I just threw out my crumbled-up piece of paper that has my gluten-intolerance status written in Arabic. My kids insisted that the bread was nothing to miss, but oh, the pastries…

On a few relatively long car trips, the conversations were delightfully different than those in my community of senior citizens. And we played word games, all new to me—managed by college senior Leo.

At my advanced age, I managed to resist buying all the wonderful, colorful items—after all I just got rid of things.  On the other hand, the newly-weds bought enough to make up for my lack of spending.

And finally, a couple of challenges:  The person in the Information Booth in the Casablanca airport could not direct us to the train to the center of the city!  (We found it.)  We then left the center city by train for Fez with reserved seats, but people were sitting in them. Therefore, three of the four of us had to sit in seats that others had tickets for, but we held our ground, indicating that someone was in our seats. Not such a great start.

All in all, a journey worth taking. 

When my son Seth and his wife Dani who live in Brazil invited me to travel with them after they came to the U.S. for Thanksgiving AND said I could choose the place to go, I was thrilled. 

As I catch my breath after two weeks away, I can’t believe all we packed into that time.  Here’s how it went: 

–Train from Boston to NYC for two days to attend a party so that Seth’s friends who couldn’t make it to São Paulo for their wedding could meet his wife Dani. 

–Train to DC with Seth and Dani, and then a drive to Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland for Thanksgiving with son Jeremy’s family. 

–Drive to Baltimore airport. 

–Fly to Morocco and visit Fez and Marrakech and more, including a road trip down the coast stopping at El Jadida and Essaouira.

 –Fly to Paris. Seth and Dani off to Brazil and I head home. (Oh, I forgot to mention that Jeremy’s senior in college son Leo tagged along. but saved his 3-day camel trip until the rest of us had departed.)

I write these words, still jet-lagged, but grateful.  A memorable adventure for this 80-something.

P.S. In my last post about three airports, I left out one, so the total was actually four. (A jet-lagged error!)

This is an explanation, not a blog.

Today was a full day of airports, Casablanca, Paris, and Boston.

It is a day of jet lag.

80-something will be back on Thursday.

’til then…

Three Airports

In the last week, how many people asked you the following:  “How was your Thanksgiving?”  I hope your answer was “great!” 

To me, Thanksgiving is a time for my family to gather and that’s all I need to say.  Because being with my children, their spouses and my grandchildren is heaven to me, and missing Thanksgiving is not an option for any of us.

Thanksgiving traditions may vary from family to family, but it is not a competition.  According to Zen Shin:

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it.

It just blooms.”

The unpleasant title of this blog post was named the 2024 “word of the year.”  It can be defined as mental deterioration from consumption of media/content held to have no redeeming value; also, the media itself.

You may be wondering (as I did) how the word-of-the-year got started.  It seems that Allan Metcalf, a professor of English decided that if we have a man of the year, why not a word of the year?  The first selection in 1990:  bushlips, referred to “insincere political rhetoric” from George Bush: “Read my lips.  No new taxes.”

And thus ends my research into the word of the year.

To My Blog Readers: 

80-Something is taking the day off to concentrate on having my children and grandchildren all in one place on this special day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I’ve never given much thought to the subject of forgiveness.  I can’t recall anything major that I’ve had to forgive in my very lucky life.  But forgiveness can be powerful. Thanks to Everett Worthington and Matthew Potts who write on this subject, the following is worth noting:

–Forgiveness does not condone the action, but it replaces ill will with good will.

–Forgiveness is good for us.  It deepens relationships, and it leads to better health.

–Studies show that those who are forgiving improve their well-being.

It’s the season of Thanksgiving.

Let’s also be forgiving.

So says Roger Rosenblatt in a charming 10/26/25 article (https://bit.ly/47FMSIm)

He tells us that he used to always look ahead for whatever would befall him. No longer–now he looks at what he has.

Long-time English Professor, columnist and more, Rosenblatt reports that among other current activities, he plays the piano and recites poetry to his wife Ginny. 

I don’t have a piano or a wife, but I can try even harder to be grateful for what I do have.

That wisdom is timeless.

Much as I love music, I can’t carry a tune.  I only sing Christmas Carols when I’m in a large group and have had a glass of wine.  But I do love to listen, especially to classical music. In all my years of concert attendance, I’ve never seen what happened on Thursday. 

My favorite string quartet was giving a free lunchtime concert in a Harvard building right after the class I am auditing.  They were starting with a short piece I was not familiar with to be followed by one of my favorites, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet.

The first piece was very energetic, but shortly after it began, the bridge of the second violin broke into two pieces and fell to the floor.  The audience didn’t quite know how to react.  The astonished musicians put down their instruments.  And so ended the concert.

You can’t play a quartet with a trio.

Much as I love music, I can’t carry a tune.  I only sing Christmas Carols when I’m in a large group and have had a glass of wine.  But I do love to listen, especially to classical music. In all my years of concert attendance, I’ve never seen what happened on Thursday. 

My favorite string quartet was giving a free lunchtime concert in a Harvard building right after the class I am auditing.  They were starting with a short piece I was not familiar with to be followed by one of my favorites, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet.

The first piece was very energetic, but shortly after it began, the bridge of the second violin broke into two pieces and fell to the floor.  The audience didn’t quite know how to react.  The astonished musicians put down their instruments.  And so ended the concert.

You can’t play a quartet with a trio.