Monthly Archives: September 2011

My Friend

Goodbye, old friend, sitting out there by the curb all alone in the rain.  We spent many pleasant hours together over the past 50 years, but now it is time for me to move on (no pun intended). I remember … Continue reading

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Jumping Crickets

It sounds like an expression (“Did you see that?  Jumping crickets!”), but jumping crickets are a real infestation in our area.  They were unknown a few years ago, but now complaints are common.  They are also known as camel or … Continue reading

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Riding the Rails to Dixieland

Many years ago, say about 40, my wife and I and two small sons traveled several times to Florida by train.  Amtrak had just taken over the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and kicked it off with attractive family rates.  Back … Continue reading

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Toilet Technology

I recently replaced our two old 5-gallon-per-flush toilets with new, low-flush, 1.3 ones.  I had read somewhere that the average person pees eight times per day, which sounded about right.  Between my wife and I, that works out to 80 … Continue reading

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Charley Reese’s Last Column

One of our classmates forwarded me a chain email of Charley Reese’s last and well-written newspaper column where he lays the full blame of the financial crisis on the elected federal politicians, “just 545 people,” who freely chose to tax … Continue reading

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Enjoy Whatever Life Throws Your Way

But wipe your feet. RWalck@Verizon.net

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The Jukes and Kallikaks

Have you ever heard of the Jukes and the Kallikaks?  I jokingly used the phrase recently, but the listener had no idea what I was talking about.  As I remember, we were taught about them in high school, Miss Straley’s … Continue reading

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Translating Haiku

Haiku poems (September 1 posting) that rely on only seventeen syllables grouped by 5-7-5 are exceedingly difficult to translate into English.  Some translators add rhyme and meter so it fits our idea of a poem, but this often ruins the … Continue reading

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Strandbeests

A recent New Yorker article was on the Dutch artist Theo Jansen who makes large kinetic sculptures from PVC tubing that march across the Holland beaches on many legs powered only by the wind.  I had not heard of them … Continue reading

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Haiku Poetry

Arise from sleep, old cat, And with great yawns and stretching . . . Amble out for love. (Issa) The poems we were exposed to in high school—those of Lord Byron, Shelly, T. S. Elliot, and even Robert Frost—left me … Continue reading

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