Fake license plates and signs on walls abound, telling us they will defend the 2nd amendment with their guns. Unfamiliar with the 2nd amendment? It’s the right to bear arms. In rural parts of the United States, gun owners really believe that the rest of us, especially Democrats, want to take their guns.
They really believe removing the 2nd amendment is in play because these people avoid watching national TV news, don’t listen to the radio, don’t read newspapers, except, maybe, their local weekly. They get their news from YouTube, and also believe chem trails are the reason for any climate change you might experience. However, Waynesboro is in a heavily forested area, & logging is a major industry.They believe the government allows aircraft to spew biological chemicals on everything, They do not believe their own actions, deforestation, too many people using too much water & not replenishing aquifers are a problem. They will recycle for the most part, because landfill space is getting dear, but make excuses for using disposables because personal actions are not causing any problems. If you accept Jesus into your heart, you’re forgiven for all the lazy, stupid, dishonest actions you take.
I’m of the mindset that if you say you follow religious teachings of any religion, you understand what’s important in that religion. This is why I choose a Sikh ethos. It was so difficult understanding why there are so many contradictions in the Old Testament. I don’t understand why God told the Israelites to ask their neighbors for their jewelry to borrow, –& what was so evil that the people of Jericho were doing that God told Joshua to destroy the whole town, How could children be so evil? The irony is, as I write this, Zionists Jews in Israel are killing God’s children in Gaza and the West Bank, and believe that they were attacked first by Palestinians & surrounding Moslems—-not the real history of coming into the land of Palestine and terrorizing people already there. But the people in rural America really don’t care. They do not consider anyone God’s children unless they accept Jesus into their hearts, so that couldn’t be Muslims or Jews. They are only concerned with Jerusalem. In any case, my sister, who is not a scholar of Christianity, but is born again, leads a Bible Study. they take turns interpreting the bible.
Waynesboro is a place, but the town center is very small, and most people go to surrounding towns for groceries. There is a large Amish (Mennonite?) population, and these people have farms and make things, but pretty much stick to themselves.
People move to southern rural areas because they want to be with people like them: Christians. They do not believe people are born gay or transgender, in spite of scientific evidence. They believe these people have made a choice. Drag shows are illegal in Tennessee, They believe their children will be enticed to be aberrant, and are sure they are acting in Jesus names.
Yet, there are a lot of abandoned and abused pets in this part of the country. Abandoned by Christians. So much for having dominion over the animals.
Bible Gateway Matthew 7 :: NIV. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
But Jesus didn’t say this, Matthew did, And Paul, in Ephesians, tells slaves to obey their masters. Look that up & see all the explanations for why slavery was ok.
And abortion? Interesting—because they Bible says NOTHING ABOUT ABORTION, but does address miscarriage, and Jews believe you aren’t a person until you’re born—but every Christian sect will site convoluted Bible passages about why life begins at conception.
This is why they believe Trump was sent by God and Biden is the devil. Nobody’s perfect, but Trump has pandered to their souls.
It was like being in a foreign, unfriendly country, where people look normal and friendly as long as they don’t know who you are.
This book was turned into a cable miniseries, but no drama can give you the impact of the prose of the book.
There are many ways to tell a story, but Garmus did a great job of telling us how women were regarded by men for so many centuries in western culture. This story takes place in the late 1950s—-early 1960s. Along the way, she gets in a few digs at the Catholic Church. This is global cultural influence of Christianity is what I addressed in my own book:
The church influences public policy as well—-to this day. Our abortion laws are based on what non-scientific people, who are given credibility—believe when live begins. You can tell how disingenuous they are—and more about controlling women, by the compromises they are willing to make, Yeah, life begins at conception, but if the fetus doesn’t LOOK LIKE a total human, then abortion is ok.
I’m a boomer, and I know my parents hoped that my ultimate goal would be to find a good husband and have a normal life with a normal family.
This story involves two individuals, Calvin Evans and Elizabeth Zott, failed by their families for various reasons. How many children today are failed by their families: not encouraging them, or saving them from bad decisions? How a many orphans are mentored realistically, not with an agenda?
While there are a few minor flaws in the story (the dog, ‘Six Thirty’, knows several hundred words. Is that really relevant?), people should know that woman were commonly treated like Elizabeth.
A couple of months ago, I had shingles. Yes, I had the shot, about 15 years ago. I remember having chicken pox, so of course I got the vaccine—& they said it was good forever, but it wasn’t. No sores, no blisters, but excruciating nerve pain.
My own doctor was away, so the clinic suggested I see another doctor, which I did. She gave me a prescription, but it was barely effective. A week later, my own physician was back, I saw him, and he gave me another prescription—which took almost three weeks to be effective.
Then, I got a bill for a co-pay. It seems the 1st doctor I saw was NOT in the network! Or—was it a billing error? Or—now do we have to ask, every time we want to see our doctors, and the clinic asks if we’d see another because, for whatever reason, my own doctor wasn’t available—if the doctor they suggest is IN THE NETWORK?
