Tag: vacation

Thursday’s Theme Music

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, May 28, 2026.

Thursday, Thursday (la la, la la la la). Can’t stand that day.

Are there songs about Thursday? I put it to the net.

Why, sure, the net responded. Here’s a list.

Oh. Yeah. I forgot about all of them. Senility? Or lack of coffee?

Sunday has the most songs written about it, in case you’re interested, as I was.

Which day has the least songs written about it? That would be Wednesday, kind of surprising, since it’s humpday — or was — for many 9 to 5ers.

Today’s weather is gloomy again. Rain and Thunderstorms are projected. High of 72 F. Currently 50. We need the rain, though, so bring it. Just hold off on floods, please, okay?

I’m surprised that Memorial Day travel set new records. I thought the high price of gas and travel (caused by the Trump Iran war), would dissuade people from hitting the road. As I said before, our area seemed to have less travel and visitors associated with the holiday weekend.

But I wonder how many people were just tired of bad news and rising inflation and said, “Screw it, we’re going somewhere and doing something.” I came to that conclusion because the data suggests people celebrated but changed destinations, went shorter distances, stayed shorter periods.

Big Trump news is that the Trump DOJ is ‘investigating’ E. Jean Carroll. Come on, raise your hand if you’re surprised.

Trump has always used lawfare to threaten and attack others. He’d already attempted (and failed) to persecute and prosecute political enemies.

Despite right-wing claims, lawfare as an expression goes back several decades and was not escalated as a form under President Biden. MAGA thinks Trump and his lawyers were unfairly attacked, charged, disbarred, etc. They overlook that the stimulus for much of that was Trump’s attempted insurrection and the riot it caused, along with his unfounded but continuous claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

No evidence that holds up to scrutiny has ever been found that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Court case after court case was thrown out for lack of evidence. As some lawyers took to fabricating claims or failing to uphold the law as an officer of the court, they suffered the lawful consequences.

That upsets Trump and MAGA. They share a common trait: they feel the world is against them. That’s why they continue to lean on one another and probably will until death do they part.

Today’s theme music by the late Aretha Franklin. My wife and I were in the snug. We rose to go do other things. I said something like, “Time to get up and go.” My Neurons added with a laugh, “My get up and go must have got up and went,” from an Aerosmith song.

My wife said, “Go. Go. Go.”

We then broke into a spontaneous rendition of “Freeway of Love” from that point and danced to it a bit. Then we laughed like idiots. The song stuck in my morning mental music stream, so here it is, pour vous.

Hope you’re strong today, and stay strong, healthy, happy, etc. Let’s push through this setback called Trump. Keep the torch burning for those who come after us.

Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Ashland, southern Oregon — May 24, 2026.

Home again, home again…

Papi was as pleased as he ever shows himself to be when we opened the back door and called his name. Standing, stretching, he paused to wash, then began to trot towards us, then stopped to stretch, and finally walked over, sat down, washed, and looked up: “Oh. Hi. Didn’t see you there.”

Good to see him.

56 degrees F here, roaring power lawn equipment has replaced the sounds of surf. There’s no beach to ponder, no waves to assess and admire, no fresh ocean air to breath, no ‘sea breeze’ to battle as I walk.

Bummer. It’ll be 85 and dry here…

One thing that struck us yesterday coming home was how empty the roads were. Motor homes were especially absent, but in general, it was light traffic to moderate traffic. Long stretches of secondary roads were driven where we met no other cars, followed no vehicles, and had nothing in our mirrors. It did not seem like the holiday traffic — or even the coastal traffic — we’ve encountered in previous years.

Gina, my younger sister, makes progress selling Mom’s possessions: $530 has been realized. The dining room table, chairs, hutch and sideboard are gone. Gina is wheeling and dealing. Someone shows interest, she reaches out, negotiates, shows them what else is available. More prospective buyers are coming by tomorrow. Vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, and polishing is underway. Our oldest sister is driving in from Georgia to help out this week.

Trump says the US is almost close to a peace deal with Iran. Let’s add it to the list of times he said the war was over, we won, or that a deal had been negotiated before.

Iran says that they’ll control the Strait of Hormuz and that their nuclear program isn’t being discussed. They’re proposing ‘fees’ instead of tolls or taxes to use the straits.

