SENSELESS TRAGEDY -- BIG BEAR EAGLE'S RISK

MEMORIAL DAY COMMEMORATING ALWAYS  .....

     THOSE WHO SACRIFICED FOR OUR FREEDOMS.

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SENSELESS TRAGEDY

 "May Gray" has greeted us many mornings with an overcast sky here in SoCal but one morning this past week the world darkened with the loss of children's innocent lives once again -- this time in Texas.  

School shootings -- 27 this year -- NPR reports HERE.  That's right, shootings in schools 27 times so far ... with  seven more months left in the year!    You've all heard and read by now about this "unspeakable tragedy" in Uvalde, Texas.

We hear all the same platitudes we've heard with every one of these indefensible human tragedies since 2012.  Prayer isn't enough.  

Weapons of war do not belong in the hands of civilians, those mentally ill, perhaps not even with teens whose judgement has not yet matured until well into their twenties as summarized by NPR HERE.

Our U.S. Senate has done nothing to correct the gun problem despite the fact the vast majority of the American people have called for reform for years. 

"Australia, Britain, Canada, and other countries have enacted reforms ..."   How they did it described in John Cassidy's New Yorker article "HOW TO PREVENT GUN MASSACRES?  LOOK AROUND THE WORLD" you can read HERE.

In the Senate, legislative bills to address the issue passed by the House of Representatives, forwarded to the Senate, are not even allowed to come up for a vote.   Aren't these legislators supposed to reflect the will of the people?  Or is it only a few minority views that take precedence?  

Those who misinterpret our constitution as to gun ownership rights to politicize the issue serve only to mislead our citizens that all guns will be taken from them.  This falsehood couldn't be further from the truth.  

I hope when election time rolls around that all those politicians stonewalling firearm ownership reform ... they certainly aren't leaders ... are voted out of office.

Jimmy Kimmel on Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas

Ten years ago Ronni Bennett wrote about the Connecticut Sandy Hook atrocity on "Time Goes By" HERE.  Just substitute Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas for her words which apply to this recent massacre.  This time 21 people -- 19 children killed -- an 18-year-old shooter.   

Here's a taste of what Ronni wrote:

"No matter the gazillion words that have and will continue to pour forth the bottom line is that this is a gun crime.  Got that?  A person who was barely an adult himself shot 27 people with a lot of guns."

"...we must do something ... yeah, yeah, yeah ...

"... the NRA, its lobbyists and Congress members who readily accept that organization's campaign contributions will continue to make it easier to buy and own guns."

"...there will be a lot of calls for more armed guards in schools and no useful changes to gun laws."

Ronni hoped she would be wrong a decade ago when she wrote those words as I do now.  

Law enforcement, school guard, with all their guns did not protect those children and 2 teachers from being murdered in Texas.  The husband of one teacher died with a heart attack a few days later.

How many more slaughters over how many more decades must pass before we reform gun laws?

Maybe this time no one will allow this assault to fade out of consciousness, moving on to the next story.  Instead, holding all those legislators feet to the fire until they act to resolve this.

Maybe this time the people will keep the pressure on all those spewing the same ol' rhetoric so we can begin to end these horrors ...

"June Gloom", not just in the weather sense, has regrettably arrived early in a most unwelcome form.

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Eaglet Spirit was to be the focus of this blog post and then there was the unexpected tragedy above.

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I had to take a break once again from all that's happened here and elsewhere in our world to retain my sanity, so I visited the birds -- the Bald Eagle birds and their eaglet.   I hope you take similar breaks for whatever gives you pleasure for your own mental health.  

I don't forget what's happening, but viewing these eagles, especially any eaglets, or listening to music, and instances prompting lots of laughter offer positive health stimulation and healing to offset incessant brooding and worrying violence-laden events can trigger. 

I will keep the pressure on for meaningful change in every way I can, however limited, but certainly by how I vote for all federal government offices -- legislators especially.   Focus on local offices, also  -- school boards, sheriffs, city councils, mayors, board of supervisors, state offices, and judges at all levels of government.  I hope you and others will too.

Big Bear Bald Eagle couple, Jackie and Shadow, live in a nearby Southern California picturesque popular mountain resort area in a large twig and limb-filled nest 145 feet high up in a Jeffrey Pine tree.  Their nest overlooking a scenic fish-filled lake of bluish water at lowered level now due to our drought is where they've raised their family each season.  Their daily lives have been of ongoing interest on this blog for a number of years. 

