| “I’m one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” ~Emily, in The Devil Wears Prada #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
John
Three 50-word stories about favorite Danube riverboat cruise moments.
| Home visit | Bar staff | Da bears |
| The “Coffee and Cake with Locals” excursion during our Bratislava, Slovakia port call was a rare chance to connect on a human level with people from other cultures. Andre opened up his home for a visit, and instead of coffee, he served us samples of the home-grown spirits he makes. | With the premium drink package, we spent a lot of time at the riverboat’s bar, where the bartenders became very familiar with “A309,” our cabin number to charge all our drinks to. Yulinana, Stefan, Dobrica, and Ayu got in a lot of steps serving my drink of choice — a CC&DC. | Our BearCruise group of ~40 folks included 7 from Raleigh, several guys we’d met on previous BearCruises (Mexican Riviera, Dominican MayDaze, and Northern Europe), and some new friends like Daniel and Michael and Tom and Art, and a couple of non-BearCruise guys like Chris and Steve from near Niagara Falls. |
Finished book #54 in 2025
Book #54 |
Book: The Toy Car: A Short Story | Author: Rose Tremain | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 48 | Duration: 07/16/25 – 07/16/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Petros Castellanos comes of age negotiating competing familial expectations. 🖌6-word review: Nicely compact and well-written short story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Emma searched in what she and Dan called The Awful Cupboard, the space where they put all the things they no longer liked or needed but which they thought they might like or need one day in the future.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lukanika, rota, scops owl | |||
| Description:* In the sun-bleached idyll of his Greek island home, 17-year-old Petros Castellanos’s future seems mapped out: he’ll inherit his father’s modest taxi fleet and continue his family tradition. However, his English mother sees a different path for her son, one that leads far from the watchful eyes of their small community. So Petros goes to London to stay with his mother’s cousin. The capital is an overwhelming city whose dazzling possibilities both terrify and enthrall him. But he must decide: will he disappoint his father to fulfil his mother’s dreams, or find the courage to chart his own course home?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bonus free Amazon First Reads download, and being a short story by an author I wasn’t familiar with, I thought it might be a good introduction to her. It has a good pace and enough tension to keep it interesting and wondering how everything would resolve. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Finished book #53 in 2025
Book #53 |
Book: The Loves of My Life | Author: Edmond White | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 256 | Duration: 07/15/25 – 07/16/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, queer, LGBT, gay, biography | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Legendary author unapologetically shares his gay love and sex life. 🖌6-word review: Honest. Irreverent. Witty. Some questionable generalizations. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “I first discovered my sadism when I was in my mid 20s and tricked with a small guy who kept saying, ‘Don’t touch my hair. I told you, don’t touch my hair.’ Though he was a bottom, he had so many irritating rules; I finally slapped his ass and he came.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: outré, wen, unguent, goût exclusif, marmoreal, orreries, velleity, louche | |||
| Description:* In this peerless memoir, the 85-year-old “paterfamilias of queer literature” (New York Times) recounts the sixty-plus years of sexual escapades that have inspired his many masterpieces. He explores the sex he had with other closeted boys in 50s Midwest, with women as a young man trying to be straight, the sex he’s paid for and been paid for, sex during the Stonewall and HIV eras, and in the age of the apps. Through stories of transactional sex, mutual admiration, open relationships, domination, submission, love, and loss, he paints an indelible portrait of queer history in America and abroad in a way only someone who has lived through it can.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I think a lot of gay men, particularly those of “a certain age,” would appreciate this unabashedly detailed telling of Edmund White’s love and sex life. Details like he had over 1,000 sex partners, and at one point he was masturbating up to 5 times a day. Oh yeah, and he had a little dick. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly crassness of all that — the writing is exquisite and even academic at times. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
It’s confirmed — I do not have a screw loose.
Three days ago on July 13, it was my two-year anniversary of having back surgery, and today I had my final, annual check-up to make sure everything’s still copacetic.
Today’s x-rays:
And the doctor’s reading:
AP and lateral plain films of the lumbar spine done today are reviewed by me. They show well-healed interbody fusions at both L2-3 and L3-4. Posterolateral fusion at L4-5 is also well-healed with no evidence of substantial halo formation at any level.
My doctor, Conor Regan, was — and still is — incredible. I recommend him without reservation.
Planet Fitness exercise check-in
| My hardest workout is trying not to look bored while you tell me all about your workout. #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Finished book #52 in 2025
Book #52 |
Book: Hell of a Book | Author: Jason Mott | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 333 | Duration: 07/01/25 – 07/08/25 (8 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: literary fiction, racism, books about books, magical realism, African American | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A complex story. A complex storyteller. Addressing a complex topic. 🖌6-word review: Lyrical writing with an unreliable narrator. |
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| Description:* An astounding work of fiction, both incredibly funny and heartfelt, asking readers to embrace the fantastical in order to get to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon not only Black Americans, but America as a whole.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I went into this book knowing that I was going to be challenged, because neither magical realism nor lyrical writing appeal to me. But the topic is super important, and the book has won numerous writing awards, so I wanted to give it a chance. Not surprisingly, I spent a lot of time frustrated not knowing what was real and what wasn’t, and not knowing the connection between two of the characters — the unnamed author of the book in the book, which happens to have the same name as the book itself and the character called “The Kid.” That sentence alone should give you a taste of the state of confusion I stayed in throughout most of the book. In the end, it was hard to follow, but the topic was and important one, and I’m glad I stuck with it. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Planet Fitness exercise check-in
| Muhammad Ali: “I only start counting my sit-ups when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that matter.”
Me: “If I bend down to pick up a piece of paper, I count it as a squat.” |
Danube riverboat cruise – Disembarkation Day – Straubing, Germany – Saturday, July 12, 2025
Today’s program:
I mentioned in an earlier post that we almost weren’t going to be allowed to sail from Passau (our second-to-the-last port) to Regensburg (our final port), due to the Danube’s low water levels. Obviously, that got cleared up, since we did go to Regensburg.
We were supposed to spend the night on the riverboat in Regensburg, and disembark there in the morning. However, there was a concern that the Danube might get so low overnight that the ship would get stranded there. Although we (the passengers) probably wouldn’t care since we were disembarking, Emerald cruise line didn’t want the ship stranded there.
Hence, when the day’s activities for Regensburg ended, we set sail to a place that wasn’t on our agenda at all, Straubing, for our disembarkation tomorrow morning.
Because we had an early flight to Paris, we had arranged private transportation from our disembarkation point to the Munich airport to be picked up at 5:30 a.m., which turned out to be a huge clusterfuck when the pick-up location changed from Regensburg to Straubing.
But we won’t get into that here, because nobody really cares but us. (Let’s just say that the Emerald Star receptionist ended up carrying our 50-lb bag for a literal half mile to get to the car that was picking us up.)
The full dining room breakfast was going to be available for everyone else getting off the riverboat later in the morning, so Emerald prepared a “breakfast to go” for Bob and me, which we were delighted about and very pleased with.
We ate it in our (chauffeured) car on the 1.25-hour trip to the the Munich airport.
We flew from Munich to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) and then direct from Paris to Raleigh. Both flights were uneventful, which sadly is the exception rather than the rule in air travel these days.
Danube riverboat cruise – Regensburg, Germany – Friday, July 11, 2025
Today’s program:
We did the “Walking Tour of Regensburg with Sausage Tasting” excursion, and you can just imagine the saucy banter among 40 gay men about tasting sausages.
And speaking of sausages, once again for some queer reason, most of the guys gravitated to one particular guide, Daniel Husband. He was a professional baseball player, and it showed.
Daniel and his massive biceps took us through the town:
There was a Dachshund Museum there, and Bob and I popped inside:
In Neupfarrplatz square, there were Stolpersteine or “stumbling stones,” which are memorial plaques embedded in the sidewalk to commemorate victims of the Nazis.
St. Stephens was in the center of town, and we stopped in it:
The last thing on the walking tour was a stop at The Sausage Kitchen, where we sat on the steps and Daniel collected our orders — ranging from all the way (mustard & kraut), to no mustard, to no kraut, to plain, to breadless — for a free sausage sandwich.
After the tour ended, Bob and I returned to a bakery that Daniel had said has his favorite pretzels in town, and we each got one.
Tonight’s entertainment on board was the Bavarian Brass Band, who played “oompah music” for us.
That moment when…
For at least three-fourths of the trip, we’d been ordering regular drinks, and then in an aha moment, it occurred to us to order doubles and save the bar staff 50% of their trips to our table!
Our menus for 07/13/25 – 07/19/25
In between finishing Danube riverboat cruise blog posts (me) and catching up on the laundry and mowing (Bob), we’re getting “back in the saddle” after someone else having meal planned and cook for us for 11 days. I know Bob appreciated the break.
