When You’re Strange, A repost Don’t you love the Doors? But this isn’t about music, except for one more passing reference. Ray Stevens would be aghast. The song lyrics might as well be, “Everyone is strange in their own way.” For decades now, my wife has said I’m strange. I welcome the epithet as an amusing […]
Mashups–Did them before; let’s do them again. (Mashups–a bit of this and that; often includes snippets from Waiting for Westmoreland [tenth edition] along with other memoir material, AND thoughts or perspectives on writing, thematic observations, etc.) Snippets cut from cold cloth. Allusions and associations. So Cold in China, a Leo Kottke song title. Cold Shot, […]
I’m not a kid anymore–music and events So, I’m going to begin a new series–concerts and other events from long ago. This reminiscence is tame. Others may be a little more intriguing–or risqué. Metropolitan Stadium is long gone. It’s where the Minnesota Twins and the Vikings played decades past. Open air was fine for baseball. […]
Whenever I hear it, the song sends me over the 3rd Avenue bridge in 1973 Minneapolis. Music can trigger place memories. “California Dreamin” puts me in Columbus, Georgia, walking past a music store playing the Mamas and the Papas tune. A weekend pass from nearby Ft. Benning, took me there–as does the song. But I […]
Now and again, one should be offering excerpts from their published works. Waiting for Westmoreland is a memoir that describes how Vietnam became an essential path to my enlightenment–and true happiness. The excerpt below doesn’t really speak to that theme, but it provides a historical perspective on the time and place. It also illustrates the corruption […]
He might have been an NHL star, growing up in Minnesota as he did. But he lived in Minneapolis, not the Iron Range or International Falls, where the stars came from. They had a few more weeks of outdoor ice each winter near the Canadian border. Then too, the kids that grew up to be […]
Where have I been? Another story, another time. Back now–on a more regular basis. Let’s get colorful. We will do more mashups as often as we can. This time it’s Waiting for Westmoreland (WFW) and The Vacation of My Life. The tenth anniversary edition of WFW, a memoir of a 20th century Candide, came out […]
A Toast to Ourselves–4o years this month. We had a very special trip planned. Three countries separated by the North Atlantic. Then the pandemic came. As it happens, we weren’t in our 20s when we married, so we’re retired. For that reason, COVID-19 didn’t hit us as hard as others—for whom we have much sympathy. We […]
Yes, it’s a geometric abstract painting from nearly a 100 years ago. Why is it here? It’s a writing prompt from our Zoom “Tea and Scones Brunch” from a week or so ago. Oddly, but perhaps not surprisingly, no one actually has either the tea or the scones–so far as I know. We will start with […]
There is good news out there–YES, REALLY! I just didn’t have time to find it this month. TOO much going on but I won’t bother you with that. Instead, something I’ve been meaning to do for some time now–post an occasional excerpt from Waiting for Westmoreland. This is from the 2017 Tenth Anniversary Edition. This […]