South Florida Gems and Signs of Florida

Bob and I could not have picked a better time to visit the Florida national parks, which are located in South Florida. Mid-February was unseasonably and comfortably cool, and we didn’t even have to break out the mosquito repellent. Key West during the winter has been on our bucket list ever since Bob retired. It is a reasonable drive from Orlando, and while we were there, we could make sure Cuba wasn’t getting any closer to us. Good news – it is not.

We did a walking foodie tour and enjoyed some great Cuban food including , of course, key lime pie. But my favorite thing we saw as we walked the streets of old Key West was the entryway to the local mortuary.

Crossing another national park off that bucket list was the driver for this trip. Dry Tortugas National Park is 70 miles west of Key West. It’s a 2.5-hour ferry ride to this lovely island, which boasts Civil War era Fort Jefferson. It never saw action but was formidable looking and played a part in keeping shipping lanes safe.

Part of the fort’s claim to fame is that Dr. Mudd was sentenced to hard time there for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. I wonder if he felt like execution would have been kinder, because building a fort in the raging heat was definitely hard labor. Not to mention that it is called Dry Tortugas because there is no freshwater there.

The beauty of the park is overwhelming. We did not snorkel that day because the water was a mere 70 degrees, and that doesn’t fit in the comfort zone of this Florida girl.

Plenty of parking

We enjoyed lovely walks with our feet in the water and witnessed a raft (that’s what you call a colony, which is what you call a flock) of magnificent frigate birds. These guys are big with a wingspan averaging 6.5 to 7 feet. Now you know why they’re called magnificent. A colony of them decorated two trees at the end of the beach – there must have been over sixty of them.

The adult males are black and have a large red throat pouch which they puff out during mating season. It’s quite eye-catching, and I think all the lady frigate birds were impressed.

Soon our wanderlust took hold of us, and we drove north (like there are options!) toward Everglades National Park. Years ago, we made a brief appearance in this park. We had our four children with us, and when we opened the van door to step outside, we were covered by a swarm of angry mosquitoes. I was still a bit of a novice regarding all the things that want to bite you in Florida, but I’ve since learned to always be packing (OFF!).

When Bob and I stopped to get the iconic picture of the park entrance sign, I was shocked to see it was made of rock, specifically limestone.

Just to make sure nobody was disappointed, a few hundred feet down the road we encountered this sign. Whew!

Everglades is not the most beautiful park we’ve visited, but it is super interesting and an important part of Florida’s ecosystem. It’s like a sea of fresh water moving slowly under and through grassy plains. (At present, we are in the dry season here.) Just under the water’s surface is limestone, hence the reason for the unique sign at the entrance. Limestone is the bedrock of this national park and shapes its ecosystem.

I was reminded of the Great Plains. As far as the eye could see there was grass with the occasional small tree island. There were alligators everywhere (unlike the Great Plains). Birds have been in decline due to the python invasion, but we saw a few anhingas.

Believe it or not, this is the early stage of alligator courtship.

We viewed all of this from the safety of our Shark Valley Tram Tour.

Shameless plug for my new book, which is available on Amazon. Click picture on the right of screen.

When you see alligators around every corner and in nearly every puddle of water, you start to become numb to them. That’s why I didn’t notice that there was one alligator who stood out in the crowd, largely because he was not an alligator.

This was our first American crocodile sighting in the wild. We may not have noticed except our ranger loudly scolded people who were standing right next to the big fellow, who was at least ten feet long. You’re not in Disney anymore! These are wild animals, people!

Florida is flat, so we don’t typically see elevation signs along the road. Within the park, they measure elevation in inches as the slightest changes affect the terrain.

After leaving the park, we drove west and stopped at Big Cypress National Preserve where we saw, you guessed it, more alligators in the wetlands there.

I did not expect to see manatees swimming in the canals as we drove down the road, so they were an added bonus. Manatees are not very photogenic. If you take a picture of one from the road, it looks like a big lump. I missed my photo opportunities, as did I when we passed the CROCODILE CROSSING road signs just south of the park.

