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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.

Finally ready! A collaborative effort with Dona’s son, Dean Smith, who is a poet and writer extraodinaire himself, Larry Lowrimore, Dona’s husband, and yours truly.