Never forget…
15 Years ago today…
A Tale of Two Blogs
A dear relative of mine has a blog which I’ve just begun following. There are significant differences between his and my contributions to the blogosphere:
- His is erudite and engaging while mine is scatterbrained and scattershot.
- He has insight into the workings of our government and culture. I barely know the workings of my household.
- His posts sometimes make the news. I don’t even watch the news.
- His blog has real followers. Mine is followed by people who feel sorry for me and those who are trying to leverage my blog to widen the reach of their own networks—the joke’s on them. There is scant but semi-legitimate evidence that one or two people actually read these ramblings.
- His latest post is an insider’s analysis of the actions of a nationally known figure that could impact all our lives for better or worse. My latest post has two goofy pictures:
You decide: Which is making a more important and indelible contribution to society? I think we all know the answer but let’s keep it to ourselves. I wouldn’t want that poor fellow to be aggrieved by the harsh truth. 😉
Christmas Profile
A multi-talented friend of mine made this sketch about a hundred years ago, give or take fifty. Recently, I unearthed it from deep in my archives. It deserves exposure so that it might perhaps prompt meaningful Christmas reflection for some amidst all the Santas, reindeer, and hyper-consumerism of this faux joyous season.
Like it or not, Jesus is in fact the reason for the season.
May you be blessed by Him this Christmas and always.
Newsletter time!
If you’re reading this blog, perhaps you’d like to subscribe to my newsletter as well. Even though it’s 75% shameless self-promotion, something for which I’m justifiably famous (or infamous—the difference between the two has been lost in these days of ethical and moral ambiguity) there are occasional tidbits to entertain or make you think. For example, in the latest edition, released just this week, there is a mutant lobster story! Where else are you gonna see that?!?
To subscribe, visit the bottom of the welcome page of this blog (for your convenience, you can reach it here) and enter your email address in the box at the end of the article. Hey, it only comes out twice a year. Whaddya got to lose?
That’s all from here for now.
Thanx again (again)
Looks as if I’ve got a tradition going. For the last two years I’ve written Thanksgiving Eve posts listing things I’m thankful for. (See here and here for some background.) Why not keep it up? It’s not like folks will get sick of something that only happens once a year or that I’ll run out of things to be thankful for before I run out of years. Besides, it’s good therapy to take a break and count my blessings.
So, here’s this year’s list of obscure stuff that mean little to others but are a big deal to me:
- Yahweh
- LOML
- The Kids!
- Grandchildren!
- New writing projects
- Still upright
- Still cycling
- Sleepovers
- Vineyard Square Wheelers swan song
- Huge family Thanksgiving celebrations
- Babysitting, even for non-babies
- Family photo book
- My right leg
- Weird lobsters
- Father-Daughter Shopping Day
- My bench on Edgartown Harbor
- Trekking poles
- Single-story living
- Helpful friends and relatives
- Simplifying life
- Memory Box
- Supper & Study
- Adventures
- Max and Leo’s
- Cycling partners
- Summer Street Grocers
- Pompano Beach Club
- Pressed Cafe
- Chelmsford Center for the Arts
- Puttshack
- Bar Harbor with the whole gang
- Problem solving lunches
- Surprise drop-ins
- Surprise run-ins (Acadia, Cafe12, Java Room, etc.)
- BFRT extension
- Solar eclipse road trip
- Salt Rock Chocolates
- Vineyard Square Hotel and (especially) Suites
- 13 MPH
- House phones
- Dewey
- Better World Club
- Scrolled
- James & Peter
- Clam runs
- Talented friends like Jerry
- The Bike Shop
- Brief getaways to MV
- The John Alden and The Original
- Salted peanut butter/butterscotch cookies
- Sunday connections with a Jive Turkey
- One last meal on Pater
- Sunsets
- The Bike Ferry
- Elizabeth Warren
- Fried chicken sandwiches
- Generous people
- Lessons and Carols
- Francis Collins
- Ad blockers
- Tello
- Whoonu
- The Holderness family
- New rail trails
- Don’s encouragement
- The remnant who refuse to bow to a false idol
- Gingerbread houses
- Faith… in things unseen
- Hope… when there seems to be little reason to
- Love… the greatest of these
Sorry. I usually list a couple dozen items but I got carried away. Y’know, I could go on and on with things we normally take for granted like sunsets, music, my car, an abundance of quality food, potable water on tap, climate control, waves, hugs, friendship, memories, pizza, light, ad infinitum. But there aren’t enough electrons to cover everything to be thankful for. They come at us fast and glorious. Don’t miss a single one.
God bless you.
The place to run out of gas…
A BlogSnax© post
No time for a full length post but here’s a picture worth checking out. If you ever run out of gas on a quiet country road, this is the one you want to be on.
What’s this pump doing in the middle of nowhere? Good question. If you figure it out, tell me. Also, if you can identify the location, put it in the comments. I’ll try to come up with a prize for the first person who comes close. General or specific is fine. Hint: It truly is in the middle of nowhere… or at least on the outskirts of it.
