⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain Recovers to Dominate Dijon ⚽️ ⚽️

  ⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain   ⚽️  ⚽️ 

Yesterday, PSG played Dijon, hoping to recover from a disappointing loss to Monaco last week, which at least temporarily sank them down a few notches in the Ligue 1 standings, to third.

They rebounded in a big way, scoring a very dominating road win at Dijon. PSG never trailed, and in fact, never even allowed Dijon to score. They took the lead early, too, as Moise Kean scored in just the 6th minute to give the Parisians the early lead.

International French football star Kylian Mbappé managed to add to that lead with the first of two goals in the 32nd minute, giving PSG a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead that they took into the locker room for halftime.

Nor did it take them long to add to that in the second half, as Mbappé again found the back of the net in the 51st minute, virtually put the game out of reach.  

Dijon never solver the PSG defense, and so never managed to mount anything of a comeback. Finally, any hopes of even a miracle comeback ended when Danilo Pereira  added to the PSG lead with a goal in the 82nd to ice the win.

As a result of this win, PSG jumped up to second in the Ligue 1 standings with 57 points accumulated in 27 games. They still remain two points behind Lille, which has accumulated 59 points in 27 games played. But PSG has a decisive advantage in goal differential which, if it comes down to a tiebreaker, would bounce the decision their way. It should be noted that Lyon, currently the third place team, has 55 points in just 26 games played at the time that I publish this. They are slated to play Olympique Marseille at 9pm local time, or 3 pm EST. Monaco is also still in the running with 55 points in 27 games.

⚽️ ⚽️ PSG Returns to Ligue 1 Play With a Disappointing ⚽️ ⚽️

  ⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain   ⚽️  ⚽️ 

PSG returned home following a huge road win art Barcelona, only to themselves be stunned by a road team at their home in the Parc des Princes in Paris. The visiting Monaco football club pulled off an enormous win that now puts PSG’s title shots this year into serious doubt.              

Yes, Monaco managed to play a near perfect game, and they did it largely by making every effort to keep French star of PSG Kylian Mbappé in check. This was important, as Mbappé had just hurt Barcelona badly with a hat trick just days earlier.              

Monaco midfielder got Monaco up early with a goal in the 6th minute that allowed the visitors an early lead.              

They were able to make that stand up, by holding off PSG for the duration of the first half, keeping that one goal lead for halftime.              

Then, Chilean star Guillermo Maripán scored in the 51st minute to give Monaco a decisive 2-0 lead.               

PSG was unable to break through, and so Monaco managed to pull off a huge win that keeps them within striking distance of catching PSG. Currently, Monaco has 52 points after 26 games played, while PSG has 54 after the same number of games played. Yet, they both trail the leaders. Lyon is one point ahead of PSG, but it is Lille who look amazing right now, and very much capable of finishing the season in first place. They, along with Monaco, have been red hot of late, and both of those teams are undefeated in their last five games.

Taverny

Taverny was the main town that my brother and I stayed at during our summer trips to France in the eighties. Our aunt and her then husband had a second residence in a small farming town in rural eastern France, not terribly far from the German border, called Leffond, and it was charming. By contrast, Taverny was busy, as a suburb of Paris. Yet, it had some charm.

They lived within easy view of the train station, and were right on the edge of the main street of what could be considered the downtown area of Taverny. One of my favorite activities was to go to the local magazine shop/bookstore and peruse through the comics, mostly Tintin, but sometimes Marvel comics back then. It was most likely at this bookstore that I got the postcards of Taverny posted below.

It was in the final childhood trip there, if you can call it that, in the summer of 1989 (I was 14 years old) when I actually explored the town more in depth on my own. I visited the church, which is actually quite nice (see pictures from the postcards below). There is a park, and one fascinating thing that I ran into, almost accidentally, was a small collection of menhirs, like smaller versions of the ones in Stonehenge. They have those in parts of France as well, but those were the only ones that I ever remember seeing. 

In any case, mostly I have pleasant memories of Taverny, and thought that it would be a good thing to share some of them here, as well as some pictures of the postcards that I obtained from the last eighties trip there, from the year of the Bicentennial of the French Revolution, in 1989.

Enjoy!

Liz Cheney Warns That the GOP May Become Known as 'The Party of White Supremacy'

Liz Cheney is a prominent member of the House of Representatives for Wyoming, and the daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Up until recently, one of the seeming up and coming leaders of the Republican party,  

Then came the whole storming of the Capitol building episode, which seems to have polarized an already divided Republican party even further than it had already been. One of the fault lines, if you will, to this major party shakeup has been right around Liz Cheney. 

Why? 

Because to her credit, she did not hesitate to hold Trump responsible and accountable for his obvious role in that insurrection last month. 

The blowback of her strong stand - relatively unusual among prominent Republicans - came almost immediately. There was talk of getting rid of those elements of the party who refused to stay loyal to Donald Trump, despite his no longer being in the Oval Office. She was one of the main names seen as a target for the extremist element of the GOP who spoke of a cleansing, of getting rid of those party members who did not fall in line, lock and step, to defend Trump no matter what he said or did. 