There's a live camera focused 24/7 directly on their nest, and a second wide angle camera focused on the tree area to cover eagle flights from a distance.  This year only one of two eggs hatched an eaglet thought to be a female that local area school children named Spirit.

I checked in on the bald eagle family earlier one night this past week, heard coyotes howling in the distance.  Then I saw Spirit awaken, to sit and scratch her baby fluff away from new adult feathers growing in while Mother Jackie continued her watch close by perched on the nest's edge.

Spirit is on fledge watch, could make her first flight from the nest any time now.  She periodically jumps up and down, twists and turns, hops about from her nest's front porch to back porch, spreads and rapidly flaps those massive wings at an increasing rate to strengthen all her muscles, but just hasn't risked leaving the nest yet to soar in the sky.  If you want to check in on Spirit, the link is HERE.

One afternoon mother Jackie and father Shadow were both at the nest with daughter Spirit.  After eating the fish delivered and partially fed to Spirit she demonstrated all her flight preparation moves flitting from the front porch to the back porch.  She bombarded her parents with lots of vocal "squees" communicating who knows what which they seem to understand but gave no sound response.

I peeked in on the nest later that night.  Shadow had departed, probably to a nearby tree where he positioned himself as a security monitor.  Jackie remained on the front porch with Spirit close by.  A couple times mother with intense gazes joined her responding daughter as their bodies appeared to press close to each other.

I was startled twice when Jackie after glaring at something out of camera range suddenly leapt forward with slapping wing flaps in attack mode.  It may have been the notorious flying squirrel, Fiona, or cohort Fast Freddy as these strictly nocturnal creatures attempt to invade the nest disturbing everyone's sleep.   

Big Bear Eagles Fiona Proves That She is Indeed A FLYING Squirrel 

(Thanks to Cali Condor and Friends of Big Bear Valley for this 2021-04-06 video)

"Upon seeing spread eagle Shadow, Fiona launches ... into the air .... Hopefully the landing was successful"... since "Flying Squirrels can't really fly".

These Bald Eagles are threatened by another proposed development in Big Bear once again I'm concerned to read.

Many letters of protest have been written to California U. S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Alex Padilla to aid in preserving these eagles' home there.  A recent Chat post requests no more letters be sent to them due to "an amazing show of support".  This Facebook link provides details of the Moon Camp Conservation Purchase HERE.

Local area school children also wrote letters to save the eagles their teachers report in comments on that Facebook site if you scroll down the screen.

More Moon Camp development information is provided about this threat to the Bald Eagles that can be read HERE.   Increased fire risk is also reported which the Big Bear mountain human community wouldn't welcome either, any time, but especially not now in our drought-ridden state.

Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam web site provide lots more particulars including photos and a history of the area HERE

Another major concerning issue for the lives of bald eagles everywhere is a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  An alarming number of bald eagles (in recent years an endangered species), other raptors and birds are dying due to bird flu you can read about in this Phys Org. article "Bird flu takes unheard-of-toll on bald eagles, other birds" HERE. 

I end this commentary on a cautious but optimistically hopeful note for long overdue resolution of these distressing human and avian challenges to all desiring to lead a tolerant peaceful life, or just to live -- period.

update 5/31/22

BIG BEAR BALD EAGLE SPIRIT HAS FLEDGED!

RONNI BENNETT'S LEGACY -- AGING FUTURE TALK

Having expressed I may occasionally share here excerpts with links to pertinent writings from "Time Goes By" (TGB) blog of deceased Ronni Bennett (RB), I feel compelled to share some related thoughts I've had.  

If you wonder why I plan to sometimes reference TGB, this is why.  I think the content in some of Ronni Bennett's writings coupled with the comments on those topics are pertinent today and for the future.  I also want to make others aware TGB remains accessible on the internet even though new blog posts there are no longer being added and comments are closed.  Ronni had responded to her followers wish TGB remain available on the internet after she learned she would soon die.  She arranged for TGB to remain active with a friend becoming the new blogger, but unfortunately, the blog became inactive for unknown reasons as some of you know and I've previously mentioned  -- in case you think I'm repeating because I'm old and forgetful. 

