It's A Mystery To Me

DH and I had a long-scheduled visit to downtown Denver last weekend to eat dinner and see a comedy show at Bellco Theatre near Buell theatre (the theatre hub for Denver). When Saturday came around, we had an urge to NOT go, to give up the tickets and stay home.

We decided if we didn’t get out of our comfort-zone and do it, we might have FOMO (fear of missing out for the fellow-boomers out there). Then we talked about what if we decided not to go; what would it be called?

We decided there is a yin-yang to everything, so if therei s a FOMO, there is a GIMI (glad I missed it). If we decide not to go, we should just say “GIMI.”

We went, had perfect weather, perfect meal at Ocean Prime, and a so-so comedy show.

Glad we went.

My husband and I went to Garmish, Germany in 1988 on our honeymoon in Europe. We intended to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, aka, Crazy Ludwig’s Castle, but missed the train that still today takes visitors to the Cinderella/Disney-like castle that Ludwig II, who died of “suicide” in 1886.” The quotes are intentional, rumor has it that he was killed for spending country money irrationally. The manner of his death is still in question, as was the errant spending. He was also called the “Swan King” or “Fairy Tale King,” or “Mad King Ludwig.”

I remember being deeply disappointed that we missed the train, but as an alternative we elected to take a rental car to Garmish, Germany, which is an hour drive from the area of the castle (which is in the Southern Alps, and reminds me a little of the Rocky Mountains). Garmish was and is a U.S. Military base.

I pouted a little, but was happy that there was an American movie theatre there, where we saw the original “Beelejuice” as it first came out. After, we ate at MacDonald’s, where the ice cream and caramel sauce sunday was the best I’ve ever had. Don’t remember the burger. The experience was enough to make me forget about visiting Crazy Ludwig’s Castle, and to appreciate a new word for me: “synchronicity.” We talked to a few service men and women who were a little homesick for the U.S. Some of the best things comes to us accidentally or a detour from the original plan.

The reason I tell this story is to ask this rhetorical question: Could we be living under the rule of a “crazy king?” There are differences: Ludwig was only in his twenties and had what he hoped was decades to make his dreams come true; our “king” was elected by 1/2 of the U.S.; there are certain shaky stop-gaps to how much our crazy king can do and how long his reign can be. What I know is that I’ve never been so afraid for our country, for our democracy.

I’d like to go to Garmish again to see how it’s going there. I’d also like everyone to vote and vote the conscience.

Yes, there is a U.S. military presence in Garmisch, Germany, as part of the U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria (USAG Bavaria). The Garmisch Community supports key mission partners like the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and the NATO School, along with other smaller units and facilities across Southern Bavaria.*

*the last paragraph thanks to AI

Even though I grew up on a ranch (okay–it was more of a “farm”) and went to a few rodeos in my day, in both Colorado and Wyoming, I wasn’t much of a bull-riding or bronco-busting fan.

That is, until my oldest daughter, Tina Battock, went from being an officer in Morris Communications to being the first team manager (and only woman GM) for the first Pro Bull-riding teams series.

I try to watch, but it’s a lot like watching politics these days; I hope for a win, hope for those 8 seconds of a successful ride with no injuries, hope nobody on any team gets hurt. Now, I either watch the taped event or look at the results page.

Now, I’m just sayin’, just show me the results, tell me who won, who lost, who came out uninjured. By the way, the bulls are also in competition; the bull who prevents the most riders from completing their 8-seconds, gets rewards, as does their owner.

Rootin’ for my side and hopin’ we can all be on the same side. Someday.

It was a tough week for us having lost a dog (actually my daughter Kelly’s dog), which we “dog-sat” for on occasion; kind of a surrogate pet for us.

I remembered I stated a document about what I’ve learned from dogs, so in tribute to Ruby Macfarlane, it is attached.

What I have learned from dogs:

Just got back from a 3-week tour (aka, cruise) of Japan and South Korea.

People and the countries are lovely, modern, ultra-clean, law-abiding (you get ticketed for “jay walking.”

Learned some thing: Since COVID and Ricin attacks, they no longer have public trash cans, so you have to carry out all trash (to home or hotel) to dispose of it). This becomes difficult for us U.S.ers who are used to trash cans, but we easily adapt.

People freely wear masks or not (at their own discretion).

The myth of the “magical Japanese toilet” is too true. The only problem is figuring out how to flush without an “accidental bidet” experience. I might be talked into having one at home, (a Japanese toilet, not an accidental bidet) with fewer buttons, bells and whistles. Something about a warm seat and warm bidet water maybe?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some bathrooms have “original Japanese” toilets, which feature a hole in the ground and places to put you feet to crouch and go. This is difficult if you do not have extremely strong thigh muscles. Thankfully we only came across 2 such bathrooms. Evidently they were so common not long ago that there are signs in the bathrooms reminding people not to “stand on the toilet.”

