Staying Put

For many years it was a growing 'tradition' for older people whose family had grown and moved away to, upon retirement, do the same themselves. To give up what had been their home for many years -- the place, often, where they had raised their families -- and to move elsewhere -- often to a "retirement community."  Frankly I was surprised to read that that trend seemed to be reversing. -That many older people are now choosing, instead, to stay put.

Bloomberg News posted an article whose title captured the change, and its effect on society: "Baby Boomers Who Refuse to Sell Are Dominating the Housing Market." From the point of view of younger people this change was hardly a positive one.  Housing for young families in some areas is getting increasingly short. Indeed the article focused on one younger man who has of late been spending his free time canvasing entire neighborhoods in search of somebody -- anybody! -- who is willing to sell. That so he can have a home to call his own. A foundation on which to build his future life.

Responses to his appeal have been vigorous and, in every case so far, negative.

Said one older house owner "“I wouldn’t sell even if you gave me $2 million — this is my retirement. If you gave me a bag of money, I wouldn’t sell.”

The reason, given by another such older home owner, was stark and clear. Said he: “This neighborhood still has the soul of the past. Everybody I know — people older than me — wouldn’t move from here for nothing unless they couldn’t afford it no more.”

I don't know that I'd personally say "no" to two million dollars, if offered that for my home and property, but the reasoning those two individuals expressed -- and those of several others mentioned in the article -- rang true to me.  I, as apparently have they, thought it through. I've evaluated a wide range of options. And decided to stay put.

Indeed my wife Jan and I did this together. With much care and focused purpose.  And, be it for similar reasons as others of our generation, or, perhaps, just our own, we have decided to stay.

The "whys" of this are many.  Here, from our personal perspective, are a few of them:

We are where we wish to be.

In the end that is the most salient reason.  Jan and my life together has not largely been an "oh, whatever..." affair.  We've from the start had goals and aspirations -- goals and aspirations we have lived for. Focused upon. Striven for. Sacrificed to reach.  Thus our living where we live did not come about by mere happenstance.  It is a location -- a home -- a community -- of our choosing. One based on what we are as people. -Upon our own shared, but also individual, needs.

Quietude, privacy and peace are to us essential elements of a happy and contented life. Being able to be ourselves, with little need to answer to others -- and to remain unaffected by other's equally genuine and equally personal choices and preferences.

In a sense this is not too different from the comment of one of the elderly home owners quoted above when they spoke of their neighborhood still having the "soul of the past." In their case there seemed to be an ethnic community aspect.  But underneath the specifics of what they personally valued their desire was not unlike our own: To live in a place where they/we feel comfortable.  Where one's own likes and dislikes -- and personal level of comfort -- remained paramount.

For Jan and I that "community" is in a certain sense a community of two.  But it is still a community -- one with deeply held values. -Values that in many respects differ from the greater world around us.

Another reason for staying put -- how mundane! -- is simple dollars and sense.

Yes, "sense."  Evaluated, not by commonly accepted "truths" such as "living is less expensive elsewhere," but a personal evaluation of where we'd be financially and otherwise if we should up and move.

We have for many years invested everything, or pretty close to everything, in our home and property.  That with the goal of making it exactly what we wished it to be.  And the fact is that much of that investment is non-transferable.

The large, gorgeous, porch. Rebuilt from the ground up at great cost. The home's Great Room with its large fireplace -- and room aplenty for Jan's baby grand piano, a billiard table and a bar. My personal sanctum -- a library loft with comfortable leather seating surrounded by my books and personal mementos. The home theater -- carefully designed, styled, and created with hours and hours of work -- and providing us the real theater experience in sound and picture, but without the sticky floors and endless whispering that makes the commercial movie house often less than a complete joy no matter how good "the picture."

And beauty.  Acres of it. Diverse and ever changing beauty. -There to be enjoyed outside, or through any of the house's many windows -- including the virtual glass wall that allows us to look out onto a small meadow full of life when first opening our eyes on each new day.

Then there's the larger "neighborhood."  A true "art town."  Not "arty" in the superficial, trendy, Hollywood sense, but a place of real, stable and mature creativity.  One built up many years ago on the three pillars of the MacDowell Colony, the Mariarden and the Laughton Camp/Out-Door Players -- the later of which property and main house is now what we call "home."

