Point Made

As I mentioned in my last post, because of the generosity of my son, Sean and his wife, Rosslynn, I stayed with the family at an all inclusive timeshare resort in Cabo San Lucas. We had access to a personal Chef. We had maid service every day. We had the sun shining through our southern exposure balcony and pool patio. We had a pool and a hot tub. Everyone had or shared a king sized bed. But on this hilly terrain with its many levels of activities from the sandy beaches, through the common area pools, shops, and restaurants and up to our villa, the best feature was the taxis, shuttles, and golf carts. Accessible by merely phoning the concierge, going to a terminal point or hailing one when it passed you by, these darting demons of transportation whipped you around hairpin turns and delivered you rested and ready for whatever adventure you had planned. Taxis were used to get to and from the airport or a shopping/eating adventure into Cabo San Lucas. We alwa...

I'm back home. The turkeys, my dog, and my gym mates all wondered where I've been. I got back from a visit with my son, Sean, his wife, Roz and sons, Max nd KC. They live in LA. However, when they knew, I was coming they surprised me with a trip to Cabo San Lucas, MX. They purchased a time-share many years ago. Sean was able to trade his time for another. The place is fantastic. The villa is located on a hillside, that is so steep they had to wind the road back and forth across the face to get people up and down. (More about that later. Maybe even in another post .) Not only are the accommodations and the services spectacular, but the climate, view,  and people are wonderful. But before that all happened, I must share with you an experience that I call "The Journey." While not up to the standards of Odysseus let me say between the stress of trying to get to LA on time to make my flight to Cabo and the lunacy of some of my fellow passengers, it's not har...

No screwing around this time, Winter is here. Today, (Dec. 12) I'm looking at 4-6 inches of snow on my lawn. Actually, it's not quite winter, according to the calendar, but when the temperature and the snow fall it sure as hell looks and feels like winter. My point, things can change quickly. A drop in the temperature of a few degrees and rain becomes snow. Roadtrip, before the storm. Last week my pal John B called me and asked if I wanted to take a road trip to Two Rivers. Two Rivers is on the shore of Lake Michigan. What he anticipated was the chance of photographing a phenomenon that occurs when we get a cold day with low winds and open water, while Lake Michigan is still relatively warm. What you get is clear skies over land and the formation of a high wall of fog and clouds over the lake. The contrast is amazing. Unfortunately, if it happened at all, it occurred far offshore and a little earlier in the day. That didn't stop...

Batten down the hatches. The winds blew, the snow flew and our love affair with the long, warm fall died like the winter sunset on a partly cloudy skyline. In other words, it's cold out there brother. View of Lake Maria Maria and I have already attended an open house that required us to sing Christmas songs. Char and Bob Van Astin hosted a mob of friends that is enviable. Eclectic is one word that comes to mind. The singing was average, but when you consider the age and diversity of the crowd that's a compliment. I certainly can't sing like I did when I was younger The accompaniment was outstanding. Bob's son, Leo played the carols like the pro he is. His Mozart performance was awesome. As I announced earlier, I'm cancer free. The growth on my face was successfully removed , the stitches have been taken out, and I'm told that I won't even see the scar in a couple of weeks. I will be happy as soon as I can get a clean shave in that area. I plan on u...

Like many of us, I have a strange habit. I write in a log book in the morning. I use a stenographers wire bound tablet. I record the day of the week, the date and the time I make my record. Then I put down the Temperature, the "feels like temperature," the sky conditions, the wind direction strength, and the highest wind speed in that day, the barometric Temperature, and the dew point. Then I jot down some goals for the day. I get this information from Weather Underground, and they tell me they are using Kimberly as the reference point for my zip code. I don't record it, but I also review the ten-day forecast Why do I do this? I started years ago when I saw the hostess of the country club dining room I was working in do it. She would occasionally refer to it when she wanted to evaluate staffing for the shift. No secret here. At a golf club, better weather is going to indicate more customers and vice versa. I suspect the chef would have appreciated the informa...

Mother Nature cast an icy stare in our direction this week. We went from a day in the sixties to subfreezing overnight. To make matters worse, the wind, sometimes gusting at over forty MPH, clocked from the south around to the Northeast in a twenty-four hour period, assuring that no matter which way you would rake your leaves, they would end up back on your lawn. Those of us living in the Fox Cities got about an inch of snow during this transition. It was the kind of snow you can live with. By that I mean it was somewhat pretty and you didn't have to shovel it. It also disappeared by Saturday. Maria and I got back on track this weekend. Early this fall we took advantage of Marcus theater's $5.00 Sunday. We bought $25.00 Passports that allowed us to see any film we wanted to see on Sunday up until December 4. Are first two weeks we watched, and presumably assisted in helping the box office, the number one film that weekend.The pass gave us the opportunity to experime...

If you know me, you're that I'm upset and exasperated. The Party of No has finally gotten what it wants, unabated control of all of the government. The Party of No's  first goal was to convince people that government was the enemy. They did it by letting the American People know that they were not alone with their prejudices. With a wink and a nod, it was okay to carry suspicion dislike for; people of color, foreigners, anyone not Christian or heterosexual. By diverting the attention of the electorate with astroturf campaigns for issues like abortion, prayer in school, gun rights and the sanctity of the flag, they have been able to pick the pocket of the average Joe Sixpack. The overall tactic was simple. The phrase "starves the beast" was put in practice by voting to give the electorate anything they wanted or needed, but refuse to fund the program. In many cases, programs like financial regulation and food plant inspections failed. These failures are not...