I failed to mention that we stopped at the Key Deer Refuge after we left Key West. We took a short hike and there stood a key deer, posing for us. They are part of the white-tailed deer family, only smaller.

The only Florida animal that I have not seen in the wild is the Florida Panther. It is endangered, and it’s okay with me that I have never come upon one, but I keep my eyes open. All the signs are there!

4 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on March 4, 2026 • Permalink

Posted in Animals, Birding, Florida Living, National Parks

Tagged American alligator, American Crocodile, Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Key deer, Key West, limestone in Florida, Shark Valley Everglades, signs in Florida

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on March 4, 2026

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2026/03/04/south-florida-gems-and-signs-of-florida/

Florida Winter

For my northern friends, let me explain Florida winter. It does not adhere to a traditional calendar but shows up sporadically between late November and March. It comes in spurts of about two to ten days. While I enjoy any weather that allows us to turn off the air conditioner, there have been days when we go straight from AC to heat. It’s crazy down here.

Here’s the part that tests us – we must stay alert to the weather forecast for our outdoor plants’ sake because they aren’t used to freezing temperatures or frost. We actually bring some of our outdoor plants into the house to keep them warm. We also are known to cover plants with sheets or blankets to keep them from freezing or incurring frost damage.

My Florida backyard enduring winter, complete with pink flamingo statuary, frozen birdbath, and covered Camellias to protect the buds.

This could be avoided by planting native specimens particular to our plant hardiness zones, but those pretty tropicals are too tempting. Orlando is in Zone 9. One zone to the south of us and we’d be safe (for the most part), but we roll the dice and see what happens. Nurseries thrive on this.

We haven’t had a freeze here in a few years, so Thursday night was a literal shock to the system of our foliage. I made sure that all the sensitive plants were well-watered ahead of time. That helps keep the roots from freezing and can alleviate some damage to the plant, even if the leaves take a hit.

This brings me to what made me contemplate the way we prepare for winter down here. I already brought my orchids in because they don’t like it below 50-60 degrees at night (depending on the variety of orchid). I barely pay any attention to these guys when they aren’t blooming, and I do confess to leaving them outside when it’s too cold.

When they send out a shoot, I bring them in and enjoy them from bud to bloom. The blooms last for weeks, so it’s a good bang for your buck. After the last flower drops, I cut them down to the lowest knuckle and set them outside in an area that gets some, but not too much, sun. And then I forget about them.

After a good rain, I’ll remember them and pour off excess water, so they don’t keep wet feet, and then they are on their own. Periodically I check to see if they are sending out a shoot. I’ve had my current three orchids for several years, but one has been a problem child. The closest thing to corporal punishment for an orchid is repotting it. It doesn’t feel good at the time, but it should yield new growth.

Well, the one I bravely replanted last year looked pretty sad. It was bursting out of its pot and its roots were everywhere. The wood chips that support it had been washed away by our Florida rainstorms, and it couldn’t even stand up. It was pitiful. I was about to say a few kind words over it and throw it in the trash when I noticed. Two shoots had sprung from the root. How had I missed them? Even more than that, how had that plant lived after its horrible repotting, near drowning, and scorching with its roots exposed to the Florida sun for so many months?

I went to the laundry room to check the other two which I brought in a few days prior. They had new shoots, too! I know! I must have been very distracted when I brought them into the house, because surely, they were there at that time. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t looking for growth.

All of that to say, it made me think. How many times have I given up on something too soon? Or worse yet, given up on someone? How often have I put in effort that was short of the desired result and simply given up? Am I paying attention to my surroundings and the things that God calls me to do or to care for? Do I have eyes that see?

It also made me think about Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree from Luke 13. I am fairly sure this isn’t the exact application of the parable, but it’s how it struck me. The fig tree hadn’t produced in three years, and the owner was ready to cut it down. The gardener asked for one more season to give that tree some love and attention – one more season for it to bear fruit. Jesus, ready to curse that tree, granted the gardener’s request. That alone is amazing.