This is obviously either a coding issue or a human failure issue, but no matter. I won’t tell you how many hours I ended up spending with my insurance company straightening this out.
I bring this up because this is a very real problem: healthcare billing snafus. Meanwhile, the old white men in Congress got a bug up their asses that TikTok is stealing Americans’ personal information.
If they are, the train has left the station. Apparently when the credit reporting agencies decided to store all our info in the cloud & that was breached…that wasn’t as huge a problem as Tik Tok.
What will the Chinese (or the Russians, the Indians, Filipinos, Tajikis, Uzbekis etc) find when they steal out personal information? Lots of us have bad credit and don’t pay our bills. Google it. Something like 22% to 47% have over $10,000 in debt.
About 10 years ago, I Googled ‘ceiling fans’. For weeks, on Facebook, I was getting ads for ceiling fans. it’s true for anything you Google. The is no privacy. You’d think, knowing this, any agency that keeps our financial or health records would NOT be storing this info online, but on discs—but silly me, that’s not how it works. Face it. There is no privacy. At least we know where TikTok has their corporate offices. How about all the no-names scamming people, stealing our stuff? We never have any idea where the scammers are. They easily post on all social media, from Craigslist and Facebook to dating sites.
Banning TikTok is banning free speech. There are a million ways around the ban, but right now, it looks like TikTok is playing by the rules.Our federal law makers don’t seem to recognize that they are too late.
I never really had a bucket list, but from the time I was a very young child, I romanticized France. Who knows why? French Poodles? The Eiffel Tower? I have no idea. I’ve traveled to Africa 5 times, but didn’t get to France (except to change planes, when I was a U. N. volunteer in Bosnia) until about 4 years ago—just before COVID.
A good friend and I took advantage of a Gate 1 self-guided trip to Paris just before COVID. Hotel and airfare from New York was $799. We were in a Holiday inn just across from the Gard l’este train station, and took the Big Bus around and saw all the sites. My friend spent about 1/2 an hour in the Louvre (we got there late—after 6:p.m.), but we also go to the Musee d”Orsey (extremely crowded), Notre Dame (before it burned), l’Orangerie, and the Rodan museum. We got to ride the metro. I got to the top of the Eiffel Tower—and that sort of was on my ‘bucket list;—but even with a ‘skip the line’ ticket, it took over an hour to get to the front of the line, That’s how things are these days,
I wanted to see the south of France. A friend owned a garage in Nice, where she said that she wanted to retire, and I wanted to see Monaco, and this Gate 1 trip included that: Paris to Avignon on the high speed rail, and a bus tour along the coast.
There were 33 people on this tour. There were only 2 other singles besides me. A couple in their early 30’s, and another couple late 230’s. and everyone else over the age of 60—including several 85+
I wish we could have spent a bit more time in Paris, I probably could have gotten to the Louvre, but tickets are expensive and the wait to get in is long, Indeed, everything you want to see in Paris involves crowds & long lines. As it was, we took a bus tour that ended at Luxenbourg Gardens, and the guide gave us directions on how to get here & there,and back to the hotel. I could have taken a cab back to our hotel (a quaint place in the Latin Quarter, which would have been more quaint if we hadn’t been without water for 7 hours & had the elevator worked), but the park was right across the street from the metro stop, so I decided to take the metro.
Unfortunately, the direct route ended at a particular stop, and the information people told me to get back on and go around the long way—or—-go out of the Metro, “cross the bridge” & get on at another stop. This was confusing, I did go up, but there were several bridges and a lot of construction around them, so I wandered in several directions looking for another metro stop for over an hour. Finally, I went to a bus stop, which indicated 1 stop was at the Bastille, 2 stops from the hotel. When I asked some people waiting for the bus, they told me I could walk to the Bastille, and I knew that, but I was going 2 stops beyond. In the end, I DID walk to the Bastille—over a mile, in the rain, but got on and went back to the hotel.
Some people chose to go to Versailles. I didn’t. It’s overwhelmingly gaudy, and I was told, crowded. It was also an extra $100 or so.
Dinner was included at what was a typical French Bistro. Choices were limited. I don’t remember what the other options were for appetizers. I chose a shrimp cocktail, and for the main course, prawns, A prawn is larger than a shrimp, but what I got was more shrimp. It was fine. Some people got escargot (rubbery snails—not my thing) & some got frogs legs—-stringy greasy things. Dessert was ice cream with a caramel sauce.
The next day, we took the high speed rail to southern France. You go through beautiful countryside, and we got off near Avignon. From there, we went to the ‘Palace of the Popes’. This is a huge castle, built in the 1300s. The reason there were popes in France (Clement V moved the papacy there) was strife within the Catholic church. You have to realize that the popes were liars, cheaters, adulterers, had many illegitimate children, and were generally scoundrels. For the life of me, I can’t understand why people continue to be devotees of the Catholic church and all their bs rituals. …except that they believe they’re sinners, want to continue sinning, & want to or have to believe in heaven. No thanks, Not interested. Not for an extra $60 The town, also a major market of lavender products, is quaint and interesting. While walking around, I saw 2 Miniature Schnauzers, several French Bulldogs, an English Bulldog, a Bearded Collie, and several Lagotto Romagnolo (looks like a cockapoo, except purebred).
