Anglo....I just read your post on “someone else’s” post. It was the exactly the way Topeka was...and it is still accepting of others. My DD’s family lives there and I live 65 miles from there...so I go there often. They have wonderful Catholic High school there now, as well as several elementary schools ...in fact, I have three grandchildren who are/have attended them. Many students attend their schools because of the high quality education and standards they maintain, even though they are not Catholic. Topeka is still a diverse city and hopefully it will stay that way. The Menninger’s were world known for their work, but they have all passed and the foundation is no longer in operation. I think there are 6 high schools there (or in the immediate surroundings)...two large hospitals...and the NOTO district in north Topeka is an arts area and developing nicely. The old downtown where we had all of the clothing stores has past...shopping gone out to malls. Mead’s is now on the historic register and has several yearly events. Forbes Air Force base has closed and now has several businesses and an air museum out there. You need to make a trip back there some day and walk down memory lane. I grew up in a little town near Emporia and we always had a lot of section gangs...always Mexican workers. They pretty well stayed to theirselves...except for pay day and then they walked to our “beer joint “ to get beer and go back to their work train. Our little town NEVER had any blacks, so I never knew what that would have been like to go to school with them, but a year ago the Methodist church assigned a black minister (who was married to a white woman)..WOW what a shock for that little town! I would say he is pretty well accepted, but many have started attending other churches...don’t know if it was because of his race or preaching. I am not sure it still is on their books or not, but when I was still living there, there was an ordinance that all blacks were to be out of town by sundown or they would be locked up in the little limestone “jail” or taken out of the city at day break. (I need to call city hall and see if it has changed.) I am sorry to high jack your original post!, but Topeka caught my eye!

I see social media as an "addition to", not an "instead of". I love texting, I have very poor hearing, especially on the phone, so texting is a blessing for me. I'm not apt to misunderstand what someone is saying, and no one is subjected to repeated requests to repeat something. It's also convenient. I can send a text when the thought hits me, knowing that the recipient can answer at their convenience. Same with receiving a text. My family, friends and I used email the same way before we all had smartphones. One sentence thoughts and ideas are sent as they come up. One doesn't usually make a phone call or write a letter to communicate a short thought. So for me, emails and texts have increased contact with others, not decreased it. I love Facebook! I also have a Twitter account and an Instagram account. I honestly can't remember the last time I looked at Twitter, don't care for it. I do look at Instagram occasionally, mostly to see pictures family and friends have posted. Pictures I probably wouldn't get to see otherwise. But I drop in on Facebook for a few minutes several times a day. I enjoy the jokes that are passed around, I like the news updates I find there, I've gotten several good recipes there. I even enjoy some of the political postings. And last, but certainly not least, I enjoy the brief glimpses into the loves of family and friends that I probably wouldn't get otherwise. It keeps distant family members and friends and I up to date with each other. There are several whom I probably would have completely lost contact with without social media. Does all this make me (or my friends and family) selfish, or self centered? Absolutely not! And I kind of feel sorry for those that think it does. You have no idea what you're missing out on! So many ways to expand your life! And for the record, I am another "Old Fogie", getting mighty close to the big eight oh mark. And ready to use and enjoy whatever new life adventure my limited physical abilities allow me to use. Yes, I love social media and am very glad it came into being during my lifetime! Rusty

You will soon want to push the two sofas together so that their corners touch, so that he doesn’t crawl into the corner and pull down the lamp. Or, remove the lamp. Our younger, really active baby had this Activity Garden. It didn’t have all the bells and whistles the newer ones have, but it was good for him because it let him focus. His favorite thing was just to open the gate, walk through, close the gate, check the mail, open the gate, walk back, close the gate. We got it from a rummage sale, and when he was finally ready to part with it we eased the pain by giving it to the church nursery, where he could show the babies how to use it lol. He’s 20 and that activity garden is still a favorite in the nursery! (Because it doesn’t have too many books and crannies, it is easy to keep clean.) edited to add, we got a train table that was a nice, stained and sealed wood, instead of a highly-kid-centric design. The Isle or Sodor-design top could be wrapped in wrapping paper for a change of pace. It stayed set up for years, transitioning to Lego, board games, puzzles, by day, and coffee table by night, because it matched the family room decor.

Oy, had a covid safe close family friend overnight this week. He is socially distancing and limiting outside contact due to his wife being a cancer survivor. They both work from home, limited outside trips. He stopped at our house because it was a halfway point on his long drive to be with his dad who is having a health crisis and needs his help. I has to dust the guest room. Whoa! We wore masks and socially distanced inside the house, and I sanitized the guest bathroom for his exclusive use. Luckily we have two bathrooms and a separate guest bedroom. We both remarked on how much we miss socializing. But neither of us will probably be able to let up any time soon. Mark my words we are in for a big surge . . . just trying my darndest to keep my 88 year old Dad safe through the indoor season as he fights with me every step of the way. He hangs out with deniers and will be inside with them now. They all have grandkids in school and are out and about socializing. Dad too intimidated to ask them to mask up, afraid of losing friendships and contact. They should honor him and do it but they don't see the need, have all kinds of rationalizations. Sigh. So now hubs and I trying to figure out where we can get new supply of n95 masks for when we are around Dad. He's old and depressed as it is, does not need this worry, other folks should take care of it for him . . . .we had been socializing with Dad mainly on our lovely screened-in porch this summer. He liked it and so did we, it was a win win. But now that option is off the table, too cold . . . Dad is ok wearing a mask, just not OK asking others to wear one around him. Should be a no brainer around an 88 year old man with COPD, heart failure and reduced kidney function . . . my cousins refused to meet with us this summer, even for a picnic outside at a park we have been to as a family many times, because we asked them to mask up around him . . .