![20240905_194031[1]](https://jamesbalicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20240905_1940311-768x1024.jpg "20240905_194031[1]")
This will be a short post – my intentions are to be updating on a biweekly basis. It’s been a while since I last posted, the last seven weeks flew by. Not a lot has been going on on the home front apart from the usual; lots of yard work and mowing, getting the property ready for winter. Oh, a dead deer showed up on the lawn one morning – luckily the township office came by and got rid of it. Looking forward to the next trip in December – a 10-day Mexico Riviera cruise out of San Diego. It’s pretty much a duplicate of last December’s cruise – the only difference being one day shorter and the port of Manzanillo not being included. Excursions and specialty dinners have already been booked – it should be a fun time on the Holland America Konigsdam. I’m refreshing my language studies so that I can attempt to converse with some of the crew members – Indonesian, Filipino, Dutch, and Spanish 😊. Once again the weather has been very unusual for this time of year. Summer appears to have been extended by a couple of weeks – most of the leaves are still on the trees; only 12 bags have been filled so far and taken to the recycle depot. This time last year it was about 100 bags filled and taken to the recycle. But we have been fortunate with the weather around here – a little rain and mostly warm temperatures - compared to the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of the U.S. – Hurricane Helene caused intense damage and flooding in those regions. The rest of the week is supposed to be nice with the temperatures dropping a bit – so maybe autumn has finally arrived and the trees will change color 😊.
The American elections will be taking place in about 5 weeks – November 5 – the race appears fairly tight with Kamala Harris having a slight lead over Donald Trump. The vice-presidential debates took place last night – it was actually a fairly civil meeting between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance with only a few minor glitches and no insults / name calling – unlike the presidential debates between Harris and Trump. The problem with these elections is that there is no real winner regardless of the outcome. If the Democrats win under Harris – Trump supporters will start an insurrection and civil war; if the Republicans win under Trump – he will eventually declare himself dictator, be a puppet of Putin, and the United States will end up having a civil war ☹. … And if Putin ever declares war against the U.S. – well, the shortest distance between Russia and the U.S. (apart from Alaska) is right over… Canada ☹.
The war in the Middle East is still ongoing – and probably will be for years to come; unless World War III or the end of the world happens first ☹. Hamas has been basically destroyed; Israel is taking the war to Lebanon to fight against Hezbollah; Israel is using James Bond tactics to get rid of the enemy (pager and cell-phone bombs – 3000 people killed or injured); Israel bombing Beirut; Iran bombing Israel in retaliation; Iran supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen; the list goes on with no end in sight☹.
The war in Ukraine is still ongoing – and will either last for years to come; or be over in a matter of weeks / months. The Ukrainians are still in the Kursk region with thousands of soldiers, tanks, and artillery. The Russians have had to relocate thousands of troops and weaponry from the Donbas region in order to constrain and push back the Ukrainians but they are having limited success. However, they are having more success in the East – they appear to have complete control of Vuhledar (a strategic city in the Donetsk region) after 2 and ½ years of fighting. The Russians are attacking Ukraine every day with hundreds of missiles, rockets, and drones. The Ukrainians are having success with the destruction of several large ammunition facilities resulting in a third of Russian artillery shells being destroyed. Both sides are accelerating their attacks in order to inflict as much damage as possible before winter sets in and makes land attacks almost impossible due to making the ground impassable ☹. … And, as always.. the coming U.S. elections will play a large factor in determining if Ukraine will have the necessary support from the Americans that they require in order to win this war.
A lot of home cooking has been going on as usual – the only times we eat out is on vacations. At this time of year it’s the usual standards: pasta dishes; Steak and Chicken Salads; Beef and Pork Roasts; Chinese dishes with Noodles and/ or rice; Pork and Chicken Pad Thais; Beef and Chicken Enchiladas; lots of different type Paninis; Steaks; BBQ hamburgers and sausages; and many other dishes. My plan is to go back to trying new recipes and food ideas. We will see how that works out 😊.
On the Netflix and Prime front: We rewatched all 5 seasons of ‘Breaking Bad’, watched all 6 seasons of ‘Peaky Blinders’ – a period British drama about a Birmingham crime gang from 1919 to 1933. I rewatched all of the ‘Undercover’ collection – the original 3 seasons of ‘Undercover’; and it’s prequel movie and series ‘Ferry’. An excellent and well-acted police / crime / drug dealer drama series about the drug cartels in Belgium and the police / undercover agents trying to bust them.
On the NHL front – Not a lot going on as it is golf season for hockey players 😊. However, Toronto Maple Leafs have appointed Auston Matthews as the new team captain taking over the role from John Tavares.
On to baseball –Toronto finished at the bottom of their division in the regular season ☹. Seattle fell short by one game in order to win a wild-card spot ☹. Baseball, as far as I am concerned, has ended for the 2024 season ☹.
On to golf … the Fedex Championship was won by Scottie Scheffler with a massive payday of $25M U.S.!! The lone Canadian, Taylor Pendrith, was tied for 14th and earned $905,000 U.S. The Presidents Cup – which takes place every 4 years between the U.S. team and the International team – was held last week with the U.S. team winning. It was held in Canada for the first time in Montreal with Mike Weir as Captain and contained three other Canadians – Taylor Pendrith, Corey Connors, and Mackenzie Hughes. The Fedex Cup Fall Series – golfers try to qualify for better starting position and PGA Cards for the 2025 season - started off with the Procore Championship. Three Canadians made the top seven – Mackenzie Hughes and Ben Silverman tied for 4th, and Corey Connors tied for 7th. The second event is the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson Mississippi.
NFL news – The Seahawks started off the regular season by going 3-0, one of only 5 NFL teams to be unbeaten. However, on Monday Night Football last night they were defeated by the Detroit Lions 41 – 29 for their first loss of the season. The Seahawks are doing fairly well under their new coach Mike MacDonald – the defense is rated in the top 5 of the NFL and the offense, although needing a little tweaking, is being led by Geno Smith – who looks to have another standout year.
Have a great and safe month … winter is coming … we will see you in a bit!! 😊