Now, I will admit that it is strange for me almost admiring the courage of Liz Cheney, who again, is the daughter of a controversial former Vice-President who many felt almost embodied evil with his corporate ties as the seeming driving force behind an unjustifiable and rankly immoral invasion of Iraq that led to an ill-fated war. Millions of Americans were led to believe that the war was indeed not only justifiable, but urgently needed in order to avoid a terrorist catastrophe in the mold of September 11th. There were certainly other aspects about Dick Cheney that I would criticize, including his environmental policies and stated beliefs, but the war is the one thing that immediately comes to mind. 

Frankly, I do not know what Liz Cheney thought about it at the time although I would tend to think that she would have been in support of what turned out to be a disastrous war. And indeed, I also feel that most Americans should have frankly had more common sense about the so-called justifications regarding the Iraq invasion. After all, it seemed to me an obvious contradiction that they could be deemed such an immediate threat to world peace with their vast arsenal of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMD's), yet simultaneously, the same people who were arguing this also boldly stated their confidence that the war would end quickly and decisively, and that the war would end not in months, but in days or, at most weeks.

Long story short, the war stretched on and on, because the Republicans in particular who pushed for it - and Dick Cheney was often seen as the major political figure who was pushing most aggressively for it - clearly had no exit strategy. True, Saddam Hussein's regime toppled within weeks, but the war stretched on and on. We were still in Iraq well over a decade later. Somehow, it seems, those who supported the war, or who lent wishy-washy opposition/support and who, frankly, actually empowered the war effort, seemed to have largely gotten away with it. And that is why I approach Liz Cheney with some measure of caution. She is, after all, a prominent Republican leader who clearly rose to the highest echelons of her party as a result of her famous last name and family ties. That is why it feels bizarre to me to defend her now.

Yet, defend her I must, because again, we saw a major political happening that showed people's true colors. The Iraq war was a disaster and, again, as already mentioned, I felt then, and still feel now, that there was no justification for it. Zero. True, we had seen a huge terrorist attack on our home during the September 11th attacks. But there was absolutely no serious evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved, or that he even supported terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. In fact, it seems very likely that he would view them as a threat to his own power, and they certainly did not appear to be big fans of his. The disinformation campaign here in the United States won out back then, when it should have been a bit easier for most Americans to put two and two together, and figure out that this was was not the right course of action for the country. 

That, however, was over a decade and a half ago. Since then, we saw another political episode that, frankly, was even easier to see through. Or at least should have been.

The rise of Trump was the closest and most obvious episode when the United States began to flirt with fascism. At least, that is, if we understand the root of what fascism really is, which is basically this: subscribing to the mentality that might makes right.

To that end, we saw the rise of xenophobia and white supremacy on a level that we had not seen in in half a century. And it seems that, much like those wishy-washy Democrats who officially remained critical of the war, yet seemed to do everything in their power not to take too strong a stand against it lest it cost them politically, we now see many Republicans taking that same kind of approach to this unfortunate, even tragic, Trump episode which, truth be told, is clearly wrong and evil. Yes, I suggest evil, and I do not state that lightly. Trump embodies evil, embodies the worst that this country has to offer.

Which is why I have to give credit where credit is due. Because Liz Cheney could have simply opted for the cowards way out, to preserve her own political prominence at a divided time, and hope to still remain storng and relevant after this storm blows itself out, as it surely will. But to her credit, she took a stand that, frankly, far more Republicans should have had the spine to take, and to stand up to the excesses of Trump and all that he stands for. She recently suggested that her Republican party, if it is not careful, will come to be known as "the party of white supremacy." Truth be told, I am not sure that they are not already identified as such by many people. But sometimes, you need someone to state this outright, and kudos to her courage for being able to state the obvious, even though it will likely cost her politically in the not so distant future.

This is an example of political profiles in courage. I am not a Republican, and certainly not usually an admirer of any political figure named Cheney. But I think that it is safe to say that John F. Kennedy would have been proud in this instance, in particular.

Liz Cheney says the GOP risks becoming known as 'the party of white supremacy' by Thomas Colson, Feb 24, 2021:

https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-cheney-says-gop-risks-being-party-of-white-supremacy-2021-2?fbclid=IwAR3Y4dJVXCnQaxkLgWda2Mu-bXPDYwgv4QfEgfY7ZE6DdaEByYbLgsD_JgQ

George Harrison's Birthday is Today - February 25th

 

