Tag Archives: attention span

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 18

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 8, 2026- We told Hana that it was important for us all to keep quiet, while a workman was doing a sonic test, in different parts of the downstairs. She was very careful to stay quiet, until she knew he was finished. Then she had all kinds of things to say about her lunch, of which she ate every bite.

Hana was surprisingly attentive to what he was saying. Most infants don’t attend very well to adults, other than their closest family members. She wants to at least hear what people are saying. It may stay in the back of her mind, until some day in the future, when she will recall hearing it somewhere. and put it to use. I’ve had that happen. She is also very much attached to certain books, my Baha’i prayer books among them. We spent about fifteen minutes, this morning, with my turning to random pages of “Baha’i Prayers”, and her looking at them with a fair intensity.

HANA’S NOTE- I feel happy when I hear Papa saying prayers. I also want to make it easier for my Mommy and Daddy, so I don’t get into mischief, even when it seems like it would be fun.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2022 I got less than a year with the Saturn Vue. It took me north and east to Massachusetts, and two visits with my mother, then to coastal Maine, and on to North Sydney, NS, and then from Channel-Port aux Basques, NL,on up to L’Anse aux Meadows, at Newfoundland’s northern tip, south and east to St. John’s, and back across to Nova Scotia, then clear to Mountaintop, PA. That is a town where my brother and his family once lived, and I felt a bit of nostalgia, having visited them there in the mid-1990s. When I was on my way out of Mountaintop, passing through its nearest southern neighbour, on the way to visit my niece and her family, I was stopped at a traffic light. BAM! A lady had fallen asleep at the wheel and rammed into the jeep behind me, which was then pushed into the Saturn. The light turned green and I led the way to a safe place for the three of us to stop and wait for the police. The jeep and the rearmost vehicle were attached at the bumper. The police officer looked at Saturn and said there was no damage to the exhaust or gas line, so I was free to go.

I continued on, to Exton, where my niece and her husband grilled some burgers and I relaxed for a time. I then went to Oley, where it was Dave Glick’s birthday (as well as Aram’s) and enjoyed a cake, coffee and conversation, then spent the night, as I often have. Next came a two-day stay in Crossville, TN at the home of friends Laureen and Chuck, followed by the State Capitol and Parthenon, in Nashville, a segment of Natchez Trace, from Nashville to Hohenwald, Once there, I found a pizza place open on that Sunday night, had a decent meal and went on to Florence and Muscle Shoals, AL. Mississippi, Louisiana and east Texas followed, without any indication of trouble. I spent three days with Aram and Yunhee, in Grapevine, and made the rest of my way to Prescott. Then I took Saturn to my regular auto body shop. It was pronounced totaled. Maybe it was the initial collision, or the wear and tear of a seemingly uneventful drive homeward-or maybe both. I turned the warhorse over to my insurance company, got a settlement with the PA woman’s insurance agent and bought KIA Sportage.

Some presences in life are rich, but fleeting. So it has been with all three of the Saturns I’ve owned.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 14

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Slow Food Prescott, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 4, 2026- Hana listened, with rapt attention, as a home foundation specialist was explaining his observations to her mother and me. How much she retains from this sort of discourse is anyone’s guess. but it would seem to bode well for when she sits in a classroom and expected to pay attention.

My granddaughter has a very strong sense of place and is finding her way into participating in various situations. There is a canister, in which Yunhee stores yellow beans. Hana used it as a hand drum, this evening after dinner. I played a drum given me by a friend in Arizona, about eight years ago. She stopped her own drumming and started to dance a little bit.

Between her increasing vocalizations and keen awareness, I sense this Autumn is going to find a very active little girl keeping everyone busy.

HANA’S NOTE- I like drums and I am sure Papa will let me play his drum, as long as I don’t try to chew the stick.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2018 When one reaches a certain level, in personal growth, the Universe is there to put that growth to the test. This was a year for me to be tested

The first several months were quiet and peaceful enough. The Spring semester went well in the Autism Program and I made a visit to southern California, focused on Orange County alone-as Aram had been transferred to Busan, South Korea and was thus back to his roots. In June, I headed off on another lengthy cross-continental journey. Carson City was my first stop, for a three-day visit with one of my soul families. Then came places like Pioche, NV; Salida, UT; Limon, CO. Sedalia, MO; Carthsge. Il and my customary stops in Wilmette and Mishawaka.

I felt comfortable about driving in Canada, and so explored a bit of London, ON and Toronto, before stopping in Montreal for a weekend. As it happened, it was Formula 1 Racing Weekend, and the town was a madhouse. I still found a hostel in which to spend Friday night and Sunday night. Saturday would be at an Air BNB, I took in a great deal of Montreal on Saturday, and when it came time for an afternoon walkabout near McGill University, I parked Elantra on a quiet stretch of road, west of the University. 40 minutes later, I returned. My belongings, a suit to be worn at a family wedding and an anniversary gift were all in the back seat. That turned out to be a dumb arrangement. The back left window of the car had been smashed and my laptop, with my passport, was gone. Everything else was left. Once the insurance company had been called and the police had come along and processed the scene, I took Elantra to a parking garage, taped a plastic bag over the window frame and went with my bag to the Air Bnb. I was the only guest, amazingly, so the owner said I could take turns sleeping in each of the the three bedrooms. I found one to be more than sufficient. After a Sunday of exploring more of downtown, I was treated like royalty at the same hostel where I had spent Friday night. On Monday morning, I reported my lost passport to the U.S. Consulate, which alerted the border station in Champlain, NY, that I was cleared to re-enter the U.S. After getting my window replaced, I bid farewell to Montreal and drove to Plattsburgh, NY-my maternal grandmother’s hometown. Grama watched over me the rest of the way. I took in Ausable Chasm, historic sites in Scranton, and Valley Forge, over the next few days, followed by an evening visit to Oley.

Next came Philadelphia, and the wedding of my youngest niece. Aram and Yunhee, seriously dating, flew all the way from Korea for the wedding. It was an exquisite affair, and my family wholeheartedly welcomed Yunhee. The next day was Father’s Day. We all enjoyed the post-wedding brunch at the hotel where the wedding party was staying. Then the three of us bid farewell to the family and went off to explore more of Philadelphia. After an early dinner, I bid bon voyage to Aram and Yunhee, who had to head clear back to Korea on Monday morning. My destination for the evening was Baltimore. I spent the day there, including a visit to Fort McHenry-one of the places we didn’t get to visit on our journey in 2007.

The road then took me southward, with a three-day visit to eastern Virginia’s historic sites- Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. A short visit with a dear Xanga friend, in Virginia Beach, preceded the historical jaunt. I made what would be my last visit with my mother-in-law, in Spring Hill, FL, afterward, and bought a new laptop there, thus not having to depend on my phone for all communication. Driving back across the South, I visited another Xanga friend in Crossville, TN, then drove westward, taking in the Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis, as well as Beale Street. Three days later, I was back in Prescott.

Passing the test of losing a couple of important possessions was not all that hard. In the Fall, a well-meaning friend thought I needed female companionship. I had a good lady friend in Prescott, already, but he had “a better idea”. The person with whom he connected me was unsettled, had been abused in childhood and was quietly seething-looking for a target. She saw fit to question my very worth as a human being, essentially. After two weeks of turbulence, we agreed it was not a good idea for either of us, to continue our friendship.

2018 ended with my self-concept and equilibrium in balance. The Red Cross was calling on me more often, I was involved in Slow Food Prescott and was becoming a regular volunteer at Prescott Farmers Market. I was almost out of harm’s way.