Viewing 217 - 225 out of 340 Blogs.

<< First  < Previous |  Page:  20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | Next >  Last >>

Janet is expected back late tonight and it has been a hectic time for her and her family in the last couple of weeks. She found out about her neice the day after we had gone to the funeral of her Aunt. She and her daughter, plus two grandkids, and son drove to Texas and are driving back home as I write these words. Please keep them in your prayers and thank you for the nice messages...

I have been invited to sit at the Hemingway table at the Museum Wed. night for an evening of food, drink, and conversation about the writer's love of life and friendship. There will be a couple guest speakers and I am so excited about this invitation and I see it as a positive concerning my chance to volunteer at the museum and Hemingway's childhood home. In a way, I have Boomer to thank because it was here I met Janet (to be saved by Grace) and in turn met Chicago. Being alone the last couple days has made me appreciate the love I have for Janet and how blessed I am in general...

It is finally cooling off here in Chicago and you may have heard about the disaster at the Chicago marathon where a Michigan man died and over 300 were sent to the hospital. I think it was insane to even have the race with the hot weather...

Well, it's time to take Pippen for his daily walk and clean up the house a bit so I stay in the good graces with Gracie. Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to keep smiling....Easy

Janet woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that Pippen was under the back deck growling and wouldn’t come out so I got up to save the day (night). Pippen is in charge of keeping all sorts of critters out of our back yard so she handed me a flash light and I found him behind the lawn mower and coaxed him out and I was glad there was no other critters coaxed out or I would have been coaxed back inside in a real hurry. I probably said coaxed more times in one sentence then I’ve been coaxed to use it in years. I love coming to Gracie’s rescue and sat on the back deck looking up to the sky for the real reason she got me up and that was to see the planet Mars just below the moon in the Northeast sky….

Mars is by far the largest star I have ever seen and I was totally fascinated staring at it and I am not sure why. Maybe it is because when I was a kid (My Favoritee) Martians were so popular in science fiction movies and TV or maybe because those two rovers are up there snapping pictures and taking soil samples as I speak. I have always been interested in the sky and the stars and planets since I had my first telescope when I was young. My best friend Bobby and I would sit on his roof with his refractor telescope which we refracted to the Denny’s house next door to get a peek inside Roberta Denny’s bedroom window which wasn’t in the sky but she was on the mind of two 10 year old kids who hadn’t been told the facts of life by our parents yet. I hope there is a statute of limitations on our immoral act and it was fitting that when Bobby tried to point the telescope at an odd angle the telescope fell off the roof and landed in the grass where Bobby landed a few seconds later trying to keep it from falling…..

Bobby wasn’t hurt but the refractor was fractured, I came off the roof the conventional way, Roberta was sleeping, Pippen went back into the house, the critters moved on to other yards that didn’t have wonder watch dogs and I went back to sleep thinking of green aliens and old memories. So, here it is the weekend and it’s real hot in Chicago again. I hope your weekend is a safe and happy one and if you can’t sleep tonight check out the Northeast sky and I guarantee you will not be disappointed gazing into the sky just below the crescent moon…

Keep smiling….Easy

Janet asked me, "Are you nervous?" and I said, "A little". I was off to visit the Hemingway museum and turn in my application to volunteer my time but she was referring to the bus ride I was taking to get there. My eyesight limits my traveling alone and she had told me where to get off and the number of the bus like I was a kid off to kindergarten. All that was missing was my Flinstones lunch box. I set out full of hope but with a bit of trepidation....

The sun was high in the clear blue Autumn sky and while sitting on the bus I remembered when I was back in high school riding the bus in Detroit. I was the insecure kid full of doubts of who I was and now I was looking at a TV screen on the bus and it was obvious the changes that have occurred in some 40 or so years. I also heard a voice telling me of each upcoming stop and when someone pulled the cord for a stop it said, "stop requested". What hadn't changed was the odor of body sweat, dirty windows, cheap cologne and the riders who looked like their best days were behind them. But, for me, I paid my two bucks, sat back and enjoyed my ride reveling in the freedom of hitting the road on my own again......

