October to Year End 2024
Bah Humbug!
Another year has ended,badly for
the world. The outlook for the coming year seems worse. Consequently,
from now on I will try to keep my coments focused on family, except for
the following:
A Rumor - I have heard from a highly unreliable source that before the end of January, Donald Trump and Elon Musk will be on a Space X rocket heading to Mars. On board will be R. Kennedy, serving as the medical officer. If this turns out to be true, remember, you heard it here first.
An Observation - We have long proclaimed the United States as a Christian Nation. This assertion has been intensived by the most unchristion president to ever sit in the White House. Our actions increasingly negate the welfare of the poor as well as our environment, instead, benefiting the extroadingly wealthy. Several days ago, Jimmy Carter died. He was undoubtedly our most christian president. He has been spared having to live through the next 4 years.
The extended Kruck Family in this little part of the world continues to live far better than most Americans and many times better than most of the world. I am being well taken care of here at Laurel Circle. The year end holiday season was non eventful and much quieter than those of past years. The Fritzingers (Lisa) came up (with dinner) on th 23rd while Carla & John joined me for dinner prior to the 8pm Christmas Eve service at Good Shepherd. Phone calls were recived from some of the others. Last nights Times Square event as seen on TV was a dismal event with bad music. the exception being the 10 minutes on CNN surrounding midnight when they stopped all the nonsence, played appropriate music including "America the Beautiful". The focus on the masses in the square, people of all colors, appearing joyfully bonding with each other was very moving.
More coming later, maybe.
A Rumor - I have heard from a highly unreliable source that before the end of January, Donald Trump and Elon Musk will be on a Space X rocket heading to Mars. On board will be R. Kennedy, serving as the medical officer. If this turns out to be true, remember, you heard it here first.
An Observation - We have long proclaimed the United States as a Christian Nation. This assertion has been intensived by the most unchristion president to ever sit in the White House. Our actions increasingly negate the welfare of the poor as well as our environment, instead, benefiting the extroadingly wealthy. Several days ago, Jimmy Carter died. He was undoubtedly our most christian president. He has been spared having to live through the next 4 years.
The extended Kruck Family in this little part of the world continues to live far better than most Americans and many times better than most of the world. I am being well taken care of here at Laurel Circle. The year end holiday season was non eventful and much quieter than those of past years. The Fritzingers (Lisa) came up (with dinner) on th 23rd while Carla & John joined me for dinner prior to the 8pm Christmas Eve service at Good Shepherd. Phone calls were recived from some of the others. Last nights Times Square event as seen on TV was a dismal event with bad music. the exception being the 10 minutes on CNN surrounding midnight when they stopped all the nonsence, played appropriate music including "America the Beautiful". The focus on the masses in the square, people of all colors, appearing joyfully bonding with each other was very moving.
More coming later, maybe.
June to September 2024
Nature's Fury and Humanity's
Inhumanity continues devestate most o the world. Yet, in our little
corner of the world, we Krucks have been blessedly sheltered from most
of these misfortunes. The oceans have not come to our doorsteps,
droughts have been elsewhere, as have been flooding rains and
wildfires. Terrorists and Gun Crazies have remained at a distance. Why
have we been excluded and for how long?
The last four months have seen me get older and my doctors are continuing to retire. The outside entertinment is limited according to my taste. Fred Moyer , the classical jazz reproducer was here again as was the jazz pianist prodigy Leanike Scheubele. Meanwhile, PBS continues to broadcast recent productions from the Metropolitan Opera.
Closing on a positive note, I am happy to see that the LA Dodgers have again captured the NL West and will go on to win the world series. Finally, a photo of the Boston side of the family.
left to right, The Meyer family wiyh John holding Lily, Ford in front and then Lauren behind Isabella. Tante Alex is in the middel holding Skyler Mancini with Lindsay and Garret behind Kira & Chase
The last four months have seen me get older and my doctors are continuing to retire. The outside entertinment is limited according to my taste. Fred Moyer , the classical jazz reproducer was here again as was the jazz pianist prodigy Leanike Scheubele. Meanwhile, PBS continues to broadcast recent productions from the Metropolitan Opera.