Thanks to him for preparing next week’s menus. We are good to go for the week!
| Day | Meal |
|---|---|
| 07/13/25 Sunday |
• Chicken burger patties • Crispy crown potatoes • Mixed vegetables |
| 07/14/25 Monday |
(Front-porch happy hour cheering on Pelagic Run Club runners) • Hot dogs c̅ slaw • Pasta salad |
| 07/15/25 Tuesday |
• Kielbasa c̅ sautéed pineapple, green peppers, onions • Rice pilaf • Tomato-cucumber salad |
| 07/16/25 Wednesday |
• Pork tenderloin • Green beans c̅ mushrooms • Mashed potatoes/td> |
| 07/17/25 Thursday |
• Cheese ravioli c̅ pesto sauce • Broccoli • House salad |
| 07/18/25 Friday |
• Grilled chicken thighs • Quinoa salad |
| 07/19/25 Saturday |
(Klekner / Livingston dinner) • Something fabulous, we’re sure |
Danube riverboat cruise – Passau, Germany – Thursday, July 10, 2025
Today’s program:
This is the only port call that we hadn’t already arrived at when we woke up, so it made for a nice leisurely morning. Bob and I had been getting up at 6 or 6:30 every day, so this was nice.
Bob participated in the 10:00 Trivia with Paula activity, while I worked on my blog. Our friend Ken was the winner!
I found this trivia question most interesting:
Who are the only 3 people in the world who can travel without a passport?
Click here to see the answer.
The emperor and empress of Japan & King Charles.
Neither of us participated in the Crazy Gold or the Bike Tour activities.
After lunch, I took the Walking Tour of Passau, while Bob stayed on the riverboat.
Might I remind you that we’re traveling with a group of about 40 gay men? For some queer reason, the majority of the guys in our group gravitated toward this tour guide, Ugur from Istanbul, out of the 6 guides available.
Two funny things with regards to Ugur:
- In telling us how safe this city is, he told us that once he went away for two weeks and forgot to lock his bicycle. When he got back it was still there, and it had a note on it that said, “This bike is too cheap to steal.” (He suspects it was actually a friend of his that put it there.)
- We’d just passed the courthouse, where he’d told us that they get 2 chances to pass the bar here, and if you fail the second time, you can’t retake it. A few minutes later, a lady holding a bouquet came running toward him, they seemed to be celebrating, speaking in German, and then he said, “This is my friend, and she just passed the bar! It was her second chance, so it was critical that she pass. It seems like she’s been studying for 10 years straight for this.” There were cheers and applause all around from our group.
Within the first 10 minutes of the tour, the bottom fell out of the sky, and all of us were under a tree trying to keep dry. It was a fierce downpour with loud thunder, and it lasted about 10 minutes. We had a pretty view from there, though.
City scenes:
Guess how many total Scrabble points the letters of this sign add up to!
Click here to see the answer.
118!
I was walking ahead of the rest of our BearCruise group, and when I saw this store I thought, “Oh boy. Y’all have no idea what’s about to hit you.” I knew every bear in our group would stop in it!
We checked out St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and like most of the ones we’ve seen, it was elaborate.
“And, yes, I’m talking about that big-bellied schmuck right there!”
Tencalla-Garten
We participated in the Jukebox Jury activity, which was kind of a brilliant way to get people geared up for the subsequent disco dancing.
They gave us a list of 10 disco songs — which weren’t all disco songs, but songs from the “disco era” — and we had to predict which 3 songs (in order) would get the most people up on the floor dancing.
The brilliant part, of course, was that everybody wanted to get out on the dance floor when one of the songs they’d voted for was played.
Our favorite pictures are of our favorite bartender, Yuliana, when she joined in on one of the songs. It looks like she’s dancing with wild abandon!
Our friend Kayo won by getting the top 3 in the right order!
This was a fun, fun, fun night!
A menu-quote typo leads to a visual pun
The day after we had our fun, fun, fun dinner with Daniel and Michael, Michael sent a text asking if we’d noticed the quote on last night’s dinner menu.
Virginia who??? 😂
We hadn’t noticed that. And then he sent:
Our kinda yuma!
Danube riverboat cruise – Dürnstein-Krems, Austria – Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Today’s program:
We did the morning Göttweig Abbey tour: “A walk through history and now of the Monastery of Goettweig — a view into the life of the monks.” Full disclosure: We did not see any actual monks even though there are some that still live there.
Our guide’s name was Sophie, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone talk faster than she did, not even friends of mine from New York.
Courtyard views of the abbey:
A couple of shots in the Göttweig Abbey church:
A couple of quick things:
- What’s better than a candelabra on your piano? Tulips on your organ.
- In Bishop Altmann’s coffin, there’s only his skull, one arm, and a rib.
There was a scenic overlook here and we took pics for several other people here and someone returned the favor.
We did not participate in the Durnstein Castle Ruins Hike or the Wachau Bike Tour excursions. Instead, we took advantage of the free time in Durstein, and walked around the cute little village.
Street scenes
Amusing sights
Dogs
Shopping
Flora
Such a cute little village. Time enjoyably spent.
Back at the riverboat, while the bikers biked along the Danube for 3 hours, the riverboat traveled through the Wachau Valley to Krems, where the bikers also ended up, and we stopped to pick them up.
Tonight’s dinner:
I had the recommendations, exchanging Bananas Foster for the Kaiserschmarren & Zwetschkenröster (easy for you to say!).
The entertainment this evening was The No-Budget Band, comprising our riverboat housekeepers Heri and Agus.
And at one point they called up Al — our fearless BearCruise cruise director — to sing a song. Within a minute, Al had the room in his hands with John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads.
In his early years, Al sang and danced on cruise ships and for a while in shows at Carowinds or Kings Dominion.
Locks!
Not these kinds:
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We went through our first locks — both for this riverboat cruise and ever for Bob and me. Very cool.
The dark side of riverboat cruising
We’ve had a couple of schedule changes because the Danube River water levels are precariously low.
At first, we were going to have to end in Passau instead of Regensburg, because it didn’t look like we’d be able to get to Regensburg before the water got too shallow.
Then we got word that we were going to be able to go all the way to Regensburg.
And just now (mid-day) on Friday, already in Regensburg, it was determined that the river is evaporating/draining so fast that if we stay here over night to disembark in the morning as planned, by morning the ship might be stranded here because of the low water level — fine for us because we’re disembarking; bad for the cruise line, which won’t be able to get out of here.
So at the end of tonight, we are going to sail to a place between here and Passau, called Straubing to disembark there.
We have “private” transportation arrangements, meaning a driver is coming to pick us up to take us to the Munich airport, and we’ve been in touch with the driver (who is great) via WhatsApp to stay on top of the changes.
I’ve decided to order a drink now every time plans change.
My plus-sized Bloody Mary and Al having empathy drink with me.
Affordances that actually help
“Affordances” in the discipline of user-centered design are the things about a product that make their usability “easy” or “intuitive.”
I’ve noted 2 things on this riverboat whose affordances do not advance their usability:
- The icons on the water machine, and
- The handles on the doors into the lounge and bar.
Water machine
Its affordances: The two icons that indicate sparkling water (on the left side) and still water (on the right side).
I watched person after person put their glass under the right icon when they wanted still water and under the left icon when they wanted sparkling water, which is the intuitive thing to do.
The problem is that both the sparkling and the still water are dispensed in the middle of the machine, so you need to put your glass there regardless of which kind of water you want.
A better affordance would be if those two icons were stacked (like a stoplight) in the middle of the machine above where the water actually comes out, which would make it intuitive to always put your glass there.
Door
Its affordances: The handles on these doors are the same on both sides, and they are the type of handles that one intuitively pulls.
The problem is that you need to push the door to enter the lounge, and you need to pull the door to exit the lounge.
Better affordances would be to have standard handles that people intuitively know how to use — so a flat handle on the side you push to enter and a handle like that one that’s already on them on the side you pull to exit.
Rant over.
Bob’s new best friend
Here he is with Yuliana, one of the bartenders extraordinaire on the riverboat!
Bob is someone who likes to try new things, while I prefer things I already know — especially with regards to food and drink. It’s mid-morning here, and we’re sitting in the lounge and bar where I’m catching up this blog.
Bob to Yuliana: I want to try a drink I’ve never had before.
Yuliana: What kind of liquor would you like in it?
Bob: Vodka.
Fast forward a few minutes, and she delivered my third Bloody Mary along with Bob’s “surprise drink.”
Her: Don’t ever ask me to do this again. It makes me very nervous when someone asks me to surprise them or to “be creative” with a drink.
I said, “I’m the same way!
Laughs all around.
A quick tour of our riverboat, the Emerald Star
|
Photo attribution: I shamelessly stole (let’s think of it as “re-use”) these photos from our friend, Jim Shea, whom we met on a previous BearCruise, and who has a similar sense of humor to mine. Here he is in Bratislava making brilliant photographic use of one of the water jets in this fountain! |
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And now for our riverboat tour:
Danube riverboat cruise – Vienna, Austria – Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Sunset over the Danube last night leaving Bratislava heading toward Vienna:
I enjoyed a cuppa cawfee (without the tawk) in our cabin this morning.
Today’s program:
We skipped the “Art Tour of Vienna” excursion, because we like neither art history nor museums. Discuss.
Bob and I took the 2:30 free shuttle bus from the riverboat to the City Center Schwedenplatz and walked around in the light drizzle. Bob was my umbrella aide-de-camp whenever I took a photo.
Other city walk pics:
Tonight’s dinner menus:
We forewent the evening classical music concert for several reasons:
- Bob doesn’t care for classical music.
