jjablkowski's blog

I had a great time watching Paris 2024 Olympic events—gymnastics, pole vault, high jump, archery, and swimming. I had to laugh while watching the swimming; at my age of almost 95, I still swim almost daily, but it takes me a leisurely 30 minutes to reach 500 metres. The fine women athletes took less than 4 minutes to swim the 400 metre in their individual medley race. 

The skin is our body’s largest organ. Some of its many roles include protecting against pathogens, storing water and lipids, and controlling water loss by preventing water from escaping by evaporation. The skin has nerve endings that detect and sense temperature, pressure, touch, and pain from injury.[1] Overall, these senses—or sensations—might be considered our skin’s primary functions in that they are key to our survival as individuals and as a social species.

My young friend, all of 2 years and 2 months old, received a nice little balance bicycle from his loving grandfather. Not to be left out of the excitement, and to provide some safety to the little rider, I volunteered to get him a suitable helmet. I didn’t think much about the best color for a helmet; I just ordered one suitable for a small child. A lovely red helmet arrived at my address in a couple of days. I sent a photo to the mom, and before I could repack the helmet, a gracious thank you note arrived: “What a thoughtful gift, wonderful, thank you.

Sunday, 16 June, is Father’s Day. On that day I will raise a glass of fine red wine to celebrate the 2484th birthday of Hippocrates, the Greek physician of ancient times, who is considered to be the father of medicine. 

Dear reader: you may have noticed the placement of the apostrophe in the title of this blog post makes “Mothers” a plural possessive. Anna Jarvis, who in 1905 started the campaign for an official holiday honoring mothers, insisted on keeping “Mother’s” a singular possessive. While she supported celebrating motherhood in general, she wanted to emphasize that each family should celebrate their own mother.[1] The reason for my change is not to diminish celebrations for our own mothers, but to focus on the importance of support systems for new mothers.