Welcome to Issue #287
by Rachel Brandes
Quote of the Week
“It’s one thing to be grateful for what you have; it’s quite another being satisfied.”
– Cat Porter, Author
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
Dear Humans,
While this photo may look like I am either attacking or grooming Belichick, it is neither. The human snapped this photo of us taking a cuddly nap together. I know… awwww.
I am happy to report that ever since the human changed her perspective on Belichick’s oddities, things have been going much better. Wait, is she getting out the scissors and going for Belichick’s paw hair? Oh boy….
Much Love, Brady
Hold on… I (Brady) wouldn’t want to leave you without a laugh from me this week, so… The human bought us this toy when she brought us home as 9-week-old little babies. This has got to be our favorite toy. We both play with it regularly. The human snapped the photo while I was trying to catch the balls spinning around in circles.
Then she managed to find a video from when we were only four months old. She remembers this moment very well. You will see… Needless to say, she quickly rearranged things in the apartment after witnessing my amazing athletic abilities. Hey, she didn’t name me Brady Wilfork Snugglebum Brandes for nothing.
Brady & Belichick are Rachel’s adorable felines. These two cute boys turned two on May 4, 2025.
Random Photo of the Week
This mushroom was found next to a sidewalk along a recent walk. What a fascinating fungus. Photo by Rachel.
Mental Health Minute
Let’s Talk Men’s Health
November is Movember, in which men are encouraged to grow out their beards in support of Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer along with Men’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Mo for Moustache (the British English spelling). Movember continues to be the topic for the Mental Health Minute throughout November. Or should we say ‘Movember.’
All information in this section was found at us.movember.com.
Five things men should know and do when it comes to their health:
- Spend time with people that make you feel good.
- Talk, more.
- Know the numbers.
- Know the nuts. Simple.
- Move, more.
RunDay FunDay
with
Salty Star Run Club
Saturday’s club event included a Salomon shoe demo, a whole lot of people, a 10k route with stops at a couple of bakeries and an ice cream shop along the way, plenty of treats and fun all around.
Rachel is more impressed with each event put on by this club. The first 50 runners to sign up received a free treat at eat stop, others received a discount. Loki Coffee was the meet up spot, there were stops at Avenues on 4th, Eats and Normal Ice Cream before heading back to Loki for more sweets.
Rachel felt a bit sorry for the cars on Saturday. Check out that group waiting for the walk sign… There were even more behind Rachel. Once that walk sign lite up… runners ran until the group was through. Poor cars. What a fun sight though, over 100 people running in a group across a crosswalk.
Luckily, seeing the group seemed to make people smile. They were cheered on by passersby and a couple just parking their car even made a tunnel for a few runners to go through. You know… putting their hands together like kids on a playground. Talk about fun.
What a group, what a day. The photo below is just a portion of the group from Saturday. Rachel looks forward to seeing what they have in store for December.
Be Thankful, We Must
“There is always something to be thankful for.” -Author Unknown
Journeying into a holiday week has Rachel thinking about things she is thankful for in her life. While lately she has tended to focus on the difficulty of things, she is making extra effort to look forward and be thankful for the now. The ‘for now’ isn’t all that bad.
In this week’s My Monday Memo, Rachel will share a few things ‘in the now’ that are making her happy.
To those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this week, Rachel wishes you a happy, healthy day filled with whatever it is your heart desires.
Meet Winston. Does Rachel look far more excited for this photo opportunity than Winston? Maybe so, but Winston is used to people fawning over him while Rachel is just excited to give him a big hug. He is gorgeous, after all. Rachel may have been trying to make it look like she was taking a ride on Winston but may have failed. Either way, look at that massive beauty of a pup.
No, no, no… Rachel did not adopt a big, white, beautiful fur baby. Winston resides at Rachel’s son Alec’s home. His girlfriend, Victoria, brought Winston into the family. Rachel has been itching to take a walk with Winston. Hopefully soon.
Rachel is thankful to have such great work mates throughout the week. Okay, sometimes they drive her absolutely nuts.
For example, exhibit one below… Brady wants to play but Rachel has work to do. His resolution, attempt to steal her keyboard from behind the monitor. He’s lucky he is so cute.
Belichick has the right idea… it must be cozy behind the monitor. Oh, he does his fair share of trying to get Rachel’s attention while she works. He will usually climb onto her lap, which she loves.
Oof, this is a tough photo to share. Rachel realized that she would be writing about her hair donation and that she had yet to take a photo with her ponytail as she has always done with past donations. She rolled out of bed, puffy faced and all, snapped the photo and moved on.
Another reason… her donation looks nothing like her past donations. This ponytail started off amazing. Before the hair was cut, it was a full twelve-inch ponytail. It was straight and healthy, and Rachel was so excited to make her donation. But then…
In a series of unfortunate events… she may have picked the wrong stylist (how was she to know), she may have allowed said stylist to braid her hair before making the cut (this would be a first, but she went with it), and finally, said stylist completely botched the cut.
Rachel could feel it as it happened. The scissors pulled and went an angle. It all happened so fast. The stylist immediately apologized for the incident, as she either saw Rachel’s eyes widen or knew that it was obvious.
When Rachel got home, she unbraided the hair to allow for it to dry faster. It was then she saw the extend of the botch job. While had been excited to donate a twelve-inch ponytail (longer donations are in demand), she lost at least three inches to the botch.
Guess what? She still had a donation for an amazing organization. All is well that ends well. Right? In a few weeks she will need to go see another stylist to fix the trim, as it is wildly uneven. Good thing she usually lives in a ponytail.
What a difference a turn down a new street makes. Rachel was exploring her new area on foot recently and came upon the below bronze sculpture. The open hands are larger than life when standing next to them. What a powerful image. According to the artist’s site, the sculpture was created for all first responders and is sign language for ‘to serve.’
Click on the link below to visit the artist’s site to see additional photos of this sculpture, as well as more information about the piece.
Serve and Protect, 2013 – Greg Ragland
Let us guess… You are thankful you have finally reached the end of this issue, right? If you made it this far, thank you for sticking around. Here is to a wonderful week ahead. Until next time, be well.