As I pondered the gardener’s request, I wondered if he had realized that he could have done more for that fruitless fig tree. Maybe that motivated him to try one more time. Maybe that woke him up. I don’t know, and I also don’t know if his efforts for that next season bore fruit, but I assume he tried and did all he could.

This is as close to a stop-and-smell-the-roses story as I can give you today. Yes, I do smell the roses when I walk by, but they are showy and fragrant. My pitiful orchid was neither of those, yet it beckoned me to stop. I almost missed it. I’ll have to watch more carefully for those things in life that I’m not supposed to miss. I’m sure they are all around me. How about you? Life gets busy. Maybe we need to remind ourselves to slow down a bit.

Here’s my replanted orchid. I think I did a better job this time.

My orchid’s happy place is our bathroom, which gets the morning sun.

As I write, we just had a double dose of Florida winter with one temperate day in between. Now the big challenge is to get it warm enough in the house that our feet aren’t cold and that we don’t start sweating and have to step outside. Forced heat is not comfortable, but neither is being forced to be cold. Yep, that was my morning. Florida winter problems. It sure beats being up North.

Windows (Christmas, not Microsoft)

Earlier this month Bob and I traveled to New York City to enjoy the Christmas decorations, especially Macy’s windows and the tree at Rockefeller Center. It was exciting and cozy warm to be in the city as the tree was lit, of course we watched that from our hotel. I’m adventurous not crazy. We went to see the tree the next day, when there were only tens of thousands of people taking pictures of it.

The tree was beautiful – check that off bucket list. The ice rink at the base of it, on the other hand, was dwarfed (not elfed) by it. It looked a little diminished, but I felt that way too as I traversed the cold streets of the city wearing more layers than a Tex-Mex bean dip. Honestly, I don’t know how you Northerners do it! How do you manage wearing long-sleeves with scarves and gloves and hats and a coat everywhere you go? When we’d go to a restaurant, the backs of chairs were so thick with coats that you could barely walk the aisles. And this may surprise my Southern friends – they have coat rooms to check your coat. We waited in the one at the 9/11 museum for 20 minutes. I felt like I was at Disney World.

But I digress. It was all worth it. All the walking. All the waiting. All the layers. Even being cold. I loved it. At least for four days. I probably couldn’t have lasted much longer.

I must share a few of Macy’s windows with you. They wrap around most of the store, so it’s a lovely stroll in winter. We were warmed by the Christmas spirit, our many layers of clothing, and the crowd with whom we shuffled nearly shoulder to shoulder. I am confident my pictures won’t do them justice, but you’ll get the idea. Maybe you’ll want to make your own trip next year.

Macy’s does not have the market cornered on windows, but I would say they are the best. We also went to Raising Cane, the chicken place. Their flagship store in Times Square is 8,000 sq. ft., and it was hopping. We enjoyed lunch with approximately the number of people in the state of Rhode Island while the restaurant’s halls were being decked based on A Christmas Story complete with the leg lamp. All the while a DJ was spinning Christmas music as we consumed those yummy chicken fingers. It was a little piece of insanity, but we could get in and eat and take a load off our feet for a few.

This store devoted a window to Charles Schultz’s Peanuts, celebrating 60 years of my favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Christmas trees were everywhere. We found this one in front of Fox News.

Hope you have a wonderful, Jesus-filled Christmas. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have to remind myself that this is all about Christ being born. All of the decorations and shopping and food and get-togethers are secondary to that wonderful day when Christ came into the world to save sinners like me. Merry Christmas!

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on December 23, 2025 • Permalink

Posted in Holidays, Seasons, Travel

Tagged A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, Fox Square Christmas tree, Macy's Christmas windows, New York City at Christmastime, Raising Cane's, Raising Cane's flagship store in NYC, traveling to NYC at Christmas

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on December 23, 2025

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2025/12/23/windows-christmas-not-microsoft/

I Left My Eyebrows in Florida

Last week Bob and I whisked away from sunny Orlando to see New York City at Christmastime. I’m not a huge fan of that city’s large crowds, but there are things there that you can’t find anywhere else, especially at Christmas. They know how to do it up right and bright.

