2 weeks to VOTING..

2 weeks to VOTING..

Midterms voting is the orphan child of voting year for Presidents.. But this year vote like your life depends on it.. like the ads say…   As it is more true than before..

I personally don’t care who  you vote for.  REALLY  I don’t.  It would be wonderful… IF ALL THE PEOPLE VOTE..  SO WE REALLY DO KNOW IT WAS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANTED.. NOT THE 39% WHO NORMALLY VOTE… AND WE ARE STUCK WITH IT.  IT IS IMPORTANT.  You are voting for your own people..  Meaning local.. state.. and the closest to Federal is your Senator and Representative.   While trump is trying to make it about him..   it IS not DIRECTLY.. What we should concentrate on is.. HOW  is the person representing YOU..   Can we get stronger people to serve..

So let’s get the federal out of the way.. Do you know who goes the DC for you and I?  Do you?  A lot of us don’t.   as they stay in DC and if they come back to the state..  you don’t get to see them.. Maybe and I do say maybe, they have an ad on tv..   I have not seen it.. but there is one guy who everyone is making fun of him as he is there with a cow and he is in jeans and a cowboy hat..  trying to convince the people he is one of them…  a farmer…… he isn’t. He has been there in office  for over 20 years.. Some where       he got the idea that our SS is an entitlement.. until the people started to scream about how it is OUR MONEY..  which WE AND OUR EMPLOYERS.. PUT IN THERE.  One other one we had mention we were like welfare.. boy did he get an earful and how we considered him a welfare bum as he never worked a day in his life..    So ask yourself.. WHAT HAS THAT PERSON DONE FOR YOU?   Research it .. if you don’t know…

Now part 2… the STATE offices…  your State Congress..  we are a bleeding red  state. People go see if there is a R by their name.. Yet time after time our congress votes against us. After we get signatures for a law or polices… we pass by our votes that we want a certain law or polices … THEY OVER RIDE IT… “we don’t have the money for that”.. and dump it…. And then they changed the rules on getting petitions, for laws we want to vote for (by the way we don’t get that option federal).  We do get to see them..  every election year when they come out of the woodwork to debate or pass their bs to us..   some are so arrogant that they don’t show for debates and etc..  figure being Republican is enough..    SO ASK YOURSELF..   HAD THIS STATE CONGRESS PERSON DONE ANYTHING FOR YOUR AREA?  IF NOT maybe it is time for a change..   by the way.. Idaho is one of the rare ones who has 5 different Republican parties.. We have the mom and dad good old time Republican….  We have two Reagan parties.. as they couldn’t get along so they split..  I think the second one is the heavy conservative religious one.  They are kind of anti public  school, and property taxes..   but don’t have an answer for what those taxes are collected for..  like police, fire dept. roads and etc.     And then bringing up the rear is the REDOUBT party and Tea Party..  the Redoubt are the ones who have the guns, basements full of food for the end of time they think is coming..  and who know.. they might be right.  I am not sure what the Tea Party is.. having heard about them for quite some time..    So you see our state Democrats are rare..and doesn’t have a chance.

Now for the 3^rd part.. This is your down home voting..  mayor, council, judges .. county commissioners, fire dept.. sheriff..people who you have a 75% chance of knowing personally..  as a lot of them are business people and etc.  THEY live here.. you see them pretty often thru the year.  AND you can go to their meetings fairly easy… or you have gone to their business..  so you get a fair idea of who they are, and what they believe in.   SO ask yourself..  are they doing things for the people..   Our neighboring town is having quite a problem..  with theirs making laws of parking meters, and parking at the beach at the price of $3 an hour.. no spending the day at the beach with your kids..  especially if you are a single mom…parking is free (unless you use the parking lot which is also $3 an hour) but if you go over the 2 hour limit, you come back to your car with $50 tickets…  so ought to be interesting in their voting..

So how much to do you trust your people..  local?  State? In DC?  WHAT HAVE THEY DONE FOR YOU..  and your area?    Research if you don’t know..  AND DAMN WELL VOTE….   If you don’t vote.. you don’t get bitching rights..  and no excuses..   they have early voting.. they have absentee voting.. they have the polls open all day…   GET IT DONE..   IT IS important this time around..   DON’T LET 39% who vote DECIDE WHO YOU ARE STUCK WITH..     GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

HOW MUCH LONGER WILL I BE RELEVANT?

