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Happy Birthday

 Phillip Sanchez - Guest Blogger  I wrote this on my Birthday, last Saturday, Jan 28 th  of 2023   Today, this day I turn 78 years of age. I look in the mirror, and, I have to look again. Who is that old, old wrinkled up man, that Viejo  (Spanish for old man) What happened  que paso? To you How very sad, Que lastima Well, aside from the sorry looking sight of me, the image of the very old man of the sea. I do come to the realization that, Yes,  I’m 78 now Many mixed feelings Don’t know why I feel a little melancholy. Memories of my youth and my parents come to my heart now With it, quiet sadness. Don’t know how much longer. My Father will grant me Life on this planet. It’s unknown. That light at the end of the tunnel grows -  smaller And smaller, day by day by day. But, on the other side of the coin I’m ever so grateful for  The true blessing of this, my Life A healthy body, mind, and spirit I do say a healthy body with a medium size grain of salt. With 2 slight tears in my left rotato
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Still Feeling the Power and Strength of Hate

Phillip Sanchez - Guest Blogger Still feeling the power and strength of Hate Our Nation seems now on the brink. Which way will we go? Feels like we are actually moving more toward hate and intolerance. Wondering if I should re-arm myself again. We seem to be moving backwards as a civilized nation. Is our nation now on the short path to self-destruction? I don't know, I don't know. I don't know if we can not get along with each other. Such hatred and evil coming out of the actions of the Evil One and his Cohorts. Serious cuts, bruises, and wounds in the fabric of this,  Our beloved nation. I will remain positive even though I know it may be very hard at times. Knowing that there are those who really, really seek to hurt others, destroy others, who seem to really have no feelings, no empathy for others  refusing to follow the words of Christ, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me." Matthew 25:35-40 Those of u
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Walk a Mile in My Shoes

I grew up living in an apartment in Harlem. When I moved to L.A. I lived in an apartment there. It wasn’t my desire to have a house though after experiencing rents that went up without explanation, downstairs neighbors that harassed my child when she walked across the floor or a landlord who was reluctant to fix a leaky toilet or replace a blown out light bulb on the stairs, I began to seriously think about buying a house. Home ownership in my chosen area was beyond my meager salary; however, after much searching, I finally found a house I could afford though it was many miles away from my job. That was years ago before the catastrophe in the housing industry. But when I hear people say, “Not all people should have a house. They should be content to live in an apartment,” I wince. Not because what they are saying is true in some instances, but because it implies only certain people should have a house. I wonder if those who say this ever lived in an apartment where rents climbed and th
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in-Between Spaces

Deborah Ladd, Guest Blogger I heard a someone say that, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." must come together. How many ways can we do this in a seemingly graceless time? Sometimes it’s in the work place.  On the very last day I walked towards  the final closing of the door behind me. I was moving more towards my future in front of me, rather than the memories behind me. But I was holding on in that moment. Then I realized that I would miss the more perfect “unions” of the people and their lives …bittersweet. Maya Angelou once said that, ”…you remember the way people make you feel.” Yes, you see I remembered how I felt  right at the intersection of those in between moments I guess you can call it a “union”. We unite in those in between spaces,  that fall in and out if time. It was in the stories told about the weekends and vacations. It was in the soft wave of a hello or in a simple sm
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Expect Changes

Al Turnbull  Guest Blogger                                       (An Old Man's Guide to Advan ced Age)   You are old Father William and your hair has become very white... Lewis Carroll We are constantly told in the daily news reports that our population is aging.  An advertisement in a popular magazine proclaims that 10,000 people turn 65 every day.  They don't cite their research, but anyhow, it is evident that there are a lot of children and a lot of old people around; also, there is evidence when you read obituaries in the newspaper that many people are living long lives.  As one of the elder eldest (I am 89), I feel that I am in a position to expound on old age as an expert on how to exist in a hostile environment.  At least I have some ideas and suggestions to those of you who are in your middle seventies and are going to have to be canny and realize that you are going to have to re-learn many things as time rushes by, and you become among the old older.
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Catching up with Technology

I have collected cookbooks for years. I've even created my own cookbook cutting out interesting and unique recipes from newspaper and magazines.   One evening, I decided to make spinach quiche for dinner and began searching through my collection to find one without too many ingredients and not too difficult to make.   While going through my cookbooks, my head buried behind the pile, my niece walked into the room. "Auntie, what are you doing?"   I looked up at her and down at her hand in which she held her cellphone. an appendage attached to her hand as she seldom puts it down.   When I told her, she said simply, "Why don't you just goggle it." "Google it?" I asked. She peered down at her phone while tapping on the screen. Within seconds, she pulled up several recipes for spinach quiche and showed them to me.   I was impressed.   In response to many questions I have about anything and everything, her response is always "just goggle it.&qu
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