I learned the 3 types of bows: the “hello head nod,” the “I respect you quarter bow,” and the “90-degree apology bow,” the latter which we did not need to use.

Missed Cherry blossom season, but heard much about the trees, which are revered in Japan. However, to my surprise, they do not produce cherries (I guess they are all male trees.) Cleaning up cherry pits must be the “pits.’

We heard all about the Shogun Dynasty, which intrigues my husband especially; he has read the books a few times and we watched the series. We toured the original Shogun gardens and looked at the still-standing Shogun house from afar. All beautiful; water lilys an lovely birds and flowers and stone walls.

Found out that the Dutch settled part of Japan during the Shogun period of time and toured a charming renovated Dutch village in Japan.

Took two somber trips: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saw some startling and horrific photos and films, but the Japanese are eager to show how well they have recovered. They take pride in their resilience, and I give a big “respect bow” to the Japanese people. I must say that I left feeling a little guilty and a lot afraid of what was unleashed to end WWII. I understand that the bombing saved lives, and that the original cause for the attacks was Pearl Harbor, but there is also a “Ying and Yang,” thing going on. Can’t we have peace?

South Korea surprised me with its beauty, modernity and marvel bridges, roads and tunnels. Buildings are many floors high (as in over 100 floors), and sway to allow for earthquake avoidance. No thanks, but interesting.

It seemed to me the message that Japanese and South Koreans have taken (in part) from our “troubles” in the States, is that we don’t have chickens or eggs any more. One buffet we ate at displayed big baskets of eggs and encouraged us to pick as many as we needed to make an omelette. Four or five? Ten? No problem. I had trouble accepting only one egg. I almost needed the “apology bow” to refuse more eggs. I read one cartoon that show an Asian mother warning her child to clean his plate because “children in America don’t even have eggs to eat.” Hmmm.

Anyway, in spite of bringing back colds of some type, we had a wonderful time, and I’m grateful for the experience. I have pictures to prove it, and once I get my “Travel Photo” page fixed, I’ll have them up.

I think the first real novel I read as a child was Little Women (a Christmas gift from my grandmother). I remember reading it several times, until I discovered the public library, where miracles occurred and i could check out whatever I wanted to read (somehow I was guided to the children’s and YA section–by a librarian).

I moved on to the entire Nancy Drew series, which were quick and easy to read, and there was always the promise of another book in the series. And so, I became hooked on series mysteries. Of course, I read others, like A Wrinkle in Time, which is more like Sci Fi, and even read a few “boys” Pirate books and other types of books, even non-fiction. I joke with my husband that I read most of my dad’s Popular Mechanics magazines. I also found some very scary true crime novels, but found my way back to more “cozy” mysteries.

Here’s why I like reading and writing mystery: anything can happen, and does; they are predictable in style and plot; the good guy always or usually wins; there’s not a lot of blood and gore.

Of course, I love reading biographies and auto-biographies, non-fiction adventure books (my favorites, for some reason have been books about climbing Mt. Everest, even though I will never come close to doing that.)

Then I come to this point: please don’t mess with public libraries, cutting funding, banning books. Please help keep this part of our great democracy alive!

Seems everyone is climbing Everest (will, not literally, but …) these days, some becoming a “first,”: the first disabled person to climb, the first woman, the first person under 15, etc.

It’s getting crowded up there, so much so, they’re leaving their debris behind.

No, this isn’t a conservation blog, but a blog about whether I need to have a physical goal like many in Colorado, where I live. Climbing or hiking every Colorado peak at or over 14,000 feet is an admirable goal here. We have more 14K peaks than any state. The oxygen up there is very very thin, and I have to “base camp” to go from Denver to Breckenridge.

My husband is a member of National Speakers Association (my personal nightmare), and he attended a conference in which the first 3 speakers had all summited Everest and they all had stories about how difficult it was (and expensive). The 4th speaker came out and said that he had NOT climbed Mt. Everest, and never intended to.

I have goals, and they’ve changed over the years: get a college degree (did that –three times), get a corporate job (did that, sometimes hated it), retire from said job (did that, barely), celebrate husband and children (doing that), grand kids (ditto), write a novel (did that many times, published once and working on a contract for 3 more).

Now my “personal Everest” is staying healthy, continue writing, being more social (that’s a real Everest commitment for me as an introvert), volunteering (ditto), enjoying life (doing), being a good person.

