This year’s Halloween display is one for the books, for sure! I’m afraid I went way over budget, a sort of last hurrah as I turn 65 and am shifted from essentially free healthcare via Medicaid, to rather expensive Medicare. Before this milestone becomes a headstone, I made a final foray into seasonal tchotchke.
At a “No Kings” rally in Fairhope, Alabama on Saturday, 18 October 2025, a 61-year-old-woman in a huge inflatable penis costume, draped in an American flag, carrying a sign reading “No Dick-Tator,” was arrested by police, after refusing to remove the outfit, which authorities deemed “obscene.” Jeana Gamble was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after it took three policemen to wrestle her to the ground and apply the cockring. Errr, handcuffs. There is no reporting on whether pistols were pulled out and cocked. Bystanders suggested the cops had bitten off more than they could chew.
Swifties the world over were gob smacked by the announcement on 26 August 2025 that pop icon Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, were engaged. The couple had been dating for just under two years, a record for Swift, who is noted for the brevity of her entanglements, and the fodder her failed relationships have been for her music career. No date has yet been set for the wedding, but it is not expected to occur before the 2026 Super Bowl, due to her tour commitments and his playing schedule.
Well, we’ve passed Labor Day in the US, the unofficial end to summer, so perhaps a review of the season of bloom and fruitfulness is in order. After a very wet spring, July and August have more or less reverted to form in these climate-change times, coming in considerably drier than was the norm in my youth. With a few notable exceptions, however, the summer enjoyed average to somewhat-below-average temperatures, which made the drought seem less … droughty?
In his new royal biography, “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York,” released 14 August 2025, author Andrew Lownie thoroughly exposes and consistently trashes HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son. Andrew is mercilessly depicted as arrogant, self-serving and in denial about his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In 2021, one of Epstein’s many victims, Virginia Guiffre, brought a civil suit against Andrew, to whom she alleged Epstein had trafficked her at age 17. The suit was settled out of court in March 2022 for a reported $16 million, with a substantial portion of the award to go to Giuffre’s sex trafficking charity.
The Sun’s annual opposition to Pluto (in 2025 extending from July 15 to August 5) cast a bright spotlight (Sun) on themes of death and mortality (Pluto), showcasing the passing of two iconic ‘80s figures, and the unveiling of a memorial to commemorate the passing of a third. On Sunday 20 July, actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, part of the ensemble cast on the megahit “The Cosby Show,” accidentally drowned while on holiday in Costa Rica. On Thursday 24 July, WWE pro wrestler Hulk Hogan died at his home of cardiac arrest. And on Saturday, 19 July, a mural was unveiled in Paris to honor Jazz era American-French dancer, singer and actress Josephine Baker, marking the fiftieth anniversary of her passing.