From Avignon, we rode to Nimes (the place where denim originated). Nimes is also historical. A lot of Roman ruins including an ampitheatre. We took a morning trip to view the old Roman aqueduct at Point du Gard.. It’s in a park, & is a UNESCO world heritage site.
We then drove back to Nimes. The hotel was fine, but the dinner—included—gave limited options. & how they set up a breakfast buffet—in the middle of a long hall, which was awkward, and lots of cake and pasties, but no cheese, and they didn’t know how to cook bacon or eggs, or coffee…
The next day, we drove through the beautiful French countryside, through olive groves & vineyards, and stayed in Arles. It was extremely windy. Very historical because van Gogh painted a lot there. It was interesting to be in the spots he had painted. We also got to see the mental hospital he had checked himself into. One has to keep in mind that mental illness was not understood in the late 1800s. Arles is a nice town, lots of boutiques, and of course you can get lots of lavender.
On the way to Nice, we stopped at what in America we’d call a truck stop. Posters of van Gogh paintings were displayed, but what really impressed me more than anything, they serve FOOD. Not plastic wrapped ‘God-knows-what’ or hot dogs that you’d find in America, who knows how long ago it was wrapped. They were making fresh pizza, baguette sandwiches, and pastries. Just awesome.
We drove through the city of Cannes. You know immediately that you don’t belong there. Lots of upscale condos, and they have a beach—a long beach.
We were supposed to stop in a town called Grasse to visit a perfumery, but instead went to Frangonard, a factory on an outcrop on the way to Monaco. Since I had been to a perfumery in Dubai, this was nothing new. They manufactured perfume, argon oil hair conditioner, cologne, and soap, I ended up buying a very expensive bar of rose scented soap (6 euro), but I have to say, after 2 weeks, the scent is still strong.
We backtracked to our hotel in Nice—-a really nice, charming city, especially the ‘old town’, but a ‘highlight’ should have been spending the evening at the casino in Monaco. BTW—Monte Carlo is a ‘neighborhood’ in Monaco. Not knowing what dinner would cost, and not feeling that spending $50+ on a surprise dinner would be worth it, I couldn’t go into the casino—but you can see in—& except for people dressing better (there’s a dress code), it looks like any other casino anywhere. The people who paid for dinner enjoyed it. A few of us walked around—-but there’s nothing open after 7:p.m. The town was setting up for a Formula 1 race, so —it seemed to me—there were a lot of teenagers milling around. Also, Monaco is built on a mountain. The sidewalks are either ceramic tile or marble, and I can imagine how treacherous they are when wet. In any case, lots of cars you never see: Lamborghinis, Maseratis, whatever. We returned to Nice around 10.
The next day, our guide took us through the old town and to the market. Charming, really. I ended up buying a boatload of fancy soap. I could have gone to St. Paul de Vence, but it was an additional $45, and I’d had enough walking around quaint.
it was a quick and lovely trip, and I’ve noticed that Gate 1 seems to have revised or totally changed this trip as offered.
I’ll return to my ‘regular’ blog subjects next week, but I see from my stats that many people come to this blog from what I’ve blogged about dogs. Those blogs get shared a lot. I have about 200 regular subscribers, but many of the posts have been shared hundreds of times.
I started blogging because I loved dogs enough to learn about them, but a guy (Dan London, out of business for years, & who thinks integrity is a character flaw—like Trump) tried to make my life hell because I refused to work for him—& give him credibility he didn’t deserve. Beware of dog businesses where they address how much their employees ‘love dogs‘ but have never trained a dog to off-leash reliability, have never brushed their own dog, and think ‘breeds’ don’t matter.
There is some confusion among alleged pet lovers: this is the 21st century. there are no ‘accidental’ breedings—just irresponsible pet owners who refuse to manage their pets’ fertility…& they seem to think that the rest of us who are responsible should bail them out. Sort of like people who feel children are a gift from God, but can’t take care of them, so we must morally take care of those kids.
That said, “I’m not a breeder, my dog just had puppies,” is not an excuse or explanation for NOT taking responsibility. If you can’t manage your pet’s fertility, your should be neutered. Yet, the ADOPT DON’T SHOP crowd blames breeders NOT causing the problem of surplus pets—-& tries to guilt the rest of us into solving a problem we haven’t caused. How is that working?
This is what breeders who love their dogs do:
First, when planning the breeding, they do all known genetic and health testing of the breeding dogs. Even when doing this, sometimes dogs are born with genetic defects. I have friends who breed Golden Retrievers, and they have at least 3 generations of dogs that are OFA (CERF) (that means the dogs have had their hips xrayed, fair, normal, or excellent), yet still, when their offspring pups are xrayed at 2 years of age, some have a form of hip dysplasia, It happens. Same with deafness (BAER tests) and Juvenile Cataracts (dogs developing cataracts before age 3). If you love dogs, you want to avoid breeding dogs that will be disabled.
