There’s a new lounge in Syracuse where the main attraction is smoking hookah pipes. The place is called, naturally enough, Hollywood Hookah. This is the kind of thing that makes me smile. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
Longtime readers who might be finding their way back to this blog may wonder what I’ve been doing the last three months and how I’ve been passing the time that I otherwise would have spent posting here. So, here’s a selected listing of things I did on my blogcation: :: I took up swimming. Our local Y has a very nice pool, and as the size of my stomach continued to decrease, I figured it was time to avail myself of it. I’ve always been comfortable swimming, and in fact, one of my great regrets of my misspent youth isDown the rabbit hole….
Ah, Jenny, you saucy wench: Yup, ’twas that time of year again yesterday: our kinda-sorta annual voyage to the Sterling Renaissance Festival. Much fun was had by all, even with a large rainstorm that came through at about 5:00. We ducked into an artisan’s shop and perused the wares closely while the storm expended itself, which took about a half hour, but in the fifteen minutes before the storm, there was a mass exodus of less-than-hardy folk for the gates, owing to the thunder. This was nice in that it made the last hour, and our own departure from theDown the rabbit hole….
I took a break from posting, so I didn’t have any Fourth of July-related content up here on the day in question, but here are a couple of things: :: Isaac Asimov on The Star-Spangled Banner. It wasn’t what I expected, and it’s a good article, even if I still don’t care much for the song. :: I’ve noted before my deep dislike of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”, but it’s the new classic that’s heard on each and every one of our patriotic holidays these days, so I just grind my teeth and get through it. It’s becomeDown the rabbit hole….
My long-time Internet friend Robert John Guttke has been toiling away as a full-time, professional artist in Minneapolis for over thirty years. He’s worked in a number of different media, but his most enduring successes seem to have come from his photography. He specializes in the nude human figure, both male and female, and he’s about to have his first ever public showing of his work at an art gallery, in San Francisco. (He also wrote “When the Bluebird Sings”, one of the most highly regarded episodes of the old CBS fantasy teevee show, Beauty and the Beast.) If IDown the rabbit hole….
Two news stories of personal interest to me happened over the last couple of days. I won’t provide any links, since you can all Google this stuff if you really need to: :: The city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa has suffered massive flooding. I looked at the photos, and my jaw dropped. Cedar Rapids is about ninety minutes down the road from where I went to college, and both towns share the Cedar River, with Waverly being a hundred miles or so upstream. We drove through Cedar Rapids many a time between 1989 and 1993. We never spent a wholeDown the rabbit hole….
Sorry for the lack of content here the last few days, folks, but all through Thursday I felt the unmistakable signs of a head cold coming on, and by Thursday night, it had blossomed into a full-on head cold, complete with sore throat and mucus secretions that could have sunk the Bismarck. I’ll spare you all the details, but suffice it to say this: God bless whoever invented the Neti pot. So, after staggering through Friday feeling like absolute hell (as I noted to my best friend, I, being a guy, tend to behave during routine head colds as ifDown the rabbit hole….
Know, all who see these lines,That this man, by his appetite for honor,By his steadfastness,By his love for his country,By his courage,Was one of the miracles of the God. — Guy Gavriel Kay “The Green Field of France”, by Eric Bogle Well, how do you do, young Willie McBride,Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?And rest for awhile ‘neath the warm summer sun,I’ve been walking all day, and I’m nearly done.I see by your gravestone you were only 19When you joined the great fallen in 1916,I hope you died quick and I hope you died cleanOr,Down the rabbit hole….
It was one year ago today that our second daughter, Fiona Quinn, was born. Her life spanned little more than two hours. How I wish she could have lived the way she was supposed to have lived; she would have had a wonderful big sister to show her the way. I wonder what gifts she would have had and what loves would have been hers. Alas, now she only resides with us as memories of two hours of life in a hospital room, of memories of dreams, and as precious ashes we keep in a music box. “On My FirstDown the rabbit hole….
And how do I know that I had a good day? Because I helped out a family today. All those babies couldn’t get themselves up onto that curb; they’d jump up but fall back down. A minute or two later, with me standing to one side to keep cars from coming along and taking them all out, the mama came back down and led her young to the water down over the rise. So yeah, I helped out a family. I’m happy. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….