Skip to main content

There Are Ruts In The Road

 

On The Easel:

Lady On A Train
Pastel 12 & 16
Ref: E. Hopper

Buck Moon
Pastel 9 x 12
Ref: Photo by M. Desisti

Update On My Health:
As the radiation treatment continues, my ability to stay focused and endurance fade. My energy level is significantly lower than before the treatments. While I seem to paint and sketch, I am losing some inspiration to write. It's scary, but I've been assured it's only temporary. The caution here is no one wants to commit to how long it will be before I recover.

I'm seeing my Primary to find out why this vicious cough and chest pain persists. It is a gift, I believe, from our friends to the north when they supplied the smoke and debris from their wildfires. 

Lake Park Concert:

Jeanne and I ventured out last Monday evening to the opening of the Lake Park Concert series. The Steely Dan Tribute band, Black Cow, performed. It was a beautiful evening and an appreciative crowd. 
I remarked that thought their guitarist was exceptional, only to find out later it was Neil Davis, one the finest musicians in our city.
Next time we are going to get there earlier and sit a little closer to the band shelter.

All Saints Hunger Booksale:
We are huddling in the basement of All Saints, sorting and pricing the books that have been donated for our sale in August. For a former bookseller like me, it's amazing to see books that were best sellers being sold for a couple of dollars.
I found a jewel. It was the publication of Garrison Keillor's That Time Of Year. Keiloor writes a detailed journey of his growth as a writer, journalist, and comedian. 
Aside from him being a fellow Minnesotan, I, like so many, became entertained and amused with his radio program, Life in Lake Woebegon. His depiction of small-town life was universal regardless of what small town you experienced. 
(Mine was Tomah, Wisconsin, in the 1960s) His parade of a slightly flawed citizenry portrayed the nervousness of living close to other people who knew almost everything about you.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

One of my latest efforts. Sketch: The Lady Is Blue Gouache 9 X 12 Reporting: I enjoyed a pleasant evening with my friend Michelle Mooney. I took her out for dinner to celebrate her birthday and to thank her for the many first-rate haircuts she's given me. We were surprised at the number of people who dined alfresco in the balmy night air. Whatever we've done to please Mother Nature, she had deemed acceptable by giving us a shot of summer just when late fall weather was wrapping her fingers around our throat. If I have one complaint about the friendly confines of The County Claire, it's the noise level that makes it difficult to converse. The rumble is an acoustical problem with the customers speaking in normal conversational tones. This is without audible TV showing some game or background music selected by a dance DJ.  I know! We should have eaten outside, where the only noise is the occasional 14 bus snorting by.   Maybe It's Me Since my two soccer teams are not doing...

Watching the Oldies

Note: Last week's post was late. There is a reason. Read on.  Classic Film: From Here To Eternity The film opens in Hawaii in 1941. The film stars Bur Lancaster, Mongomery Clift, Deborah Carr and Donna Reed. It is before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The only scene I remember is a scene many people who never watched the entire film have seen. It shows Bert Lancaster and Deborah Carr lying on a sandy beach, kissing as an incoming washed over them. Given the popularity of that scene, it was amazing to me that that iconic image is only seconds long in the film. The story is about the innocence of army personnel with no idea what's coming. Lancaster literally runs the squad while his Captain lets him take charge so he can campaign for his promotion and cheat on his wife.  To make up for the disrespect he has for his commanding officer, Lancaster beds his Captain's officer's wife only to fall in love with her.  Clift's character suffers the humiliation of an offic...

Once A Young Man

 My late friend Jack had a saying that's lost on young people; it sure was lost on me. With his version of a Finnish accent, he'd say, " We are too soon old and too late, smart." I've never heard anybody answer the question about returning and reliving their youth that didn't include the covariate that they would know what they know now. Maturation and accepting the onset of the later years of our life goes a long way to mellowing our passions. Chicago Bear fans are less intimidating, and the members of the opposite sex who are age appropriate are far more appealing than we might have thought in our youth. Yes, I will admit some men still try to relive their youth in ways that defy logic. This facet of two late smart prevents athletes from realizing when their best years are behind them. More men than women seem to delude themselves into believing that members of the opposite sex half their age are suitable mates.  I'm not going to deny that some of us old...