Once the pups are born, they are raised in a normal ‘noisy’ environment, where they get to hear sounds of regular life. After all are accounted for, the breeder checks for cleft palates and missing toes. These problems are more common in toy breed dogs (including designer mixes) and bracheocephalics, and usually humanely euthanized.
Those breeders trying to guilt you into taking a puppy with a cleft palate (which would need surgery) are unethical.
Breeders who love their dogs and puppies will have the litter on an absorbent, nonslip surface. Many use washable pads to avoid paper waste. They will also have what may be described as ‘crib toys’: items hanging down for puppies to interact with. Good breeders want their puppies curious and stimulated.
When the weaning process starts, breeders start cutting toenails and ‘stacking’ puppies individually on a table. Breeders do this not just to get the dogs used to being picked up and handled, but to get the dog used to being groomed. We call this ‘training’ BEHAVIOR SHAPING. Also, if they breed bracheocephalic dogs—especially the coated ones (Shih Tzu, Affenpinschers, Brussels Griffons), they get the pup used to having their muzzle held while combing under the eyes. This is so important. If this isn’t done every day until the pup gets used to the grooming motions (the genetic reaction would be to flinch and move away, but this must be overcome), the groomers will not be able to do this without risking injury to the eyes, and the dog will have to be sedated for grooming.
Once the weaning process is underway or completed, breeders put collars on the puppies, and may have them drag a leash, or the breeder may take individual puppies around and coax them.
Once the pups have had their first shots (and wormed, if necessary), the pups can go to new homes, usually between the ages of 8 to 12 weeks. It’s important for puppies to learn to play and fight with their siblings. It’s a known fact that ‘singletons’ and dogs taken too young (under 8 weeks of age) often become unnaturally aggressive towards other dogs.
The breeder should ask you if you own or rent your home, and ask for proof. Animal shelters know one major reason they get dogs back is, “Landlord won’t allow.” Chicago Animal Care & Control—our open admissions CITY DOG POUND —-asks to see a signed lease and they call the landlord as well. I’m shocked at how many pet buyers never consider any of this. Many breeders will ask how long the puppy will be alone during the day, or what arrangements you’ve made for a dog walker. Some will suggest dog daycare. I discourage daycare for a puppy under 8 months old, Why? Most dog daycares are not run by people with ‘dog experience’ : that is—by people who’ve worked in kennels as well as trained dogs, & recognize dog behavior. Loving dogs is not enough. I’ve worked for several businesses that put young puppies with mature toy dogs, ‘because they’re all small’. What happens is that the older dogs bully the puppies. This also makes aggressive dogs.
The breeder will also suggest a crate and why crate training is so important (if your dog is sick or injured, it will be in a crate at the animal hospital—& the dog is always safer in the car in a crate)
If the breeder is selling coated dogs (shedders and nonshedders), she will show you how to brush the dog, and explain what grooming tools you will need and where to get them. I worked for an Afghan Hound breeder, the late Fredric Mark Alderman. He didn’t sell you a puppy if you had never had an Afghan until you spent an afternoon grooming dogs with him. He didn’t want to hear that you had no idea how long it took, or how often it needed to be done, or that you needed a grooming table and a stand dryer.
A breeder who loves their dogs will give you written feeding, grooming, and housebreaking instructions, as well as a pedigree. They will have you sign a contract that says that if you can’t keep the dog, you will return it to them. Keep in mind, everyone wants a puppy. As they mature, they go down in value, not up…unless your dog matures to be a show dog.
A responsible shelter or rescue would also give you care instructions.
This is the 21st century. It’s easy enough to get pet care information. However, it’s a free country. You don’t have to control your impulses or pocketbook. However, if you really are concerned about dogs ending up in shelters, don’t buy or take a puppy from a dog owner who tells you the litter was an accident. that’s not your problem.
This has been a not-so-great week due to poor planning as well as assumptions. I turned a $1800 ‘vacation’ into a $3000 one because I neglected to actually ask my roommate to stop working, take his headphones off, and listen to me. I had told him I was going out-of-the-country for about 10 days. I did this months ago—-before I went to Dubai. I said I’d be back for 3 weeks, then go to France. Trying to plan better, to make sure I could get a ride to the airport rather than getting up 3 hours early to take public transportation, I asked him if he could drive me to the airport next Saturday because I have to be there at 6:00 for an 8:00 flight.
He looked at my itinerary and vocalized (Wo!Wo!Wo!), because he will be away for 3 days near the end of my trip. He could not take care of my dog and would not bring her to the kennel. That meant I had to arrange for boarding.
This was last Friday night, and I did not sleep well. It’s Spring Break in my area, & I really feared all good kennels would be booked full. I Googled one close to the house. It’s run by someone who has an advanced degree in animal behavior, and two of my dog training friends work there. Unfortunately, the minimum charge is $65 a night ($85 during peal times!!!).