- I attend the N.C. Symphony somewhat regularly, and I constantly listen to our classical music station — which Bob affectionately refers to as “the oldies station.”
- I did the Viennese waltz in Vienna with my then-wife when I was here 45 years ago, which I view as an equivalent experience.
With all that said, the people who went reported that the concert was great! And it was a special concert just for the people on this riverboat cruise.
Finished book #51 in 2025
Book #51 |
Book: Family & Other Calamities | Author: Leslie Gray Streeter | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 253 | Duration: 06/27/25 – 06/30/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, humor | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A journalist confronts a former mentor who stole her work. 🖌6-word review: Lackluster characters. Interesting but uncompelling plot. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “At a certain age, your face is sick of you, and it’s done hiding it for you.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: firmament, sabra | |||
| Description:* Entertainment journalist Dawn Roberts has a lot to work a widow’s grief, betrayals of family and friends, and scandals that almost tanked her reputation. Not that Dawn dwells on the past. Well, hardly. When she returns to Baltimore with her husband’s ashes, she can’t avoid it. In fact, she’s diving into decades of backstabbing and treachery for her first trip home in years. Joe Perkins, her former mentor, whose explosive exposé about big-city corruption is being turned into a slanderous movie, is also back in town. The villain of the piece? Dawn. She’ll finally set the record straight. Returning home might just be the biggest story in Dawn’s life, a fresh start—and happy ending—she never expected.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: After finishing the book I read after this one, I had to really think to remember what this book was about. That can’t be good, can it? The chapters switch between the past and the present, but the past isn’t done in traditional flashbacks. Instead, the female protagonist, Dawn, becomes submerged in memories or in stories she’s telling to others. It may sound confusing, because it is — at least it was to me, at first. The whole story just didn’t grab me, and I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Three 50-word stories about the vacation I’m on right now.
| The itinerary | The boat | The group |
| We flew from Raleigh to Paris to Budapest, spent 2 days on land there, and we’re now on a Danube riverboat cruise traversing Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany. The port calls include: Budapest (Hungary); Bratislava (Slovakia); Vienna, Krems, Dürnstein, and Engelhartszell (Austria); Passau and Regensburg (Germany). We’ll return from Munich. | No it’s not a Viking, but an Emerald cruise. Our Emerald Star riverboat holds 182 passengers, and Bob and I have a Panorama Balcony Suite, a favorite feature of which is its sliding balcony window. There’s a pool, theater, sunning and games areas, and several restaurants and bars on board. | We’re with a BearCruise group of ~40, comprising mostly gay men — and the one straight woman is my ex-grad-school professor, who’s traveling with her gay grandson. Bob and I have done several cruises with BearCruise, including Halloweenie Mexican Riviera, Dominican MayDaze, and Northern Europe, and they’re always a good time. |
How many points is that?
Bob and I were walking the streets of Vienna when we saw this business:
Struck by the lengths of these words and the frequency of less-used letters in English words that they contain, we thought they’d be killer Scrabble words. We weren’t wrong:
Day drinking in Vienna
As they say, “You can’t drink all day if you don’t start first thing in the morning.”
At our port call in Vienna, I’m doing my part by starting my morning off with some Baileys in my coffee.
An hour or so later, I saw my Baileys Coffee and raised it a Bloody Mary.
Danube riverboat cruise – Book club at sea
I told my once-grad-school professor and now friend, Susan, about this Danube riverboat cruise and she said she’d always wanted to go on one.
I knew she had a gay grandson, and since the group I’m going with is a gay group, I said, “I said, “You should come on this one, and you should ask Peyton to go with you.” And she did!
Susan and I are both avid readers, and we are each in a book club, but not the same one. I said, “We should both read a (fiction) book involving a Danube riverboat cruise and discuss it on the cruise!”
She thought it was a great idea, so we did. Turns out neither one of us was impressed with the book, and I said, “Sometimes in a book club, the worst books can have the best discussion.” We both said, “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go with that.”
We met today and discussed it.
Afterward, we added a note to the inside front cover and donated the book to the riverboat’s share-a-book collection.
Watching the runners from half-way ’round the world
When we’re home, we host happy hour on Mondays on our front porch, and we cheer on the runners of the Pelagic Run Club, which is associated with a bottle shop that’s less than a mile from our house.
Since we’re in Vienna, we didn’t have it today, but we did check our web cam that shows our front yard at the time they pass by and caught a few shots of them going by.
Update: Our friends Sam & Neal picked up the slack by putting signs out at their house, which is one street over from ours.
Danube riverboat cruise – Bratislava, Slovakia – Monday, July 7, 2025
This morning, relax on board as we sail to Bratislava. An ancient landscape awaits, where remarkable towers add to a skyline that perfectly encapsulates the history of the city, and preserved medieval fortifications tell tales of a turbulent past.
Today’s program:
Excursions at this port:
Coffee and cake with the locals: You will be invited into the home of a local family to learn more about their traditions and culture over coffee and cake.
Bratislava city tour: Your local guide will take you through the heart of the city, as you soak in the sights of the lavish Episcopal Summer Palace and the neo-Renaissance façade of the Slovak National Theatre.
In what undoubtedly will be the most memorable part of this trip, we visited a Bratislava’s home and connected on a intimate, human level.
Matthew (hysterical) was our tour guide. Ondrus (extremely knowledgeable) was the local expert who told us about the country and what we were seeing on the 45-minute ride to the village where Andre (the homeowner) lived.
Andre was adorable which doesn’t really matter — (but, my goodness, doesn’t it help?) — and he welcomed seven of us (Kayo, Ken, Al, Daniel, Michael, Bob, and me) into his home.
He was an interesting and personable guy who told us about his life here and answered a bunch of questions from us. He likes to make homemade spirits, and even though this program is billed as “coffee and cake,” he offered us, and we took him up on, some of his homemade spirits with the cake.
Some pics of his house and hospitality:
And yes, that’s Bob playing the Steirische harmonika! After his third or fourth glass of spirits, the spirit moved him to ask Andre if he could try it.
We returned to the riverboat for lunch and enjoyed a salad bar and fish and chips!
After lunch, we set out for the city walking tour, and one of the guides was Matej from this morning’s home visit, so we got in his group, because we knew how good and funny he is!
A few pics of the tour:
Matej told two stories regarding these two sites:
About the “Man at Work” sculpture, he said the locals laugh at the tourists whenever they see them squat down next to it for photos and rub its head (which apparently many do “for good luck”), because what they know is that dogs relieve themselves on that statue all day long.
And about the “creeper man,” he said that that guy was a real person, and in fact his grandmother knew him, but he got spurned by a woman and went a little crazy (as in with mental illness) over it. And after that, he started staring and making goo-goo eyes and comments at women and became “creepy,” which today would probably consider what he was doing as harassment.
And tonight’s dinner:
Tonight’s activity was “An Evening with the Stars,” where video or audio clips of movies were played and we had to guess the name of the actors or movies. Our dinner companions from last night (who also do their weekly dinner menus) are in the front of the middle table: Daniel in the blue & black flowered shirt, with Michael to the right of him in the black polo shirt.
The crowd participating in the movie trivia game — the 2 front tables are members of our group.
Mystery Voice
1 – Celine Dion
2 – Nicole Kidman
3 – David Attenborough
4 – Stevie Wonder
5 – Jim Carey
6 – Heath Ledger
7 – Rowan Atkinson
8 – Oprah Winfrey
9 – Hugh Grant
10 – Bjork
Missing Title
1 – Pretty Woman
2 – Finding Nemo
3 – Rocky
4 – Green Mile
5 – Fight Club
6 – Shrek
7 – Shawshank
8 – Lion King
9 – The Matrix
10 – Titanic
Music From Movies
1 – The Breakfast Club
2 – Skyfall
3 – Mission Impossible
4 – The Naked Gun
5 – Rocky Horror Picture Show
6 – Star Wars
7 – Austin Powers
8 – Breakfast at Tiffany’s
9 – Ghostbusters
10 – The Blues Brothers
Danube riverboat cruise – Budapest, Hungary – Sunday, July 6
Today’s program:
Excursion description: Architecture from across the centuries shines a light on the history of the Hungarian capital. Originally two separate cities, Buda to the west and Pest to the east offer incredibly different views on the culture of one of the liveliest cities in Eastern Europe. Today, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the city during a guided tour, including Heroes’ Square and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Andrássy Avenue and Buda Castle District.
These brilliant devices were provided in our cabins, which you use during the walking tours to be able to hear your guides without everyone having to crowd around them.
We loved our tour guide — “You can call me Charlotte,” she said. She’s in the purple dress in the last picture in this set. A few of my favorite things of this outing:
A few amusing things on the tour:
Late afternoon, we had a “Captain’s Reception” and then our “Port Talk,” which is when they tell you about the next port and everything going on there.
During the captain’s reception, we enjoyed champagne with an amuse bouche, and I treated myself with a change from bourbon and sodas to a treat from the Vodka Cocktail Collection. We had the most expensive, so all-inclusive drink package, so why not?
We had a most delightful dinner, sharing a table with new friends, Daniel & Michael. They’re from Seattle and they’re the first people we’ve met who create a list of dinner menus for the week like we do.
