The house across the street
has a light beige colored concrete driveway
with a morning glaze of snow covering it.
Our drive is black asphalt;
dry with no snow on it.
Just painting the scene for you.
Finding something good about wintertime
on this sunny side of the street.
Not inches of white this morning as predicted.
In fact there is very little new snow visible.
That is the storm report.
Also a story in the news on the permanent chemicals
ingested when you eat Lake Erie perch and walleye.
The lakes are not as clean as they used to be.
talked of a large snow blast all winter, haven’t seen much fall.
It melted as it dropped.
Not a comforting time
As rhe news is filled with armed conflict in many countries.
Can’t we just take it easy.
a light patter on the roof this morning..
squirrels are up early.
already birds, squirrels and neighborhood walkers are out doing their thing.
now we seem to be nearing the last vestiges of winter.
give us a weather turn to meager warmth.
it won’t break ya.
spring will abound.
there’s a good prediction.
for now my gracious, old 52 Chevy 3100 truck that cousin Don fixed up to a charm comes to mind. beige I painted with a brush. four on the floor, what a gear shift. a tight positive dream to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. coming or going. loverly.
They’ll fix what’s required as indicated on the car service package.
Doesn’t matter what, it always takes a lot of time.
We sit and read and wait; naturally we wait.
Quiet, no donuts. They quit buying them for clients.
Wrong. There were donuts.
I thought they were donuts
My wife termed it a pastry.
Not great quality. I ate one.
Also now we can buy their lousy out-of-state plastic packaged donuts out of a tall, blue, robotic standup machine. I’ll call Mike.
Yeah, the world is changing faster.
It is real tough for people living paycheck to paycheck.
Lucky me? that was the name of a jazz tune from the fifties or sixties that i liked when I heard it on the nighttime radio, now it is gone and forgotten.
@@@. @@@. @@@
look at the big to-dos, undone.
make another list.
Look ahead.
What do you think?
light rolling on the wide open.
cruising galore to the beyond
a two-cylinder diesel thumper humming along.
800 pounds of steel imported from China, solid as can be. friend of the sea.
clean and dusted, polished Inside.
gleaming as she flashes on the bay.
a reward for care and upkeep.
a 28 foot Monterey when Snort was a shot of booze.
fifty foot Diamondback, powerful 671.
37 ft Tranquility Base, formerly sureptitous 500 Mexicans.
cozy home. friends visited and took a ride in sight of the Golden Gate.
a fine decade.
flooded yesterday, okay today.
in stone morning quiet the puddles are gone,
not saying dry, i doubt that;
squirrels are out hopping, sun has just started.
distant clouds touched by rose.
light sky blue. minutes later a mist of grey absorbs the blue.
so they say and Meri said
pouring thick without pause.
who do you believe and where’s is it now?
give me a break and wipe my paws.
cloudy upon all and get nothing wet.
Geese, it’s pouring down, you bet.
We patch things together.
Take the pieces we have
Move them to places they belong.
Find good fortune for all.
can I stall on the wall have a ball?
the tale is tall.
that all? don’t fall.
last call.
Get set now. It is off to the dentist for cleaning. Get ready.
Meridith drives us there and back. No kidding,
Lisa does it well. The cleaning.
Tabby is the office and administrator and secretary and receptionist and organizer and bookkeeper and operator and controller and supervisor. And she answers the phone.
Dr Tajour is the dentist. Good fellow.
I am the ever enduring patient. Meridith also.
bright this morning.
starting in a whirl.
right, light blue sky
floating overhead.
a large red cardinal in the bush
jumping to the ground.
day starting you see.
born free.
heard it splatter during the wee hours.
a pleasant wakening for me.
this morning all the puddles are gone.
there is no green, the lawn is yellow.
winter looks over yet spring has not begun.
it is a tight tween space.
green will be here.
i see rain has splattered the windows.
good wishes came from Rosemary, Bill and Terry.
over the water run, a half mile back,
few birds fly while keeping alert for predators.
in the large oak tree all is calm on every branch.
what the birds make of the day
searching for food
guarding their area.
working out where to build a nest.
seems to be the spot. same as last year.
when spring begins they’ll be ready.
spinners hanging from the trees
crooning softly through the night.
giving honor to the day.
fearless heart we love your way
it’s a week after the hospital blasted my kidney stone
thirty-five hundred times with audio waves to pulverize it.
i remember when my dad suffered from kidney stones in 1955. they didn’t have audio wave blasters.
thank god and science we develop.
Where are the deer?
Haven’t seen them lately.
Beautiful animals. Strong, lean, wift, and silent.
Not welcome by gardeners.
They eat most everything you don’t want them to.
I would prefer to have them around because it’s more natural.
Currently it is 24 degrees Fahrenheit in Oberlin, Ohio.
Isn’t that a long way from the decent Climate of good old summertime.
Imagine a group of your friends and relatives talking and laughing gathered around picnic tables. Music. That’s the season.
Now from the front window not a car, not a walker nor a dog in sight.
A light frost covers the lawn.
Nary a breath of breeze to move a branch.
Okay, put your day together, do it well, using whatever you have to work with.
It’s a few hours later, I saw a bush branch wiggle and a car went by.
