David and Lindsay were scheduled to go to California to stay with the hippies, Elizabeth and Sutton, for a few days, but things fell through when the governor of California tightened things up again because of the coronavirus. Lindsay was going to sing two “gigs” with them. Her peeps are disappointed. The entire San Diego …
I Should’ve Been a Cowboy
The kids in the neighborhood played cowboys and Indians. Sometimes we were just cowboys, and if we played that way, there were good and bad guys. Good guys protected damsels in distress, guarded the cattle from rustlers, warded off swindlers, and made sure the stage with the strong box got through. When we played …
Thirteen Pages
This is my forty-fifth Father’s Day. I celebrated fifty-two such days as a son. My first memory of my father dates back to our unpaved driveway at 500 N. Edgeworth. Dad decided to pave the driveway of his new home when I was about four. Prior to the paving he used the dirt drive to …
The Runner
Floyd hired me as a junior high teacher in Plainwell in 1969. He was my first principal, a fine man nearing the end of his career. His replacement was Burton, an up and coming leader. One was nearing the end, and the second was just starting his climb to the top. I got along with …
Be Aware and Beware
I read the latest edition of my AARP magazine the other day. I focused on an article regarding scams and the elderly. Seems my age makes me highly qualified in this department. Scammers might call me “essential”. The author outlines a list of several pitfalls that scammers use and the scammed fall for. According to …
For One Hour
There are several popular posts appearing on Facebook. There’s one about golf that keeps popping up. It asks you to name your dream foursome. For me that’s always been easy, I’d choose my three kids, David, Elizabeth, Michael and me. Ruth’s recent resurgence on the links muddies the waters a bit, but if we couldn’t …
Mr. Tiger
I’ve been a Detroit Tiger fan for as long as I can remember. When the kids in the neighborhood played pickup games, we often adopted the name of a Tiger. For several years, I was Frank Bolling. Bill Graham was Charlie “Paw Paw” Maxwell. Bill and Charlie were both lefties. Charlie was from Paw Paw, …
And Vermin
The move to Lake LeAnn was huge. Not only did we purchase a house on a lake, it had two fireplaces. Living on a lake, and having a fireplace, were big parts of my “dream house”. I thought both would provide great enjoyment for a number of years. I was right. Many years passed before …
Varmints
Ruth and I had our first run in with varmints the first year we married. We lived in our house on Stockbridge in Kalamazoo. It was a two story Victorian, with a third story attic, that had been retrofitted into two units. We lived in the lower unit and rented the upper. The exterior needed …
Jimmy Stewart and Me
Jimmy Stewart starred in the 1958 film, Vertigo, with Kim Novak. It’s a psychological thriller directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Stewart plays a former police detective forced into early retirement because a line of duty incident caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). …