Living Out Loud
"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
E.M Forster
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Twenty Sublime Moments

Keeping it positive for #WeblogPoMo2024. Everyone has their favorite moments, their favorite memories. These are mine. None of them are particularly monumental and thankfully some of them are downright commonplace. Lucky me. Twenty Favorites 1. The sound of my grandkid's feet running up the sidewalk to see who can get to our front door first 2. Unexpectedly hearing a Beatles song because I know the lyrics to just about all of them and I can sing along 3. The way I feel when I get on an airplane to go on a trip (if it's on time that is) 4....
May 4th, 2024 WeblogPoMo2024

Feeding Children

One of my recent pleasures is perusing old blog posts from when I used to sit at my desk in the family dining room in the days before I had a laptop and write stories about my children, a constant source of inspiration and entertainment in those more innocent times. They all grew up to be pretty awesome, so they are still inspiring but starting a business, getting massive promotions or conquering the frozen north aren't as funny as the stuff they did as adolescents. We didn't have a ton of money in those days, so having little people to...
May 3rd, 2024 WeblogPoMo2024

Making an /Interests Page

On the first day of #WeblogPoMo2024, I read as many entries as I could find. The one that made the biggest impact was by Chris Burnell about the addition of an /Interests page to personal blogs. I read it during the first part of my lunch break and during the second part I created the page and added it to my blog's navigation at Micro.blog. For today's contribution to the challenge, I'm sharing and expanding on that in hopes of finding some kindred spirits out there. -  Apple technology. I supported Apple computers and devices by the thousands in...
May 2nd, 2024 WeblogPoMo2024

A Treatise on Office Decorations

I love to look at the items people use to personalize their offices.  It seems everyone has some sort of statement to make whether they realize it or not. Even the absence of a personal touch says something. I’ll admit what is said in the office decorating language is sometimes foreign to my ears. Still, with a little close observation, I fell a lot can be learned. You are dealing with a man who practices cultural anthropology by staring at the contents of other people’s grocery baskets at the supermarket. The most common decorations in the offices of men I...
May 1st, 2024 WeblogPoMo2024

My Retirement Disaster

WhyIn 2020, after 27 years working for the state of North Carolina, I decided to retire. I'd spent seven years as a correctional officer working in a medium security prison while in my twenties, taken a break from state employment and then taken an IT job in the school system for the next 20 years. I was only 55 at the time, but pension eligible. I was coming off having both of my arthritic knees replaced. The world was shutting down because of the pandemic and changes at my job made me unenthusiastic about returning after lockdown. I submitted my...
April 30th, 2024

Pickled Eggs

Having lived my entire life in the South, I don't know if pickled eggs are a Southern delicacy, or if they are enjoyed nationwide. (Please feel free to leave a comment enlightening me if you wish). These pink poultry pleasures are ubiquitous in gas stations, convenience stores and beer joints down here.  Pickled eggs are fun to make at home. The preparation requires the boiling of a quantity of vinegar creating an aroma that most teenagers and all women find disgusting. I frequently got a lot of disrespectful language tossed my way when I was preparing a fresh batch when...
April 29th, 2024

Bringing It All Back Home

Fifty-nine years ago John Kennedy was less than two years dead. Fifty-eight thousand Americans were alive who later died in Vietnam. The social consciousness that arose from the folk music of the decades early years was transitioning to an electric sound. Someone, certainly not himself, had anointed a funny-haired guy from the upper mid-west as the spokesman for a generation. In the year 2024, when music is about money and marketing contacts, it’s hard to imagine that once there really were artists releasing recordings of poetry set to music.   Last year, Bob Dylan turned 80. Purposefully cryptic, he seems...
April 29th, 2024

If I Was Wise, LOL

My journal prompt for the day was "Are there any words of wisdom you'd like to pass along?" These are my answers: 1. Save money for retirement. 2. If drinking causes you problems, figure out a way to quit, not cut down. 3. Have a bucket list and cross shit off of it. 4. Be curious. 5. Make sure you like your spouse. 6. Stay in contact with your kids. 7. Buy less stuff, go more places. 8. Practice constructive self criticism 9. Identify your prejudices and do your best to get rid of them. 10. Buy used cars
April 25th, 2024

A Once and Future Love?

