13: All Hands on Deck
1. “Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.” – Carl Jung
2. Don’t poison earth’s apples / Don’t drop bombs on people / Don’t be fooled by a flag / or ruled by a fool / Thou shalt not oppress / or bear false witness / Let love be your compass / Lend your hand… Read my poem 10 Commandments for the 21st Century in its entirety HERE.
3. This is as close as I get to a vacation in Florida this winter: The Blacksburg pool.
4. My blogging friend Anita posted 13 Things That Exist for No Good Reason, one being the tiny pocket inside the bigger pocket on jeans. Later, it came to me. It’s the place to hang your thumb.
5. Everybody’s talking about Bad Bunny and some are calling him Good Bunny. I thought his Super Bowl Halftime Show was an inspiring big production celebration, but I was looking for subtitles to his songs sung in Spanish so I could understand the lyrics.
6. Posted by Mark Kemp on Facebook: “The “Christian” youth of Turning Point USA chose Kid Rock for their halftime show because Bad Bunny is bad and Kid Rock is more Christian? Here are a few sets of lyrics by each artist: Kid Rock- “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage, see. Some say that’s statutory, but I say it’s mandatory.” “I’m the [N-word] with the gold, the bad-ass rebel, I’ll take your soul straight to the devil.” “You Never Met a Motherf**ker Quite Like Me.”
7. Bad Bunny did edit some of his questionable lyrics, but his songs also say this (translated to English): ”Blessings to all those who curse me, and forgive me if I did something to them… Thanks to the sun for another beautiful day. God, protect the kids and the old people, the nurses and the doctors…” “Another beautiful sunset I see in San Juan, enjoying everything that the departed are missing out on…” ”Hug your brother and don’t look at color, here we’re all equals… How much you love, that’s what you’re worth.”
8. You can say that again.
10. So it looks like I won’t be wearing hot pink taffeta / or a French twist like Grace Kelly’s / I won’t be dying my hair red to match the cabernet / or breaking up Jeff Bridges’ 48 year-old marriage / There won’t be any airbrushed endings / no lifts, nips, or tucks / and I don’t need to keep filling / an already fulfilled love affair / one that’s never been cheated-on – More from After the Golden Globes and in Honor of Valentine’s Day HERE.
11. Mud and the promise of flowers.
12. A New Year’s Thaw: A soggy lament / weeps in drips / melting ghosts / and sugarcoats / exposing every telltale line/ and wasted time / that pools like soured / Christmas cream.
13. Today I played the word elixir on a triple score for a total of 66 points._______Thirteen Thursday
February 11th, 2026 1:34 pm
I didn’t see any of that half time show, but only because I don’t do the Super Bowl at all. I only heard good things. Those that were all up in arms about it are telling on themselves.
February 11th, 2026 1:53 pm
I only tune in for the half time and try to catch a few commercials.
February 11th, 2026 4:05 pm
I like your 10 commandments even 3 years later – nothing has changed for the better!
Yea, that makes sense about the little pocket in the jeans being for thumbs – I always like to put a lucky penny in there.
I didn’t get that excited about Bad Bunny’s performance – he is a good guy and all, but didn’t understand the words being in Spanish ! It is what I like most about a song -the words. I can’t dance Salsa either ( wish I could) was that translation to the song or what he said at the Grammies?
Wow 66 points ! I wonder if that is a Guinness World Record? I may go look it up ?
February 11th, 2026 4:35 pm
Those were Bad Bunny lyrics. I like lyrics a lot too and was disappointed not to be able to hear what he was singing about, but the spirit came through. 66 points not a record but maybe for me with a word that wasn’t a 7 letter Scrabble.
February 12th, 2026 9:15 am
I am glad to see the thaw. Such a lot of ice.
February 14th, 2026 9:32 pm
I forgot any Spanish I used to know, but Bad Bunny’s performance was moving none the less. Some of the music stuck in my head for days. I didn’t miss hearing it in English! As someone later pointed out, people pay good money to see operas in Italian and don’t know a word of the language! I read some are demanding legal action for Bad Bunny’s language used live, but that just shows they didn’t see the show, as anything inappropriate was bleeped out.