I wrote a while back about my changing attitude toward attending what once was the highlight of my week during the fall: joining 110,000 of my best friends in the Big House to watch my Wolverines play football (1). This growing aversion is not yet absolute, as my wife and and I joined the Homecoming crowdContinue reading “No mo’. A dozen supposedly fun things I’m no longer doing these days”
Tag Archives: writing
smokin’ JP*
Tomorrow is John Prine’s birthday. He would have been 80. He will have been dead 6 ½ years, having breathed his last 4/7/20 on a ventilator at Vanderbilt’s hospital, one of the first high profile names to be claimed by COVID. He’d acquired the bug in France, where he was completing what would be his last tour. Sure,Continue reading “smokin’ JP*”
fed up
It came to me on a trip to the dump. 2 dead microwaves made the visit imperative, and since we were going, we loaded up on the plastic, Styrofoam, and metal we’d dutifully accumulated. $18 for the privilege of unloading, and we left feeling lighter, as always. The 7 mile trip out may have gotten me revved up. AsContinue reading “fed up”
we didn’t go…
It looked like a beautiful Labor Day weekend. Temps in the 70s, a little humid, perfect for anything outdoors. And the U was providing the perfect outdoors activity: the home opener. Our Wolverines would kick off against Western’s MAC champion Broncos at 7:30 in the Big House. The night game might have been to protect the studentsContinue reading “we didn’t go…”
Martha!
Last week those of us with our nose in screens witnessed a spectacle no news feeder could resist: an old woman butchering the National Anthem before a baseball game. But it wasn’t just any baseball game, and the girl singer had won the hearts of boomers over 60 years ago. The game was the inaugural contest ofContinue reading “Martha!”
cowabunga!
I walk with quite a limp these days, and use a cane. My favorite retort to those who notice and ask, is “surfing injury”. Not a consequence of those many miles pounded in as I was pulled into the running craze, although I did curtail that activity because of achy knees. My formerly pit pat retirement left meContinue reading “cowabunga!”
show-off update
3 years and several months ago, I posted a guide to all the seals you might see at the bottom of an e-mail from me, which then looked like as follows (1) I titled it “show-off” as there seemed to be an element of boasting about all the institutions with which I’d been associated. But, ifContinue reading “show-off update”
In the year 2525 (less 1/2 a millennium)
Hope youse had a Merry Christmas! Remember, this is just the beginning, if you play your cards right (1). Boxing Day has its own traditions, like me writing this Christmas letter. Congratulations to you boomers out there who caught that reference in the title to Zager & Evans’ ’69 hit (2). Listening to those apocalyptic 60s songs –Continue reading “In the year 2525 (less 1/2 a millennium)”
mancave upgrade!
Timing is everything. At my first stab at this blog, I thought I had the greatest lead-in: “Should an older man on the eve of his 39th wedding anniversary be spending time waxing over his mancave?” There’s no relation between the two dates, only that some improvements in my mancave have finally settled in. Our anniversary and that footballContinue reading “mancave upgrade!”
head, heart
I spent a little time last week in the village where I was a teen, Vicksburg. The occasion was the awards ceremony for the Southwest Michigan Tournament of Writers. I’d received dispensation the year before from the director to enter, even though I was not a local. The stipulation was that I confine my writings to Vicksburg. I did,Continue reading “head, heart”
