The political conventions are over and I watched both, the RNC in horrified fascination, and the DNC with interest and absorption and relief that it was so well done. The speeches were great. There was a difficult start with Bernie supporters being very vocal, but that finally calmed down. It would also appear that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic committee, indulged in dirty tricks to suppress the Bernie campaign. Shame on her. She stepped down and also was prevented from participating on stage at the DNC. She is a representative from Florida but has such a positive history with voters that she may well keep her seat. I’m watching. She does not represent my district.

The take-away is that today’s Republicans are lunatics and I am hoping Trump supporters are as ineffective as those who flocked to Sarah Palin. But the current poll numbers are daunting. It would seem there isn’t anything Trump can say, destructive or vicious or hateful or inane, that can break the emotional hold he has on them. It is dismaying that the country has this number of ignorant people. They want change. They were angry in 2010 and elected “change” when they voted in tea party candidates. And these yoyos shut down the government and voted down all of President Obama’s initiatives that would have created jobs and helped them. Then they blame the administration because they don’t see that they are the cause of the dysfunction. They are emotional basket cases and hanging on to a life raft that has holes in it. B-r-a-i-n d-e-a-d.

On the home front, the contents of my kitchen shelves are in boxes in the living room. Guys are coming on Wednesday to replace cabinets, remove the dropped ceiling, and install nice white shaker style cabinets. (And yes, I can’t find things I need.) The workers have to remove the granite and put it back when all is done. We had to sign a waiver in case there is an accident with it. That would be awful, because replacing it would be pricey.

Meanwhile, Caroline, my cleaning lady, did the heavy lifting, and a good thing too, since I am having difficulty with my back. Just a little effort lays me low. I had to go buy more boxes because 20 wasn’t enough. Ed found things to do elsewhere and disappeared.
I have another cleaning lady too. Caroline disappeared for a while and didn’t get my messages. Something about her daughter listening to them on the answering machine and deleting them without telling her. So Nadine, my b.f.f. and go-to person, recommended Elizabeth whose answering machine message is in Spanish and her command of English is pretty much, me come, me clean, me go. She’s thorough, so I was coping. However, she was scheduled to come the day after the guys start demolition, so I had to call her and tell her we had to reschedule.

How to communicate? Then I had this brilliant idea. I went on Google and typed in “English to Spanish translation,” then I typed in my message and got an instant translation which I read to Elizabeth over the phone. She understood me. Amazing.

xx, Teal