Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, October 29, 2026.

Another cold autumn night fell over us last night. I awoke this morning to 30 F and frost on the ground. A line of high and thing white clouds stretches over the blue sky. 36 F now, we expect a high of about 52 F today.

Happy birthday to Mom! I called and spoke with her for thirty minutes. She’d just had pizza for lunch as part of her birthday celebration, which the assisted living people did for her. They also presented her with a birthday cake for them to all to enjoy. Yellow cake with thick white frosting with yellow, purple, and pink flowers on it. Sheet cake. Mom was eating it while speaking with me. Our conversation was peppered with, “Oh, this cake is so good.”

My sister, Gina, complained that Mom is losing it because she paid for her rent with old checking account, and if Mom keeps doing that, that account will run out of money.

I resisted responding, yes, as you get older, change is harder to process. It doesn’t necessarily mean Mom is ‘losing it’. But changing habits and routines get more challenging as we age — especially since Mom didn’t participate in making the change. Gina made the change and forced it on Mom.

But I don’t think I would change Gina’s mind with those insights, so I’ll go on.

Mom had some coughing fits while I was talking to her and asked me if I could call her again later. So we agreed that I will call her again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the flowers I ordered her were delivered after our conversation. She should have them by now but hasn’t mentioned it. Maybe she’s saving it for tomorrow. *smile* She does that.

Back to politics. It’s asking a lot for some people, I know, but I hope they go into the 2026 midterms, think, and vote. Hard to do when Republicans are juking and jiving, avoiding giving truthful answers about anything and everything. They try to dismiss inflation by mentioning that it’s not as bad as it was under President Biden, while ignoring the practical ramifications of how much more things cost now. And the Iran war? Why, that’s necessary to save us, using the same kind of trumped up *sorry, not sorry* excuses used to invade Iraq.

So I hope people think and vote blue. Hope they realize that Donald Trump lies and breaks promises. Hope they think and understand that Donald Trump can’t be trusted. Hope people think and see that Donald Trump’s policies are not making America great in any sense of what that means.

I know I’m 1) a broken record about this (ha, ha, hope you’re old enough to understand the reference) and 2) that there’s a solid wall of Republicans who say, “Never Democrat”. 3) There’s also a group of voters out there who remain ignorant, some deliberately so, and 4) some MAGAts love the way Trump is tearing down the nation because of their framework, emotions, self-pity, or whatever.

So here is Aretha Frankling with “Think!” A rousing song, it’s one of The Neurons’ favorite songs and often haunts the morning mental music stream.

Sample Lyrics

People walk around everyday
Playin’ games and takin’ scores
Tryin’ to make other people lose their mind
Well, be careful you don’t lose yours

Ooh think (think)
Think about what you’re tryin’ to do to me
Woo-hoo, think (think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free

I love this scene in the movie. Makes me grin and laugh every time. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Cheers