Existing In BFE

I was introduced to these delicious devils a couple years ago while visiting the Sutors' in Savannah.  Their candy shop is amazing - you can actually see them making all their stuff.  Kenzie ordered these and I have them in my closet.  One is gone, of course.  I'm surprised only one.  But I have a goal of munching one only when something good happens this year.  OK, Fates, let the good begin! ++++++++++ I think it is safe to assume I won't do the Twitter thing.  I'm thinking of contracting my social media footprint, not expand it.   ++++++++++ I spend too much time watching the talking heads on the so-called mainstream media.  They babble is balm for addiction to the news.  You have to admit it has been newsy the past year or so.  But they, like other insular groups, get too cool-by-half with their insider lingo.  By the way, whenever you run into someone who uses inside lingo on you they are tryin...

Alfred and I take a daily trip down the block a ways and then past the corner over by Wal-Mart to Burger King.  Along the way there is a bus stop with one of those thick clear plastic three-sided shelter with some seats inside to give you a little comfort while you are waiting.    When we started our walks back in December I noticed a guy there who had his suitcase-with-wheels with him.  He was there when we walked by and there again when we walked home.   Buses come along every 10 minutes at these stops so for him to still be in the shelter was a bit puzzling. The next day we saw him again at the shelter and then once we saw him in BK.  I started to put it together:  these guys are homeless in Largo.  They stay at various hubs throughout the day and take advantage of local businesses for necessities.  For the cost of a cup of coffee they can come into Burger King, avail themselves of the restroom to clean up and take care of busines...

I go through my personal boxes every so often to see if there is anything interesting in there or things that can be tossed.  A couple months ago I came across these checks I hadn't seen in ages.  They are back in my G-Burg days when I was working at the Mary and making a trip or two every so often to K-Burg to Blackie's for a night of fun and beer.   Apparently I began writing things on the memo lines.     Helen always chuckled when I'd write something stupid and I hope the people at my bank enjoyed them as much as she did.   This is one of the checks that I grew up looking at.  Marj and Herb banked at the State Bank of Seaton.   Before debit cards and Apple pay all you had except cash were bank checks.  It is also was quite similar to the one we attached to the cold dead claws of the road-kill badger we hoisted up the bank flagpole one night in Seaton. The bank in Seaton is scheduled to close in a couple mo...

When I go to the beach it's not the waves or horizon that interest me, unless its a dazzlingly spectacular sunset.  It tends to be the people.  Join me in a little voyeuristic observation of the folks who are all here to have fun.  The fun means different things to them all but everyone here is enjoying themselves.   This guy wearing the West Virginia University sweatshirt interested me more than anyone else on this trip.  I was fascinated by what his story might be.  Widower?  Wife at home, or maybe in a nursing facility?  Was this their beach?  Does he come here to remember or forget?   These guys were playing a game with a ball and a mini-trampoline.  The guy with the ball bounces it on the trampoline and the guy closet bounces it around to others much like volleyball.  Don't know what it is called or how you keep score but they played the entire time I was there which was about an hour and a half....

Right down the road is the Largo park.  They gussy the place up during the Holidays with lights and even a small fair with some rides.  A couple days before Christmas we hosted Norah and Alhanna for an overnight.  We decided to parteeeeee! First stop was to DQ for ice cream.  The second stop was to the park to see the lights.  The third was back to the cell for pizza and a movie.    Nothing is free and typically one had to purchase tickets for the Ferris Wheel which the kids wanted to ride.   At $5 bucks-a-pop it wasn't cheap and my twenty didn't go far.  That's because I had to ride with them since they needed an adult.    Waiting anxiously for the wheel to stop so they could board.   They needed an adult to ride with them so I was volunteered.  The carousel was a bit closer to the ground, but since I was newly broke I talked the girls into checking out those cool lights over t...

Word came out this week that for the third straight year the earth's temperature rose.  I know some viewers don't believe in Global Warming, but for Christ's sake, I live in Florida.  We'll all be under water in a few years!  Oh, wait.  Hmmm.  That would be a good thing.  Never mind.   ++++++++++ I have watched three movies or series lately.  Two scored well, the third didn't.  The one that fell flat with me was a little Indie drama called Little Men .  Go ahead and skip this one - the story is about how 2 kids become acquainted, like each other, in fact one, an introvert blossoms.  They're parents end up feuding and one set has to move away.  End of story.  Life sucks sometimes.  Nothing to see here.  Rated by critics kind of well, but it fell flat with me; all I wanted to do was go to sleep.    If you don't have Netflix streaming then cut the cable and get it.  ...

A couple weeks ago, once again driven by the need to get out of my cell, I found an old path in my new Pathfinder.  The good old Causeway, one of about three bridges that connects the little dangling dick of a peninsula that is St. Pete, Clearwater and others to Tampa. Whenever I go here, which is usually early morning, it is never quiet because of the the traffic on the adjacent four-lane that parallels the walking and bike path.  That's kind of a shame, otherwise this would be a perfect setting.       I have to give a pat on the back to one of my favorite movies.  Everyone has heard and probably seen 2001: A Space Odyssey .  Its good, kind of like reading and then having to re-read a paragraph of Emmanuel Kant explaining metaphysical good, and then never really understanding.  I do not own that movie in DVD.  But I do own 2010: The Year We Make Contact , the sequel to 2001 .  To me, if 2001...

"Then close your eyes and tap your heels together three times.  And think to yourself "There's no place like home."