Getting StartedMost of the photographs I share online were taken during a single manic year stretching from the spring of 2014 into the spring of 2015. During this time, my wife and I spent several thousand dollars on prosumer and then pro full frame cameras and lenses (and tripods, and SD cards, and lens filters and camera bags etc.) Whenever there was "good light", and we weren't at work we were somewhere with our cameras looking for the next shot. We took a great class at the community college taught by our town's preeminent photojournalist. Wonder Woman entered a photo...
April 25th, 2024

I Have Heard Doc Watson

I love history. In my imagination, I’ve watched Alexander lead armies. I’ve stared at Hemingway standing at his office desk over the garage at his Key West home. I can stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial and hear Dr. King’s voice. I love history. The Blind Flat Picker Only once in my life have I witnessed history. I’ve seen one of America’s musical wonders in concert. His name is Doc Watson. One day I’ll tell my grandchildren that I saw him play. I’ll tell them how out of the mountains of Western North Carolina came a blind guitar picker...
April 23rd, 2024

Adventures in Camera land

ADVENTURES IN CAMERA LAND - Crowds can be a good place to get candid shots, or not. On a recent Friday night, we went to see the Easter Bunny and some Green Berets parachute into a sea of over-sugared children, a relatively normal thing in my hometown. I was prepared to get nothing. In 2024, taking any kind of undercover picture of a child gets you an automatic assignment to the creep bin, even if you're not in the least bit creepy, like me. As we headed toward the landing zone, I did manage to quickly get the cooperation of...
April 22nd, 2024

Remembering the 90s - The Video Store

(From my GeoCities blog, 1997) Remember the early days of video rentals? For my first membership I had to pay a $50 deposit as well as a huge membership fee. The selection was poor, since the store had to maintain a VHS and a Beta section. Now video rental services are ubiquitous. Get a prescription filled, rent a movie. Buy gas, rent a movie. Soon it will be, "go to a funeral, rent a movie" or "mail Christmas packages rent a movie."  True to the precepts of Adam Smith, demand has risen, supply has followed and to the chagrin of...
April 21st, 2024

Tacos - A Love Affair

As a kid growing up in North Carolina in the 70's, my Mom's ventures into foreign cuisine were relegated to Chung King Chinese dinners, Chef Boyardee Pizza kits and my all-time favorite, Old El Paso Tacos, made with grated American cheddar, shredded iceberg lettuce and grocery store tomatoes. Those were a huge treat and I didn't mind being the one picked to grate the huge block of cheese from the Piggly Wiggly. We didn't have the ubiquitous taquerias that now populate the south. We didn't even have Taco Bell. These days, given a chance to pick a meal away from...
April 20th, 2024

What it Feels Like to Be 15 Years Sober (Hint - Pretty Damn Good)

Not Cut Out For ThisI should have known from an early age that I was not cut out for the drinking life. I got my first DUI before I got my driver's license at the age of 15, the very first time I ever got behind the wheel after consuming alcohol. This followed the occasion of the first joint I ever bought which resulted in me getting kicked out of junior high school in Jacksonville, NC. By the time I got my second DUI at age 21 I was already on the road to an alcohol aided divorce.  Luckily for...
April 17th, 2024

My 10 Favorite Books

1. A Peoples History of the United States - Howard Zinn - The book that changed my whole world view. I wouldn't be wrong to say I was a different person after I read this at age 35.   2. From Here to Eternity - James Jones - Just a great story of an Army no one really talks about, the pre-WW2 feudal society where enlisted men were basically servants of the officers. 3. Born on the Fourth of July - Ron Kovic - The true story of a gung-ho Marine who learns in the worst way possible what the...
April 16th, 2024
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