Category: Life

S*** happens

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I Love You – Part 1…Maybe

I’ve been thinking a lot about 3 words of late, “I love you.”

“Why,” you ask.

It is my wife. She says those words all the time, to me, of course, but also to many other people, mostly her women friends.

Let me explain my wife, perhaps something no husband should ever attempt to do. She has a certain charisma that is not lost on me, even after many years together.  She attracts people, and probably more importantly, she really likes people.  She has lived in the St. Louis area all of her life.  She has friends dating back to her nursery school days.  I’ve never sat down and analyzed it, but she has 3 or 4 or 5 different circles of friends.  A couple of the circles overlap Continue reading “I Love You – Part 1…Maybe”

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Less Reading = Less Empathy

“The research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in August in ‘Personality and Social Psychology Review’, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years. To make matters worse, during this same period students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights, according to research by Jean M. Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University.” ~~ Article in Scientific American, What, Me Care? Young Are Less Empathetic

I stumbled across this article while researching another subject.  It reminded me of a conversation I had with my Canadian friend, Le Canuck, who lives in Memphis.  I was there Continue reading “Less Reading = Less Empathy”

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Shoes Did Not Get the Invitation

I was in the waiting room of a doctor’s office this week when a pharmaceutical representative came in, triggering memories of my father.  I only saw the backside of this gentleman as I did not notice him until he had pulled his trolley of samples up to one of the windows of the office personnel, and I went in shortly thereafter.  From the backside he struck me as very fashionably dressed.  His clothes appeared relatively new and of the current fashion.  To me, the current fad in men’s sports coats and suit jackets always appears as if Continue reading “Shoes Did Not Get the Invitation”

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Diminishing Trust

Like most Homo sapiens I hold contradictory views, opinions, modus operandi, etc.  One such area is how I regard and behave to others of my species.

In my personal life I have for several decades taken the position that I do not trust anyone until they prove to me they are trustworthy.  Perhaps this is an outcome of working for huge corporations and other large organizations.  There are always folks in these environments that are willing to do about anything to advance their careers.  A few times I have felt their footsteps on my back.  Add to the corporate office politics, the sundry disappointments in my personal relationships, and my base position is that you need to prove to me that I can trust you. And yes I am aware Continue reading “Diminishing Trust”

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A Lighter Side of Alzheimer’s???

     Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease.  That one sentence by itself could be a blog article.  Alzheimer’s robs a person of the possibility of living life fully, in many cases joyfully, and frequently with dignity. Alzheimer’s robs the family of the person they knew and loved. It is a horrible way to fade out of this existence. It is a horrible disease to watch a loved one go through.

However, Alzheimer’s can have its lighter side, and perhaps something you might very loosely term a “silver lining”.  In another blog article, Hanging from the back bumper, I accused Saturday Night Live of modeling their character The Church Lady after my mother.  Obviously a bit of hyperbole, Continue reading “A Lighter Side of Alzheimer’s???”

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Rev. Joe buys a blow-up doll

In any workplace with one or more persons, you are likely to encounter one or more “characters”.  My first job in Information Technology was with a large national manufacturing concern at their Ft. Smith, AR plant, at that time their administrative offices were also there. For reasons unclear, hopefully not dark and mysterious, there dwelt more than the normal allowance of characters at the plant and offices, perhaps a birds-of-a-feather phenomenon.

One such character was Jon, a computer operator who had worked  there for many years.   Jon did not achieve his character-hood for his activities at work, but for his personal life.  He had been married 7 or 8 times, no one was quite sure, Continue reading “Rev. Joe buys a blow-up doll”

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…and a HUG around the Neck

A while back I wrote a little story, A bushel and a peck… about buying a small painting while we  were in New Orleans. The painting has a little bird with the saying, “I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck”.  I speculated in that posting about completing the ditty with another painting that said “…and a Hug around the Neck”. 

I contacted the artist, Katie Leese, at her website JeanBird.com.  I told her what I wanted. She sent me a couple pictures of possible backgrounds, and the artistic Señora picked one. Katie’s surcharge for custom work was only $10 more than the price of one of her paintings on her website or at her stand in New Orleans  I think the pair display very nicely in our kitchen. Most importantly, they make both our hearts glad when we see them.  It was money well spent.

Keep well.

 

 

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Something, something, something…

I met Robin’s father, Theodore – Ted, but I did not know him.  When I started dating Robin in 2008 he had already been in a nursing home for many years due to Alzheimer’s.  It had been years since he had recognized anyone, even his wife.  I am not sure how long we had been dating before Robin took me by to visit her father, but a while.  Robin did not visit her father, Ted, much in this period as her mother was still alive and primary caregiver.   As alluded to elsewhere Robin’s relationship with her mother was “complicated”, and this put visiting her father in the same realm.

Ted’s grandfather had been the village blacksmith back in Mother Russia.  Continue reading “Something, something, something…”

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Move Over Red Baron

I do not have a yellow sheet of paper torn from a  legal pad tacked to my wall with a bucket list of things I want to do before I ride the final comet.  I do have a list in my head of approximately 242 more places I would like to visit in this lifetime. Along the way I am trying to do as many cool or adventuresome things as I can.

Robin and I have been parasailing in Florida.  A few years ago I took a hot air balloon ride in Sedona.  While we were in Costa Rica we did several things of this nature.  We went white water rafting on class 3 and 4 rapids.  We did what they call canyonering. Essentially you are rappelling down a mountainside and occasionally going through small waterfalls.  The last part of that experience was a 150 meter vertical drop using only rappelling ropes to do so. Just to put that in perspective the St. Louis Arch Continue reading “Move Over Red Baron”

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A Million Dollar Dinner

It was a beautiful night here in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, clear sky and a temperature of 24 degrees (or 76 Fahrenheit, if you prefer).  We decided to sit outside on the patio to eat dinner.  It is Friday night and the culinary artist formerly known as Señora Weinhaus went simple.  We supped on a green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a homemade pizza with lots of mushrooms and anchovies.   “Mmm, mmm good”, as Gomer Pyle used to say after a tryst.

As tasty as dinner was, what made the price of admission worth it was the floor show.  We were treated to 20 minutes of antics by 4 hummingbirds flitting around, using the feeder, and fighting over position on it.

There are 5 stations on the this feeder, but there seems to be some sort of hummingbird protocol for this particular feeder Continue reading “A Million Dollar Dinner”