Point Made

Thank goodness, I've got my little dog. Cause without her I'd be toto lee lost. Enough! It's time to get serious. First the weather.  The Ducks came back to Lake Maria. The tide is in. The wind is blowing on shore. The lake is crawling up her banks. There is more rain in the forecast. I'm thinking of getting an inflatable boat, just in case. A lesson in my continuing crusade to convince people not to grow old. Talk about overdoing it. My friends and I are now going to the gym three mornings a week. We upped it one more day because they no longer have to bowl. I know! I have a little trouble processing that too. Be that where it may, it means one more solid hour of pedaling and pumping and one more trip to our favorite breakfast spot. And this week? Well this week, boys and girls, Poppa Jeff went to the range and hit some golf balls. Full disclosure, I have been doing some stretching and strength exercises that loosely correlate with swinging a golf cl...

Or why I became an amateur movie producer, director, actor. It started when Eli wanted to make a movie. My honest questions about what his movie was about, were not answered. Instead, we ended up taking close ups of his Lego toys in action. It became apparent to me this kid was all about process, not product. What was odd to me was that he had no desire to be on screen. If you point a video camera at almost any kid a couple of things are evident. First, regardless of their age, they do know what the camera is and what it can do. You can almost see that "I'm going to be on TV" look in their eyes. Second, there is a Robin Williams, Chuck Norris, AmySchuemer or Beyonce in most kids. If you point the camera, they will perform. The quality of their performance may be questionable, but I've learned that coaching them is not helpful. Your budding film star does have a fully formed concept of their performance in mind. If they don't, give them a minute. They will come...

In a rush to judgment, my daughter-in-law, Roz implored me to write a short memoir of my son for her and my two grandkids, Max and KC. I've started on the piece, and I find I'm enjoying the process. I perceive my problem is that I'm going to portray him as the perfect son raised by perfect parents. The truth is located somewhere between he was a normal teenager whose experience was a path strewn with the normal potholes of anyone's life journey and "My God How did he ever live through that." But that, as we know, is not the whole story. The fact is, he has turned out fine. I tend to rate him as great. My dreams of him becoming a successful professional golfer were only my dreams, not his The other devil in these details is the tendency to have slanted memories. I'm  wondering, as I tell of the first time he came home falling down, where-the-hell am I drunk, do I really remember what color T-shirt he was wearing. As for p...

The water level in Lake Maria is falling. Between the frothy waves and the highlands of the plain of Poop, the accumulation of leaves, small pieces of deadfall from the trees, and deposits of fecal matter by my dog Lucy has created marsh. Here lurk creatures, be they big or small. Adventurous squirrels. The occasional wild turkey. Curious Rabbits. Swooping birds and Ducks. They all visit and get whatever this wetland mass offers them. The bugs and crawling things are not as obvious, but they are there. I look out there and wonder, 'The days get longer and warmer. Can the mosquitos be coming soon?' I unleashed the bike and took a ride in my neighborhood. Did anyone else read the column in The Guardian (Poor man's New York Times) about how he changed the emotional content of his day by purposefully saying hello to ten strangers per day? It works. I got four of them today on my ride. Everyone said hello back and, for those that made eye contact, returned m...