So I called Carriage Hill, in Glenview. This kennel is older than I am. It’s run by family, so everyone involved has come up working in the kennel and learning dog behavior, They show and hunt. It’s austere, I know Delilah will be stressed and unhappy, but she’ll be safe. My tenants can’t care for her, because she hides under the bed when they try to get her out, but she’ll also nip them if she’s out in the a yard and I’m not. This is the irony of training a dog: she knows all the exercises, and comes reliably when called, but that kind of thing doesn’t change a dog’s personality.
But I also had a kerfuffle with my uncle’s wife and my sister.
Over 20 years ago, I called the health department on my brother. My sister had sent her boyfriend to help my brother with some repairs. Eric, the BF, was working outside, but when he asked Scott (bro) to use the bathroom, he opened the door and strong ammonia came out that burned Eric’s eyes and throat (there was also garbage piled up), so he went down to the gas station.
When S (sister) called to tell me this, and that she was afraid she’ have to go in there & clean up dead animals, I said, “Give me his address, I’ll call the Health Department in his town.”
Now—-as an aside—which will make sense—-before the Health Department could arrange a visit, there was a small article in the Chicago Tribune, with a photo of men carrying cages, and the story was that they had raided a snake breeder (in Scott’s town). I called S, and she laughed and told me, “It was on the front page of the Daily Herald. At first, I thought it was Scott.” We laughed….that there could be 2 of them.
Was it none of my business? Here’s the thought that went through my head: If I wasn’t mentally right, and my relatives knew this, and I had accumulated more animals than I could care for, so that my place smelled so bad that friends were physically assaulted by the odor, which was also dangerous (ammonia) wouldn’t I want them to intervene and call the Health Department?
The Health Department came out, & Scott let them in and BRAGGED that he ran a reptile breeding business. He didn’t have to let them in. He was obviously in denial, and told S later that he was already in foreclosure, but he wasn’t even cited. The Health Department called his homeowner’s association, and they gave him a five day notice…which is when he went of Bank of Dad for help once again.
Some how, this got turned into me calling the police. & 20+ years later. Scott has forgiven me, & I should accept this—as though I was the wrong one. Nobody mentions five years ago, when he was so addicted he didn’t care that he had no electricity, heat, running water, or had a hole in his roof during a polar vortex when temperatures were going to 40 below zero. I had asked S if she had heard from Scott, because our 90-year-old father was in the hospital with both a broken femur and broken neck, and Scott couldn’t be found. Apparently his phone was cut off. As least that’s what S told me, I suggested she call the police in his town (a new town…he had moved twice since being foreclosed—-& may father had bought him a mobile home to live in…at least the 4th place my father had bought for my brother), to do a wellness check. They rang the doorbell, and when Scott answered, asked if he was alright, because his sister was worried. He said he’d call her.
2 weeks later—he still hadn’t called S, and I suggested she call the police and have him involuntarily committed. That’s what she did, and that’s what they did—to detox. She went to his mobile home and found it a disaster, with the hole in the roof, and many dead animals. She cleaned up as best as she could, Scott told her there was $30,000 in commemorative coins in the unit. She ultimately did find these while cleaning up. That’s another story.
So, by taking this horrible action of having S call the police and getting Scott into detox—-I saved his live. But that was none of my business.
When my father came to, and we three girls started visiting Dad (and Dad gave ‘power of attorney’ to R, my youngest sister), he asked about Scott: where is he? Because …. three daughters aren’t worth one son.
Although Scott has come a ways emotionally these past few years, being in rehab, he has no problem insulting and trying to manipulate us. but I’m forgiven and should accept that.
I don’t talk to him, but my uncle and his wife do when he calls (every Veterans Day) . They don’t come out and say how uncomfortable they are with all of us, but claim they don’t want to get involved in the DRAMA that is my siblings…when I responded to a text my aunt had sent me (in response to me asking when we could get together—- I’ve been trying for almost 2 years)— she suggested we have Passover at R’s house, and told me that R wanted to invite Scott. I didn’t believe it.
That’s not exactly how it went down. R did not want to invite Scott, but was ambivalent when my aunt said SHE would invite him, and if I didn’t want to come, oh, well…
So she did involve herself and didn’t care that I was uncomfortable. I started the drama when I called the police (no…it was the health department)….but I should not have made a moral decision as my brother’s well being was none of my business.
Other skeletons came out: my uncle doesn’t talk to his brother—not because he wouldn’t share in paying for my grandmother’s housing—but because he called my aunt a racial slur. This as though the uncle who married the Mexican woman never made a racial remark, like denigrating Schwartz’ (what Jews call black people) or anyone from India or the Middle East towelheads.
I’m not ‘religious’, but I try to follow a Sikh ethos. I made a moral choice and got abused for it. I feel very demoralized, but this will not change the dynamic Scott has set, that everyone believes is justified.
