A friend's blog

I don't know why I just now thought to add this. If you like what I write, I'm sure you will also like that of an on-line friend of mine. We are friends on Facebook. Adam Litmer is a young man, age 35, married, preacher for the University Heights church of Christ in Lexington, Kentucky. He writes a lot of poems, etc. His blog is http://adamlitmer.blogspot.com

All my poems, etc., part 2

If you are coming to this late, and seeing a lot of things that I call Facebook Poems, there is a reason/excuse. About mid-June, I hadn't posted anything anywhere, nor texted anyone, and I don't like to talk on the phone ... so I decided that, when I can, which is almost every day unless the internet is down or I am out of town and do not have access, that one of the first times I'll do each day is write something - usually a poem - on Facebook. I label it simply "Facebook poems", though they cover a lot of subjects. I am labeling THIS note with all the labels I have used. That way, if you click on some label/subject that you think you might find interesting, everything I've labeled as such will show up on this blog. Thanks for reading what I write. I hope that you get a smile, or a laugh, or some encouragement, or that they make you think, etc. Feel free to comment on things I write, too. Thanks. (I am having to post this twice so as to show all the labels that I've made!)

Addition

I just added another blog to my list. It is the one written by Jef Mallett, the gentleman who draws one of my favorite cartoons: "Frazz". Jef and his wife Patty share blog duties. Jef's post on Thursday, October 21, is about something that could be in "News of the Weird", one of the "truth is stranger than fiction" stories - about a crocodile that caused an airline fatality! (This happened August 25 - according to a "crocodile blamed" on-line search.)

"Frazz", like Jef himself, participates in triathlons. Jef himself just ran the Detroit marathon and qualified for the Boston, which seems to be the king of marathons (or whatever you call it). Frazz is about 30, educated, a grammar school janitor, dates Jane Plainwell, one of the teachers. There's a variety of students and teachers in the cartoon.

If you look up the regular site (not the blog), about a month ago, the site seems to have been compromised and for now, probably isn't safe to look at. But I take the local newspaper, and "Frazz" is one of the first I look at. (And thanks for the comment as to where you can see "Frazz" on line.)

The other blogs I list are, IMO, also good (duh! otherwise I wouldn't list them)! I'm glad I found the Dublin taxi driver's blog (John posts a lot of interesting pictures as well as commentary). Tim in Tampa, who happens to drive for the company I worked for years ago, also is interesting though his language is not always so clean. Henry Kisor's photography site (as well as his other blog) always has some beautiful pictures; he's also written several books which I've read, both his true ones and his murder-mysteries.

The other sites are interests of mine. "Posh Cakes" is the site of a good friend of mine, a self-taught cake decorator. Stephanie is also executor of my will, and is the daughter I wish I had. You'll be amazed at the decorating she does! She is married to a man who does construction work, and they have a son who is married (2 grandchildren), and a daughter in junior high.

One is the site for where I attend worship, and another is a huge site about the Bible. The ACB site is the American Council of the Blind, of which I've been a member for a few years. The HLAA is the Hearing Loss Association (I have a 40% loss in one ear, a slight loss in the other, and have hearing aids which I rarely wear because most of the time, I'm not interested in hearing the often inane jabbering!)

Another is for the Lakeshore Foundation, the only official paralympic training site in the world. As a legally blind person, it would be an excellent place for me to go, though right now I can't afford the dues. (It is a bit similar to the Y.) I have acquaintances who are totally blind who go there regularly to exercise, including swim. The Lakeshore Field House is also where I've seen the wheelchair athletes (one my "about me", I list "Murderball" as one of my favorite movies, a documentary of some of the guys who train at Lakeshore). They also have a program called "Lima Foxtrot", using 2 of the alpha-words for the military, and where a lot of wounded vets come for rehab and training. Anyway, Lakeshore is an amazing place, and people can go there and simply watch, free, any time. There is also a rehab home - I don't know what you call it - there, which doctors often send people for therapy for a few weeks' stay.

Going Places

While it is nice that the newspaper editors often print letters that I write, sometimes their editing of such letters completely loses what the letter is about. That happened to me in yesterday's paper. I know that I can write well, as I've had many things published (regrettably, not for pay!). I had one article printed in the monthly newsletter of WMNF, Tampa, where I was a volunteer DJ; one or 2 in the monthly newsletter of FoFF (the Friends of Florida Folk [music); some things used in church bulletins and on church web sites and other web sites; a few poems and articles published in the "Braille Forum" (the monthly magazine of the American Council of the Blind); and for over 7 years, I edited and wrote for the weekly bulletin of the church I attended.

So it was with amazed irritation that a letter I fired off on October 2 had the first paragraph reworded so that the meaning was totally different. For once, I wasn't griping about our bus service; I was fussing about all the "grand plans" for metro Birmingham and ... well ... here is what was printed in yesterday's (yes, the BIG Sunday paper! - not hidden in some obscure place in a week day paper):

"In reading the newspaper recently, I noticed that many of the events in metro Birmingham had one thing in common: They highlighted the failure of public transportation."