Oak Park, where Hemingway lived as a child after he was born in 1899 is full of stately old mansions, tree lined streets and has a bohemian look of small shops, bookstores and cafe's. I walked up the steps of the Hemingway museum with the confidence of a published author, a smile ear to ear with my new pearly whites and the interview went well. I had finally found out who I was after all these years and I liked what I saw. I left with an assurance of another interview soon to decide if I was Hemingway worthy which I believe I am. It was one of those moments that is hard to explain but it was like I had finally arrived as the person I've always wanted to be. Like a fine wine, aged until it is at its peak flavor and color....

I stopped at a hot dog stand that bragged of the best hot dogs in the world and how could I pass up that boast and ordered one with chili, cheese and onions and carried it to a large park with stone monuments and flower gardens that were beautiful and I sat on a bench in the shade to eat lunch. I was wearing my Hemingway shirt that I had bought on our last visit and I managed to eat lunch without getting most it on my shirt which was a victory in itself and I smiled knowing Gracie would be happy to not have to pull out the spot remover stuff again. I was on the proverbial roll....

An elderly man came walking by with his dog on a leash and sat down for a break next to me and I said, "Hey". I told him I also walked my dog every day and that it was a special time for Pippen and I. I asked him, "What is the name of your dog?".......

Before I continue with my story I want to tell you how much I missed Janet while sitting in the park. We have so much fun together and have been almost inseparable since we met in March. She lights up my day like a beacon on a rainy night at sea and looking at this man and his dog I felt a pang of loneliness but I shook it off and listened to the man tell me of his dog.....

"Her name is Gracie"....

and I thought "whoa" and the Karma was really flowing in a not so coincidental way. We talked for a bit and I said goodbye, I had to get back to my own Gracie ....

I figured I had this bus transportation down and got on the bus heading home and it turned right before I even had a chance to rest on my laurels. I hit the cord and found out I was on the wrong bus and asked for a refund and the driver said, "sorry no refunds", and I walked back to the same stop again, pulled out 2 more dollars and remembered to only get on a #307 bus. I finally did and it was full to the max and I stood in the isle hanging on for dear life and eventually found a seat and when riders got on I gave up my seat for others needing it more then me. I played this game a couple times more and then the driver did another right turn away from home and I got off and started all over again for another $2. I guess I have a few bugs to work of this bus riding thing but took it in stride and finally was dropped off at the Shell station four blocks from home. I had been gone for four hours that felt like four minutes....

It was a good day with highs and lows but isn't life just like that anyway? It felt good to get out on my own and see more of Chicago and its people and maybe even find a way to help others enjoy Hemingway like I do. Was it worth the $8 I paid in fares? You betcha!! Feeling good about myself with a confident bounce in my step, well, that is priceless.....

Keep smiling...Easy..

I want to thank all of you for keeping my Dad in your prayers and I have good news to report this morning. He is home from the hospital and is doing better. He has some circulation in his good leg and his spirits are high. I have decided not to head home for now but will go home when the time is necessary. I thank God every day for blessings received and prayers answered....

I will be heading back to the Penthouse Cabin in November to hook up with my son Kris and my nephew James. They will be bow hunting for a trophy buck and I am hoping to get some venison to fill the freezer for the winter and maybe do some writing on my next book. They want me there because neither one can gut and cut up the meat and it will be a good time to do some bonding with my son Kris. I do miss my home up north and Janet is a sweetie to realize this and allow me to spend some time up there. She will hold down the fort here in Chicago in my absence and is expecting some friends to come visit and maybe catch an Oprah show. I feel real bad that I will not be in that audience with her....Not.......

I am still having serious writers block and it is quite frustrating because I can't figure out why the words are so difficult to put on the screen. My book sales are tepid at best and I know I have a good book in me and I wait impatiently for the words to start flying again. Until then I am quite happy here in Chicago with the woman I love and that is enough for now. It is hard to be down when Janet and I have so much fun together, We went to an apple farm this last weekend and I ate more apples in one day then I have in years. Being with the one you love makes even a bad day good....

