Author: Elise Patkotak

I am decidedly unmusical. I can’t sing. I don’t listen to music. And, despite my mother’s best efforts in giving me piano lessons, I have absolutely no musical talent.

But the Bonanza theme… ah, the Bonanza theme. I bought the sheet music and learned to play it. I would then play and sing at the top of my lungs. Remembering that our living room was right on top of the store where mom and dad were trying to make a living for us, I have to hope that sound – like heat – travels up. If not, we may have Continue reading →

I have been re-watching this show. I had forgotten how much I had grown up in that family. I actually think the writers must have been hiding in closets in my childhood family homes and just copied down the dialog they heard. Because, swear to god, some of the talking on the show came right from those houses.

And yes, for anyone who doubts it, the first thing every Italian mother will ask you when you enter her house is whether you are hungry and want something to eat. And there will always be something delicious on the stove ready Continue reading →

On a personal level, I like Lisa Murkowski. But she should be ashamed of herself for her vote on that Big Beautiful piece of crap she voted for in the senate. She could have made the difference but she chose to duck and hide and vote with the other lemmings… all following our democracy off the cliff.

So sad. She had a chance to do the right thing. As our schools are starved and health care eliminated for some of the most needy in our country, I have to wonder how she can hold her head up. How can she Continue reading →

The Rs have won. The Ds no longer really exist. Want proof? Check out the NYC mayor’s race. The Ds are afraid that the person that won is too much a… DEMOCRAT! That’s right, folks. The Rs have the Ds even scared of their own platform. They are trying to hide under the skirt of the Rs and pretend they always did believe in what the moderate Rs believed in. Yep. Rs have pushed the Ds so far over the line that the Ds now use the Rs’ moderate platform as their platform. And even then they still feel scared Continue reading →

I thought our country had a stronger base, a stronger heart and soul, a stronger belief in the democracy we have spent the better part of a couple centuries teaching the world is the best form of government.

Boy was I wrong.

Our democracy is crumbling faster than the Berlin wall, than stale bread, than Trump’s religious beliefs. And that other party, you know, what were they called – oh yeah, the Democrats. Aside from begging for money from me, I can’t figure out exactly what they are doing to save our country from dictatorship and the loss of all Continue reading →

Remember when any of your contemporaries died and people always said it was such a sin because they had so many good years ahead of them.

People don’t say that anymore about my contemporaries’ deaths.

Hmmm… Continue reading →

So let’s get started.

1. Thanks to some very good friends, I will be going to see Neil Degrasse Tyson at the Anchorage PAC in July. Or June. I’m not sure when. And it really doesn’t matter. I never understand what he’s saying but I sure do want to. And he’s so excited to try and get us to understand. I love him and don’t understand most of what he says. He’s like my Nona. I never understood her English/Italian either. OOPS! I’ve just admitted I come from immigrants. Please don’t let them arrest me.
2. I recently saw a picture of

So aside from being told to exercise less (until the butt pain is fixed) and eat more (until I gain weight, something that has never been a problem in the past), I find that I also cry a lot more easily. I mean, ok, I cried when my little friend Greta came walking down the aisle at her wedding. But I also cried when I was told I was being treated to a Neil deGrasse Tyson ticket at the Performing Arts Center.

So my question is – what’s that all about?

Continue reading →

America seems to be over, but as someone who has traveled this world over since the late 1970s, I can tell you unequivocally that it had been over for quite awhile. While in most countries people were kind and respectful to those of us traveling together, they were not so nice about America.

See, America has increasingly been seen in the world as a bully worse than Russia. If we don’t like you or your leadership, we make up a reason for war and destroy your country. We claim it is for a high moral purpose but it isn’t. If Continue reading →

If I find out that one more thing is wrong with me, I am going to eat an entire coconut cream white chocolate Easter egg and end it all. Continue reading →