ABSILVER's World

It is said by many, that tragedies and challenges matter more as they get closer.   Certainly, nobody with a heart can be taking this Corona virus less than serious, but it is also getting closer to me personally.   A few friends have caught the virus and some in my extended world have passed away.   As we all are, or should be, at home dealing with what is challenging and getting sadder situation every day, I turn to music to help me out. It isn’t necessarily to me out of feeling sad or out of a funk I may be in.   Music helps me search inside my heart and mind to understand what, why and how a time or event is making me sad and many times the lyrics help me turn the corner. There are several songs I go to, and I thought maybe they would cheer up others.   So, put together a list which started out to be a top 10 and, and I started out thinking about a top 10 and ended up at 14. Here it is.. the song titles and a link to a video on YouTube.   I am not including the artis

So, I sit here, that seems a key part of social isolation.  Sitting at home and thinking and wondering about this day and time as well as what the future will be when we are on the other side of the pandemic crisis.  We will get to the other side it just seems to me it is a matter of time and how well we heed the orders from our various government and healthcare experts. As we all struggle with these times, the best advice I have is to get out of the house and get some exercise.  I do that as often as I can because it is good for my brain, my heart and everyone’s sanity at home.  Honest, it is also an opportunity to give you and those in your household a break and can breathe and remind ourselves that the strain we feel is felt by everyone around us as well. Today I went walking around the trails of Longview, and around puddles of water.  I am honestly enjoying the beauty that comes with the rain we have been having.  The trees are full of leaves, pretty and green.   We

So... trying to write each day and will publish occasionally... and add some funny comics along the way.  Keep Smiling! Day 3: Self isolation in East Texas 3 21 2020 First of all, there are no recipes for dealing with a time that has not been seen before.   My parents said they remember the rationing of WWII but at least you could out and socialize, and my Dad mentioned there was a black market for things as well so people who had means could find what they needed.   So, what do you do when the world is under the best recommendation seems to be that people isolate themselves to slow down the progression of this virus as to not overwhelm our healthcare systems until there is a cure and or vaccine. I don't know what others are doing.   We are effectively on day 3 of true isolation.   We had been socializing with immediate family, but since the recent changes in California and Pennsylvania and some news that east Texas is seeing spikes in fev

Spinach and Artichoke Dip: Ingredients:  1 cup of mayonnaise. (Hellman’s if possible) 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. 1 can of artichoke hearts not seasoned. 2 TBSP of Olive Oil 1 package of fresh spinach (frozen is good as well). 3 garlic cloves chopped. Salt and Pepper to taste Recipe: Preheat oven 375 degrees Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add garlic, and heat for a 1 minute. Then add fresh spinach and Saute till cooked about 3 - 5 minutes. Take the spinach and put in a colander to cool off. and then put in a dish towel and squeeze out the moisture as much as possible and then chop up. Drain the artichoke hearts and chop into smaller pieces. In a large bowl, stir together the Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise until well blended. Add the artichoke hearts and stir and then the chopped spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste, go easy on the salt as there is salt in the mayonnaise a

I sit here at home wondering about the weeks ahead and what to expect for life to become.    As we all hunker down over the Coronavirus, should I learn how to knit?    Should I be stalking grocery stores as we are down to 18 rolls of toilet paper?    Should I stop going out all together?    Should I consider altering our next trip to Savannah?    What will the next few weeks and months be like?   I am not as worried personally about the "virus".    I am hopeful as we live a pretty tight knit family life and are not prone to group socials and so we live in a fairly safe place.    I also realize that there is only so much good worrying will do.    I worked most of the last 15 years remotely, so I am confident that as needed I will be productive. That said, I am worried about us human animals.    We are a social bunch mostly.      Even those of us with introverted tendencies still need an occasional human or two to talk to, commune with and share a laugh and even a

Are you with Me? I sit here on a Thursday, in Longview, Texas at the Silver Grizzly having coffee, wondering when we the People and all global citizens will say “Enough already!” First, a bit of history. The British citizens of the original 13 colonies fought the revolution to be freed from the oppression of a remote monarchy that ruled over and taxed the colonies while providing little value for those taxes. The colonists had no ability to represent themselves to the monarchy. Generations of immigrants risked their lives to cross oceans to gain religious and personal freedoms that this country's founding fathers encapsulated into the US constitution; a constitution focused on personal freedom, privacy, and considerable concern to limit the power of a government and the majority to oppress minority citizens.   We live in an unprecedented time in the USA, where the ‘president’ and many elected officials are more concerned about their own well being than that of th

I have been a satisfied AT&T wireless customer since car phones were installed in your car.   When we moved, it  was easy to recommend them to Frank for our new home…   Frank and I decided about 3 months ago to make a move in our lives.   We sold our house in Austin and the plan is to split our time between closer to family splitting our time between Longview, TX where his family lives and mine in Savannah, GA.   The house is very nice, about 1800 sq. feet and close to Frank's Mom who has been very welcoming and helpful in our move. This email is about something simple, that went off the rails, all we wanted was to setup TV and Internet service at our new home in Longview.    In the last few years due to changes in homes from Florida to Austin, and now to Longview we have done this more times than most so you would think this would be easy?   Well, not so... we chose AT&T as what we thought we would be a reliable service and DirectTV for TV service.   My p