Category: Real Personal History
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On A Dusty Street Corner In Juarez
“When you’re lost in the rain, in Juarez, and it’s Easter Time too, And your gravity fails you and your negativity can’t pull you through…” –Bob Dylan Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues Let’s be realistic. You didn’t think I was going to write a blog about crossing the border bridge to visit Juarez, Mexico, and…
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Mix Mesquite, Sage, Fire, Oil And A Dash Of White-Line Fever
You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst. You shall wander far in safety, though you do not know the way. –From Be Not Alone, a hymn commonly sung at funerals. Words by John Michael Talbot. “Somewhere on a desert highway, she rides a Harley-Davidson…her long blonde hair flying in…
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My Moonlight Sonata
“Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair. You certainly know the right thing to wear…” –Popular song For many years, the Full Moon has fascinated me. In the North Country, in the death-like silence of the mid-winter, and the snow on the ground is seven inches deep, and bending the branches of the cedar…
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At The Alamo: All The History I Needed Was On My Pajamas
[Source: Google search] I grew up in a time when kids had heroes. Mythic heroes. These days, it seems like anyone who performs his or her duties is a “hero”. It’s fair to say that most children, throughout history, had their own heroes. The ancient Greek boys had their Spartans and the Irish youth had…
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Night Of The Living Entropy
[Just to give you the right perspective. We are a small fish in a large sea of RV’s] [en-tro-py n, pl -pies 1 : the degree of disorder in a system 2 : an ultimate state of inert uniformity] —Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2014 ed. I recently completed reading Deep South by Paul Theroux.…
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Don’t Mess With Texas
All the tired horses in the sun How am I going to get any riding done? –Bob Dylan “All The Tired Horses” Well this is a fine howdy-do. There is some good news and some bad news in this here posting. The good news is that we joined Cosco and promptly spent $139.95 ( +…
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A Silent Eulogy: Late But Heartfelt
Is it possible that a eulogy can take forty-one years to deliver? The dreaded answer is yes. I know because I spoke that eulogy…silently, silently so that only I heard the words. It was a rambling prayer over a heart-breaking death. I knew the young man who had died. In truth, I was with him…
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The Tomato Place And The Perfect Man List
This is the coldest night of our trip. After complaining about the heat and humidity of Florida, we’re shivering in the chilly air a few miles south of Vicksburg…still alongside Highway 61. My trusty thermometer tells me it’s 37 degrees just fifteen inches behind me and through the thin wall of the R-pod. I push…
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Out On Highway 61
You leave todays newspaper unread on the table next to your front door. A dozen flies buzz around the hole in your window screen next to the formica table in your kitchen. They get in despite the wad of toilet paper you use to plug the hole. You walk home from a bar. You weren’t…