I hope you have a good Tuesday Ruby and your life is all it should be and if it isn't, c'mon, get it right and keep smiling when inside you may not want to. We are what we offer to others and someone else may be worse off then you and you can be a good influence on them....

Be good and be kind and make a difference in someones life and it will in turn make a difference in your life....Easy

I would like to invite all boomers to enter the 1st annual "Easy's Short Story Contest" in conjunction with my 'No Publisher Author' group. You do not have to be a member of my group to enter but are welcome to join if interested. Your short story can be fiction or nonfiction and the maximum word count is 1,000. I will be accepting stories from today until Nov. 30, 2007 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 15, 2007. Please message me with your entry and after the winner is selected I will publish all the stories in my group. The judges will be myself, Janet (Saved By Grace) and Junie/Pappa Allen.

First prize will be a nifty award graphic that will look nice on your home page. The winner will also recieve a copy of my book, "Trout Falls Chronicles". I am looking forward to recieving your entry because I know we have some very good writers here on Boomer.

Good luck to all!!!! Easy

"The closer we get to death, the closer we get to God." I sit here this Sunday morning trying to find the right words to understand what I feel as my Father's time here on earth is limited. I remember when my time was short and all hope seemed lost and I planned my own funeral because those in my family were too afraid to bring up the subject. I can't blame them. No one likes to talk about such things but dying is a necessary part of living and plans must be made to ensure the transition is one of love and responsibility....

My Father lays in intensive care now and I am planning to head back to Detroit soon to take charge of the inevitable arrangements because I believe my insight into such matters and the fact that I am the oldest son makes it necessary and it is my responsibility. My Father has had two small heart attacks in the last few days and the Doctors say he is not well enough to withstand another amputation so it is a case of making him as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.....

This may be the most important blog I ever write because I want it to be a primer for all of my special friends here on boomer and that it can be of comfort to you when a situation like this occurs in your family or to you. Of course, it is only my opinion on such serious matters but if you can pick out one little thing I say or do to help I will be satisfied. If I can say one thing to my Mother or my brother it will be enough knowing I helped ease the pain my family is going through on these difficult days. All that we have lived together has led us to this day....

I have been praying hard for my Father and so have many of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I know I am speaking for all of my family too. I believe the only way to Heaven is through God. Salvation is given freely and everlasting life is the reward for trusting in a higher power who knows all and sees all and God is that entity on Heaven and Earth. The closer I got to dying my pain and sadness left me and was replaced by a wonderful feeling of peacefulness on a plane of pristine white calmness that I can explain no other way. I saw sad faces looking at me in those last days and I tried to make them smile and to be assured that I was in no pain and I was ready to move on to my next adventure that would be infinitely better then any I have ever experienced here on earth......

I sit on the porch watching Chicago wake up this morning praying for the wisdom as the leaves in the Elm tree turn to purple and fall to the ground. I think of a new friend I just made on boomer who says her favorite season is Autumn when the leaves are full of God sent spectacular colors to remind us that all things are born to live and to die in glory. I also see a bright blue balloon on a string almost out of helium as the wind carries it just above the ground and finally it lands in the scrubs of a neighbors lawn gasping for its last minutes of life. I believe it is no coincidence I see it this morning. All good things are born and all good things die and it's the time in between that is so hard to understand....

Some of us have a faith where we beat on our body and wail to mourn the passing of a loved one but that is not for me. Some believe there is nothing after life and to think my Father will be lowered into the earth to be no more, to have no soul, is not for me. Some religions believe he will come back as an animal or a butterfly but that is not for me. I believe he will sit at the right hand of God and I respect these people and their contrary beliefs and I mean them no harm for what they believe in but it is not for me. God is the answer for me and it is my choice and I ask to be respected for my belief as I respect others beliefs. I believe If we were all the same here on earth life would be rather boring. To have the choice to follow our own way is the way it should be and to channel it wisely is up to us as individuals and that is why living on earth is so precious to me.....

