A Brother's Letter

 

            Sam,

I have one hundred, eleven American dollars saved.  With that, I am boarding the ship that will take me to the new land.  There is nothing for me here.  Once there, I will write to let you know where I am.

Do not try to follow me.  Even if the ship should leave a wake, it may dwindle to nothing, leaving no trail for you to find and you will be left to float aimlessly at sea.  So, if you do follow, bring a sandwich or something for your journey.

Tell Mama I said good-bye.  I have left some rocks by the side door.  She can place them around her garden to keep the rabbits out.  It’s a lot of rocks.

PS
         If I change my mind I’ll be home by 6, so don’t eat all the corn.

 

Sweet Pickles

 

They’re not all successes

This was best described by saying,

 “Something has gone terribly wrong.”

I used all fresh ingredients.

2 Cucumbers  

1 Onion

I followed the directions as I always have.

2 large Cukes

1 onion

1 cup of sugar

½ cup white vinegar

½ teaspoon of celery seed

½ teaspoon of mustard seed

1 teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of turmeric

Blend in a large glass bowl.

Microwave for 3 minutes

stir then microwave two more times

3 minutes each time.

Put into a jar and refrigerate for 1 day.

 

Ordinarily 

these are amazing.  I don't know

what happened. 

We had to toss them out.

Yuck !

 

 

A sort-of close encounter

 

        Footprints are not always in the shape of a shoe.  The tracks we leave behind can take many forms.  Currently, there isn't a GPS that follows our path or could ever retrace it.

        We sometimes learn that our travels have crossed, or come close and maybe even several times, collided. 

        Situations and events can put us at a sporting stadium, or along the side of a road changing a tire.  It is all by chance.  Also, as we go through life we find that our interests change.   Everything stays in motion and as we move, we leave behind bits or footprints.

        The discovery of our paths is the fun part.

        Many years ago, Charles Grodin left two signed photographs at my front door.  Today, a lifetime later, he has set his signed book in my path.  

        What a pleasant discovery.

 

To Tell the Truth

 

I’m not sure if this is resourceful or cheap, but I saw listed on the menu, Burnt Ends.  I understand that controlling food costs is a constant battle for anyone in the restaurant business, but seriously?  Burnt ends?

What's next?  ...on a bed of wilted lettuce.

 

 

Choose wisely

 

There is a gap of time from when I’m sitting here writing this to when you are reading it.  That gap is different for everyone.  It can be as little as a few seconds to weeks later.  Neither you nor I can tell what transpires during that gap.

Maybe during that gap, a farmer has had time to feed his animals, or a teacher has spent it grading papers.  Perhaps some politician is standing in front of his mirror getting dressed, while he tries to convince himself that he’ll never get caught.

Whether or not I post my gibberish doesn’t change what people do.  They will fill that bit of time, no matter what is at the beginning or end of it.  It only becomes a gap when you decide to read what I’ve written.

The fate of the world is in your hands.

 

A Thought derailed

 

An 18-wheeler came down our street today.  There were stacks and stacks of sod piled along its length.  Someone’s lawn was being delivered.  I expect they paid for it by the yard.

It got me to thinking about the phrase, some assembly required.  Then I wondered, in what other aspects of life do we need to put things together?

I remember in school, one of my teaches would always say, “Get it together, Zobostic.” And I’ve heard the words, Keep it together, but that was usually during a high stress situation, like a bank robbery or something.  (It wasn’t me)

I remember Humpty Dumpty, but that was more of a re-assembly thing.  And detectives have to assemble clues.  I’m not sure that adding batteries to something constitutes assembly.

Then, of course, there is this train of thought.  It began with a simple piece, an 18-wheeler.  From there we sort of wandered all over the place.  From the looks of it, it doesn’t appear that going back to the beginning and reading the directions will help anything.  This is simply one of those posts that needs a little paint, has a touch of wood rot here and there and is best ignored.  Let’s move on.

 

 

We Childproofed the Planet

 

Neither an observer nor participant be

Whether trees or buildings you do see

Matters not on land or sea

Fate determines destiny

 

Long before there was ever you

Life was planned through and through

We let you think you had a choice

But never did you have a voice

 

We gave you science, math and speech

But kept your thinking within reach

The speed of light you’ll never pass

Think of it as safety glass

something...

 

It didn't feel right.
I'm not sure what it was,
but something seemed off
with this place.

Maybe it was the paint job,
maybe the whole place looked 

a little tilted...

It could have been all that
and a combination
of the weather.
I don't know...

A Place for Everything

 

They kept their money in the bank, their secrets to themselves and their employees in here.

 

Right here

 

This is exactly where the
rain in Spain fell.

