2021 Life Logs, Day 10: Unusual Day . . . for me
Date: Sunday, January 10, 2021
Weather: Snow Overnight, Partly Sunny Day; High 39, Low 25 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
There was a light covering of snow overnight. Actually, when I took Shadow out just before going to bed (around midnight), the snow had started and when we got up at 6:30 am for a bathroom break, the ground was covered with white. But by the time we got up for the second time, it had all but disappeared.
The reason this was an unusual day for me was that I spent much of the day watching football games. Not my usual habit. Just as I had watched the Buffalo Bills play yesterday to link across the miles to my friend Linda, today I watched the Tennessee Titans play to link with my niece Janet in Nashville.
Heather brought Ollie over to watch with me and to play with Shadow. We had an extra-long half-time outside playing with Shadow, but we did finally come back inside to watch the rest of the game. The Titans lost, but Ollie and I had a great afternoon. Then, in honor of my family who are all die-hard Cleveland Browns fans, I watched the Browns-Steelers game tonight. The last time the Browns were in a playoff game was in the mid-nineties and they have not had a great season since. But tonight, they were on fire. During they first quarter they were so far ahead that you would think there would be no way they would lose the game. But with the Cleveland Browns, you don’t want to make an assumption like that. Regardless, I just couldn’t make myself sit and watch the whole game, so I slipped away and watched the first episode of a new Masterpiece Theater series, came back and watched a little football, and then slipped away again to watch some political news. I finally watched the last of the fourth quarter and the Browns did win, 48 to 37. The last time the Cleveland Browns won a playoff game was on New Year’s Day 1995. I know all Cleveland Browns fans are celebrating tonight.
Watching football this weekend has been a welcome break from political news. But nothing can keep me from constantly being frustrated with the current situation. This is the fifth day since the attempted siege of the Capitol. A few people have been arrested, but those in power that incited this attempted coup have not been touched. In my opinion, Donald Trump needs to be removed from office immediately. There are all kinds of reasons why this can’t happen, but regardless, there need to be immediate consequences. I loved an analogy that I heard on NPR today. It was basically that if you have a kid that sticks his hand in the cookie jar and steals a cookie, and is not immediately punished for that, the next thing you know his sister and his brother will be doing the same thing. I think it is going to be an interesting week watching as things play out. My daughter-in-law’s dad, Phil, who lives in England, sent a link to another opinion piece in The Guardian that I want to pass on. It is written by Robert Reich, former US secretary of labor, and in this piece he outlines what he thinks needs to be done in the next week. He is hard liner on this issue and his piece is definitely worth a read. Thanks to Phil for sending the links.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/10/trump-coup-capitol-attack-pence-giuliani-fox-news-twitter-facebook-impeachment?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
I’ll end tonight on a lighter note. Yesterday I saw photos of my eight-year-old granddaughter posted by her mom on Facebook. Evidently Coco raided Jo’s closet and came out looking like a model. She has style! But today she had an unfortunate encounter with a broken bottle hidden in the lush Puerto Rican undergrowth and had to have 11 stitches on the bottom of her foot. When she came inside after stepping on the broken glass, she simply told her dad that she had a cut on her foot. Justin watched as she walked across the floor leaving bloody footprints and took a closer look. It was long and deep and required stitches. I asked her on the phone if she was brave when she got the stitches and she replied, “Well, yes.” She is a tough one, but like all of my grandchildren, growing up way too fast.
