Point Made

but it seems a weekend at a hotel with three of the kids their spouses and children suffices. Maria treated the family to weekend stay at a hotel with the usual family amenities; spacious rooms, swimming pool, hot tub, and food. It was kind of a Holiday gathering that we couldn't have because of the press of other family commitments In the end, I think we all agreed that just jamming into Maria's and my room, with its spacious common area, and watching the little cousins get acquainted was worth the trip. Not that connecting with the adults wasn't important and rewarding, but kids just seem to trump every other concern you might have. From holding my youngest grandson Felix to a water fight with my older grandson Brogan and his brother Tate, Poppa got a pretty good workout this weekend without having to record reps and sets. We brought a curse to the weather this year. Let me explain it this way since Maria bought us a new snowblower, all the precipita...

Foggy night turns into foggy day. As I look out my window these last few mornings, I see the misty build up of fog. It's as if my windows were covered with a fine dirt that bends and shapes what little light we have in Wisconsin at 6:30 am. It's depressing when we are subjected to this gloom for long periods of time. And we have been experiencing this midwinter event for over a week now. The good news is the temperature is finally above freezing. The ice, that formed after the rain and sleet covered the area, is slowly melting. This weather, with its attendant propensity to depress, comes amongst a continuous stream of bad news that only feeds the funk. My recipe for ascending above this morass of gloom? No TV News. No online news sites. Renew my intentions at writing fiction and honing my Harmonica skills. Oh yeah, and practice playing BlackJack online. (I don't actually gamble). We are watching "Homeland " again. Last night, we finished Se...

Many of you know that I edit two transportation Facebook pages, Metro Go and TSAC (Transportation Services Advisory Committee). Along with providing content for these Pages, I am charged with monitoring Comments, Likes, and the traffic on the sites. Most of the comments are complimentary as the group that follows these issues pretty much agree on the challenges and the solutions. I know many of the people that follow our site. Occasionally, they comment. We received a comment recently that expressed a frustration that I have heard in conversation. The complaint centers around the attitude of the drivers. I'm positive that some drivers are not good salespeople for our bus service. I'm also sure, from personal experience, that some of them great ambassadors and promoters of the system. At the heart of these complaints is one or two bad experiences. I also think it revolves around the individual's expectations. When I think of a bad experience, it doses...

Move from the Midwest to some nice little village in the Caribbean or Central America. Your Social Security check will go further, you will learn the second language you always vowed you wanted to learn, and you will not freeze your backside off. I know this is the obvious answer. I know that your children and grandchildren will be upset. But it's -20 degrees F in the wind out there today. Folks? PS: Visiting a warm weather destination in the middle of winter is nice, but it makes the winter seem longer when you return to the tundra. One thing I didn't realize on my trip to Cabo San Lucas this Christmas is I did get a mild sunburn. I was suffering from a burning sensation on my lower leg, ankles, and upper arms. Only when my skin began to peel did I realize that I had overexposed myself. Wild Turkey Report Tom, our wild turkey neighbor, not our son, is still fat and happy. He dropped by yesterday, as it is his almost daily habit. Big Tom seemed unconce...

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...