Get Ready

I envision Donald Trump winning the presidency this November. The only way I see him losing is if the GOP establishment forms a third party ticket. That ticket would need to drain about 5 percent of the vote from Trump for Clinton to win the election.

There is no precedent over the past 8 election cycles, according to 538, for the two leading candidates to have such high negatives. Trump's in particular are amazingly high.

Yet negatives are not a bad thing for a candidate like Trump. That many hate and fear him will stoke his base, which is larger than many people realize.

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Dinner With Grandpa

For the first time, Daisy is talking directly to me. She's been pretty shy until now but Laila's weekly visits are helping her become more comfortable with me. Luca read several books to Sophia and the girls continued their secret language talks. I think Luca may understand their language as well.

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Secret Languages

Sophia (5) and Daisy (2) play a game that sometimes seems to be 'mother and daughter' and sometimes is just 'sisters', which of course they are. As part of these games, they have invented their own language. While it sounds like gibberish to the rest of us, they clearly understand the sounds and their meanings.

Watching them play, I couldn't help but wonder about the origins of language among humans. Maybe this is how it all started? With play? Both girls can speak English and understand French. Yet they still want to invent their own new language.

Fascinating.

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Cover Baby

 Laila and I were looking at some binders last night and we discovered one with some 56 negatives from Dylan's photo shoot for Baby Talk magazine. There are many cute shots there -- they are large format negatives so you can clearly see them even though undeveloped.

Everyone seemed to like the spaghetti I cooked, plus broccoli, tic-tacs, ice cream, strawberries, cookies, biscuits, chips and hot salsa.

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Grandchildren Visit Again

Laila and I have settled on Thursdays as the time she will bring Luca, Sophia and Daisy over for a visit and dinner. This week she brought chicken soup to stay within my dietary restrictions. we had a very nice afternoon and evening together.

Yesterday I drove downtown in the rain for my followup appointment. Everything is healing well and no sign of infection.

Today my friend Tomoko stopped by for tea.

Now I am settling in to watch some political news and baseball...

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Recovery Period

Staying home from work, hoping to recover from the operation on Friday. It's slower than I'd hoped for. I'm weak and tired.

Who's Afraid of Donald Trump?

In recovery mode here after dental surgery. Nice, long talk with Aidan in Missoula. He described his recent trip with Zaira to Glacier National Park. They hiked 13 miles the first day! He also has found a private gym he likes better than the campus gym for his workouts. He's getting all A's and B's in his classes, firmly focused on social work as a career, and looking forward to driving his car home for the summer.

Zaira and Mika (their cat) will sit in the back seat. If the cat can see one of her owners she will be more comfortable, he said.

Talking with him, while we are apart, gives me great comfort. He is such a wonderful young man, with such great perspective. I love him.

***

As usual, I am following the election campaigns, and I have a confession to make. I do not hate or fear Donald Trump. I am starting to get what he is about, I think, and why people like him. It is hard to dismiss a man whose oldest daughter, Ivanka, obviously adores and respects him. And vice versa. There is long piece in today's NYT about her.

I have long found her an enigma. Why would a feminist businesswoman in Manhattan defend a man like Trump? She has her answers.

Among the candidates, I dismiss Cruz as someone who could never win. I like Kasich. I am now okay about Trump. I am okay about Clinton. After talking it all through with Dylan and Julia, my first choice is Sanders.

But, truth be told, none of these candidates excite me, at least not yet.

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