3.16.2024

once again

The more I look at this picture, the more I like it. It was made in Providence. I hope when I get there Monday it won't be snow city. Anyway, I'm posting this same stupid story again.

https://claudiassurfcity.blogspot.com/2018/03/same-old-same-old.html


 

3.06.2024

natural enemies?

I have birds. 
Hannah has cats.

Lot of cat lovers in this world. Camilla, 13, is one. (That's Echo; Ember is above.) The artist Ryan, 10 (?),  is one (as is his mama Fanny and granny Donna). (I presume the pic is of Puccini and Houdini.)
But hey.I don't have to feed and take to the vet's. And if they litter I don't have litter!
And BTW, Bill, this post is for you, as the loudest complainer that I'm not posting on my blog. In my own defense, I must say that part of that is I see much better on my phone than computer. Maybe that will change when I get my new glasses and I will reform. 
   And BTW, Bill, those ovoid objects above would be called chicks in Alabama. Here we call them eggs.

12.31.2023

new year's eve, y2k

Some 23 years ago, I was interviewing a conspiracy theorist in the Ozarks who was firmly convinced that Y2K would be used as an excuse by the UN to take over the country.

   “Not gonna happen” I told him.

    “The power grid will go down, all the computers will fail, and they’ll close the roads, and the codes on phone poles will direct the UN forces to take over,” he said.

    “It won’t happen,” I said. “I’m going to come out here and spend New Year’s Eve with you, and you’ll see.”

    He talked his mom and dad into moving from Ohio to the Ozark wilderness, where it was safer, and his brother and sister-in-law arrived in advance of Y2K. I did too.

   I had a chateaubriand dinner prepared by a judge friend, and then headed out into the woods to join the family. They were snacking on a cheese ball. I can give you a recipe if you’re too young to remember Velveeta.

     My subject sat on the sofa, his automatic rifle propped next to his leg, as his parents watched TV. As the night wore on, he kept running to the land line or his ham radio to call his contacts.

   “Has the power gone off yet?” he asked. “Highways closed?”

   Nope, nope, nope.

   I had a mobile phone. As the ball dropped in Times Square, it was still 11 o’clock in Missouri. My friends Ed Barnes and Chien-Chi Chang were covering the event for Time magazine. Just after midnight they rang.

   “Anything going on there?” I asked them. Just the usual: crowds, tourists, drunks. They didn’t know why they were even in Times Square, waiting for action.

    When midnight came and went in the Ozarks, it was time to pack it in.

    To the guy’s credit, he claimed to be happy nothing disastrous had gone down.

    To my credit, I didn’t say I told you so. 

 


 

11.26.2023

Great American Eating Ceremony 2023


Roll call: fifteen of the regulars. A lot of entertainments have been going on, and the blog couldn't keep up. Will try to do better. But so many pix and so hard to edit! Communications have suffered. Donna took so many good pictures, but which to choose? Will try. . .

 
 

9.11.2023

not asking for it

Donna Ferrato took this photograph. When she and a friend, Charlie Shockey, came over yesterday, he opened his shirt, to reveal. . .
So I then encouraged photographer Chien-Chi Chang to open his shirt, to reveal his scars from a recent surgery.
Also in attendance were Donna's daughter Fanny and grandson Ryan. So it was quite the gala!



8.31.2023

astral journeys

It only happens once in a blue moon. Sometimes the stars line up, and sometimes they don't. I will be leaving the Ozarks in a week, and the question is, do I come back in April for the twice-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse, which will hover over Thomasville about midday. The pagan in me wants to be here. But it's a long drive here and back to Block Island if the weather is cloudy!

 

 
 

8.20.2023

this old house

So it looks like Douglas has sold the tiny, asbestos-shingled shack we bought with his brother in 1980 for, ahem, $45,000, has sold. Not closed yet but soon. That's the shack top left, and it was bought by his neighbor top right, who bought the house from my brother-in-law. So the compound continues to shrink. The two houses I built are at the bottom of the picture, and my brother-in-law built the two in the middle.
  HERE is a link to Douglas's, making it look much bigger than it really is. And beautifully styled out, not to mention renovated, by Douglas's former partner.
   All of his children got to enjoy a last summer at the place, including Simon, a college sophomore.

