The crux of it all

 

Difficulty. Wouldn’t it be great if I could write something that took more than 15 minutes of my attention. 

I never have. I never will. 

Such is the true meaning of life for a man with the attention span of a gnat. 

Of course I’ve never read anything of any consequence from any gnats. Maybe their works are out there. I can’t say I know anything of them. 

Fin

Is this how Hemingway did it?

Bicycle Musings

 Early morning. 6:30ish. Sky is 25 shades of grey and blue. Another hot one coming. Alone in the subdivision, except for the neighbor lady walking her steps. Says hi and looks at me like I'm weird. Every time. 16 miles. Day in. Day out. wheels spinning, smoothly. gears shift, breaks break.  It's about steam release ... letting loose the crap from the day just past. Do it again tomorrow and then some more every day. Life in the fast lane. Summer 2025. How many more? Only Strava can tell.

Fin

Subdivision Gang.

Is It Over?

 What's Left? 

Midway through year 72. Is it over? Life? All the things I’ve done, memories collected. Body starts sputtering. Diabetes type 2 , after eating crap foods (read mass produced processed “food).  now ubiquitous and in me. Hips that quit working requiring replacement and shots. A Thyroid that starts overreacting  for no other reason than it’s old man time. The grim reaper creeper gets worse each year. So, is it over? With every new malady, it’s less fun. It’s not at the end of the line, but I can almost see it from here. Feels that way.  That sucks. What can I say?  Fin

Is It Safe??

Here I Am Again.... Groundhog Day Redux...

 So here I am. Still on a doozy of dull road trip. Lost in the Smoky Mountains of North  Carolina. Family matters of which I will not speak have us (wife y yo) bound in a seemingly never ending fiasco not of our own making.  I want to go home and return to my bike riding life. And I see no light at the end of the tunnel yet here. The mountain views are stunning, but the weather truly sucks. Most days rain and  temperatures see sawing from 20's-30's into the  low to  mid 60's. The rain just will not go away. I recall the meteorologists saying that El Nino was going to give the south and east a wet winter and indeed it is happening. Sucks big time.

Now that I have whined an entire paragraph about my travails, I think I'll go and see what is on TV.

BTW speaking of TV. If you haven't seen Oppenheimer yet, do so as soon as you can  (There's an App for that).  Fascinating  story of a fascinating man. Check it out.

I guess biden went to the southern border. After all the damages he caused by opening it up and now he's paying attention. Election time. And more and more news stories of ordinary Americans victims of the animals  that he has let loose. insanity!!!  A reckoning is coming I hope. Soon I hope.

Oh Well

Be Good To Each Other!

Peace Out!

Just A Quick Thought...

 

Time For Some Sleep.....zzzzzzzz.........

Morning has broken

 Another morning pose. So tranquil. So majestic. So old. 

70 is the new 85

Hipster

 Bearded, Sporting the Warby Parker glasses, 

 Bicycle Rider. Yup It's the hipster thing. And almost 70. 

So What's next?

Run for President?

I think not.

Hotel

Just for fun, I'm posting this as I sit in the lobby of a fancy boutique style hotel in an inner city. I'm killing time waiting for my family's appointment in town here.  

Heading home later today. Glad to make trip to help family in distress but the older I get... the more "there's no place like home" resonates to me.

We Are (Were) The World

Gatsby

"And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

 Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Thus ends a superb novel by F Scott Fitzgerald an early 20th century author who was both a literary genius and a totally self destructive insane train wreck of a man. His book The Great Gatsby while written in 20's America, still rings true about people today. If you get a chance at least watch the movie (several versions, my favorite is the Baz Luhrman one) and then read the book. It is powerful and it really gets to the core of who we are are as people, how we live, love and survive (or not). Check it out.

Be good to each other,

Peace out.

The Way We Were

 Once this was the view from my front yard.

I am Bob. Born 9 years after WWII. Who is Bob? Formed out of a mid 50’s to late 70’s American experience. When I was a kid, all the men working in stores or garages or wherever, they were all WWII Vets. Still young then raising their families in a country that wanted peace and prosperity. For the most part, they got it. Perfect? Nope, nothing ever is. But 60 years later, looking back, in comparison to now, it was paradise.

Bob fast forward…. US Navy, career in aviation both airline work and Air Traffic Control work. Wife. Family. 2 kids. Lived in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania until I didn’t. Winter does that to people. Florida was next. 20 years and life was good. Another day in Paradise as we said. Early retirement (ATC throws you out at age 56) was even better.

21st century. Bob. I don’t like it. I watched with great anticipation the birth of the Internet. The WWW world a new world gave us access to all information. It was going to be perfect. Until it wasn’t. Big business jumped in first. The government had to get involved. What we ended up with was a foolproof way to totally isolate human beings into tribal groups. Hate growing every year. Young people falling off of the edge of the Grand Canyon because they were totally involved with making a selfie. Insane. A government that grew rich and corrupt with the bajillions (that’s a lot of billions) of silicone valley money and backing. So now we are on the verge of total self destruction. Not from external foes. We have met the enemy and he is us. Abraham Lincoln called that a long time ago.

I don’t like it. I will spend however many years I have left fighting it. Retirement is good for me. Good wife of 42 years best friend ever. Two good kids all grown up and doing very well. Two grandbabies that are perfect.

I like travelling, reading, blogging, all forms of social media. A good book is still a thing to be treasured. Favorite Author? God. The Bible. I believe in Him and His Book and I try every day to live it. Secular author? Hemingway. First time I read him, He had the gift. Said it all while hardly saying anything. And he was messed up. His life was a mess. He was a jerk and an angel and it all was so wonderful and horrible for him. Ended badly. I am a recovering alcoholic and I wish I could have gotten stinking drunk with him. Just for the experience of it. He was the whole package for sure. I admire his way of living. Messed up and all.

So that’s it. Bob. Here I am. Now you have a little bit of me. Still trying to figure it all out.

Be Good To Each Other,

Peace Out.

Sunday Morning Going Down

 Apologies to the late great Johnny Cash for pinching his song title as todays Blog title. It is a dreary cold damp Sunday with rain expected later today to continue till tomorrow. According to the weather ":experts" this winter here in Georgia is going to be colder and wetter than normal with the El Nino here. An ocean current on the other side of the world goes askew and we have a crappy winter. Its depressing. I think I'll go eat some chips and salsa and see if that doesn't improve things.

Be good to each other and stay warm.

Peace out.

Morning Routine

I post a lot about bicycling. It's my thing actually. That and taking naps. Approching age 70 so it's the simple things for me.

Steaming As Before. On Course. Of Course.

 Mid winter doldrums strike. Bicycle riding helps but doesn't do it all. I've watched all the World War 2 shows and old movies over and over. Boring. So I'm starting a new side by side Blog. I think Ill learn a few things while I create. If nothing else. Its "Dear Diary" No. 2.

Ham Sammich

We shall see. Maybe a road trip thrown in ... but the weather is too cold and squirrelly with this stupid El Nino thing mucking us up.

Nuff Said

New Blog

Sparkles. Luckiest cat alive. 

Starting a new blog on my other gmail account. Pretty much same stuff, different wrapper. This is how an almost 70 year old spends winter days. 

Later

Winter Weather

 Too windy/cold so it’s indoor peddling time.

#CyclingThreads