It’s the same kind of deals we often see on the local levels when our local government wants to raise money but knows that ‘taxes’ will cause a backlash. The answer: fees. We see it with airlines, too. Security fees, handling fees, administrative fees. Not charges, not taxes, not tolls — fees. I remember once reading that Texas had no taxes but they charged fees on everything.

Besides the Golden Age of Corruption, it’s the Golden Age of Fees.

The war costing our nation a small fortune, monetarily. We also killed many people, disrupted lives, and lost military members.

Economists note that the US has been adding to its national debt at the rate of $5,000,000,000 per day since October of 2025.

In an interest coincidence, October of 2025 is when Trump demolished the White House East Wing to begin building the Epstein ballroom under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Coincidentally, Trump’s disapproval ratings continue to rise to record levels in polls.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Today’s music is by Night Ranger. The Neurons unlocked it when I was in bed this morning, remembering dreams and drifting in and out of sleep. During that fugue state, “When You Close Your Eyes” from the 1980s began playing in the morning mental music stream.

As I remembered the song, I also remembered this was one of the songs I heard while visiting Mom and family after returning from Japan on military duty. My youngest sister and I were together. The song came on the radio. She smiled wide and said, “I love this song.” *smile*

And I realized that’s why the song came into the morning mental music stream; that sister had been in my dream as a young person.

I hope this day is going well for you, and you enjoy a day of peace and grace. If you can’t have that, I hope you can at least have a good meal and some happy times.

Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon coast — Saturday, May 23, 2026.

Yes, mea culpa, I typed up yesterday’s theme music as Saturday instead of Friday. Blame it on the wind. Or blame it on a conversation I was having with my wife about Saturday. Saturday got stuck on the brain like bubblegum on my shoe.

Fog set in yesterday, and then some drizzling — but the wind let up! Today, blue sky is reflected in the water in stretches, making the ocean blue instead of bland rock gray. We have a new record for number of people on the beach at once: the previous record was eleven. Today, we see seventeen, and three dogs.

With the moon still waxing and just reaching a quarter, we’ve had very low tides. Yesterday’s was so low and so far out, I walked a couple hundred yards across beach that’s usually covered by water. Not that you can tell; it’s all sand.

It’s 52 F today. 60 F is a possible high. But we’re heading south again, turning for home, Ashland. It’ll be 85 F there today. The catsitter reports that Papi is enjoying this stretch of sunshine, chillin’ in his favorite shady spaces, snoozing the day away yesterday. I look forward to seeing him but admit that I’m not overly enthusiastic about abandoning this life of leisure by the ocean. I am excited to get back to my writing routine, though. My wife tried to give space for me to write but it was erratic and problematic, if you get what I mean.

We will be stopping for breakfast for a final time at The Green Salmon. Looking forward to it!

Read this article this morning:

Court-ordered release of Trump ballroom donor deal sparks uproar

“Public Citizen sued for access to the funding contract for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom and prevailed, resulting in the document’s release. The agreement between the White House, National Park Service, and Trust for the National Mall permits anonymous donations and omits the White House from conflict-of-interest reviews. Known donors include Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Google, and Palantir, all with significant federal contracts, and about $300 million has been raised privately to date.”

The usual suspects doing the usual grifting in the Golden Age of Corruption under Trump. Interesting to note that only $300 million has been raised to date to build the Epstein ballroom.

Trump’s Iran boondoggle has been going 84 days. Still waiting for another Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! release.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Sure, that’s why he did it. No, he’s not trying to buy loyalty from his base to use as a personal army. Nope. LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s music is “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE. This came about because we were eating dessert by the ocean last night. Not cake, but lemon bars. Not caring about the details, The Neurons turned on the song last night and it remains in the morning mental music stream today.

Swedes Mattman & Robin produced the song, which is how it ended up with this title. From Wikipedia: ‘The song’s title originated from Mattman & Robin’s repeatedly confusing the phrase “sex on the beach” for “cake by the ocean”.’

Hope your day is charmed with good weather, good food, good company, and good news.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon — Saturday, May 22, 2026.