Adam, a 53-year-old lawyer.

And Hannah and her family, who were staying across the compound at my place.
In other Block Island news, a 200-year-old hotel in the middle of town burned down this week. Fortunately no one was hurt. But town will never be the same. Needless to say, I did not not take any of these pictures, since I have been in the Ozarks.


 


 



8.15.2023

siblings

 

Camilla used a picture I took of her and her sibling Isaac way back when at the Goose to do this work.
The siblings spent the summer on Block Island, and while they were there, Hannah visited with her two siblings, Adam (11 years older) and Simon (22 years younger).

 
The three sibling share a father, Douglas, here with his brother, Johnny, at the farewell dinner in Johnny's back yard last night. The family that ate the world.

 




 

8.10.2023

wowie maui

I heard about the wildfires in Maui yesterday evening and reached out to my friend John Cassel yesterday evening —his morning—to see if he was alive. He was, but, as you can see, it was a close one. 
    Are you okay?  I texted.
   "Our house is in the middle of the frame with the flames in the neighborhood behind us. Other than that, things are just peachy," he said. 
   "Holy fuck," I said.
   "I believe that is the technical term," he said.
   "We are doing well. Lots of devastation all around us. All day yesterday and through the night until 4 am this morning, our neighborhood was surrounded by fires. "
     Most of John's neighbors, as well as his son, evacuated.  John and his cat stayed.
     "I had my car ready to go with my bug-out bag and sleeping gear loaded as well as a couple chainsaws, in case I had to cut my way out of the neighborhood. I kept walking around the neighborhood to check on the fire line and see if anybody needed any help. Many of my neighbors have lost everything, which is very sad. Fortunately we have a photovoltaic system with batteries so we have had electricity all the way through. Many neighborhoods are without.
    "The firefighters couldn’t fight the fire and 50 mile an hour winds. I think once the winds died down, the firefighters were able to put out the fires. In the moment, the hurricane is moving away from the islands.
    "Finally, at 4 am, I couldn’t see flames in any direction around the house. It was a huge relief, and I finally went to sleep for an hour or so. I’ve been helping out around the neighborhood, cutting down fallen trees and branches to clear the roads and my neighbors' driveways. Fortunately, we have a photovoltaic system with batteries so we have had electricity all the way through. Many neighborhoods are without electricity.
     "My cat kept crying, so I put it in my son‘s room and closed the windows and the blinds.
That helped it calm down. He has been relentless in wanting to cuddle with me. When I went back to work, he followed me into my office and sat on my feet under my desk. If I got up, even for a moment, he would follow me like a dog. I like having a cat that acts like a dog.
    "I’ve loaded up the car with some bedding to take to the donation center. Right now, I’m lying in bed with my cat snuggled up next to me purring like a freight train while I play chess online.
Those are my escapes."
 
   The foregoing has been lightly edited for clarity. Following is a link to the video John shot. https://youtu.be/je8nOyh9ZBQ
 

 
 


 

7.26.2023

we all scream for

 

She was behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store. 
   "Love your T-shirt," I said. "Can I take your picture?"
   "You know she has an ice cream shop," the checkout person said.
   "No, where?"
   "Right across from the Ozarks Cafe," said the woman in the T-shirt. "It's a pink building. You can't miss it!"
    "I think you got yourself a new customer," sad the checkout person.
    Right. On both counts.

It was a hot day. Aren't they all nowadays? I had been unable to eat much due to the spider meds, but ice cream seemed like the right idea. It was.

 

7.25.2023

rites of passage

There's somebody dying across the way
It happens to be a beautiful day
I don't think she wants to stay
Thre's somebody dying across the way
 
Somebody's getting married across the way
They're lucky it's a beautiful day
Hoping their love is here to stay
But there always comes a parting of ways 

Every beginning contains an ending
And every ending, its beginning.

7.21.2023

watching paint dry

 

The fumes are so strong that the bugs are passing out. But somehow I've convinced myself that it's easier than mopping.

And let me point out that I can't do it all at once. I have to leave paths to doors, kitchen, bathroom and stairs. It takes days to dry.