Category: Trials and Tribulations

Whatcha think, Joe was perfect?

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Duck Dynasty Chinese Food

Occasionally Señora does not feel like preparing dinner.  When I hear this I offer to take us out to eat, but sometimes she just feels like staying in.  In that scenario we occasionally will get Chinese carryout.  This happens a handful of times every year.  I cannot say there is a Chinese carryout restaurant close that we are wild about, but Dynasty Chinese Restaurant on Clarkson is acceptable, most of the time. It is small, without seating, doing all its business as delivery or carryout, accepting only cash or checks.

There is another Chinese carryout restaurant close to our house that I liked the food better, but one night, going to pick up our order, I made the mistake of using their restroom.  I have not been back.

Every time I have gone to get our food at the store on Clarkson there is an older Caucasian guy working the counter.  I do not believe he has any ownership in the business, but he has Continue reading “Duck Dynasty Chinese Food”

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The False Reality of Loneliness | Hello Eleanor Rigby

I am a bit skeptical of this video as this is one of those fuzzy areas people so want to believe. Plus anything associated with the Templeton Foundation sets off red flags and sirens for me.  However, the video does bring up some interesting thoughts to contemplate.

The reason it caught my attention

I occasionally will write blog articles I never intend to publish, just to get things off my chest.  Back in the day I use to write letters and tear them up.   I am including the article I never intended to publish at the end of this one.  Please no sticks or stones…

I had titled this article simply Eleanor Rigby

When I was younger, much, Continue reading “The False Reality of Loneliness | Hello Eleanor Rigby”

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I Think I Am a Little Jealous

Señora has been seeing a new massage therapist for a while now.  I understand her need for massages with all the issues going on in her delightful but fragile body. However, she generally comes home crowing about what a wonderful masseuse this immigrant from Russian or Ukraine is.

Now add to this his back story of being an immigrant working seven days a week to send his child through college.  Sure has my furry, bouncy, big-eyed puppy on a leash beat for touching the heart strings of the fairer sex.

I sometimes feel that if I could make Señora feel ten percent as good in bed as she seems to feel from her time on his table, she would be strutting around the barnyard clucking about Studmeister Redneck to all the world.

I think I am a little jealous.

She recommended this gentleman to a good friend of hers, La Guapa.  Now La Guapa is crowing about the magical touch of the therapist.

It makes me want to go the masseuse school… barring that I am sure Señora would share his contact information.

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Another Opening Sentence

Another opening sentence for a larger story or possibly a story in itself.

Rising from the bed, stretching, he began wading through the archipelago of scattered, hastily discarded clothing on his way to the bathroom, glancing back towards the bed before he closed the door, a wry smile crossed his face as he remembered the activities of the previous night.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… from time to time these musings pop into the labyrinth that passes for my mind.  I need to do something with them, so here it sets. Don’t worry, I’ve become very adept at dodging rotten tomatoes, thank you very much.

“Blissful smile” was my first choice, but I went with”wry smile” as it puts a completely different spin on the sentence, leaving questions unanswered.

For another article along this same vein: 2 One sentence short stories

And so it goes.

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Bowdler’s Day – July 11

Given that the Puritans and prudes are trying ban any book that has offended at least one person, this Bowdler’s Day is definitely a time to reflect on “what the hell are we doing?”  Have we gone mad?  It has been a while since I have read Fahrenheit 451, but I am betting there are passages in it that would have the namby pambies burning it today. It was banned in apartheid South Africa  and many United States schools back in 1954. Just to name one banned book that is now considered iconic.  I wrote about this extensively in Banned Books, Burned Books.

“Bowdler’s Day is celebrated on July 11, the birthday of the physician and philanthropist who published a censored edition of Shakespeare’s works, Thomas Bowdler. Depending on whom you ask, Bowdler is either a prude or a genius. During his career, he heavily edited Shakespeare’s famous works to make them more family-friendly. He regularly censored violence and intimacy from literature, so that they could be read by more people. These versions were also cheaper than the original editions. Bowdler’s Day is celebrated by students, readers, and anti-censorship activists.”

The above is from website National Today.  To read more about Bowdler’s Day just click More on Bowdler’s Day

And so it should not go.

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Es una aventura

What prompted the sharing of this anecdote was an exercise I did with one of my Spanish tutors.  He was using a book of exercises that included an anecdote that about a person going to Paris on vacation, arriving at the airport only to realize they had forgotten their passport, causing them to miss their flight.  Due to the delay the rest of their trip plans fell through too.

The idea being to relate a similar anecdote so I orally told him one about the time we arrived for a domestic flight at STL airport, and Señora had misplaced her driver’s license.  Fortunately, after much ado, they let us on the flight.  We had a friend get Robin’s passport from the house and overnight it to us in New Orleans for the return flight.  C’est la vie..laissez les bon temps roule.

Since he also wanted me to practice my writing he assigned me to write another anecdote for my “homework”.  The Spanish version is at the bottom for a couple of you nerds.  Here is the same story in English, but it is not a translation.

Trip of Adventure

For various reasons that are not important to the arc of this story, my ex’s mother gifted her Continue reading “Es una aventura”

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Home Kitchen and Food Safety Inspection

The following article appeared in HuffPost: 8 Common Kitchen Habits That A Food Safety Inspector Might Fail You For

This reminded me of an incidence in my first bout of matrimonial swamp fever.  Needing a job, any job, I started working for the Arkansas Department of Health as a County Sanitarian (Health Inspector). I said job, any job, because this position entailed some very serious responsibility for the public safety, not only in Continue reading “Home Kitchen and Food Safety Inspection”

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Cow Pasture Golf

I started golfing in my early 30s.  I will leave it to the you, esteemed reader, to calculate how long ago that was.   In retrospect one of the primary reasons I began this maldito sport was to have a mutual activity to do with my father.  Never a dear or cherished relationship it was improving ever so slightly in this period.

If you know anything about golf you know two very important things. First, it can be and frequently is very addicting.  Secondly, it is Continue reading “Cow Pasture Golf”

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Señora’s Bluebird House

A few years back the Missouri State Bird, the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis), started showing up in our yard regularly.  It was not very long after that when Senora began talking about desiring a pair of bluebird houses.  After listening to her dream for a spell I did an internet search for Continue reading “Señora’s Bluebird House”

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Article from EatThis.com on Iconic Pizza

An article popped up in my news feed this morning, Two St. Louis pizza parlors make ‘Eat This’ top 10 list. The article linked to an article on Eathis.com, 10 Iconic Pizza Restaurants That Still Serve Old-Fashioned Pies

The original article cited EatThis.com as saying

“Eat This, Not That writer Carly Terzigni calls St. Louis, “One of the pizza capitals of the United States.” She features Imo’s and Pizza A-Go-Go on her list, 10 Iconic Pizza Restaurants That Still Serve Old-Fashioned Pies.”

It was more than a little interesting to me as I had just posted this article on Curmudgeon-Alley.com,  Iconic St. Louis Foods. In it I gave my considered opinion on how really awful St. Louis style pizza is.

Sorry, you are still not going to get me to eat Imo’s Pizza, even if a national website praises it, IMHO, it is totally unappetizing. Yeah, they probably sell a lot of pizza around here, but St. Louis is the last place in North America I would call one of the pizza capitals of the United States. But then opinions are like a***, everyone has one.

And so it goes.