"living in america"

Anyway, after patiently listening while Darryl-Elizabeth read her (finished) wedding bio last night (tell me, when did this sort of "crap" become popular?) I sort of laughed as upon finishing, Darryl-Elizabeth reflected more on where I've been and who I've been, down thru the past 60 odd years - not all of it "strawberries and cream" I must admit -

And me with my allotment of Merlot drained!

Of course, regrettably, when questioned I had to realize most of my high school and college classmates are now in the great beyond, the rest are not necessarily in the same place as I, but at least they're alive. That, in my opinion, has nothing to do with my being "better" in ANY way than they are and/or were. Truth be told, I'm just like everybody else, hanging in and hanging loose.

Having lived thru and "in" the 'troubles' of the American "civil rights" era of the sixties, up to and including being in attendance at Rev. Patterson's church when MLK spoke of his visit to the "mountain top" I guess you could say, as She often reminds me: "you know of what they speak" when referencing #blacklivesmatter

(Fair enough, but in reality, I was there at the church in hopes of getting "laid")

America, particularly the American south (especially my beloved hometown of Memphis Tennessee) is still very much a segregated place, where everybody implicitly knows, and more strangely keeps, his place. Reasons behind this vary, but suffice it to say, it "just is"

Now then, before impressions of nirvana invade this saga, a bit of a British perspective: relocating to Warwickshire (Coventry) around the turn of the century and being referred to - on way too many occasions to recount - as a "coloured person" I wondered why as She patiently (and repeatedly) reminded me that Trevor MacDonald ("Sir Trevor MacDonald") was an "anomaly" an exception to the rule as it were.

I bring up Sir Trevor to say this, as Darryl-Elizabeth reminded me last evening:

"so too, pops, is Barack Obama" - an "anomaly"

Okay, so like today is 'mono-monday' and the theme is electric, cool, while out and about yesterday, trying to capture as much California sunshine as we can, She noticed the 'tenderness' of the gran pictured above, the "electricity" in her smile bright enough to illuminate the future of the child in her "loving" arms

Either that or the happiness behind the fact that the kid has finally "run out of steam"!