Could any of above be found anew?  And if so, at what cost? In money, yes, but even more in time, attention and expended energy?

Take the supposed (and in some ways real) "lower cost of living" in other areas -- and then add into the equation the cost of moving. -Of paying a real estate agent's seller's fees. Of again setting up a home, if not from scratch, then as close to that as neccasary to make the fittings "right" for the place. A new place. Likely a very different sort of place.

Add to that that such "lower cost of living" most often comes with a different price:  A less desirable location. One without such things as "the arts." One without a long standing (and still existent) culture of its own. A barren field without strong, tall, trees -- if not literally, than figuratively.

So for all these reason we are staying put.  As are, it seems, many others of our generation.

"Selfish"?  Perhaps.  But in the end isn't all life so?  Grasping for the sun. With the deep roots needed to grab up all the water needed to live and to thrive.

So, yes, we are staying put. For as long as possible. Be it as now, on our own, or later, if needed, perhaps with a little loving help.

_

Just as They Misjudged Reagan They Misjudge Trump

"There is nothing new under the Sun"

That quote from the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, is credited to King Solomon.

Not quite so pithy -- but in proof -- I offer this brief historical reminder. That all the current anti-Trump talk has been heard before.

When, in March 1983, Reagan described the Soviet Union as "an evil empire," the liberal media and the professorial class's reaction was little short of hysterical. Writes William Rusher in July's Claremont Review of Books...

Henry Steele Commager, then a professor of history at Amherst, condemned Reagan's speech as "the worst presidential speech in American history, and I've read them all." Hendrik Hertzberg, later editor of The New Republic, protested that "words like that frighten the American public and antagonize the Soviets. What good is that?" Time's Strobe Talbott, later President Clinton's deputy secretary of state, made the same objection: "When a chief of state talks that way, he roils Soviet insecurities." George W. Ball, undersecretary of state in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, sounded a somber warning: "Mr. President, you have set us on a dark and ominous course. For God's sake, let us refix our compass before it is too late." 

They were wrong then. History -- including the testimony of the soon to be (alas, temporarily) liberated denizen's of Soviet system -- testified to that endlessly.

Read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipeligo if you doubt it.

Reagan was "a fool,"  "an ignoramus," "a danger."  He was "senile." He was "mad." He needed to be removed from office.

But in fact he was none of those things. What he was, without doubt, was the most effective leader this nation had had since the end of WWII.

He was right. They -- the media and the 'always know betters' -- were wrong.

Yes, it was that clear.  History tells us so.

And the people were right too, because they -- the common man -- understood.  And thus Reagan aimed his thoughts to them. Spoke in a language they understood. Just as does President Trump today.

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One More"Voice"

Most of my posts here are thought posts. Word posts. Comments on what I am seeing and thinking about. On conclusions reached -- or the path I am on (we are always growing, yes?) towards the same.

One previous post, though, entitled "My Other Voice" eschewed words almost entirely, and instead contained some of my imaging work, both from past years and the present.

This post, too, is not focused on words, or thoughts.  Well, at least not put forth as such. But upon as yet another "voice" of mine. The voice of music.

I gave up public performance as a musician many years ago. But my playing has continued. And in the last couple of years I have started again sharing some of that via a medium not even dreamed of during my youthful years: That of the self-posted, YouTube, video.

Here, then, are a few examples of such. Some entirely instrumental. Others of music with a vocal/lyric component as well.

* * * * *

First a couple of instrumental pieces. Ones that hearken back to my earliest days as a musician. During the days of "Surf" and what we guitarists of that period later came to call "pre-surf" music...

This first video is of a song that definitely qualifies as the prior.  Maybe the very first song I ever applied myself to learning.  The Ventures' 1959 hit "Walk Don't Run"

Here's another instrumental from that general period. But this one is truly "Surf" as shown by its very name: 1963's "Surf Rider."

  

And now something quite different.  First of because it is played, not on an electric guitar, but on an acoustic. And also because it is a vocal number.  My own arrangement for solo guitar and voice of Muddy Waters' great blues song "I Got My Mojo Working"...

