Mark, your neighborhood portrait made me smile. I suspect our southern Oregon beach house was much like your "harbour" -- quiet, unfancied, populated largely by locals, and mostly bypassed by the tourist traffic heading from the Northern California redwood parks to the lighthouses and art galleries of the northern Oregon coast. Our plan to live out our retirement lives there didn't work out, but we remember it fondly. Do you think someday you might just forget to go home?
Dan, things have changed dramatically on Sanibel since the hurricane. Some homeowners have been unable to rebuild, hundreds of homes and lots are for sale, and property insurance has soared up to $17,000/year with no flood coverage.
I deliver for Meals On Wheels. Every Thursday I load up my car trunk and visit the same 10 or so senior citizens with a hot meal and conversation (if desired). Two of my clients are so poor that they need the food on a daily basis, and the others are physically unable to cook for themselves and would not have a healthy, balanced diet without MOW. The elimination of federal funding endangers the program, and I don't know how these folks will make it without it. The industrial kitchen that provides the meals I carry also turns out hundreds of school breakfasts every day for kids who aren't provided with a proper meal at home. Federal funding for that too is being cut, as is support for the local food banks that help parents feed their kids when school is out. I firmly believe that a society is judged by how it treats its neediest. I'd like to believe this nation is filled with people who will increase local donations to support the slashed programs providing food security for those who need it most -- SNAP, Local Food for Schools, the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, and Meals On Wheels -- but I'm skeptical that the billions cut can be replaced with community generosity alone. For myself, I just hope I'm still driving my route next year. But I'm not optimistic.
Agreed, Linda. I truly do not remember any gift I ever received from my grandparents. What I cherish is the memories of the lessons my grandmother taught me (she was the co-founder of Head Start) and reading plays with her, tossing a softball with my grandfather, and sitting on the rug in front of their fireplace listening to '60s folk music records.
It is a glorious privilege to have a passion in life that you can turn into a career. Mine was television news, which I had wanted since meeting Chicago newscast legend Bill Kurtis at age 13. My career as a TV sportscaster left me broke and unhealthy from long hours, low pay and stress, but I also had priceless experiences with wondrous people that provided me with a lifetime's worth of memories and stories to tell -- and gave me the groundwork for a successful second career. We are the lucky ones, Cecelia, in a world where most people just go to a job every day to pay the bills.
It is perfectly permissible to tell your masseur that you prefer a massage in silence -- and to request another practitioner if your instructions are ignored.
Thank you, Linda. My grandmother never sought attention for her breakthrough, but she always spoke with quiet pride -- and a bit of wonder -- of the call from Lady Bird Johnson's chief of staff informing her that the First Lady intended to take her tiny local children's program national. I'm glad I'm the only member of my family who has lived long enough to see what is happening to it. In the next hour I will head out on my Meals on Wheels route -- another program that will likely be rendered extinct before the end of the year. I have no idea what my elderly clients will do without it.
Dick, in light of current events, that is a question I have stopped asking myself. My doubts about human nature have increased exponentially this year. Thank you for your response.
Dick, if you were "always amazed" at the difficulties in getting people to pay attention, then I would -- with the highest respect -- suggest that perhaps you also were not learning from the failed educational interactions between you and the workers. Interpersonal communication is a deeply complex process, as complex as financial planning. Did you ever take a seminar on communication to examine why your message wasn't getting through? I coach my clients that if we have a good story to tell but aren't getting the desired attention, we need to try out a new way of telling it. My grandmother, an early childhood educator who co-invented the first Head Start program, was constantly tweaking her stories for the children to make them more understandable and appealing.
Comments
Mark, your neighborhood portrait made me smile. I suspect our southern Oregon beach house was much like your "harbour" -- quiet, unfancied, populated largely by locals, and mostly bypassed by the tourist traffic heading from the Northern California redwood parks to the lighthouses and art galleries of the northern Oregon coast. Our plan to live out our retirement lives there didn't work out, but we remember it fondly. Do you think someday you might just forget to go home?
