12/28/2025

 Sunday, December 28, 2025

1878 Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Quod apostolici muneri on socialism

1981 1st American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, was born in Norfolk, Virginia

2015 Japan and South Korea reached an agreement over WWII "comfort women"; Japan apologized and paid 1bn yen in compensation

2024  A body was found in the wheelwell of a UA aircraft in Hawaii, reminding me of how fortunate I am to have been born in America, and Olivia Hussey, who starred in the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film, died at age 73, reminding me of how fortunate I am to have lived into my 80s.

In bed at 8:45, up at 5:55.  40°, high 43°, low 25°, DENSE FOG ADVISORY & A WIND ADVISORY: from 6 p.m. today till 6 p.m. tomorrow, NW winds 20 to 30 mph, gusts up to 50-55 mph; rainy conditions expected fro 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with wintry mix expected by 1 p.m.

Meds, etc.  Morning meds at 9:45 a.m.  

A favorite photograph and the most memorable.  I tried again and again to obtain a photo of this crabapple tree in the bluff in Lake Park, Milwaukee, near the Lions Bridge and overlooking the lake.  Each attempt failed because of visual clutter from the bushes behind the tree, which obscured the view of the tree.  One Spring morning, around sun-up, as I lay in bed half-asleep, I heard the foghorn moaning from the Lake Park lighthouse.  I bolted from the bed and drove to the park with my camera bag, lay on my belly on the wet clay at the crest of the bluff, and finally got my photo - all the background clutter shrouded by the beautiful fog.  It was 40 to 45 years ago, but I can still almost feel the cold, wet clay under my belly that morning.  The photo now hangs proudly over the headboard of my bed.

Happy holidays, Steve Marley.  I remembered to write a check for $25 to Steve Marley, our 'paper boy'.  He delivers our Sunday New York Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel each week, taking care to wrap each paper in a plastic wrapping whenever the weather requires it.  He lives in Random Lake, in Sheboygan County, almost 40 miles from Milwaukee and I suspect he has a mighty huge route, all covered before sun-up.  I try to remember him with a gift at Christmas in memory of my Dad, who also delivered newspapers in Florida during his retirement years.  He and his wife, Grace, would get up in the middle of the night to pick up their papers, fold them, and deliver them to their customers.  Later, he took a job as a crossing guard at a local elementary school.  His jobs paid little, but he added that income to his very small pension from the Continental Can Company and his very small Social Security payment and that was his total income.  I suspect, but don't know, that Grace also received a Social Security check and perhaps some other income during her life. However, in any event, their combined income was not substantial, yet they managed to live on it.  It's of my Dad I think when I write that holiday check to Steve Marley.

I kept busy today with chores:  filling my pill boxes, doing dishes, pots, and pans, cleaning the wok from the other night's meal, taking the garbage out, doing a little work in the basement painting area, doing a small load of laundry, and puttering.   I also watched the entire Mozart's Requiem, hoping that I would like it more than I have in the past, but no luck.   The performers were the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra and the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir.   It's hard for me to believe that Mozart composed it, and apparently, he didn't compose all of it, dying before it was completed.  In any event, I get little enjoyment listening to it, though I enjoyed watching the choristers and instrumentalists in the orchestra.  As always, I am amazed at the amount of individual and coordinated human effort it requires for any performance like this to occur.  Amazing.  Astounding.  Magnificent.  I also enjoy looking at each chorus member and wondering what each does for a living, assuming that they are not professionals.  Each one of them looks so elegant and distinguished in his tuxedo and her formal gown.  I remember the many, many hours Anne devoted to her artistic and other work with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus under the direction of Margaret Hawkins, and how I loved attending their concerts, including one at Carnegie Hall.

We started watching Death by Lightning about the assassination of James Garfield.  Geri watched all of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me; I watched the first half before going to bed and will try to watch the rest today.

I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree. / A tree whose hungry mouth is prest / Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day, / And lifts her leafy arms to pray; / A tree that may in summer wear / A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; / Who intimately lives with rain. / Poems are made by fools like me, / But only God can make a tree.