Occasionally, I will reintroduce RB's writing on topics just as I did in my previous blog post about women controlling their body's health by adding TGB blog excerpts with links.   Please note I said, occasionally, which may be infrequently, subject to my recollections or research of some of what Ronni wrote.  On a light note, here's 

John Lennon singing "Grow Old With Me" (Version 2003)

"New version of the unfinished song" reported to be John's last recording.  Arrangement and backing vocals were added to the demo of John (July 1980) in 2003."

         

Before Ronni was "old", in her early years, prior to TGB, you might be interested in this link to her 2005 post with a photo from her 1970 radio days with her husband then, Alex, also John and Yoko.

Ronni's concisely worded writing is a talent in evidence on TGB.  She had name recognition and credits aiding her in developing new timely information sources forged over the years from her TV appearances, radio interviews, writing for major print media.  RB had the ear of some tech people to whom she advocated for functional digital device design features to best enable older people using computers.  She encouraged and promoted older people becoming computer literate from the early digital days.

She had influential professional and personal contacts with many who respected her, to name just a few means that informed her and promoted what she said and wrote.  Quite possibly some of those many references and sources would have been provided to the friend she expected to continue her blog, but that's not known, and I don't have access to any of that information.

Some of what RB wrote stimulates thoughts of expansion on certain subjects, updating information, adding new ideas and more.  These are all writing possibilities in exploring what it's like to get old, exposing ageism, examining issues impacting our aging population like preserving Social Security for future generations, insuring health care at reasonable cost or discussing universal health care as Ronni strongly promoted.  She championed women's rights noting imposed political challenges that have become more pronounced today.  She urged one and all to actively engage in our political process, by knowing our candidates, voting to preserve this democratic republic, rejecting those who might give us a theocratic autocracy.  

TGB topics are ongoing, surfacing periodically with some warranting attention to what our government is or isn't doing.  Resurrected TGB excerpts will enrich the conversation which RB would likely welcome, I think.  She often wrote, "Talk among yourselves." encouraging more dialogue when she wasn't able to participate.  New generations thoughts would certainly be welcomed since if they live long enough, everybody gets old.  We seem to have evolved into an even more troubling world from when she departed only some 18 months or so ago.

I think RB would welcome having links on blogs and references to her TGB writings elsewhere.  She demanded civility in comments so would likely want that to continue on any writings that included her words.   I interpret that civility to be maintaining a level of respectfulness with the intent of fostering tolerance of differences in a pleasant communication environment.  

RB was a strong advocate for free speech but had some common sense expectations for reasonable behavior.  Snarkiness was rejected on TGB, as those commenters could quickly be banned from her blog if they disregarded her warnings.  Criticizing someone with whom there is disagreement in a way to hurt their feelings or to be rudely disrespectful was not acceptable.  Satire, RB appreciated.  She did express her views on some political and social issues to which a few of her readers objected, threatening to abandon TGB.

Truth was RB's requirement for her TGB writings, so she included links documenting the verifiable facts, following the best ethical and journalistic standards.  Opinions were clearly differentiated as such and she disapproved of so-called news sources who violated that basic standard. 

(Click on American Press Institute's description of the ethics and journalistic standards which mentions bloggers.  Note: RB never referred to that site or any source on these matters of which I know.  I've added this link as just one on the subject to which readers here can refer if interested.) 

TGB was created to talk about aging as it really is, but eventually included the final stage of death in a way neither she nor any of her blog followers expected.  Life must have become quite a challenge for her when she suddenly had to cope with the knowledge her days were numbered.  Her own death was coming much sooner than she might have anticipated though she selected the option of choosing precisely when her life would end.   Legal, safe and possible medical benefits of cannabis for pain, anxiety, sleep, other self-medications or experiences to address fear of death, as well as Right to Die issues were all topics for further exploration and discussion. 

RB wanted to write the truth about aging years.  She stressed what she wrote was her experience, that we all age differently but may have some commonalities.  In her youthful fifties she said so much of what she saw in the media -- broadcasting, print, and then internet, characterized older people's years as doom and gloom, filled with disease, debility, and decline.  She noted some, but not all, may unpredictably have varying degrees of those experiences.  She wondered what becoming old would really be like for herself, or if those days and years might have more desirable aspects.  Surely not all was negative.  

Her alter ego, Crabby Old Lady, took over TGB on occasion grousing, griping, and grumping-about to complain about one thing or another.  After all, isn't that one of the stereotypical descriptions attributed to old people?  Guess what!  Old people aren't any more one dimensional than any other age group.  On TGB it was okay to feel angry, disgusted, discouraged for a little while, but just don't get stuck in that mode.  