So, I will head home soon to be with my Dad and my family. I will remember all that my Father means to me and how dearly I love him for what he is and he always shall be. How he taught me right from wrong. How he went to work every single day and taught me the values I hold in my heart today. I fear not that he will be strong in death and as strong as he was in life. I will always love him like he has loved me. I keep thinking of that day in my life when he had tears in his eyes at the edge of my bed and he said, " A Father is not supposed to see his son die" and maybe that is why I am still here and to be at the edge of his bed when he dies. I do not fear death, his or mine. I write these words in the hope you will not fear it either but understand that it is a passage, a road we all will travel. I know these things because God tells me so and I find eternal comfort and I find peace in that pledge on a Sunday morning that God has given us to ponder all things unknown to us mere mortals......

Janet compliments me often on doing things before she asks me to do them that led her to think that I had been reading books on how to be a good spouse. I told her that I had made many mistakes in my first marriage and have finally figured out the right things to do. When we are young we learn as we go and the mistakes happen but when we make them again and again we have learned nothing at all. I certainly wish I had not done some things I did in my younger days and have lots of excuses for why I did them. My first wife Karen was diagnosed with Crohm’s Disease after we had only been married a few years and the idyllic storybook marriage, the two wonderful children and our home in the ‘burbs’ was shattered before we could enjoy those early years to the fullest. Karen was in the hospital almost half of one year, we took trips to Mayo Clinic, U of M, while I was a UPS driver by day and a Mother and Father by night. I was being pulled in many directions all at once and although I did keep our family together I was slowly coming apart at the seams. I wish I had been a better Father and husband but in reality I was doing the best I could to just tread water. I became selfish, angry and erratic in my behavior and I cannot take back the pain and anguish of those ugly days when Karen was fighting for her life…..

Now, many years later, I sit on the porch here in Summit, Illinois and am once again part of a suburban neighborhood where kids are playing in the streets, talking to our neighbors and I am mowing the lawn and tending our flowers and I am much older and wiser. It is like a ‘do over’ and I can’t guarantee the Detroit Tigers will again go to the world series, I can’t guarantee our troops will come home and the fighting will stop but I can guarantee I will be the husband that I should be….

After being diagnosed with Leukemia I was sure that I would die alone and that is why I went back to Upper Michigan after I went into remission. I figured that it was a good place to live my last days, in the woods, next to nature and in the simplest of lifestyles not burdened by the troubles in the real world. I started writing my blogs on boomer about my Waldenesqe existence and one thing led to another and I met Janet. I laugh about how we told each other that she would never leave Chicago and I would never leave Republic. It took the pressure off us meeting and the last thing we thought of was an 'Autumn of our life' romance. It just happened like life just happens where we have no control of our destiny. I know God put Janet into my life for a reason and as hard as I tried I could not turn my back on this opportunity to be truly happy again. I once wrote in a blog that I would go to Borneo for the right woman and a few months later I wrote that this wasn’t true. The only certainty was my uncertainty…

Janet and I sat in church yesterday morning and I thanked God for putting her into my life. I made a vow early on after we met that I would get it right this time and make up for my inadequacies of the past. I again feel like I am back in that suburb of Detroit but the circumstances and people are different and I am much older and wiser and I have God in my life to guide me through the days and nights of today. I can’t say I have never been happier but I am just as happy as I once was when I was so young. The children are replaced by grandkids, the memories are mostly behind us and not in front of us but the sun is just as bright and the moon is just as full of promise of a better day and there is still lots of room for more cherished times together.

I am smarter now, I move a lot slower now and I appreciate the little things more now. I no longer dream of what I want to be when I grow up but what I can be today. Today, I can anticipate the needs and wants of Janet and not be told I don’t do them. In return, she makes me smile as the compliments pile up and I can finally let go the mistakes I once made in the past. I think that is the best part of getting old, a time to get it right….

