Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Sunday, July 1, 2018

NOT SO GENTLE ON MY MIND

Been putting together a letter to Sara at The Center, trying to find a way to make my point without whining. The past couple of weeks – since she replaced five morning shift volunteers with one part-time paid worker – I’ve been accidentally commiserating with the others. It seems we all hit the... Sign in to see full entry.

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Saturday, June 30, 2018

THE CONSEQUENCE OF NO

Long ago – in the ‘70s, the era of great folk singers and flower children in San Francisco – it was the swing era in ‘flyover’ country. I’m not talking about swing dance, the fast-stepping spinoff from the 40s jitterbug. I’m talking about swingers. There were (I’ve heard) parties where people would... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:41 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, June 29, 2018

Who Would You Choose?

Thursday was our last Write Your Own Story session for this “term.” I wanted to set a light tone for the last gathering before summer break. Topic 1 was ‘what advice would you give if you could go back in time and talk to your 10-year-old self. Topic 2 was have you ever met a famous person, or if... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:24 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, June 28, 2018

RELATIONSHIP LOTTO

Way back when, in the late ‘60s, R and I had three kids, two boys already in school and a two-year old girl. The boys walked to and from the school, about ten blocks. We hired a baby-sitter to tend little Robin. The rule was Big Leila could take the baby to her house during the day if she wanted to,... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:17 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

NOT A HEADLINE

My niece Patti spent a lot of time on genealogical research a few years back, and a few days ago she sent a newspaper article from Ancestry.com to my son Rich. It was from The Alton Evening Telegraph. Rich sent me a copy, and although I well remember the incident itself, I never knew it had made the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:06 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

A STORY FROM THE CENTER.

TOPIC 1) FIRST PAID JOB I was going on 16, spending the late summer with Aunt Ella in Kennewick, Washington – a small blue-collar town on the fringe of the Eastern desert area of the state. Aunt Ella worked the day shift as a waitress at the Pollyanna Café in town and got me hired on. This was... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:07 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, June 25, 2018

Daydreams & Memories

If I owned a café there’d be a good bookshelf/lending library on one wall and people would be encouraged to bring their own cups to save me the cost of go-cups or hiring a dishwasher. There’d be no bottomless cups, one free refill per serve – and warmups would require the coffee drinker to get up... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:34 AM | add or view comments (9) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, June 24, 2018

THE LAWN MAFIA or beating round the bush

JJ has been taking care of my weeds and keeping the grass within city codes for maybe three years now. On super-hot days I’d take him a bottle of chilled water and we’d chat about the weather and howzit going topics. He was working for a landscaping firm out of Granite City known as The Lawn Mafia.... Sign in to see full entry.

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Saturday, June 23, 2018

CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY Knitted of gray hair, hesitant steps and wrinkles, the cloak of invisibility settles around the shoulders. Suddenly irrelevant, no opinion is solicited; rather, all is discounted, waved away. * * * You cannot see what is right under your nose, but I see for myself: your day is... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:09 AM | add or view comments (11) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, June 22, 2018

OBSERVING 2

After posting yesterday’s story about the grandson’s mysterious method of dropping a small plastic bag by a cord from his upstairs window, I remembered an earlier incident – also involving one of those small white bags. This was a couple or three weeks ago. I’d been raking up the mulch bed by the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:24 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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