Flashback Friday – Black Death Since we have so recently gone through our own plague, it seems a good time to remember those good old days of the Black Death. This was originally published in 2020, but I have substantially… Read More ›
Epidemic – Pandemic – Plague
EMERGING FROM COVID
We all knew — assuming we survived to tell the tale — that COVID wouldn’t last forever. Not even the Black Plague lasted forever, though I suppose since it is still around in the world and still erupts in many… Read More ›
“HELLO IN THERE” AND THE LOSS OF JOHN PRINE – RICH PASCHALL
A John Prine Memory, by Rich Paschall When John Prine was growing up in Maywood, Illinois, a suburb along the west side of Chicago, he helped a friend with a newspaper route. “…and I delivered to a Baptist old peoples… Read More ›
NO MASKS AND THE RED DEATH – RICH PASCHALL
The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had been ever so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal — the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains and sudden dizziness… … Read More ›
LIKE VULTURES, COVID IS CIRCLING
It’s almost Christmas again. We got a call last night from a very close friend who discovered he has COVID. He got both vaccinations and the booster three weeks ago. He caught it anyway. He thought he had a mild… Read More ›
PROVOCATIVE QUESTION #126: VACCINES FOR YOU, ME, AND EVERYONE
Fandango’s Provocative Question #126 Are you fully vaccinated against COVID-19 yet? And if not, why the fuck not? Yes, we are. All three of us. Owen and Garry got Pfizer and I got Moderna. We got them as early as we could, which was a… Read More ›
FLASHBACK FRIDAY FROM 4/2/2020 – WHY COVID 19 IS AN HISTORIC TURNING POINT
A major sea change: why COVID-19 is a turning point in history. So, it is the end of March 2020, and many of us are sequestered in our homes, trying not to get the virus that’s now sweeping the globe… Read More ›
HEADING OUT FOR VACCINE PART TWO
I think I’ll probably be off for the rest of the day. Hopefully, back up tomorrow. Maybe this injection will leave me fine. If not, I’ll take a couple of days leave and rest a bit. At least COVID-19 will… Read More ›
PLAGUES AND PANDEMICS
Plagues are not always pandemics. For a plague to become a pandemic, it has to have spread so widely that no location is spared. A pandemic is a plague (or epidemic) that has run out of control. Back in those… Read More ›
COVID’S TRICKY AND TREACHEROUS
I feel safer having gotten at least the first half of my vaccination and even better that Garry has gotten both shots. So why — and everyone wants the answer to this — should we still need masks? Double masks… Read More ›
ANTI-VAXXERS KEEP YOUR DISTANCE
I wanted to publish this exchange because it’s a good example of why I dislike anti-vaxxers. They have beliefs based on out-of-context data and a lack of scientific and factual testing. Their “opinions” don’t merely endanger them, their family and… Read More ›
GARRY IS VACCINATED AND I’M NEXT!
Today we drove 54 miles each way to Dartmouth High School. It was raining hard for most of the trip. As we approached Providence (Rhode Island)(before re-entering Massachusetts), traffic got very heavy which made no sense at all. I mean… Read More ›
SUDDENLY SERENDIPITY
SERENDIPITY I am serendipity. It’s the name of my blog and it’s my life. I was up at 3 this morning. I couldn’t sleep. Even though I had an alarm set, I was afraid to miss my chance at getting… Read More ›
WHAT DOES CHARLIE BAKER HAVE AGAINST WORCESTER COUNTY?
Massachusetts isn’t a huge state. We aren’t Texas or even New York where there are miles of open country between cities. Basically, we have one city — Boston — and a lot of small towns. You can drive from the… Read More ›
WALKING SHADOWS: HOW MUCH WORSE CAN THINGS GET?
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” ― William… Read More ›
A WILD WEEK DURING WHICH NOTHING (MUCH) HAPPENED
It was a wild wild week, yet it feels as if nothing happened. Well, maybe a few things occurred. Garry got part one of his vaccination and a date for part two. I found someone to take care of our… Read More ›
ANOTHER DAY, A BIG SNOWSTORM, AND LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE
I really hoped that the new administration would lower the temperature of this country. I suppose it has, to some degree, but not enough. So far, Garry and I have managed to survive 11-months of lockdown and quarantine. Now, with… Read More ›
STILL SEARCHING
In the list of best vaccinating sites, Massachusetts is number 53, right after Tennessee. That’s way after Alaska and American Samoa. Far back beyond West Virginia and Connecticut. I spent most of the day — nearly all of the day… Read More ›
SEEKING COVID VACCINATION
We really hoped that — if nothing else — the change in administration would give us a break from hating the news. I was deluded. These days, it’s the advice that’s killing me. Suggesting we use daily hospital grade masks…. Read More ›
CONSPIRACY THEORY
Q-ANON WAS TAKEN. LET’S TRY Z-ANON If we didn’t have a president who is older than me, I’d think we were in a conspiracy to kill off all the expensive old people in the U.S.A. First, there was T**** not… Read More ›
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 