A beautiful day in Honolulu, and life is wonderful.  My view as I compose this posting. If you have been with me recently, I'm into a series called MY LIFE, now in Part 3, my retirement years.  Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of Pearl's Ashes, ceremonies I performed at the Taj Mahal ( to be 3G ), Machu Picchu and other global sites. Why this specific topic today is that I was looking at these now blooming African Blood Lilies , and thought back to this day, July 19, which also happened to fall on Sunday...Pearl's final day. She was perfectly healthy until around mid-June of 2019, when she appeared somewhat exhausted.  Her doctor recommended that she go to Kuakini Hospital to get a small series of tests.  For some reason, they gave her an anti-biotic injection, and that led to her body overreacting.  So she was told to stay overnight for observation. This led to her in a few days being sent into intensive care, and placed on sedation, using propofol.  I re...

  As the World Turns . Sure, there was a TV soap opera from 1956 to 2010 on CBS that had 54 seasons and 13,858 episodes. About a fictional town in Illinois on the tribulations of upper class families. Produced mostly female stars, like Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Amanda Seyfried. Was not the longest running, for that title belongs to Guiding Light . In London, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ( on the right ) is expected to resign tomorrow. Andy Burnham ( on the left) will probably be the next PM.  Who is he?  Another day. Brexit has seriously hurt the economy,   Hate crimes have increased in England and Wales. But London remains very safe for visitors.   Just use common street sense, as you should anywhere you go. About homicide, London is 3 times safer than New York City, 5 times better than Los Angeles and 15 times lower than Philadelphia and Chicago. About that Memorandum of Understanding discussion between Iran and the USA: Has n...

It's been a dismal week for the world.  Enough about wars and politics for today.  Ah, Friday, and I'll only report on the joy of life, more specifically, mine. Well, actually, the first topic is a sad one, with good memories.  One of the icons of American Pop,  Neil Sedaka, passed away .  He was a year older than me.  I recall his performing in Honolulu in 1976 ( watch this 27 minute video ) on New Year's Eve, and again 43 years later in 2019.   Wrote over 1000 songs , helping define the sounds of the 1960's with  Breaking Up is Hard to Do  and  Calendar Girl .  He successfully transitioned into a super star with  Laughter in the Rain , and saw songs like  Love Will Keep Us Together  covered  by others .  According to Google AI:  resilient, melodic and iconic.  Here is a  medley from 42 years ago .  Sedaka had a way for making you happy, which is the theme of today, I've traveled th...