Image courtesy of niteprowl3r Flickr page -  beatles: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sreichenbach/3025971406/in/photolist-5BoTSN-6Kp6DG-9oQPyZ-6Kp8vw-6Kp9oJ-6KjXm4-6KoV2S-6KjVca-eC4tTE-6Kp3Qm-6Kp3hq-6KoWdy-6KjLZg-6Kp5yf-6KjUgt-6Kp6TN-6KjXdM-6Kp45N-6Kp1WY-6KoUGs-6KoVYG-6KoUx9-6Kp153-6KoX3q-6KoZUu-6KjLoH-6KoVv9-6KoXvh-4vA8mP-6Kp4SW-6KjWq6-6Kp4xm-6KjVXZ-6Kp4hS-6Kk1G6-6KkdtD-6KjMRH-6KoVS5-r1ZqRn-6KjZfx-6KjMrx-6KjZue-6KjYzt-6Kp7D9-bCr2k3-aWjPYX-6KvxqP-6Kp7R7-aUXW5n-6KjZW8

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Image courtesy of niteprowl3r Flickr page -  beatles: https://www.flickr.com/photos/snouty/5494369894/in/photolist-9nw5Kq-aRwNez-aR9uw4-aR9u4B-aR9nqB-aR9jhx-aR9nbV-aR9jVx-aR9o46-aR9nE4-aR9jyD-aR9nR4-aR9org-aR9rHR-aR9jJ2-aR9umZ-aR9ogv-aR9oJr-aR9ueT-aR9kSt-aR9k3X-aR9rpz-aR9kaK-aR9m2T-aR9kGD-aR9ku8-aR9rg2-aR9kiM-6Kk94T-aRvkDn-aRvkm8-aRv85M-aRv7Qk-aRv8t2-aRv8hK-aRvkSp-aR9wok-aR9wyp-91hv7a-aRvB94-aR9tKr-aRvADV-aR9tTi-aRvBsp-aRvAPr-aRwVba-aRwVjF-nNusiV-aRwVt2-aRwV36

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I try not only to acknowledge, but also to honor the birthdays of the Beatles, since they are all not only decent guys, but had such a profound impact on the world, both with their music, and with their passion outside of music. They not only were from the sixties, a time of turbulence, experimentation, and change, but they also helped to mold the sixties, to let it become what it became. It remain influential and provocative to this day.

George Harrison was known as the "Quiet Beatle" and was also the youngest member of the Fab Four. He was particularly known for his spirituality, and bringing an Indian influence to the Beatles, with the sitar in particular, something that had not been heard in western music before, but became popular afterwards.

He grew as a songwriter, with the obvious privilege of working under legendary songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Eventually, he wrote some of the most iconic tunes that the Beatles are known for in his own right, and went on to have a pretty amazing solo career as well.

His concert for Bangladesh set the tempo for tribute concerts since.

Years later, he joined numerous other legendary musicians to form the Traveling Wilburys, a "super group", if you will, for it's day.

Harrison died of cancer in 2001, but his music and memory lives on in so many ways.

On this day, what would have been his birthday, I pay tribute to him.

NASA Rover to Mars Beams First Sounds From Red Planet Ever

It is truly amazing, when you think about how much we have truly progressed over the course of many centuries, or even decades.  

Think about it: a little over one century ago, we were still in the infant stages of flight. The Wright brothers managed to successfully engineer the first airplane in the early 1900’s. It was still very much in it’s infancy during World War I, and the first successful trans-Atlantic flights were completed in the interwar years, with Charles Lindbergh. By the Second World War, airplanes were much more commonly in use, and obviously, much more advanced.  

In the postwar years, obviously, the technology grew more advanced still. Just a few years after the end of the war, Chuck Yeager proved that we could safely break the sound barrier. Jets grew more advanced. In time, came satellites that humans successfully sent up into space, beginning with Sputnik. Before long, we began to have flights manned with animals and, eventually, people. Then in 1969, the United States enjoyed the huge distinction as the first country to successfully put a man on the moon and, as Kennedy had predicted, safely return them back to Earth.  

Since then, our abilities have only increased, and done so dramatically. Today, we have sent rovers as far out as Pluto. We have incredibly advanced telescopes that seem to allow new planets to be discovered on a seemingly consistent basis. And we also have what I feel is the crowning achievement, at least to this point: the International Space Station, which has been up in space now for ever two full decades.  

When you think about how quickly we have advanced – and this is just with flight and space exploration – it frankly boggles the imagination. We have, in fact, made similar advances in other areas, including medicine and technological innovations. Most of us have access to the internet on increasingly smaller computers and cell phones, which means that many of us have access to it in devices that gives us a measure of access to people and institutions all around the world, all at the touch of a button, quite literally. Now, I will not expand on what far too many among us use it for, or how disinformation, in particular, seems to be flourishing on the internet, which has made this world seemingly go backwards while our technological advances have been undeniably impressive.  

Again, it seems ingrained within us as human societies that we have huge achievements side by side with sobering reminders of just how limited, and often paradoxically bureaucratically barbaric, we truly are.  

But I digress.  

Yesterday, there was huge news in the area of science and astronomy, as NASA's Perseverance rover to Mars transmitted the first ever audio recordings from the surface of Mars. We have seen pictures now of the surface, but now, we actually can hear what it sounds like, to boot.  

Simply amazing.  

Also recently, it was discovered that Mars actually has gravitational waves are growing stronger, which will make possible human settlement – a topic that has been discussed quite a bit in recent years – much more difficult.  

