Category: Real Personal History
-
A Stroll On Estero: Encountering Sand Sculptures One Grain At A Time
We decided that we would give Sanibel Island a rest for a day. Besides, we’d save $6.00 for not taking the Causeway Bridge. No, it was time we crossed another bridge (free) from Fort Myers to Fort Myers Beach. When we did, we found ourselves in another world. This wasn’t Wal-Mart country. This was the…
-
The Albatross And The Vulture
What’s it like to float upon misty air? Way up there upon winds of turbulence, where your wings tame them, as a cowboy does the wild Stallion. –Dara Reidyr from “On Flying“ Four hours ago, I was finishing my iced coffee at the Java Cafe in the Outlet Mall. Even with the AC, the plastic…
-
Listless In Fort Myers: The Harsh Realities Of Wintering In Paradise
I’m sitting on the wooden walkway, on a green metal bench, sipping an iced coffee. I’m watching a Cessna single-engine plane pull an advertising banner across the slightly blue hazy sky. The banner is telling us to shop at the Tanger Outlet Mall. I look around and realize that this is the mall I’m in…
-
Farther Along The Beach, Among The Periwinkles, There Are Things Unseen
I’ve finally arrived at the island that is known around the world for its seashells. I’m unloading the car in the parking lot of Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island. The sun is beating against my back and seems intense enough to melt the polyester fibers in my shoulder seams. I enter the Men’s restroom to…
-
My Three Palms
It’s the second morning, the second sunrise, of our third day–at our winter home. I just got out of bed, it’s 8:56 am and the thermometer on the wall over my head reads 85.6 F. Mmmmmm. Should I read something into this? The sun set yesterday on our first full day at the Siesta Bay…
-
I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine
It was going to be a great day. I even had a ready-made title for this blog. I was going to life a song title by the one and only, Bob Dylan. We only had about 120 miles to drive from Brunswick to St. Augustine, FL. That’s not even enough to break a sweat–that would come…
-
Walking Charleston In The Light And Dark / A Few Tales To Tell
Midnight in the Laundry Room. I’m writing this in a laundry room. Four washing machines are on my right and four dryers to my left. I’m here because the promised WiFi signal is very weak in the R-pod. Here the signal really smokes. Yes, it’s midnight in the laundry room, a spooky place where a…
-
Traveling South/Going Native: Thoughts At 34.41° North Latitude
South n 1 : The compass direction directly opposite to the north. 2 : The direction to the right of one facing east. Realistically, however, south is more than one of the cardinal points on a compass. It is also a state of mind. When most Americans think of the south, many cultural references come…
-
The Left Arm Sunburn
The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense. –Bob Dylan “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” Some things I want to remember. Other things I would rather forget. Right now, I’m remembering very clearly a certain morning twenty-five months ago when Mariam and I drove along Marin Blvd. in Jersey City. We saw a…