Bad luck and obeah.

 It's really true, bad luck really wussa dan obeah.😡 

How do I know? Because, obeah only works if you believe in it but bad luck jus bad.

My experience with obeah happened many decades ago before disposable razors were invented. I was then a weekly columnist with a leading  newspaper and one day, an innocuous looking letter arrived at my home in a small white envelope. No return address. 

When I opened it, it had in nothing but a shiny, brand new razor blade with a long black strand of hair wrapped around it. No letter or note inside. 

Right away  I realized it must be some attempt at obeah sent by someone who was upset about something I had written. (I regularly got abusive, dissenting mail!)

As I don't believe in obeah, I screwed the blade into my razor and used it several times to shave my leg. Naturally nothing happened as if you are an unbeliever, obeah is ineffective.😁.

On the other hand, I have never had such a string of medical bad luck in my decades on this planet, than over the past week.

I had traveled from my home in Florida to Denver, Colorado, (mile high city) to attend my daughter's award ceremony when a string of medical problems just tek set pon mi.

It all started the day after I arrived, with a front tooth under a bridge breaking and the bridge fell out. 

Well yu know, panic set in as there is no way I cudda smile or tek a picture with missing front teet.😭.

Long story short, I googled dentists nearby and luckily found Dr. Kevin Smith.

He was a godsend, quickly removing the offending tooth, stuffing the bone section under the gum so it wouldn't heal out of shape, then he sutured the gum. He then gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to enhance rapid healing.

I never felt a thing. He was really great but you know it cost an arm and a leg.

How can one survive in the USA without credit cards?

Feeling on top of the world after Dr. Smith's intervention.

Anyway after looking in the mirror I walked to Walgreens across the road to fill the prescription then headed home feeling on top of the world on the sunny  spring morning.

The owner tends her tulips for spring

Well massa dats when the rest of di bad luck chip in. 

I dont know if it was at the pharmacy or the dentist office that I picked up the flu virus.

 Yes, that same wicked one, because for the next three days it was pure chills, no energy and fever. 

Tell you the truth, mi nuh know if it was really the virus, for yu know Denver is called mile high, as its more than 5280 feet above sea level.

Well, when yu get old, all dem little things matter, for according to the experts, the high altitude and thinner air can exaberate pre-existing heart issues, cause fatigue and rapid dehydration.

 Well massa, it look like I got the whole shebang for I was sick like a dawg for the next three days, despite swallowing every drug I could lay my hands on at home and even from the pharmacy.

Fortunately, on the evening of the award ceremony I was feeling much better so happily attended.

That was my whole reason for going to Denver anyway and I was proud as a mother hen and had a great time. 

But the bad luck wasn't finished with me yet, for that night a piece a belly ache and belly works land pon mi yu si!😡

Long story short, I searched down the house next day and found some Pepto Bismal which did the trick and had one whole good day after that.

Its really great to descend from the mile high though and return home. 

I don't see myself heading that way again anytime soon.

Despite all the crosses, I am happy that I was able to make it to the award ceremony though.😊

Keep soaring Michele.

Link: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/04/living-her-dream.html?m=1.

Living her dream👍

 I am not allowed to forget how I reacted when my daughter first told me she wanted to become a teacher. For all I could think of was how badly paid they were. But to her, it was a family tradition which she would be carrying on.

She received this award on her daughter's birthday! 

And now she has broken many barriers by being named Educator of the Year, twice in 10 years! 

When I was in Colorado for Christmas, she got the news and was in shock as she never dreamed anyone was so rewarded more than once in a lifetime.

But she did it.

When Michele first gave up her stint in the hotel industry to get a teacher's license, her first school was with Coyote Hill Elementary in an upscale and very racist suburb of Denver. (Anonymous racist graffiti often appeared at some homes and even decapitated rabbits were occasionally strewn on vehicles😡).

There she was the only non-white teacher on staff and naturally there were not 

many minorities, but she felt called to become a role model for the few non- white kids there. 

 That's where she was first named Educator of the Year.

In Colorado, schools get resources from property taxes, so the poorer a neighborhood is, the more neglected their schools are. 

Seeing how many children were being left behind in the poorer neighborhoods, she got a transfer and headed for an Elementary School in a high poverty area of Aurora. 

There they have homeless kids, orphans and on and on.

When you listen to her passionate stories about the challenges being faced by families in this kind of environment, you know that's where she will be staying.

A past student hugs her former teacher. She hopes to become a teacher too.

Even after she earned her PhD after years of hard work, she insisted that neither going into administration nor seeking tenure at a university, were her calling so she was staying right where she was needed.

That's commitment, thats focus👏.

That's what she saw on the tv screen in her classroom when she returned to school !
👏

Link:

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/04/bad-luck-and-obeah.html?m=1

Confluence park

Denver and in fact most of Colorado, is great for people who love the outdoors. Especially now that global warming is being manifested there!

 I couldn't believe the day would come when I would be driving around in Denver with the car window down in January!!!!

Our trusty car covered in stickers,😁

The Colorado state government is also committed to facilitating their outdoor lovers and one nice park developed with this in mind is Confluence Park.

This was once a rundown area with numerous abandoned warehouses which had become a favorite haunt for hobos and homeless people.

The bicycle display area in the store

.

Inside a once abandoned warehouse which is now a coop for sports equipment .

One former warehouse building is today a huge coop, where both new and used outdoor gear is sold. 

It's located in downtown Denver where the  South Platte River and Cherry Creek converge.

Section of downtown Denver in the background.

 

A tower next door to the park

The entire renovated area has been a well-used recreation park for families, sightseeing, sun worshippers cyclists, etc since 1975,  when it was converted by the city.

However rumor has it that to prepare it for redevelopment, the homeless and people of unsound mind who previously hung out there, were scared into moving through physical violence and murder. 

Social media activist practicing their craft?

Lovely sculpture at entrance. 

Lookout mountain, Colorado

 As snow on the plains this Christmas and New Year has been scarce to say the least, we took a run to Lookout Mountain, about an hour from Denver, to get a view of some of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in Colorado and hike the trail.

This is a prominent foothill west of the city of Golden.  It's an official state Park right beside the museum  of the poplar folk hero Buffalo Bill Cody and loved by cyclists and hikers.

Although I don't take chances with Colorado weather and wore my thickest coat for surety, I certainly never needed it as we were able to actually drive around with windows down and even had to quickly  peel off some layers, once we started hiking.

Section of city of Golden below

Picnic area

Herd of  elk feed on the hillside 

The area is a haven for cyclists

Buffalo Bill Museum 

Well maintained hiking trails

Snow capped mountain in the distance 

Taking a rest?

The area is replete with cyclists. 

As a cyclist myself what stood out were the signs declaring that one full lane of the two-laned roads were reserved for cyclists!!

What a lovely right to have as a rider.

I had to abandon this thick coat as soon as we started walking.

Climate change seems to have affected Colorado more than anywhere else I have been in the last few years.