October 1, 2025: The federal government is shut down. Families reliant on SNAP assistance, air traffic controllers working without pay, parks rangers with no pay either, and so many more people got royally stiffed before it was all over. Meanwhile, Trump bails out Argentina to the tune of $50 billion and finds other large pots of money for his wealthy buddies and himself. Can this beast get any worse?

10-14-25: This Chicago journalist was thrown to the ground in Chicago by border patrol agents. They alleged that she threw things at them. She claimed she was merely on her way to catch the bus to work, and is suing them. See more at: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/us/wgn-employee-detained-debbie-brockman

10-14-25

October 15: I turn 66 and 10 months today. It’s time to apply for Social Security! My first check should arrive in mid-December!

10-19-25

Here are more restored photos. The woman in the first two photos is Olivia Rascon, my grandfather’s sister. The man is her husband, Luis Flores.

10-18-25 to 10-29-25: Our New York vacation.

We spent nearly two weeks in the Buffalo area for the second year in a row. We had a much better idea of what to do and where to go this time around, and we did a lot of new things, including riding on the the Maid of the Mist boat tour at Niagara Falls, taking a trek down to Jamestown to visit the Lucy and Desi museum, and a trip over to Farmington, which is southeast of Rochester, to visit the Ontario antique mall. We also shopped at the various antique stores in suburban Buffalo and went to the Walden Galleria, a big shopping mall close to our hotel. We spent a lot of money on new clothes and food, and we ate quite well. We found a new breakfast place called “the Old Pancake House”, but we still visited the Olympic Cafe several times. We had beef on Weck, delicious Polish, German and Italian meals and lots of other scrumptious food. I gained a few pounds while there. There were things we didn’t get to see, so we will likely head over to that area of the country again in the next few years. We love Buffalo!

October 27, 2025: Freddie died on October 27, one year ago today. I’m still shocked that he’s gone. We were very close when we were kids, just 2 1/2 years apart. This photo was taken in 1979 when Fred was 23.

October 31, 2025:

Here’s a song for the occasion:

November 2: Today is El Dia De Los Muertos. My mom passed away on this date back in 1988. It’s always been a sad day for me. Here’s a photo of my mom when she was in her late 20s. She was such a beauty!

There are several songs about death, or “la muerte” in Spanish, including the one below, which I just love, and the one that follows. I first heard these songs sung by Amparo Ochoa, the great Mexican folk singer, who in many ways led the way for the women who are featured in the videos below. The last one below, titled La Muerte, sung by Pepe Aguilar, was also recorded by Lola Beltran and Antonio Aguilar.

November 3, 2025: My sister Irene’s 82nd birthday.

My eldest sister Irene was born on November 3. She is 82, believe it or not. The photo below was taken in 2023. She is shown here with me and my brother Charles, who just turned 80 in late September, at her granddaughter Dominique’s wedding reception.

November 7, 2025: Joni Mitchell’s birthday.

Joni Mitchell also turned 82, on November 7. I’ve been a big fan of Ms. Mitchell since my college days back in the late 70s. I’ve kept up closely with her career over the years, and I have nearly all of her recorded output. When she fell ill with a brain aneurysm in 2015, however, I was at a point where I didn’t think as highly of her as I had in the past. She had taken to speaking harshly about some of my other musical heroes, most notably Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. I felt she was being quite arrogant about her own talent and art, and I didn’t like what she said. Her comments about Dylan being a ripoff artist with very little musical talent were just too much to take, and her comments about Joan Baez and her mother seemed very childish and cruel to me. Any sense of humility that she might have had seemed to have gone out the window.

