Two Gents' Worth
November 22, 2024
What is it about small, cute dogs? Why do they always take all the attention, and suck all the oxygen, out of a room? I was reminded of this small, cute dog thing the other day when Sharon and I were having lunch outside the Patio Cafe at Fig Garden Village in Fresno. There were…
Read More about Wanted: A Small, Cute DogI had a really crazy fantasy recently. In this one, I was walking around downtown Fresno near Courthouse Park when The Guy I Used to Be drove up. He looked about 25 years old, maybe 150 pounds, with longish light-brown hair, a mustache and gold-rimmed glasses. He was driving the same bright blue ’71 Pinto…
Read More about The Guy I Used to Be
A few weeks ago, an old friend in Paso Robles emailed me a great series of cartoons dealing with aging. He does that a lot, and those cartoons are often quite amusing – even if they hit way too close to home. The best cartoon he sent in that batch showed a woman of indeterminate…
Read More about Another Birthday, on the WayA week or so ago, I wrote about why I had gone into broadcasting. I mentioned that it was because of NBC Radio’s incredible weekend-long “Monitor” program — which I fell in love with and never got over — and because of KNBR Radio in San Francisco, the great-sounding NBC owned-and-operated station that boomed its…
Read More about My Favorite Teacher
“It’s Christmas time all over the world. It’s Christmas here at home.” Sammy Davis Jr. memorably belted that out decades ago in a marvelous musical ditty about what fellow great singer Andy Williams called “the most wonderful time of the year.” If Christmas doesn’t bring out the best in us — the smiles in us…
Read More about It’s Christmas Time!
Yes, the time has nearly come for us to leave this most magical of all places. I’m talking, of course, about Mr. Disney’s little retreat in Florida — the one that Walt dreamed up, magnificently, decades ago — and then, unfortunately, never got the chance to see and enjoy. Disney World in Orlando is not…
Read More about Thanks, Walt
A few days back, a compatriot from my long-ago Fresno High days sent me a message on Facebook. She asked: “Do you guys ever stay home?” Another former FHS classroom companion commented, via Facebook: “No moss on you!” They both were responding to recent postings about Sharon and my latest sojourn, this one to Walt’s…
Read More about A Disney Thanksgiving
Yes, the time has finally come to leave this Heart of the Great American Heartland and motor our way back West. We’ve had a great, extended summer here in Ames. Five months that included plenty of walks through Old Town, with its lovely old Victorians fronted by giant trees that canopy streets; numerous visits to…
Read More about So Long, Ames
Autumn has arrived here in the Midwest, on schedule — both on the calendar and in real life. The signs are everywhere. We’re experiencing lovely crystal-clear, blue-sky days and sparkling, chilly nights. If you’re a star-gazer — and I am — it’s delightful these evenings, being able to see — without a filter of smog…
Read More about Autumn in the Heartland
We hit the road about a week ago — yes, once again interrupting our summer-long stay in Ames to make a side trip — this time, to the West. We rented a car and took off toward South Dakota. We’d never been there, and we knew there were a few things we needed to see…
Read More about Our Bucket List Trip