After thinking about all this, I decided I was too old to allow them all to affect my feelings and mental health. I apologized to my aunt. uncle, & R, told them my conscious was clear, and to arrange whatever they wanted. I’ll be back in 2 weeks, so we’ll see how that goes.
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I got a wonderful review of “The Pleasure Seeker,” from Book Viral, which I will post upon my return from Europe.
I had the most aggravating experience with PACE (bus operators, part of the Metropolitan Transportation authority) upon returning from overseas to O’Hare. It is so far impossible to find out who does oversight.
Pace/Metra needs their board members to actually take their transportation or hire ‘secret shoppers’.1st—the employees at the stop (this is at the remote parking at O’hare in Chicago)where the Pace route ends) are very rude & not helpful at all. I can understand to a certain extent that you have to be at the ‘column #9’ (though there is no real signage indicating where to get the bus), but when I saw the bus in the driveway, I ran to it—-as they often ignore passengers. Driver would not let me on, she just pointed for me to go across the street. Drivers at O’hare should not be allowed to do that. Then, she took off with an EMPTY BUS.
2. I waited for another bus. Got on, Put my card on the card reader, & it said INSUFFICIENT FUNDS. You can’t pay cash—-at least she (another female bus driver) didn’t ask if I had cash. So I had to get off. U knew ther ewas enough money on the card. I had checked before leaving the country! Â
3. I went to the information desk. 2 Pace employees were jabbering, so I had to interrupt them. I asked if there was a VENTRA vending machine in the building, & the employee behind the information desk just said, “No,” & kept talking to the other. THERE ARE NO VENTRA VENDING MACHINES AT THE TERMINAL!!!!
4. So, I had to take the train back to the terminals. There are no VENTRA vending machines in the O’hare terminals! But at every terminal there are Jehovah’s Witnesses set up! Seriously. that should not be allowed. Maybe I should set up a stand next to them to promote atheism?   What happened to separating church & state? Would you allow the Hare Krishna to do their thing?
5. Where to get the card refilled? You have to go down to the L station….in the lower level at the Blue Line Terminal—–where there are at least 5 vending machines. My choice was to get on the Blue Line & transfer downtown to Purple, then Red line, which I did, or shlep my bag up 2 flights of stairs & take the train back to the bus depot. So… I took a very crowded train.
Now, imagine you’re a visitor, and you want to go to Rogers Park, or Skokie, or Evanston—& information sends you to the light rail to remote parking to get a Pace Bus, but doesn’t tell you that you need a VENTRA card, so you can’t get on. Welcome to Chicago.
But worse!!!! I just checked my card balance online, and I have $8.25. Way more than enough. meaning the card reader in the bus is defective?
The city that works? I am more than angry. Their response:
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In my new book of contemporary fiction, The Pleasure Seeker” my main character, Dayal Singh, has married a woman from Dubai. Through the narrative of the book, he and his wife return at least once a year to visit her family, who are emigres from India. Near the end of the book, I have Dayal saying that he never liked Dubai because it’s a land out of science fiction: You never see people on the street. Not like Arusha (Tanzania), where people are always walking around and you have a good chance of greeting someone you know.
I got my initial impression of Dubai about eight years ago when I was there overnight. I had chosen Emirates Air from Chicago to Zambia, because their fare was comparative to United, and I have issues with United & their Starfleet Alliance. The nice thing about Emirates: since there are no direct flights to Lusaka from Chicago, they put me up over night, dinner and breakfast included, in Dubai.
8 years ago, the drive from the airport, at dusk, revealed only sand, sand for miles. I was able to take a tour of the town. It wasn’t a great tour, just an hour or so with another traveler like myself, but we went from the hotel to the Burj Khalifa (not in, but to the driveway) and back. They were just working on the monorail then, and it had 2 stops: the beginning and the end. There was no greenery.
Dubai has exploded in these past eight years. The sand for miles from the Airport? Now mostly warehouses and car dealerships, with other industrial related businesses. The Metro has several routes now, and beautiful stations. The central business district has quadrupled in size. You want to see architecturally significant tall buildings? They are in Dubai. The Dubai Mall,
When I got in to Dubai, it was overcast, but it was around 5 in the afternoon. In the morning, it was raining, It never rains in Dubai, and I had taken my umbrella out of my suitcase. Our guide, Faheem Abbas, was excellent. He explained that rain is so rare, they aren’t prepared for pools in the roadway & people get stuck. So, Radio & TV announce that people should work at home & schools are also closed.
But we had a big tour bus. Our 1st stop was the Dubai Mall so we could get to the top of the Burj Khalifa. The mall is huge, and filled with chain stores from the USA as well as boutiques with souvenirs. It’s almost overwhelming. There is also the skating rink , the ski slope, and an aquarium. In Chicago , we have the Hancock Center & the Willis (sears) tower ‘skydecks’, so I’ve been to the tops of tall buildings, Still, the view is impressive. I wish someone had given us a tour or explanation of the mall, and that we had a bit more time to spend, but we had to get to the skydeck, and thousands of people (I am not exaggerating) go up the every day. It’s not a huge deck, but you aren’t crowded in, either. When we got back, there was a break in the tour, and we reconvened for ‘orientation’ & to meet each other, Tho all were ‘American (at least green card holders), there were 2 Indian couples, an Indian woman & her friend (who came to Dubai from Indian), a Filipino couple, 2 Chinese couples, a Viet Namese family, a woman from the country of Georgia who had been in the USA 40 year, 2 black American couples, and me. Interesting mix.