It was quite surprising to see people like Brandi Carlisle come out of the woodwork to help her with her recovery. Carlisle recorded the entire Blue album in 2019, and was enamored with Joni’s work. However, I keep asking myself, who is this person? I had never heard of Brandi Carlisle. Was she a country singer? Was she a women’s singer? Who knows? I don’t know of a single tune that she’s made popular on her own. I can’t help but think that she was partly motivated by a sense of opportunism. (I hope I’m wrong). She is certainly well known now, after appearing at Joni’s side at every single public event that Joni’s performed at the past few years. Oh well. Joni made a great comeback, from nearly dying to singing and playing the guitar at public venues again. I’m glad she is doing better. One can’t deny that she is a gifted singer and writer. I’ll always love her music. The video that follows is from the album Night Ride Home.

November 8, 2025: I’ve been working all year on a committee with a group of people to pull together an exhibition and programs celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center. Liz Soltero, executive director of the Sunnyside Foundation, and Professor Jaqueline Barrios, from the U of A, coordinated the work of the committee. I was asked to participate as a community “curator”, and I contributed a ton of information about the south side and Teatro Libertad. The program took place all day on Saturday. I was part of a panel presentation on the Chicano Movement that also included Dr. Lydia Otero, and Raul Aguirre. In less than four minutes I talked about Teatro Libertad and noted that its home base was the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center. I mentioned a few things about the history of the group and my recollections as a former member. Lydia spoke very eloquently about Chicano ideology and Raul talked about Chicano leadership. Together, we did quite well. The audience was very happy.

November 12, 2025

The shutdown has ended. Eight Democratic senators caved. People want Schumer removed as the lead Democratic Senator. The good news is that now that the Senate has passed this awful bill, the House has to re-convene, and Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in by Mike Johnson. She’s committed to adding her name to the list of congresspeople who want to have the Epstein files released. This should be very interesting.

“As the shutdown progressed, effects rippled. Delays and flight cancellations started racking up for passengers as the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to cut back on flights because of air traffic controller shortages. There were closures at Smithsonian museum sites and the National Zoo (although the animals still got fed). About 1.25 million federal workers haven’t been paid since Oct. 1, missing about $16 billion in wages, according to official estimates. The workers were either furloughed or worked without pay in agencies across the federal government. Many struggled to make ends meet during that time, and the regional economy around Washington, D.C., took a hit”.–AP News, story by Deepti Hajela 11/13/25

After her speech, Congresswoman Grijalva signed the petition to have the Epstein files released. Her signature was all that was needed to reach the magic number of votes to force the files to be released, so House speaker Mike Johnson is scheduling a vote for next week, before the Thanksgiving break. It will be an interesting next several days, that’s for sure, as things are really heating up over the release of the files. More and more of the material getting leaked out and is getting reported on in the news. It looks really bad for Trump. I hope justice will prevail.

November 15, 2025: Happy Anniversary Fred and Cathy. And happy birthday , Barbie! I had a great time at your gathering at the El Casino Ballroom. It was great to have a chance to hang out with my brother Charles and his wife Elaine too!

November 15: Happy Birthday to my niece ,Anadine Lopez. She is my sisterIrene’s daughter and she turned 59 this year. This was a photo taken in 1967, more or less. I posted it on her Facebook wall.

November 18, 2025

Both the House and the Senate voted today to release the Epstein files. At first, Mike Johnson made it sound like the Senate wouldn’t budge on moving forward, but things changed after the House was just one vote shy (427-1) of a unanimous decision to have them released. The Senate moved quickly to push the bill through. It now goes to Trump, who has said he will sign the bill. We’ll see.

November 19, 2025: A surprise from Elaine…

Way back in 1971, my brother Charles and his wife Elaine lived in a small apartment on E. Eastland, just a few blocks away from my parent’s house. On Thanksgiving, they invited me and my brother Fred over for dinner. Elaine also invited her nephew Philip to join us. I remember this occasion quite well. Their 8 month old daughter Valerie is shown below sitting in front of the turkey Elaine had preprared.

11-20-2025: Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse…

11-20-25: From the desk of Pennsyslvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Trump’s threats were widely condemned, but a few elected officials and others defended this sorry excuse of a human being. What trash.

