I will rejoice and be glad in it. Whether this day is good, bad or indifferent I will love it because I am alive to experience it and I love the sensations of living. All my family save for one living son is gone now and it is just me and my friend, Jimmy, and the hordes of strange shadows passing by on every side … some of whom notice me and most of whom do not even see me.

I was meditating on the fact that I am 87 years old now… going on 88 if I make it to July 8th, and it came to my mind that I have lived far longer than any other member of my family so far ….so every breath I take now and every house I live I consider to be a gift from Almighty God and I thank Him for it all every day.

I know some of my friends to not believe in God and I respect that ….and I am hoping that my writing about Him a little bit does not offend others … But I feel my life, though very long, has been very short and cannot last forever in the flesh in this world in which we are now living…..now that I have got that off my chest let me go on with some other things:

Everybody seems to be rejoicing because there is finally a peace agreement between the United States and Iran. But my question is, “Is there really a peace agreement or is it just a momentary hiccup in world events? I feel sometimes that peace is not possible all the time because blood lust and war are part and parcel of some people’s DNA and war and killing is like an addictive drug to them …so I believe that any so called peace agreements are just whispers in a raging wind and before anyone is aware, the bombs will be falling again. Time will tell.

I have discovered the merits and joys of Wasa Bread again ….this is something I enjoyed back in the 1960s and, for whatever the reason, lost track of and have just this very week rediscovered, much to my satisfaction and joy. I eat the light rye version which is reminiscent of cattle food or chicken feed, earthy, organic, pleasant to the palate … by itself or with toppings such as peanut butter, deviled ham or even chicken salad. This Wasa bread and Seeded Jewish Rye are my favorites. Along with everything else, I also love Kosher food and Mid-Eastern food, and Mexican and Chinese food, and some German food ….some Greek food … some Cuban food … I have a well developed palate for fine foods from all corners of this old world.

I can soften big dried figs up in the microwave and eat two of them every day to keep my digestive processes moving along nicely. When it isn’t figs, then it is either raisins or dates. Bananas too. A piece of pan fried salmon and some honey comb makes a nice meal along with some whole grain bread, some grapes (I like the red, sweet ones) and a date or a fig and a small glass of “New” wine. I found a Hal-Al store that sells Lamb too and so I am making some sop to dip bread in at meals. I just wish I could find that old bread that is made strictly from a lot of grain and cooked in a stone oven — the kind with the crisp crust and the more or less soft center …or even unleavened is fine with me too. But it is difficult to find this sort of thing…. some artisan bakeries come close though. The thing is, this kind of bread has to be consumed within the period of a single day or it goes stale. Ancient civilizations baked their bread fresh each day to prevent it from going stale.

There are rumors going around where I live that the greed mongers in state government are considering raising property taxes again. They are already overly-burdensome for some folks. There has been a lot of talk about getting rid of property tax altogether, but the persistent gerrymandered right wing administration is having none of that kind of talk. So I guess it will not be so long now until thousands of ordinary folks won’t be able to afford to live in their own homes and will be evicted over the tax burden and a government that offers no relief other than a Homestead exemption for some people ….a good thing, but not enough. Modern America, the great greed machine. Still the best place on earth to live.