Columns

B. J. and I love to cruise. If you count all the river cruises, the lake cruises, the fjord cruises along with the ocean cruises, we have been on quite a number of cruises. It is wonderful and right now, there is another cruise in the planning stage for the spring. [Full Story »] 

If this world operated on poetic justice or Karma or whatever you choose to call the principle, we’d have instant appropriate payback for our sins. What a way to train mankind to behave! For example, if a bully stole another kid’s candy, it would immediately give him a world class stomach ache, one the offended child could enjoy seeing. He might not have his candy, but he’d have the satisfaction of revenge. If a student were copying someone else’s paper, the teacher would pull her Taser from her desk drawer and give him some instant feed back. If you shoved some one out of line and broke in front of him, you’d break a leg and fall on the floor right there at the scene of the crime. If you drove off without paying for your gas, the pump itself would run screaming after you. Hmmm. I seem to be a bit carried away here, but you get the idea. [Full Story »] 

Several years ago, B. J. and I were searching for an ancient colonial ancestral cemetery in the swampy South Carolina Low Country. We had discovered some information in a Beaufort, S. C., library that had led us deep into the remote areas in search of the old burial site. [Full Story »] 

Larry and I enjoy working in our yard and gardens, but I don’t tolerate the gnats very well. A few up my nose, in my eyes, and in my ears will chase me right back inside on the double. Their abundance this summer is daunting, to say the least. The grandchildren are visiting, and living above the gnat line, they are even less tolerant than I of these pests. [Full Story »] 

As I grow older I realize that my memory is just not what it used to be. I have a good recollection of certain events but there are usually no faces attached to that memory unless the event was memorable.
Sometimes someone from my past, for instance an old school mate, will come up to me and stare into my face saying, “remember me?” When they do this I instantly realize I am supposed to know them and I know this has happened to some of you if you are past sixty. When I cannot recognize them it is embarrassing and I will say something like “it’s coming to me. Give me a minute.” Most times it will come to me and if not they will usually say something or start talking about an event they think I will remember, but as I have already stated, if the event was not memorable I generally cannot recall it and I have to apologize and go from there. I hate it when that happens. [Full Story »] 

Romantic love in today’s world, is it possible? Is the high tech, hurry-up computerized world with its digital mentality and remote controls eroded our capacity for genuine romantic love. [Full Story »] 

I had to travel with my family to Texas one summer to see my wife’s parents. I didn’t want to go for I hated to drive long distances, but felt I had to in order to preserve family peace. I knew I would be miserable because every time I travel, I get irregular. It is my nerves, I guess, that ties my intestines into a knot. [Full Story »]