Closing on a positive note, I am happy to see that the LA Dodgers have again captured the NL West and will go on to win the world series. Finally, a photo of the Boston side of the family.
left to right, The Meyer family wiyh John holding Lily, Ford in front and then Lauren behind Isabella. Tante Alex is in the middel holding Skyler Mancini with Lindsay and Garret behind Kira & Chase
First five months of 2024
Jetzt habbe ich binah schon weider alles in ortnung.. Earlier in the year, I was almost there when it appeared
my computer died. After extensive efforts to get it up, I contacted the
asian idiots at DELL. They tried the same things that I did and
concluded I needed to send them the computer (a two week process). I
hesitated, but reconstructed most of my importand files and programs to
Evelyn's old laptop, meanwhile periodically trying to reseruct the
desktop. Carla came by for a visit during this period. Even though the
monitor flickered through early stages of startup, we agreed that as a
last resort, she would bring up one of her monitors. two days later,
after swapping in her monitor, my desktop was back. On May 15 my new
BIG Samsung monitor arrived. However, what should have been easy,
created an unexpected complication. The high definitiom pixel
capabilities of the Samsung screwed up the monitor settings of all my
old applications. Diffrent Apps require different resolutions. I have
yet to find common ground, so in order to move forward, I am flipping
between screen sizes using Microsoft Magnifier. Speaking of skipping around, I am continuing to bounce from doctor to doctor. The worst is the dentist who has been taking forever to cap several of my teeth.which seems to be a waste of time and money. However, I guess I have the money but at my age I am running out of time. I'll try to smile when I die! Meanwhile, the girls and their family members stope by periodically. Werner E. bounced in January 10 on the last leg of a business trip. While I am definately feeling my age, I am still mobile enough to get to all the places I need to get to, including church on Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday with Carla. Both services were at a civilized eleven pm.
So, all-in-all, everything is probably better than can be expected as I am settled in my new home. The two photos below show the entertainment center in my living room and "World Headquarters" for Kruck.com in my office.
Actually, the highlight of this period was the birth of Jeffrey's sixth grandchild, Kira Blake Mancini, on March first.
First Half of 2023
Six months had passed since my first attempt at a
2023 posting. There were three reasons for the delay (not including the
fact that I am getting old and tired). First of all, Ev's passing
created a great deal of paperwork. Just when it appeared that I had
everything under control, my computer was hacked. This caused even more
work, ie changing credit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts,
along with all the associated passwords and negating fraudlent charges.
Finally after cleaning this all up I remained uneasy, therefore, I
replaced my four year old computer. This move was complicated because I
didn't want to do a large scale transfer from to old machine but
instead reloaded and updated programs as well as bring in my data from
secure backups. So halfway through the year I was back to where I
started. However, without a wife of 67 years and another 180 days on an
old body.
But, how could I complain. I have been abundedly blessed by a LOVING GOD, for 90 years.Even today, as the world swirls in various stages of chaos, I and my family are relatively secure. So at this point, I continue reorganizing and gettig rid of "stuff". Thereafter, I expect to sell the house and move into senior housing. Meanwhile, the girls come by regularly, I get to Costco, Shop-Rite, the pharmacy and of course my doctors.
On April 1 we had a wonderful Memorial Servive for Evelyn and buried her ashes in the church's Memorial Garden.
All the children and grandchildren were there. Emma and Taylor sang
solos and our minister substituted one of Evelyn's old sermons (on
Love) instead of her own offering. It was very moving. The group
picture below was taken at the Canal Walk clubhouse after the service.
All nine granddaughter are shown along with spouses and or partners.
See if you can identify all!
But, how could I complain. I have been abundedly blessed by a LOVING GOD, for 90 years.Even today, as the world swirls in various stages of chaos, I and my family are relatively secure. So at this point, I continue reorganizing and gettig rid of "stuff". Thereafter, I expect to sell the house and move into senior housing. Meanwhile, the girls come by regularly, I get to Costco, Shop-Rite, the pharmacy and of course my doctors.