It’s 54 F with a high of 60 in sight. The waves are calmer, but the wind continues ransacking the beach. Nobody is down there right now. I did see four small figures walking it an hour ago…

We opened our laptops to see if Trump passed away or if the war was over. Big news is that some Republicans said no to Trump’s ballroom drone port military underground bunker funding request of a cool billion. Seems like its elections optics and not principles. Few are bothering to recall that Trump said it would be built with donations and cost just two hundred million and the American taxpayers would pay nothing.

One of those ‘standing up’ is Susan Collins, who exhibits the same moral fortitude as a feather on the wind. Yeah, I’ not impressed.

Trump’s response: attack those who said no, etc. Says, paraphrasing, ‘This is all according to the plan and we’ve been saying it all along.’ Sure; that’s why there’s no evidence online of that. Question: does he think us all that stupid, or is he that stupid?

He’ll probably steal, er, shift the money from somewhere else. That’s his MO. Screw the laws, constitution, all that.

It’s all part of the same game for him: launch a war, say it’s over, promise it will be over shortly, tell us that it’s not long compared to other wars, tell us it’s not a way. Just like his healthcare plan that never arrived. His promises to lower prices day one. Claim that he’ll ‘fix’ the Lincoln Reflecting Pool for 1.8 million which becomes over ten million.

Still waiting on the Epstein files.

My sister, Gina, is busy selling Mom’s household items and pushing to get the house sold. I admire her energy level and remain really thankful that she’s there to do these things.

Today’s music is by Damn Yankees. I don’t know why “High Enough” is in the morning mental music stream today. It could have to do with a dream, I suppose. The Neurons aren’t connecting the dots for me.

I hope your day goes well, and you go to bed satisfied with what’s transpired for you.

Time for Operation Epic Find Food.

Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon — Thursday, May 21, 2026.

Fog struck. The wind’s been strong the entire visit. Today, it felt like it shifted into a higher gear, cutting through our clothing with an icy edge. 52 F in the morning, the day’s high would be 58 F, but the wind would make it feel much colder.

We checked out early, heading north just a few miles, to Newport. Here we’ll stay two more nights. A new hotel, a new view, but it’s the same ocean and Oregon coast.

Meanwhile, we stopped at our favorite coastal eatery, The Green Salmon. It’s all vegan there. After a satisfying breakfast — “Only Murders in the Building” omelet for me — we fought the wind walking on the 804 trail for ten minutes. Retreating from nature, we went north to Depoe Bay to see if any whales were hanging around. Short answer: no.

Retracing our steps, we went back down Highway 101 to Nye Beach. A bookstore popular with us, Nye Beach Book House, was no longer a business. We stopped at a bakery and shared a large frosted cinnamon roll, hot out of the oven. Then, on to our Newport hotel, Hallmark and checked in. Once we were settled in, my wife napped. I went for a walk on the beach, one mile in each direction, battered by the wind in both directions. As long as I didn’t look at the buildings overlooking the beach, I could pretend that I was an exploring, the first to walk on this stretch of land. As it was entirely empty, it was entirely believable.

Is it any wonder that The Neurons are playing “Against the Wind” in the morning mental music stream? Well, it started in the morning but it played all day. The 1980 song was a hit for Bob Seger, who wrote and performed it. It’s about looking back and thinking about the choices made. Besides the wind, being alone on that beach made this song a good companion piece because of that connection about reflecting on life.

As far as the news goes, we went without knowing anything until about an hour ago. We’re just starting to reconnect with the world again. I see that Trump’s war has now been going 82 days — longer than the four to five weeks that he once claimed.

I see that the Epstein files still aren’t released and the price of gas here is still high, as it does across the nation.

It seems like Trump is counting on his ballroom to distract us as part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Trump is now babbling about the ballroom’s roof as a drone base and snipers’ nests. Not sure why he thinks either are needed as part of Washington D.C. Maybe he’s planning to stay there, hunker down after he’s removed from the Oval Office.

I hope your day was as satisfying for you as my day was for me.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Florence, Oregon — Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

To clarify, we’re actually staying at Heceta Beach, 3 miles north of Florence. Heard from the catsitter. Papi has adjusted to her presence and her feeding him, and is basically acting just as if we’re there.

It’s 60 F now, on its way to 63 F. Here’s this morning beach photo.

We’ve had wonderful, fresh, tasty food everywhere we’ve eaten, and have only met nice folks. Hope to hell I’m not jinxing this by mentioning it.