 HOW MUCH LONGER WILL I BE RELEVANT?

How long will my memory of the past  will still be worthy to past on?  How long before it will no longer be of value to others or even myself.

I feel like I am part of the left behind generation.  No one cares how we made it thru wars, murders of President and etc.. Pearl Harbor.   9-11   all not important.  The phase to tell about the pass, so we don’t repeat it.. no longer applies as people don’t care .. they feel it won’t happen .. they will change it so it doesn’t happen..  I am left behind as computers came into our life.  I didn’t keep up.  To me a cell phone gave you the freedom of not missing a call.   Some how we all survived not knowing..  I am from the generation that missed calls all the time.. Then came the answering machine.. so you know who called and why.. that was in the late 1950’s my parents got one..  Now jump to the 1990’s.. CELL PHONES…they were large like the radio’s that the service men used in the field during the wars..   Now you can hold one in the palm of your hand..  You take pictures with it..  GPS..  find a price for an item.. order on line..  do banking… pay your bills..  do research,  they are called SMART PHONES..   and I am not smart anymore..  I am old fashion smart..   And along with this came a word spam which is not the meat…. And fraud.. and scams.. tracking of your life.  Where you shop,  who you owe…  way too much information for them to have about me..  heck they know more about me … than I do. There is Facebook where everyone knows your life.. and along about your views.. and along came the politics and hatred because you vote one way or the other .. both sides are horrible.   There is a square called some kind of code.. you just show your phone it.. and it registers it paying bills,  flying… waiting for a package to come.. to make an appt. for your hairdresser..  well, you get the idea.. I have not an idea how to use it.. because…… I HAVE A FLIP PHONE.  It does what I want.  I get phone calls.. and make calls.. and that is good enough for me..  new item.. it can make videos, images of people and write things..  that are not necessary true..    The actors and singers are really upset..  and people are getting fooled by it..  it is called   A I.   one never knows if it is real or not. 

All the laws that have protected us over the years is slowly being taken away from us.

They have names for the different generations.. baby boomers, X, and etc..  mine is the silent generation..  don’t know why as we weren’t silent..   but I think it should be changed to the LEFT BEHIND GENERATION… those of us in our 80’s and 90’s….   there are some who are staying update.. but that is only about 10 … maybe 20% ..  more and more of us are starting to rely on family members.

Even cars.. you going to have to take classes how to operated them.. and if you are not computer suave.. you are really going to in trouble.

So is there life after 80,  for those of us non conformers?   And a lot of us have decided to let God just let me live what is left in my life with somewhat peace..  Let me be healthy..  and when you want me..  I am ready..  In the meantime.. I am going to live my life to the fullest.  The best I can.  And watch life whiz by us..  

 

WHAT’S FOR DINNER….

WHAT’S FOR DINNER….

 

Depending on your age …  and I am strictly guessing…..  of what is considered dinner.. compared to our generation..  (the silent generation is what they call us.. which I never got, as we were  and are hardly silent)

I AM GUESSING..  if you are around 10.. you are raised by a 30 yr old parent..  which means fast food and can food is the main meal of the evening..  What ever Mom or Dad pick up thru the drive thru…  Or that parent opens a can of chili,  spaghetti O’s and etc..   And depending on the size and age of the family..  how many are there at the table..  if there are teens there, it is a less chance of all being there. 

Now when I was that parent.. there were can goods involved, but it was tomato sauce, paste and etc..   and for soups, it was a good chance they were canned.   The meal went from meat, potatoes and a veggie..  to soups,  or a pasta dish.  None of them were straight out of a can..   The can goods were part of a mix.   Gravy was made from scratch.  Mash potatoes were real potatoes,  and summer time it was real veggies…   winter was frozen or canned.

