Existing In BFE

Back at the Cabin in the Woods.  Always nice to get back.  Went to the Bushnell Car Show and, sadly, didn't win this year.  I was up against some stiff competition, a blind judge, expanded classes, and two red '64 Chevy Impalas.  But I'm not bitter. ++++++++++ Saw this at the Wal-Mart in Emerald City.  Clearance sale on a bike and security chain.  ++++++++++ The Wombie had this bag of cable ties down at the pump house in Seaton.  Sorry about the small print picture not turned around for easy reading, but it says to add moisture to the bag so the ties will "continue to absorb the moisture necessary"  to maintain flexibility   Cable ties?  Plastic?  That's a new one on me. ++++++++++  Norah being Norah. ++++++++++ I swear I saw camels just on the edge of town in Avon on my way back from Bushnell.  I was sober, too. ++++++++++ You won't find many bargains at the Mercer Market grocery store in

My visit in Northlandia was purposely lengthened so I could  attend the annual 4th of July party at the Stages in North Henderson, aka,the original BFE.  When I was a resident these were smaller affairs - mostly the regulars of the Community Center, aka Neighbor Tim's garage.   Since those days, The Party has become bigger, and is something of an Event, in an otherwise eventless village.  The crowd had already gathered when I got their early.  I had prepared a cooler of Bloody Mary;sand a couple of beers.  The food was prepared by the hosts - Tim and Carrie Stage.  Before I forget, my thanks and apppreciation for a a great night.  In a scene duplicated all over the country good people gather to celebrate a nation, eat, drink, laugh and watch some fireworks. Christopher and Megan.  Do I hear wedding bells? Momma Stage, relaxed and unsuspecting. Momma Stage, surprised but a good trooper. [ Christopher warming himself by the fire.

After college graduation, a few of us tried keeping the spirit alive by meeting once a year in a cental location.  This was usually somewhere in Iowa, but once we even met in Kansas City.  This picture is rather intriguing, and I've never posted it before.  Not sure why, but maybe becasue I thought I should know what is going on.  I will do my best with what I do know.   1.  That young lady looking up at whoever was taking the picture is Margie, with a hard G.  Not sure why it was pronounced that way,  and if I did at one time, I have forgotten.  Margie ended up marrying her date, Mark N., and after his coaching gigs in Nebrask and Idaho, settled in Arizona where we remain in contact.   2.  The girl in red is Pam, my date and occasional GF in college.  Pam was a New Jersey girl, Patterson, NJ actually, and had the East Coast/Jersey accent.  We liked walks, and walked all over Mt. P talking about life, love and everythign in between.  Poor girl was nuts about me and her folk

POINT Baseball.  They were playing it when Lincoln was wandering the White House.  It used to be the center of activity in small town across America.  Girls, boys, old guys - everyone used to play.  Maybe they still do in some urban areas, big cities where you can find people to do anything.   Even in little Seaton when the Blythe boys were running around, every kid had a glove and played some form of ball.   We three boys played a modified game:  one in the outfield, a pitcher and a catcher.  We had rules and the only problem was when the pitcher wouldn't throw strikes so the hitter had to play catcher, too.   There were aspects to playing baseball that were inviolable.  One was the ritual of breaking in a new glove.  You had to wet the glove, put a ball in the heel and wrap it tight so it would make a kind of mold.  If you had a cap you had to squeeze the brim to a half moon to the hat would not only fit but would keep the sun out of your eyes on both sides.  Besid

Every once in a while you accidentally take a picture that makes your jaw drop.  Some may know exactly how they did it, and those people are called professionals.  In my case, however, I am still an amateur in every sense of the word.  I'm still fuzzy on f-stops and aperture but occasionally I stumble on something really really fine.  Having sung my own praises, I suppose I should step out of the way and let you judge for yourselves.   Today we continue with one of my favorite Northlandia pastimes - the river at night, camera in hand, or rather tripod.  There is something dark, moody, mysterious and threatening about the river at night.  Barges plying up and down, almost silently, their lights like dragon fire marking their path.   These pictures are rather surreal.  These barges, these river ships, like ancient warriors - they meet their enemies by probing the shoreline, vanquish them by sheer avoidance and then mo

Following a national trend toward more modern degrees Western Illinois University, like Iowa Wesleyan University before them, has removed Philosophy as a major.  First my high school merges with another district and destroys the Greendragon mascot, then my college becomes a university, then my major is stricken from the rolls.  I'm all for modernization, but replacing Philosophy with Digital Media and Design seems so...trendy. ++++++++++ A few weeks ago I mentioned, perhaps insensitively at the time,  that John McLaughlin of the PBS McLaughlin Group should retire since he seemed to be withering in his chair before our eyes.  This past week he not only retired due to death.  He was 89.  His show was the grandaddy of all the talking head shows that followed, usually less successfully.  I started my fondness for politics by reading Alan Drury novels in high school and latched onto The MacLaughlin Group at some point.  It was usually an entertaining hour and maybe I learne