We had a few things booked, and it’s a good thing they were not too highbrow, because I forgot my eyebrow pencil. The last decade has realized a drastic decrease in my use of makeup – I guess, for me, that’s part getting older and part chronically dry eyes. The plus side, over the last several years, I’ve saved so much money on make-up that we could take this trip.

My one make-up hold-out is eyebrow pencil. I’m a pale, white woman. I tell Bob that I wear eyebrow pencil so I can be seen (not in the woke way). If it snowed while we were there, I was concerned that I’d get lost in white-out conditions and Bob wouldn’t be able to find me, especially since I wore a white coat. I mean, what was I thinking?

It didn’t snow, but it did rain. That did not stop us from doing all the things. Uber was meant for rainy days, and we took one to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Walking in the rain around Ground Zero fit the mood.

There is a somberness there that I have only felt a few times before – once while going through the Holocaust Museum in D.C. and once while we visited Dachau concentration camp in Germany. Ground Zero is a place that, if possible, you must see for yourself as it cannot be adequately explained. As we walked through the museum there was a respectful silence despite the thousands of people passing the memorials, displays, pictures, and stories. I’m glad this was an early stop on our trip.

I confess that we had a few highbrow activities planned, and that was concerning due to my lack of eyebrow pencil. But I was determined not to buy any. So, I went bare faced and they let me in!

Radio City Music Hall orchestra before the show

We had tickets to see the Rockettes for their 100^th anniversary and Christmas show. I loved it! The music, the costumes, dozens of Santa Clauses, high-kicking ladies, the Christmas story complete with live camels. Glorious! It’s a special thing for me as a Christian when I see and hear Bible stories presented in non-church settings. That’ll preach! The Bible says in Isaiah 55:11 ^“so also is my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to and prosper everywhere I send it.”

There is a thing in NYC called the Broadway Direct Lottery. You enter online between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM for cheap tickets for the next day. I won twice. I know! We went to a matinee of Aladdin and an evening performance of Six (six wives of Henry VIII).

Aladdin curtain call

I especially loved Aladdin. It has that classical Broadway musical thing going strong, and it’s a great family show. Again, eyebrow pencil was not required to go into these relatively highbrow functions.

We brought DOWN AND OUT AND READY FOR A MIRACLE to see Operation Mincemeat. No binoculars required. Our seats were fine.

Honestly, going to a show is not the dress-up event that it once was, and I like that fine. It’s more than shoes and shirts are required, but you see all manner of dress – anything from jeans to semi-formal wear. Nobody cares, so I quickly recovered from forgetting my eyebrow pencil, and Bob never lost me!

4 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on December 13, 2025 • Permalink

Posted in aging, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, Holidays

Tagged 9/11 memorial and museum, Aladdin on Broadway, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, dress for broadway shows, eyebrow pencil, Ground Zero, New York City, New York City at Christmastime, Operation Mincemeat on Broadway, Radio City Music Hall, Six on Broadway, The Rockettes

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on December 13, 2025

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2025/12/13/i-left-my-eyebrows-in-florida/

One Night in the Yukon

Bob and I discovered Corner Gas one night in the Yukon while we were on our Alaska trip last August. Sometimes you want to unwind after a grueling day touring gold mines and eating salmon, and TV was our option. Corner Gas is a Canadian sitcom set in Saskatchewan. The residents of the town are quirky just like you would expect of a group who live in the middle of nowhere. We have yet to see an episode where there’s snow on the ground, so for sure this show is fictional.

But two of the characters rang true. Oscar and Emma are the parents of the show’s main character Brent, who is the normalish one of the group – representing a typical guy, or at least typical in the prairie of their fictional town named Dog River.

Oscar and Emma are also characters in my book DOWN AND OUT AND READY FOR A MIRACLE. It took me a few episodes to make that connection, but if you watch the show, which streams on Amazon Prime, my disclaimer is that I did not base my characters on those of the show. But there are remarkable similarities.