On April 1 we had a wonderful Memorial Servive for Evelyn and buried her ashes in the church's Memorial Garden.
I hope to get more pictures into the Photos/USA Family section.
Second Half of 2023
OK, I'm trying to get back. The third
quarter moved along similiary to the prior period. I was making good
progress clearing out many years of posessions, especially Evelyn's
clothes. Shelves of books were donated to a charity and the girls
sorted through everything to select furnature and other "stuff" they
would eventually be taking home. With Elise's help, I was able to
organize the photo albumns to "a manageable 18 tomes". Additionally, I
consolidated the relivent historical information into my office files.The
remainder, that did not seem worth keeping, (such as an old Kruck bible
which was falling apart as well as repayment receipts on loans that the
Doffeks repaid for their land) was stowed into three large boxes. They
are presently stored at the Fritzingers, similar to the "Lost Ark of
Indiana Jones in a dark CIA vault". Anyone interested in viewing or
aquiring all or parts is welcome to do so.
Perhaps the only noteworthy event in July was my 90th birthday, which passed with a minimum of fanfare. Lisa, Carla and their spouses came for lunch at Pheasants Landing several days after and Elise & Emma stopped by a week later.
August came and went, as did the first part of September. I had already contacted Laural Circle, a senior residental facility, realizing that the time had come to sell the house and move to a maintenance free place that would feed me. The move was accelerated at 11pm September 12 when I fell. I was unable to get up, laying on my stomach for 22hours before I was discovered and taken to the hospital. Four days later I was moved into Laural Circle Rehab and after another four days into my present apartment. The process of moving, empting the house, getting it ready to sell, etc, fell largely to my girls and their families. (the house was sold on March 8th).
The remainder of the year was largely spent organizing my new apartment. The "in house" internet and cable are not the state of the art and under the control of the overworked head of building maintanance. My two entertainment systems from Canal Walk had to be combined through a single reciever. It was almost twenty years ago that I assembled the old setup and I was not there when it was pulled apart. This, combined with my inability get down on my knees behind the components along with my failed memory regarding the incorrect manual resulted in a painful reinstallation. Meanwhile the computer was still giving me grief including all the address changes in the online apps and the paper world. On top of all this, two hours of rehab, three days a week were added to my multiple doctors visits until year end.
Highlighting the year was Sydney and Nolan's wedding on Nov.18. It took place at the NJ shore from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.
Since most of the family was
at the wedding, there was no need for large family gatherings at
Thanksgiving or Christmas. The individual families celerbrated at their
homes. I managed to get to church on Christmas Eve and was visited by
an assortment of girls during the holiday period. The world continued
to go nuts but for us 2023 ended quietly.
Perhaps the only noteworthy event in July was my 90th birthday, which passed with a minimum of fanfare. Lisa, Carla and their spouses came for lunch at Pheasants Landing several days after and Elise & Emma stopped by a week later.
August came and went, as did the first part of September. I had already contacted Laural Circle, a senior residental facility, realizing that the time had come to sell the house and move to a maintenance free place that would feed me. The move was accelerated at 11pm September 12 when I fell. I was unable to get up, laying on my stomach for 22hours before I was discovered and taken to the hospital. Four days later I was moved into Laural Circle Rehab and after another four days into my present apartment. The process of moving, empting the house, getting it ready to sell, etc, fell largely to my girls and their families. (the house was sold on March 8th).
The remainder of the year was largely spent organizing my new apartment. The "in house" internet and cable are not the state of the art and under the control of the overworked head of building maintanance. My two entertainment systems from Canal Walk had to be combined through a single reciever. It was almost twenty years ago that I assembled the old setup and I was not there when it was pulled apart. This, combined with my inability get down on my knees behind the components along with my failed memory regarding the incorrect manual resulted in a painful reinstallation. Meanwhile the computer was still giving me grief including all the address changes in the online apps and the paper world. On top of all this, two hours of rehab, three days a week were added to my multiple doctors visits until year end.
Highlighting the year was Sydney and Nolan's wedding on Nov.18. It took place at the NJ shore from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.