Author: Mary

The following are remarks of  Abigail Spanberger, newly elected Governor of Virginia, taken from her Inauguration speech…

“We mark 250 years since the dawn of American freedom: What will our children, grandchildren, and their descendants write about this time in our Commonwealth’s history—this chapter—50, 100, and 250 years from now?”

“Will they say that we let divisions fester or challenges overwhelm us? Or will they say that we stood up for what is right, fixed what is broken, and served the common good here in Virginia?

Today, we’re hearing the call to connect more deeply to our American Experiment—to understand our shared history, not as a single point in time, but as a lesson for how we create our more prosperous future. And so I ask—what will you do to help us author this next chapter?”

Shades of JFK 1961 inauguration speech “Ask not what your country can do for you… ask what you can do for your country.”

I’m just back home from a trip to the United States. Since the Pandemic, everything in air travel has become super-complicated. There were vaccination certificates, and all kinds of other documents required, which varied depending on the country you were visiting.

All that was complicated enough, but now that travel has opened up, transportation strikes have taken over in Italy. They only last for a day or some part of a day, perhaps a morning or afternoon , and strikes are announced a few days in advance, but you never know what particular airline or flight time might be affected until the last minute.

I have bought airline tickets on-line since I retired from the Navy, about 20 years ago. Basically, you could pull up a site like Travelocity and find a flight on an airline and  a time that was convenient at a price you could afford. Press a button give them your credit card number and be done! That’s it!!! But now……….

What with Covid locking us down off and on for the better part of 2 years, my plans to visit the States kept being put off. I knew that my sister, who lived in Ohio, was in and out of the hospital and since I hadn’t seen her for 5 years or more, I wanted to make sure that I visited her when I was finally able to go.

For the last 8 months or so, I have had a few health problems, the latest of which was an operation on my right eye to slow the spread of glaucoma. The operation was a success, but I had to see my doctor every week for the next 5 weeks, so I finally made my reservations to fly to Boston at the end of the 5-week mark.

This is not my usual funny, personal story. But I just have to rant for a bit. The world’s in the frying pan. Let’s hope we don’t get dumped into the fire!

Putin may have a gazillion dollars, but money has never been his primary focus. Rebuilding the Soviet Union has always been his plan.

The Irish are a stubborn lot. According to my DNA results from Ancestry.com, I’m 85% Irish. I prefer to think of myself as determined, not stubborn, but my mother would have said pig-headed. I, however, contend that whatever you call it, determination, stubbornness or pig-headedness, it has served me well throughout my life.