Their Oscar is a cranky curmudgeon of a guy who is married to Emma. She is the boss who holds the family together. That could also describe my Oscar and Emma. It’s a little freaky, but you can’t make this stuff up. Wait, that is literally what I do when I write a book, but I did not make up this odd connection.

You can check it out for yourselves. Watch Corner Gas on Amazon Prime. It may be too silly for you, but it’s right up my alley. Order my book on Amazon (see side bar), and tell me what you think?

Also, it seems Amazon is a factor in my post today. I can’t imagine life without them. They aren’t perfect, though. For some odd reason my first book became unavailable, and my publisher had to jump through many hoops to get it back online. He was successful! ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE MAGIC is available again and just in time for gift giving. It is a funny and endearing middle-grade (ages 8-12) fictional account of an 11-year-old boy in The Depression who wants to be a magician. It’s based on stories my dad told me about his life in that era. Both my books are now available.

My sweet mom is a huge support for me.

Here’s My Two Cents

A penny for your thoughts? I’m in favor of stopping production of the humble penny. After all, it costs 3.69 cents to produce one. Nowadays, if I see one on the street, I’ll probably pass it by. Since my knee surgery, it’s not worth the risk of squatting and bending despite the old rhyme, “See a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.”

It is true, though, that a penny saved is a penny earned, but we no longer think along those meager lines. You need more than a plethora of pennies to make a difference in your budget. I believe even Benjamin Franklin would revise his thoughts on pennies and dollars from “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves,” to “Watch the credit card use or you’ll go broke.” (quote from me)

I do suppose pennies from heaven is still valid if you look at them like manna from heaven. The simple penny is a metaphor for blessing (and other weird stuff which I won’t mention here). If God were to send pennies falling from heaven, I hope he would do it after we’re all asleep. If we were out and about, it would be more like a plague with people being knocked unconscious by falling pennies. It makes me think of that old TV show, WKRP in Cincinnati, when they dropped turkeys from a helicopter for a Thanksgiving promo. But I digress.

The final five pennies minted in Philadelphia have an OMEGA mark, and those five pennies are said to value between two and five million dollars. I don’t think those will be falling from heaven, more like auctioned to pay for all those pennies we’ve been losing our national shirts producing. I really don’t know, but that’s okay because you don’t come here for cutting edge coin collecting information.

Right after penny production came to a grinding halt, we visited Torchy’s Tacos, who displayed a sign on their door about a penny shortage.

Currently, there are between 250 and 300 billion pennies in circulation, so I don’t know who is hoarding them all. You might want to look in your grandparents’ seat cushions.

If you do have an abundance of pennies lying around your house, you could gather 1,250 of them and order my new book DOWN AND OUT AND READY FOR A MIRACLE. Of course, Amazon doesn’t take pennies, but you’re smart enough to figure out a way.

DOWN AND OUT AND READY FOR A MIRACLE is a humorous and inspirational story which follows Jacko, a middle-aged homeless man who forms connections with a disjointed group of senior citizens—especially the unpredictable Oscar. When some of Jacko’s questionable former associates catch up with him, he learns you’re never too old to start over again. Click picture of the book on the right column to order on Amazon.

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 19, 2025 • Permalink

Posted in Current Events, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, television

Tagged Benjamin Franklin, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, final pennies minted in Philadelphia, penny sayings, penny shortage, Torchy's Tacos, WKRP in Cincinatti

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 19, 2025

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2025/11/19/heres-my-two-cents/

Celebrating the Launch of My New Book

Exciting News: Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle is Now Available!

I am thrilled to announce the release of my latest book! After many months (okay, years) of dedication, procrastination, creativity, and passion, my new work is officially available to readers everywhere. This book represents a slice of life of those who are reaching their finish line and is inspired by my husband’s family. The story follows Jacko, a middle-aged homeless man, as he forms connections with a disjointed group of senior citizens—especially the unpredictable Oscar—experiencing humor, heartache, and inspiration along the way. Jacko learns that you are never too old to start again, especially if you find a community that will come alongside you despite the crazy and possibly dangerous friends which have become a package deal for him. Laughter and tears are inevitable as two ways of life collide in a delightful and quirky neighborhood which most people have forgotten.

