Happy New Year....

 Once again... it’s been a while since I posted. Guess I am just out of the daily and weekly blog habit these days, but I try and keep up from time to time.

Christmas has come and gone, quietly. No party this year... I just wasn’t interested in getting one together. Small dinner with a few friends on Christmas Day, very quiet also.  Very un-Italian, very un-Larrie, very different from all the Christmas Days of the past. We didn’t put up a big tree... but there were all my little trees in every room, so the house did look like a holiday. A quiet holiday. Bah humbug.

The November election has also come and gone, with disastrous results. I do not understand how anyone could have voted for a party who was set to allow babies to not only be aborted at nine months but also to be killed ‘on the table’ after birth. That’s murder, isn’t it?  And people, both dead and alive, voted for that to happen.  The first two days of the new administration, everything that Trump worked tirelessly for was over-turned. Thousands in Pennsylvania will lose their jobs because the Keystone Pipeline has been halted. The US will once again rely on foreign (and sometimes hostile) nations for oil. Billions of dollars will now be spent on bad deals that were signed during Obama’s years in office, which had been fixed to the US’s advantage by Trump, then over-turned immediately when Obama’s third term began a few days ago.  This country will probably never see another Republican president again... mainly because the number of democrats who ‘voted’ in this last election is higher than the actual number of registered democratic voters. They cheated once, they will do it again. 

Happier things... our new (since Thanksgiving) dog Benjamin has fit nicely into our household.... he is the happiest little dog I have ever seen... just happy to be on this planet. My Book Club with the kids is rolling along... we are all working on a project called The Book Of Me. Every page has a question, and the answers are a combination of writing and illustrating. The kids were overwhelmed at first but were really excited by the time we got to the third question. My monthly First Sunday Book Swap with the neighbors will soon be cancelled probably... lack of interest, lack of enthusiasm, lack of a real neighborhood. (“Come on, Charlie Brown, kick the football.”)

Life here has gone to the dogs... Savannah and Benjamin. Two dogs to walk, brush, feed, play with, and love. Mostly love. They are great company for one another, and it seems as if Benjamin has been with us for as long as Savannah has. And the cats... four cats. Benjamin has made friends with Sweet Pea and Julius, but it’s taking longer with Peaches and Zuzu. When I pick up Julius, I tell him “Your momma has two dogs and four cats! She’s crazy!” And Julius purrs and puts his head on my shoulder and his paw on my neck. Maybe I’m not so crazy after all.