Stain-glass Eyes

I’ve just returned from a road trip to the Upper Peninsula, across on US-2 West, up 41 to Iron Mountain, across to Wausau, Wisconsin and back to Ann Arbor. My Step-Son, Jimmy, in Wausau, Wisconsin The trip along Lake Michigan, no matter how many times I’ve taken it, never ceases to remind me how vast nature is and how small I am. The trip included seeing my family at every turn, which can be a bonus after long stretches of driving.  Much of the trip my mom was in the passenger seat, keeping me company.  We can always tell when we’re hungry because we start talking about food (in detail). We agreed stopping at “Jack’s Restaurant”, in Rapid River, was  hard to beat for breakfast on our way west.  The coffee and food is great, the service excellent and it feels like a home-town restaurant.  It’s not far from where we were soon to head north toward Iron Mountain. The weather can be unpredictable in May, but usually a person can take advantage ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4   (The Byrd's Song-Turn! Turn! Turn!) A Little German Graffiti I Found  Seeing the Sun and Wearing Sandals Was Glorious I’m home and I feel I’ve been gone a year or so.  Only being gone a month to Germany and Turkey (and a day trip to Denmark) I think the day to day adventures possessed my senses.  I drifted away from the day to day routine and predictability of life. I know part of this feeling is from reconstructing my brain, my bladder and my stomach to the time change, now I'm home.  Like a turtle coming out of the mud in the spring, poking its head out and wondering if it really should navigate the terrain or easily slide its head back into the safe, green shell. I wasn’t able to post to my blog while I was out of the U.S.  My Google account would only let me sign in if I used the code sent to my phone.  Well…my phone wasn’t with me.  I had the German SIMS car...

Adventures are like chasing a moving toboggan when your friend yells, “Jump on!!” Never sure you’ll hit the mark.  Laughing at the craziness.  Hoping the slippery, footing doesn’t end up in disaster as gravity pulls you toward the wooden sled, when you dive.  Hoping, once on, you can keep your feet up so they don’t drag and slow the ride. My daughter, Elizabeth is biking this morning and I’m tracking her on wikiloc.  It looks very cold.  I can see the snow on the foothills, near where she started out south of Eskisehir.  Sabuncu, Kütahya Province (Turkey)  I picture her mind going to a nice warm place by a fire, sitting on some big pillows, petting Ellie, and drinking steaming tea.  Elizabeth on Ancient Steps Sabuncu, Kütahya Province (Turkey) Ellie, Elizabeth's Companion But, she’s out in the cold making her adventure possible.  Her five senses logging in every detail of her trip.  In a memory-place ...

Another day, another blog.  Not as simple as it seems. I woke up last night and thought, “How arrogant, egotistical!  Ninny hammer-Dunce!!”  I was ranting at myself. Why was calling myself names?  I thought about what I recently posted in my blog and I was angry at myself.  In my last blog I mentioned journaling with the word superficial. Oooooo!  I don’t even believe it!  Argh!! I journal and am angry someone said, what I said, about journaling.  I’m angry and I wrote it!  These were my words:  'Not unimportant, but nothing that took an enormous amount of reflection on my part.  Certainly easier writing for me, more like journal entries. ’  I’m a writer.  But, what a Ninny Hammer!  What a Dunce!   Journal entries are not easy.  No writing in my opinion is easy.  I apologize to all writers.  A paragraph, even if it is a detailed, description of an event is writing....

I’ve returned from a long stay in the U.P. with my mom and here I sit at my favorite spot, at the Washtenaw Dairy.  I have a spot at the end of a long cafeteria-like table.  I always face the “Featured” table which across from mine, where all the cronies sit.  They have for many, many years.   The seats are much more than cafeteria-style.  They’re black, cushioned (seat and back), comfortable and to-my-height level.  They lean back a bit, allowing some relaxation when I’m writing on my laptop.  Next to me, on the table, sits a black and white, wooden cow.  It holds sugar packets and long, skinny straws for stirring coffee.  It’s hugged up next to a black, napkin dispenser. I had an entire blog ready to post a week ago.  It included my adventures with my mom and my family in St. Ignace.  When I read it over it seemed superficial.  Not unimportant, but nothing that took an enormous amount of reflection on...

I heard this interview my son had with Gidon Saks, on Holden's post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XPJb94qpvc It brought tears to my eyes.  The honesty.  The clarity of understanding who we are are as humans.  It speaks for anyone who has ever felt to be judged by anyone else (all of us have in some way, at some time). In   recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.   -Thurgood Marshall, (1908-1993) It shows compassion for anyone marginalized by being who they really are.  Saks has seen years of division of gender and race in his lifetime. Gidon Saks talks, during the interview, on what he saw happening in the 60s and 70s.  He said he lived through decades of political development and most  people felt difference was the least important thing  and that fact we were more the same was going to make us strong for the future. He speaks of this production as being about women taking "owners...

I’ve been wanting to write about the complexity of avoidance, (things we write on a small paper or a hope-to-remember mental list). I’d like to understand what makes avoidance prowl around all day.  Writing seems to force me think through things.  I don’t always find solutions, but I run into more self-awareness and less hiding it SO deeply under my consciousness.   I can be hopeless as getting water through a frozen water pipe. Where do I start?  Maybe it’s a good time to get a cup of coffee.  A good time to check my email?  Or, better yet, I could to for a walk.  The day goes by so quickly and it will be dark soon. It’s only noon, so there’s no chance of it getting darker than this gray, over-cast, damp day, very soon.  I've already have a hot, cup of Latte sitting next to me on the counter.  I’m waiting at the mall for an appointment at the Apple Store to get my stupid computer looked at, so I won’t be going for a wal...