notapoet's notebook

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Strange Connections

A post in another category brought back a childhood memory and, as a byproduct, added a little substance to some other time-fogged memories of my early childhood. It all started with a decision to move a blog titled “This IS therapy, dammit” out of the practically dead Health & Fitness category.... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Election Day Logistics

Here’s the tentative plan. My son will get home from work between 3:30 and a little after 4:00 pm. I’ll watch the grandkids while he and the daughter-in-law go to vote where they are registered in nearby Cameron. Then, after they return, one of them will take me to equally nearby Vass so I can vote.... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Little Princess and the Vampire Pirate

It sounds like the title of a gruesome fairytale. Or perhaps a particularly hokey horror flick. In reality of course, it was the visit of a pair of trick or treaters -- my oldest grandson and only granddaughter. It was the most satisfying Halloween I've had since their father was a young trick or... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Gratitude

It was a pleasant surprise to find that each and every one of my blogs received a hit yesterday. In fact, each received exactly one hit, save one – and that one got two hits. Normally I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the wheels started turning in that wrinkly gray mass behind my... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sometimes you get sidetracked

It can be both frustrating and aggravating when you set out to do one thing and it ends up becoming something else. Real life intrudes. Minor emergencies pop up that must be dealt with right now. Then you sit down to write a post blocked out in your mind…and it becomes something else entirely. An... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Alone Again (Naturally)

Wheee! I just had three carefully crafted posts disappear into thin air and I’m not more than mildly upset. My freeloading friend loaded up all his piles of clothes, laundry, and miscellaneous junk into his borrowed SUV and moved out. So I’m alone again, naturally. And I’m damned happy about it.... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Remembering 9-11

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on 9-11 seven years ago. I was on the road between Vass and Durham in North Carolina, heading for Duke University and a screening for possible inclusion in a study on clinical depression. I was listening to an oldies radio station when the first... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 5, 2008

“Hard Hearted Hannah”

was one of Ella Fitzgerald’s signature songs. She wowed people with it in the fifties and the great Ray Charles had a minor hit with it in 1960. I knew there was a song out there that predated tropical storm/hurricane/tropical storm Hanna. This Hanna with one “h” tore up the Caribbean before... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hanna got you spooked?

Probably so if, like me, you are not a Floridian and live along the East Coast of the United States. Hurricanes have been relatively scarce as far north as the Carolinas since the late nineties. Most of these irresistible forces of nature have battered Florida and the gulf coast states in recent... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I missed Labor Day!

I was too busy working to pay attention to the fact Monday was a holiday until it was almost Tuesday. That's the way it goes when you're trying to write for a living. At least my son got to enjoy a day off that was a real day off instead of a day missed at work because of some kind of emergency or... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Days of Our Lives

Yes, life often seems like a soap opera. I’m still struggling with the partial support of a long-time friend I took in almost six months ago. He was supposed to at least try to help with the expenses while he got his feet back on the ground, not cost me extra money and inconvenience during his... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 25, 2008

School bus tails

Today is the first day of school for my oldest grandson, now officially a second grade scholar. Ever since my own school days many decades ago I’ve associated the first day of school with fall, no matter the fact that school starts in late summer. An early riser since my army days, I couldn’t help... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

"What's Going On"

...was a smash hit on the pop charts for Marvin Gaye in early 1971, the year I completed the degree requirements in Business Administration with a big assist from the GI bill's whopping $130 a month for a student enrolled full time in a degree program. Actually, $130 a month wasn't bad back then.... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Wade in the Water

It sounds like a pleasant way to beat the summer heat. It also turned out to be a chain of thought starter, a phrase that got me to thinking about almost drowning as a youngster, an event that put me in mortal fear of having my head below the surface of water and, as a result, delayed my learning to... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Nature's light and sound show...

continued on through the fifth and sixth, took a rest on the seventh, and then came back for another four days. Yesterday the rains came earlier in the day and the accompanying light and sound show was much milder. We got more rain through the day, but it was broken into by periods of sunshine that... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

It was a great July 4th Sound & Light Show

And it got started just in the nick of time to have occurred on the 4th. Shortly before 11:30 EST I heard the first loud rumble of thunder. A great sky-lighting flash followed almost immediately. Then heavy rain began to drum away on my roof. Good old Mother Nature outdid all of the Fourth of July... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

"Happy Anniversary"

...was a late '77, early '78 hit by The Little River Band. I guess it always stuck in my mind because the song was receiving a lot of radio play about the time my son was born. Later in 1978 the group had a big hit with "Reminiscing" shortly before the fifth anniversary of my wedding. The combo of... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

"Oh Happy Day"

was a #4 hit, and the only charted pop song, for the Edwin Hawkins Singers back in early 1969. The song sticks in my memory because it was a happy time for me. I had just gotten out of the army in one piece, I was eagerly anticipating my return to the University of North Carolina campus in June, I... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

"The Right Thing to Do"

...was a 1973 Top 40 hit by Carly Simon that followed up her smash #1 "You're So Vain." Carly's only #1 is still talked about 35 years later while even an oldie like me barely remembers the other song. Except, that is, when by way of explanation for some particular deed I say "it was the right thing... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Okay, "I'm Easy,"

as actor Keith Carradine said in his 1976 Top 40 hit. Carradine was a one hit wonder as a pop music artist. I, on the other hand, have a lifetime of experience as a pushover. It's all tied in with my philosophy of obtaining peace of mind by trying to do the right thing. There are consequences. Don't... Sign in to see full entry.

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About this Blog

Notapoet's repository for all of his miscellaneous junk that he hope's to turn into the Great American Novel someday (whaddaya mean Samuel Clemens already wrote it?). It's also where he makes comments on some of his other blogs which are extentions of his notebook.

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