And one more. Again a vocal number, but this time of an one of my own compositions. A song entitled "On and On (she keeps going)."

On this one I am 'backed up' by "The Black Box Band" -- an assortment of programmable electronic instrumental devices.

* * * * *

Put these three forms of communication together -- words, imaging and music -- and you pretty much have the whole of me. A reflection of most everything that goes on in my head.

Yes, and much that goes on in my life.

Especially now in retirement.  This is where my heart resides. My world. A largely peaceful place of beauty, thought and expression. The things that daily surround me -- along with a few very dear, carefully chosen, friends and my family.

-Don

_

..

Some Thoughts on Finding "Beauty"

We are surrounded by beauty.  Yes, just as we are surrounded by "goodness" and "love."

Why then do some of us see it?  Find it?  Experience it?

In truth there is no one, simple, answer to that question. Some places are less filled with beauty than others. Some lives less surrounded by goodness and love.

But that said, if we look about something else is to be observed:  And that is that what we each see is what we choose to see.

We as a rule find what, and only what, we are looking for.

We experience only what we allow ourselves to experience.

Like beauty, love and goodness can be seen -- or they can be passed over. -Left unseen. Ignored.

Choices over time, too, have an effect.  A beautiful home is generally the product of many months or years of planning and executing. A beautiful garden does not grow in a single season.  -It begins there, but that is only its beginning. Much work must follow.

Beautiful friendships, too, take time to create and grow. And this, too, takes labor.

I make it a daily goal to to create and post at least one share-worthy photograph a day. It pleases me when others take pleasure in viewing these.  But in truth the one who is best rewarded by the images is me -- and that is not in their posting, but in the creating.  In the seeing that follows the searching, and the work that follows that.

That assignment -- finding an image that is to me worth sharing -- forces me to look for the beauty that is all around me. To see, not just what is, but possibilities.  And then to extract those possibilities -- the things seen in my mind and imagination -- and make them real, clear, and focused. Obvious, hopefully, to even a casual looker on.

The real reward is in the looking. And in the work of creating. This is true for art, Yes. And for music. And for relationships. Indeed it is true for everything.

Seeing the possibilities is where the journey begins. Being satisfied with nothing less and working to create them is the road. All beyond that is merely the destination.

We either go there, or we do not.  That choice, too, is ours.

Yes beauty IS all around us. To be extracted from life. Squeezed out of it like juice from a piece of fruit. And very often only then is it available to be savored and enjoyed.

It can't be bought. It does not come pre-packaged.

Some may say "yeah, but you are lucky. I see your photos. You are surrounded by beauty. For you it is everywhere."

For such that think that way here is a little secret:  Even that very real beauty often has to be found, extracted, and created.  Yes, it is there, but often not obviously so.

Here, as an example, is my "sharable" photo from this morning. First what I shared, and next to it where it came from -- what the camera saw --  the actual photograph. The first -- the image I shared -- is what I sought and found within the later.

Both are in truth the same photo. The choice of what to see and what to share was mine. -To be extracted, modified, squeezed, made "other."

Just as with life itself.

_

WTF Just Happened in the UK?

Okay, I am no expert in UK politics. Far from it. But that never prevents the media from offering thoughts and opinions -- in their case as facts. So, what the hell -- I'll share a few.

Looking at the UK we see a similar pattern that we are seeing here in the USA. And that pattern represents the frustration of the citizens who may not follow every detail about the daily this-n-that -- and who may seem to be swinging every which way like a magnet that has forgotten how to point north. But the people there have basically come to see that they have been being led by people who themselves are completely lost.  What the people are experiencing is a continuing series of -- pardon my Gaelic -- WTF?s.

The PM thought she had things sown up. Enough to call for an early election to lock in her power. Then the latest examples of Islamic barbarism hit and it, for the moment at least, got the people's attention.

Here they -- the nations' voters -- had a supposedly "conservative"  government, led by a supposedly "conservative" Prime Minister, and yet they saw that even the most basic thing -- the safety of the nation -- was not be "conserved."  WTF?

The left pointed out that the PM, in her last major government assignment, had reduced the number of 'bobbies on the beat -- the perfect bleat! -- and effectively turned the people away from her.

