Point Made

I have said it too many times. I usually say it to people younger than I am, but than that demographic is pretty big and growing. "Don't get old it's a waste of time." Self-serving? No doubt. Easy to say, difficult to do? Of course. I think of how I reacted to my elders, and there is little doubt I'm getting some payback that I've earned. Were my elders wise to the level of suspending critical thinking? Not at all. My elders were "The Greatest Generation." A short description might sound like; "We won World War II." Becuase of this, we know some stuff you haven't learned. So just follow these instructions and you'll be fine. You should finish high school, volunteer for the military, come home marry the girl next door and move down the block, so we can enjoy our grandchildren. Sunday dinner at Mom's is compulsory. Drive whatever your dad drives because he knows better and you don't want to be driving something above your ...

If you talk about nothing but the weather in our fair state, eventually you'll hear something like, "Yeah, it's a nice day, but you know we're going to pay for it down the line." It's the rock-solid belief that if you enjoy something you'll pay for it with an equal amount of misery. A win on the field, (You pick the sport and the team) and it's payback for years of misery or watching for the misery to come. Some might think it's a charming holdover from a culture that doesn't like braggarts and self-promoters. Garrison Keillor once said it was the Luthern mindset that there is no joy in life just the pain we feel from trying to find it. With that in mind, I suggest that there is no force in nature that is charged with evening the scales. Making sure for instance, that for every eighty-degree day that occurs in September there will be a horribly cold day in October. Yeah, you just wait. One thing we know about the weather in Wisconsin. It wil...

Normally, during the 120 days of possible good weather in Wisconsin, we get the buffet version of climate variations. You know? I little of this and a little of that. This week while Florida got its backside handed to it, we sat in our short shirt sleeves and watched our Green Bay Packers hammer the Seattle Seahawks. In a game that demonstrated the value of linemen on both sides of the ball, we prevailed. The short shirt sleeve weather we experienced at Lambeau is hanging in for the entire week. WhoHah! R eport on the pile of boxes that mocks us every time we try to relax. Maria and unpacked and were predictably surprised at what we found in the boxes. We rearranged. We went out for breakfast. We paid to sit in a theater to watch a Rom-Com, (Home Again, with Reese Witherspoon). And when all is said and done, we created enough room for the car in the garage. WhoHah! Note: For Rom Com, Home Again wasn't that bad. It was kind of like putting down my copy of the Atlantic and pic...

It's not Fall yet, I keep reminding myself as Maria, and I motor through the Wisconsin countryside. However, I continue my interior dialogue, when the "color" does start its migration South, we have to repeat this trip. For a confirmed Urbanite, I've had spent a considerable amount of my life in the country. My industrial sales career may have kept me from joining the Rotary, Lions or Junior Chamber of Commerce because my travel schedule, but I could have written a book about small town dinners and supper clubs. That is until Micky D's, and the chain brass and fern restaurant's closed a lot of them down. Country roads are still picturesque and frothing with nostalgic views of dairy farms and that hint of the way things used to be. In between the still occupied farm houses and out buildings, there are new homes ranging from McMansions to factory built double wide mobile homes. I spotted a beat up old bicycle sitting in a yard leaning against a tree surrounded...

If you were to migrate from the deep South to Wisconsin this year, you might be forgiven if you said that you were feeling cold. First of all, it's still hot in the South. Temps range from the mid-eighties to the nineties with high dew points creating humid conditions. The truth is, we in Wisconsin have been experiencing some below average temperatures with cloudy days. If you add a tablespoon of northerly breezes, the smart person starts looking for the sweaters in the back of the closet. I know a number of us like this kind of weather. I'd accept a little more, no make that a lot more, of the sun, but fall is a great season for me. I don't like the freezing and seemly endless days of winter.  On the other hand, while it's better than winter, the heat and humidity that we didn't get much of this summer weren't missed either. All Hail the early arrival of Fall! We can finally see the light after our move from our tree fallen experience on the south side of ...

After one week off from writing my blog, I've just returned from my visit to the Portland / Seattle area. We have two sons and three grandchildren living in Seattle. Our friend Dr. Anne lives in Portland. It is in the eclipse zone, so things are a little crazy up there.  The weather had moderated. The Northwest had been experiencing record high temperatures just a few days before we got there. In addition, the fires in the North, all along the US Canadian border, provided inhospitable air to crawl into the area. All of that, with the exception of a fine dusting of ash, had departed. We had couple eating out experiences that were noteworthy. We had three meals out n Portland. all of them featured lines of customers in the street waiting to get in. One of them wanted you to try their Chicken Waffle. The dish consists of three breaded chicken breasts secured to an 8-inch standard waffle with a steak knife. Since the price was $14.95, most customers were tak...

At one time or another, writers are challenged to explain why they do what they do. It can be an icebreaker at a writers retreat, an inquiry by a friend or family member, maybe even a self-examination or, if they are lucky, a media interviewer. Depending on our maturity and experience at the craft, the answer can change. If your favorite writer is Gresham or Patterson, you might be inclined to dreams about fame and fortune. If your ambition is literary legacy, you might be more interested in reading Roth or Irving. When a person thinks about writing, they have a story to tell. It might be a love story, an adventure or a journey. Detectives, space travelers, and ordinary people have these experiences. So there are a number of ways to tell your story. If you get this far, it soon becomes apparent to you that all of these stories have been told. It's hard to admit, but admit this you must, or you would never go to the next level. I tried to sell my photo...