In any case, this is something that absolutely fascinated me, and I would hardly think myself alone in that regard. Again, space exploration has always intrigued me, even if I struggle to try and comprehend the science behind it. Frankly, I wish to know and understand more, but at least we have news bits like these, that allow us to glimpse the product of these advances, and to learn more about faraway planets and solar systems and such.  

And so, if you, like me, are interested in learning more about this, please click on the link to the article below from NBC News. If you click on it, you will be able to learn more about this, as well as access a link where you can hear the recorded audio clips taken from the surface of Mars, for the first time in human history.     

NASA rover beams back first sounds ever recorded from the surface of Mars by Denise Chow, February 22, 2021:  

The audio clips captured the guttural sounds of wind gusting on the red planet.

United States Reaches Half a Million Deaths From Covid-19

 Admittedly, I stopped covering the coronavirus crisis for several months, as it felt like it was getting a bit repetitive.              

This, however, was an obvious mark that is bound to raise eyebrows.              

It was under a year ago when the coronavirus crisis really hit the country full force. I remember the day when it stopped being merely theoretical, and started to clearly be impacting us in our everyday lives. That day was March 12th, and it was on that day when the first celebrity in our celebrity obsessed culture announced that he had tested positive. Then, the NBA cancelled games. Finally, then President Donald Trump made a speech on national television, when he finally seemed to take the coronavirus crisis seriously. Of course, he seemed to keep flipping back and forth from that point onward, unable to quite make up his mind about whether it was a serious threat to the country or not. We would later find out that he withheld information from the American public about just how grave the situation was in order, as he claimed, not to alarm Americans too much.              

And so, he began a campaign of misinformation that, inevitably, exacerbated the situation. Before long, the whole world was watching in horror as the nation that still officially ranks as the richest nation in the world mishandled the crisis with mixed messages. At one point, he said that there were 15 confirmed cases, but that it would quickly go down to zero, and then congratulated himself on that, as if by wishing it so, he would make it somehow turn into reality. But the number of cases did not go down to zero. In fact, the number of cases skyrocketed until, before long, we surpassed all other countries in terms of confirmed cases and, eventually, in terms of deaths from coronavirus. Since then, no other country has even come close to matching the United States either in confirmed cases or in deaths.              

Already, science denial had been one of the defining political traits of the international American reputation. After all, it is in the United States where climate change is most denied, often angrily, and it is also here where there is a strong campaign to try to teach children creationism, as an obvious attempt to refute evolution, without having to bother with any actual scientific proof. But the obvious denial of the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis became more immediate, and underscored this clearly enormous and influential force in our political reality. Plus, having someone in the Oval Office who claimed to know more about everything than even the experts, even as he often sounded like an absolute moron to all but his most loyal fans in explaining his half-baked theories, did not help.              

Before long, we as a nation began to serve as a perfect example for the rest of the world on what not to do, of precisely what to avoid in their handling of the Covid-19 crisis. It underscored the seeming dysfunction that had gone a long way towards sinking a nation who’s reputation for stability had once been stellar and served as a model for much of the rest of the world.              

But no longer.   

Our reputation started to really take a nosedive in recent decades, through a series of missteps and hubris that, in fact, has seriously hurt our once decent reputation. It seems that it has accelerated in the 21st century, beginning with us quickly squandering the sympathy the world had for us following the September 11th attacks by pursuing an immoral and unjustifiable war in Iraq, and numerous corporate scandals, illegal sptying on other nations and assumptions that we could kill anyone we wanted, anywhere, with drone strikes. Then came Trump, and the whole world recoiled in horror at the racism and xenophobia that seemed to be unleashed, as if it had once been frozen and kept separate, but was not, once again, on full display. Then, the disastrous response to the coronavirus crisis has made us look, once again, like fools who do not really know what we are doing.

The saddest aspect of this new marker of half a million now dead from Covid-19 is that, for the most part, this could have been completely avoidable with even halfway more decent and responsible leadership. 

Colombey Les Deux Eglises

 

Recently, I found some old postcards from the trips to France that my brother and I used to take back in the eighties. We had to good fortune to have family in France, and almost every other summer, some family was willing to take us in. It happened first in the summer of 1982, then again in the summer of 1985, 1987, and finally, 1989.

So while our family was hardly rich, or even qualified as well-to-do (probably lower middle class would be more accurate), we nevertheless had one aspect that seems, in retrospect, to have given us certain advantages that others in our comfortable, bordering on wealthy, town did not have: we were fairly well-traveled, especially for our age. And many, if not most, people seemed to get the mistaken idea that we had much more than we did, particularly because France and being French often gives Americans the mistaken impression of having a lot of money.

That is nothing that I am going to get into greater detail now.

However, I just thought that I would post a few pictures of some of the old postcards that I found from these times, and these trips. And today, I begin with two postcards (only two) of a town that we passed through fairly often, and really visited, to my memory, only once: Colombey Les Deux Eglises.

