Some years back, when this blog was in its infancy, in 2018, and yes, I can’t believe that I’ve been writing this now for eight years, I wrote about the wonderful influx of catalogs, mostly clothing, that we get on a weekly basis. Now that the holidays are approaching, well, that influx has swelled into a flood worthy of the Mississippi delta. The season has officially begun.
Continue reading “Catalogs: Coming Fast and Furious”Author: Thomas Walters
Am I Bothering You?
There was a curious letter to the advice columnist, Dear Abby, in today’s paper. People living in a condo, which means in close quarters, use their fireplace as a heat source for their living room area. A neighbor with severe respiratory problems has asked them to stop burning, which has put a strain on what we presume is their friendship. They asked for advice, and Abby gave it. Give up the fireplace and get an electric heater if you need it, because you’re causing a serious health hazard to your neighbor. She’s quite right, of course. Condos represent communal living, whether we like it or not. I’m guessing that the folks with the fireplace like the ambiance that a fire in the fireplace creates, and they’re reluctant to give it up for that reason, because a fireplace is a notoriously inefficient way to heat a room. We sometimes forget that our wants, likes, and behaviors can have an impact on those around us, unless we’re living on a mountain top in a cabin by ourselves, or in prison in solitary confinement.
Continue reading “Am I Bothering You?”Pumpkin “Issues”
There is, in the weekend comics, an amusing commentary in the strip, “Zits”. It features the Duncan family – mother, father, and Jeremy, their teenage son. In this particular strip, Jeremy is walking through the house, seeing a pumpkin display on the dining room table, along with pumpkins on bookshelves, under lamps, everywhere. Going outside, the house is lined with pumpkins – the front steps, the walkways, even up on the roof and around the chimney. Jeremy tells his mother firmly that she has “pumpkin issues”. Yes, indeed. It’s that time of year, and judging by the displays some folks have, they too have pumpkin “issues”.
Continue reading “Pumpkin “Issues””Advanced Citizenship 201
This is a bit more serious than my normal blogs, but from time to time, I feel I need to express them. Protests across the region and the nation this past weekend have really got me thinking about where our country’s leadership, and our core values, are going. The “No Kings” movement is rapidly evolving into an effective counterbalance to MAGA, which, while still a force, appears to be seeing its support crumbling around the edges. The world is becoming more complex, and for citizens in a democracy, it goes without saying that the voters and the candidates they choose must be as well. I was listening to an interview recently of a supporter of the current administration. His views and his responses give us an insight to how the president’s supporters think. For example, he stated that cities are becoming ‘safer’ because National Guard-essential soldiers (without training in law enforcement, one might add)-are patrolling the streets. He also feels ‘safer’ because undocumented immigrants are being deported at a rate with no precedent. Again, he believes the message that “undocumented” equals criminal. He thought the economy was doing well, probably because he looked older, perhaps retired, and doesn’t particularly care what’s happening in the workforce, where unemployment is low but climbing. He may or may not care much about climate change, food safety, or medical research, perhaps he may think he won’t live long enough to see the results of cuts in the development of those sectors.
Continue reading “Advanced Citizenship 201”Goodbye, Hyacinth. We’ll miss you.
Although she’s been seen only in syndication for the last thirty years, Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced, as she so frequently corrected, “BOUQUET”) was the ultimate in pretention. Constantly striving to reach into an imagined social hierarchy, she was thwarted and embarrassed by her circle of family and neighbors at almost every turn.
Continue reading “Goodbye, Hyacinth. We’ll miss you.”Coffee In Crisis
Some years back, I wrote extensively on the expansion of coffee. Yes, that wonderful brew that we started to drink to show our resistance to the tea that King George III was mandating that Americans buy and drink tea. I guess we showed him, when colonists, cleverly disguised as Native Americans, tossed teabag after teabag into what we hear in New England call “Boston Hahbah”. Since then, we’ve been a nation of proud, devoted coffee drinkers.
Continue reading “Coffee In Crisis”Rebuilding my “brand”
We hear so much, particularly in the business world about “branding”. That for which one is known and, presumably respected. That upon which one’s reputation and standing are built, giving one’s life meaning and definition. So, as I renewed my website experience for another year so as to dispense invaluable wisdom and insight, this seems to be an appropriate time to see what my “brand” really is.
Continue reading “Rebuilding my “brand””It’s time to say goodbye . . . . .
It’s that time of year once again. A nostalgia, a sense of melancholy. Remembrances of past glory. Yes, it’s time to start letting our summer plants, our garden experiments, the joyful blooms of the season, go – like rolling the credits at the end of a movie. It’s time to let the greenery turn brown and drop off. To clip off the dead stalks. To wait silently for the leaves to change color, which they will inevitably. And then they too will morph from bright colors to coppery browns before they’ll drop and become . . . . well, mulch.
Continue reading “It’s time to say goodbye . . . . .”Dead Bodies Everywhere
Yes, now that I have your attention, I didn’t mean to mislead that I was writing about a natural disaster. Perhaps I should be, but it’s about those actors whose role is, well, to play a dead body at the beginning of a movie or television show. When the detectives are called in, there is the body – lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, or sitting in an armchair in the living room, a large knife sticking out of his or her chest. Someone slumped over a steering wheel, riddled with bullet holes. Even the award-winning movie, “Conclave”, opens with the deceased pope lying in his bed in the Apostolic palace. Natural causes, of course, but still . . . . . an actor whose contributions to the film won’t be nominated for an Oscar.
Continue reading “Dead Bodies Everywhere”What the heck happened to summer?
Yes, each year I write a wistful reflection that I call “Ode to Fall”. I’m not feeling it this year. This weekend is Labor Day, the “official” close of summer, and I’m unprepared. When I was teaching, I was acutely aware that summer lasted a week or two. A teacher friend once commented, years ago, that summer “was all downhill after Fathers’ Day”. Another teaching acquaintance referred to the large Rose of Sharon as the “oh, sh. . . plant”, because its blossoms heralded the start of school. Ok, that was bound to happen. But now that I’m retired, summer can extend itself for as long as possible. I’m ok with that.
Continue reading “What the heck happened to summer?”
I'm Thinking...No! 