I was raised, as just about every household of my generation.. with home cooked meals..  a lot of them cooked for the whole day.. My mother made her own spaghetti sauce, with onions, peppers, tomatoes  all the raw kind.. not canned. With spices to make it Italian..  and of course meat, this was cooked all day long…   and we did not mix it with the pasta..  it went on top of the pasta..    The stews were another all day cooking.  

Also same generation had Sunday dinners..   it was a two to 3 generation around the tables..…  mostly Italian, Portuguese, Greek and even Jewish…  and even some old time Yankee… and I think it was true of Southern families.

Now we have one of the generation.. heading back to the days of Victory gardens..  for those who don’t know.. during WWII we had victory gardens..    even if you had a small yard, you still had a garden..   and people canned those veggies..   some even canned meat..  definitely fruits were canned as it was hard find in the winter time.. Some of those houses that had basements..  or even the hole in the ground ….. called.root cellars..  .  had shelf after shelf of can goods..  some of them were in there for years..    When I helped Ken clean out the family house before they left…  there were can good in there 15 years or more.. (not recommended) ..  and they are coming back.. the big gardens, the canning and even some root cellars.

SO WHAT IS FOR YOUR DINNER….???  Has your family changed from your grandparents?    I think women going to work really changed it..  having only about an hour to cook up something for dinner after work.  There is slow cookers that some use to cook while they are at work.    One of the things that is lost, is the cooking for rather the eating, of old fashion dinners.. is the younger generation..   if it isn’t fast food…   hamburger, hot dogs, fries, taco bell, and etc..  they won’t even try it..  I tell my great grandson.. they have to take a taste before they can turn it down..  Sometimes they are surprised at how good some things taste.

You know where you were….. when the lights went out…

Because I am old enough to live thru what I would say,  is two disasters..   so therefore I remember where I was and what I was doing…   During the Kennedy assassination and the 9-11…  in New York..  

Here we are … 25 years later…  and have we learn anything?  Not really…  As Ken and I were watching on CBS SUNDAY MORNING… show..   the picture of President Bush as he is being told in the middle of a class room in Florida… about the buildings being crashed into… the world that was upset with us.. Those countries… who  sent people to help as well as things.. And Canada in the very mist of it all..  allowed planes to land… and kept the people safe and fed and as comfortable as they could when you have that many people….. for 3 days at least.. We were all together..  We were AMERICANS…   There calmness, in the cleaning up, the usual American way..  WE CAN DO…  

As we watch the video, on what happen..  the planes crashing, the people standing up on the flight to not take it sitting  You know where you were…..  when the lights went out…down…  the people who ran to the sites.. to help…  one thing that he said to me was… you know…  I think it was after that.. our country seem to start to fall apart.   Slowly but surely…   One of the first things I thought was odd …  was our flag.  We were told..  that someone…  said we should not have our flag on the firetrucks…  the reason they gave was because… those from other countries would get offended by us … being proud to be an American… WHAT THE HELL…. And I remember thinking that too, at the time.  We are proud to be AMERICANS…  if it upsets others from other countries… then maybe they should be here.  We welcome them here, they come here as they tell us that their country is going to hell…   So why … why should they be offended…  like I said.. maybe they should go back..  We surely would never ask another country to change the ways, their pride in their countries…    What was the saying..    when in Rome, do as Roman’s do?

So yes, I remember ..  I was working in a nursing home..  I was just getting off work.. I had gotten  about 3 women up and dress for the day.. Some of them I put in front of their tv’s as they waited for breakfast to be served…(later I thought oh, my gosh..they were watching the buildings fall… hopefully they thought it was a movie)   I was driving my car towards home and was listening to the radio… then suddenly the people who I listened to every morning..  were upset.. they just heard a plane had hit the building in New York City..    a few months or maybe a year., before….. there was a small plane that had ran into the side of one of the buildings..  did more damage to the plane than the building..    so that is what I thought..  what, not again..  But then they seem to be more upset..  and said something about an airliner.. and passengers.. By this time, I was pulling in my driveway..  I went in and turn on the tv..  to see the news on and a huge hole in the tower.. and smoke..    The phone rang, it was my daughter at work..  she asked me if I saw what was on tv..  And I said yes.. OH MY GOD…ANOTHER ONE JUST HIT THE OTHER TOWER..   As we talked she said all of the computer at work were on a news station…   and how horrible it was…  and then she said.. oh, no.. they just hit the Penagon as well..    then she said.. I have to go Mom, talk to you on my lunch…  we hung up..  I stood there with my mouth open looking at all the disasters as they jumped from one to the other.

