I love birthdays, not because of the attention and praise that it brings, but maybe because it feels like a fresh start, like a clean whiteboard where all the black and red and blue and green marks have been erased, promising new tasks, new projects, new lists, and maybe new adventures. May is the birthday… Continue reading On Birthdays
In between blog posts, a day or two or three goes by and I find myself thinking of all kinds of things to write about … and when I go and sit down to write it, it’s gone. What happened to the facts that were in my mental cache? I think, though, that as I… Continue reading What Happens
So call me a “your grass is greener” kind of guy, that’s fine. Truth is, I’ve always liked the Dodgers except when they were playing (my favorite) the Braves. But that was more back when Hank Aaron was playing. Hank was The Man. Kansas City has rated highly with me, too. I grew up just… Continue reading Artful Dodgers
There comes a time when you have to face the inevitable. It’s not always grand and it’s not always glorious. I have found the need in the past, oh, six months, to occasionally need a walker to be able to get places. Sometimes the walker is useful for lifting my lower back from my hips… Continue reading The Walker
… in Dogpatch, USA, where typical folks do typical things in a typical way.” — from Lil’ Abner, the musical, or an approximation thereof … West Monona (Iowa) high school, freshman year (’75). Actually, I’m not in Dogpatch, and it’s anything but a typical day. Oh yeah, sure, some things were typical. I make a… Continue reading It’s a Typical Day in …
Well then stay out of those places! It’s amazing to me that something can be steady and consistent over the years, and then something changes in our checklist of abilities or behavior — even if we’ve seen it coming for a long time, like gradual changes in our ability to keep balance, our sense of… Continue reading Doctor, my head hurts in three places!
Four days prior, Mr. Aaron had tied Babe Ruth’s career homer record of 714. And now, here it was — April 8, 1974 — and the Braves were appearing on Monday Night Baseball with a game against the Dodgers. Pitching for the Dodgers was their #44, Al Downing. Aaron, coincidentally, was the Braves’ #44. This… Continue reading Move Over Babe, Here Comes Henry
hopped off of the school bus — I had to take the bus because junior high (middle school) was in Blencoe, a town of two hundred people about 8 miles south of Onawa — and began the several-block walk home in the cool spring air blanketed with warm sunshine. I could see, about three blocks… Continue reading On April 4, 1974, I had just cheerfully …
I’m always wary about declaring victory (being a Husker football fan, I’ve found that I can never that victory is certain until the end of the game!). But I think our clash with winter is over — here, but not around the country yet by any means. Y’all out there in California had quite a… Continue reading Spring Has Sprung!
” … the more it stays the same .” At least that’s how I remember the phrase. The rock group RATT used that phrase in a song from an album in around 1984. That was the year I graduated from UNL and found my way to Schenectady, NY, to work for GE and meet the… Continue reading The more life changes …