Day 2, we went to Abu Dhabi to see the ‘grand mosque’. You travel past the water desalinization plant & the power plant. Yes, they use oil for fuel now, but are building a big solar field for the future. A rich Muslim guy built this gorgeous mosque, but it is a ‘demonstration’ mosque: a large marble plaza, and the marble building is inlaid with precious stone flowers like the Taj Majal. There are several large chandeliers with Swarowski crystals, and the larges prayer rug ever made. But…. it is no longer for prayers.
Under the mosque (actually, the parking lot…) is a huge shopping mall with a McDonald’s, a Tim Horton’s, and many candy and souvenir shops. You have to be dressed appropriately to enter the mosque, which you do from the underground mall. I thought I was ok, but the guards objected to the sheer sleeves of my blouse, so Faheem bought me fake sleeves. In any case, the building is beautiful and impressive. On the return, we stopped at what was supposed to be a ‘traditional’ village, but it was really a poorly marked museum of weaponry and coins. All the small buildings we tourist oriented & overpriced. We went into Dubai for lunch, which was ok. Then, we went to the Louvre Abu DAbi. We were given about 45 minutes, which is just about enough time if you race through it. I would have taken the ‘traditional village off the tour to spend more time at the Louvre.
Day 3 We drove to Al Sharjah, another emirate. Faheem explained that the Crown Prince of the town was very conservative & no alcohol or tobacco were available. We went past the mosque and we were supposed to drive through the American University campus, but for some reason we couldn’t go in, so we returned. Since the drive is long, Faheem explained that in a city of 10 million people, only 2 million are Emirati. The rest, including him, are ‘guest workers’. Years ago, most construction workers were from Bangla Desh. They are now recruited for the hospitality industry mostly from Malaysia, Philippines, & Eastern Europe. You must speak English, You are provided with housing, cramped tho it may be, and if you lose your job, you’re sent back. Balli Kaur Jaswal wrote a story involving Malaysian guest workers in Singapore called, “Now You See Us,” involving a character accused of murder. At the end, she has an essay on how these women are treated. In any case, you can not become an Emirati by marrying in. However, this is a capitalist country. You can buy property. It is freehold (meaning not on a 99 year lease).
Day 4 We drove to the metro to take it to Palms Jumeirah (see photo above). I wish I could have gotten a Metro map and gotten on to explore where it goes, but no time, We took the metro to the end of Palms. Palms was an idea eight years ago. It is totally sold out now. Mostly single family homes (starting at $5 million dollars) and some townhouses & the Atlantis Hotel. Pure opulence. From there , we visited 2 small museums, but all the gift shops sell the same tourist stuff made in China and India. Then, we went to the old Souk. On 1 side, it is ‘gold’ and all jewelry, the other side is spices. I guess if you come from a small town, all this would seem exotic, but I live 2 miles from an Indian/Middle Eastern shopping district. We can get all the fresh spices in Chicago. & gold? I don’t think so. I wanted to buy a bar of camel milk soap. The vendor stall owners wanted an equivalent of $8 a bar. They would not accept $4, so I didn’t buy soap. I later went to a local grocery store and found very extoic tumeric and ayervedic soap for under $1 a bar.No joke. In the evening, we took Toyota trucks with experienced drivers & drove in the dunes near Al Sharjah. Not real dunes. The desert is pretty flat with rolling hills. It was fun, but then we went the the Bedouin BarB Q—but it wasn’t a BarBQ. I was expecting meeting actual Bedouin families with kids—and maybe Salukis. It was not. The dinner wasn’t typical. It was ok: chicken in pita, salad, hummos, baklava that kind of thing, set up on a buffet, and they gave out coffee, soda, and water. They had a little entertainment: a guy twirling around like a dervish, and another juggling things with fire. They had women doing henna, so I got my hand hennaed. For $90 extra, I felt it was overpriced.
Day 5 Before I came to Dubai, I googled “Dubai Salukis” and found the BarkPark link, and arranged to meet Jan, the owner. A very interesting Scottish woman, she was recruited to work in Dubai, and liked the lifestyle. She married an emerati, had a son, divorced, went back to Scotland because her mother was dying, Her mother didn’t die, so Jan returned, and via her ex-husband’s connections, was able to lease the land to have her boarding and dog daycare business. We were on the same page on most things. She had a 16-year-old white Saluki from Hamad Alghanem ) known as ‘Mr.Saluki’). & I swear, the dog could step into any show ring in America and contend. She also had 2 rescues. She told me there were no more Bedouins in the area. and the Salukis we used for hunting by Muslims.