A good dose of humor was frequently injected into TGB as were regular musical offerings from all genres magically conjured by Australia's Peter Tibbles with Assistant Musicologist Norma.   

TGB's aging bloggers over the years reveal much happiness and contentment as most adjust and adapt to whatever their circumstances.  More focus has occurred in recent decades on the significance of leading a healthy life for longevity which has been increasing.  A recent setback shortening U.S. lifespan due to the Corona virus plus greater recognition of detrimental environmental concerns impact us as we age.  Existing and new topics needing our perspective are ever-changing and never-ending.

For any who do not know of Ronni Bennett's professional background, many of her years were spent in several major cities, before working in various broadcast venues in New York City radio and network television, beginning before cable TV and the internet came into prominence.  In addition to being the first editor of cbsnews.com when the network finally decided the internet was here to stay, she had occasion to travel around the world meeting many national figures, celebrities, and others when she became producer on several television programs including with Barbara Walters, Dick Cavett, Whoopi Goldberg to name a few of her credits.

"Time Goes By" is a significant part of whatever may be Ronni Bennett's legacy.   No individual can ever be fully replaced by another so won't occur for Ronni either.   No new blog would be a replica of "Time Goes By."  

Meanwhile, we can extract from TGB ideas and thoughts resonating today that are especially meaningful to all who read here.

What are your thoughts about this and any current topics that are of interest to you now, even into the future for our aging population? 

CAN WOMEN CONTROL THEIR OWN BODY'S HEALTH?

The U. S. Supreme Court Dobbs vs Jackson pending legal case is one demanding significant attention.  This case decision will have profound consequences in our nation for women and men due to  ramifications for Roe vs Wade that legalized abortion in 1973.   

Reading CNN's  account of Politico that first published leaked Justice Alito's proposed 1st draft majority opinion (98 pgs)* suggests to me an ideologically obsessed Court.  The majority judges appear to have  gone to great lengths citing as a basis for their convolutional interpretation of our constitution justification to overturn a fifty-year precedent rule recognizing a woman has a right to decision-making about the health of her own body.   The Court's final decision is expected to be announced in late June or early July.

*(Note: click on emphasized content items to link with source.)

What I'm writing here is not about discussing the religious and moral question of abortion though those are signifiant issues individual women consider for themselves based on what they believe, also  in consultation with their health care provider(s)/physician.     Current reality and history through the ages is that some women will look for ways to end pregnancies as has always happened whatever one's belief and whatever the law.

NPR's fact checks include:  the majority of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in most or all cases; the rate of abortions has decreased since 1973; more than 60% who get abortions have a religious affiliation.  

The issue of abortion with questionable issues about life has been so politicized which is reprehensible since the matter is one that should be between a woman and her doctor much less have a court of law injected into the matter. But that's what has happened.

What is really at stake with this currently pending case decision is:                                                          does the U. S Constitution guarantee equality for women?

Abortion is the current issue chosen to answer this question. There may be even more issues introduced later with rights of privacy and other fundamental rights also threatened if Roe vs Wade is overturned.  

One such right to consider, a friend wrote me recently:  "...the right granted in HIPAA should apply to women's reproductive rights.  It's nobody's business but patient/doctor."

"HIPAA:  The health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge."  

"Abortions: Past, Present and Future" with an unsettling photo referencing Handmaid Tale-like laws is written by Jean you can view by clicking on her blog: "Misadventures of Widowhood".   She has advocated "keeping abortions safe, legal and rare."

"Handmaid's Tale" references Margaret Atwood's book to which she referred in a current Atlantic article.  She wrote: "I invented Gilead.  The Supreme Court is making it real.  I thought I was writing fiction".   She went on to write, should this Supreme Court adopt Judge Alito's majority opinion to overturn Roe vs Wade the United States would be "...turned into a theocratic dictatorship based on 17th-century NewEngland Puritan religious tenets and jurisprudence."  She asks, "Is this where we want to live?"

Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaid's Tale' Is Inspiring A New Generation

Some of you may recall Ronni Bennettt's blog, "Time Goes By" (TGB), you can still access by clicking on that link.  Some of what she wrote over the years is current even now as you will see.