And then there was the plane that the passengers started to take over and it crashed into a field…  the stories that came out of that two days later..  the families who talked to their love ones just before it crashed..  knowing full well  they were going to die..

There were a lot of heroes that day.. that got people down the stairs before they fell apart.. the ones that keep the people calm as they went..  The heart wrench of watching people jump out of windows knowing their buildings were folding..

 

Yes, we know where we were and what we saw…  WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Jealous of the Rich? No! never happened.

Jealous of the Rich? No!  never happened.

Was accused of being jealous of the rich.  I was surprised at the remark..

As I was growing up and living my life I knew about the rich.. and of course in the 1950’s was the old saying. THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET MORE KIDS.. mostly by the rich as a sneer…. . Poor was too busy to even think about it..

My parents were raised by the well off due to hard work. My mother’s dad was a time keeper Keeping track of workers working hours as well on which jobs.  Company was a paving co. Grandy did not go to college. He did provide for his daughter to go but like a of women in those days, did not use it.  Got married instead.  He became CEO.. before he retired.

My father’s father ran a horse livery stable.  With buggies that he did a taxi services between two ferries.. one on each side of the island he lived on..  Ferry’s going to the main land on each side.  He also transported people to homes on the island. As some well off had summer homes on the island..  So transported them..  and what ever boxes and etc. they need to have to take things to their homes. He had a hired hand who helped..  Some even providing food and lodging… for work.   He then started a Ford dealership, when autos came. Doing the same taxi service but with cars, and truck (if there was large boxes and etc.)  He then started a Dodge dealership and then went on to Middletown with another Ford dealership..  Having his oldest run the Jamestown one..  Also while they were raising my father and siblings they had a grocery store that my grandmother ran.. and they lived upstairs over the store..  The Dodge dealer ship was sold during the WWII as he could not keep all 3 going..    Later the youngest one came back from the Navy in the mid 40’s and took over the Jamestown dealership and they closed the store.   As my grandmother died shortly after of cancer.    The Middletown dealership was sold when my grandfather passed away and his new wife moved to Florida. My father went to work for the government. First at the torpedo station…  during the war… and then for the Seebees (civil service)  repairing caterpillars and etc. to be shipped to where ever the Seebee’s did work.

In spite of having well off parents..  my parents were not well off..  My mother worked when I was a teenager.. she repaired nets for a commercial fisherman outfit.  She would sew two large nets that were new..  they were white.. and they would start by one window in our living room and they went toward the other side of the living room (it was a long room) to the other window.. This usually started first week of January..  and the nets went out the back window .. sewed together.. about March.    In the summer their used nets were spread across the field and my mother would look for holes and sew them back together.. The white nets were taken to the tarp pit.. at the end of the field.. They would burn logs under the pit for a day to get the tar hot..  And then spent the day moving the nets across in the pit to make sure they got completely covered with tar..  Then spread out across the field to dry.  Then my mother would sew lead weighs on the bottom side and cork floats on the top side..  And that was their money..  His civil service and her net sewing..   They did not believe in going into debt.. They saved up money to buy a car.. Never a new one that I can remember.  And Dad built the house we lived in.. He started before I was born and it was done a month after.  It was a two story Cape Cod style house.  One bedroom, living room dining room combo kitchen. And when we grew.. there was two bedrooms built upstairs for my brother and I.  Mom would make up a menu of what we were going to have for dinner for a week.  And then make her shopping list and go get the food to have for cooking.. Sunday dinner left overs was Tuesday nights dinner they she made with other things..  Sat. was navy beans and hot dogs and brown bread.. Friday was fish that she got from the fishermen..   We didn’t have school lunches until I was in high school..  so we had peanut butter and jelly and once a while the nasty devil ham..  Nasty stuff.    But that was just life for us.. we were far from rich…  guess by todays standards we would have been considered low income.. poor.. but we didn’t know it.. As mom always had food for us..  Dad always made enough to pay the bills… and of course we had a barn..   as my mother loved and showed horses..  locally until much later.  We had a victory garden each summer..  and their inhouse slave labor.. (my brother and I) were the weeders..   and I was the barn slave..   lol.   Up early feed the horses… let them out, clean out their stalls, replace their water in the buckets.. a slab of hay and back in they would go..   We also did the haying.. the old fashion way.. in hay stacks..   We learn how to drive.. by driving the truck while our parents threw the hay on the back…  (before bales) and my brother and I sat on top of the hay when we headed home from others fields that Dad got permission to cut hay…(now called child abuse) then our parents threw the hay in a stack and my brother and I would  walk around the hay to get it to stay in the stack….  we had chickens.. so had eggs and we had chicken to eat..  Mom would get in the mail 200 baby chicks each spring.. (yes…the postal service delivered baby chicks in a box.. and when they got old enough to jump the metal circle, we had in the basement….  they went  outside….   And  6 weeks later became chicken for the freezer, 25 at a time.     That was just life.