Each night for dinner, there is the full menu, along with a “chef’s recommendation” menu:
Bob and I both chose the chef’s recommendation this evening:
After dinner there was a “Name That Tune” game that I didn’t participate in, but Bob did. There were 3 parts to the game with the emcee playing a clip of music each time.
First round: You had to identify the song title and the artist (or band).
Second round: You had to identify a song that was being played backward.
Third round: You had to say if the song played sold more or fewer than 10 million records.
Bob’s team won, and they were presented a free bottle of spirits and some chocolate.
Danube riverboat cruise – Budapest, Hungary – Saturday, July 5, 2025
Today’s the day when our pre-cruise stay ended and we boarded the Emerald Star riverboat. We boarded just before 11
and had to wait until 12:30 for our embarkation lunch.
Our cabins were projected to be ready around 2, but were ready earlier. We have a Panoramic Balcony Suite whose highlight is a floor-to-ceiling window that slides down opening it up to the outside. Home sweet home for the next 7 days.
After the captain’s welcome, we had dinner. Typically we get 2 menus, one is the full menu and the other one contains the “captain’s recommendation” from the full choices. I forgot to grab a copy of the full menu, but here’s the captain’s recommendation one, which both Bob and I had.
After dinner, we were treated to a Hungarian Folklore Music & Dancing show. Of course, for our group of about 40 gay men, most eyes were on the male dancers.
and we ended the evening with our riverboat staying in Budapest and cruising around the Danube, which was stunning at night.
Gendered restroom signs
I don’t know what we’re going to do when the women in these gendered restroom signs decide they’re going to wear pant suits instead of skirts.
Organ recitals
While walking around the aforementioned Corvin Square, Bob and I got tickled when we saw this sign:
Whenever “people of our age” get together and start talking about all of their knee and hip replacements, etc. — which Bob hates — I’ll eventually announce, “Okay, the organ recital is over.”
A visual pun
Unlike the dead skunk in the middle of the road, this dead fly was on the side of the hallway the 2 days we were at the Monastery Boutique Hotel.
On the way to checking out, we created this image as a visual pun.
What is it?
Click here for answer.
Shoofly! Webster’s definition is:
shoofly
noun
shoo·fly ˈshü-ˌflī
1: a child’s rocker having the seat built on or usually between supports representing an animal figure
2: any of several plants held to repel flies
Pre-riverboat-cruise – Budapest, Hungary – Friday, July 4, 2025
7 of us from Raleigh — Al, Ken, Susan, Peyton, Kayo, Bob and I — met for happy hour at a nearby pub called Belgian Brasseire,
which had an incredible (meaning pages and pages) of beer selections.
We had 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) rounds of spirits. Bob and I drank Maker’s Mark on the rocks, and the rest of the group had beer.
We went our separate ways for dinner, and Bob and I ate at a place called Corvin Gastropub, which we thoroughly enjoyed
and we had the Corvin burger, which came with fries, and which was delicious.
If you’ve traveled in Europe you probably know how hard it is to get some ice in drinks without asking for it, and asking for a lot of it. So imagine our surprise when this cute little bucket of ice with giant-sized ice cubes was delivered with our high balls!
In my defense, I did say to our server (who was great) that, “We’re Americans so you know we like a lot of ice.” Bless her.
As we ate, I noticed that the businesses around the gastropub all had Corvin in their names, and I asked our server if one person (named Corvin?) owned all of these businesses, to which she laughed and said, “No it’s the name of the square here and he was a king.”
Me: “Oh, did you know him?”
She, laughing more: “No he was around in the 1400s.”
After dinner, we stopped in the Mini ABC, which was right across the street and treated ourselves to dessert.
Friday morning’s breakfast
The hotel offered a killer breakfast, and we got our money’s worth:
There was also a coffee station and a water station.
Our first night’s dinner
At the Monastery Boutique Hotel in Budapest, where we’re staying for two nights before we board the Emerald Star for our Danube riverboat cruise, we grabbed an hour-or-so nap upon arrival, and then we had a most delicious dinner in Umo, one of the two restaurants associated with the hotel.
Carlos, who was just adorable, was our server, and when we asked him where he was from he said, “A small city near Mexico City.”
And when we asked him what brought him from Mexico to Budapest, he said, “I came over with a person.” Since any straight guy would have said something like, “I followed my girlfriend here,” we assumed he was on “our team.” And then he added, “But we’re no longer together,” which drew a collective, “Awww” from all of us.
This place had fantastic food.
The menu:
Bob’s and my choices:
And our comeuppance:
Our Danube Delights Riverboat BearCruise
It’s the beginning of our Danube Delights Riverboat BearCruise vacation.
We flew from Raleigh to Paris (on July 2) and to Budapest (on July 3). They were Delta Flights, operated by Air France, and our friends Al & Ken were on the same flights. We were slightly delayed out of Raleigh due to bad weather, and we had a 2-hour delay for our Paris to Budapest flight.
During our 7 hour- 55 minute-flight from Raleigh to Paris, Bob watched The Last Show Girl and Novocain and I read some of Hell of a Book.
We’re staying at the Monastery Boutique Hotel, which is on the other side of the Danube from the House of Parliament building.
Three 50-word stories about the 50 books I’ve read in the first 6 months of 2025.
| Ratings | Sources | Format |
| I have a 5-star rating system and of the 50 books I’ve read in this first half of 2025, the ratings distribution is:
• 15 ★★★★★, • 18 ★★★★☆, • 9 ★★★☆☆, • 6 ★★☆☆☆, and • 2 ★☆☆☆☆. I abandoned the 2 one-star-rated books, because that’s part of the definition of a 1-star rating. |
I rarely buy books, and I haven’t bought any of the books that I’ve read so far this year. They’ve come — free — from 3 different sources: • Amazon First Reads (10), • BookBub email list (5), and • Wake County Public Library (32). Two were from friends, and one was free through Prime Reading. |
My preference of reading formats from most-to-least favorite is: 1) Kindle, 2) audiobook, 3) large-print book, 4) regular-print hardback book, 5) regular-print paperback book. This year-to-date’s 50 books comprised: 21 Kindle books, 6 audiobooks, and 23 printed books (3 of which were picture books, and one of which was large-print). |
Gendered eyeglasses
The Costco optical department person is ringing up a new pair of glasses that I’ve chosen.
Her, pointing to that dotted design along the temples: “You like these?”
Me: Yeah, they’re fine.
Her: Hmmm.
Me: You don’t like them, I take it?
Her: Well, they’re usually on girls’ glasses.
Me: Oh. I don’t care about that. Besides, I can’t see them when I’m wearing them. They’re fine.
Exercise check-in
| Gurl, you’ve gone beyond a muffin-top; that’s a busted can of biscuits! #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #30MinElliptical #10MinTreadmill |
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An oxymoronic adjectival mess
Some eyeglasses for sale at Costco that are described as:
an oxymoronic adjectival mess the seems to capture the zeitgeist of a 1985 blockbuster movie:
Simple syrup, rock candy, and science experiments
At Costco this morning, a man had a cart with 10 25-lbs of fine granulated sugar and 6 18-packs of bottled water.
Of course, the wheels in my head started immediately spinning to answer the question: “Is there anything you can make with just sugar and water?” So I took it to ChatGPT:
With just sugar and water, you can create a few things, including:
- Simple Syrup: This is made by dissolving equal parts sugar and water, typically by heating the water and stirring in the sugar until completely dissolved. It’s a versatile liquid sweetener used in:
- Cocktails
- Sweetening coffees or teas
- Making lemonades or other fruit beverages
- Moistening cakes or pastries
- Creating sorbets or granitas
- Rock Candy: You can grow rock candy crystals by creating a supersaturated sugar solution (dissolving more sugar in water than it can usually hold at room temperature by heating it), then letting the solution cool. As it cools, the sugar molecules will crystallize onto a string or stick placed in the solution.
- Hard Candy: By boiling a sugar and water mixture to a high temperature (hard crack stage), then pouring it into molds or onto a prepared surface, you can create hard candy. Note that some recipes for hard candy may include additional ingredients like corn syrup.
- Science Experiments: Sugar and water can be used for interesting science experiments, such as demonstrating density. By creating solutions with varying amounts of sugar, you can layer them in a glass to create a colorful “rainbow” effect.
Pet peeve: Asking for information that I’ve already provided
About a month ago, I booked an eye appointment for my annual check-up. As a new patient, I filled out a 10-page form with all the usual medical history questions.
At my appointment this morning:
Person checking me in: “Would you sign that form on the clip board for me?”
Me: Just sign it?
Her: No. Fill it out and sign it.
Me: Is this the same information I provided on the 10-page form I filled out and submitted when I made this appointment?
Her: I’ll check, but sometimes those things don’t take.
Me: I don’t love doing a lot of work that doesn’t matter.
Her: Okay, you don’t have to fill it out then.
Exercise check-in
| I’d do anything to lose weight—except, apparently, exercise and eat right. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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A patient-hygienist silver anniversary
At my dentist appointment in March, my hygienist and I talked about when I first started going to this practice, which used to be Lake Boone Dentistry but is now Gover & Gover [David & Susan, husband and wife team] Dentistry.
I told Leigh Ann that I thought it might be 45 years this year, and she said, “Wait a minute. We have records going all the way back to when it was Lake Boone Dentistry. Let me check!”
