In this recent piece for the PBS NewsHour, correspondent Malcom Brabant discusses England’s COVID canine calamity. As I wrote in a recent post, dog adoptions have soared in Florida during the pandemic. Same thing in Britain. Toilet paper hoarding and puppy housemates have become the English physiological and psychological base in the Maslow Hierarchy of…
My husband and I are voting by mailing in a paper ballot this year. We live in the President’s official county of residence, Palm Beach, the only place in the country, according to him, in which paper ballots will represent legitimate votes in November. The county is on the up and up, we agree. The…
“When we plant a seed, we plant a narrative of future possibility.” Sue Stuart-Smith, “The Well-Gardened Mind”
I was moved by the Democratic National Convention, beginning with the Zoom-esque choir of American children singing the Star-Spangled Banner. https://youtu.be/t15hVyzCvwo I was moved by the variety of spokespeople for the states’ Convention delegation, by our geography, our languages, our passions. And I was moved by Joe Biden. If ever there was a time for…
When my father was stationed at the American Embassy in Rome, our family mail came to us via the Army Post Office (APO), which routes US Postal Service mail to military bases and diplomatic missions around the globe. [A note here: the Defense Department says that the APO mail service is available to only US…
May 29 was my scheduled six-month CT scan at the University of Florida’s Shands Hospital, under whose care I have been since flying home from Amsterdam last year. The five-hour drive seemed less daunting as my strength and confidence returned, and the appointment appeared poised to be the maiden voyage for the new car we…
Most of the clothes in my closet have not been touched in more than a year, largely due to my illness last year. During my three-month hospitalization, I lost one-quarter of my weight, so my clothes hung on me when I was finally home. As I regained my strength, I slowly regained my weight, and…
I recently shared a post from the American Foreign Service Association about summer travel in the diplomacy business. It’s the time of year when Foreign Service officers and their families typically move to their new post and/or return to the United States to reconnect with their country and visit family. This periodically required family vacation…
My neighbors helped me out with a problem this past month. Our surviving avocado tree. Top half broke off in early summer. Its sister tree was uprooted by a hurricane several summers ago. The tree I started from a pit 7 years ago produced way too many avocados for us to keep up with. We…
These days, the editorial cartoons in The Palm Beach Post express the nation’s exasperation and exhaustion better than ever.