The Optimist

A buddy invited me over for a cookout last week. Later he left a voice message asking me to bring my “mitt” so we could play catch.This was good news. I love playing catch. But my “mitt”?I’m sorry, but to… Continue Reading →

Reading obituaries first thing in the morning can ruin your day.It did mine Friday.Scrolling down on my smart phone I came across the name Janet Kowalcik Cefalo and my heart sank.It was one of those obits we call in the… Continue Reading →

Yes, I’ll miss the food. Oh, the food.Yes, I’ll miss the entertainment. Local musical artists I love. Every night for four straight nights.Yes, I’ll miss the parade. Even with my achy, 70-year-old knees, I love walking down Main Street with… Continue Reading →

I see they’ve reopened the pubs in London.Let’s hope that goes better for the Brits than reopening the bars in some U.S. cities went for us. There are some 30,000 pubs in England, which I’ve heard is about twice the… Continue Reading →

My wife and I were out and about the other morning and decided to swing by Avenue Diner in Wyoming for a late breakfast or early lunch. It was about 11 a.m.We also wanted to check out the tent they… Continue Reading →

I often write about how when you spend your entire life in one place you get to the point when almost every death has an effect on you.And you never know what that effect will be.So when I read the… Continue Reading →

The news feed on my phone was enough to make a person go back to bed and pull the covers over his face: murder hornets, locusts, fireworks every night (and all night), cicadas, a massive dust storm, a town above… Continue Reading →

About two months ago, when the nation’s attention was focused almost solely on the coronavirus pandemic, I came across a quote that summed up precisely how we needed to approach the problem before us: “When I is replaced with We,… Continue Reading →

My daughter, my son and I shared a little text fun recently with each of us listing ten musical albums that influenced our lives. The operative word being “influenced.” Not just your ten favorite, but ten that meant something.One on… Continue Reading →

I don’t recall how I knew of the John Greenleaf Whittier poem “Barbara Frietchie” in June of 1967, after all there was no such thing as Google then. But I do recall using its two most memorable lines in my… Continue Reading →