I have mentioned before my long-standing membership in the Dull Men’s Club. Still, I am guessing that some of you might consider my involvement as something frivolous……..NOT AT ALL. Rest assured, we DMC’ers deal with real life on the front lines. Here is a case in point, an article taken from the club’s most recent monthly newsletter..                                 **********************                   ..read more

              Chances are today's post will be something different than it was when it first appeared all those years ago. After all, the travels and memories the two of us shared in those days have become the memories I alone remember. And too, the available armchair possibilities have expanded perhaps ten fold since then. Still, the lure of places to see and know remains as strong as ever.                                   ..read more

      It’s funny, isn’t it……how so many of our life experiences have two sides to them……the good and the bad, the hopeful and the depressing. Just a week ago I was on these pages preaching about the need to be grateful. And here I am today dwelling on what might be considered the other side of that coin. Near as I can tell my rather abrupt change of course was spawned by continuing thoughts of an earlier cancer diagnosis, and the resulting treatment…….thoughts that were quite different than the ones I addressed in my Attitude of Gratitude piece. Life is that way, you know. So ..read more

It’s all in our head Hey, we’re not kids you know. We’re adults, some of us very mature adults. We’ve known about the facts of life for a long time…..long enough to know that those 'facts' come in more than one version. How about this fact? Simply put, we live life in our head, in our mind. It was that way as experience-seeking adolescents, learning to cope with an exciting new world. And it is still that way today, after all the miles we’ve traveled. By October and November we realize how much of our life's journey…..mental, emotional, and spiritual.…..has been played out in our mind. If th ..read more

  It is fair to ask what keeps me returning to these blog pages. After all, I’m the guy who sometimes tells himself that it’s time to head for the sidelines, that I’ve run out of October (and November) things to say. Yet  at least so far, it seems like every time I get in that space something like the following bit of elder wisdom has me thinking second thoughts.  “For people like me the notion that ‘old age is a time to dial it down and play it safe’ is a cop-out. Those of us who are still able to do so should be raising a bit of hell on behalf of whatever we care about ..read more

  Here I am, remembering again……something I’ve been doing lately. And you know, it seems to me that some of my fondest memories are those of lessons learned. Today’s recollection is a prime example of that. So, what am I remembering today…..and what lesson did it teach me? Well, if you are my age you too will remember The Lone Ranger and Silver, Roy Rogers and Trigger, and Gene Autry and Champion. But do you remember Gil and Star? True story…..I was 33 years old. I had bought a ranch, 1,400 acres in the Oregon Outback. We had moved our family there, stocked it with cattle and their calv ..read more

Hey, it’s okay, you know. I happen to be in a remembering mode, in a remembering time of life. With that comes the luxury of revisiting, and reliving, some of the special moments I have experienced……moments I remember. In particular, I have recently been remembering some of our family travels, and the recollections we brought home with us. You know that feeling, don’t you? All of us, no matter what our age, like to remember. Of course, we realize that we ought not live in that space permanently, but it is a nice place to visit from time to time. For me, this is one of those times. So ..read more

  BACK TO OUR OWN FUTURE     Perhaps like you, Roma and I saw the Mona Lisa hanging there in its place of honor in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Our modest world travels had included a pilgrimage to what some accept as the world’s most perfect painting. We had been there and done that. So what did we have to show for it? Truth to tell, our personal rendezvous with Leonardo’s masterpiece was a rather hurried moment, played out in a shoulder to shoulder crowd….all of whom were straining to capture a glimpse of the prize. As I recall, in my artistically-illiterate eyes Mona was a ..read more

                 THE RESULTS…in living color If you are like me, there are moments when you find yourself looking back on earlier times. Of course, we tell ourselves we cannot live in that past, yet at the same time it can be hard to ignore the stash of recollections we have stored in the dark corners of our mind……at least some of which we do not want to leave behind. Since this site has always been titled a “writer’s blog’……and since I get to be that “writer”……..today’s post will shine a blatantly self-indulgent light on what I choose to reme ..read more

  Have you ever wondered what it is that makes the old folks, I mean the ‘really old’ folks, the way they are? Though you may have created theories of your own, it seems to me the following outline is a ‘spot on’ depiction of their history…..and the special time they, my generation, have been blessed to experience. I’m pretty sure that October/November/December folks will see themselves here. Hopefully our children and grandchildren will take a few minutes to digest the reality that made us old timers the way we are, and why we sometimes struggle to make sense of today’s world. Toda ..read more