My S just finished a wonderful three week trip through China/Hong Kong and arrived safely home. Also, he’s been living/working in Morocco for one year through a year abroad program with his company. He’ll be finished and home in less than two weeks!
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My husband has really missed our European trips, as I’m still recovering from 2 knee surgeries. Our nephew is getting married in Ireland In October and I just found a tour with 2 empty spots, ending 2 days before the wedding, and rated “easy” for activity level.
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Ds2 has landed in Mexico for his fantasy football draft with a group of guys who have been doing this since HS. I think this is year 14. 
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A traffic camera photographed me running a red light and I received a ticket. I was skeptical but after reviewing the footage I was clearly guilty.
I opted for a mitigation hearing, hoping that showing respectful contrition might reduce the fine.
I tried to log into the hearing through Zoom, screwed up and was unable to join in, and got a default judgement against me.
So I wrote a letter to the judge apologizing both for running the light and for missing the hearing.
Yesterday I received a letter from the court. Default judgment set aside, mitigation granted, and fine waived!
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I saw about 30 women on a highway overpass this afternoon, all waving and holding helium balloons and pointing to the sign hanging the length of the underpass: “More Dolly ~~~ Less Hate”
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Yesterday on my 3 mile run I noticed a woman ahead of me walking briskly and swinging her arms. As I got closer she sat down on a park bench and began swinging her feet together and apart repeatedly, much like a playful child would. When I reached her I couldn’t hold back, and told her what I’d observed and she looked very happy, and that her apparent happiness was contagious.
She was very appreciative and later, when I passed her again, she told me: “That was so cool what you said. You made my day even better.”
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Saw cardiologist today—my calcium channel score today—it’s a 2! I was told no need for me to start a statin!
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We’ve been watching for tickets to become available for a popular European museum. DH volunteered to take one last look at 9pm last night. I thought it was a waste of time, but there they were.
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After thinking I needed both of my furnaces as well as one AC unit replaced. it turns out I only need to replace one furnace. Yoohoo! Still expensive but way less than I feared.
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I just received this text message:
That 20 min lesson is much bigger then you know thank you 
Here’s what happened. The woman who cleans our house is smart, but never learned north from south or east from west. I realized this by asking a simple question about which direction she was going to go.
I started asking her a few questions and quickly learned she didn’t even understand the concepts of north and south, or that the earth rotates on its axis.
So I grabbed a globe and a world atlas and started teaching. I taught by analogy and she ate it up. The earth’s “axis” is like an “axle” and the poles are the hubcaps. It clicked.
We talked about so many concepts that most of us learned in elementary school but seemed new to her.
She was an enthusiastic learner. We were both near giddy with excitement. I quizzed her, including some tricky questions, and she aced it.
As she was leaving she told me her mother doesn’t understand this stuff either and she’s going to go try to teach her.
To say it made my day is a huge understatement.
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We were flying from Denver to New York Friday and our flight was canceled after we’d already checked our bags. We didn’t learn about the cancellation until we were at the gate and the gate agent told us the earliest they could get us out was Sunday. We then asked how to retrieve our bags and he instructed us to go to baggage claim to make the request but to expect a 4 hour wait.
I should point out that this was Southwest Airlines and we were flying for free using points.
We quickly ascertained that another airline could get us out later Friday (for about $1000 for the two of us) but we needed to get our bags, and fast, because we’d foolishly packed our daily medications in checked baggage.
So we hightailed it to baggage, explained the situation, and were told to expect 2-4 hours but to come back and check for an update in 20 minutes.
Which I did, only to be told by a different agent that nothing had been done. I explained the situation again.
She had a look of anger and disgust, and grabbed an orange vest and sprinted off.
15 minutes later we had our bags.
But it gets better. Another baggage agent had overheard the story and commented that they could have gotten the bags to New York on a later flight, and while the other woman was getting our bags he went to work and somehow got us on that flight, sitting together with extended legroom seats, at no extra cost.
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I love everything about this article, but my favorite part:
Bauman retired at the end of 2021. Rather than sell the business to the highest bidder, he sold it to three longtime employees.
The price: $1.
“They were great employees,” Bauman said. “They’d been with me a long time and done a great job, and financially, I could afford to do it. So it was, to me, it was a no-brainer.”
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Just booked a trip leaving 12/01 and returning on 12/09 to visit D1, SIL and GD in CT again! D1 needs help that week with GD since her MIL will be away and can’t help with childcare. I’m so happy I am able to do this when D1 needs me. It’s a good thing I will be retired in February 2027 so I won’t have to ask anyone for time off!
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My H donated his “free money” to our local food bank.
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