Grrrrrrr
I am starting (again) to get cranked-out by people being utterly unaware of the fact that what they are doing–or NOT doing–is affecting other people, and not in a good way. In short, people are starting to bug me. Imagine that! Now, I am not, in any way, shape or form, implying that I never do this sort of thing...
H&G Amish Style
At the Amish Home & Garden Show, which took place just last weekend, there’s one thing you can count on finding, no matter what you came for in the first place, and that’s –FOOD. You can hit the Auction House Restaurant (which features the Farmers’ Grill) or just browse around to all of the candy shops, kettle corn, Easter candy,...
April Fooled!
So far, April has been fairly nondescript…except for the tree falling on the front porch, of course. And there’s no a whole lot going on after Easter, unless you’re into Earth Day–like the Portage County Park District, which will hold its annual Awards event on the twenty-second in Kent–or are interested in the new moon (which means that you...
DANG!! Where Did I Put My Ruby Slippers??
They’re not around here, that’s for darn sure. Maybe they’ve made it to Kansas, though it would be more likely that they’d wind up in PA, the way that wind was whooping it up from the West on Saturday. All of the wind warnings in the world can’t help you much, if the trees do not tip-toe out of...
I Scream… You Scream… We All Scream…
ICE ! No cream…just that gosh-awful ICE. On the roads, on the sidewalks, on the parking lots & driveways…By the by, I will take this opportunity to give a shout-out of appreciation–which I try to do at least yearly–to those folks around town who keep their sidewalks cleared. Not everybody is able, I do understand, and the village guys have...
Merrily We Roll Along…
Well, sorta… “Merrily” might be overstating just a tad, but I sure did some rolling. First off, was the trip to Kentucky–Glasgow, Kentucky, to be specific, a trip of some seven or so hours, making good time. The high-rollers on the JAG Quiz Bowl team made the trek down to the Bluegrass State at the invitation of the Jesse Brown Small...
Unlikely All-sorts
The Akron Beacon-Journal has had some beauts lately. One of my favorites was the New Funko Pop Collection “honoring” Dolly Parton. Now Dolly has received just about every honor that a country/pop/r&r singer is likely to be nominated for. She’s been in the movies and on TV and received national recognition for her performance and her song-writing and her...
Unseasonable?
If it’s Thursday, this must be Springtime. There was a book or movie once-upon-a-time about someone taking a European tour–one of those guided rat-races through the continent–where nobody gets a chance to do much more than spot the Eiffel Tower on their way to the London Bridge. The name of the movie (or book, whatever) was, I think, “If It’s...
Wet enough for ya?
Well, the saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers. “ Right?That being so, my yard and everybody else’s for that matter, should be resembling the Amazon rainforest. Of course, the late-season plunge down to frost warnings may have put the kibosh on that scenario, at least temporarily. All of this “El Nino” weather fluctuation may have confused some of...
HA HA ! Ha Ha! ha ha…what?
I have always thought that my sense of humor was, at least, O.K. But I’m beginning to wonder about everybody else, especially in the public prints and commercially-produced correspondence, i.e., cards of various sorts. Whole bunches of TV commercials too, fail to make it to contact my funny bone. Ditto for a lot of the programming. Too many laugh...
Oddness Out There!!
Every so often something worth paying attention to pops up on my computer screen. This does NOT include the stuff in the SPAM folder from the vast number of outfits who seem to think that I am some dude named “Ivan” who can’t spell his own name; those people keep sending me info about “male enhancement”, directions to “new...
Final Bow
“Bow”…as in “leave the stage while acknowledging applause after an excellent performance.” Everybody knew Barry, Barry Vancura…and he knew everybody (If he did not, he’d continue talking until something or somebody clued him in as to who furnished the other side of the conversation, and went on from there--it was a gift.). Barry was the consummate retail guy. He knew...
‘Tis The Season
So… Didja get your entry in for the Name a Snowplow contest with the Ohio Turnpike commission? Some of the winners from last year were in the paper recently and I have to say they were pretty clever. This year’s contest ended Sunday, so we’ll have to wait and see what takes the $100 gift card prize–eight of them,...
Right!!
That’s my response to a communication from, of all people, the Porch Kitty Fan Club. In the lovely Christmas card was a quotation–you know the one about the power of the pen– and giving notice that a donation had been made to the Portage APL in memory of Barry Vancura. He would have loved it. So would his “Princess”,...
Catastasis
Heck of a word, eh? Followed closely by catastrophe, catastrophism, catatonia and cat-a-wampus( next column in my Webster’s New World College Dictionary has catchpoll, catechesis and catechin–totally unrelated). Amazing what words are out there, just waiting to be used, if only we had some idea what they meant. In any case, all of this came up when I thought that...
