TheRealTamara

Many moons have passed

July 20, 1969

Happy anniversary to the moon landing.

Is it really? 55 years since they landed on the Sea of Tranquility? Oh boy.

That was an event.

Take me to the movies

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Popcorn is so comforting.

Is it because it’s remiscent of the movies? Maybe.

Although I haven’t had popcorn at the movies in 40 years.

In fact, it’s been at least 10 years since I went to a movie house.

Popcorn is just a pleasant snack. It’s easy to pop in the mouth, one soft kernel at a time or by the handful.

The latter is messier, but still, popcorn is a neat after dinner treat.

Lunch with flowers

The floral arrangement with its trend towards purple was a preamble to a lovely lunch.

We’ve got mail

Quick: how much is a postage stamp?

I was going to say a 1st class stamp, but I think that might be redundant.

Anyway, I bought 10 the other day and muttered something like “Oh, that’s what it costs.” The post man gave me an impassive look. Perhaps he hears that a lot?

The price of those stamps is going up another 5 pennies to $.73.**

This is quite the rise from 12 years ago when postage was just 34č̣. It is also the second increase this year.

**The increase is a little more than double, which may just be a normal economic incline. Or not.... feels like a small BIG deal.

Wonder what the going rate on a postcard looks like!

In passing

r-e-s-pectfully

Not everyone treats the months with as much reverence as we do.

In Spanish, for instance, there are no caps introducing their names. September is just an ordinary noun (except if it starts the sentence). Nothing exalted about septiembre.

It’s interesting because some languages put lots of regular words on pedestals. German is an example along with our own germanic tongue.

For the birds

The birdhouse folk are starting to post credits for their work!

Satisfaction

There is something so satisfying about batting a ball against a paddle.

Passing a playground where there’s a person making a practice hit against the wall makes me smile. Thwack.

Pickleball with a side order of ping pong is the current rage. Recreational as well as spectator tennis is always in vogue, too.

In my heyday, I enjoyed applying a forceful racquet to a small ball for the sake of running the court. Occasionally, I had a lunchtime opponent, but generally, this was a solo exertion.

Thwack. Slam.

Whimsical

Whimsy can be charming or over the top. That fine line between kitsch and flights-of-fancy is often drawn at the hands of the observer.

This is kind of cute, isn’t it.

I suspect it’s brought to us by the birdhouse folks.

Learning as I go

Being a proponent of American style freedoms as they evolve and move forward, I have often used the term democracy.

Origins? Dêmos (the people, or perhaps the many, or ¿the mob?). Kratos [power], so could it be simpler? Yeah, it could.

It’s already muddled by the question of who the dêmos might be. Add to that that the word for assembly ecclesia is a root with associations to religion, and I am reeling in uncertainty.

Critics of the Athenian model of dêmoskratos abound of late. Socrates, anyone?

As it has been pointed out the gents who framed the document that establishes our form of government called our nation a Republic. They based their pre- cedence on the Roman formula.

I don’t want to take this issue lightly. “And for the Republic for which it stands.”

The principles of rights and freedoms are honored in that Latinate model as well, of course.

May we always embrace the 4th of July and uphold the privileges of a free nation.