When I worked for the Naval Exchange (civil service on the base)  I saved money for a car. A 1949 Chevie convertible..  it was 1958 and it cost me $150.   I had my babysitting money and then my money my grandfather send to me ($5) for my birthday..   so I had paid for it myself. I also had to pay $10 a week for living in my parents house.   And chores to pay for my food.   See no richness there..  no spoiling there..

I have been married 3 times.   All of the men had decent jobs..  welders, mechanic. And we live a decent life..   We, too, did not do credit..  we bought cars when we had saved enough money…   we had cars that were mid 50’s…(this is in the 60’s and on)   nothing new ..  we had kids.. 7 the first time around added another the second time around..  by round 3 they had mostly moved out.. and I went to work as a nurses aide..   So you see.. we were happy as long as we had a house to live in,  food in the cupboard.. and money to pay the bills…    I just never thought to be envious.. they had money and we had enough for our family..  So no..  never thought bad of anyone who had all the toys and etc. went out for fancy dinners..  It just wasn’t my style.. And when some one got something really nice..  I was happy for them.  Never occurred to me to think.. why didn’t I have that?    So jealous of the rich..  not me..   I was too busy living life .. raising my kids and etc.. 

So jealous of the rich…  nah…  I am from the “just enough” generation..  trying my best to have “ just enough to live on”…  and being happy there with those of us who are alike.

What is important to you? And did you make a list?

 

What is important to you? And did you make a list?

In these days of fires.. and evacuations. My mind went to.. what do you take with you? 

I have a grab and run bag in my file cabinet..  It is our birth certificates   our marriage license and our vehicle titles..  that is off the top of my head.. but thinking about that .. right now. There is paper in there I should check and see if it is any good..  and are there some papers I should have in there..     I am thinking I should have a second grab and run bag..  things that might not be as important, but they are to me..  

I know what Ken would be grabbing.. his guns..  his father’s sword.  I would add to that..  his mother bible.  As there is so many dates in that book..   we just used it today… to find out what was the year of her granddaughter birth..   that our sister in law wanted..   So, maybe I should put it in the grab and run bag now…   there are other things..   

The other thing.. I do realize sometimes..  especially if some one started fire in your neighborhood, you don’t have a lot of time..   I think the list up above is an ABSOLUTELY MUST BE READY AT ALL TIMES…  but there is some thing you have time.. if you hear  there is a fire up in the woods with in 10 miles of your house..    you might be put on the  level 2… that is get things ready…    that you should have packed in your vehicles…  that day .. that you hear about it..   so when they give you the level 3..  which is GO…   You can get in the vehicle and leave..     There is just some things that can break your heart to leave behind..  especially if it is large..    but don’t fool around.. if there is a fire.  Get ready..  in the meantime..  make yourself a grab and run bag NOW.

So make a list of different grab and run bags..    #1 like I already listed  and then a #2. Bag. And a #3 bag..   if you have time. And space.. #4 and etc.. but definitely have #1 and 2.

the more things change…. The more they stay the same..

