Bloody but unbowed

 

You wouldn’t expect there to be any benefit from having been relentlessly attacked by fraudsters. A month ago, we stood at the gates of our small financial world, fending off incursions against what seemed like every possible angle – phone service, bank accounts, broker.

          However, we emerged a little jumpy but still victorious, armed now with a boatload of new passwords, pin numbers, and knowledge.

So today when I was sitting here minding my own business, listening to Peter Grainger’s On Eden Street (a detective series I highly recommend), my phone rang.

First anti-fraud habit: I didn’t recognize the number so I ignored it.

Second: I waited to see if it would go to voice mail. It did –

     “MacBook Pro with order ID # blah, blah, blah from your Amazon account. If you did not place this order and would like to speak to one of our representatives, please press one or please call back.”

          Yeah, right. Like I’m going to do that.

          Third:  After a flutter of panic that someone had really accessed my Amazon ordering ID, I went exactly there and my last order was just as I thought, two weeks ago.

          Fourth: I googled the phone number and sure enough, it was listed as the one attached to a MacBook scam.

          Phew.

Turning the tide

 

Years ago, we would pack up and brave the traffic for a blissful week at Cape Cod.  Sometimes we’d hear reports of something called ‘red tide,’ but the only significance I recall it having on our lives was its suggestion to avoid eating certain seafood.

Finding Balance

 

My Guy and I have just returned from eating out and are now collapsed in matching states of repletion – i.e. we’re stuffed. We were out for linner, named by a clever friend who also enjoys this idea. You move lunch forward and pull dinner back to meet in the middle, creating a mealtime at 3 in the afternoon.

Soldiering on

 

(Not his - example from the show)    

While My Guy has been painting in oils over the past several years (and we're running out of space on the walls) it all started with another medium. 

Looking for a good home

 

In the first excited flush of outfitting this place in Florida it was easy to get swept up by the novelty of it all.

To Shoe or Not

 

Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John

Here in Florida

 

In the Now I’ve Seen It All category, the following is a bit of Florida news:

 

‘My sweet angel’: 7-year-old junior drag racer dies after crash on racetrack

Published: Feb. 9, 2025 at 12:19 AM EST

ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) - A Florida racing family is in mourning after a 7-year-old junior drag racer died following a crash at the Orlando Speed World Dragway.

Junior drag racer Elienisse Diaz Rodriguez, 7, was critically injured in a crash at the Orlando Speed World Dragway on Sunday and died of her injuries Tuesday night. She was part of a racing family well-known throughout Florida.

Elienisse’s devastated mother posted to social media, writing, “My sweet angel! Mommy will always love you forever!”

Copyright 2025 WESH via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

Apparently it was part of a “Funday Sunday” event. She lost control of her vehicle (not surprising in a 7 year-old, but that’s just me) and hit a workman on the track and then a concrete wall. 

She was in the first grade at Eastland Christian School in Orlando. Still, since the Florida Highway Patrol saw no need to investigate further, Orlando Speed World was able to continue with the scheduled racing events.