(Ronni's writings with comments are still available on her internet site which she made significant effort to ensure would be available for a period after her expected death just as many fellow bloggers said they wanted.  Since her blog's continuation by a friend as Ronni wrote she had arranged has not occurred and no explanation after 2018 has been provided as to when or whether if ever will, I'm taking the liberty of linking for you to some of Ronni's blog posts to share here.)

Ronni hoped blog conversations would continue many timely topics she introduced that are not outdated today.  She documented what she wrote, identified thoughts as her opinions when she expressed them and sometimes offered suggestions about how to resolve some issues.  She often cited examples of the subjects about which she wrote to bring to others attention.   Ronni hoped other bloggers would also note examples they encountered in their lives writing about them, too, perhaps attracting additional bloggers to do the same since many doing so might influence desired change.  One such topic was Roe vs Wade and issues concerning a woman's health.

"The Supreme Court Abortion Decision" Ronni published first at Blogher, then on TGB in April 2007 questioned the Court's ruling on a case "...banning late-term abortion with no provision for the health of the mother".  In lieu of the strong words I think Ronni would be writing today I recommend you read what she wrote then that is still pertinent.  

Ronni felt so strongly about the matter that in her forthright honest manner she revealed in that article her own personal harrowing experience as an example of what women were and can be subjected to if Roe vs Wade is overturned by the Court.

Ronni also wrote:  Until a man is capable of giving birth and/or every man is forced by law to both financially support and participate in the gestation and raising of every child he fathers, and such law is enforced without exception (a permanent ankle tracking device for those who run comes to mind) no man has a right to discuss abortion, let alone to vote on it. 

In September 2018 Ronni shared in another post "The Penis Legislation Act" during now Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh's Senate hearings for that appointment. He was questioned about his views on a woman's right to choose.

Read Associated Press News for what Kavanaugh and other judges said in their nomination hearings about Roe to the Senate panel.  

Devorah Blachor's  satirical article, "Why Are Men Getting So Hysterical About the Penis Legislation Act?" prompted Ronni's post which is a must read.  Just imagine if men's bodies and sexual organ/function was subjected to legislation, much less judicial judgement as this "Act" describes.

The point of all this I want to make is the simplicity of the issue -- it's not complicated.   

Our Supreme Court's decision should affirm in the case before them now upholding the 50-year precedent Roe vs Wade rule ensuring women's right to make health decisions for their own bodies as the Piedtype blogger notes in "It's About Equality" with excerpts below:

"From  'America Is Not Ready for the End of Roe v. Wade' by the New York Times editorial board on May 6:

The principle is clear:

   Women and men should have equal control over their own bodies ...

Even more fundamental than our religious and/or unscientific differences about when human life begins is that simple statement:  Women and men should have equal control over their own bodies.  To deny women the right to abortion is to deny them equality with men.  Period.

Gender equality in the United States either is, or it isn't."  

Thousands gather for pro-abortion rights rally in Los Angeles and across the nation/ABC-TV 7

ACQUAINTANCES/FRIENDS/MOTHER REMEMBERED

Remembering my mother with much love and affection this Mothers Day!
Tributes to my mother have been written here previously that may be read in the archives.
Increasingly I experience a desire to share my thoughts with Mother the older I become.
She always listened when I wanted to talk.
If only Mother was alive today.

Mother, having become a single parent and the sole support of our family saw that there were funds available so I could have the requisite uniforms as a Brownie then, when I "flew up" those of a full-fledged Girl Scout.  Maybe this Scout song was added later as our troop never knew it.  After mother wed again, then later when my family moved to the country scouting was no longer an available activity for me. 

GIRL SCOUT SONG "MAKE NEW FRIENDS'

 

Thinking of the people at varying levels of acquaintanceship/friendship I've known during my lifetime they have likely affected my life.  I've previously written of some of them here.  A few others come to mind.

Early in my life, my fifth-grade teacher, Miss Barroway, who a week before had wrapped my knuckles hurtfully with a wooden ruler for exchanging written notes with my boyfriend is one such person.  This day I was staring at a pulsing throbbing on her neck as she sat behind her desk at the front of the room.  Staring intently back at me as our eyes locked, she suddenly called to me to come up front causing me to quickly gasp wondering what had I done now?

I was immediately relieved when she announced I would read the spelling words to the class as she arose and departed the room.  Later, our principal, Miss Broome, entered the room to tell us our teacher had a heart attack.  I must have seen the carotid artery on the left side of her neck pulsating.  