Themes

This new book delves into themes of personal growth, friendship, family, faith, and aging. Readers are invited to follow Jacko as he inserts himself into the life of Oscar and his neighbors. With his not-so-well-meaning friends bringing chaos along the way and threatening his hope of a new life, Jacko learns to trust and find faith in others and God.

Availability

Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

Get your copy today and join me on this new adventure!

Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle: Anderson, Bonnie Manning: 9781948824514: Amazon.com: Books

3 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 10, 2025 • Permalink

Posted in aging, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, Stuff I Go Through, Writing

Tagged Bonnie Anderson, Bonnie Manning Anderson, community of a neighborhood, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle, homelessness, new book launch, Prevail Press, quirky senior citizens, sounds like Fanny Flagg's writing, starting over in life

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 10, 2025

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2025/11/10/celebrating-the-launch-of-my-new-book/

A House of Dynamite – Movie, I mean Film Review

We recently watched A House of Dynamite on Netflix. It is #3 on the IMDb Top 10 this week. Here’s the plot as per IMDb, “When a single unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.”

I like a pending nuclear disaster movie as much as the next guy, which is usually my husband, so we tuned in. Two of the stars are Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, so that was a good sign.

Early into the movie we realized that we were watching the same story from three different perspectives. That was interesting and really brought home the plot line. I was wondering how this impending disaster would resolve. Which characters would survive? How would POTUS respond? Would this be the beginning of the end of the world?

Here’s the SPOILER ALERT: By the end of the movie, we were aware that, to use their words, “we are all living in a house of dynamite.” It could blow anytime. Therefore, director Kathryn Bigelow, elects to leave the ending unresolved. She wanted the audience to think for themselves about the impending results from a nuclear event. She thought it was important to get information to the viewers to start a conversation. To quote her, “That’s the explosion we’re interested in – the conversation people have about the film afterward.”

My sister Linda, Bob, and I had a conversation at the end, but I don’t think it was what Bigelow was hoping for. It was more along the lines of, “You have to be kidding me! I hate this! I need to punch something!” Originally, I thought we were watching a movie, but now I know it was a film. In my experience, filmmakers want you to think when you watch their story, so my mistake. I was looking for a good story with good acting that would be all tied up with a bow at the end. Two out of three is not enough for me. I need the ending.

About endings, as a writer I know that they are hard to do well. How drawn out should an ending be? Should it be a surprise or exactly what you expected but in a satisfying way? I’m no deep thinker, but in my humble opinion, a director who opts for conversation instead of ending a film well has taken the easy road, though it may look virtuous. This is why I like comedies. They never leave you wondering what happened. They may leave you wondering about other things, but they have an ending.

More about endings. In about two weeks, on November 20, you will be able to order my new book, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle. It’s humorous and inspirational. You’ll be able to order it on Amazon. It has a beginning, middle, and an ending. So, you can depend on me not to leave you hanging. I’ll tell you more about it in future posts. Oops, I guess I am leaving you hanging a bit. Stay tuned.

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 7, 2025 • Permalink

Posted in Movie Reviews, Writing

Tagged A House of Dynamite, film or movie, how to end a story, Idris Elba, movies with disappointing endings, Netflix, Netflix movies of the week, Rebecca Ferguson

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 7, 2025

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2025/11/07/a-house-of-dynamite-movie-i-mean-film-review/

Aye Yai Yai, AI

I have been punked by WordPress, the very website that hosts my blog! I run a modest little blog here. I have a faithful group of followers. I’m not breaking any records in readership, but we laugh together here.