The Personals

 

I enjoy walks on the beach

White wine

Any books by Tom Clancy

Buffalo wild wings

Warm summer breezes

Lite Jazz

 

When a Cowboy Grows Old

 

When a cowboy grows old

he sees cattle as steer

and all of his hair

grows out of his ears,

He may ride to the mountain

to get to the top

but the hair in his ears

it will just never stop,

Some are already running

when they hit the ground

but the hair in their ears

will muffle the sound,

The old ones are lonely

and find it quite strange

how quiet life is

when out on the range.

 

 

I'm right here.

 

I’m always here in fact – I live here.  My thoughts are my home.  They are my walls as well as my windows.  Should I ever require a room addition, I simply think of something else.  See?  Now I’m over here.

I see where you live.  Sometimes I see you outside jogging, or riding on a bicycle.  Here in my thoughts, there aren’t any tree roots to trip me up, only the occasional punctuation to stumble over or perhaps, should I not be paying attention, I could suddenly change tense and find myself back here somewhere or sometime.   It all gets very tricky.

Anyway, thanks for visiting.  It’s always good to see you.

Quando omni flunkus moritati

 

 

Now it's behind you

 

He said, it's all in the wrist.

Name that Tune

 

From Nature

 

There is a species of spider that actually spins its web using the surface of river water.   It is surprisingly resistant to wind and quite effective in catching very small insects and larger, up to the size of dragonflies.

The web itself goes unseen from below the water’s surface.  It is that technology that 3M Corporation is attempting to duplicate, using the skin from the surface of two day-old Jell-O.

 

 

The thing about private security...

 

It is approximately once a week, a refrigerated truck shows up delivering groceries to us.  The truck has a side door and from our front window we can see the driver enter the body of the truck and gather together everything that is on our shopping list.

Yesterday was quite windy and while the driver was gathering our stuff together, the wind blew the side door closed with him inside.  I just assumed there was a latch on the inside of the door that would allow the driver to simply push it open again.

We waited.  A long time had passed, and we grew concerned, thinking maybe we should go out and check on him.  Now it had grown uncomfortably long, so I went out the front door and walked down to the street, where the truck was parked.  I called out to the driver.  “Hello?”  There was no answer.  I stepped closer and knocked on the door that had swung closed.  No response.

I tried pulling the door open, but it felt locked or stuck.  It wasn’t budging.  My neighbor, who had apparently also been watching the activity came down and joined me.

“What now?” He asked me.

“Maybe he has had a medical emergency.  I’m not sure what to do.”

“Well, if something has happened to him, at least he won’t spoil.”

“That’s not funny.” I said, and I again banged on the door.  Still no response.

“Surely there has to be a way to open it from the inside, and it was a little funny.”

“Then why didn’t he open it himself?”

Now a neighborhood security vehicle pulled up behind the truck.

“Is there a problem here?”

“Kind of, the driver is locked inside, and we don’t know if he is alright or not.”

“Well, all I noticed it that he is parked too far from the curb.  He is blocking too much of the road.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t joke about safety.  He needs to pull this over closer to the curb.”

“How can he do that if he’s lying unconscious inside this refrigerator?”

“Not my problem.”

 

 

Planted in rows

 

A Wicker Farm
in a greenhouse
somewhere in Kansas

From the James Webb Telescope

 A 

Perfect Photograph

taken by the 
James Webb telescope

of a tiny

reflective surface

on the angry red planet

looking back at

my muffin here on Earth

Magnification .008%

 

...what is that?

 It was like
everywhere I looked
I saw a cat

There was one

in the spoon rest.

There was another
watching me take this picture.

and still another
on my bed.

Then suddenly
I discovered...

Le Box

So to Speak

It’s not always clear

when you say what you think

The words that come out

have been mangled I think

Your English is fine

most of the time good,

But your haven’t and haves

sound awfully like shoulds.

We agree on a time

we both think is fair

I wait in the park

while you’re in the square.

You’re pepper, I’m salt

I’m bread, you're butter

It’s nobody’s fault

the sounds that you utter.

I think it’s your accident

with no GPS

where the meaning has gone

is anyone’s guess. 

Lifelong Friends

 

So, I’ve been trying to teach my shadow some new tricks.  First, I showed him a summersault.  I think he did it, but he was quick.  By the time I looked over to watch him, he was already standing up looking back at me.

I also try to get him to participate more in school.  I’ll be in my chair, and he sits over against the wall.  I’ll raise my hand to ask a question, so I see him do it too.  I quickly lower mine so he can have a chance, but then he pulls his down just as quickly.  Sometimes I think he’s just playing with me.  He’s annoying like that, but he’s the only one who has stuck with me no matter what.