November 22: St. Cecilia’s Day. A noblewoman from 3rd-century Rome known for her unwavering faith and vow of virginity St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, musicians and poets. Her feast day is celebrated with musical events and church services, and is a day to reflect on music’s ability to connect with the divine and uplift the soul.

November 27, 2025:

I promised my sister Irene that I would go to her daughter Anadine’s house to have dinner with them. Anadine lives out near Wilmot and I-10, so I left the house at 2:30 to get there on time. We agreed to meet at 3pm. I was the first one there, however. Oh well. I got to spend time with Ana. I watched as she cooked and set things up. Irene and Phil then showed up with a 27 pound turkey, pies and a lot of other food. Ana prepared a lot of dishes too. After a while other family members showed up. I hung out with Irene’s partner Phil and we watched the Dallas- Kansas City football game. The rest of the family all sat in the den and watched it too. I’m not crazy about football, so I didn’t pay much attention. Instead, I played with the two little girls shown on the right. It was soon time to eat, and before I knew it I had gobbled down a huge plate of food that included turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, and other scrumptious dishes. I sure was full!

While I was at my sisters, my partner was getting ready to go see his family at his mom’s house. She told him to be there at 6pm, and I told him I would go with him. Unfortunately, we didn’t start to eat at Ana’s until 5, so I called Ruben and told him that I would just meet him at his mom’s shortly after 6. Ruben’s sister and her son and his wife were all there. Apparently, Ruben’s mom got the time wrong, and by the time Ruben got there everyone had already eaten. He did get to eat, but some of the dishes, like the stuffing were all gone. I showed up around 6:20 and ate just a little bit. I was really full by the end of the night. Ruben’s brother Robert, his wife Pat, Ruben’s sister Mina and her husband John, and their son Joe and his wife Tina were all there. So was little Rene, his girlfriend and their little boy. It was good to see them. It had been a long time.

Ruben and I left sometime around 8:30. It was a full day. I’m glad I got to see of the family. I need to do that more often.

November 29: In memory of George Harrison, February 25, 1943 to November 29, 2001. He was always my favorite Beatle.

November 29: We put up our tree early this year. I will likely put up lights outside sometime soon. The tree is decorated with a bunch of antique, vintage ornaments that we found at various antique stores in the Buffalo area the past two years. The tree is small, but it’s pretty.

November 30: Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my brother Rudy’s passing. I miss him terribly. Here’s a photo taken at my brother Charles’s house. Rudy was born in 1948 and was about 10 years and a month older than me. I always looked up to him when I was a kid. He loved the Beatles and was a talented athlete in his youth.

It’s the end of November. Where does the time go? The Christmas tree and lights are all up now, and sales ads are popping up everywhere. Both my Facebook account and my email accounts are getting hit hard. It’s very frustrating because it’s so tempting to buy just one more pair of shoes! I’ve already bought two new pairs of them!

I weeded out my closet and organized it this past weekend. I don’t need another pair of shoes or any more pants or shirts. I have tons of clothes. All I have to do is iron them and wear them. I am done wearing t-shirts to work. My brother Rudy always had very nice clothes, and the rest of my brothers and sisters also knew how to dress well. Me? Forget it. I’ve always been a bit on the sloppy side, a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, and even though I have worn button down shirts and ties in the past, I hate the way they feel on me. I have a big neck. Lately, however, I’ve begun to show more interest in what I wear and how I look. I’m told that wearing darker solid colors on top is a great way to make you look thinner. I’m very big at the moment, so I have to work at putting stuff together so that it doesn’t look like I’m pregnant. I have too many plaid shirts, and they make you look bigger than you really are. I have to stay away from them! My better half helps me with color, since I’m red/green color blind and can’t tell brown from red or green sometimes. I feel better when I am wearing nice clothes. I look forward to doing a lot of ironing in the coming year!

THE END.