In the beginning of my blogging life in 2009 there was Nanine d’Onofrio also known as Wayside Artist. As 2023 goes galloping into history I chose to celebrate our friendship and her work which Pretty and I have always believed to be magical.
Ann’s feisty adorable dogs Cassie Potatoes (left) and Miss Poppy Seed
from an early Christmas card she made for us during the Red Man years
we like to believe they all got together when they crossed the Rainbow Bridge
Father Christmas and friends
cover of 2016 calendar
the Skippack is a creek on a trail in Pennsylvania
I rode this trail many times with Ann in cyberspace
artist title: In the Temple of Zeus
from 2017 calendar
February in 2017 calendar
2023 Christmas card
Pretty and I trust we are on the road to forever with Wayside Artist whose work embodies the spirit of her subjects, the majesty and mystery of the places she loves.
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Happy New Year from Pretty and me at our home in South Carolina to wherever you call home – may 2024 be the year the long arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.
Nana, is this reindeer for y’all’s house or is it for sale at the mall?
just a minute, Naynay – I’m talking to Nana
hooray, Nana says we can keep you for now
sorry, little reindeer, but Naynay says we need to go
we take the gifts to neighbors’ houses, knock on their door
and say Merry Christmas!
This year was our first year with my little sister Molly. When we got to our last house, I asked Naynay to take a picture of me and my little sister. Molly wasn’t feeling the spirit or the fun.
self portraiton 2023 Christmas card from The Carter Center
The Carter Center: Waging peace. Fighting disease. Building Hope.
Such an appropriate image for the holiday card in 2023. I am thankful for Jimmy and Rosalyn’s place in history. Please consider a donation to The Carter Center in your gift giving this year.
I’ve gone through a tough time this last year with political current events under the Republican control of the House of Representatives where they were more obsessed with finding and keeping a Speaker than confronting America’s dilemmas at home and abroad in 2023. The refugees at our borders desperately seeking safety and security while citizens in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California struggle under the weight of thousands of immigrants crossing their southern borders every day; blocking international aid packages for the people of Ukraine and Israel who are waging desperate wars to protect democracies against terrorism; embracing the Big Lie of the 2020 presidential election – the People’s House no longer represents the majority of the people in this country. They do, however, manage to scare me to death.
I’ve had several moments of hope in the past year but no personal giddiness until a jury in New York awarded $148 million to Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman on December 15, 2023 in a decision against former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani for his targeted destruction of their lives through defamation of their characters following their service as election workers in Georgia for the 2020 election. Joy to the world, I thought in keeping with the season, accountability reigns. These courageous Black women have persistently sought justice for the loss of their identities for the past three years, and a jury of their peers rewarded these sacrifices in a tangible manner.
CNN December 20, 2023
Shaye Moss speaks while her mother RubyFreeman listens
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But Giuliani refuses to keep his mouth shut about the two women who defeated him. All is still not calm nor particularly bright in the former mayor’s mind.
“On the heels of winning a $148 million defamation judgment Friday against Rudy Giuliani, former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss have again sued the former New York City mayor seeking to “permanent bar” him from making additional defamatory comments about them…
In a 134-page complaint filed Monday, attorneys for the two women wrote that Giuliani “continues to spread the very same lies for which he has already been held liable,” citing comments made last week to ABC News’ Terry Moran outside of court, in which Giuliani insisted that Freeman and Moss were “changing votes.”
The two women asked the court to prevent Giuliani from “making or publishing … further statements repeating any and all false claims that plaintiffs engaged in election fraud, illegal activity, or misconduct of any kind during or related to the 2020 presidential election.” (ABC News, Lucien Bruggeman, December 18, 2023)
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I congratulate the Barbie financial empire creators, Beyonce and Taylor Swift for their amazing accomplishments and recognitions in 2023 – feminist has returned to favor in a world that needs a woman’s touch. But remember Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, too, for their historic win against a man who picked the wrong battle and lost.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, fa la la la. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la. I’m in the mood to deck a few halls.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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