Two Gents' Worth
November 22, 2024
“‘Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale; ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart for half the year.” ** Frosty nights around our Central Coast retirement neighborhood now. If we had a fireplace, three logs would be burning until bedtime. Shiny Christmas bulbs on shrubs and trees…
Read More about Christmas, Again“Over the river and through the woods To Grandmother’s house we go…” I’ve heard the words to that delightful song almost all my life, and they express a wonderful sentiment, indeed. In fact, I’m pretty sure that every time I’ve listened to them, I’ve visualized being in a horse-drawn sleigh at Thanksgiving. My dad’s piloting…
Read More about Thanksgiving ThoughtsIn recent days, friends in Ames, Iowa, have asked us what it’s like, living in California right now – given, among other things, our recent destructive wildfires that wiped out an entire town, burned thousands of homes and resulted in dozens of deaths. And let’s not forget – as if we could – that mass…
Read More about Two States of LivingIt’s not supposed to happen around these parts. But it has happened, and it has shocked folks in this great Heart of the American Heartland, Ames, Iowa. The talk of this town today — and in many nearby towns — is the killing of 22-year-old Iowa State University student and star golfer Celia Barquin-Arozamena, whose…
Read More about Murder in Iowa
A funny — no, not “ha, ha” funny, but highly unusual — thing took place this past Saturday night here in the great Heart of the American Heartland, Ames, Iowa. We had a whole lot of rain. And a whole lot of lightning. And a whole lot of thunder. Now, none of that is atypical…
Read More about Canceled in the Heartland
I met Iowa’s newest — and one of its only — neighborhood ice cream truck drivers this past Friday night. I was out walking on that lovely evening through the Roosevelt neighborhood in Ames — where we had lived decades ago — when I heard what sounded like music from an ice cream truck. Surely,…
Read More about The Ice Cream Man Cometh
We went back to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines this past Friday to see if things had changed much since we had last been there. Considering the last time we were there was back in 1979 or ’80, you might think things would look a whole lot different. And they likely did —…
Read More about State Fair, Iowa StyleWe’ve just reached, unfortunately, two mid-way points during our summer-long sojourn here in the great heart of the American heartland, Ames, Iowa. This past Wednesday marked the exact half-way point of our stay — and this weekend marks the half-way point of that lovely season of summer. Neither marker is causing us to celebrate, but…
Read More about Those Lazy, Hazy…
There’s nothing quite like a Fourth of July parade in Middle America. Yes, it’s patriotic, but most of them are, no matter where they take place. But here in Ames, you get a different feeling when you watch our Fourth parade. Our parade — which kicked off promptly at 11 this morning — somehow makes…
Read More about A Main Street FourthSummer officially made its way to Ames a week ago, but signs of its impending arrival had been here ever since we drove into town from the West Coast early in June. Summer-like thunderstorms had been rolling their way through these parts on an almost every-other-day basis , leaving us with incredibly lush lawns, fast-growing…
Read More about Summer in the Midwest