The Year of Living Covidly

Harry Hopkins and Winston Churchill This year, for the first time, I sent out a Christmas reflection. I always love getting these from others and I thought, given the restrictions on our interaction, it would be a good year to start.  Christmas 2020 Reflection   I just finished the excellent book, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson. Throughout the book, set in 1940-41, Great Britain famously displays its “Keep calm and carry on,” philosophy as Germany tries to bomb the country into surrender. But despite the British stiff upper lip, times are desperate. Thousands of people have died in the Luftwaffe air raids, and there is fear of a German invasion. The prime minister, Winston Churchill, is urgently courting President Franklin Roosevelt. He needs U.S. financial support and ultimately U.S. involvement in the war for Great Britain to have a chance. Roosevelt sends his closest advisor, Harry Hopkins, over to Engla...

Maybe in this year of COVID we should be happy for reasons beyond the days starting to get longer tomorrow that today is the winter solstice. Who wants long days during a pandemic?  But there is beauty at all times of the year, even during a pandemic. Today it was sunny and windy with the high reaching 50. The clouds were dark and wild looking. Above is White School, where my mom used to teach. I took these photos from the top of the OSF St. Francis parking deck. When I would visit my brother Jim in the hospital, I would always drive to the top of the deck because I loved the views (and the exercise walking up and down the stairs). To the far right are the double spires of St. Mary's Cathedral. A panoramic shot. I had forgotten about the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction AKA the Christmas Star that was to be visible in the sky after sunset, but I think I got a photo of it as I traveled west on Washington St. daylight shrinking nights increasing pinnacle of darkness in the doom we shiver i...

We have had a lovely autumn this year, and I have been able to go on a lot of walks and hikes. Above and following are some photos of Peoria from the East Peoria side of the Illinois River. These photos were taken in the golden days of mid-October. The Murray Baker Bridge, ten days before it reopened after seven months of rehab. Got to keep those bridges safe! Peoria has a nice little skyline with our own Twin Towers. The double-spired St. Mary's Cathedral. The above photo and following were taken from the Peoria side of the river on the morning of December 5. From Preston Jackson's statue, "Stainless Steel Metaphors," located near the Riverplex. I think one day that Peoria will be widely known as his home.   Here is a little memorial to Dan Fogelberg. The chorus to Part of the Plan (my favorite Fogelberg song) is inscribed on one of the above stones: Love when you can Cry when you have to Be who you must That's a part of the plan Await your arrival With simple su...

John went to Haiti in November and had a good trip. Haiti means high mountains. Towards the end of John's trip, he traveled up the mountain in Port-au-Prince to visit Mr. & Mrs. Chenet Valcin. Above is the beautiful view from the vicinity of their home.  ALL PHOTOS BY JOHN CARROLL This is a bad news-good news-bad news story. Mr. Valcin has a serious heart problem. Bad news. But he has been accepted by an American medical center for heart surgery for free. Good news. But the American embassy has denied him a visa to the United States. Bad news. John has been advocating for Mr. Valcin and has received emails from the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. consul general, both sympathizing with Mr. Valcin's position but more importantly saying that they will not grant him a visa. They won't tell us why they won't grant us a visa (this is confidential information) but we understand the reason to be that they do not think he would return to Haiti after his trip to the United State...