Existing In BFE

As promised  Existing In BFE  will be taking a few days off for the Holidays.  The entire staff wishes all the readers contentment, prosperity, patience, health and wisdom for the New Year.  We are going to need them.   Year In Review 2015 2015 was a year where I put my money where my mouth was.  I bought a cabin in Emerald City where I can escape the rigors and strain of Florida.  But it came at a cost:  I am now, for the first time since my early MDH years going paycheck-to-paycheck.  What this means is any event requiring expenditures results in a loss of funds, and not replaced.  Balancing the intake and outtake has created a bit of mental strain and if outflows exceeds intake, then the cabin will have to be rented or sold. But I can say without equivocation that I love my trips up and the cabin is perfect.  It houses Miss Frump, my motorcycle and the truck.  I am within walking distance of Mark and Holly...

FROM THE ENTIRE STAFF OF EXISTING IN BFE WE WISH YOU  HAPPY HOLIDAYS,    MERRY CHRISTMAS,   AND    PROSPEROUS  AND HEALTHY                      NEW YEAR

I have written in the past how the Seaton Presbyterian church has played an important role in the Blythe family.  Not for its precepts or devotion to faith sadly, but in the stages of growth.  This was where we boys were acolytes, participated in Youth programs, I married in this place and our father's funeral was here.   And so it has been a long time but we also were part of Christmas programs and plays here when we were wee tots.  This was back in the days when the place would be packed with locals and they would have their children sing Christmas songs or enact   nativity plays.   Brother Philip was in one when he was a kid and kept his eyes closed throughout so no one would see him.  It was after one such program that I received one of my greatest gifts from Santa, a stuffed bear.   It was, then, with great anticipation that Mark and Holly said there was going to be a Christmas program at the church while I was back in Northlandia.  ...

After 2,200 posts, we are announcing a new  Existing In BFE   format for 2016.  After several years of Monday thru Friday posting,  I have decided to post when I have something to post.  Tuesday Tidbits and Flashback Friday's will remain as weekly constants.  Not so constant will be the remaining day's posts.  Sometimes I don't do anything, so why struggle to fill a day with inferior posts?  Don't worry, loyal readers, it's not the end, just a revision.  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ More people have died in the streets and homes of America from guns since 2012 than all the people who died in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq or Afghanistan.  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Spotted at Publix grocery store in Clearwater.  I don't know where to begin.  A school bus with a shed attached, as well as a porch area in the back.  Hard to imagine this thing is even roadworthy, let alone street legal but there it wa...

Sometime this past summer, while in Muscatine having lunch during a bike ride, Neighbor Tim asked me who my favorite actor was.  I immediately said Spencer Tracy.  He seemed genuinely surprised.  I don't think he was talking old school, but a bit more current than a guy who won his first Oscar in 1937.  He went on to say his favorite was Tom Hanks and he thought I would say him as well.  Who can argue with Hanks?  If you are still unsure after Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan , catch the last 10 minutes of Captain Phillips for perhaps the best acting I have ever seen.  Nope. Can't argue with Hanks.  But there is something about Tracy, too. I have liked him for years and years. Tried to name Kenzie Spencer but was overruled. About 5 years ago I got a gift certificate from Barnes and Noble. I was aware of James Curtis's Spencer Tracy A Biography that had just been published a year before. It seemed only natural that I'd b...

Okay, so the Bentley's and the Roll's were pretty neat.  How about some good old American iron at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club car show?   Why, of course.  Come along and walk with me.   How about perhaps the most gorgepous looking thing I saw today? This is a 1957 Dodge Custom Royal. As long as a city block, 2-door with fins 3 stories high and large chrome bumpers weighing a ton each. Do I exagerate? Maybe a wee bit. Garish late 50's car with everything discernable styling add-on possible. This wasn't a drivers seat, it was a cockpit of a rocket.   Such beauty. This folks, to be indelicate, is like a stylist's orgasm: complete, shuddering, satisfaction to excess. Maybe rivaling this in its pretensiousness was the '61 Imperial. But for sheer automobile perfection, this wins. I love the hood mascots they put on these cars in the 20's and 30's. They were actual works of art in their own right. I thoug...

Last Saturday Mackenzie graduated from St. Petersburg College with a bachelor's degree in Management & Organizational Leadership.  Back in my day they just called it Business.  I can't wait till she has the opportunity to get me organized.   Because we live in a day of Internet and streaming, I had the opportunity to see the ceremony in my cabin in the woods in Emerald City.  Therefore, I gathered family around at 8:30 am and we watched up to the point of her walking across the stage and receiving her diploma.  Then we high-tailed it downtown to the local watering hole, Beer Bellies, where a proud and beaming father bought the house a round.   And yes, there are locals seated at bar stools at 9:30 in the morning.  In what turned out to be the first party in the cabin, pastries, cappuccino, and coffee were on hand for the assembled guests.  I used my laptop to dial in the ceremony.   Guests included S-I-L H...

When legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he still practiced at 90, he replied "Because I think I'm making progress." +++++++++++++++++++++++++ How long has it been since Robert DeNiro was in a serious movie?  He seems to be in every forgettable rom-com these days. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I had threatened to take a week off when I returned to Floriduh to get organized, but its December and Christmas time. I need to continue so like a punch-drunk boxer I will wobble a bit on my feet but stay in the ring, at least for now. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Ayla, aka Alfred.  Almost human. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Well, I'm back in Floriduh after almost a month in Northlandia. I did everything on my list, failing in a couple things. My little cabin in the woods in Emerald City is just about perfect. My fingers are crossed that I can keep living this two-state solution for the foreseeable future.  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...

I don't ever think the St.Pete/Clearwater/Tampa area as "country", but there it was looming in the blue sky along one of the city's arterial roads, a Ferris wheel. And as drove by I noticed other rides, all very reminiscent of the Mercer County fair which drew all us country hicks decades ago.  Those things don't call me anymore, but I thought Norah would love it.  And so it was. There's not much need for commentary, the smiles do all the talking.  So, at least for three days in a place called Pinellas Park, the midwest ventured into the big bad city and brought smiles to my Norah.

Early personal reviews for my used-to-be favorite comics is somewhat mixed.  I loved to sit down at the computer and watch Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and then right after that Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report .  Both left: Stewart into retirement and replaced by some guy named Trevor Noah, while Colbert took over The Late Show when Dave Letterman retired. The Daily Show was mostly an SNL skit on current events then they'd bring in a guest to hawk their latest book or movie.  A nice quick and very funny half hour.  Stewart was a master of delivery and the funny take on news clips was nothing short of genius.  So big was this whole schtick that Stewart was voted most respected newsperson in the US.   Meanwhile, Colbert was manufacturing a whole different persona on his show that was a mix of Bill O'Reilly and Joe Scarbourough but looking an awful lot like Rush Limbaugh on occasion.  The writing had become so sharp and brilliant that it was...

I was lucky enough to get a little mini-blizzard while in Northlandia.  It was glorious.  The snow was gone in 48 hours, but it gave me a much needed re-indoctrination to winter.  Didn't mind it a bit.  Of course I have the added benefit of leaving for tropical climes in a few days.