Happy Monday my friends. Keep smiling and anticipate the needs and wants of the one you love……Easy

My sweet Gracie and I are back in Chicago and this latest adventure was far different from the one we planned. A true adventure is how it ended and not how it was planned. First of all, my blood counts are in the normal range as I continue to astonish the Doctors in my battle with Leukemia. Everything is all so easy for me now with over 2 years in remission and I thank God for blessing me in so many ways. I had an ultra sound on my aching shoulder and it showed tears in the rotator cuff tendons that will require surgery. The VA moves at a snails pace and I will have some physical therapy before they schedule me for the operation and that could take a month or more. While Janet went to visit with LouAnne from Canada, eh, I helped my brother move into his new home and helped him deal with our Dad's situation which is not going so well. He will be having surgery this coming week to bypass clogged arteries in his good leg and hopefully he won't lose this leg too. It didn't work on his other leg and we are realistic that it will probably not work this time either. This means he will probably lose his other leg and although Dad is very strong and a tough old bird, it is wearing him down. I ask that you continue to pray for him, my brother Jim and my Mom who is having a tough time too. It is is Gods hands and I find peace in that promise...

I ended up staying in my brothers new home for almost a week and when Janet got back from Canada we decided not to head up north and instead went to Flint, Michigan to visit my camp neighbors, Jerry and Cheryl. They met me years ago when I was at my worst and believed in me and I began believing in myself also. It began my way back to normalcy after my divorce and I've been waiting for years to introduce them to my sweetie. It took joining Boomer and meeting Janet to do that and I am forever thankful. After staying there for a night we stopped off in Howell, Michigan and met Pappa Tom, our feerless leader from Boomer. It was an enlightening time and we were most impressed with Tom and his nice home in the country. The pond in the backyard reminded me of Upper Michigan. We have some common ground about life in Detroit in the 60's and he gave me some great idea's on how to promote my book. Our time was short but well worth the trip and we know that Boomer is in good hands with Tom at the "Mitch Ryder and the Detroit" wheel('s)....

Last but not least, we went back in ime to Gull Lake near Battle Creek, Michigan to see Janet's grandmothers old home and a Christian retreat she had spent time at in the summer of her youth. I wish you could have seen the smile on her face when she met the mother of one of her childhood friends. Oh my... It was like a closure on a time when we were kids and our whole life was free and easy and it was there for us to reach out and to enjoy life to its fullest. To me, it was the hilight of our trip and one that I and I'm sure Janet will never forget.

Now, it is time to get back to writing on a regular basis and Janet has the green light to crack the whip on my complacency. Writing is what I do and what I need to do. I have a new book busting out inside of me and it's time to channel it unto paper. I also want to get into making a video blog of my life and of my fictional Trout Falls that I hope I can sell to radio stations or in syndication. I can be all I want to be if I only want it bad enough. And friends, I want it bad. Here's hoping your Sunday is a peaceful and pleasent day that God has given us. Keep smiling and do good deeds....Easy

Gracie and I will be leaving Chicago tomorrow morning for the Detroit area and my 6 month VA appointment. I will spend a few days visitiing my Dad and family while Janet will head to Canada to visit LouAnn (Annie's Angels) and help her after her recent surgery. The following week we will be stopping in Howell, Mi. to say hello to Pappa Tom and then stay a night with my best friends in Flint, Mi. who have a camp next door to my Penthouse Cabin. From there we will head north and spend a day at Mackinac Island before heading west through Upper Michigan. Along the way we will hit numerous gift shops and book stores to see how my book is selling andf get it in more locations. Back home, I have book signings on the 15th and the 22nd of Sept. and we will be closing up the Penthouse Cabin and head back here the last week of Sept. Whew!!!!!

While back home in Upper Michigan, I am sure that Janet will be photo blogging our experience again since it was such a big hit earlier this year. As for me, I hope to do some writing but I have been suffering huge writers block but hope the local surroundings will get me back on track. Either way, the Trout Falls Chronicles caravan is back on the road expecting another great adventure. Be safe, be kind and keep smiling, eh? Easy being me.....

<< First  < Previous |  Page:  20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | Next >  Last >>