And sure enough, my first appointment was in November of 1980!
I always schedule my semi-annual cleanings when
is available, and we talked about how long we’ve been “seeing each other,” and she saw in those same records, that my first appointment with her was on June 29, 2000.
Which, of course, means that yesterday was our “Silver Anniversary,” and today, she received the card I put in the mail to her last week.
She texted me to let me know she got it:
Good morning! OMG how thoughtful YOU are!! I just got your card!! Happy 25th and 1 day to US! 🥂 Cheers! Hoping you guys are doing well! I’m hanging this card in my locker forever!!!
Days made all around.
Exercise check-in
| Sometimes I think, “Screw this; I’ll just be a stripper!” And then I remember that I’m fat and can’t dance. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Exercise check-in
| The worst part of a 30-minute workout is the last 29 minutes. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Finished book #50 in 2025
Book #50 |
Book: Reckoning Hour | Author: Peter O’Mahoney | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 315 | Duration: 06/25/25 – 06/27/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, legal thriller, mystery crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Chicago lawyer returns to hometown — takes on two interconnected cases. 🖌6-word review: Good tension. Good pace. Satisfying resolution. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Crimes of the disadvantaged were punished much more harshly than crimes of the advantaged.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: pluff mud, bowrider, tomahawk steak | |||
| Description:* Big-city defense lawyer Dean Lincoln left his picturesque hometown of Beaufort years ago. But now, the lure of small-town life and a family matter have drawn him back. Amidst the sultry heat and the Spanish moss, and beneath the facade of Southern small-town charm, Lincoln begins work again and is immediately thrown into two cases: a rich kid charged with murder and a poor kid accused of arson. Both swear they are innocent. Both feel the system is trying to crush them. And in this corner of the South, guilt is rarely decided in the courtroom… Lincoln’s return has stirred a long-standing grudge, and it could cost him everything — his career, his clients, even his life. As the clock runs out on the truth, trouble is closing in fast.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I was surprised at, and pleased with, how much I enjoyed this book, especially since it was the first in a series (Dean Lincoln Legal Thriller #1) and a free download, which as a combination in my experience doesn’t often bode well. As of right now, there’s only one other book in the series, and if I can find it free somewhere, I just might read it. I thought the setting, — Beaufort, SC — was described and integrated into the story to the extent of itself becoming one of the “characters.” Also, the small-town legal corruption felt believable, if not on the verge of stereotypical, and at more than one point, I thought of the lyrics, “A big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said, ‘Why’d you do it?’ The judge said ‘guilty’ in a make-believe trial, and slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile…” I liked this book enough to possibly make it a Mostly Social Book Club choice of mine some day. And last, but certainly not least, I’m thrilled to have reached book #50 by the end of June. I’d love for this to be a 100+-book year, which I haven’t had since 2022, when I read 102 books. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Hollaback b-a-n-a-n-a-s!
My friend sent me this image saying, “7’s for me. Is it 12 or 13 for you?”
She’s not wrong:
- She’s a lot like Bob (my husband); he picked #8.
- To me, 12, 13 & 14 are great.
- 13 looks perfect to slice and put atop some cereal that could use a little natural sweetener.
- 14 would be good mixed in some vanilla ice cream.
- And 15 is approaching one that we’d put in the freezer for when Bob makes my annual Best. Ever. Banana. Cake.
This reminds me, Bob knows me so well that one time when I was still working, I wanted a banana for lunch, but he knew the ones we had weren’t ripe enough for me, so he doctored one up with a Sharpie and packed it in my lunch.
Exercise check-in
| Me: Siri, remind me to go to the gym. Siri: I have added gin to your shopping list. Me: Even better! #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Windows is getting rid of the BSOD after 40 years (2-minute read)
Microsoft plans to overhaul its blue screen of death (BSOD) error message in Windows 11 in favor of a simplified black screen known as the Black Screen of Death.
Read the article on The Verge.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 27). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=29c1d0c0-532a-11f0-8a05-dfd4e7565873&pt=campaign&t=1751021762&s=dc783f725385f35826ce3417523b7fb4d1e69f6f44d7ed849655265c20bdc9ab
• Warren, T. (2025, June 26). Windows is getting rid of the Blue Screen of Death after 40 years. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/news/692648/microsoft-bsod-black-screen-of-death-color-change-official
The first non-opioid painkiller (11-minute read)
In January, the FDA approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx (suzetrigine), the first non-opioid pain reliever suitable for treating post-surgery pain.
Clinical trials found that patients didn’t show any of the problematic side effects associated with opioids. Unlike opioids, Journavx doesn’t meaningfully interact with the brain – it instead targets a specific sodium ion channel found almost exclusively on peripheral nociceptors (pain-sensing neurons), blocking them from sending pain signals to the brain.
The drug is a product of 27 years of research and billions of dollars.
Read the article on The Works in Progress Newsletter.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 27). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=29c1d0c0-532a-11f0-8a05-dfd4e7565873&pt=campaign&t=1751021762&s=dc783f725385f35826ce3417523b7fb4d1e69f6f44d7ed849655265c20bdc9ab
• Ma, M. (2025, June 26). The first non-opioid painkiller. The Works in Progress Newsletter. https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-first-non-opioid-painkiller
Exercise check-in
| Wrinkles mean I laughed. Gray hair means I cared. These scars mean I lived. And this big ol’ belly means I love tacos. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Ewwwwww!
We got a bad watermelon at Publix yesterday, and I took a picture of it, along with its receipt, back to get a replacement one.
When I showed the picture to the customer service attendant, she said, “Ewwww! That’s nasty! Go get another one right now.”
When I brought the replacement one up to her, she said, “I’m sorry you had to run back here for this. I know when I open some fresh fruit, I want it to look good — not like that!”
I said, “Well, you had no way of knowing what the inside looked like, either, and I appreciate being able to exchange it for another one.”
A coincidence and why???
Recently, “The Flintstone’s purple pet” was a clue in one of the crossword puzzles I do. I hadn’t thought of Dino in a good long while.
Then lo and behold, yesterday at the grocery store, I saw these chunks of chicken.
So many questions… not the least of which is: “Why is that dinosaur on the package green, and are they purple on the inside at least?” And just in terms of making them at all: “Why??? It seems very, very arbitrary to me.”
Exercise check-in
| I’m constantly on the lookout for a bathing suit that’ll make me look 50 pounds lighter. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Finished book #49 in 2025
Book #49 |
Book: Death Row | Author: Freida McFadden | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 74 | Duration: 06/24/25 – 06/24/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, short stories, mystery, psychological thriller, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A condemned murderess professes her innocence until the bitter end. 🖌6-word review: Clever twists, but sometimes confusingly executed. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Bowman explained to me that the protocol in this state calls for the injection of three drugs. First midazolam, a sedative. Then vecuronium bromide, which will paralyze my muscles. And last, potassium chloride, which will stop my heart from beating.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: peewee football, omakase | |||
| Description:* Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering her husband. She had an alibi and no known motive, yet Talia’s unwavering protestations of innocence have always been ignored. Then one day in the visiting area, she sees a recognizable stranger she’s certain is her husband. It turns out the man she’s been convicted of killing may not be dead after all. But as the days tick away toward Talia’s execution, what will it take for her to be believed?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bit of a roller coaster while reading, between the alternating “dream” chapters and the “current day” (but not “real?”) chapters, and at times confusing — as in “Wait. What’s going on here?” I did think that, overall, there were clever twists and that it would be interesting to re-read it knowing everything I knew by the end. With that said, I’m not one to re-read books, and I won’t be re-reading this one. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Touching the sky
There are a number of songs whose lyrics include “I can touch the sky,” which makes me wonder, “Exactly how far up is it before the sky actually starts?”
Copilot AI to the rescue:
The “sky” doesn’t have a hard boundary. What we typically call the sky is Earth’s atmosphere, which extends about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level to what’s known as the Kármán line — often considered the edge of space. That’s higher than any commercial plane can fly and where things start to get truly weightless
So, I says to Copilot, “But where does the sky start? Is it one-inch off the ground?”
In the most basic sense, yes—the sky starts right at your feet. The “sky” is really just Earth’s atmosphere, and we’re all living in the thickest part of it, called the troposphere, which begins at ground level and stretches up about 7 to 12 miles (12 to 20 km). So technically, every breath you take is part of the sky.
It’s just that when we look up, we perceive that vast expanse differently—like it’s separate from us, a thing up there rather than around us. But truly, you’re walking through the sky every time you stroll down the street. Kind of poetic, don’t you think?
With all that said, being able to touch the sky isn’t really a big enough deal to brag about.