It has one thing that makes it stand out: it is the town that Charles De Gaulle came from. And thus, it has a huge Croix de Lorraine (Cross of Lorraine) to commemorate him by.

Below are pictures of the postcards of this town, and of the huge cross which was easily the most distinct landmark that I particularly remembered on the four or so hour drives from the town of Taverny to their tiny residence in the otherwise charming little village of Leffond, which is actually part of a larger town of Champlitte, which I will soon enough share pictures of, as well.

Here are the pictures of Colombey Les Deux Eglises:

Colombey Les Deux Eglises

Columbey

Australian Open 2021 Men's Final Review: Djokovic Easily Wins a Record 9th Australian Open Title, 18th Career Grand Slam Championship

    

Photo courtesy of Marianne Bevis's Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariannebevis/5972100998/in/photolist-a6JzyA-csctLm-cscsEm-csctrw-csct17-f4CWUn-nWz24z-a6Jzhy-a6JzGq-a6JyPu-a6FHJc-9ZEUDd-ohz8qG-ox2Nmj-bPFs5a-5uzT4n-a6FHgX-f52W2j-2KSf8f-f4MHoM-cJrFYL-cJrGqo-f4MDDe-a3t6Ga-cscu3h-f4MESB-f4MJya-bALMj9-a3vX3q-bALMws-a3t6Sv-bPFshK-cJrFKY-nnjmG7-a3t6yv-cJrGd9-vUQeNJ-f4MCVT-cJrFxj-a3vXjs-np5my3-nnjiL7-npmV3n-npmS96-nr8qnZ-bPFr3t-bPFqaF-bPFsDg-f52X2j-bALPWo

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Well, it is official now.              

Novak Djokovic won his 9th career Australian Open title, by far more than anyone else in history, man or woman. Currently, exactly half of Djokovic’s career Grand Slam titles have come in Melbourne, with the Australian Open. It is obviously the best way to start a year off on the tennis circuit, and Djokovic has managed the feat now fully nine times. It appears that he will still be a top contender for years to come, so he may add to this already impressive record.             

Djokovic’s success in this particular tournament now moves him into all-time territory. Right now, only one man in history has enjoyed more success in any of the four Grand Slam events, that man being Rafael Nadal, who has managed to capture 13 French Open titles during his career, dating back to his first French Open championship as a teenager back in 2005. Otherwise, Martina Navratilova also managed to capture nine Wimbledon titles, which stood alone as second most by anyone, man or woman, until Djokovic managed to tie that with this record for Australian Open championships.              

Djokovic first won the Australian Open back in 2008, when he finally broke through for his first ever career Grand Slam title at the age of 20. He had qualified for the 2007 US Open, although he lost there to Roger Federer. Since then, he has added many other Grand Slam singles trophies to his collection, as have both Federer and Nadal, for that matter. But many of them have come right in Melbourne for Djokovic.  

The other records for the other Grand Slam championships on the men’s side would be eight Wimbledon titles for Roger Federer. Chris Evert managed to win seven French Open titles, and she and Serena Williams are tied for most US Open titles, each with six. Serena is tied with Margaret Court for the most Australian Open titles on the women’s side, although Serena holds that record alone for players in the Open era. On the men’s side, three men are tied for the most US Open titles, with Roger Federer once again among the leaders, along with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors, each with 5 US Open wins in the Open era. It should be noted that Nadal has won four US Open titles, while Djokovic has won three. Both men remain active players, and may add to their totals.  

This time around, Djokovic quickly dispatched with fourth seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev, who enjoyed an impressive Australian Open run to get to the final, but simply could not contend with the near perfection that Djokovic brought to the court on this day. The first set was tight, but Djokovic essentially cruised the rest of the way, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.  

With this latest Grand Slam title, Djokovic strengthened his grip on the world number one ranking, which he should be able to hold well into 2021.  

Medvedev was making his second career Grand Slam finals appearance, having once qualified before in the 2019 US Open, when he lost to Nadal. He is inching closer to capturing his first career Grand Slam title, although Djokovic was simply too much for him in this final. This was just a case where Djokovic was not going to be denied.  

Djokovic was playing in his 28th Grand Slam men’s final overall, tying him with Rafael Nadal, although it should be noted that Nadal has the better overall record in this finals (20-8 for Nadal, to 18-10 for Djokovic). Currently, Federer still holds the record for most career Grand Slam men’s finals, having played in 31, with a record of 20-11. Federer, it should be noted, also is still an active player on the men’s circuit.  

For now, it appears that the “Big Three” of men’s tennis will still likely dominate the sport, at least for a good part of this coming year. That, of course, is especially true of Djokovic and Nadal, who both remain at the top of their game, even though both men are now well into their thirties. Djokovic’s dominance at the Australian may very well be followed up with Nadal’s traditional dominance at Roland Garros, where he will be seeking an astonishing 14th career French Open championship. Even Federer, who is 39 and will turn 40 in August, remains among the elites in the sport right now, although he has not quite been able to keep up with the dominance of the other two in the most recent couple of years or so, in part due to injuries.

