Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moo/… Read full post »

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moo/… Read full post »

I’ll be seventy next month and it seems like this presidential race was going on when I was born.  Everyone must be exhausted; candidates and voters alike.  Is anyone looking forward to the next debate other than the media whose livelihood depends on the ratings for survival?

What… Read full post »

I’ll be seventy next month and it seems like this presidential race was going on when I was born.  Everyone must be exhausted; candidates and voters alike.  Is anyone looking forward to the next debate other than the media whose livelihood depends on the ratings for survival?

What… Read full post »

Sometimes trouble comes from so many angles that it is hard to gain perspective.  It’s been that way at our house for some time.  To try to gain some feeling of control over the situation I’ve tried to manage stress by looking at things in two ways. 

First,… Read full post »

The 2012 general election is looming and the stakes for the GOP could not be higher this November.  This may be their last chance to retain control over government now and in the future.

Republicans talk about the U.S. facing a fiscal cliff, but that is a smoke screen. Republicans… Read full post »

Read full post »

You’ve seen them.  You may be one.  They’re the wonderfully odd people who work in bookstores.  They fit into all kinds of categories of strange.  Often somewhat introverted they come to life when they start to talk about books, or music, or movies on DVD.  They o/… Read full post »

Evangelistic Christian ministers have railed against the imposition of Sharia Law in the United States.  Politicians have picked up on this concern in states like Oklahoma where in 2010 the state legislature voted by over a 2/3 majority to amend the state constitution to ban not only &ld… Read full post »

http://http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/republican-conventi...

This week the news has been about the "foot-in-the-mouth" comments of Republican Congressman Todd Akin about a clueless understanding of rape and biology.  In his comments Todd suggested that in "legitimate rape" the body… Read full post »

It’s been unseasonably cool and rainy here.  In the middle of August we are leaving the doors open during a time that the house is typically closed with the air conditioning running.  Last winter was warm and spring came early.  So, is this evidence of global warming?  Not n… Read full post »

~It’s Not Easy Being Green ~

“It's not easy being green

It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things

And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're

Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water

Or stars in the sky”… Read full post »

It could have been much worse, twice.  I have never been shot or shot at (excluding combat) and feel fortunate.  However, I have had a couple of close calls.

Tired and desperate as any parent is after rocking a sick child who won’t stop crying, I set off for the… Read full post »

A decade or so ago we decided that we had owned our last dog. We had had a number of pets over the years, including cats and dogs and an African Gray Parrot.  At the time we made the decision to give our dog up we were both busy… Read full post »

Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee are famous for producing monumental works of fiction; Gone with the Wind, and To Kill a Mockingbird.  It is also true that these were the only novels that they produced. It seems that those two works took all of the creative effort that the authors had,… Read full post »

If you are a musician you will be familiar with the "cycle of fifths".  If not it doesn't matter, you will enjoy the songs that use that form.  Much of the music of the vaudevill era played out of multiple chords in a given key. 

Here's a classic example,… Read full post »

In 2000 I did a really stupid thing.  I voted on a single issue; gun control.  How an otherwise clear thinking person voted for a presidential candidate who many think, myself included, was one of the worst presidents in U.S. History, requires some explanation.

I was born and raised… Read full post »

Despite the fact that we have an African American president, despite the fact that America has been declared a post-racial society, among liberals, among people who consider themselves liberated, racism is the elephant in the room.  For some, comfortable with the knowledge t/… Read full post »

Today, I took the dog for a walk and had that feeling that a thunderstorm was coming.  The sky had become overcast and a breeze kicked up.  It’s hard to define how the breeze coming ahead of a rainstorm is different, but it feels different and smells different.

I had… Read full post »

Not very long ago I noticed that a pair of rubber boots that I had only been able to pull on over my calves with effort now slipped on with ease.  I carefully inspected the boots.  There had to be a rip in the side.  Nothing was wrong.  My calves had… Read full post »

As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day in the U.S. it is useful to think about what it means to be an American.  Particularly, we should look at what it is to be a patriot.

  Shooting off fireworks, praising our “American exceptionalism”, flying the flag and decorating with/… Read full post »

What would I say in my final Tweet?  The question is purely theoretical since I don't tweet.  At best the information sent out to the Twittersphere sounds like brain droppings; at worst they can cause irreperable damage.

I'm thinking about James Lipton's question #10 on the Actor's… Read full post »

Junior High (grades 7-9)

My junior high years – 1953-56 – were spent in a great sprawling three story building that had been struck by a tornado in 1911 and had had a fire sometime later that made the 3^rd floor unsafe and closed.  The façade was ornate. … Read full post »

The Fifties for me encompassed the period from the 3^rd grade through High School.  It was an era which saw the transition from radio to television.  It was a time of buzz cuts and blue jeans, hoop skirts and hula hoops. 

This was a period when I learned to swim… Read full post »

Tulsa, the War Years, and the move to Ft. Smith

Born toward the end of 1942, I was only seven when the Forties were over.  Consequently, my memories are like snapshots of events; events that were significant in my life for some reason.

My earliest memories are… Read full post »