 

Some things change. And a lot doesn’t.,

Every year it is the same thing..   first we have the June to Sept…     Then you have the November  to February .  one of the worse is two days before Thanksgiving.  And same with Christmas and New years..  

So what am I talking about..  well, let’s take the closest one….first..    June to September.  We all love enjoying the summer weather..  Camping, cook outs and all that goes with it.. Vacationing across the states and etc..     That is the good part..   but what also happens every year during that time..  on a steady bases..     SMOKE…  FOREST  FIRES…    losing homes,  even towns .some times even lives…..  they happens EVERY SINGLE YEAR..   and yet we act shocked..  It is a sad thing.. it is horrible .. yes..  but we don’t seem to have an answer.. And one of the deepest causes is the weather.. You can’t blame lightening…  as a commercial says..    LIGHTENING DOESN’T CARE…     AND blaming another country is ridiculous…   NO, it is assine.. 

Then we have flooding..  actually that starts in the Spring and last until fall    as many towns that have flooded over and over.. you would think the towns,  counties would have a plan..  Some kind of drainage system… near the rivers and lakes that overflow..  But yet there they are… houses collapsing.   Cars floating down the rivers..  along with other buildings,,  year after year.   It is like they think,, well we made it thru that one..  but we won’t get anymore,  and yet the next year or two…  and a lot of insurances won’t cover you any more.,

Then we have the winters..   EVERY YEAR what do we see on television but people in airports, sleeping on the floor until the air line can clean up the landing strips and remove snow., and some times it is DAYS before the plane will leave…  What part of this don’t you understand?    You think you got the magic, that it won’t happen to you>   Come on people,,  you see it on television EVERY YEAR…  people stuck in New York, Chicago…   and then it backs up the other airports as no one is coming in from there,.. and no planes are leaving for there..  

What is the saying about the description of insanity?   Expecting things to change > insanity  defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.   Yep that is human nature..     the more things change…. The more they stay the same.. 

Pictures....

 Couple of days ago.  was going thru the picture albums..  to get some pictures of a family that we had reconnected with..  haven't see them for about 30 years or so..   the teens are grown adults with kids of their own. and etc..   

But as I was going thru to get them..  I saw several other families that I have not seen for almost as long.  And thought I should copy them for myself and send the originals to the family .. if I can find them.  It did take me about 5 years and with my daughters help..  to track down a dear friend who moved away.. and then passed away..  50 years ago we were friends..   and luckily my daughter found one to connect with and we sent the pictures.. they were SOOOOOOOOOOOOO THRILLED   as they did not have hardly any pictures of their parents.. and of themselves at that age.. 

So maybe that is something we should think about.. that is if you can find them...  we all move on and lose connection...  but even if you know where they are..  and if the parents have passed..    maybe you could make a book with copies of the pictures to your friends kids..    

Not all that looks like is the same..

 

10% against 80%

 

Everyone is so amazed at the reaction of the sports people and fans around the nation. And their reaction to our country..  lots of pictures and stories…  Like Boston running out of beer due to the Scot’s team and fans drinking all they had.     Parading thru towns celebrating all to gether.   No arrest , just happy…  Even my own daughter is amazed.

Which that amazes me.,  See I believe in AMERICA..  I know that AMERICA is a great country. What I have trouble with is our government.  And the hate they seem to promote.

See in the media..   tv, radio, computer news or just the internet itself.. has so many stories.. about the horrors of America..    Immigrants? All of them are rapist and murders and etc.. well, at least if you watch anything on the media and our government telling us so.

But that is what is shown. So that is what is believed, and promoted… even worse. 

I think of it as the 10% of America..   As I remember  the 80%.... that we have so many doctors, nurses, and nurses aides from all kinds of countries..   especially India… Philippines, and etc.  There are researchers of medical as well as other things that we worry  about … for the health of our citizens,,   We got a lot of them from Germany after WWII..   they said we stole their doctors and especially their researchers in the medical field…  The inventors as well.  There are workers all thru America..  they build your cars… especially in Michigan   FOR YEARS..   they build your homes,  they work the farms…  there is so much that immigrants have covered over the years.  Yet this administration has us thinking horrible things about them.   ICE seems to think any one with a foreign name is a suspect.  I don’t care if it is India, Mexico, Salvadore, Japan, Germany, England (although they seem to get a pass)..   but all of these are good people.. be they are laborers or office workers, business owners or what ever.. They just want to have a home for their families.. be able to put food on the table.. and pay their bills, like the rest of us..