Three 50-word stories about neighborhood coincidences this past Monday.
| Mowing | Exterminating | Gutter cleaning |
| We were mowing our lawn — and by we were, I mean my husband was — and at the same time, the kid across the street from us was mowing his mother’s lawn. And while mowing, Bob noticed 2 other neighbors’ house maintenance goings on that we’re also having done this week. | The same across-the-street neighbor was also having her extermination service this morning, by Economy Exterminators, and our exterminator, BugOut, is coming today as well. Our assigned BugOut exterminator is Josh, who — another coincidence — was the exterminator assigned to the Red Hat building I used to work in before I retired. | Also this morning while mowing, Bob noticed that our neighbor two doors down is having their gutters cleaned, and we’re having ours cleaned on Thursday. The company our neighbor is using is amusingly named Suck My Gutters Clean. Our roof and gutter cleaner is — boring by comparison — Raleigh Gutter Cleaning. |
Finished book #48 in 2025
Book #48 |
Book: This Impossible Brightness | Author: Jessica Bryant Klagmann | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 308 | Duration: 06/20/25 – 06/24/25 (5 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: literary fiction, fantasy, mystery, dystopia, magical realism, science fiction | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Grieving woman develops unlikely connections with — dead and alive — townsfolk. 🖌6-word review: Interesting premise. Ended right on time. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “It is agonizing, the disposition of the human mind to construct obstacles in one’s own path, when the world itself has given us none.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: QL card, rappie pie, hepatica, phonautograph, ogham, mottled, cairn, lupine | |||
| Description:* After the mysterious disappearance of her fiancé, Alma Hughes moves to a remote island in the North Atlantic, where she hopes to weather her grief and nurture her ailing dog. But the strange town of Violette has mysteries as well. Townsfolk say that the radio tower overlooking their town broadcasts messages through their home appliances, their dreams, even the sea itself. When lightning strikes the tower, illuminating the sky in a brilliant flash, Alma finds herself caught in the unexplainable aftermath of one of Violette’s deadliest storms. As the sea consumes the island, threatening its very existence, the deaths and lost memories of the recently departed also devastate the community. Alma, with a unique link to the lost, may be the only one who can help them move on. But to do so, she must confront a tragic loss of her own.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I acquired this book in January of 2024, and I’m surprised I downloaded it because I dislike 4 of the 6 genres listed for this book: literary fiction, mystery, fantasy, dystopia, magical realism, science fiction. The only thing more surprising than that is that I actually didn’t abandoned it and I liked it pretty well. I did experience, although to a minimal degree, a couple of the things I don’t like about fantasy, magical realism, and science fiction, which is constantly trying to figure out “the rules” of how things work in these unreal worlds, and then making sure the author is true to them. For example, in this book, one of the characters can see and hear dead people (and a dead dog), but only certain dead people, and those dead people can see and hear each other. Also, I’m a stickler for “speaker attribution” (a.k.a. “dialogue tags”), because if they’re not used for a chunk of conversation between people, I think the writing has to be very, very strong to keep the reader from asking, “Wait, which person is saying this?” I experienced this a couple of times in this book. And, finally, I spent too much time wondering why the name of this book was This Impossible Brightness instead of The Impossible Brightness. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Exercise check-in
| I have a summer body in that I can use it to shade other people from the sun. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Exercise check-in
| I’m getting ready for bathing suit season by shopping for a bigger bathing suit. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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MIT student prints AI polymer masks to restore paintings in hours (5-minute read)
MIT graduate student Alex Kachkine developed a technique that uses AI-generated polymer films to physically restore damaged paintings in hours.
It works by printing a transparent ‘mask’ containing thousands of precisely color-matched regions that conservators apply directly to an original artwork. These masks can be removed whenever needed, so it’s a reversible process.
Read the article on Ars Technica.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 23). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=dd5977b2-5007-11f0-b624-ab515b556d6f&pt=campaign&t=1750676146&s=f4bf968090147c3e45e91710fa090b11fa8d202792df01f603fc61e1b1df5ac6
• Edwards, B., & Edwards, B. (2025, June 20). MIT student prints AI polymer masks to restore paintings in hours. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/mit-student-prints-ai-polymer-masks-to-restore-paintings-in-hours/
ship v. boat
Long-time cruisers love to correct you when you call the vessel a boat, as in “We need to be back to the boat by 6 p.m.”
“It’s a ship!” they’ll cry.
In anticipation of our imminent Danube Delights Riverboat Cruise, I read Diamonds on the Danube in which, most times, the characters refer to the riverboat as a ship, which got me to musing… and Googling, of course:
A riverboat is generally called a boat, although in some contexts, particularly with larger river vessels, “ship” might be used. The distinction between boat and ship often relates to size and whether the vessel is designed for ocean travel (typically called a ship) or inland waterways (typically called a boat). Riverboats, designed for shallow draft and inland navigation, are usually classified as boats.
I’ll be saying, “It’s time to get back to the boat,” during this trip. This is what our boat looks like:
In contrast, our fall New England & Canada Cruise will be on NCL’s Norwegian Getaway, which is unequivocally a ship:
Words, words, words! Ever the editor.
Exercise check-in
| 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 to everyone trying on their summer outfits to see if they still fit. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Finished book #47 in 2025
Book #47 |
Book: Diamonds on the Danube | Author: Cheryl Dougan | |
| Source: Borrowed from a friend Format: Print |
Pages: 103 | Duration: 06/19/25 – 06/19/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, travel | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Tour guide on Danube riverboat cruise uncovers diamond theft shenanigans. 🖌6-word review: All-around mediocre writing, characters, and plot. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Temptations are a reminder that I have a choice.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: Lipizzan | |||
| Description:* She never expected to be cruising down the Danube trying to catch a diamond thief red-handed. Adelle didn’t expect her 60s to be boring. So when her travel-agent friend asks her to guide a cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, the born people-pleaser jumps at the chance to help four women have an unforgettable vacation. But when expensive jewelry goes missing, she fears one of her happy travelers could be the culprit. Will Adelle unmask the crook before her adventure sinks into muddy waters?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I bought this book as a gift for a friend who is also a reader and a book club member (although we’re not in the same book club) and with whom I’m going on a “Danube Delights Riverboat Cruise” soon. We thought it would be fun to read a book related to cruising the Danube — but not a nonfiction book about it — and then get together one day on the cruise and discuss it; you know, sort of like a book club meeting but while enjoying our unlimited drink package and taking in the scenery along the way from Budapest to Regensburg, Germany. With all that said — and I have a lot more to say that I’m not including here but have outlined for our discussion on the cruise — this book wasn’t very good. It was more a travelogue (which is what we didn’t want to read) than it was a mystery. At the end of chapter 7 (out of 13), there was still no mention of diamonds or a crime. We’re hoping that “sometimes the worst books make for the best discussion” will come into play with this one. I definitely would not recommend this book, nor would I read any other books in this series, which is part of the “River Cruise Cozies.” | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Our freezer inventories
Why yes, we do keep an inventory of what’s in our freezers, which informs our weekly menus and helps prevent waste. You know you want a snapshot of what’s in each of them at the moment.
| KITCHEN FREEZER | |
| 6 Angus burgers | 1 can OJ |
| Eggo waffles | 1 package cheese ravioli |
| Mini breakfast quiches (Box of 72) | 1 portion tortellini & meatballs |
| 18 spinach egg white frittatas | 1 10-lb bag of ice |
| ¼ bag french fries | Plan-ahead brownies |
| Chopped celery | Chocolate ice cream |
| HALL FREEZER | |
| 2 lbs. bacon | 2 (2-packs) of RAW cordon bleu |
| 16 PB&J Uncrustables | 2 packages smoked sausage |
| 4 chicken breasts | 1 bag African peanut soup |
| 1 package of 6 chicken thighs | 1 bag crispy crown potatoes (hash browns) |
| 2 pork tenderloins | 1 bag mixed vegetables |
| 2 trays of 6 chicken & veggie dumplings | $1M-dollar spaghetti plan-ahead |
| AmyLu chicken patties | 2 lunch portions Italian Wedding Bake |
| 3 packages hot dogs | 2 bottles of OJ |
| 1 package hot dog buns | 6 plain bagels |
| ½ bag of shrimp (~12 oz.) | 6 sesame bagels |
| 2 1-lb packages lunch meat (1 ham, 1 turkey) | 1 lb. butter |
| 1 bag boneless chicken bites | 1 whipped topping |
| 4 1-lb packages ground beef | Haagen-Dazs® ice cream bars |
| 2 bags of scallops | |
Our menus 06/22/25 – 06/28/25
| Day | Meal |
|---|---|
| 06/22/25 Sunday |
• Chicken patties on sesame buns • Yellow squash • House salad |
| 06/23/25 Monday |
(Front-porch happy hour cheering on Pelagic Run Club runners) • Shrimp dinner salad |
| 06/24/25 Tuesday |
• Smoked sausage c̅ pineapple • Crispy crown potatoes • Green beans |
| 06/25/25 Wednesday |
• Cabbage fried rice c̅ scallops |
| 06/26/25 Thursday |
• Ham • Butternut squash • Caprese salad |
| 06/27/25 Friday |
• Cheesy noodle casserole (What’s Cooking at Westlake cookbook, p. 318) • Mixed vegetables |
| 06/28/25 Saturday |
• Ham & potato soup • House salad |
Exercise check-in
| At 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don’t care about what others think of us. At 60, we realize they hadn’t been thinking about us at all. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Plume doom
In my recent reading of The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars, I learned that before there were machines to produce Hershey’s Kisses, the line-people (almost always women) in the factory had to lay that little strip of paper (the “plume”) down on the foil, put the chocolate on it, and then wrap it.
