I was able to get fried shrimp, french fries, and cole slaw, with shrimp cocktail sauce - all gluten-free. (This is a rarity.) They actually have quite a few places on the island that have gluten free menus now. (But our go-to spot, Ruan Thai, is no longer an option. They no longer have gluten free available. Sad to say.) It was a lovely day - so I got to look at the boats, and watch the egrets and pelicans.

***

Backing up a bit to Monday. Saturday - Mother's street and front yard briefly flooded, but it also quickly cleared. We drove through it on the way to lunch (which we had to wait a bit to drive to - since it was coming down in buckets).
( Read more... )
After nothing but rain on Monday, or so it seemed (we watched television most of the day, chatted, read, and relaxed), however,Tuesday was a lovely day. So after lunch, we went to a private residential beach - at Dolphin Head, which is also a bit of a wildlife refuge and recreational area.



There's no development permitted, and they've increased the sand to build up the beach and protect the marsh land behind it.



People don't tend to swim in the water, and for the most part just enjoy the beach. It's never crowded and you don't see many folks lying on the beach or playing on it.

( lots of beach pictures )

Mother and I aren't huge beach goers - I don't particularly like sand or lying on beaches. Walking yes, lying no. And while I did go down to the water, I didn't dip my toes in it. I decided it had wild life in there, and I didn't want to get my feet caked with sand or the sandals. It did - there was a lot of seaweed washed up on a section of the beach. I did watch a flock of sand-pipers fly in and out of the waves, jumping about on the beach hunting sand crabs (these are crabs that burrow under the sand, with a little air hole, some find shells - they are kind of like hermit crabs).
They are tiny little birds, and I do not have the right camera to effectively capture them.

While Mother sat on a bench and talked to her younger sister (who lives in Michigan), I wandered about on the beach.

***

The next day, Wednesday was equally lovely. Blue skies, and in the low 80s.
So after going on a brief, but productive (if somewhat pricey) shopping spree (I bought six items, three shirts, three pants, and at least two of the shirts were heavily marked down - so not too bad), we went to Jarvis Park. We did lunch first at the Sante Fe Grill. Where I had a corn Enchilda, refried beans, and salad (I couldn't have the rice - since it was coated in a wheat flour sauce - and I'm ceiliac - yes, I know, it's rice, but I didn't mind - I have issues with rice.) Also a huge chocolate mousse for desert. Chocolate Mousse is basically my favorite desert next to flourless chocolate cake.

Jarvis Park is another environmentally sustainable recreational area designed to protect the marshland and environment, and provide an area for people to walk and exercise.

Originally it was just a small pond. Then it became a small park, with some plantings, and a small pound. Now it is a huge lake, with streams, and creeks, and a water reclamation center. Also a home to alligators, egrets, birds of all kinds, fish, etc. Although I only saw a few egrets this time. Mainly because people were out, the water was high, and it was warm.

( Two pictures or views of the lake )

( An ancient tree covered with Spanish Moss )

( walking through the woods )

The lake is just over about a mile or two around, and it took me about twenty - thirty minutes to walk it. I didn't do a brisk pace, mainly because my leg had been bothering me a bit. Mother sat on a swing chatting with her younger sister, while I walked the circumference of the park. Mother calls her sister each day. Mother is doing rather well health wise, her sister, not so much.

Anyhow, it's late, and while for the most part I slept rather well during my trip, I did not sleep well last night. I never sleep well prior to a trip. And I'd eaten things the night before that undoubtedly kept me awake.
So, I must beg you all adieu and go off to bed.

I'll leave you with another photo...this one of Mother's backyard, or rather the golf course that comprises her backyard. (I'm NOT a fan of golf, but this is pretty for the most part.) This is actually about five houses down from Mother. You have to walk about five minutes to see it.

I'm leaving on a jet plane... to see my mother in South Carolina, or rather an island off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday morning. It's raining here now, but tomorrow, it will be sunny in NYC, until I reach South Carolina - where it is supposed to rain for well four of the six days that I'll be down there. (I'm flying out of Laguardia not Newark - I avoid Newark like the plague.) I'm flying back Thursday afternoon.

The song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was written by John Denver, but made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary. (I didn't know it was written by John Denver, I actually thought it was written by Peter, Paul and Mary.)

Other songs that are surprising in that way?

Me and Bobby McGee was written by Kris Kristofferson NOT Janis Joplin.

Blowing in the Wind by Bob Dylan NOT Peter, Paul and Mary.

I will always love you by Dolly Parton NOT Whitney Houston (don't feel sorry for Dolly - she made more money than Whitney ever did off of that song.)

Fancy by Bobbie Gentry NOT Reba McIntire.

At any rate, I most likely won't be posting anything until I get back from South Carolina, sometime next Thursday (which will be late in the evening) or Friday. Off to bed now, since I'm getting up around 4:15 to leave for the airport around 5:15. I need to get there early enough - since airport security is bound to be a headache with the new requirements.

Have a great weekend and week.