Mexico is building a wall!
As one of her first moves as Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum has declared that she plans to build a wall along the border with the USA and she expects them to pay for it.
“We proud Mexican citizens are tired of all these people coming from the US ruining our country. They send rapists, mentally ill, liars, felons, misogynists, sexual predators, and bigots. Admittedly, the only person fitting all those descriptions is the newly elected president of that morally bankrupt country. But with that buffoon in charge, can more like him be far behind? Stay out of our country! They’ve never even had a woman running the joint. How backwards is that? Hello, losers! It’s the 21st century!”
They’re eating the Taco Bells!
That’s not all that concerns her. She continued, “As if all that weren’t enough, they’re going to come down here and try to open up Taco Bells. Taco Bell!! In Mexico! Are they kidding? Why not open a Red Lobster in Maine? Or Papa John’s in Naples? We’re Mexican! We know how Mexican food is supposed to taste and that ain’t it!”
She concluded by declaring, “Keep your crappy food and your corrupt leaders and their reprehensible ways out of Mexico. Stay behind that wall and pay up when the bill comes!”
Two candidates…
One of the candidates…
…has promised us we’ll never have to (read: “get to”) vote again.
…has already fomented an attempted coup, which he later called a “love fest”. Six people lost their lives and 174 police were injured in the love fest.
…sat watching TV while everyone around him begged him to call off his mob of supporters who were on a rampage in the Capitol threatening to hang his Vice President.
…has threatened military action against his opponents.
…agreed with a supporter who told him that nuclear war isn’t so bad because Hiroshima and Nagasaki are back.
…suggested one of his opponents should stand before a firing squad.
…claims to know more than anyone about technology, drones, courts, campaign finance, TV ratings, ISIS, social media, trade, visas, renewable energy, taxes, debt, money, borders, Democrats, the economy, and a whole lot more. But he knows nothing about his own party’s Project 2025, David Duke or white supremacy, or the Proud Boys.
…repeats unsubstantiated stories he reads on social media and never recants when they are proven false.
…has been selling sneakers, coins, bibles, crypto, watches, and a whole lot more while campaigning.
…has been convicted of 34 felonies and lost many civil cases, being fined hundreds of millions of dollars.
The other candidate…
…is a woman. The US has had as many female leaders as the Taliban.
Goodbye, Teri…
Yesterday, entertainment lost a massive and not-nearly-appreciated-enough talent. Teri Garr was a brilliant actor. Although mostly known for her comedic roles–“Mr. Mom”, “Tootsie”, and “Young Frankenstein” among them–I first discovered her in a small but decidedly dramatic part in the 1974 masterpiece, “The Conversation”. That aspect of her gift was equally on display in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The Black Stallion”. To understand the respect she must have garnered in the industry, you need look no further than the impressive roster of directors who cast her: Coppola, Spielberg, Hughes, Pollack, Brooks. The list goes on.
Her loss hit me at home not only because I’m a huge fan of her body of work but because the cause of her death was a supposedly non-fatal “scum-sucking pig of a disease” (her words), multiple sclerosis, which I also have. It makes me cherish each day more and trust God more for the future.
Well, I mean… So…
Everyone has verbal tics that pepper their conversation. There’s no shame in that. The two most prevalent in my speech are “I mean”—this happens to be a favorite among professional athletes as well, so I’m in good company—and “well”. The latter, I’ve noticed, is most often the opening of (too) many of my sentences. (The other common sentence kickoff is the useless syllable “so”. Pay attention and you’ll hear it everywhere.) It’s always been a mystery why I start so many of my statements with “well”.
Until now.
Like so many Boomers, I grew up on innocent, quaint, simple, yet outrageously funny TV fare such as “The Andy Griffith Show”, “The Dick van Dyke Show”, and the Citizen Kane of 60’s sitcoms, “Leave it to Beaver”. It was mostly in syndication by the time I came to truly appreciate it. I appreciate it even more now. While LitB (as us trendy Boomers call it) has been mostly written off as hopelessly naive, simpleminded, and outdated, it remains (to my mind) crazy funny and more edgy than most people give it credit for. Hey, it’s still streaming over 60 years later. That’s gotta count for something.
More to the point… (What was the point, anyway? Oh, yeah!) I was watching LitB a little while back and noticed that both Wally and The Beaver start most of their sentences the same way! To be more precise, they start them with a strangely abbreviated version of the word by saying, “W’l”. It’s not clear why they eliminated the “e” and second “l”. (Or was it the first “l”? No matter.) Perhaps they wanted to shorten the dialog so they could use the extra few seconds to shoehorn in another commercial or two.
Regardless, I’m pretty sure I picked up the whole “well”/”w’l” thing from that show. Along with some solid parenting skills and a lot of laughs.
In case you haven’t noticed (you haven’t, have you!) I’m increasing the frequency of these posts. This is neither for lack of anything better to do on my part or a sudden heightened demand on yours. There are just too darn many things in my backlog to write about. And you are my unfortunate victims. Sorry.
Scribbling in the Sand 