2016 review: One bright nugget

OK, so we've had better years when looking at the total picture. Beloved celebrity deaths, war, division, contentious elections, etc., etc. But, at least for Chicagoans and even many non-Chicagoans who have never been to Wrigley Field, the 2016 World Series provided a much needed sense of hope & joy. The Cubs are supposed to be as good or better in 2017, but it's hard to imagine the magic and drama of this year's World Series can ever be repeated.

May 2017 bring hope, heath, and much happiness to all of us. Best of luck in the New Year!

Summer's End: Farewell Cicadas & Walnuts

Fall has definitely arrived to the Chicago area, and with it the end to the summer's familiar ambient buzzing sound coming from the native cicada. This year's brood was the annual cicada, which according to Wkipedia, are also known as the dogday cicada or harvestfly, though I've never heard them called either. I've taken some artistic license and depicted the orange eyed and wing tipped 17 year cicada (aka. the periodical cicada) who, according to the "Chicago Botanic Garden website", aren't expected to emerge until 2024.

As for the walnuts; our next door neighbor’s grand & glorious walnut tree has branches which extend over our fence, towering far above our driveway. Throughout the later summer months, the sound of squirrels cracking open the hard shells can be head clearly and constantly across the back yard. The falling nuts striking the metal garbage can lids from 20-30 feet act as a warning gong for anyone passing beneath. They're fairly substantial and a direct hit on the head could lead to hospitalization or, at the least, a nasty bump.

Like cicadas emergences, walnut tree production can vary greatly from year to year, and may be on an “alternate bearing” schedule, producing nuts one year and reserving their resources the next. As it happens, this was a very bountiful year for our neighbor’s walnut tree, with a sea of green, nearly lime-sized walnuts dotting the rear part of our driveway. Later, those that remain after the squirrels have had their fill take on the familiar wrinkled, brown look of dried walnut shells. As a bonus, I’ve discovered that disabling the electric eye on the garage door results in a powerful nutcracker.

For more info:

"University of Illinois extension: Cicadas in Illinois"

"Morton Arboretum:Black Walnut Tree"

Trump & Putin: Really Into Each Other

"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." -Winston Churchill, 1939

What to make of Donald Trump's relationship (or lack thereof) with Vladimir Putin?

A sampling of Trump's contradictory quotes only makes things murkier:

Donald Trump last week: “I never met Putin. I don’t know who Putin is.”

Donald Trump in 2013: "I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer, and we had a tremendous success.” Donald Trump in 2015: “I got to know (Putin) very well.”

Donald Trump yesterday: “Just so you understand, he said very nice things about me. But I have no relationship with him. I don’t...I’ve never met him. I wouldn’t know him from Adam except I see his picture, and I would know what he looks like.” And Donald Trump is (just barely) seen as the more "trustworthy" candidate.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in every wood in every spring there is a different green. I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago, and people who will see a world that I shall never know.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

A couple of weeks ago, which seems like an eternity in the current Presidential election news cycle, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a candid, off cuff comment when asked in a New York Times interview what she would do if Republican nominee Donald Trump were to be elected President in November. She jokingly replied that her late husband world tell her "Time to move to New Zealand!". Not surprisingly, her sardonic comment was met with outrage from Trump and others in the GOP. Shortly afterward, after briefly doubling down, she backed off, calling her own choice of words "ill advised".

With the increasing possibility that Donald Trump could, in fact, pull out a win in November, some have looked into the very real notion of relocating, at least for the next four to eight years, to New Zealand, or some other welcoming oasis.

Hopefully, self-exile will no longer be an issue come November.

VOTE!

Game On: Donald vs. Hillary

So it's come to this. As grueling as the campaigns have been on the nominees, it's been truly agonizing for the voters. And at the presumed end of the nomination process to determine the two most qualified candidates for the highest office in the land, it's hard imagine coming up with two less likable individuals.* And with the proven effectiveness of negative ads, it's only going to get uglier leading up to November's general election.

Only five more months until it starts all over again. And remember: in the voting booth, no one can hear you scream. *In the latest polls , Donald Trump has an unfavorability rating of 63%, with Hillary Clinton only slightly better, with a rating of 61%