The Optimist

“Am I sure about this?” I asked myself as I slipped on my sport coat and looked in the mirror. It wasn’t the sport coat that had me concerned, it was the opened collar polo shirt under it. Normally on… Continue Reading →

We played “ketch” when we were little, not “catch.” “Good ketch!” we’d yell on the sandlot or the Little League field. The guy behind the plate was the “ketcher.” I cannot recall exactly when I started pronouncing the word correctly,… Continue Reading →

You have to smile when a full-grown man prefers to call himself “Johnny Boy.” But when that man is 102 years old, as this Johnny Boy turns today, June 7, well, there isn’t a smile big enough to fit the… Continue Reading →

President Trump’s visit to London brings back many delightful memories of the several trips my wife and I made to that fascinating city. Every visit, we seemed to discover something new, something surprising. For example, did you know there is… Continue Reading →

President Trump’s visit to London conjures up memories of the time I learned first U.S. President George Washington is honored in London with a statue on famed Trafalgar Square. My wife and I were taking a tour of the city… Continue Reading →

Watching the Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals made me think of the night almost five years ago when at a hockey game in Canada the sound system malfunctioned during the singing of the national anthems. Anthems in plural because… Continue Reading →

Watching Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu flirt with a no-hitter a couple of weeks ago (he pitched 7 1/3 innings of hitless ball against the Washington Nationals) brought back memories of witnessing my only Major League no-hitter and an age-old baseball… Continue Reading →

Here’s a riddle: About 200 people are waiting at various gates at the Austin-Bergstrom airport in Austin, Texas, early one recent morning. Of all of them, only one is reading a newspaper. How old is he? Okay, I’ll tell you.… Continue Reading →

Full disclosure: I didn’t know today, the 143rd day of the year, is a holiday until I heard about it on a morning news show. But now that I do, I am fully embracing it. Inspired by Mr. Rogers, May… Continue Reading →

I’m 69 years old but still occasionally find a pimple on the end of my nose. A pimple! “What is this?” I ask myself in the mirror. “Prom day?” I long ago lost my hair, lost my waistline, lost my… Continue Reading →