But sometimes the plume blew away before they could set the chocolate on it and wrap it. Because it happened enough, and because there was a lot of pressure to maximize their productivity, the women sometimes licked the chocolate and stuck the plume to it to keep it from blowing away before they could wrap it.
Reading that caused me to muse about, realistically, how important that plume is to the consumer. Please take this brief survey to let us know.
FDA approves powerful HIV drug that nearly eliminated spread in clinical trials (10-minute read)
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new HIV-prevention medication called Yeztugo. The drug nearly eliminated the spread of HIV in clinical trials.
It is the first in a new class of antiretrovirals that block HIV from infecting and making new copies of itself inside the immune cells it targets.
It costs $14,109 per injection, so health insurers will likely decline to cover the treatment in favor of other forms of PrEP, which can cost as little as $30 per month.
Read the article on nbcnews.com.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 20). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=3ff15ee2-4dad-11f0-8a0a-0bdfefe0127d&pt=campaign&t=1750416976&s=64bf54165cbacd5282266e883d964a07f581266b3d17c910203228b42356c048
• FDA approves powerful new HIV drug. (2025, June 19). [Video]. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-hiv-prevention-drug-prep-lenacapavir-rcna208387
Exercise check-in
| If I were meant to touch my toes, they would be on my knees. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Cutting up at Costco
As soon as I committed to a Costco checkout line, I noticed the cashier, and thought: “Oh, it’s him, the guy who commented on my t-shirt the last two times I’ve been in his line.” I immediately checked which t-shirt I had on and was thankful it wasn’t my PLAYS UNDER PRESSURE one — the one I’d had on both times I’d previously gone through his line.
Sure enough, when I got to the register he said, “I like your shirt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man with a pumpkin head, though.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Apparently he’s famous on YouTube, which I only found out after about 10 “kids” told me they like my shirt, and I finally asked one of them, “Is this a famous person or something?”
I had no idea about the pumpkin man dance pop-culture phenomenon when I bought that t-shirt from 6 Dollar Shirts [sic]. I just bought it to wear on the 2023 Ultimate Disco Cruise, because the pose of the pumpkin man had immediately reminded me of:
Then I remembered that this cashier also likes to yammer while he rings you up (which I don’t love), and that he fancies himself as funny. Sure enough, after the shirt comment, he starts:
“What kind of bee can’t make a decision in springtime?”
“I don’t know.”
“A May bee.”
Then another:
“Earlier today, I was driving behind an ambulance when a cooler fell off the back. I stopped and opened it up to find a foot inside. So, I decided to call a toe-truck.”
Lest I be unarmed in a battle of wits, I said:
“What’s better than a candelabra on your piano?”
“I don’t know, what?”
“Tulips on your organ.”
Him, after a 2-second processing delay: “Ha! Nobody’s gonna argue with that!
Exercise check-in
| I will go the extra mile for you as long as no actual walking is involved. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Three 50-word stories about when and what classical music I listen to.
| Editing | Reading | Exercising |
| I don’t edit as much as I used to before retiring, but whenever I do, I listen to classical music while doing it, because if I listen to music with words, I start singing along, and I lose my place editing. I typically listen to music I own while editing. | I listen to classical music while reading for the same reason I listen to it while editing — to avoid being “lyrically distracted.” For this activity, I typically listen to one of two free classical music providers: Venice Classic Radio Italia internet radio or a classical music playlist on Amazon Music. | Three times a week, I do 40 minutes of core, back, and left-knee stretching and strengthening exercises. For some reason, for this activity, I always listen to WCPE, theclassicalstation.org, a local classical radio station that broadcasts globally, and it is typically when George Leef, whom I love, is the announcer. |
Calculated birthday card(s)
Our brother-in-law is turning 70 next week and we’re sending him these two cards in one envelope with the message: You do the math!
Exercise check-in
| I’m not sure how many cookies it takes to be happy, but so far it’s not 27. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Finished book #45 in 2025
Book #45 |
Book: Abscond: A Short Story | Author: Abraham Verghese | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 38 | Duration: 06/15/25 – 06/15/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories, coming of age, relationships, family, death, Indian culture | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Fate challenges Ravi to find his place in the world. 🖌6-word review: Great author. Compelling characters. Tight story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “You want to know when I fucking see God, Connor? I see God when Sheryl McGilicutty comes to our pool in her bikini and I see the outline of her coochie. That’s God speaking right there.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: sambar, idli, palaver | |||
| Description:* It’s a New Jersey summer in 1967, and thirteen-year-old Ravi Ramanathan has the makings of a tennis prodigy. His surgeon father encourages his ambition, while his mother dreams of their only child following his father’s path. Surrounded by his parents’ love, Ravi chafes a bit at their daily routines and little traditions. Then one unexpected day, everything changes. Realizing how much he took for granted, Ravi must grow up overnight and find a new role in the life of his family.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bonus free short story First Reads book for June 2025. I was curious to see what an author of often “heavy” and often long books would do with a short story — and what the heck, it was free! I read Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone (560 pages, so intense!) 13 years ago as one of our Mostly Social Book Club‘s 2012 books, and I’ve had my eye on his The Covenant of Water (715 pages!) for a while now, but I’m not ready to commit to that yet. Not unexpectedly, the writing and tale told in this short story was excellent, and the subject matter, while grave, was less intense to me than Cutting for Stone. This is an author whose work I like, so I’m sure I’ll eventually get to The Covenant of Water. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Exercise check-in
| Me: I did resistance training today. My trainer: Refusing to workout is not resistance training. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Father’s Day musing — hearing loss & back pain
My dad was “hard of hearing” for about as long as I can remember. Obviously, I could deduce that it was a result of being around loud noise, but I wasn’t ever exactly sure of the diagnosis.
In this medical record it says, “History of noise exposure includes heavy artillery beginning in 1948 and being a loader on 90 mm. guns up until 1953.” This is what one of those “guns” looks like:
And here’s the medical record:
Also for as long as I can remember, my dad had — sometimes debilitating — back pain. Not that there’s anything funny about back pain, but I had to laugh when I saw this note about prescribing PT for him, because 3 times a week I do 8 exercises to strengthen my core and my back, and those 2 exercises are part of my routine!
Father’s Day musing — a well-decorated Marine
My dad’s uniform hosted a lot of ribbons and some medals. This is a picture in the latter part of his career, when he was a Sergeant Major.
Looking through the many military records of his, before recycling them, here is a list of the “decorations, medals, badges, commendations, citation, and campaign ribbons” awarded to him:
The Purple Heart is the most distinguished award he earned, and I always thought it was a result of punji sticks, a type of booby-trapped stake, that went into his shin. However, this account that I came across in his medical records paints a different picture:
22 AUG 69. C Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Division. While serving on active duty with C Co. of above named unit at approximately 19:15 hours on 10 AUG 69, 1st Sgt. Martin received fragment wounds to the right leg resulting from an enemy rocket, while in a defensive position. He was treated at 1/4 [illegible acronym] and returned to duty. Condition and prognosis are good. He will receive his first Purple Heart Award.
Receiving said Purple Heart:
Father’s Day musing — dad’s first job
Recently, I went through several file cabinet folders of paperwork related to my dad, who died 10 years ago this September 11th. The majority of the paperwork comprised health records and records of his military service in the U.S. Marine Corps, and I learned a few things about him in the process.
I knew he entered the military very young, as the family story goes that my grandmother had to sign for him to join because he wasn’t yet 18.
I also knew that he’d never graduated high school, because he earned his USAFI High School GED in 1959, and this document confirms that, where it shows his “non-service education” at the time as 8 years grammar school and 1 year of high school.
The thing I didn’t know about him was where he worked before enlisting in the Marines. This document lists Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates in Fall River, MA as his employer, and the “occupation” field says he was a “spare boy!”
I’d heard of neither that company nor that job position before. Thank the &deity for the internet.
According to Wikipedia: Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) was an American textile company. In 1955, the company merged with Hathaway Manufacturing Company to form Berkshire Hathaway. Wait! What??? My father worked for the precursor to Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet‘s company??? 😂
The mill my dad worked in in Fall River was King Philip Mills, an historic cotton mill complex, which was acquired by Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates in 1930.
When I first saw “spare boy,” my thoughts immediately went to bowling, perhaps because as young girl my mother worked as a “pin boy” resetting pins at the bowling alley for, as the family lore goes, “a nickel an hour.”
But alas, in mill work, a “spare boy” was a young male worker who assisted with the operation of machinery in a textile mill, particularly during the early 20th century. They were responsible for ensuring the smooth functioning of the production process in the factory.
For instance, Andrew Stefanik worked as a spare boy in a textile mill in Chicopee, Massachusetts. His tasks likely involved supporting tasks like replacing bobbins and other general duties. This was a common role for young workers, especially “bobbin boys,” who often worked as spare boys.
The term “spare” suggests that they might not have had a specific machine assigned to them but were available to assist wherever needed, filling in for absent workers or helping with tasks that required additional hands. Historically, this could also be referred to as a “spare hand.”
Here’s a picture of a “bobbin boy” working in the mills, one of the jobs my dad presumably did as a spare boy.