Now I get there are a lot who have snuck into our country.. and yes, they have had criminals come in as well.. and they should be dealt with..  but in a humane way..  Transporting them back to their country is one way..   do promotions in other countries, that America is not open borders..   Eisenhower was able to tighten up the borders with out walls..  how did he do it.. there has to be answers..  but we don’t throw them all in a big barrel..  those who came over with visa’s..  and etc.. should have been checked up on.. when it was getting closer to expiration..   mandatory change of addresses.. or you lose your visa…  I don’t know all the answers but we don’t lump them all together.  

 

When I was kid, I was raised around a lot of Portuguese people who came to our country.. the rule was..  1. You had to have a sponsor,  2. You had to have a job lined up. 3. And a home to be living in..

But anyway..  AMERICA  is a good country..  because 80% of the country people care about others..  that is why there are fund raisers at restaurants and  fairgrounds.    Go fund programs.. or even just the person who pays for groceries at the cashier counter for those we see struggling..   The farmers who get together to plow the fields of a farmer who has cancer or been in a accident..  there is so much good out there, that the media rarely reports, on.. and it is daily.. not just in a while.. 

Try to keep that in mind next time the media tries to run a hateful story..    Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.

are we are the last living witnesses of a world that no longer exists?

I saw this... looked at the long story.. and then the picture.. what made me stop at the picture was it was WOODSTOCK.. You probably have to be our age to understand what an amazing event it was ... yes there were drugs, yes there were drinking and sex... but also .. NO FIGHTING.. NO ONE DIED.. NO ONE STABBED... AND ETC.. in this day and age that is AMAZING.. SO then I decided to read the long story.. and it says how I have felt for about a year.. and especially the pass couple of months.. the 3 ring circus on the lawn of the White House... the destroying of the Rose Garden and tearing down the building to build a gawdy building.. to me.. and my generation.. we have a loyalty to our buildings across the land.. especially the White House and the Capital.. and it seems every where.. there is a rare person who has the same feelings about these buildings and what was proper and not proper for our government... we have been almost 250 years with great men who wrote the Constitution ... the flag.. all the things our guys went over seas and fought WITH our allies , to listen to the guy stand up there in France over the weekend and his speech.. instead of honor for all those men of all countries who died there.. or came back in pieces.. We feel so dishonored.. the younger generation.. younger than us, anyway.. who say that is the old ways.. we need to change.. well this kind of says how we . of the 1940's and 1950 and even the 1960 to consider: we are the last living witnesses of a world that no longer exists.

Any way you can check it out.... or not.. to see if you agree: are we are the last living witnesses of a world that no longer exists?

Like I said it is long... and yes I got it from Facebook... for those over 60.

If you look closely, you might notice gray hair, slower steps, or the quiet patience that time alone can teach. But if you truly listen to our stories, you will discover something far more extraordinary. We are not simply older people moving through the final chapters of life.

We are the survivors of one of the most breathtaking transformations in human history — a generation that walked from the slow, deliberate rhythm of an analog world into the dazzling speed of a digital one without ever losing our sense of humanity along the way.

Our journey began in a very different place.

Many of us were born in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, when the scars of World War II were still fresh across Europe and Asia and the world was slowly learning how to hope again. Cities rose from rubble. Families rebuilt lives after years of uncertainty. Childhood unfolded in ways that would feel almost unrecognizable to younger generations today.

Our toys were simple: marbles played in dusty yards, hopscotch drawn on cracked sidewalks, checkers and cards gathered around kitchen tables while the smell of dinner filled the house. When the streetlights flickered on in the evening, it was the universal signal that childhood adventures were over for the day and it was time to go home.