Then there was the Jr. High boy and girl enraptured with each other whose names I don't recall now who were the only classmates that befriended me, a new student at this third of new schools in different states I was in that year.  A fourth school soon followed with a much more friendly student body.

I remember my high school English teacher who introduced me to important mind-expanding literature including Shakespeare via Hamlet.  Nor can I forget she had us memorize the last stanza of 19th century poet William Cullen Bryant's poem, "Thanatopsis", that is encouraging and reveres life, but notes death is part of the life experience.   This poem assumed increasing meaning to me as I became older.

"Thanatopsis" 

"So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves 
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

People we've known and admired can disappoint us but we can still respect their more positive qualities I remind myself now when I think of her.

This disappointment with her for me is because during my high school years, a classmate, Jim, rejecting his father's unknown KKK racism to me then had written a final paper for our English class supporting school integration.  I never knew of his paper's subject matter which I didn't learn about until recent years.  That was in the early fifties of the 20th century.

The teacher had given Jim's written thoughts to school administration, who possibly ultimately referred them to the retro-thinking school board.  He was actually expelled from school though I hadn't known all that then.  

My classmate was ahead of his times.  A few years later integration did occur after I moved away from that southern state, though only after the federal government had to bring in troops for the integrating students' protection and to prevent violence.

Having previously been following in his father's footsteps, Jim had altered course.  He went on to a university, then studied to become a minister, was active in the 1960's integration movement, continued his dedication to include assisting those seeking citizenship and asylum in the US. as he presently does.  Now he's also active in the long term care facility where he and his wife reside in Illinois.

After my undergraduate college graduation, having returned to my northern home state I was distressed to discover racism was present there, too, but just less obvious.   Unexpectedly, a situation arose necessitating friends there and I take action to circumvent and bypass a racist exclusionary effort by an organization to which most of us belonged toward a new member of our group of friends.

Such protest and resistance is precisely what I believe each of us must do in everyday living if we're ever to truly integrate to fulfill America's and democracy's promise of equality for all.    This does not occur with that population minority striving toward converting our nation to an autocracy contrary to their occasional words.

Undergrad college in my early years brought lifelong friends as did the university in Southern California where I returned for post graduate study many decades later.  In between those years were relationships formed as a consequence of my various employment settings.  There were also neighbors who became friends wherever I lived around the country through the years.  Everyone impacted my life in one way or another contributing to the person I've become.

The harrowing circumstances in Ukraine, refugees fleeing to Poland, Russia's Nazi-like behavior in the war-like invasion of their neighboring country, threat to other nations, prompts me think of a Holocaust survivor, Isabelle Teresa Huber. 

I had the privilege of knowing her in recent years during the short time she was part of our writing group. She had been a professional classical music pianist among her talents.  When she joined our group she was in the process of writing her first book recounting her life experience as only one of three children to live and escape her Poland city during WWII at age three.  She and her mother were separated for a time but ultimately reunited, eventually coming to the United States.

Isabelle's mother came to live with her and son-in-law doctor husband.  He painstakingly regularly engaged her mother in periodic conversation about the early years his wife didn't fully recall.  He took notes of the unraveling of his wife's family's comfortable life then disintegration when the Nazis arrived, her father's departure, how she and her mother escaped, the countries where they lived, how they survived.   All this storytelling became part of her book a regular member of our writing group and longtime personal friend of Isabelle, Nan Miller, was facilitating and editing.

Her book, "Isabelle's Attic", was originally published in 2013 which I reviewed on Amazon.  I looked forward to her next book but her life and that of her friend, Nan, aiding her took quite a different turn.  Isabelle's highly respected orthopedic surgeon husband who had retired, sold his practice, later coped with Alzheimer's Disease, and had to be institutionalized, then died in July 2020.   Meanwhile, Isabelle developed a terminal illness and died in November 2020 -- click on her Claremont Courier obituary with her photograph.   Her second book never could be completed for Nan's editing. 

Meanwhile, Nan's husband and later she also coped with serious medical conditions that prevented their further writing and publishing plans following up on Nan's first published book in 2013, "Girl 44", about her early life as a foster child known by her number 44.

There have been so many more people at a different level of friendship whose names are prominent in my memory but I won't attempt to write about them now.

Each of you have interesting stories of those individuals entering your life and the varying levels of friendships you have formed, I'm sure.  Perhaps you are prompted to recall some of them to share?