The City Mouse in the Country

  resting cat Recently I found myself with a bit of time on my hands.  Normally this time of year my wife and I like to take some vacation time.   We generally don't go to far, having visited Niagara Falls and New York state the last two years, the plan this year was to go south, to visit an old friend that has just accepted a facility position at Duke University .   A few days there, a few days in Charlotte; where I once lived and then, if we had time, a few days in Charleston, SC where I also lived for a brief time. Sadly however, due to circumstances that I won't get into here, our vacation became a staycation .  Which was fine because I still had a tree to plant from the Native Plant sale, odds and ends to do and to continue my war against some aggressive neighboring plants, which it seems I was now finding everywhere, as well as other small jobs that I've been putting off. I actually wondered if it would be affordable (and reasonable) to rent a f...

Life can be stressful here in modern America.  Sadly we have become a country where a parent may worry that they will never see their child again as they board that school bus or go out with friends.  Not to mention the additional stress of worrying about our countries direction; and the direction of the planet, as a whole. We live in trying times, but worrying about the future all the time is only a recipe for sleepless nights and ulcers.  We all need that proverbial margarita by the pool sometimes.  In many ways I looked forward to taking the past week off and traveling to Niagara Falls and upstate New York with my wife. It has been nearly 30 years since either of us had been to the Falls, and on the way up we passed solar farm after solar farm and more than a few windmills generating power, we even passed a hydroelectric plant.   Green power is the future and in a way my heart sung that so much renewable power was being generated. However I also thought ...

One of the first items that Sue and I bought as a couple all those years ago was a grandfather clock.  We used to snuggle under the blanket and listen to the chimes on the hour, the sound filling our house with a warmth and resonance.   That clock is nothing special, being simple in its design and technology.  It's accurate because of the beauty of physics and math...and is a lost art form in its own right. I thought a lot about time and place as we traveled this week.  I thought a lot about place.   Sue and I finally took a brief vacation recently.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, every plan we had made to get away earlier in the year came to naught.  My father became ill and ended up in the hospital which we decided to stay home "just in case."  He ended up in the hospital at least three times this past year, and I decided to spend what time I could with him. Family, after all, is what brought us back to Pennsylvania. We had p...

      I know, wrong state but read on!           Sue and I like to play things by ear.  When we travel just to get away it's often by throwing a dart at the map or picking a direction.   These little jaunts often lead to adventures, such as exploring near by Oil City for example.  However these short jaunts into the unknown only recharge our batteries.  Neither Sue or myself has had a proper vacation in some time.        So given the opportunity to visit friends in the Great state of Tennessee, we took full advantage of it, and flew by the seat of our pants southward with no plan in mind.     Our pants were ripped and torn however and our bums were left flapping in the wind by the end of the trip.        My buddy Tim is an old friend form High School.  We grew apart over time but started to reconnect over the last few years.  He own...