When we were kids, parents were the exact opposite of helicopter parents. After breakfast they told you to go outside and play. They expected you to get dirty and not die. They warned (read: threatened) you about a whole lot of things not to do. You didn’t tell them if you played in the street,
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Whoa, did you see that too? Is he okay?
“Do you think he’s okay? Should we have stopped and checked on him?” Ken asked me. “Nah,” says I, “He’s just drunk. Did you hear a huge crack? I think he broke the fence.” We were in the little red convertible around 7 PM when we’d noticed a big guy having trouble walking up a
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Question: how sick do you have to be before you go to the walk-in clinic?
Last January 2020 I was sick for three weeks and after two days of feeling better, I had a relapse, becoming sicker than before. Was it COVID-19? Nah, I didn’t have any of the symptoms we now can recite in our sleep. I called my doctor’s office and they said they could get me in
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Poppa kept moving forward. How about you?
Oh my 2021 is coming in with a bang. Who hasn’t been shaken by the seditious rioting, destruction, death and domestic terrorism at our Nation’s capital? It made me start thinking back on how our country has changed over the decades. This led me to think about my Grandfather Clemet John Raymond McGinness, “Clem” but
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People who shop on Christmas Eve are a different breed
Long ago I lived with John in Ann Arbor. He believed in buying holiday gifts on Christmas Eve at 5pm at K-Mart, “for the rush of it.” I hadn’t ever considered heading to K-Mart on Christmas Eve but I was ready for adventure! K-Mart was strewn with cars parked at odd angles due to the
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We laughed so hard we had trouble breathing
The Slippery Noodle blues bar in Indianapolis was in the news the other day. Sadly the owner Hal Yeagy passed away. I remember a trip we took to the Noodle to see Pinetop Perkins many years ago. Pinetop was in his 90s but still rocking the blues. He was 100% a gentleman, very dapper and
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Was Santa Hard Up for the Holidays?
It’s the holiday season! That means it’s time for a shocking tale about Santa. When my daughter Dakota was 3 years old, my Mother insisted on taking her to LS Ayres Department store in downtown Indianapolis. LS Ayres had 4 magical windows that depicted holiday scenes and a Santa visit for the kids. Window #1
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What does it take to be confident? One day I found out.
Before we built the primitive cottage we lived in for 14 years, we rented a place that had one room with a wood stove and no plumbing. Living primitively is not for weenies, especially when something goes wrong. It takes grit and self-confidence. Here’s an example: One afternoon I went out to gather a load
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Squirrels are eating our cars!
Conversations are all stories. Everything that comes out of our mouths gets filtered through the cheesecloth of our brains. Ick. I’m not sure I like that analogy but you get my drift. Here’s an example: Today I was making breakfast and noticed that Ken was tip toeing across our deck with a gun in his
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Pipe organs! Costumes! Party!
Years ago on Halloween we’d go to the IU Auditorium’s Pipe Organ Film Party to watch a silent horror film while Dennis James played the enormous pipe organ. The pipe organ tunes were written for the theaters’ organists to play to create suspense, romance, and key the villain or hero in the silent films. I
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