Do things really go wrong at the exact, most inconvenient time possible? It seems that way in my life, even though statistically, that seems improbable. Why just today, as I was getting ready to walk out the door, my son called and told me that his car stopped running. What are the odds? I was …
My family owned various dogs, cats, hamsters, and guinea pigs over the years. There were two cats, Cinnamon and Blackie, Christie the short haired pointer, and Scamp the mutt. The most memorable of animals to me was a neighborhood mongrel dog named Spike. Spike was a largish, black and brown, thick furred dog of questionable breeding. …
Spike was a Dog Amongst Dogs and a Friend to Every Man Read More »
I recently happened upon a sonnet entitled “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. About half way through, I realized that it was the same poem engraved on the plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. It is pasted below for your reading pleasure, along with my commentary Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering …
In the past few years, mainly since I have retired, I’ve felt myself sucked into the world of jazz. Oh, I’ve always been mildly attracted to it, mainly from the more jazzy side of rock music. Bands like Steely Dan have a pseudo jazzy feel, but I have since found out that the band is …
Listening to some old John Prine tunes on my streaming service and my mind drifts back to my late teenage years. I was an aspiring musician, albeit with a minuscule amount of talent. I had hooked up with an older guitar player and singer, who had taken me under his wing as a side man. …
How do others perceive me? I would probably never go so far as to say “Tell me what you really think” due to the fear that they might actually do so. I certainly know how I want others to perceive me, and have a mental picture of myself which is almost certainly distorted by my …
Truth be told, I am not a crook. My brief encounter with crookedness occurred when I was about eight years old. Thankfully, the benevolent powers that be did not send me off to reform school for my heinous crime. On the corner of Crescendoe Road and Perry Street, there was a marvelous little mom-and-pop butcher shop …
As I enter my sixth decade of life, I begin to wonder about my legacy. We probably all do a bit of this as we see our friends and classmates pass into the great beyond. Some even write their own obituary in hopes that they will be remembered in a positive light. Just today I …
Being an old retired guy with lots of friends and family that seem to be increasingly confused by technological, political, and societal change, I have begun to wonder. What do I wonder about? How will they all survive after I am gone. I know it seems like nonsense, since obviously life will go on and …
We had little understanding of the challenges we would face in circumnavigating our home town in the vessel that we had assembled. Vaughn’s Creek was a well known entity wherein we had fished, swam, and even attempted to jump a 3 speed Schwinn stingray bicycle over the majestic waters. Little could our tiny minds comprehend …
