More about El Nino:

""In the US the strongest effects from El Nino happen in the late fall and winter according to NOAA. The northern parts of the US and Canada can expect to see drier and warmer conditions that can cause drought and wildfires but the southern US and Gulf Coast regions can see wetter conditions that can lead to flooding. El Nino can supress hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean but increase the likelihood of hurricanes in the Pacific basin" - Country Living

Hurricane season & keep hearing about El Nino? What is it?

"El Nino is a climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean & under normal conditions trade winds blow west along the equator taking warm water from South America to Asia. To replace the warm water, cold water rises from the depths - a process called upswelling"

"El Nino is a change in that typical pattern. During El Nino the trade winds weaken and the warm winds are pushed towards the west coast of the US and South America" - Country Living

DO NOT DISGARD YOUR PRIOR JOURNALS. REREAD THEM AND RIP OUT THOSE PAGES WHERE YOU WORRY THAT A FAMILY MEMBER MIGHT BE HURT IF THEY WERE TO READ YOUR DIARY

BUT KEEP THE REMAINDER OF YOUR DARY AND CONTINUE TO READ IT. YOU WILL LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT YOURSELF IN YOUR PRIOR JOURNALS AND WHAT TO DO AND NOT DO IN THE FUTURE.

You know who seems to have dropped out of the news? Kari Lake. Haven't heard about her in awhile and that's a good thing.

Has anyone read Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III? I am halfway through and it's a brilliant novel. The main character Tom Lowe is also the narrator and so how you feel about him will effect your feelings about the book. I'll be frank I know Tom has had alot of bad luck and I empathize but I am not bonding with him yet.. I hope that will change by the time I get to the end. Would be curious what others who have read the novel think.

What I have learned is that a talented reader on Audible can enhance a book, make it even better.

But a bad reader on Audible who reads in a droning bored and weary voice can absolutely ruin the book and often those readers are the authors themselves who wrote very good books, bestsellers even, but insisted they do their own narration on Audible.

The mug shots today of Trump's co-defendents is quite something. I never thought we would get here. I assumed only the low level capital rioters would face accountability and I was even discounting the indictments until Georgia.

Trump cannot pardon himself out of Georgia and what makes these mug shots so important is that should Trump be reelected they are a reminder to anyone else who enters the White House and does the bidding of a dishonest President, that this could happen to you

I no longer feel DeSantis would be an improvement over Trump. The final straw is the story out of NH where DeSantis told a gathering that on day one he would start "slitting throats". He didn't mean it literally but in his rhetoric he continously shows how much rage is in him.

And where does the rage come from? To my knowledge he hasn't had a hard life. He's had a good life & yet the meaness is always just under the surface

I loathe Trump but DeSantis would be an equal disaster as President

@karashta I came to Frankenstein not knowing what to think. I had read Dracula and didn't care for it as much as I thought I was going to. But for me Frankenstein was a revelation. The writing but also the romanticism period in British literature that Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Byron, Keats etc wereca part of has always intrigued me.

"I discovered that he, the author at once of my existence and of its unspeakable torments, dared to hope for happiness; that while he accumulated wretchedness and despair upon me he sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the indulgence of which I was forever barred" - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

It's such a powerful book, a classic well worth your time.

"Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has not been seen in public since June 24, appears to be in a decidedly perilous limbo .. “He is in St Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow elsewhere,”Lukashenko said in response to a question from CNN. “But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.” -CNN

Why Prigozhin did the foolish thing he did, trying to head to Moscow with his tanks and Wagner Group I do not understand. Knowing Putin what was he thinking?

Jane Austen is brilliant but I have always wished that she would have taken more risks in her novels. I used to think that was partly due to the time she lived in. But Mary Shelley and Maria Edgeworth took risks in their books.

And as Jane Austen scholars have said, the servants in her novels are rarely heard from and an Austen heroine may say that money doesn't matter in a husband but the man she marries is usually quite wealthy

But I have yet to read Emma & Mansfield Park so there is hope

@whonat Don't know much about Disney's business practices but agree a huge corporation like Disney is going to be ruthless. For me I live in Florida and at this point if Disney were to move out of the state I would be happy because it would show DeSantis that there is a limit to what he is doing. He doesn't see any costs yet but Disney moving would be a sign he couldn't miss.

"Disney Suggests Mediation in Federal Lawsuit, DeSantis Does Not Believe Mediation ‘Would Be Productive" -

This is a mistake on Disney's part because DeSantis is a bully and bullies don't back down unless you stand up for yourself. Only then do bullies leave you alone and agree to lower the temperature.

There was a time when I thought that DeSantis as President would be better than Trump but I have seen the things he has done, the latest being the homophobic ad he is running, and Ron DeSantis is equally as bad a choice for President as Trump and in some ways maybe even worse. The one good thing is that DeSantis has no chance of being President even if he wins the GOP nomination Trump will run third party. But DeSantis is a scary and strange man.

@ToolPackinMama Thanks I would if I could but family and finances keep me in Florida. But I have visited Connecticut and it's a great state.

Living in Florida the one thing I am smiling about is that DeSantis' Presidential campaign is going nowhere. He can't win because even if he were to get the GOP nomination, Trump would absolutely run third party destroying DeSantis' chances.

The worry is that after DeSantis loses he'll be an even angrier man than he already is and he will turn that anger on Florida. He is capable of anything and at some point I may have to walk out of Florida if I have to and I am not completely kidding.

I never thought DeSantis would run for President because even if he got the GOP nomination Trump wwill run as a third party candidate. I figured DeSantis knew this.

Reading Last Train To Paradise by Les Standiford. It’s a about the destruction of the Key West Railroad by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The railroad operated from 1912 to 1935 until a category 5 hurricane hit the Keys. Enough of the structure remained though which is why we have the overseas highway today which links the mainland of Florida to Key West.

@SpN2000 Agree and the writer Brian Klass has talked about the dictator trap where strongman like Putin surround themselves with yes men and eventually the disastrous war in Ukraine is the outcome. It's why I fear Trump in 2024.