Australian Open Women's Final Review: Osaka Cruises to 4th Career Grand Slam Title, 2nd Australian Open Title in Three Years

In the Australian Open Women's Final, Naomi Osaka convincingly defeated American Jennifer Brady in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. 

Brady qualified for her first grand slam final this year, enjoying an impressive tournament. Ultimately, though, she was unable to make much of a match of it against a very talented, powerful, and experienced opponent in Naomi Osaka.

For Osaka, this is her fourth career grand slam finals appearance. She has never lost one to date thus far, and this was her most lopsided grand slam final win since beating Serena Williams at the US Open back in 2018, when she first ascended to truly elite status. She now has captured two Australian Open titles (2019 and 2021), as well as two US Open titles (2018 and 2020). Osaka is the only woman to have won a grand slam title in each of the last four calendar years. 

It seems likely that Osaka will regain the number one ranking with this win, coupled with the US Open win last year. 

Some Photos From the Most Recent Snowstorm in Northern New Jersey

Hopefully,  I am not overdoing it with these pictures of recent snowfalls in New Jersey. It is just that one of the pleasant things about the snow is just how pretty the world seems to become when blanketed in that pure white snow. 

Yes, I am tired of driving under slippery conditions. And yes, I could go without shoveling any more snow this winter, or clearing off the car off ice, including that harsh and hateful sound of scraping the ice from the windshield. Also, believe me, I could easily go the rest of the year without taking very careful steps in hopes of avoiding a slip and fall, and possible injury. If last year's slip and fall (and the injury to my left shoulder and arm) taught me anything, it is to be extremely careful these days, because the knowledge of just how fast you can sustain a serious injury through a moment's carelessness is no longer merely theoretical. 

Now, winter tends to be more stressful than anything else. It means slippery conditions, both during walks and driving. It means back pain and sore hands after shoveling from significant snowfall, and it means annoyance and stress when, after one storm is done, you have yet another looming in the near future. As if to underscore this, we are now expected to get still more snow on Monday, just on the other side of this weekend. Hell, I even heard somewhere that the chances are something like 90 percent. And possibly more snow even after that, on Friday, as I understand it. So yes, it can get tiresome, and many view it as not much more than a burden.

Indeed, these are the things - mostly inconveniences, admittedly - that I think of as winter approaches every year. That, and perhaps trying to bundle up to stay warm. When I was younger, I used to love winter. Snow was awesome and it was exciting and almost poetic to see the snowfall. And seriously, what can beat the happiness of finding out that school was closed for the day because of snow? It was a serious and often unexpected, but very pleasant, surprise, and it seems that kids these days are more or less being robbed of it, in this age of virtual, online school days. 

But I digress. Yes, I used to love winter, until the winter of 1993-94 came. That was the winter when it seemed to snow every three or four days, at most. And the snow just kept piling up, because it never seemed to get anywhere near warm enough for any of it to melt. In fact, it was so cold, that it turned to ice, and there were seeming mountains of snow around everyone's driveways. I remember really having to launch shovelfuls of snow high over the mountain of snow over our driveway, and some of it inevitably seemed to avalanche back down, making you have to work double for the same snow. And the roads felt like canals bordered by walls of snow, everywhere that you went. 

After that, and the winter of 1995-96 - which saw a record amount of snow that season - cemented my rather new perspective, which is more often than not shared by adults, that winter is mostly a burden. 

These days, I tend to regard the first couple of months of the cold weather as more or less welcome, even charming. It can be nice when it starts to get cold on October evenings and into November, and the cold chill of winter has a certain charm in December, right up into the holiday season. Then, maybe a day or two after the New Year, it starts to become a hassle. Yet, it continues on through January. By the time that February and March come on, it can really feel like it's dragging. That is how most people - again, at least most adults - seem to feel about it right now, as well. Admittedly, I am as ready as anyone else for the springtime, to feel warmer air, to see green again, and to be able to do simple things like go hiking, or even go for a comfortable walk around the neighborhood on sidewalks that are not covered in snow or, worse, ice. Just to be able to return back to normal a bit, or what feels like normal. 

Still, there are moments when you can enjoy it, when the sheer beauty of a winter landscape can take you back to how magical it all felt when you regarded it through a child's eye.

Yesterday, I visited my son in northern New Jersey. The roads were snowy, and it continued to snow until after the daylight ended, even though the forecasters had predicted that it would all end in the early afternoon, at latest. Yes, it was annoying to drive in and have to shovel, and yes, I cleared my car of some snow and ice. 

However, I also stopped to take in the scenery at times, and decided to take still more pictures. Seemed like a good idea to share them, also. Because again, there can be a silver lining in everything. And the silver lining for winter snowstorms, despite the headaches that they can cause, is just how beautiful and pristine and quiet the world seems to get. Some of these pictures feel like they captured that, at least a little bit.

Enjoy!

A solitary gazebo that gives out on a lakefront view in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, very near West Milford. 