Here is my original first paragraph:

"In reading today's paper, I noticed that most of the plans for metro Birmingham have one thing in common: better public transportation failed. Why?"

I know that bus management is doing the best they can with the funding they have, but as was in the business section of the paper recently, help to build a better metro transit system is never a priority. It's as if those of us who must ride the bus are not worth anything, yet we pay taxes just like everyone else. Grrr!!!

BACK ON LINE!

This is mostly a "just checking in" note, in part to see if it will work! What a phone mess I've had for over 2 weeks! The Public Service Commission will get a letter from me later this week, detailing the problems I've had since Thursday, May 27. I THINK they were all fixed today. This was the 4th repairman who's been to my house. When he left at 3 today, everything seems to be working. But if any of you who have gmail and can get to your account and see the sending and subject of each incoming letter, but cannot open it, and have a little pop-up window that states: "Some Gmail features have failed to load due to an internet connectivity problem", please tell me what to do! I've been unable to find anything in the Gmail help section.

WRITING

I wrote yet another poem today, which I will wait and post in a night or two. It's called "Rein Me In". I am to a place where I wish my brain would turn off! A thought gets in my mind, and it seems that, like a leaky faucet, there is no way to make it stop dripping. Sometimes I can stem the flow a little. Once in awhile, a poem will come to me almost entire, and other times, something will come in spurts, maybe a verse or two, or some significant line or idea. A few have sat around for a few years before I have been able to finish them.

Here's one I wrote on August 30, 2007, after which I noted that it took me 30 minutes to write all of it.

CAN'T NOT WRITE

I wish I did not "have" to write. Sometimes I feel like it's a blight -
A scary thing like awn on rye, a plague that spreads and just won't die!
Like blood that spurts out from a wound, it oozes words and makes me swoon!
And that's what this is at this time! It comes unbidden and it rhymes!
Some are more like falling snow, touching softly, comforting flow -
And some are petals, like a rose - from ashes, Phoenix, lively prose!
Why do I pen these odd wordings? I guess it helps me handle things,
When I'm happy or if I'm mad, it rains the same for good or bad.
Random thoughts - I hold a pen - I write stuff down as my mind spins.
A couplet here, or maybe more, musing idly, what's in store?
I'll see what comes to mind today, before I send this on its way.
I'll look for some big word to use - enigmatic! I like to confuse!
Dictionary! Learn a word! Dr. Seussian! Fun! Absurd!
Several meanings, or semantically deep! Use one time or go for keeps!
A precious gift, a silly prize, Speedy churns on. The time just flies!
Let's see if I can make this end ...
.....................................................
as on its tottering way it wends.

MORE HOBBIES!

Deja is the 13 year old daughter of one of my co-workers. She took dance lessons from the time she was 2 years old 'til last year. Now in 7th grade, she dropped dance, but already has 2 years of clarinet lessons and is in the school band. I asked her mother, "Deja is into dance and music; what were YOUR hobbies when you were her age?" She looked kind of funny and said she didn't have any!

I know I am rather aimless, but I DO have hobbies and always have. I've told you about some, and shown pictures of some. One I haven't mentioned should be obvious: I like to write poems, articles, and songs.

Our library occasionally has a variety of free events that they call BPL@night, some weekday evenings 6:30 'til about 7:30 p.m. The library people set up a table with coffee, lemonade, water, and munchies.

The events are mostly in the main library downtown. I've seen/heard Carl Winters, the Kalimba King, playing African thumb piano, and singing; "After Class", all instrumentals, with hammered dulcimer, fiddle, guitar; a local improv troup (can't think what they are called - they do Shakespeare at Sloss Furnace); Delores Hydock, a professional storyteller; "Joy, the Queen of Clean", a local comedian; "Sam Banana and the Bunch", which started with some guys in a local high school glee club in the 50s and 60s who sound as good as Sha Na Na ... and so on. Tonight was a speaker, a local lady who's first novel was released this past January.

Irene Latham's lecture was entitled, "Writing What You Don't Know". She's married, white, probably early 40s - and "Leaving Gee's Bend" has as the "heroine", a 10-year-old black girl who's never been out of Gee's Bend. Her mother is sick and it's up to the little girl to go for help. If Gee's Bend sounds familiar, PBS has done a documentary on the quilters of Gee's Bend. You can do a search for it. Gee's Bend is a very small community on the Alabama River, SW of Montgomery.

I've actually written a couple of real short stories, one semi-autobiographical. Maybe I'll post it sometime, though it would have to be in a series. Seems I can't copy and paste to post here (or at least I haven't figured it out). It's 4 pages long, so would have to be 4-or-6 posts (or 1 that I would type a bit more every few days). Maybe I'll post it, but not tonight!