Yesterday was a bad day for Mom and my sister Gina, Mom’s defacto caregiver. Mom had another UTI, was complaining of dizziness and headaches. Gina took her to urgent care. They said Mom’s UTI isn’t responding to antibiotics and needs something stronger and had Gina take her to a hospital, UPMC East. Well, that was an eight hour ordeal for them, with miscommunication between the two care facilities.

Mom was back into her room around midnight. Gina was shocked at its state; disorganized and messy. Very un-Mom. Mom denies her dizziness is a problem but Gina said she complained about it multiple times. XRays and CT Scans showed nothing.

Gina is also frustrating because the other sisters are ‘too busy’ to help with Mom. She ended up transferring Mom from car to wheelchair to bed, and back, etc, eighteen times yesterday.

Poor Mom. Poor Gina.

This is life.

Haven’t looked at the news this morning. Don’t want to disrupt the vacay vibe by doing that before I’ve had my daily wine and beer. I mean, coffee. Yeah, that’s what I meant.

I did see that Trump’s Iran War is not over. The price of gas is shocking here. Diesel prices are almost at $7 a gallon.

Trump mocked that as ‘peanuts’. He insists he’s a man on a mission to stop Iran from having nuclear weapons, no matter how much pain it cause US citizens and the world. Sure; we believe that. It’s all just part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s song is “Boys of Summer”. Written by Mike Campbell, a guitarist who played and wrote with Tom Petty, Petty turned the song down. Don Henley took it and had a hit in 1984.

The Neurons put it in the morning mental music stream because several times, I looked out at the beach and saw, “Nobody on the beach.” Recognizing the line from the song, I suppose Les Neurons thought I was trying to remember it.

I hope your day progresses in a satisfying way. I find that coffee helps, along with staying well hydrated with other fluids.

Off to begin Operation Epic Eat Breakfast.

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Florence, Oregon coast — Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

Catsitter called to say all is well with Papi. He was sort of quizzical about his morning routine, looking around for us, not really ready to eat at first but then gave in and chowed down.

Yes, we’re still at the coast. Another day, another photo.

Temperature is 58 F for the record, not far off of the expected high of 63 F. Tide is out. It was waayyy low earlier this morning.

Other than thinking about Trump and growling about what he’s done so far, I’m not paying much attention to the news. Saw there was another shooting, along with the usual responses from the usual suspects.

It was striking to see how many police cars mobilized to the shooting site in San Diego. We could save so many lives and need far less resources like this if we’d take a sensible approach to gun ownership. Someday, someday, someday…

For music, The Neurons went with “Margaritaville.” This is a Jimmy Buffett song. The Neurons fed it to the morning mental music stream as I cruised the sand. The surf’s sound pounded my ears and the wave play was fantastic. Soooo refreshing. I had a cuppa coffee in my hand as I walked… Well, truth: I had a four shot Americano as I walked. Good stuff. *smile*

Hope you day goes as well as mine, and that our days together will grow brighter, better, and healthier.

The Pacific said to say, “Hello.’

Cheers

2

The Day

We hit the road at 10:10. Interstate 5 North. Good sunny travel weather, moderately heavy traffic.

A gas stop at Costco in Roseburg returned us to a full tank. Back onto I5 N for a few more miles, leaving it at Sutherlin, now going west through the mountains, to the coast. We entered Florence at 2 PM.

Neither of us had commented on the lack of RVs and travel trailers on the road. They’re usually good for slowing our progress to a snail’s stroll. The rule of the car is, don’t notice something good out loud, or you’ll jinx us.

Lunch was done at a Florence favorite, Traveler’s Cove. After a walk through town, we headed to our hotel. The Driftwood Shores Resort and Conference Center offers okay accommodations. We like it because you’re right on the Pacific Ocean and all the rooms face the beach. We were there for ocean, dude. It’s the waves.

I unpacked my clothes. Set up my toiletry. Arranged my shoes. Hung stuff up and put things into drawers. My wife sat and read her book while I was doing this. This is one of our major differences: I always unpack, like I’m living there. She leaves everything in her suitcase, pulling it out as needed.