I have a small 12 x 12 rug that I keep under my feet at my computer desk. It is a woven picture of Mt. Everest. I keep my feet on it as I work. It keeps my feet warm, reminds me of my goals, and lets me breathe.

In 2025, much angst, anger and discouragement around DEI, but I know in my heart that it isn’t “over” for equality and inclusion.

I tell my daughters that I was a beneficiary of the “mother” of DEI, EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission),” which provided job and education opportunities for under-served groups of people (women, minorities, physically or mentally disadvantaged group). EEOC still exists; its website is still being updated. Eliminating DEI will do little else than have employees spend hours and days and months searching websites, libraries and the government for such offensive words as “woman,” “black,” “Hispanic,” “maternity leave,” “gay,” and many others. Nothing could go wrong there, right? Besides, once the “establishment” changes, hours will be spent putting these words and webpages back.

DEI evolved as a part of EEOC, and spilled over to other areas besides employment, such as cultural events, books, movies, music, etc. Much of this is good, but it also came as a threat to some groups of people (whites, white males, etc.)

I’m a white female, and according to statistics, white women seem to have benefited the most from EEOC and resulting DEI. I was one of those women, having gone to college (three times, no less, and getting a paid-for Master’s Degree), getting a good corporate job with good benefits to help me support two children. I met my husband at that job, and it certainly was a blessing to have a supportive and successful life partner to help me with raising two children. I have often thought that EEOC also liberated white men from marriages they didn’t want, from supporting children when they didn’t want to, from working when they didn’t want to. I guess some white males don’t see it that way.

But, I digress. When I interviewed for my corporate job, I was part of an “experimental” group of 20 or so people (mostly women, a couple of men who bowed out early). We were tested, interviewed and then put into a training program for IT jobs. We were the first of several groups of mostly women who were required to have degrees (even though most of the managers I worked for didn’t have degrees themselves, and seemed to resent any mention of college).

I retired (with pension) from that company 26 years later.

It wasn’t always easy; during that time, I and others suffered silently subtle roadblocks and discrimination. I realize that as a white woman, I also had “white privilege,” and know nothing about extreme discrimination. As a group of “EEO” hires, we got good salaries, got bonuses, got excellent benefits–the same as the men. I was sometimes denied help when I didn’t understand something about my job, left out of meetings, talked about, called an “EEO hire,” etc. Yet, I believe sometimes I was ignored when it came time to lay people off (was there a quota which I would lower if I was fired?). I worked hard, completed my work, got ahead as much as I could, learned as much as I could. I did find women helping women. I also saw them scrambling over one another trying to get ahead. My only regret about that career? Be more brave. Take more chances. Work smarter and network better.

Back to the reason I don’t think DEI will DIE anytime soon. Women and minorities have spent the last forty years getting educations, higher degrees, getting experience, starting businesses, becoming lawyers and doctors. We haven’t slacked. We did much of this while raising children, keeping homes. I think this forty years have given groups of people a “leg up,” so to speak, and now it is unlikely to change. We will continue to get the books we need to learn. We will teach each other, support each other.

DEI may change acronyms but it won’t die.

I recently had a professional edit a book I had written (patiently waiting for a publisher, btw), and one consistent remark in the manuscript margins was, “you have persistent pronoun confusion.”

What he meant was that I would write about two separate female characters in one sentence, and in the next, would write, “she ate a salad.” The editor said, “who is she? Which ”she’ ate the salad?”

Besides being an existential question, it is “pronoun confusion.”

I thought about this the past several years as “what is your pronoun?” came to be a debate/conversational topic; he/him,she/her, they/them.

I am unapologetically pro-gay, but also unapologetically straight, so I found the discussion confusing. My confusion comes from my background of trying to get grammar correct, using it according to rules and norms I’d read. I’ll leave questions to others about such subjects of trangenderism, binary/non-bianary and yes, the use of pronouns. My characters will continue to be he, she, him or they (singular).

I realize now that language is consistently changing and probably always will.

Now, can we talk about the subject of cursive writing? Where did it go? Should I be happy because my cursive is ugly anyway? Will kids be able to read anything I hand-wrote in hundred years? And, why would they want to?

Just a couple miles from Lahaina, Maui, which is still recovering from a devastating fire in August of 2023, is a comforting, seldom-changing area to visit. My husband took all these photos and his iPhone graciously put it in an album for us (sometimes I love tech).

Kaanapali Beach was once “Airport Beach,” as it was the location of Kaanapali Airport. The Castaway Cafe is also on the sight and was one of the original buildings on Maui Kaanapali Villas property.