This was my last day. half our group had left for home. Back with Gate 1, we took the smaller bus to the Al Shadaya museum. We were only there about 1/2 hour, & many of us felt that 90 minutes would have been more appropriate, It was so interesting. They had 1 room devoted to how various perfumes are made, and a lovely multimedia show on the history of Dubai. We were taken from the to another shopping center , designed like an old souk, very pretty, but all touristy stuff. Then, Faheem brought us to the beach. He left us for 90 minutes, way too long. It’s very touristy, and I didn’t want to spend $$$$ on snacks.
We all thought the time would have been better spent at Al Shadaya.
I got to visit 3 emirates: AbuDhabi, Dubhai, and Al Sharjah. I got to meet a fellow Saluki lover, and maybe a day or 2 more would have been fun. I wish Gate 1 had given us maps of the city. As it was, this trip cost me under $1500, so if you can afford it, do it.
This is what a country looks like when the leaders are sophisticated & employ the best civil engineers and architects. It is a monarchy, not a democracy. There is no trash, no grafitti, no beggars, very little crime. You are a guest. You aren’t employed? You have to leave.
Published in 2021, the back of the book blurb & Amazon descriptions do a good job of telling us what the book is about: How stewardesses came to be in the commercial flight industry after WWII, and how PanAm stewardesses were impacted by the Viet Nam War. it also includes a great chapter on overcoming sexism and gaining respect.
Normally, this isn’t my type of read.It’s a bit cute, and the author dances around why we were in Viet Nam, but that’s not the story. the story is how many families of young women tried to dissuade them from choosing a career in the airline industry, mostly based on cultural images the airlines made popular.
I’m sure many women of the baby boom generation at least considered becoming a flight attendant. The big plus was the opportunity to see the world. Would I suggest this as a career now? Only to bilingual people, and people who enjoyed serving others. The book also has some good photos, so I’d say to any teenager, check this book out and don’t have illusions.
^^^I just returned from Dubai, and will post on that next week. I went to Dubai to see if my impressions of Dubai still held—& they do. Please check out “The Pleasure Seeker”
I live in Chicago, & for the past several months we’ve been getting an influx of refugees from Venezuela. The reason so many have been coming is that because we didn’t like their president (several presidents back) for his economic policies, our congress put economic sanctions on the country, and we destroyed their economy. The people coming from Venezuela are, for the most part, white, urban dwellers—and apparently either devoutly religious or culturally fatalistic. Why they don’t go to Columbia or any other Spanish speaking country is a mystery. They had to walk through several countries to get to the USA. Apparently Panama, Costa Rica, and even Mexico (I’m not suggesting either Honduras or Guatemala—also messed up royally by US foreign policy) wouldn’t do for any of these people. They have actually told volunteers they had no idea where they’d end up or what would happen, but apparently they are disappointed by the facilities they are being offered as ‘not adequate’. While I feel sorry for them (they are being bused up by DeSantis from Florida & Abbot from Texas)—& frankly—they’re right, the facilites are inadequate. We weren’t expecting them, and can’t take care of our own poor people——-the federal government has plenty of money for the military—bur dealing with the right now problem of unhoused, displaced people isn’t getting anyone’s attention…), an awful lot of these refugees are teenagers or in their early 20’s, already with at least 1 child—& pregnant to people they are not married to. They are complaining about not getting diapers for the babies….but how did they get them on their long trek?
I know: who am I to judge? I came from a culture that you don’t bear children until you can support them. It was considered a shame, an abomination. But these people have come from a culture who apparently believe using contraception is not God’s way, and the rest of us should take care of the children they bear and can’t care for.
How dare I? Bearing children is a right, right?
Well, on the opposite end of personal choice are that all male members of the South Carolina Supreme Court, which has decided to ban all abortions because the unborn (that would be people who don’t exist) have rights. & look at Alabama, where the old white guys—-not religion or philosophy majors, have decided eggs are children. They are without sin, so are more important than the rest of us who are actually breathing. The logic evades me. They’ve decided, due to philosophical or religious leanings, that if you get pregnant , if contraception failed, or you were raped , the unborn is more important and has more rights than the woman forced to carry that fetus. Decided by men who would never be in your position.
What a great country this is where a few men can decide what the rest of us should believe. This is, of course, a pretzel logic philosophy. It requires those of us who don’t believe you are born until you breath to abide by a law set by people who believe that God only takes you to Heaven if you are saved by his son, Jesus, and that all that stuff we learned in the old Testament is negated, but more, that they should decide what we should believe and adhere to.
When people bear children they can’t support, morally, the rest of us must—as they are real breathing people. But that (in theory) takes resources away from those who were born and planned, but are special needs and handicapped. How unselfish is that? I’d like to have music and art classes in our public schools, but we have to take care of the special needs kids who will always be a burden to society no matter if they are in school or not.
Meanwhile, I guess the logic is that you have rights until others who are more philosophical decide you don’t.
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