There were no smartphones, no streaming videos, no endless scroll of digital distractions. Instead, we built our memories in the real world — with scraped knees, laughter echoing down neighborhood streets, and friendships that formed face to face, without the mediation of screens.

Music became one of the defining soundtracks of our youth. The 1960s and 1970s arrived like a wave of color and rebellion. We watched culture shift around us, carried by electric guitars and voices that dared to question the world.

For many of us, gatherings like the legendary Woodstock Festival of 1969 symbolized something powerful: the belief that peace, music, and community could reshape the future. Hundreds of thousands of young people stood together in muddy fields, listening to artists who poured raw emotion into towering speakers known as the Wall of Sound. Those concerts were not merely entertainment; they were moments when strangers felt like a single generation singing the same hope under an open sky.

Education looked different then, too. Our notebooks were filled with handwritten notes carefully copied from chalkboards. Research required patience, long hours in libraries, and stacks of heavy books rather than a quick internet search. We learned to slow down and think through ideas because information did not arrive instantly. Mistakes were corrected with erasers and ink, not with the click of a delete button.

Love carried a different rhythm as well. We fell in love while vinyl records spun on turntables and cassette tapes clicked softly inside plastic players. Music became the background to first dances, long conversations, and dreams about the future. Those relationships grew into marriages, families, and lives built step by step through the 1980s and 1990s — decades that saw technology begin to reshape the world around us.

Yet nothing compares to the bridge our generation has crossed. We are the only generation to have experienced an entirely analog childhood and a fully digital adulthood.

We remember waiting days — or sometimes weeks — for handwritten letters to arrive in the mail. We remember rotary telephones and party lines where neighbors could accidentally overhear conversations. Communication required patience and anticipation. Today, we can see the face of a loved one across the ocean instantly on a screen small enough to fit in a pocket.

The world changed in ways few could have imagined. We watched humanity land on the Moon in 1969, a moment when millions of people sat in living rooms staring at black-and-white televisions as Neil Armstrong took humanity’s first steps on another world.

We saw the rise of personal computers, the birth of the internet, and eventually the arrival of smartphones that placed entire libraries of knowledge in our hands. Machines that once filled entire rooms now exist on devices lighter than a paperback book. We moved from punch cards and mechanical tools to artificial intelligence and global networks connecting billions of people instantly. And through every shift, we adapted.

Our bodies carry the marks of the times we lived through as well. We grew up during fears of polio and tuberculosis, illnesses that once terrified entire communities before vaccines helped bring them under control. We witnessed the global challenges of pandemics and health crises across decades, including the recent silence and uncertainty of COVID-19, which reminded the world that resilience is still required in every generation.

Science itself transformed before our eyes. We saw the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, the decoding of the human genome at the turn of the century, and the early steps into gene therapy and advanced medicine. Transportation evolved from simple bicycles and steam engines to hybrid vehicles and electric cars gliding almost silently through city streets.

Few generations have witnessed such sweeping change. And yet, despite everything that evolved around us, certain things remain unchanged. We still understand the joy of a cold glass bottle of lemonade on a hot afternoon. We still remember the taste of vegetables picked straight from a garden. We still know the value of a long conversation that unfolds slowly without a keyboard or screen interrupting it.

Our memories stretch across decades. We have celebrated births, mourned losses, watched friends depart, and carried their stories forward. Those of us who remain share something rare: the experience of standing at the crossroads of history, holding memories from a world that younger generations know only through photographs and stories.

But we are not relics. We are living bridges. Our perspective reminds the modern world that progress does not have to erase wisdom. The speed of technology does not have to replace patience, kindness, or reflection. We remember what life felt like before everything moved so fast — and that memory carries quiet lessons worth sharing.

So when someone calls us “elderly,” we can smile. Because behind that word lies something extraordinary. We are the generation that crossed two centuries, witnessed eight decades of transformation, and walked from the age of handwritten letters to the era of artificial intelligence.

What a life we have lived. What a remarkable story we continue to carry. And if you belong to this generation, take a moment today to look in the mirror and recognize something powerful.

You are not simply growing older. You are living history. You are part of a generation that will always remain one of a kind. And perhaps, in the quietest and most meaningful way, you are becoming legendary."