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

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Olivia - (excerpt from Simon Says)

Scene: Cafe Grimaldi - Simon and Gus stopped for lunch before retracing their drive to get to Pike's Peak. Katie has brought Olivia's dress with the alterations complete. They're at the back table as Gus and his brother pay the check at the front. “What do you think, Katie? Isn’t he cute?” “Oh, get... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 8:22 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sh*#t Happens

We plant in hope, and wait. We reap what nature allows. Last fall, after the Bobcat earth mover treads tore up the front lawn and left it looking a bit like a disaster area, I did some raking and leveling and planted a dozen tulip bulbs along the curved areas of the new retaining wall. I guessed the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:33 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, April 18, 2014

The Merry-Go-Round broke down. It made the strangest sound...

Yesterday brought a new opportunity for me to take a ride on a bureaucratic merry-go-round. The state pension/benefits folk who administer pensions, health insurance, etc., signed a contract with a new provider that took effect Feb. 1. When I went to renew the Xarelto a few days ago, they issued me... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:59 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, April 17, 2014

"The Address"

"The Address" is a documentary by Ken Burns, another piece about Abe Lincoln, (kinda). It was on Channel 9 a couple nights ago, PBS, the last bastion of commercial-free network programming. Maybe it was because every other channel had re-runs or the same old formula plots on shows they've been... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:27 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Bingo Therapy

A few posts ago I mentioned this little firecracker lady named Fay - the one who complained about her friend Elaine's wasteful spending on pedicures. They're related by marriage, co-mothers-in-law, so they do get all up in one another's business. Last time she was at Bingo Tuesday - three weeks ago... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:40 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

When the sh*t hits the fan, you need to step aside...

Not everyone gets this. There was this woman my son was seeing, not exactly an off-again on-again thing, they went to dinner a couple times a week, she came over and fixed meals, did a little laundry on her days off. He played catch with her 12-year-old son and showed him some baseball technique.... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:29 AM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, April 14, 2014

Rainy Days and Mondays

I hear the neighbor's car backing out, scraping bottom on the steep incline at the edge of the street. It's 7:30, the hour when she leaves for her Monday physical therapy session. It's a bit better now, she's able to get around slowly on her prosthetic left leg, she can drive herself and doesn't... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:04 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Yesterday, when I talked about the typewriter guy

I missed the boat. What I was trying to say, when I said I assemble characters using typewriter parts was that I write about them using the keyboard. And when I said I am apparently doing it for the fun of it, it was my way of complaining that there's not much money in it. As the warden said in the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:28 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Hobbies

I saw a video yesterday about an artist, young man of about 30, who sculpts things out of old typewriter parts. He uses nothing but the keys and gears and type and frames, the rollers and hinges, etc. First he carefully takes apart the old Royal or Underwood or Remington - tucks like parts in... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:54 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Don't start vast projects with half-vast ideas...

This was a neat, hand-printed motto one of the guys tacked to the bulletin board back in '61. At the time I was the secretary for the Physical Plant department at the newly-formed Edwardsville campus of Southern Illinois University. My new boss was John C., our base of operations was the former... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:18 AM | add or view comments (8) | 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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