Alea jacta est
Or “Alea iacta est,”, if you are a Latin purist (I know you’re out there somewhere.). Mrs. Grissinger, my Latin teacher in 9th and 10th grades, probably wasn’t up on the latest translation/ third person singular/imperative and all that, or any other notions of what Suetonius said that Caesar said. Anyway, supposedly, this is what Julius Caesar said when...
Fa-la-la-la-la and All That
Guess what holiday is coming up. Go ahead, guess. There have been candy canes hanging around since somewhere around July Fourth, Santa Claus began flying in earnest somewhere around Labor Day and the lay-away departments must be stuffed to overflowing by now. Speaking of something similar, what’s this latest scam, “Buy now, Pay later? Like they always say, “If it...
SmartAssemblage?
he Mighty G-Men came away with the top standing in the very small school division and one of the top ten individual scorers in the entire meet. Varsity team members at the competition included Jack Rado, Cameron Edwards, Rene Fenshaw, Cass Swenson, Lillian Kercher; team members unable to attend included Katey Cisney, Emma Huter and Ellie Shay; they deserve credit too, a team doesn’t get to be good unless practices and competitions are an over-all effort, you know, a TEAM.
No Ferris Wheel For Me
But I did check out the rest –or most of–the Lorain County Wellington Fair. Did observe the big wheel but saw no hanky-panky (as reported last week) going on up there, so I got down to my prime reason for attending any of these festivities–eating! I always walk all, or almost all, of the midway to see if there...
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a song of sixpencePocket full of ryeFour-and-twenty blackbirdsBaked in a pieWhen the pie was openedThe birds began to singWasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king? Never mind the sixpence, the blackbirds, the pie or the king (They’re all from the 18th century or earlier…Shakespeare, maybe?), what I’m really promoting here is the “Sing” part. Once upon a...
Dog Days
Well, there all sorts of stories about why this part of the year is sometimes referred to as the “Dog Days”, most of them having to do with Sirius, the Dog Star (part of the constellation Canis Major, not to be confused with Procyon, Canis minor, the Little Dog Star), the brightest star which we get to see on...
All’s Fair In…Maybe Not
Well, it is “Fair Time”, and any number of things go on there, except…. I always try to get to at least one fair as Summer winds down–Portage, Geauga, Lorain, State, whatever. Each fair has something about it, a story of how it got to be what it is, when it is, all that. Portage, for instance, has the...
A Few Good Men!
It’s not just for the Marines, ya know. The Masons have been seeking good men, here in Garrettsville and around the world, for quite some time now, and doing pretty well at it, as a matter of fact. The Masonic Lodge–the Free and Arch Masons, along with affiliated groups such as the Shriners and the Knights Templar, have been derived from...
Well That’s That
And “that” was the 20222 Christmas Walk…an adventure from start to finish, just about.First off, there was the withdrawal of one of the original four houses from the list of designated residences, which necessitated a search for another home in town with easy access and adequate parking possibilities. That search took up some planning time but at last a...
Well… That Was Fun
No, Really. I enjoyed myself immensely. Not everyone would enjoy having people–some known, some unknown–coming through their home for seven hours a day, looking around, commenting on everything in sight, wondering about what’s not in sight, asking questions about stuff that had been answered back when they hadn’t been listening. But I’m not everyone, and I had a fine...
Baaahhhh
Actually, it’s been a sort of wet-wool period so far. No little lambies gamboling in the green grass to usher in the Vernal Equinox, a sort of prediction for a snowflake or two, 50% rain for the Road Apple Roubaix (Those people will ride in anything…and boast about it afterward.), sunshine for a few days, rain for a few...
Look!!! Up In The Sky!!!
Remember that one? “Look !!! Up in the sky !! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! “It’s Superman !!!” Nah, never mind, It’s not Superman, it’s a whole bunch of super people–The Fraternal Order of Eagles, to be exact. And what set me off on this tack was the sign out front of the local aerie ( That’s ornithologist talk for...
‘Fraid This Is IT
Ya got yer Full Hunter’s Moon. (The last big full moon was the Harvest Moon, you know, like as in–hum along, now, “Shine on, Shine on Harvest Moon, up in the sky. I ain’t had no lovin’ since January, February, June or July. Snow time ain’t no time to sit around and spoon, so Shine on, shine on, Harvest...
Way TMI!!!
A recent feature in the AB-J has indicated to me that I am on the “way to hell in a handbasket”, or, as the “Car Guys” and “Sports Illustrated” have said upon occasion, “a sign of the Apocalypse”. The title of the section is LIFE, the particular feature was : Your Decor, What does your bookshelf say about you?...
Cancel The Obit!
Rumors of my demise have been wildly overwrought. For the few of you who missed the News of the World, Nightly News, and MSNBC special on current events–I have indeed been cruisin’ the ‘Ville accessorized with an arm sling, not to mention the accompanying blue language involved in getting the da- - -d thing on so that it can do...