And the mailman. He didn’t stop here, one less thing to think about.
Home on Friday, cold out, so i'm keeping inside.
Patched from kidney stones is how i am.
Got 3500 blasts of kilo voltage that scratched me up.
Thank goodness they know their work,
And lucky I’ve insurance.
Quality people working at the hospital.
Sure is comforting to see folks that
go out of their way to pay attention and do a good job.
feeling poorly i am,
the laser blasting got me good.
yet i suppose i'd feel worse
if the doctor's aim was lousy.
Easy going today, not much happening.
Saving myself for walking in Rome.
Good sunshine, and there’s coffee on the next corner.
A couple of minutes to get there.
Here is where I am actually.
Not overly crowded. The morning rush is over.
I give a hand signal and wink for a straight shot.
Keep it polite and tasty. They call it a bullet.
Then onto the bus, circle the park.
One book to read. A pad to take notes.
Taking my time, making a rhyme.
Wondering how far to go.
Walking, Nowhere.
Meri is taking me to the hospital so I can get kidney stones blasted. Is this poetry or what.
The doctor talked like six minutes and I’ll be on the way to Bob’s Big Boy breakfast shop, a place I never cared for.
He didn’t know.
I didn’t say
Scramble me some eggs
is the type of day we have.
planned in my head. I’m doing
nothing to set it underway.
So what do you say? Wanna stay?
Enough said. Toast or bread?
Have to figure when to take a pill or skip it
Or wait for another day to begin.
Scheduling big time now.
have to line stuff up,
like pills and such. Nothing much.
the sky is fine.
plants will be next to show themselves.
uncomfortable sitting, waiting.
i surely would rather read and write.
no snow at all. we are in premature spring.
Went to mercy hospital on highway 58 in Amherst.
What a drag. Sit and wait. A tv on in every waiting room.
Everyone has a device with which to read.
No one watches TV.
Many hospital workers and out-patients were around.
The week’s hours fill for us.
Seems we always have appointments.
a century past
a gentle country fellow from
Kentucky who stood tall, made a good impression, also
became the sixteenth President of the United States.
Here we are in our modern era and everyone
knows his name. He would have
been interesting to spend a Sunday with on
a picnic in the shade some sunny afternoon and
listen to what he has to say.
in both our time and in his.
if you imagine a situation imagine well.
is now three dollars.
it’s not the cost
it’s the percentage of increase.
this is the new world.
probably an action taken from the old world.
set your gauge.
bet on it.
i imagine he has had professional assistance.
Gronk didn’t kick well. He missed.
I don’t gamble and should never give advice.
On and off all night.
Not sure of the hour
Regardless, I kept checking.
Twelve, one and two something.
Finally woke to a collapsed winter.
Don’t want to call it that, however
Looking around It seems like.
It’s warmer this morning;
But don’t think spring.
That would be a trick, over the top.
The morning chimes ring. The hours come and go per usual.
Patience will carry one through the night and days.
had four or five books going.
not to confuse myself.
not in a big hurry, some are better than others.
always i’ll say. that’s why there’re favorites.
checking out one book takes time to know, to see the line.
the story line. The construction. How it is written.
non-fiction included.
then I noticed I began reading slower.
had to get out my Kindle as my eyes were going also.
a surprise to me book reading did so well, so long again
before the print became a strain.
I’m happy to plug Kindle in and go again
crusin’ down Reading River.
Getting to the job was the best when I could time it.
I took my boat from its home slip in Sausalito,
cruised across San Francisco.Bay
to a dock in downtown the San Francisco.
There were completely open areas in front of a restaurant.
I asked the man there when I pulled alongside
“Do you know who owns this dock? “
he repplied, “this is my restaurant so i Do.”
I could have searched for a month and never found him.
Instead I pulled up and there he was.
I don’t come over with my boat often
Could I tie up here for an hour or two a couple times a month? All of san Francisco is spread out there. I record commercials in a studio that is in that building over there.
He said “sure” and that was that,
Had I gone the regular way I’d have to dock
about a half mile away at pier 39 and pay commercial docking rates, i don’t want to know how much that would cost.
The man said I could tie up at his restaurant for no cost.
So now and then I came over on my boat from our home dock in Sausalito.
Docked here and walked across the street to The recording i
Ok When possible we timed it so Meri instead of taking a bus
could get a boat ride home after work.
We’ll see how crowded it will be.
The plans are for a medium gage of appointments.
Starting with exercise, light reading
And our new ideas. so, we’ll see what develops.
Long before the corn grows and greens come in.
We’re looking ahead. Can you blame us?
Summer rains will begin.
Oh lovely. Pour on the new year.
We’ll find good cheer.
Taking a small step at a time.
here I am thinking of summer.
It’ll develop; a real hummer.
Ready on a Sunday for the fellowship
and service. A longtime composer
and singer will open a new act
at over 700 us felowships he has performed.
that is a lot of experience,
i am excited to see this old man.
we’ll see if he carts me off spiritually.
i’m ready for it.
take me out there.
The result: he did a good job.
Sunny Curtis could play circles around him.
Meri saw Little after five days.
i figured so. was time.
