12/30/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            According to Google it’s 80 & partly cloudy in St Croix today. Perfect for a dip in the Caribbean, a walk along the beach & getting buried in the sand. Do you think your secret service folks would allow that?

            We are saturated here after a night of rain. Perfect day for me to continue turning the community compost pile. The middle of it is dry as a bone. The pile builds up over the summer when the microbes are dormant without water to liven them up. So, I spread out the top layer of the pile, exposing as much as possible to the rain. Yesterday, my efforts were rewarded with a fascinating seed pod that stuck to my arm. My FB friends identified it as Devil’s Claw. Super cool!

            Our foster dog, Roo, is going to her forever home today. Good for her, sad for us. She loves every person & animal she meets. Commander could use some of her magnanimity. How is he these days?

            Have you heard the phrase, Omnia mea mecum porto (OMMP)! (All I own, I can carry)? My brother-in-law recited it often. He learned it when studying the 7 sages of Greece in his philosophy class. It is just one of many sayings attributed to Bias of Priene (BoP). He also said something along the lines of WINTA, specifically "Gain your point by persuasion, not by force.”  

I am reminding myself of OMMP today as I ponder how to prepare for our upcoming move. Another of BoP’s sayings is instructive in this enterprise. “"Cherish wisdom as a means of traveling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession."

Aung Sun Suu Kyi has learned that lesson the hard way having lived the past 3 years in prison. I hope she has access to books & letters from loved ones. Please inquire about the conditions of her detainment & advocate for her. Peter Popham noted in yesterday’s Independent that she might emerge “once more in triumph.” Please see what you can do to expedite that.

BYBS,