Two Gents' Worth
November 22, 2024
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to think of something to write about in this space. The truth is — I’ve come up dry — until this Friday afternoon. Oh, I could have regaled you with stories about everything we’ve done around these parts in Central California since we’ve returned from Iowa….
Read More about Splooting, Anyone?
It took nine days and more than 2,000 miles, but we are back home in Madera County and happy to be here. Our long driving trek from Ames to Madera was exhilarating, fattening and, ultimately, wearying — and it was immensely rewarding. We left Ames on Thursday, June 23, and headed down I-35 to our…
Read More about California Once More
Well, this is it. We always knew it would happen — but we didn’t think it would come so quickly. It’s time for us to leave Ames — and this may well be the final time we do so. When we arrived here a month ago for our annual summer sojourn to the Midwest, the…
Read More about So Long, Ames
We have come back, one last time, to this great Heart of the American Heartland — Ames, Iowa — the home of Iowa State University; Hickory Park, the best barbecue place anywhere in these grand United States; and Cafe Diem, surely one of the finest and most hospitable coffee places you’ve ever been in. Yes,…
Read More about In Ames, One Last Time?I 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
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