Pucker up Baby and Please Take me Home with You!

I had lunch at Costco today. Things have been a little rough for me of late. But today, the jaw felt fine, I have been soooo hungry with the jaw thingee and the inability to eat more than soup or noodle based food that I just felt like overeating on crappy food. That, and I find it fascinating to watch the hoards of people going through Costco, what they buy, what they look like, what they wear and as I do that I just wonder about America, and who votes and get feedback as to why we have TeaParty assholes in this world. But hey that is just like my opinion man.

The lunch tables were crowded and I really dreaded the thought of not getting a seat or getting a seat next to someone I would really dread sitting next to.

But I got lucky, and almost got lucky, wink wink.

A delightful, elegant 83 year old woman pulled her cart next to where I was sitting, commanded me (!) to save her a spot and then left to load her hot dog up with onions, mustard and relish. Yeah, try to just picture that; and elegant 83 year old woman loading up a Costco dog with mustard, onions and relish and then sitting across from me and eating it.

Her cart was moderately full, and I noticed DiGiorno frozen pizza's in her cart! She was on her lunch break from work, and was then headed to Alki to meet a friend and have a joint (pardon the pun) chiropractic session with a friend.

So now this woman is close as can be to being my new hero. She is elegant, she eats hot dogs and apparently has a thing for frozen pizza, she still works and she is headed to Alki for the afternoon.

We talked about 911 (apparently there was another bomb scare in NY today), we talked about health care, we talked about her hope that she hadn't forgot anything at Costco because she had forgotten her list. SHE ATE HER HOT DOG FASTER THAN ME, which is saying a lot if you are still picturing an elegant 83 year old woman; but in my defense as a horrible chow hound, I am still somewhat limited by my jaw condition. None the less, her attack on the hot dog could only be described as hearty, manly and brazen.

As she left I helped her up (she has some mobility issues with her knees) and placed her cart in front of her. After getting her situated I told her that I was going to have to keep it on the down low that I had had lunch with such an attractive woman who was obviously hitting on me and trying to lure me to spend the afternoon with her at Alki. She calmly said that she wouldn't tell on me and that the offer still stood! I wanted to kiss her right then and there, and I should have, but did not.

It sure made my day!

Three Poems, authors undisclosed; certainly not me

Poem #1
When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all

I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
I will lay me down

When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you

I’ll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around
I will lay me down

Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way

See how they shine
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
I will ease your mind

Poem #2
When the road gets dark
And you can no longer see
Let my love throw a spark
And have a little faith in me

When the tears you cry
Are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try
And have a little faith in me

When your secret heart
Cannot speak so easily
Come here baby
From a whisper, start
To have a little faith in me

And when your back's against the wall
Just turn around and you will see
I will catch your fall
Just have a little faith in me

Well, I've been loving you
For such a long, long time
Expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me

You see time, time is our friend
Cause for us there is no end
All you gotta do is
Have a little faith in me

I will hold you up
And your love gives me strength enough
to have a little faith in me

Poem #3
MANY birds and the beating of wings
Make a flinging reckless hum
In the early morning at the rocks
Above the blue pool
Where the gray shadows swim lazy.

In your blue eyes, O reckless child,
I saw today many little wild wishes,
Eager as the great morning.

A Father to His Son

God bless google, if there is a God. I read many poems as a young man. I loved to read, and surprisingly I loved to read a good poem. But like the people in my life, I am not too good with names. I read things, get into discussions about them and am at a loss when one asks me who the author is. And now, as an older man, a man in such awe of those who write so well, for those who capture life in words so well, I am embarrassed that I typically do not know the author.

But google has changed that for me. Now I remember just tiny pieces of what I read many years ago, type the phrase into google and I get the author, complete works, and I even get things they wrote that I neglected to read at my younger age. As a young man my reading was undisciplined, haphazard in both what I randomly got my hands on, or what some wonderful English teacher put into my hands; thank you Miss Pesnell (of Memphis), Mr. McCamey (misspelled I am sure of Seattle) and Mr. McFarlane (of Seattle; and who in order to suck up to Peggy not too long ago pretended that SHE was his favorite student and not me).

But I have now discovered that Carl Sandburg wrote many of my favorite poems, and here is a good one.

Thank you Carl Sandburg!

For you Peter, and as I now live in a age of much more progressive thought than Mr Sandburg, for my wonderful daughters Melissa and Kelsey as well. And to you Eli, Abby and all that may follow.

A Father To His Son

A father sees his son nearing manhood.

What shall he tell that son?'

Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'

And this might stand him for the storms

and serve him for humdrum monotony

and guide him among sudden betrayals

and tighten him for slack moments.

'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'

And this too might serve him.

Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.

The growth of a frail flower in a path up

has sometimes shattered and split a rock.

A tough will counts. So does desire.

So does a rich soft wanting.

Without rich wanting nothing arrives.

Tell him too much money has killed men

and left them dead years before burial:

the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs

has twisted good enough men

sometimes into dry thwarted worms.

Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.

Tell him to be a fool every so often

and to have no shame over having been a fool

yet learning something out of every folly

hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies

thus arriving at intimate understanding

of a world numbering many fools.

Tell him to be alone often and get at himself

and above all tell himself no lies about himself

whatever the white lies and protective fronts

he may use against other people.

Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong

and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.

Tell him to be different from other people

if it comes natural and easy being different.

Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.

Let him seek deep for where he is born natural.

Then he may understand Shakespeare

and the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,

Michael Faraday and free imaginations

Bringing changes into a world resenting change.

He will be lonely enough

to have time for the work

he knows as his own.

On the Eating DL, Status Day to Day

I never thought it could happen to me. I have always been an everyday eater. Fussy at times but always able to step up to the plate and do my job. A lifetime member of the clean plate club who has saved millions of starving children in Europe.

But gradually last week I started to loose my edge. I now know how Lou Gehrig felt as he ended his streak. Coach, take me out, I can't do it anymore.

Jaw pain. Severe jaw pain. Major MoFo jaw pain. And it started gradual. On Saturday I felt something was up. On Sunday I knew something was up. On Monday I experience difficulty eating. By Tuesday I was looking for soup lines.

My first thought was some sort of glandular infection. Sinus trouble putting pressure on the jaw. I tried the sauna, I tried the steam room. No help.

I next suspected that my lifelong neglect of dental rules had caught up to me. Perhaps the bridge on the side of the mouth really did need daily flossing like they told me 10 or so years ago. I booked an appointment with Dr. Bill. After ex rays he said there was no infection there, my teeth and gums looked great and then the big question

Anything bothering you lately?????

My guess is that you are grinding your teeth incredibly hard at night and you are experiencing TMJ.

Of course my Alfred E. Newman response was - "what me worry".

But now I am taking a Valium before bed and I saw a massage therapist yesterday who made me float all the way to the ceiling by working my neck and she even had her fingers inside my mouth working a muscle. I swear I could see and feel evil spirits leaving my body.

I guess all that is left now is to learn to let go.....and learn to not let letting go get me down.

Garden Party- Artist: Rick Nelson

- inspired by Rick's experience at a Madison Square Garden concert

- Words and Music by Rick Nelson

I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends

A chance to share old memories and play our songs again

When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name

No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

But it's all right now,

I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone,

so ya got to please yourself

People came from miles around, everyone was there

Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air

'n' over in the corner, much to my surprise

Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise

But it's all right now,

I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone,

so ya got to please yourself

Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came

No one heard the music, we didn't look the same

I said hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me

When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave

But it's all right now,

I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone,

so ya got to please yourself

Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode

Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should

If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck

But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck

But it's all right now,

I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone,

so ya got to please yourself