Category: Life

S*** happens

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The EASIEST countries to move to as an American.

I will never pry Señora out of St. Louis, and I am very fond of her…  If not for that, I would definitely see this as a possibility.   I thought Costa Rica was a wonderful country with very friendly people.  Panama I would have to visit to get a better feel for.  The thought of living in Spain has always intrigued me.  I hear wonderful things about Portugal.  While Italy is not on this list, it has a warm spot in my heart.  My Spanish is passable enough that it would not be an issue in 3 of the countries, although English is widely spoken in those three too. My main issue with Central America is that golf courses are few and far between, and not particularly cheap.  Of course if my back continues its downward journey, that will cease to be so important. I know that four of the six countries on the list have large ex-pat communities.  The other two might, but it would need some research.  I am sure he does not really mean it, but I have a long standing offer of housing in Honduras.

I just cannot get over the fact that 71 million of my fellow citizens voted for the monster that is tRump, especially with every sane, main stream Republican screaming at the top of their voice that the Emperor is wearing no clothes, please vote for for the Democrat.  There is something fundamentally wrong with the soul of this country. I won’t bore you with a rant about what I think that is.

I may be an American, but I am not a proud American, in fact I am the complete opposite after this election.

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Chopping wood, folding t-shirts…

Recently I experienced my 26,298 rotation of this planet we call home.  This triggered the lever that counts the number of orbits around the star we refer to as The Sun, setting it at 48 (in hexadecimal) total revolutions, beginning the 49th.

All these largish numbers put me in a reflective mood, a pensive frame of mind, going over what has transpired in all those rotations and orbits.  All I could come up with is that it all has been rather pointless.

I then remembered a well known Zen koan:

“The novice says to the master, ‘What does one do before enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water,’ replies the master.
The novice asks, ‘What, then, does one do after enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water.”

Except in my case, having never chopped wood or carried water in the pioneer sense of the word, or even in the woodchuck sense…if a woodchuck could chuck wood, I say fold t-shirts, wash the dishes.

Enlightenment will, in all likelihood, have to wait until all the counters have been reset to zero, and I might get another shot at it… or not.

In the meantime, I am folding t-shirts and washing dishes.

Om mani padme hum

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I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not

The following article from the alternative newspaper, Riverfront Times, popped up in my Google news feed: Missouri Ranks Dead Last in National Survey of LGBTQ+ Equality

I Misunderstood Missouri

I moved to St. Louis after living and working in Mississippi for over three years. While I left some good friends behind I was more than glad to get away from the religious conservatism that dominates politics down there.  My first impression of Missouri was of St. Louis which left me with a hopeful feeling. Then I discovered the rest of Missouri.   While St. Louis is more of a purple with bluish hues, the politics of the rest of the state is a Trumpian dystopia concerned with protecting so called guns rights and waging cultural battles against basic individual rights and freedoms, especially against women and folks with alternate lifestyles. It is deeply red, and, for me, very discouraging to the point of being depressing. Of course, I am an Okie by birth and with Oklahoma’s super hard turn to the far right, I find my native state even more depressing.

Why Would You Care

I really do not care what consenting Continue reading “I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not”

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I Love You – Part 2…

A while ago I posted an article: I Love You – Part 1…Maybe. What prompted the article was my wife’s use of the three word phrase, I love you.  She says it frequently and to many folks.  For me, it is not something I say so much. In the first article I explored some the reasons why I do not. I also gave my flimsy definition of love:

… to love someone is have a responsibility towards that person. I have a need to live up to my responsibilities, and there is only so much I can take on. 

When I say I love you I can mean many things.  It means I care for you.  It may mean I will take care of you.  It means I will be there for you. It means I will accept your eccentricities. And this is before we get to romantic love.

By the above definition I love The Wee Dog, for what that is worth. One of my readers commented that Continue reading “I Love You – Part 2…”

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Michelangelo’s David – Redux

Unless you have been doing the wise thing, and totally avoiding the news, you have seen or heard this news story: Principal resigns after Florida students shown Michelangelo statue

Apparently in one of the classes at this Christian school, students were shown a picture of the statue of David by Michelangelo. The lesson on Renaissance art, given to 11 and 12-year-olds, also included references to Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” painting and Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus“.  Of course, all three pieces of art display the unclothed or partially unclothed human body. They are also some of the most renowned pieces of art of Western civilization.

The article states that the principal was given the option of resigning in place of being fired.  The reason given was that she had not Continue reading “Michelangelo’s David – Redux”

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My new nickname?

I don’t remember exactly when my mother went into the nursing home, but it is pushing ten years that she has been in one or the other.  Her health is reasonable, but she suffers from dementia, Alzheimer’s to be specific.  This September she will be ninety.  The first half of her time in nursing homes she knew I was someone, but for the last several years she has had no clue who I am.

I do not visit her near as often as I should or would like to.  I live in a suburb of St. Louis, and she is in Continue reading “My new nickname?”

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Obituary – Neosho Weiss

Neosho Weiss, more intimately known as Osho, passed away in his sleep on the 4th of January, 2023.  For quite some time he had been in congestive heart failure, but with much love he had maintained a quality of life during this period.

He was the bosom buddy and constant companion of Adam Weiss.  When I say constant companion that is literally true.  Until the recent new business start up, with the way Adam worked , Osho and Adam were always together – 24/7. The exceptions being Continue reading “Obituary – Neosho Weiss”

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Chilly on the outside, chili on the inside

click to see larger

My daughter, Keely, after graduating from UALR (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and before entering law school at the University of Oklahoma, did several things to keep body and soul together.  After divorcing her first husband she went to work at the Poteau, OK newspaper, The Poteau Daily News. She worked first as a reporter, and then later was also one of the editors. As a reporter she once interviewed an active NFL quarterback, Jake Plummer of the Arizona Cardinals, who was in town as part of an advertising campaign.  I asked Keely what she thought of him.  Her reply was that he appeared to her as if he had been hit in the head one too many times.

Just as an aside, Poteau, which is on the Arkansas and Oklahoma border south of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, is known locally Continue reading “Chilly on the outside, chili on the inside”

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A Southern, Jewish Tradition – Revisited

I originally published the article below  in 2014, and since it is about to be the first of the year, I thought that it would be a good time to revisit it.  One thing that has changed is that instead of Señora doing the cooking on New Year’s Day, it is yours truly.  And just for the record my collard greens are to die for… if I say so myself.

I performed this tradition when I was single, but then it consisted of the opening up a can of black-eye peas and a package of frozen turnip greens and Continue reading “A Southern, Jewish Tradition – Revisited”