“Hello!” I said, as I walked across the lawn. Joe looked over and held out his hand and pulled on his blue stocking cap, “I can’t get this thing to stay on, today.” Irene looked up from where she was wrapping some freeze cloth around one of her exotic plants, and then she stood up […]
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Requirements
Thu, 18 Mar 2010, 11:27 PM (-06:00)
1. Introduction 1.1 Identification. These are requirements your family is levying on you as a condition of their ongoing support of your college education. They constitute a set of deliverables for which we are holding you accountable as part of our continued willingness to shell it out. How about that!? 1.2 Scope. These requirements are […]
GO TO 1425
Wed, 17 Mar 2010, 07:51 PM (-06:00)
1. Fallen Gobbledy-Gook Card I opened a book the other day, in the evening when I was looking for distraction, something other than one of those books over there in that pile by the chair, books that I opened before when I was looking for distraction. A piece of paper fell out. It landed on […]
I Was a Grad Student Once
Wed, 17 Mar 2010, 08:49 AM (-06:00)
I was a grad student once. I believe perennial is the word. Last night I had a dream about it. I was still in school, but it was becoming obvious that I needed to move on. I had flown to Los Angeles, because some people I knew out there had once offered a job interview. […]
Minutiae
Tue, 16 Mar 2010, 09:50 PM (-06:00)
1. Grokking Around. We go walking out to the soccer fields. He’s on a leash, pulling to reach that one magic spot along the chain link fence, that one spot that he always wants to check out. A pole comes between us, and he’s in danger of getting the leash wrapped around it. He stops, […]
Time to Step Away
Wed, 10 Mar 2010, 05:12 PM (-06:00)
The sun is shining. The sky is blue again after a brief rain at noon. A breeze is blowing in thru the window beside me, a window that wasn’t functional a year ago, a glorious breeze coming in here and going out the back. A moment ago I was hot and sweaty. Now it is […]
My Grandmother's Cardinal
Mon, 8 Mar 2010, 08:33 PM (-06:00)
A Cardinal talked to me Sunday morning from the branches of a leafless tree. I was bent over, pitching forks of chipped tree branch mulch into the wheel barrow in a kind of meditative stupor when I heard it singing overhead. Tweeeet. Bit-twoo, bit-twoo, bit-twoo, bit-twoo. The sky was grey, and there was a slight […]
Cookie Guilt
Mon, 8 Mar 2010, 01:14 AM (-06:00)
I know you saw me reaching for the cookie after we finished dinner last night — that half a chocolate chip cookie you saved from lunch. It was wrapped in cellophane, and I struggled to get it out, yet you just kept reading the newspaper and eating your enchilada, ignoring my furtive glances in your […]
Not a Sound in the House
Sat, 6 Mar 2010, 01:02 AM (-06:00)
It’s dark outside. And quiet. Not a sound in the house. Just the dim glow of the lamp beside his bed. He holds a book in his hands on his chest waiting for sleep to come. The chapters go by, but it does not come. He closes the book and sets it on the table. […]
Buying a Car / Not Buying a Car
Wed, 3 Mar 2010, 09:04 PM (-06:00)
I bought a car. Red. Compact. Wagon. Without the ton of features most of them come with. Another VW Jetta. I hated it — buying the car. The negotiating. The trade in. The trips the salesman made back and forth between where we were sitting to some sales manager in the corner. I just hated […]