Finished book #44 in 2025
Book #44 |
Book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry | Author: Gabrielle Zevin | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 290 | Duration: 06/14/25 – 06/14/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, romance, books about books, relationships | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man gets a chance to turn around his deteriorating life. 🖌6-word review: Great characters, literary allusions, and story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Do you miss your [writer] husband?” Lambaise asks. “Not really,” she says after a bit. “His sense of humor sometimes, but the best parts of him were in his books.” |
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| 🎓A new-to-me word: jejune | |||
| Description:* A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a quick, easy read for me. Books, a bookstore, and book clubs are an integral part of the story, which appealed to me greatly. This book alludes to a lot of stories, books, plays, and authors (see all 64 of them), and when I searched goodreads.com for one of the books mentioned early on in this story, The Late Bloomer by Leon Friedman, to see what it was about, I was surprised to find an entry there that said it wasn’t a real book. I love that someone took the time to create that entry, and it made me wonder how many times people search for books that don’t really exist when seeing them mentioned in another book, and what percentage of those have entries like this one for them. I originally read this book in 2020, and this was a re-read as it’s been chosen as a Mostly Social Book Club book by Suzanne. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Look at me now
I’ll admit that I have a little bias about thinking a lot of weight-lifters are self-centered or narcissistic.
That assessment deepens as I observe someone staring at themselves in the mirror even when they’re not actually exercising — which is to say that I get that some body builders want to make sure their “form” looks good as they’re exercising. But that doesn’t explain why they’re still staring at themselves when they’re between sets.
Today I witnessed staring at yourself raised to a whole new level:
I mean the dude brought a selfie stand with him for the occasion. Perhaps he’s an “influencer.” 🙄 What’s next, light stands and hair-blowing wind machines?
Publix check-in
I’m at the register unloading my cart onto the belt when I feel tap, tap on my back.
Lady behind me in line: “Excuse me. Are you paying cash for your groceries today?”
Me: “No, I’m not.”
Her: “Okay, have a blessed day.” And away she walks.
Now I want to know what her response would have been had I said yes, since I actually did have enough cash in my wallet to pay cash.
Exercise check-in
| When I was younger, I looked forward to getting up early in the morning to exercise. Now, getting out of bed 𝙞𝙨 my exercise. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Making up the bed
We have a picture, which we’ve learned is worth a thousand words, when trying to explain to cruise cabin stewards how we want the bed made up — especially if the steward’s English is a second language.
First of all, we need 3 pillows each.
Second of all, we want only the sheet on one-half (my half, the right side of the pic) of the bed, and the sheet plus the duvet on the other half (Bob’s half, the left side of the pic) of the bed.
This is really quite easily accomplished: put a queen-size sheet on the bed, and then put a twin-size duvet on top of the sheet on the left side — but it’s been our experience that, for some reason, this is very difficult to articulate with just words, so we keep this photo on our phone during cruises.
Exercise check-in
| Sometimes my workouts are so strenuous that I reward myself by taking off a year or two. #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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Finished book #43 in 2025
Book #43 |
Book: In One Person | Author: John Irving | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 425 | Duration: 06/04/25 – 06/13/25 (10 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, LGBT, queer, coming of age, gender diversity | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A bisexual man shares his richly diverse sexual relationship history. 🖌6-word review: Compelling story with rare, bisexual point-of-view. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Maybe more to the point, I had acquired an undeniable mystique – if only to the Bancroft butt-room boys. Don’t forget: Miss Frost was an older woman, and that goes a long way with the boys — even if the older woman has a penis!” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: derring-do, obligingly, stultifying, habiliment, intercrural, poleaxed, craven, obdurately | |||
| Description:* A New York Times bestselling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting — and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp. In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers — a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: First things first: Let me give myself a big ol’ pat on the back for getting through this 425-page book with its very small font size. It may not sound like a big deal, but these days that’s usually a showstopper for me, and if the writing hadn’t been John Iriving’s, I probably would have abandoned it after the first chapter. I’d never heard of this John Irving book — his 13th — and I’m glad I came across it. The description says it has a “cast of characters who defy category and convention,” and if anything, that’s an understatement. The protagonist’s bisexual point-of-view was a nice change and it highlighted the many ostracizing things people — even gay people — say about bisexuals. This book has won a number of awards including two bisexual-specific awards that I didn’t even know existed: Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature (2013), San Francisco Book Festival for General Fiction (2013), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2013), Bisexual Book Awards for Fiction (2012). It’s been a long time since I’ve read a John Irving book, and it was nice to do it again. He is, after all, the author of one of my all-time favorite books: A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I read 28 years ago in October of 1997. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
Comparable weather
We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather for our imminent Danube riverboat cruise, and the temperatures in our ports of call have been consistently comparable to the weather here in Raleigh.
Exercise check-in
| My hobbies include eating and complaining that I’m fat. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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We’re secretly winning the war on cancer (6-minute read)
While cancer is still a terrible health threat, the tide in the war against cancer is turning. Thanks to breakthrough treatments, cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was. While there are certain areas where the story isn’t getting better, the future of cancer treatment is improving.
This article tells the story of three revolutions that caused the dramatic bend in the curve of cancer deaths.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 12). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=e2e4065c-475b-11f0-b4a2-fdbb6d26bcbc&pt=campaign&t=1749725820&s=05bf35b20ecd03df05de150e2f20a362a0d57368108713905b1e6f854c2c1036
• Walsh, B. (2025, June 7). We’re secretly winning the war on cancer. Vox. https://www.vox.com/health/415812/cancer-death-rates-myeloma-immunotherapy-smoking
Momma, I’m depending on you to tell me the truth.
A man is sitting in the Planet Fitness locker room — not in the area with the lockers, but in the area with the showers. Why???
He is fully clothed, looking straight ahead, and talking — possibly into a phone, although there isn’t one in sight.
He says into the air: “He was a rolling stone. You know, wherever he laid his hat was his home.”
He was speaking, not singing, and I thought, “Is he speaking the lyrics to that song, or is he talking to someone on the phone and trying to pass that off as an original thought? What’s happening here?”
Then he says: “Yeah, wherever you lay your wig be you home. I know you wear a wig, girl.”
As weirdly riveting as it all was, I’d finished dressing, and I took leave before he gave an update about papa’s outside children and another wife…
Exercise check-in
| “My idea of exercise is a good brisk sit.” ~ Phyllis Diller #PlanetFitness #40Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
Three 50-word stories about an incident I watched through a window on Monday.
| Man | Cop | Paramedics |
| A white man, presumably experiencing homelessness, was bent over so far on the sidewalk bench between Planet Fitness and Dollar Tree that the top of his head was almost touching the ground. A Styrofoam leftover meal container and Arby’s and McDonald’s bags were littered around him. Someone called the police. | A Black Raleigh police officer arrived and tried to talk with the man, who couldn’t keep his head and torso up long enough to talk to the officer. The cop took notes, and talked into his two-way radio situated between his neck and right shoulder. Shortly thereafter an ambulance arrived. | Two EMTs, one very-young white female and a Hispanic male, emerged from the EMS truck. They wrapped a blanket around the man from the waist down and helped him walk to the vehicle. A few minutes after it left, an older, white woman arrived and spoke briefly with the policeman. |
Exercise check-in
| It is better to count calories than to count chins. #Home #40Minutes #Strengthening #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #30Minutes #Cardio #Elliptical |
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XRobotics’ countertop robots are cooking up 25,000 pizzas a month (4-minute read)
XRobotics’ countertop robot, xPizza Cube, can make up to 100 pizzas an hour. Roughly the size of a stackable washing machine, the xPizza Cube can be retrofitted to work with pies of different sizes and styles.
A unit can be leased for $1,300 a month for three years. XRobotics recently raised a $2.5 million seed round – it will use the capital to produce more units and install more robots for customers.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 10). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=4b975464-45cd-11f0-8a77-ed3cea449fbb&pt=campaign&t=1749552945&s=a65960a3afe76fcebddb32316255501e77afb6582056bb32953fdde467becf3c
• Szkutak, R. (2025, June 9). XRobotics’ countertop robots are cooking up 25,000 pizzas a month. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/09/xrobotics-countertop-robots-are-cooking-up-25000-pizzas-a-month/
Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed’ (2-minute read)
Researchers have found a way to force HIV out of hiding inside human cells. HIV’s ability to conceal itself within certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure.
Further research is required to determine whether revealing the virus is enough to allow the body’s immune system to deal with it or whether other technologies or therapies will need to be used to eliminate it from the body. The method will require successful tests in animals followed by safety trials in humans before efficacy trials can even begin.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, June 9). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=a437f6a0-450a-11f0-8f5d-91cc2f75f098&pt=campaign&t=1749466605&s=71f53978b6bb6288e3942fd1aa07d1e80682151cb4780d09967031e505dad7d1
• Lay, K. (2025, June 6). Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/05/breakthrough-in-search-for-hiv-cure-leaves-researchers-overwhelmed
Exercise check-in
| It’s not my fault. My refrigerator magnets keep pulling the metal fillings in my teeth to the kitchen. #PlanetFitness #Cardio #40Minutes #Elliptical |
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Exercise check-in
| There should be a calorie refund for things that didn’t taste good. #Home #Strengthening #40Minutes #Back #Core #PlanetFitness #Cardio #30Minutes #Elliptical |
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