Post: The Long Game of Harbour Stories
Link to comment from September 8, 2025
Dan, things have changed dramatically on Sanibel since the hurricane. Some homeowners have been unable to rebuild, hundreds of homes and lots are for sale, and property insurance has soared up to $17,000/year with no flood coverage.
Post: The Long Game of Harbour Stories
Link to comment from September 8, 2025
I deliver for Meals On Wheels. Every Thursday I load up my car trunk and visit the same 10 or so senior citizens with a hot meal and conversation (if desired). Two of my clients are so poor that they need the food on a daily basis, and the others are physically unable to cook for themselves and would not have a healthy, balanced diet without MOW. The elimination of federal funding endangers the program, and I don't know how these folks will make it without it. The industrial kitchen that provides the meals I carry also turns out hundreds of school breakfasts every day for kids who aren't provided with a proper meal at home. Federal funding for that too is being cut, as is support for the local food banks that help parents feed their kids when school is out. I firmly believe that a society is judged by how it treats its neediest. I'd like to believe this nation is filled with people who will increase local donations to support the slashed programs providing food security for those who need it most -- SNAP, Local Food for Schools, the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, and Meals On Wheels -- but I'm skeptical that the billions cut can be replaced with community generosity alone. For myself, I just hope I'm still driving my route next year. But I'm not optimistic.
Post: Big Beautiful Bill Response
Link to comment from September 7, 2025
Agreed, Linda. I truly do not remember any gift I ever received from my grandparents. What I cherish is the memories of the lessons my grandmother taught me (she was the co-founder of Head Start) and reading plays with her, tossing a softball with my grandfather, and sitting on the rug in front of their fireplace listening to '60s folk music records.
Post: What They Don’t Tell You About Retirement: Part 2 – Grandchildren Are Expensive
Link to comment from September 6, 2025
It is a glorious privilege to have a passion in life that you can turn into a career. Mine was television news, which I had wanted since meeting Chicago newscast legend Bill Kurtis at age 13. My career as a TV sportscaster left me broke and unhealthy from long hours, low pay and stress, but I also had priceless experiences with wondrous people that provided me with a lifetime's worth of memories and stories to tell -- and gave me the groundwork for a successful second career. We are the lucky ones, Cecelia, in a world where most people just go to a job every day to pay the bills.
Post: Never Working a Day in My Life
Link to comment from September 5, 2025
It is perfectly permissible to tell your masseur that you prefer a massage in silence -- and to request another practitioner if your instructions are ignored.
Post: Never Working a Day in My Life
Link to comment from September 5, 2025
Thank you, Linda. My grandmother never sought attention for her breakthrough, but she always spoke with quiet pride -- and a bit of wonder -- of the call from Lady Bird Johnson's chief of staff informing her that the First Lady intended to take her tiny local children's program national. I'm glad I'm the only member of my family who has lived long enough to see what is happening to it. In the next hour I will head out on my Meals on Wheels route -- another program that will likely be rendered extinct before the end of the year. I have no idea what my elderly clients will do without it.
Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.
Link to comment from September 4, 2025
Dick, in light of current events, that is a question I have stopped asking myself. My doubts about human nature have increased exponentially this year. Thank you for your response.
Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.
Link to comment from September 4, 2025
Dick, if you were "always amazed" at the difficulties in getting people to pay attention, then I would -- with the highest respect -- suggest that perhaps you also were not learning from the failed educational interactions between you and the workers. Interpersonal communication is a deeply complex process, as complex as financial planning. Did you ever take a seminar on communication to examine why your message wasn't getting through? I coach my clients that if we have a good story to tell but aren't getting the desired attention, we need to try out a new way of telling it. My grandmother, an early childhood educator who co-invented the first Head Start program, was constantly tweaking her stories for the children to make them more understandable and appealing.
Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.
Link to comment from September 3, 2025
Thank you for the update, Jonathan, difficult though it may be to read. Wishing you nothing but comfort and peace.
Post: Health Update
Link to comment from September 1, 2025