The old Toys 'r Us store by Preakness Mall in Wayne, New Jersey. This used to be one of my favorite stores as a kid, but it closed down a few years ago. Still, they have the sign up from the older days, even though the windows clearly indicate that this store is no longer open. Preakness Mall itself seems to be more generally at least halfway to being a ghost town. 

Australian Open 2021 Update: Djokovic Powers Into Another Men's Final, While Serena Appears to Bid Tearful Farewell Down Under

   

Photo courtesy of Marianne Bevis's Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariannebevis/5972100998/in/photolist-a6JzyA-csctLm-cscsEm-csctrw-csct17-f4CWUn-nWz24z-a6Jzhy-a6JzGq-a6JyPu-a6FHJc-9ZEUDd-ohz8qG-ox2Nmj-bPFs5a-5uzT4n-a6FHgX-f52W2j-2KSf8f-f4MHoM-cJrFYL-cJrGqo-f4MDDe-a3t6Ga-cscu3h-f4MESB-f4MJya-bALMj9-a3vX3q-bALMws-a3t6Sv-bPFshK-cJrFKY-nnjmG7-a3t6yv-cJrGd9-vUQeNJ-f4MCVT-cJrFxj-a3vXjs-np5my3-nnjiL7-npmV3n-npmS96-nr8qnZ-bPFr3t-bPFqaF-bPFsDg-f52X2j-bALPWo

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

On the men's side, Serbian Novak Djokovic took care of business very quickly, dispatching with Aslan Karatsev in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. He now advanced to yet another Australian Open Men's final, where he will seek his ninth career championship in the Grand Slam "down under." He stands as the most successful player ever in terms of collecting Australian Open singles titles.

Meanwhile, Russian Daniil Medvedev took on Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the other semifinal match. Tsitipas had just pulled off the stunner of the tournament, knocking off all-time great Rafael Nadal in the quarters to reach these semifinals. However,  he did not do it again, losing in strait sets to Medvedev. 6-4, 6-2, 7-5. Medvedev now will advance to this year's men's final in the first grand slam tournament of the year. What a start for him!

Now, he will face the great Djokovic in the final. A formidable task,  to say the least. 

On the women's side, Naomi Osaka knocked off Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4. Williams had been pursuing her 24th grand slam singles title, but after losing this semifinal, she was repeatedly asked if this was her last time at the Australian Open. At first, she seemed to avoid the question, but during the press conference, she broke down in tears, and appeared to give credibility to the idea that, indeed, this might have been the last time that she is seen at the Australian Open. 

As for Osaka, she advances to another Australian Open Women's Final, where she will face another American, Jennifer Brady. Brady will be playing in her first grand slam final, having outlasted Czech Karolína Muchová 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Photo courtesy of Yann Caradec's Flickr Page - Rafael Nadal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/la_bretagne_a_paris/5756335239 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Photo courtesy of Yann Caradec's Flickr Page - Novak Djokovic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/la_bretagne_a_paris/5763317762

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Another Winter Storm Blankets New Jersey With More Snow

By now, it is clear that this has been the snowiest, and coldest, month of February that we have seen in a long time. It kind of reminds me of the most brutal winter that I can personally remember, which would have been the winter of 1993-94.  

What made that winter particularly brutal? How could I rate that as more brutal than the winter two years later, which set the record across much of the northeast, at least, if not perhaps even the eastern seaboard, as the snowiest winter on record? Well, it is because that winter, we got snow the day after Christmas, if memory serves correctly. Then, we never went more than three or four days at most without significant snowfall for the rest of that long and relentless winter. On top of it, it was cold, and the cold never took a break. We have grown used to individual days during what now passes as a typical winter in which we see unseasonably warm temperatures. Hell, there was one fairly recent winter – the winter of 2011-12 – when we had more days over 70 degrees Fahrenheit than we had under 30 degrees Fahrenheit. But it stayed cold and snowy all through that winter of 1993-94, and so the snow that fell would freeze, would turn into ice. I do not believe that I saw that either before, and have not seen it since. At least, not lasting as long as that. Because seriously, the land was covered in white snow from just after Christmas all the way through the official end of winter in March, if not beyond. It never warmed up until well after the winter officially ended, and even then, if memory serves correctly, the winter left only reluctantly.  

That winter also saw the snowiest winter in the month of February at Newark, the largest city in New Jersey. In February of 1994, we saw 33.4 inches of snow fall that month alone. Newark normally sees 9.3 inches of snow during a typical month of February. To date, Newark had received 21.7 inches of snow as of about one week ago or so, and we have gotten a bit of snow between then and today, when we are seeing, once again, another significantly measurable snowfall. Indeed, there is a chance – a real chance – that this could turn out to be the snowiest month of February on record in Newark, and that is more or less typical of most of New Jersey, I think it is fair to say.  

