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

Thursday, January 5, 2023

SOMETHING MOTHER SANG

Sometimes when we three came home from the swimming hole or from a game of improvised baseball we'd hear mother in the kitchen, singing. At times she had the radio on and sang along, but never while we kids were underfoot. Those moments were reserved for instruction and correction, for her to remind... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

PLEASE FORWARD...

It seems like every week we Americans have a new horrific criminal shooting up a school, a concert, a store - and now we have a prime suspect as a post- graduate criminology major accused of stabbing four others in their sleep. As I watched the major news networks, I noticed the creep's mug shot... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

George: stalwart, solid, hard-working, family oriented, salt-of-the earth. That was my uncle. Stubborn as a mule, damn sure he was right on every point, but at heart he was a good man, good husband and father. And now comes along another George. Lied about his education. Lied about his work history.... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, January 2, 2023

THREE DOG NIGHT

There was a folk tale, supposedly from the deep south, in which folks slept with a hunting dog alongside them on chilly nights. If they got cold during the night, or so the story goes, they’d pull up another hound. On really cold winter nights they might have to add another: thus the term, “three... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

FIRST DRAFT - THE UNFORTUNATE COURTSHIP OF HOMER LEYDIG

Harlan Leydig, at eighteen, was one of those guys who's so ugly he's cute. He had dated several girls in high school: none seriously. Girls weren't interested in a skinny, six-foot guy with red hair, freckles, a beaked nose and receding chin. They wanted the athletic boys, the good-looking ones with... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 31, 2022

THE BACKYARD SQUIRRELS RETURN

For a long ten days we had snow on the ground, it was cold as the Arctic with chill factors well below zero. Those little unnoticed gaps in the window frames where the indoor heat escapes unbenownst to us suddenly show their presence as fog forms and freezes on the outer pane. The furnace runs 24-7,... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 30, 2022

FROM THE ARCHIVE

CUSTOMER SERVICE AT MA BELL - 1956 I got a job at the local office of Illinois Bell Telephone Co. in Wood River, IL using my previous experience at Pacific Telephone in Seattle as an extra qualifier. It was a shoo-in: they were happy to hire me. My boss at the phone company was a Mr. Peepers type,... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 26, 2022

WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO SAY NO?

-from the Archives- When I was a little kid – let’s say about two – I knew how to say no. No to food with strong flavors, like spicy chili or cooked spinach, anything with onions in it. No! If the word didn’t get my way, I went directly to the tantrum stage. Mama used to tell me when I got a little... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

FOOD DRIVE - 1947

When teachers asked each kid to bring a can of food for the Elks' Club Thanksgiving food drive that year, Margaret's three kids each brought a can of green beans Mom had processed at the co-op cannery at the high school's agriculture dept. the previous summer. We had grown the beans, harvested and... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

A POEM BASED ON REAL EVENTS FROM THE 1940S

Santa Claus A wild Appaloosa stallion, sleek spotted wall of horseflesh grey as fog, is rudely roped and hauled from his free range in the Horse Heaven Hills, torn from his mares and rivals, tightly tied in a ramshackle stall next to a makeshift wire corral. God knows how far he is from home. He... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

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.

People

Blogs

Headlines (What is this?)