We walked the beach, gritting our teeth against a stiff sea breeze. The sun was unblocked by anything, and the waves were strenuous, constantly pounding, noisy but soothing.

Back in the room, I opened a bottle of red wine, poured a glass and watched the waves until, finally, some piece of me whispered, “Let’s go see what’s happening on the Internet.”

So here I am, watching the waves, typing, reading, sipping wine.

The view from the room.

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Monday’s Theme Music

Ashland, southern Oregon — Monday, May 18, 2026

Our weather here is chilly but the sky is clear. It’s 44 F but expected to jump to 70 F.

Meanwhile, we’re on the road, heading to the coast. Our friend has just arrived to take up residence with Papi. Her house has work going on so this worked out well for us.

Off we go. Meanwhile, the music in my morning mental music stream is “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago. It’s in the stream because of the line, “Should I try to do some more?” I was doing something earlier and asked that aloud to Papi. While he was indifferent to the question, The Neurons plucked Chicago out of memory and began playing the 1970 classic rock staple.

I enjoyed watching the video because I dressed just like Terry Kahn on lead guitar back in those days. *smile*. Hair was long like that, too, but bushier. *another smile*

Hope your travels take you to happy places, whether it’s down the road, in your writing or thinking, or just through your house.

Coffee is in hand. Cheers

4

Saturday’s Theme Music – Low

Ashland, Oregon — Saturday, April 25, 2026.

April is marching on. Spring is going with it in this area.

Today is sunny with a blue sky. One small cloud visible from my window when I look west. Looks like a small white bird with spread wings. A peace dove.

46 F now, our high today is predicted to be in the upper sixties. We saw 72 F at our house for several seconds yesterday. Then the sun moved on, the clouds gathered over, and the shadows cut the temp. Still, that was the formula for a pleasant day to be outside, and is a marked improvement over blizzards, monsoons, wildfires, etc.

Trump’s DOJ continues to try to pull the nation backward. They’re bringing back the firing squad. Business as usual for the ‘pro-life’ camp.

Despite it’s presence in popular culture, The Conversation notes, “Of all of America’s methods of execution, it has been least often used. From 1900 to 2010, only 35 of America’s 8,776 executions were carried out using this method, and since 1976 just three people have faced a firing squad, with the last one carried out in Utah in 2010.”

The move works for Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Headlines are full of the announcement. People like me will respond and condemn it. Many others will applaud. More importantly for Trump, there will be less news about his failures.

Trump’s long list of failures and setbacks is growing. Headlining: rising disapproval ratings. High gas prices on the cusp of May and the annual travel vacation months. A miserable war that’s dragging on into its eighth week after he said it was practically already over.

Talking out of the other side of his mouth, Trump also that the war would probably be over in five to six weeks. That time is passed. Since then, he’s whined that he needs more time and not to rush him. Then, in a really stupid move, he invoked how long the United States military was in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, wars which Americans would rather move on from.

Yet, the Epstein file is still out there, shadowing every move Trump makes, echoing through every word, flowing through every decision.

That clock is still ticking, and he hears it.

Your Donald Trump quote of the day:

From Factually: “Former President Donald Trump cherry-picked these statistics. Although some stations are charging $5 to $7 a gallon, about 99.2% of U.S. gas stations are selling gasoline for less than $5 a gallon, GasBuddy.com data shows.”

It was almost as if Donald Trump was predicting the future if he won.

Today’s music comes from thinking about highs and lows. The Neurons brought out “Low” by Cracker. In a lot of ways, the drippy, loopy 1993 song doesn’t make sense.

Lyrics

A million poppies gonna make me sleep
Or just one rose, it knows your name
My fruit is rusting on the vine
My fruit is calling from the trees

Or hey, oh, don’t you wanna go down
Like some junkie cosmonaut?
A million miles below their feet
A million miles, a million miles

I’ll be with you, girl, like bein’ low
Hey-hey-hey, like bein’ stoned
I’ll be with you, girl, like bein’ low
Hey-hey-hey, like bein’ stoned

A blue, blue is the sun
A brown, brown’s the sky
A green, green are her eyes
A million miles, a million miles

h/t SongLyrics.com

Reminds me of Trump and his followers.

Hope you and your day are on a high and you go on a tear that takes you to new fun things and greater joy and optimism.

Cheers

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