No, this does not make this the most brutal month of February that I remember. Again, I believe that February of 1994 was worse, because again, the snow that had fallen in late December and early January never melted, never went away, and so all of that snow that fell in February just kept adding to that. What I remember most from that winter was that it was the first such winter when you really had to make a point of taking a shovel full of snow and throwing it over what felt like a mountain of snow. We had a small driveway, and there were not too many places to throw the snow. It was exhausting, made all the more because you hardly had time to recover from one major snowstorm, when you had another one right on the heels of the previous. It just kept going on and on like that. My hands hurt, felt raw. And they barely had time to recover from the last shoveling before I would have to go out and shovel yet again, because again, the snowfall was relentless.  

Yes, this month has been brutal, in terms of snow. I think it feels especially brutal because, frankly, we have grown out of practice with dealing with it. I cannot even remember the last time, specifically, when we had a stretch of time when snowfalls were as relentless as they have been in February. It very well may have been the winter of 1995-96 or, perhaps even more likely, it may have even been that winter of 1993-94, which I cannot state enough, remains by far the most brutal winter that I can recall, personally.  

Let us remember, as annoying and frankly demoralizing as it feels when we recover from one snowstorm only to have to deal with another (and there is another possibly snowfall on the way for Monday, as if to prove the point), that this nevertheless has only been a brutal month of February. We had a few snowstorms before this month, yes, and particularly that one big snowstorm about a week before Christmas. But then, the storms were largely isolated and regional, and did not make the roadways dangerous as often or as badly. For the most part, the month of February has been the brutal part of this winter, and there are other differences. Just about an hour and a half before writing this, I noticed just how much snow had melted from a patch of lawn at my workplace. It looked almost mountainous a few weeks ago, during that huge snowstorm, but now, it looks like it just covers the lawn in some spots, and it looks like much of the lawn has shaken off the snowy blanket of the deep freeze of this winter.  

Not for long, obviously, with the arrival of new snowfall. This new snowstorm will surely blanket that patch of lawn once again, and will also add to the not quite melted mounds of snow on the sides of our roadways and lawns and woods.  

Still, this winter has been warmer. The days do not have that brutal cold feel to it at the peak daytime hours. Hell, often times, they are downright comfortable and sometimes, you can swear you feel the upcoming spring right around the corner. No kidding, I saw numerous birds flying and singing happily about a week or two ago on a sunny afternoon. It was refreshing, and yes, there was just a small patch of bald lawn in front of our place where they found snow somehow. Not sure that they were clear sign of the end of winter and the approach of spring, but when you feel a reminder that the spring is right around the corner like that, it hardly matters at that moment. This was not in December, after all, when we still have months to go. It was in February, well into the month, when we have a little more than a month and change before it officially switches to the spring season.  

For now, however, it is still winter. And yes, we got more snow, as we keep seeing this month grow in stature among serious winters, in terms of record snowfalls and such.

Below are some pictures I took recently of the little park in the back of the building where I work on the weekends. It kind of has a Japanese feel to it, and looks good during any season. I especially like it during the springtime, when the cherry blossoms add a wonderful splash of color to the scene. However, the snowy blanket of winter makes it look quite attractive, as well. These pictures were not taken during this latest storm, but rather, the snow that fell about a week and a half ago, on Super Bowl Sunday. It seemed to me that they came out quite good!

Snowy February in New Jersey

Earlier today, I saw someone on Facebook from Canada mention that they are being hit particularly hard there this winter, and she asked if it was just them, or if others are getting hit hard.

So, I decided to respond. Here is what I said:

In New Jersey, we have had one of the snowiest months of February in history, and we are about to get slammed once again tonight thru Friday. The temperatures have been at or below freezing, with a few exceptions at the peak daylight hours. Plus, the Midwest just got hit hard by a freezing winter storm, which included the entire state of Texas, even though much of Texas is warm enough to have palm trees. Earlier this year, the West Coast got hit hard with snow, and maybe a week or two ago, Seattle hit record cold temperatures. Hell I have seen numerous pictures this year of parts of Europe under a blanket of white snow, including Paris, which only gets snow these days relatively rarely. Everyone is ready for this winter to end. Let's remember that spring is next month, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. On the other hand, Canada is famous for having cold and snowy winters, so you probably have it more extreme than we do. What part of Canada are you from? 

Seemed strange to me that someone from Canada was worried about the snow and the cold. After all, as I mentioned to her, that is one country absolutely famous for cold and snow and long winters, along with Russia and the Nordic (Scandinavian) countries of Europe. 

In any case, this has been a particularly cold and snowy winter, at least compared to what we here in Jersey have grown accustomed to in recent years. So here are some pictures of cold, snowy winter landscapes, although most of these were taken from previous years.

Enjoy!

Roosevelt Park

A solitary lampost stands guard, draped in a snowy landscape.

Bright red berries add a splash of color to the winter wonderlandscape of white snow, and bare brown tree bark.  Roseland, New Jersey

Photography is a growing hobby of mine. I never took any classes or anything like that. Hell, I took these pictures on my Kindle, which has served as my only camera for quite some time now. But still, I am learning. So, if you have any advice, or pointers, please don't hesitate! I'd love to learn more!