A little backstory – WordPress puts out statistics so I can see how I’m doing (at least by viewer numbers. They don’t ask any personal questions about my general wellbeing.) On October 28, my stats were surprisingly good considering I had not put out any content in a couple weeks. By November 1, WordPress was telling me that my stats were booming, and I was getting more traffic than usual with 69 hourly views. I had my largest “readership” ever on that day, but something seemed off. I wasn’t getting any comments. Also, when somebody new finds me, they usually look at a few different posts. These were one different post view per visitor.

Initially I was excited that my blog was booming, but we all know that if something seems too good to be true, it’s probably not true. That was the case here. AI was “reading” my blog posts. I guess they have a lot of time on their non-hands, so why not.

I asked my faithful blogging friend at www.theromanticvineyard.com if she was having any unusual activity on her blog. She was and she looked into it. (I love friends who will dig around and get an answer.) WordPress allowed AI to read its blogs and try to learn from them. I can’t imagine what they learned from my blog, but I guess even AI needs a sense of humor.

Six days later, and I’m back to my normal level of activity, so I guess I’ve been mined for all the gems that AI could find. If you find anyone out there that sounds a lot like me, ask for some identification please.

On a side note, my ever supportive and optimistic husband said that he thought I was getting bleed-over from when I posted on Facebook a poorly lit video of a bear eating from my camera/feeder in the backyard. It has 595 views so far, more than I ever have received from any blog post. So, to wrap up my story and for your viewing pleasure, I’m including the clip here for you. This happened at 4:30 one morning last week. The bear ripped the feeder off its post and then munched on bird seed for a while. You can hear him chewing. Also, I think he may be upside down in the video because some friends thought he was a pig. Nope. A pig could not have reached that high, and Mr. Bear ate a modest amount of birdseed, so nope in that vein as well. This must have been a dainty bear, because he didn’t even touch the other near-by feeders.

Speaking of big things happening around here, I am getting ready to release a new book! This one is for grown-ups! It will be out before Thanksgiving, and you know what that means! It means my Christmas shopping is done! Tune in to my next blog post for more about it and how you can get some of your Christmas shopping done, too.

Congratulations ‘67’

Dictionary.com has chosen ‘67’ (pronounced six seven) as their word of the year. I wondered how steep the competition was for this dubious honor, so I went to the internet. Were there any words of the classical sense – you know, words that weren’t digits? Yes, there were, but they didn’t win, and some would not be considered a word but a phrase. So, I guess if you’re dictionary.com, the field is wide open.

According to Bing, the words ‘67’ competed against were agentic (having to do with AI technologies), aura farming (cultivating one’s style for online attention – kind of like what I do here), Gen Z stare (think aloof or disengaged), and overtourism (which I can understand since I live in Central Florida.)

But evidently none of them could hold a candle to ’67.’ If you would like to impress or embarrass your teenager and try to work it into a sentence, I will provide a definition for you. SPOILER ALERT: It won’t be of much help, but here goes:

Definitions range from the height of a basketball player to an exclamation to so-so. (I told you it wouldn’t be helpful.)

Dictionary.com says, “Because of its murky and shifting usage, it’s an example of brain-rot slang and is intended to be nonsensical and playfully absurd.” Yes, even dictionary.com appears to have problems defining the… I want to say word, but I just can’t. It’s more like a meme, which is something that is usually funny and spreads quickly through the internet. Like ’67!’

This is why everyone should use Merriam-Webster. I’m confident they would not use brain-rot slang as the word of the year.

ABC News refers to it as a cultural inside joke. I think that sums it up nicely.

A few months ago, Bob and I were visiting our North Carolina kids and grandchildren. Our 17- (pronounced seventeen) year-old grandson, Jett, commented ‘67’ to something that was said, and the conversation went on for ten minutes as we tried to figure out if he was punking us. Eventually, we just rolled with it and threw it into the conversation whenever we deemed it appropriate. At those times Jett rolled with it, too, or at least his eyes did. An eye roll or a groan is as good as applause from a teenager, so we had fun with it.

The positive thing about ‘67’ is that it isn’t derogatory, as far as I can tell. So, I’ll try not to act my age (69) and smile at the nonsensicalness of it all. I would have had a lot more fun with it two years ago.