Coffee is Better with a Friend “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves Many years ago, my best friend and I would meet on Fridays before the sun rose and walk and jog the Swamp Rabbit trail while attempting to solve all the world’s ills.

“At three in the morning the blood runs slow and thick, and slumber is heavy. The soul either sleeps in blessed ignorance of such an hour or gazes about itself in utter despair. There is no middle ground.” ― Stephen King, ‘Salem’s Lot It is the morning of Halloween, and I am awake. For some reason, threeish seems to be the hour that I awake.

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular”

I share this three years ago. I still haven't regained my humor.

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”― Benjamin Franklin Sunday September 15, 1963…I doubt I paid much attention to the happenings in Bi…

"I really love America. I just don't know how to get there anymore" -John Prine It’s Independence Day and somewhere deep in my soul, I feel, “So What?” I’m celebrating like most any other day. Sitting with my puppies lost in my thoughts. Often my mind is a terrible thing. A cigar and brown liquor drink will soon join my terrible mind as I wait for the pyrotechnics to begin.

“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”― Kahlil Gibran I sat with a group of friends at a local café. It is usually a time of joy, sometimes when I need it the most. This was one of those times. It is March and I have begun to contemplate the past year since Linda left me.

I originally wrote this years ago. Since learning the former Beach Music icon, The Cellar, burned Saturday morning, I decided to update it as a eulogy for a place that held a prominent place in my memories and a time long gone. “A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile” -Don Mclean…

“This fire that we call Loving is too strong for human minds. But just right for human souls.”― Aberjhani, Elemental: The Power of Illuminated Love It is Valentine’s Day. My first without…

“An environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own so that their existing views are reinforced, and alternative ideas are not considered.” After thre…

"The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body." -- Stan Getz Other than those found on my playlist, I hadn’t thought about saxophones until I chanced upon a beautiful, blond, Dutch saxophonist named Candy Dulfer. Where have you been all my life?

Surviving the Spider’s Web "Sometimes the greatest tests of our strength are situations that don't seem so obviously dangerous. Sometimes surviving is the hardest thing of all." ~ Richelle Mead It is my annual day of introspection. A day rife with questions but devoid of answers. What did I accomplish in 2024? What do I want to accomplish in 2025…. It is the end of one year and the beginning of a new one.

“The only good thing about the good old days is they're gone.”― Dick Gregory The cold snap of the last few days have me thinking about the “Good Old Days” people wax poetic about. It is cold and windy and has me longing for the humidity and mosquitoes of summer. Our good old days started when Linda Gail and I moved into the foothills of the Blue Ridge in 1987 just before a twelve-inch snowfall that kept us stranded for over a week.

I asked. “What do witches eat?” “Witches loves pork meat,” she said. “They loves rice and potatoes. They loves black-eyed peas and cornbread. Lima beans, too, and coll…

“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.” ― Mahatma Gandhi On Christmas Eve, 1914, The Great War was still in its preliminary stages. Three more Christmas Eves and most…

…the Sears catalog, “serves as a mirror of our times, recording for future historians today’s desires, habits, customs, and mode of living.” The 1943 Sears News Graphic Someone shared a…

“... the only thing worse than losing is not playing” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger I’m struggling. There are too many memories surrounding me…or too few. I really thought the college football season would provide a soothing anodyne. Something to take my mind off the way things are. A possible reminder of the way things once were. Football has not been a soothing anodyne.