Deservedly?  Who can say?

But in truth there was a "bobby" on the scene of the latest horror and he had in fact proved himself to be a heroic defender of public safety -- almost losing his life trying to bring down the miscreants. Alas, as is the case with most British policeman, he was unarmed.  (WTF2)

Adding to the public consternation is the fact that as it turns out the government knew the "bad guy" way before  he committed this particular horror -- he'd been photographed celebrating 'whatever' in a public park with an ISIS flag. And what exactly had the government done about it? Exactly nothing.  (WTF3)

So the votes in yesterday's election were cast willy-nilly -- no one getting enough support to authoritatively take charge.

In other words nothing is going to be done. Again. In other words two, nothing in fact has actually  changed -- except another do nothing pol has lost a bit of face.

So now the left -- claiming the very real failure of the PM to get the control she thought was hers (sound familiar?) was for them a great victory -- feel free to push their programs yet harder.  Programs the enlarge the, shall we say, "risk factors" the public will be in the future facing.  More "refugees." More restriction on what the British public can say about it. No restrictions that matter for those who have no belief in the fundamental principles that had once made Great Britain "great."

What they do not have there -- much to their loss -- is what we have here. A "don't give a damn for your freakin' niceties" leader intent on "Making Great Britain Great Again."

No, but they do have the same circus we have. -A media ready to scream bloody murder at everyone. (Well, apart from actual bloody murderers.)

Where is their Trump when they need him?

So I'll say it one more time...

 "WTF?"

_

The Simple Non-Formula for a Safe, Peaceful and Prosperous Community

Since I was a teen I have been reading and hearing that the answer to our having safe, peaceful, prosperous communities was x, y, z and z+. And I've watched society as a whole strain to fulfill those supposed requirements.. And all the while things have been getting less safe, less peaceful and less prosperous. "No! No! You have to do it more. You have to do it better! You have failed." -So say those same people in voices ever more scolding.

Since I have been a full adult -- which has meant no longer having to listen to such "teachers" -- I have found that such safe, peaceful and prosperous communities already exist. And while what they have in common often includes at least a bit of x, y, z and z+, their success in reaching the goals of safety, peace and prosperity has largely depended on other, less complicated and formulaic, things.

Basically these:

Most everyone living in the community pays for their own housing.

Most everyone lives in a close and caring family. Moms, dads and kids.

Children and young adults exercise their minds, study their lessons, go as far through formal schooling as their abilities allow, all the while looking to do other things as well. Music. Sports. The arts. Church and/or community activities.

Moms love and teach their children.
Dads counsel, discipline and teach their children.
Moms and dads stay together -- often in deep and abiding love, in other cases "for the kids."

Babies come after marriage.

And that's about it. Nothing complex. Nothing out of reach of most anyone who aspires towards such things.

And it works. No excuses. No "if onlys."

The funny thing is that it always has. Generation after generation.

Now, why couldn't I have been taught that? Why did I need to discover it for myself?

Those questions aren't hard to answer either. But the answers make a lot of people very, very angry. So largely I just live all the above -- along side others that choose to do the same.. And let the losing battles be fought elsewhere.

_

Trump vs. the Plutocrats

In turning away from the Paris Climate Accord Trump once again shows that he sees things that others either cannot, or will not, see: The pivot point in the central issue of our time -- the ongoing war between the interests of the 'common' people and those of the plutocrats. That is the reason why the attack on Trump for his stand on America's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord has become a shrill and all-encompassing pile on. Trump knows where the fulcrum point is. He is skillfully applying pressure there. And, as usual, he is explaining what he is doing in words that the work-a-day crowd understands, and the elites do not. It is the continuation of what started in the Republican primaries and November election. A series of one "inexplicable" victory after another, accompanied by the confusion and anger of those who thought -- not without seemingly good reason -- that they held, and would continue to hold, complete control over the world of men. Idiot comedian Kathy Griffin so well represents this. She, like the coastal (and, now, international) elites, saw herself standing on the top of the world, smugly holding a fake severed head aloft. And then -- a mere nano-second later -- standing with her attorneys. Giving faux apologies. Making excuses. In tears. Thank you President Trump.

Posted on American Thinker, June 6, 2017