The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. I have never run this one by my Episcopal wife but would value her views. I mean the whole thing smacks of the obvious. Why not say "God is a rip off artist" and be done with it? I can only describe it as profound disappointment, my recent experience with driving. Yes, this is a tiresome and prevailing theme of my blog. But really, just when I seemed to be on a neuromuscular roll, dammed if the deistic powers that be didn't, you know, taketh away. Being Read more [...]

When a blog topples in the forest and no one hears it…has it fallen? And if it has, how do we know it? Or more to the point, who can say that this adapted Zen riddle isn't fake news? My excuse is that I have been working on a book. Which is only slightly better than claiming to have been abducted by aliens. Actually, I might prefer the aliens. This book itself has become alien, so long has it been in process. Tote that barge, lift that bail. I had a sleepless night. Jane is gone, leaving Read more [...]

I could complain of the weather, sunlight having only been available on a limited basis lately in this meteorologically contrarian burg. But I shan't. Wouldn't be wise, not in terms of tempting fate and so on. On this our globally warmed planet, what's to worry about a little fog? What's to worry about in general, being 72 years of age and too far down the road of life to justifiably concern oneself with much of anything. But worry I do. Especially at night. Especially when Jane is off doing something Read more [...]

William Blake, if my feeble knowledge serves me, used to sit around naked reading and sometimes receiving visitors. While I cannot attest to similar experience, there is at least a parallel in my current penchant for hanging out in my greenhouse. Yes, there is a potting shed behind the house where on many a pleasant day I have been known to retire for considerable periods. San Francisco is a windy place, and the greenhouse provides a glassy chamber that both traps heat and excludes wind. It is a Read more [...]

I am sitting in Bello Coffee down the hill on what can only be described as day four of post-UK and realizing what is probably obvious to everyone else – that I am the oldest person in the café. Well, looks are deceiving, so it is possible, barely possible, that the "old lady" who recently vacated the table by mine has a year or two on me. Same for the "old guy" slouched in the chair against the wall. But I have my doubts. Somehow this day I reign as the oldest. And precisely what this means Read more [...]

I had a vision just a few days ago, call it a sort of dream. I was dead and witnessing the rapid disposal of my personal effects. Clothes would go here, other bits and pieces there. Jane would be bustling about with this, and it would all take a remarkably short time. My response as all this occurred was one of great annoyance. How quickly and simply we exit this mortal coil. Of course, I have been through this experience from the opposite end. Marlou's stuff had to be dealt with. And oddly I can't Read more [...]